100 years ago in Spokane: Police captain investigates death of nephew in car crash

Spokane police Capt. George C. Miles was in police headquarters when a car brought in a deceased victim of an East Sprague car accident.

Capt. Miles helped search through the young man’s clothing for evidence of his identity. They could find nothing, and the young man was so badly mangled he was unrecognizable.

Then, an hour later, a friend came in to the station and made a positive identification: The victim was Harold L. Miles, 22.

This news was particularly shocking to Capt. Miles. Harold was his nephew.

The auto in which Miles was riding swerved across East Sprague and collided with a streetcar. This was the second tragedy involving a streetcar to befall the Miles family. About 20 years earlier, Harold Miles’ father died when he was sledding down snowy Sherman Avenue and his toboggan collided with a streetcar.

From the highway beat: Several autos made it over Snoqualmie Pass “under their own power,” marking the opening of the rocky, treacherous highway for the summer. One auto driver said that he made the drive from Seattle to Yakima in seven hours.

Drivers claimed the road was “rough,” which was probably an understatement.