The Eccentric Engineer Who Vanished on His Honeymoon Comes Back
H. L. Russell, the self-styled "Lord" who laid the Idaho & Washington Northern's line into Newport, deserted his bride in Chicago a year and a half ago — now he has reappeared, bound for Metaline.
Most everyone in this country at the time the Idaho Washington Northern Railroad built into Newport knows of H. L. Russell, the eccentric engineer who located the road into Newport and did considerable work on the down-river survey and in the neighborhood of Metaline. It has been about a year and a half ago since he disappeared while on his honeymoon trip with his bride, a former Newport and Spokane lady. It was while in Chicago, on his way to visit titled relatives he claimed to have in England, that he deserted his wife, and for a time it was thought that he may have been foully dealt with. Since that time he has been heard of a few times, but on Tuesday he made his re-appearance in this section, passing through Newport on his way to Metaline.
“It was while in Chicago, on his way to visit titled relatives he claimed to have in England, that he deserted his wife, and for a time it was thought that he may have been foully dealt with.”
Newport in 1910 was a railroad town whose fortunes were literally drawn by engineers like Russell, and a man who could claim a title and then vanish on his honeymoon became a local legend. The story is a reminder that the booster-era West was full of self-invented characters whose credentials were taken on faith — a very modern caution about the stories ambitious men tell about themselves.
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