Proprietor of Rainier Valley Record dies after fiery explosion
Richard Nash, a Seattle newspaper proprietor, succumbs to burns after a gasoline tank he was repairing exploded, igniting his office.
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.
Richard Nash, 40, one of the proprietors of the Rainier Valley Record at Columbia City, died at Seattle General Hospital at 10 o'clock last night. He was fatally burned yesterday afternoon when a gasoline tank he was repairing exploded. The blast extinguished the electric lights and set the building on fire. In the resulting smoke and darkness, Mrs. Edwin S. Orr and linotype operator C. L. Pierce were badly burned while assisting Nash and securing company records. Nash, who was described as a 'human torch' when he rushed out of the building, begged for help but specifically requested that his mother, who was in poor health, be kept in ignorance of the accident.
“Mr. Nash was a human torch when he rushed to the door, begging piteously for help.”
Columbia City is now a historic neighborhood in Seattle, far removed from the dangerous industrial conditions that characterized early 20th-century newspaper printing. This tragedy reflects the literal peril of small-scale newspaper production in an era before stringent fire codes.
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