A Bad Day at the Ballard Shingle Mill
A fire in Ed A. Auld's shingle mill is stopped by a neighboring company's apparatus, then two workers are maimed in separate accidents.
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.
Ed A. Auld's shingle mill caught fire yesterday morning at 10 o'clock. The fire started between the boiler and dry house. Two streams were promptly turned on from the Stimson Mill Company's fire apparatus and put out what might otherwise have been a serious fire. The fire department arrived promptly, but its services were not required. The damage to the dry house amounted to $50.
Thomas Magan, a double block sawyer in the mill, lost the index finger and the end of the thumb of his left hand by having the hand drawn into the knives of the blocker yesterday, after the fire. In the afternoon Fred Gaulet, another employee of the mill, broke his left arm below the elbow by falling off a box. Dr. Walter Johnston attended both men, who are doing well.
“Thomas Magan, a double block sawyer in the mill, lost the index finger and the end of the thumb of his left hand by having the hand drawn into the knives of the blocker.”
Shingle mills were dangerous workplaces, and workers had little safety net beyond a company doctor. Seattle's growth still depends on industries where the line between rapid production and injury remains contested.
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