Tragedy at Eagle Gorge
A broken rail causes a catastrophic train derailment, leaving two dead and scores injured.
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 train that was wrecked yesterday at Eagle Gorge, sixty miles east of Tacoma, was composed of two engines, two baggage cars, a tourist sleeper, smoking car, two passenger coaches, two Pullman sleepers and a dining car. The train was within a half dozen miles of Hot Springs, and was rounding a curve before crossing the Green river bridge, when suddenly there was a jolt, a jar and a stop. The tender of the rear engine was derailed and the two baggage cars were thrown down a small embankment. The tourist sleeper, after running a short distance on the ties, fell on its side on the stumps and underbrush, which tore the side of the car to pieces. At least six stumps of trees were found sticking up through its side. The accident was occasioned by a broken rail. Ben F. Young, the well known baseball umpire, was killed, and J. L. Keplar, a railroad contractor, died later at the Paddock hospital.
“The sight was sickening, and those who saw it and heard the cries of pain and for assistance will never forget the scene.”
This disaster highlights the perilous nature of early rail travel in the Cascades, a corridor that remains vital but geologically challenging for transit today. It serves as a reminder of the industrial costs that built the modern Pacific Northwest.
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