A Life Undermined by the Vault Explosion
After years of struggling with the physical and nervous aftermath of a horrific gas blast in the sheriff’s office, a prominent Seattle Republican has passed away at age 30.
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.
William W. Mott, state insurance commissioner and active Republican worker in Seattle for the past five years, died at Olympia yesterday afternoon after an illness of three weeks. His death appeared to be the result of a lingering nervous shock following a tragic gas explosion in the sheriff’s office on July 28, 1891. During that accident, Mott was severely burned on his hands, face, and head while attempting to light a gas jet in the office vault. Though he convalesced for months, his health was permanently undermined. Mr. Mott, who was originally from North Carolina, moved to Seattle in 1890 and quickly became a fixture in local politics, serving as bookkeeper for Sheriff J. H. Woolery and secretary of the Republican county central committee. He leaves behind a wife and three young children.
“He appeared to fade away slowly as if his system had been undermined by some nervous shock.”
Mott's death, attributed to the 'nervous shock' of a workplace accident rather than acute illness, reflects the era's emerging understanding of trauma. His story highlights the precarious nature of early civic employment, where a single industrial failure could result in lifelong disability for local public servants.
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