Mining Accident at Newcastle
A miner is severely injured in a blast-related accident at the Newcastle coal mines.
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.
A colored man named Al Williams was seriously injured at Newcastle yesterday through being in too close proximity to a blast which he had been working in. He was in breast No. 74 in the slope and was coming through the crosscut, gathering up picks, etc., when the explosion occurred. The force of the explosion was so great as to blow him some feet down the gangway to the slope. It is feared he has one or two ribs broken and he has suffered other internal injuries. The right leg is badly bruised and he has a severe cut on the head. His injuries, though severe, are not considered fatal.
“The force of the explosion was so great as to blow him some feet down the gangway.”
Coal mining was a dangerous, labor-intensive pillar of the Washington economy in the 1890s, much of which was centered in towns like Newcastle. Today, the once-industrial Newcastle is an affluent suburb, and its history as a site of grueling, hazardous labor is mostly preserved in local park names and archives rather than the ground itself.
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