The Dead No One Could Name at Wellington
A coroner fears a score of Great Northern avalanche victims will go to a potter's field; 78 bodies have been recovered and the claim agent counts 95 dead.
SEATTLE, March 14.—The potter's field will be the last resting place of a score of victims of the Great Northern at Wellington, the coroner fears. The bodies recovered are clad only in sleeping garments or are entirely nude, and positive identification is almost impossible unless made by some friend of the dead person. A claim agent of the Great Northern, who has been at Wellington checking up lists of missing and interviewing trainmen, puts the total number of dead at 95. Seventy-eight bodies have been recovered.
“The potter's field will be the last resting place of a score of victims of the Great Northern at Wellington, the coroner fears.”
The Wellington avalanche remains one of the deadliest in U.S. history, and the identification crisis it created echoes how modern disasters still leave families waiting on DNA and dental records. In the Cascades, avalanche control is now routine for keeping mountain rail and highways open—but the mountain still sets the terms.
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