A Miraculous Fall from a Construction Site
A corniceman plunges three stories from a building under construction, surviving with only cuts and bruises.
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.
Stacy, a corniceman employed by the Ed Miller Cornice Roofing company, fell from a three-story building in course of construction at the corner of North Second street and Tacoma avenue, shortly before noon today and narrowly escaped death. Stacy was working on the roof and lost his footing, being suddenly precipitated to the hard pavement below. With blood rushing from cuts about his face and neck, he was picked up by fellow workmen and hurriedly removed to the Fanny Paddock hospital. After an examination by physicians, however, it was determined that no bones were broken, and that Stacy's injuries were not serious. He sustained several cuts and bruises, but was only temporarily stunned by the fall. That the man was not killed outright is considered nothing short of miraculous.
“That the man was not killed outright is considered nothing short of miraculous.”
Construction safety in early 20th-century Tacoma was notoriously lax, often treated as a matter of luck rather than regulation. Today, Tacoma's skyline continues to evolve with a new wave of high-density construction, where the 'miraculous' survival of a worker is replaced by strict OSHA oversight and mandatory safety protocols.
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