Fatal Industrial Accident at Newcastle Coal Mines
A jury investigation concludes that a worker's death in the Newcastle mines might have been prevented with more staff.
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.
An inquest was held on the body of William Laws at the residence of H. R. Hughes of Coal Creek on the 19th inst. A jury of citizens of this place, after hearing all the evidence, returned the following verdict: 'We, the undersigned jurors empaneled to inquire into the cause of the death of William Laws, deceased, find that he came to his death by accidentally falling into the fire while at work. And we think that, had the Company had more men at work there at the time, they might possibly have saved his life.'
“We think that, had the Company had more men at work there at the time, they might possibly have saved his life.”
This inquest reflects the brutal reality of early industrial labor in Washington, where coal mining was both a primary economic driver and a dangerous workplace. The jury's explicit call-out of the company's staffing levels suggests a simmering tension between labor safety and corporate profit that would characterize the labor movement in the Pacific Northwest for decades.
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