more on the Marshall Pass Wreck

The one crewman killed was Ed Boots, the head brakeman. He was in the dog house on the tender. With a hill to the right side of him and a larger drop off to the left, he had to climb down the ladder in the back of the tender to jump. He was on the ladder when the derailment came. The first car was loaded with poles.
A member of the wrecking crew was also killed as well as four hobos. The suspicion is that one of the hobos kicked an angle cock closed but all angle cock were found open by the ICC inspector.
On a personal note my mother grew up in Salida and was friends with Boots' daughter Jessie. The violet nature of her friend's father's death may have been her reason for her to be dead set against me working for the railroad.