A Grim Discovery Near Snohomish
Two men walking along the Great Northern track found a body in the brush, setting off a coroner's inquest.
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.
The body of a dead man lying near the Great Northern track, a few miles from Snohomish, was discovered about 10 o'clock last night by two men coming down the line. Sheriff Julian was notified and went with Deputy Currie on a hand-car to the scene, guided by the men who first discovered the body. The corpse was found lying about fifteen feet from the track in a clump of bushes. The body was yet warm and the man had been dead but a short time. Although no signs of a struggle were seen, the opinion of foul play strongly prevails. The scene lies near the Tompkins ranch. Coroner Limerick held an inquest this afternoon, the jury returning a verdict of death from some unnatural cause unknown to the jury. An autopsy may be held tomorrow.
“The body was yet warm and the man had been dead but a short time.”
Unexplained deaths in rural corridors were common occurrences in early 1890s Washington, often reflecting the transience of railroad labor. Today, similar discoveries in undeveloped zones prompt different forensic scrutiny, but the eerie nature of a body found near transit tracks remains a haunting echo of the region's industrial expansion.
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