A Train Wreck on the Great Northern
General Manager A. L. Mohler, his wife, and daughter miraculously survive a high-speed collision between a special train and a freight locomotive.
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.
General Manager A. L. Mohler of the Great Northern railroad had a narrow escape from being crushed to death with his family near Spokane. His special train, carrying the private car 'Manitoba,' stopped to take on water when a freight train, traveling at thirty-six miles an hour, struck the rear of his train. The freight engine plunged two-thirds of the way into the Manitoba, yet none of the sleeping occupants were injured. The special train was driven 361 feet forward by the impact. Though two forward cars were smashed, the lack of broken steam pipes prevented fatal scalding. Mohler’s daughter, uninjured, reportedly complained only of her destroyed paper dolls.
“The coolest person in the whole party was Mr. Mohler's little 8-year-old daughter, whose only complaint was that some paper dolls with which she had been playing had been destroyed.”
Early rail travel in Washington was fraught with systemic mechanical risks, reflecting the dangerous, high-growth era of the Great Northern's expansion. Today, while passenger safety is vastly improved, the history of rail infrastructure remains a vital element of Seattle's connectivity.
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