Fatal Collision at the Eleventh Street Bridge
A local machinist dies after his launch is pinned against bridge girders by a powerful tide.
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.
As the result of an accident with his launch at the Eleventh street bridge yesterday morning, W. A. Nicholson of 3115 South Seventh street is dead. He breathed his last at the Fannie Paddock hospital. About 8 o'clock, Mr. Nicholson was preparing his launch, the Dixie, for an excursion to Point Defiance. When he untied the boat from the Inland Navigation Excursion company's float at the west end of the bridge, he started the engine and headed toward the company's boat house. The tide was coming in much faster than reckoned, and the boat was carried toward the girders of the Eleventh street bridge. After shutting down the engine, he ran to the bow to ease the force of the collision. A stay on the bridge struck Mr. Nicholson on the head, and a lower girder struck him in the stomach, inflicting fatal injuries. He leaves a wife and five children.
“He stated that he thought his time to meet death had come.”
The Eleventh Street Bridge was a vital, if dangerous, piece of infrastructure in early 20th-century Tacoma. Today, while the bridges spanning the Thea Foss Waterway are modernized, the treacherous nature of the currents in that channel remains a constant reminder of the city's maritime challenges.
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