A Tragic Accident in the Solduck Valley
A mother and child were severely scalded after a household accident involving a stove and a boiling kettle.
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.
Port Townsend, July 16.—The 1-year-old daughter of W. J. Walthers, who lives on a ranch in Solduck Valley, six miles south of Lake Crescent, Clallam County, was scalded to death last Monday. The mother was sitting with the child on her lap near the stove, upon which stood a kettle of boiling water. The leg of the stove was knocked out by a dog lying underneath; the stove overturned and the kettle of water was thrown upon the mother and child. The mother was badly scalded about the breast and arrived in the city this evening for medical treatment. The child lived forty-six hours. The flesh was burned to the bone, and dropped off in many places, and the skin from the entire body peeled off. No one else was at home at the time, the father having gone to Port Crescent to accompany his mother, who is a resident of this city and was returning home. Mr. Walthers is well known here, having for a number of years been bookkeeper at the Downs lumber mill.
“The child lived forty-six hours. The flesh was burned to the bone.”
Domestic accidents in isolated ranching communities were common yet harrowing events in the 19th century, often resulting in tragic outcomes due to the distance from medical aid. It serves as a stark reminder of the isolation and risks faced by early settlers in the Olympic Peninsula.
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