The Body Beneath the Logs at Spokane Falls
A boarder at the Northern Pacific Hotel found a decomposing stranger wedged beneath logs just below Spokane Falls—too late for the coroner to say how he died.
Thursday afternoon a young man boarding at the Northern Pacific Hotel discovered the dead body of an unknown man between the trunks of two trees, in the gulch just below the falls, and only a few hundred yards from the business part of the city. The part of the body in sight is very much decomposed, and looked as though it had lain there two months. The head and body are jammed down under the logs, out of sight, and as no investigation had been made up to the hour of going to press, on account of the non-arrival of the coroner, it is impossible to say whether it met a murder, suicide or accidental death. One hand extends above the log, the balance of the body being hidden, which may account for it remaining so long without discovery. The inquest will probably be held sometime today.
“One hand extends above the log, the balance of the body being hidden, which may account for it remaining so long without discovery.”
The falls were the reason Spokane existed and the place where the city hid its rough edges. A body left under logs a few hundred yards from the business district is a reminder that the scenic downtown core has always had an unmarked shadow.
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