Violent Workplace Confrontation
A quarrel between a conductor and an engineer at Lake Park ends in a brutal assault with a rock.
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.
Tacoma, Sept. 25.—A quarrel at Lake Park today resulted in Conductor Clarence J. Parks hurling a heavy rock through the cab window of a locomotive at Engineer Joseph E. Ream. The rock crashed through the glass and literally mashed Ream's left elbow. Ream attempted to return the assault, notwithstanding his injury, but was overpowered by Parks. Ream was brought to the Fanny Paddock hospital in a patrol wagon, where doctors removed bone fragments from the joint. It is expected he will lose the use of the arm. Ream claims the assault was unprovoked, though both men had been trading insults prior to the violence.
“The rock crashed through the window glass and literally mashed Ream's left elbow.”
Workplace violence remains a serious issue, though modern labor relations are typically governed by more structured mediation than the brutal exchanges of the 1890s. The Fanny Paddock hospital, now part of Tacoma's healthcare history, highlights the era's reliance on rudimentary but life-saving trauma care.
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