Tragedy on the Rails: Two Die in Pasco Train Wreck
A passenger train derails through a trestle, killing two men riding the rails.
Pasco, Wash., Feb. 7.—The east-bound passenger train on the Northern Pacific went through a trestle a few miles west of Connell about 4 o'clock yesterday morning. Four men were beating their way at the time. Two were killed, one seriously injured and the fourth slightly bruised. The dead are John Culvert and P. J. Leland. The injured man gave his name as Peter Smith. On Culvert's body were found letters of recommendation from the superintendent of the Sutro Street Railway Company, San Francisco, and from the Duluth Street Railway Company, also a shipping receipt for a box from Tacoma to Boston. A small notebook was taken from Leland's coat, containing a diary of his trip from Los Angeles to St. Louis. Water from melting snow has been giving considerable trouble for the past few days, and the train was proceeding cautiously under slow orders. Had it been running at the usual speed many more must have been killed and injured.
“One of the mail clerks received a slight cut upon the head, the other trainmen and the passengers escaping unhurt.”
Railroad accidents were frequent in the early days of the Inland Empire, often exacerbated by the difficult terrain and seasonal flooding of the region. Today, modern safety standards and infrastructure maintenance have largely replaced the perilous 'beating your way' mode of travel common during this period of expansion.
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