The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-05-30

At O'clock yesterday morning land
slide occurred on the line Of the Great
Northern railroad four miles west of IN
oex, and the story Of its rush is told by
tour battered and bruised men who now
lie IN beds at Providence Hospital Three
OF the victims are not seriously injured.
but the fourth is suffering internal pains.
ana II yet remains to be seen how his tn
Juries viii terminate. The names of those
injured are as follows:
John Haggerty. of I.eayenwofth aged
= years, unmarried. left leg cut and left
shoulder badly bruised
Charles Johnson, OF Seattle. aged -
years. unmarried. three ribs on left side
broken, and left jaw bone badly bruised.
August Miller. Of Seattle. aged IS years.
bad cut over the eye and bruised. on legs
Charles Morrison. of Hollowhird. s. n.
aged 10. probably injured internally. left
arm in bad condition, but 10 bones
broken.
Four miles from Index there is a dirt
cut on the line of the Great Northern. The
bank at one side is sloping. but according
TO the statements of Haggerty and john
son. the dirt keeps coming down upon the
track The west end OF the cut is more
troublesome than the other owing TO
streams of water which run down from
above and make the dirt damp. On the
y
timber.
Yesterday morning a gang of about six
teen men were at work on this hank. The
dirt was thrown on cars close &c the hank
with the intention of carrying il away,
to be used in surfacing. Haggef-ty. John
son. Miller Morrison and one or two
others were working at the west end OF
the cut, while the remainder of the gang
were at the other end. Suddenly a portion
of the bank gave way. and the dirt thus
released came rushing down upon the
luckiess men. carrying with it rocks and
stumps. With the sound OF the moving
body the laborers made jump for the
cars, but IL was too late They were
struck down like nine pins and driven
against OF under the cars. the mass Of
dirt piling in on top OF them, blrying. or
partially burying, all If them.
Haggerty has his back to the bank when
ne heard the rush. ard despite his jump
for a place Of safety he was knocked
down and damned up against the wheels
of a car. His left leg was pini,ned fast.
and when he recovered consciousness he
found that he could not stir. There he
lay until the rescuing gang got him out.
Haggerty thinks he was pinned down for
an hour.
Johnson attempted to get on top OF q
car to avoid the slide. but before he had
taken more than two steps he was struck
by stump and knocked insensil,le. When
he recovered consciousness he found him.
self under a car, his body and head under
the dirt He was not buried so deep but
that he could breathe. and by working his
head around made hole so that he was
in no danger of suffocation.
Morrison did not know what struck him.
so quickly did the dirt pile In upon him.
He was TANNED against car and re-
manned unconscious for some time. Miller
was equally unfortunate. and In addition
to bruises on his legs was cut over the
eye.
After the accident the foreman Of the
gang sent the men who had been working
elsewhere to the task Of clearing away
the debris and rescuing the victims. Word
was also sent to another gang. which ar
rived as soon as possible.
After the four men had been taken out
they were put aboard the first passenger
train and hurried to Seattle. where the
patrol wagon was in waiting 10 convey
them to Providence hospital
They were we'll cared for and surgeon
dressed their wounds, Haggefty says he
would be able to get around all right now
II his leg had not been smashed against
the car by a rock. His shoulder was
bruised. but not seriously enough TO dis
commode him to any great extent john
son looks pretty badly used UP and his
ribs trouble him.
"I feel rs IL my insides were ground to
pieces" said Morrison with an effort Il
was carried up against car, and when
recovered consciousness / was under
ground except my head"