An Open Switch, a Tipped Engine, and a Depot in the Dark
A Lake Shore passenger train hit a tampered switch at Dubuque station near Snohomish; the engineer was badly hurt, but every passenger walked away.
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.
The Lake Shore passenger train which left this city for Getchell at 4:45 o’clock yesterday afternoon was wrecked at Dubuque station, four miles north of Snohomish, last evening. Engineer H. W. Smith was injured and Fireman Nathan slightly so, but the passengers escaped unhurt.
The train reached Dubuque about 6:45, just as it was growing dusk, so that it was difficult to see the track. The switch running into the sidetrack right in front of the depot had been tampered with and was open about one and one-half inch, though the target indicated that it was closed. The engine passed it on the main track, but in doing so opened the switch so that the baggage car which followed ran on the sidetrack. The engine was thereby thrown off the track and ran on into the depot building on the opposite side from the switch, where it fell on its side disabled. This threw the baggage car on its side right on the track and derailed the first of the three passenger cars.
H. W. Smith, the engineer, had his right collar-bone and right wrist broken and was badly scalded by the escaping steam. Fireman Nathan escaped by jumping when the engine went over and was only slightly injured. There was very little baggage on board and the baggageman was not hurt. The passengers were only a little shaken and were not injured.
The injured men were taken to Snohomish and attended by the company’s surgeon. The passengers either completed their journey on foot or were taken back to Snohomish.
The section hands were immediately put to work to clean up the wreck. A wrecking train left this city about 8:30 in charge of Superintendent Kline, and the track will be cleared by this morning.
“The switch running into the sidetrack right in front of the depot had been tampered with and was open about one and one-half inch, though the target indicated that it was closed.”
Dubuque was a small station on a busy Puget Sound line; today the corridor is still a commuter and freight route through Snohomish County. The wreck is a reminder that infrastructure accidents often turn on small maintenance failures—and that “no passengers hurt” can hide serious labor injuries.
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