A Steep Price for Dynamite
A young boy wins a significant judgment against an investment firm after a dynamite explosion at a vacant lot.
A jury in Judge Shackleford's court yesterday afternoon rendered a verdict of $25,000 damages for the plaintiff in the personal injury suit of 13-year-old Ernest Olson against the Gill Home Investment Company. Both hands of the lad were blown off last summer by the explosion of several sticks of dynamite which he had found in a vacant lot. It was proved to the jury's satisfaction that the explosive belonged to the investment company.
“Both hands of the lad were blown off last summer by the explosion of several sticks of dynamite which he had found in a vacant lot.”
The massive settlement relative to the year 1909 underscores the severity of the industrial hazards children faced in rapidly developing cities like Tacoma.
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