A Rough Week in Chehalis
A local train wreck and a string of mishaps keep the town busy.
The chapter of accidents has been a large one this week. On the Fourth, Frank Everett was thrown from a buggy and sustained severe injuries. Will Stevens had a leg broken by a kick from a vicious horse, and yesterday, Carry, youngest son of Hon. S. C. Herren, fell from a horizontal bar, breaking one of his arms. The north-bound passenger train Thursday night came within an ace of a general wreck near Newaukum. A cow got on the track. The engineer put on the air brakes and stopped within sixty yards. The tender went off the rails, and the train was delayed about three hours.
“The north-bound passenger Thursday night came within an ace of a general wreck.”
Small-town correspondence columns were the social media of the 1890s, recording everything from broken arms to near-miss train accidents. While the mode of travel has shifted from buggies to cars, the town of Chehalis remains a central hub in Lewis County.
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