A Local Pastor’s Miraculous Escape from a Train Disaster
Rev. Oliver T. Mather, arriving in Tacoma to lead the Bethany Presbyterian Church, survives a catastrophic Canadian Pacific derailment.
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.
Rev. Oliver T. Mather, late of Dryden, N.Y., arrived Wednesday to take up his pastoral work at Bethany Presbyterian chapel, near Whitworth College. The Presbyterians of that locality have been conducting a Sunday school here and the work is now being enlarged to embrace regular church services under the direction of Mr. Mather. While enroute to Tacoma, Mr. Mather and his family had a narrow escape from injury in a train wreck on the Canadian Pacific in British Columbia a few days ago. The car in which they were riding was completely wrecked and nearly every other person in the car was injured. While those about them were cut and bruised—some of them fatally injured—Rev. Mather and his family were taken from the wreck without a scratch. Their escape is considered miraculous.
“While those about them were cut and bruised—some of them fatally injured—Rev. Mather and his family were taken from the wreck without a scratch.”
This story highlights the precariousness of long-distance travel in the era before reliable air and road safety standards, framing a personal brush with death against the backdrop of a new beginning in Tacoma.
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