A Laborer's Suit for Damages
A Great Northern Railway worker files suit after a negligent blast left him permanently injured.
Richard Hennessey yesterday brought suit in the superior court against Strohm, Hoyt & Hall of Seattle to recover $5,000 for personal injuries. Hennessey alleges that while employed as a laborer on the Great Northern line near Martin Creek last November, a foreman set a blast without warning. The explosion threw rock in all directions, cutting Hennessey's face and fracturing his skull in three places. He spent three months in hospitals and remains unable to perform labor, leaving him disfigured for life.
“He has been compelled to spend three months in different hospitals and since his discharge has been unable to perform any labor and in addition has been disfigured for life.”
Worker safety was a dire, unregulated concern during the railroad construction boom of the 1890s. This case reflects the high human cost of the rapid infrastructure expansion that built the modern Pacific Northwest.
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