Elevator Mishap at Hunt Mottet Hardware
A 14-year-old employee was critically injured while operating a freight elevator in downtown Tacoma.
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.
William Hansen, a 14-year-old youth, employed as a stock boy in the Hunt Mottet wholesale hardware store, 2112-14 Pacific Avenue, was struck by the freight elevator of the company's store early this morning. The elevator is operated from the various floors by means of a cable inside the shaft. The lad had a box of 'stock' hardware which he wished to take from the third floor down to the first, and leaned out in the shaft to see where the elevator was. The cage was descending, and before the boy had time to withdraw his head, the floor of the elevator struck him, crushing him down to the gate. He was hurried to the hospital in a comatose state.
“The elevator struck his head so violently, however, that the blow rendered him unconscious.”
This incident exposes the hazardous working conditions for child laborers in early 20th-century Tacoma. The Hunt Mottet building remains a historic fixture of Pacific Avenue, though its use has shifted from hardware wholesale to residential lofts.
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