Total Loss at Black Diamond
A hotel fire in the mining town of Black Diamond leaves residents homeless and penniless.
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. L. Khoe’s hotel in Black Diamond took fire Monday morning at about 1 o’clock, and was totally destroyed, together with the furniture and bedding. The building and contents were valued at $5,000, on which there was no insurance. A number of boarders lost clothing and personal effects, and several families of the boarders lost their livelihoods. The fire is supposed to have originated from a stove in the dining room adjoining the hotel. A subscription is being taken up at the mines for the relief of Mrs. Khoe, who lost everything she possessed by the fire.
“A subscription is being taken up at the mines for the relief of Mrs. Khoe, who lost everything she possessed by the fire.”
Black Diamond was a quintessential company town, where fire was a frequent, devastating threat to laborers with no insurance. It serves as a reminder of the fragility of housing for the working class in the early development of Washington's resource towns.
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