Sabotage on the Tracks: The Napavine Train-Wrecking Plot
A suspicious man is arrested near a trestle after wreckers attempt to derail a Northern Pacific train by pulling spikes and loosening rail plates.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Officers in search of the Napavine train wreckers have partially disposed of the theory that the attempt at ditching the train was prompted by enmity toward the railroad company. Among all the farmers and residents thereabouts none have been found who bear the railroad company ill-will. It is thought the wreckers have fled the country. Further details show the wreckers had selected the north end of the bridge to remove plates and bolts. In removing the plates, the wreckers had to remove some spikes. To cover up the break in the rail, the wreckers had spread a red bandana handkerchief over the joint to deceive the engineer. Portions of this handkerchief were picked up after the train had passed. A man believed to be one of those who attempted to wreck the train was arrested last night near the trestle. He is also suspected of firing a shot at Conductor Kimball on Sunday night. The prisoner was taken to the Chehalis jail.
“To cover up this break... the wreckers had spread a red bandana handkerchief over the joint. This was done no doubt to deceive the engineer.”
Train sabotage was a recurring fear during the expansion of the Pacific Northwest rail network, often born from labor disputes or local resentment against railroad monopolies. Today, similar anxieties about critical infrastructure security persist, though the threats have shifted from manual rail tampering to cybersecurity.
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