A Peculiar Railroad Wreck Near Wallula
A freight car piled high with lumber capsized on a sharp curve, leaving a local blacksmith seriously 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.
In rounding a sharp curve eight miles from Wallula yesterday afternoon, a heavy car lumber-laden attached to the regular freight on the W. C. R. R. turned turtle. M. Murry, a blacksmith riding on the car, was caught beneath the heavy timbers as they were piled promiscuously on the ground and he was seriously injured. Two other men who were riding on the same car barely escaped with their lives. Murry was brought to the Walla Walla hospital late in the afternoon. An examination showed no bones broken, but the man was severely jammed and bruised by the timbers. His wounds were dressed and today he was pronounced in no danger and will probably be out again in a short time. Such an accident is unique in the railroad history of Walla Walla, and it is doubtful if one ever occurred in the state before. The car was piled high with lumber and it is supposed the cargo shifted in such a manner that in rounding the curve the weight overbalanced it. Murray was found groaning beneath the timbers as the trainmen rushed back to the wrecked car and it was with difficulty that he was rescued from his perilous position.
“Such an accident is unique in the railroad history of Walla Walla, and it is doubtful if one ever occurred in the state before.”
Rail accidents involving shifting cargo were a recurring industrial hazard in the early 20th-century American West. While modern safety regulations have largely eliminated these specific 'turning turtle' disasters, the danger of shifting loads on regional freight rail corridors remains a contemporary concern for logistics and transport safety.
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