A Seattle Stage Benefit for Franklin’s Mine Disaster Families
An Olympic Athletic Club benefit at the Seattle Theater raised more than $2,000 for widows and orphans after a Washington coal-mine 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 dramatic amusements of the week were centered in the benefit given at the Seattle Theater last evening under the auspices of the Olympic Athletic Club for the Franklin relief fund. The public has generously responded to the call made immediately after the mine disaster, and the occasion was fully taken advantage of to swell the receipts and get full value for the outlay; the theater was well filled by sympathizers with the widows and orphans created by the disaster. The entertainment gave general satisfaction, and the individual efforts of the young amateur talent were rewarded with hearty applause and many recalls. The affair showed to advantage the vigorous growth of the Olympic Athletic Club and reflects credit on its managers. The receipts of their benefit will be found in another column, which makes the total pass the two-thousand-dollar mark.
“the theater well filled by the sympathizers with the widows and orphans created by the disaster”
The Franklin mine disaster was one of the coal-field tragedies that made Washington’s company towns synonymous with risk; relief benefits were the era’s makeshift safety net. Today, when disaster strikes, theaters and ballparks still become fundraisers—but the later fights for workers’ compensation and mine safety are why families are no longer left to depend on charity alone.
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