The Phosphorus Terror of Hoquiam
A saboteur sows the streets with incendiary devices, nearly reducing the town to ash before the rains intervene.
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.
A dread pyrotechnic display came very near taking place at Hoquiam on the 5th, instead of on the 4th. Some scoundrel, on the night of the 4th, distributed in the streets, under the buildings and in the saw mill, small bags, shaped like a small sugar teat, filled with phosphorus. Sunday morning, several of these bags were discovered smouldering, and the frightened people of Hoquiam began a systematic search for them. Owing to the fortunate rains during the night of the 4th, none of the bags had set fire. But for the timely discovery, Hoquiam would now probably be in ashes.
“Owing to the fortunate rains during the night of the 4th, none of the bags had set fire. But for the timely discovery, Hoquiam would now probably be in ashes.”
While Hoquiam survived this arson attempt, the vulnerability of early wood-framed mill towns to fire remains a defining shadow of the region's history. Today, fire mitigation is a massive part of urban planning in Grays Harbor, though the source of the danger has shifted from phosphorus bags to climate-driven wildfire risks.
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