The Messenger Burned at Tacoma—and It Was No Accident
A pioneer Puget Sound steamer was destroyed by a suspected arson fire; its engineer nearly chose a razor over burning alive.
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.
TACOMA, May 28.—[Special.]—The steamer Messenger, a pioneer Sound steamer, built in 1875 and formerly operated between Tacoma, Olympia and Port Townsend, burned this morning at 9 o'clock. She is a total loss. The Messenger was worth $13,000, fully insured. She was evidently set on fire, as her fires had been out since 1 in the evening. Three times before within a month attempts have been made to fire her. The crew barely escaped with their lives, losing all their effects. Engineer George Bries found himself locked in the cabin, with flames all around him. He looked for his razor, with which to cut his throat and escape burning alive, but could not find it, and finally burst through a door partly consumed and jumped to the lower deck. He was burned and cut, but not seriously.
Recently, while towing a scow load of wood from Vashon Island to Seattle, the Messenger took fire in two places, and candles stuck into potatoes were found where the fire originated, together with combustibles close at hand to spread the fire once the candles burned low enough. No arrests were made on that occasion, although several persons were suspected.
“He looked for his razor, with which to cut his throat and escape burning alive, but could not find it.”
Arson on the working waterfront is not a relic: fires at Seattle and Tacoma docks have repeatedly destroyed old vessels and the livelihoods tied to them. The Messenger's loss also shows how quickly a community's maritime memory can go up in smoke.
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