In the early morning of June 22, 1903, about sixty rail cars loaded with coal and timber were allegedly uncoupled on a side storage track near Hillyard Station by “disgruntled tramps or hobos,” then rolled downhill nearly four miles to downtown Spokane. Unhindered by obstructions or switches, the runaway cars gathered speed, reportedly reaching eighty to ninety miles per hour, pushing existing rail cars ahead of them before crashing at the end of the track on Division Street. The cars first smashed into two houses belonging to the Myers and Slee families, instantly destroying them, and the adjacent Crystal Steam Laundry was struck so hard that it was pushed three feet off its foundation. Afterward, rail cars lay piled along both sides of Division Street for nearly a quarter mile, with some wreckage stacks rising over fifty feet tall. Three bodies were recovered immediately and a fourth soon after, including twelve-year-old Elmer Slee, who had been asleep in the Slee residence when the cars struck, and at least eight other people were injured. Citizens mounted a massive cleanup effort despite raw coal and coal dust covering everything, and the wreckage was cleared by June 26, 1903, leaving several giant piles of coal as reminders of the disaster.