A Flash at the Switchboard: Tacoma's Veteran Electrician Killed by 2,000 Volts
Peter Peterson, six years with the city light station, grabbed two live plugs at once. He was dead before doctors could even attempt a revival.
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, Jan. 5.—Two thousand volts of electricity passed through Peter Peterson, day electrician at the city light station, this morning, instantly killing him. In making changes on the switchboard he grasped two plugs at the same time, his thumbs touching them too far up and on the non-insulated portion. There was a flash, and he fell back dead. He had been in the employ of the company six years. His death is attributed to carelessness.
In point of service Peterson was one of the oldest electricians in the city. The current burned his hands but little, there being only small red burned spots on his fingers and thumbs where he touched the metal. He did not speak after the current passed through his body. Some enterprising physicians were asked to make an attempt to resuscitate Peterson, but they did not get ready for action until it was decided that he was beyond hope of revival, even if such a thing were possible. The verdict of the coroner's jury was that death was caused accidentally.
“There was a flash, and he fell back dead.”
Electrical work remains among the trades where a single lapse can be fatal, and the story echoes modern debates over utility safety, training, and the human cost of keeping the lights on. Peterson's death was ruled accidental, but the coroner's terse verdict leaves open whether the station's procedures failed him.
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