Inspector Blames Defective Boiler in Mukilteo Wreck, Urges State Locomotive Inspection
A state railroad inspector disputes the coroner's jury and asks lawmakers to adopt New York-style inspection of locomotives.
OLYMPIA, Feb. 23. — Inspector A. W. Perley, of the state railroad commission, uses the recent locomotive explosion on the Great Northern near Mukilteo as a text for urging the legislature to adopt the New York law providing for state inspection of railroad locomotives. The inspector also disagrees with the coroner's jury as to the cause of the accident. In his report of his investigation of the wreck as made to the state railway commission, he takes the stand that the boiler was defective.
“He takes the stand that the boiler was defective.”
Washington would eventually build a state inspection regime for boilers and locomotives, and this brief shows the playbook: a disaster, a coroner's jury, a dissenting expert, and a bill. Arguments over rail and pipeline safety inspection today still follow the same script — the question is who gets to certify that the equipment is safe.
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