Tragedy at the Washington Iron Works
A steady, reliable laborer is maimed in a workshop accident, leaving his young family in financial peril.
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.
A workman at the Washington Iron Works, by the name of Moorehouse, met with a severe accident last evening about 5 o'clock. He was attending to some work about the machine shop, when a heavy piece of iron fell and crushed his ankle. The limb was dressed by Dr. Hagley, who pronounced the injury a very severe one and the unfortunate man was removed to his home near the corner of Sixth and Pine streets. Moorehouse has been working at the Washington Works for about two years, and has always proved himself a steady and reliable workman. He has a wife and family of small children who are dependent on his labor for support, and who will feel severely the weight of this misfortune.
“He has a wife and family of small children who are dependent on his labor for support, and who will feel severely the weight of this misfortune.”
This account captures the precarious nature of labor in 19th-century Seattle, where a single industrial accident could instantly plunge a working-class family into poverty before the era of workers' compensation.
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