On This Date in Minnesota History: May 16

May 16, 1910 – This morning (Tuesday) a coroner’s jury in Pine County pronounced that  the deaths of Fireman Frank St. John, Duluth, and Head Brakeman W. E. Young, Gladstone, was the result of the opening of a switch by an unknown person who possessed a switch key.  The two men were killed in a wreck of the fast freight over the Northern Pacific road at Finlayson, Minn., Sunday morning.

Railway detectives are conducting a rigorous investigation and every effort will be made to discover the culprit’s identity. Railway officials say they have no reason to suspect anyone and that there was no apparent motive for the crime. It was learned that two trains assed the switch at Finlayson in safety a few hours before the wreck. One passed at midnight, while the wreck occurred at 1:30 a.m. The charred body of Young will be taken to Gladstone today for burial.

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Trainmen’s Death Planned. Switch at Finlayson, Minn., Was Opened by Person With Key, Coroner’s Jury Finds.”; may 17, 1910; p. 1.

Northern Pacific Depot, Finlayson, Minn.

http://www.west2k.com/mnpix/finlayson.jpg

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