The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-12-08
MIR. MILLER's INTERROGATION.
He Says He Cannot Account for Thfr
teen Missing Men.


Prosecuting Attorney John +. Miller returned
from the scene OF the Canton landslide at 2
clock yesterday morning, after having made
personal investigation OF the matter. Mr.
Miller examined the ground, questioned the
ofiicers OF the company and men who were at
work when the accident occurred. and he has
come to the conclusion there are no grounds
upon which he could direct the coroner to
make an inquest In interview with a re-
porter of the PosT-IsTELLIGENcER Mr. Miller
said:
left Sunday morning at o'clock, arriving at
Canton about 1890, and spent the entire day In
careful and critical examination of the situa-
tion- After a complete examination and in
curry have become convinced that the calam-
lty Is one OF those inevitable accidents which
are liable to come at any moment, and that
there Is no tangible foundation 10 attribute the
cause 70 the negligence OF either the officers OF
the railroad or the work OF the men there
employed.
The river runs almost directly north and south
at the scene OF the accident, with the railroad
along the west side On the east is the river
composed of clay soil, filed with small,
loose nor'fers projecting from an
inclined rocky elf. The slope at the time, as
estabhshe,. Mr. Dixon, the civil engineer,
was a decline of forty-hve degrees, which is the
usual grade in an excavation and is considered
perfectly safe. The recent heavy rains had SO
soitened the clay that the percoiations reached
this declining ledge, when without any sup
port the entire mass of soil and loose boulders
slipped OFF and came down upon the men at
work without an instsnts warning. The entire
distance of this forty-fiye degree slope is about
400 feet while a section of only about seventy
five feet In length gave way the remaining sec
ton Is now standing apparently firm, and no
more danger was felt of one locality than an
other The present slope is as dangerous now
as the one was presumed to be that did slide
talked with some fifteen OF the men who
were at work at the time OF the accident, and
while they all recognized the danger l have
been unable to find any one VINO attaches any
blame to the officers incharge. MI Dixon, en-
gineer in charge, and Mr. Stout, superintendent
of construction, were both temporarily absent
at the time OF the accident-Mr Dixon i'll in
bed aud Mr.. Stout up the road experimenting
some work. Mr.. Manning, foreman in charge,
was with the men, ana only escaped by run
ming.
The books OF the timekeeper, am informed
show sixty-two men employed at the time of
the accident. call of time was made imme
diateiy after, when only forty-tive men were
found. Four bodies were taken out, leaving
thirteen men still unaccounted for.
am informed that Immediately after the ac-
ciaeat some OF the men who escaped left the
employ OF the company without waiting Tor
their pay or TO get their effects, that IL 10 in
degree impossible for the railroad company to
tell exactly how many have been killed. The
company commenced digging for those en-
tornoed, but the excessive high water made 1t
impossible to excavate where the bodies would
in all likelihood be found. The water has now
receded some five feet and crew OF thirty-two
men are now employed at the water line.
From my examination and the facts now be-
fore me, based upon the personal inquiry with
those employed, and from the competent off,
GERS in charge, agree with the coroner and Mr.
Mcbride that no inquest is necessary, as it scan
develop nothing as see.
The limitation the law has placed upon a cor
oncr's inquest is where "the cause OF the death
Ii unknown, or presumed TO be by unlawful
means ut the hands of another" Neither of
these elements exist, the cause OF the death 10
known, and, as said before, find no evidence
OF unlawfulness in the acts directions of those
in charge. While We all lament in common the
Detailing of such calamities, we are regretfully
forced to share the accidents which in
evitable. The entombed bodies, if any there be,
are either st the bed OF the river upon the pres
ent water line or in event they were thrown
into the river they perhaps have washed down
many miles and in time will be found.
The railroad company is pressing the work as
fast the water reeedes. Something may de-
vslop later which will lead TO a judicial inquiry,
In which event proper action Will be taken.
Mr.. Miller further stated that in his opinion it
was difficult to tell yet whether or not more
bodies were still under the slide The water is
still five feet above ordinary depth. He said
that when the sixty men who were working
tried to run away they all dropped their tools.
These tools have not yet been reached, and that
IL any more bodies are under the fallen rock and
dirt they would be discovered near these tools.
s.The railroad officials said to me-" concluded
Mr. Miller, "if there was a thing that King
county or its Representatives would suggest that
could or ought To be done, the Northern Pacific
would gladly and promptly proceed 20 do it,
As far as could see, the company has done and
is doing everything possible under the circum-
sfs