A Fatal Nap on the Great Northern Track
John Elwell, a twenty-year Snohomish County resident, lay down on the rails near Monroe and was struck by the morning passenger train.
Snohomish, May 31.—John Elwell, one of the oldest residents of Snohomish County, was walking to Monroe last night, and sat down on the railroad track near that place and fell asleep. This morning's passenger train on the Great Northern struck him in the head, knocking him several feet. He was picked up, brought to Snohomish in an unconscious condition, and medical aid procured, but he died at 2 p.m. Mr. Elwell was a brother to Tamlin L. Elwell, of this city, and had lived in the county for over twenty years.
“He sat down on the railroad track near that place and fell asleep. This morning's passenger train on the Great Northern struck him in the head.”
Railroad tracks still cut through Snohomish County, and trespassing on them remains a quiet, recurring source of fatal accidents. Elwell's death is a reminder that the region's rail corridors were once—and in some ways still are—open ground for people walking home.
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