| Over at the peon village of [railroad freight] cars, in the yards of the new Southern Pacific shops, at East Los Angeles, last night, about 9 o’clock the life of fourteen-year-old Jose Mirano was crushed out by the wheels of his own car home.
And there came near being another chapter in the tragedy, for on the impulse of the moment, the several hundred Mexican laborers lying about the cars made a rush on the train crew whose engine had caused the accident, and with spaces, shovels and picks pursued them across the river flats and ravines almost to the East Side Police Station, where the trainmen fled for protection.
The regular switch crew of four men was in charge of a train of thirteen cars of cattle, which were to be unloaded at the stock yards, down in the midst of the peon box-car settlement.
They backed down, as usual, but, by accident, the switch leading to the track on which were the car homes was open, and in a moment the thirteen stock cars had crashed into the box cars.
Little Jose Mirano was playing with his sister, hanging on the side of the car, when the crash came, and was thrown under the wheels. They passed over his thigh and abdomen, and he died in a few moments.
Uttering savage yells, the men of the camp grabbed spades and picks and any tools at hand, and sprang for the train crew.
With probably three hundred men against four, the only thing for the four to do was run, and it took but a moment for the quartette to start on a bee line for the East Side Police Station.
The mob followed closely for some time,
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but did not get near enough to strike either of the crew, and gradually they dropped back until the men, although exhausted, reached the station and reported the occurrence.
At once two officers from that station started out, and in a short time Chief [Charles] Elton and others went from the central station.
At the River Station another switch engine was called out, and with a couple of box cars started for the scene of the accident, with a squad of policemen and a number of trainmen armed with shotguns, rifles, pick handles, etc.
On reaching the stock yards, the police found the mob had subsided, and there was no further demonstration. …
The trainmen say they do not understand how the track upon which were the Mexicans’ cars could have been open.
It is really a wonder that others were not killed. The peons — men, women and children — lie around under the cars and often sleep there.
The body was moved from the track, and blanket thrown over it, awaiting the order of the Coroner.
While a large number of angry Mexicans were gathered near the yards as the cattle were unloaded, the presence of the police, who were detailed to remain until the stock cars were emptied, deterred them from any violence. No arrests were made.
The gang of 500 peons, of which the Mirano family is a member, have been located down on the side track where the accident occurred for the past five months, and will leave today for Long Beach.
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and Main streets, just south of where Interstate 10 now runs. In their fine survey of a century of Minor League Baseball, Bill Weiss and Marshall Wright say that the site, officially Washington Park, was named for “a chute-the-chutes advertised as the highest and steepest in the world.” The property is now occupied by the 12-story L.A. Mart.