Tragic Death of a Laborer on the Moxee
A young man employed by the Yakima Land Company dies suddenly after strenuous work clearing land.
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.
Thomas Leslie, a young man about 26 years of age, who formerly lived in Oregon, died on the Moxee Saturday, Dec. 26, after a brief illness. Leslie, with some associates, had taken a contract to clear the sage from the Yakima Land Co.’s property, and it is supposed that he overworked himself. He had been complaining for several days of not feeling well, and Mr. Starrow, the company engineer, endeavored to have him go to the hospital, but without success. Christmas night Leslie went to bed with a companion, and the latter was greatly shocked in the morning to find that his friend was dead. The funeral was held on Sunday from the Episcopal church.
“It is supposed that he overworked himself.”
Labor on the harsh terrain of the Yakima Valley often exacted a high physical toll on those seeking work in the land-clearing booms of the 1890s. Today, while we have safer labor standards, the pressure of precarious, contract-based manual work remains a point of tension in the regional economy.
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