Head-on Train Collision Near Othello Leaves Many Dead
A misunderstood order leads to a tragic collision between two passenger trains, resulting in fatalities among crew and passengers.
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.
Due, it is said, to a misunderstanding of orders, two passenger trains—an eastbound and a westbound—on the main line of the Milwaukee Railroad met in a head-on collision Tuesday night somewhere between Othello and Lind. The report reaching the Spokesman says that one of the engineers was killed and that the other was dying Wednesday morning. Three or four tramps stealing a ride were also reported killed. The eastbound train was late, having been delayed by snows in the Cascades, and to make up time on a smooth piece of track was showing a good burst of speed when the accident occurred. Both engines are said to be complete wrecks. The baggage car of the eastbound train jumped over both engines and lay on its side 20 feet from the track. The baggage man was somewhat bruised up, but not seriously injured. That the results were not more serious is due, no doubt, to the all-steel cars with which the Milwaukee is equipped.
“That the results were not more serious is due, no doubt, to the all-steel cars with which the Milwaukee is equipped.”
Rail safety and the structural integrity of train cars were major civic concerns in 1916 as the Milwaukee Road expanded through Washington. While modern rail safety is vastly improved, the vulnerability of marginalized individuals—'tramps' in the original reporting—remains a theme in how we track fatalities and civic care.
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