Railroad Mishap at Martin's Mill
Three track workers jump to safety as a delayed passenger train smashes their section car at a blind curve.
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.
As the delayed passenger train from the north was approaching Tacoma yesterday morning, coming around the curve at Martin's mill, it struck a section car, smashing it. The three section men on it had just time to jump and save their lives. They claim that no whistle was sounded, which is required of delayed and special trains when approaching a curve. The cow catcher of the locomotive was badly damaged.
“The three section men on it had just time to jump and save their lives.”
Rail safety and the implementation of audible warnings were constant points of friction between laborers and railroad companies during the rapid expansion of Washington's rail network. This incident at a local mill site highlights the daily peril faced by the section crews who maintained the infrastructure of the burgeoning industrial city.
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