Young Daughter Rescues Father from Burning Brush
A Sumner man falls into a fire while clearing brush, only to be pulled to safety by his two young daughters.
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.
Joseph Murphy, of this place, met with a serious accident last evening about 5 o'clock. He was burning some brush and logs on a side hill. He was in the act of hauling a log up to the fire when he stumbled against another log and was precipitated into the burning embers. When he fell his head struck an obstruction and stunned him. His two little daughters were watching the fire, and seeing their father fall, rushed to him and pulled him to safety. They burned their hands in doing so. Mr. Murphy's hair and mustache were burned off, and his head, ears, face and chest badly burned.
“Seeing their father fall, they rushed to him and pulled him to safety.”
Accidents in the wildland-urban interface were common as early settlers cleared the dense Washington landscape. While the tools have changed, the danger of back-yard brush clearing remains a local hazard.
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