A Life Lost in the Sewer Trenches
A laborer was crushed by falling rock in a Whatcom sewer trench while his comrades helplessly watched.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
WHATCOM, June 30.—John Greer, 35 years of age, lately from Nebraska, was squeezed to death in a sewer trench at 10 a.m. He was standing up when a wedge of volcanic rock twenty feet long and three feet in diameter slid out of the wall and caught him in the stomach. He screamed, gasped and died before his comrades' eyes. It took an hour to cut the stone away. He was daily expecting his wife and three children from the East. It is generally conceded that the city will be liable for damages.
“He screamed, gasped and died before his comrades' eyes.”
Workplace safety remains a persistent struggle in a region that continues to undergo massive infrastructure projects. The legal question of municipal liability for hazardous construction work is as relevant to Seattle's modern infrastructure debates as it was in the 1890s.
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