Sawed in Two: A Young Mill Worker’s Death at Sidney
Albert Dahlager slipped against the rotary saws at Wilson Bros.’ mill in Kitsap County, leaving a widowed mother without support.
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.
SIDNEY, Kitsap County, March 7.—[Special.]—On Saturday last Albert Dahlager, a sawyer in Wilson Bros.' mill, met a horrible death by being sawed in two. He was working on the carriage when his foot slipped and he fell against the big rotary saws, one above the other, which were revolving at high speed. In an instant the big saw teeth had seized him, crashing through clothing, flesh and bone, and threw his mangled remains about thirty feet. Blood and shreds of flesh and clothing bespattered the mill. Death of course followed the instant of contact with the saw teeth, as the body went through between the heavy steel discs in a flash. Dahlager was a young man and the sole support of a widowed mother.
“In an instant the big saw teeth had seized him, crashing through clothing, flesh and bone.”
Before modern workplace safety rules, a mill accident could erase a family’s income in seconds. Puget Sound’s timber economy was built on such risk; the story is a reminder that today’s safety debates still turn on how much a worker’s life is worth.
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