Tragic Fall on the Trail
A young telegraph lineman repairing a storm-damaged line loses his footing on a log and breaks his neck in the wilderness.
Charles C. Ames, the son of ex-Mayor A. A. Ames of Minneapolis, was accidentally killed near Port Angeles Friday evening by falling from a log. He was employed by the government as a lineman on the telegraph line between Port Angeles and Cape Flattery. He and another lineman went Friday to repair the line, which had been knocked down by a storm. They traveled along a trail for some distance and, not coming to the break, concluded it was unnecessary for both to go further. Ames went on and his companion turned back, expecting Ames to be back in a few hours. When he did not return by the next day, the companion searched with a lantern and found him dead. He had evidently repaired the break and, while returning, stepped on a log, slipped, and broke his neck in the fall. Ames was 25 years old and had once clerked in Dr. E. L. Smith's office in Seattle. He leaves a wife and a 5-year-old child.
“He had gone on and repaired the break in the line and when coming back he had evidently stepped on a log, slipped, and in falling broke his neck.”
Working on remote infrastructure remains a hazardous occupation in the Pacific Northwest, where steep terrain and storm damage continue to make service restoration a dangerous, solitary task.
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