Public Official Stricken by Blood Poisoning
Prominent businessman and County Commissioner J. W. Slayden suffers a severe infection after a work-related injury.
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.
J. W. Slayden, president of the Northwestern Woodenware company and representative from the Thirty-sixth legislative district, was brought to the Tacoma private sanitarium this morning from his home in Steilacoom, suffering from a serious case of blood-poisoning. Mr. Slayden, while inspecting buildings at the A.-Y.-P. exposition, where he was Pierce county commissioner, scraped one leg against a timber, scratching the skin and bruising the bone. Blood-poisoning set in soon afterwards.
“Mr. Slayden, while inspecting buildings at the A.-Y.-P. exposition, where he was Pierce county commissioner, scraped one leg against a timber, scratching the skin and bruising the bone.”
Before the advent of widespread antibiotics, minor workplace accidents—even a scrape against a timber—could turn lethal. Slayden's story offers a sobering look at medical fragility in the early 20th century.
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