Worker Falls 36 Feet in Opera House Construction Accident
German laborer Henry Neigleman fell 36 feet through a collapsed plank at Frye's Opera House, breaking a shoulder blade.
Yesterday afternoon, Henry Neigleman, a German laborer employed on Frye’s Opera House, was wheeling brick to the workmen. While passing over a plank, the structure gave way, throwing him 36 feet to the ground. In his descent, he passed through joists, stringers and all sorts of timbers. He was picked up by fellow workmen and taken to his home between Washington and Main streets. Dr. P.B.M. Miller examined him and found a broken shoulder blade and severe bruising. Neigleman has a wife and family who depend on his earnings, and it will be in order now for his German fellow citizens to see to it that the family does not come to want.
“It will be in order now for his German fellow citizens to see to it that the family does not come to want.”
Workplace injuries in 1884 Seattle were often handled through community charity rather than formal insurance or workers' compensation. This account reflects a time when injured laborers relied heavily on their specific ethnic or community social networks for survival.
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