A Life-Altering Elevator Accident at the Bank
A young student files a $25,000 lawsuit against the Seattle National Bank Building Company after a gruesome elevator accident leaves her permanently disfigured.
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.
Helena M. Walthew, a young student at the Queen City Business College located on the second floor of the Seattle National Bank building, filed suit yesterday for $25,000 in damages against the building's owners. On May 27, while attempting to reach the sixth floor with three other women, the elevator operator, Charles Hammond, reportedly refused to let the women out. Miss Walthew exited through an opening where the glass had been broken out of the elevator door. She then attempted to lean back through the opening to unlock the door from the inside to help her companions, but Hammond allegedly shifted the lever, causing the car to drop. Miss Walthew was caught between the moving car and the door casing, resulting in a broken nose and fractured cheekbones, injuries her complaint describes as permanent disfigurement. The lawsuit charges the building company with negligence for both the broken door and the employment of an incompetent elevator operator.
“The complaint in the action declares that the jaw, cheek and nose bones of the plaintiff were crushed and that she is disfigured for life.”
This case highlights the wild west era of early skyscraper safety in Seattle. Modern liability law regarding commercial elevators and public transit safety has evolved significantly from the hazardous 'operator' systems that were common in 1892, yet the core tension—protecting the public from corporate negligence in vertical urban spaces—remains a persistent struggle.
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