Tragedy Strikes a Tacoma Household
A fire sparked by an overheated stove claims the lives of two small children, leaving their grandmother gravely injured and a neighbor in the hospital.
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.
Two children of Mrs. Christine Hanson, a widow, aged two and a half and four years, were burned to death in a fire which destroyed the house at Tacoma Saturday. Mrs. O. Hanson, the children's grandmother, age 76, who was home, was badly burned trying to save them and may die. G. Bonessi, an Italian laborer, who attempted to rescue the children, was severely burned and both hands were cut by glass when he broke through a window to get into the house. An overheated stove is believed to have caused the fire.
“G. Bonessi, an Italian laborer, who attempted to rescue the children, was severely burned and both hands were cut by glass when he broke through a window to get into the house.”
This 1916 tragedy underscores how precarious life was in early 20th-century housing, where wood-frame construction and rudimentary heating systems made domestic fires a constant, lethal threat. While building codes and fire safety have evolved significantly since the days of coal and wood stoves, the struggle to provide safe, affordable housing remains a core civic issue in Tacoma.
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