The Woman Who Swung on the Belt
A draft at the Aberdeen planing mill caught Mrs. F.M. Campbell’s dress, lifting her off her feet and spinning her around a shaft—her screams were the only thing that saved her life.
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.
Aberdeen—Her dress catching on a belt in the planing mill of the Aberdeen Lumber and Shingle company, Mrs. F. M. Campbell was lifted from her feet and swung around the shafting several times, narrowly escaping death. A draft blew her gown into the rapidly revolving belt. The machinery was stopped and the woman hurried to a hospital. Her shrill cries for help were heard above the roar of the machinery, and it was doubtless her cries that saved her life.
This 1914 account of industrial danger highlights the precarious safety standards in early 20th-century Washington mills. While modern OSHA regulations have largely eliminated such open-shaft hazards, the story serves as a visceral reminder of the physical risks workers faced before labor protections were standardized, echoing contemporary concerns about workplace safety in less regulated industries.
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