The Ghost of a Kennewick Murder
A brother arrives in Walla Walla to identify the body of a man found dead near the tracks in Auburn, convinced that enemies from the Tri-Cities followed him to his grave.
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.
S. J. Montgomery, brother of the man whose dead and bleeding body was found near the tracks of the Interurban road a short distance from Auburn, has arrived in the city from Lapwai, Idaho. He says he believes the murderers of his brother followed him from the mountains near Kennewick, every step of the way, seeking his death. He viewed the remains, identified them as those of his brother, and gave instructions for the shipment of the body to the father, C. W. Montgomery, in Citron, Iowa. Montgomery expressed the belief that his brother had been murdered by some of his former associates, reasoning that he was a man of quiet habits, unlikely to inform on anyone, but likely to have carried money on his person. The man worked at Kennewick during the winter months as a ditch digger, and it was known he had some money when he left. Montgomery thinks that the killers must have known his brother resided east of the mountains.
“He believes the murderers of his brother followed him from the mountains near Kennewick, every step of the way seeking his death.”
The Kennewick-to-Auburn route remains a corridor of significant transit and industry today, though the 'Interurban' rail era has long since passed. This story captures the precarious nature of migrant labor in early 1900s Washington, where men moved for seasonal work only to face the dangerous isolation of the road.
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