Seattle Rallies for the Families of the Franklin Mine Dead
As donations begin arriving at the Post-Intelligencer, Seattle’s Black community organizes its own relief committee for the families of miners killed in the Franklin disaster.
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.
The Post-Intelligencer fund for the relief of the families of those killed in the Franklin mine disaster amounted at 11 o'clock last night to $229. The first response to the call for aid was a subscription for $25, received by telephone at 8:30 o'clock yesterday morning from the Seattle Hardware Company, and a few minutes later a check for the amount was handed in at the business office. It was quickly followed by other subscriptions, and before noon the total had reached $150.
Among the early donors were the Seattle Hardware Company, $25; J. R. M., $2; Rev. George F. Whitworth, $5; Alki Mayer of Horrocks & Mayer, $1; Schwabacher Bros. & Co., $25; the Schwabacher Hardware Company, $25; Mrs. Stence, $1; Capt. Frank Taylor, $4; Thomas Prosch, $50; A. Anderson, $2.50; Dr. R. Hills Smith, $10; Rev. P. Dannel, $2; Rev. B. C. Garrett, $2; cash, $1; a little boy, $1; Samuel Barrett, $1; Seattle Cedar Lumber Company, $5; P. L. Mallory, $10. Total, $229.
It is expected that contributions will begin to come in from the country today, and soon the fund will grow to large proportions. The receipts at Madison Park from Tuesday, August 28, to Sunday, September 2, inclusive, will go into the Post-Intelligencer fund, and on these days the sum of 10 cents will be charged for admission.
The colored residents of Seattle are making active efforts to aid the afflicted families at Franklin, and as a preliminary step have issued a call signed by J. E. Hawkins, H. R. Cayton, C. E. Rhodes, E. H. Walker and George H. Grose for a meeting of colored citizens and others interested in the work of relief, to be held tomorrow evening at 8:30 o'clock, probably in the hall over Bonney & Stewart's undertaking rooms. All the colored citizens will work together, and they entertain hopes of raising a considerable sum. It is intended to appoint a sub-committee of four to canvass the city for subscriptions. Mr. Hawkins will go to Franklin today and make arrangements for disbursing the fund to be raised.
The Post-Intelligencer is receiving subscriptions for the Franklin sufferers from all who care to give, “without regard to race or color.” A correspondent erroneously states that this paper has drawn the color line because it was announced in these columns yesterday morning that Mr. Hawkins would receive subscriptions for the colored people. The correspondent is wrong, for the announcement was simply made at Mr. Hawkins' request. The fund he proposes raising is entirely distinct from that opened by the Post-Intelligencer, which is intended for all, without regard to race or color, who were left in need by the disaster.
“The Post-Intelligencer is receiving subscriptions for the Franklin sufferers from all who care to give, “without regard to race or color.””
The Franklin mine disaster was one of the deadliest in Washington’s coal country, and this relief drive shows how quickly Seattle’s communities organized when families were left destitute. The argument over whether aid was truly colorblind—and the separate Black-led committee—echoes today’s mutual-aid efforts and debates about equity in disaster relief.
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