Gas Engine Blast Injures Local Man
A gasoline engine exploded in Ralfe Anderson's face on a ranch near Mrs. R. D. Sapp, burning him badly.
The story, cleaned up
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In attempting to locate the trouble in the gasoline engine on Mrs. R. D. Sapp's ranch last Saturday, Ralfe Anderson caused a premature explosion that pretty nearly put him out of commission. He received the full charge of the explosion on his face and chest. His hair and eyebrows were singed and his face was burned quite badly. His shirt caught on fire, also, and he was severely burned on the neck and shoulders before he could extinguish the flames. He left for his home in Seattle, Tuesday.
“He received the full charge of the explosion on his face and chest.”
Farm machinery accidents were a common and brutal reality of the early 20th-century agricultural economy. This incident serves as a reminder of the personal cost of the technological shifts that occurred on the ranchlands of the Columbia Basin.
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