The Bridge That Broke a Boiler Maker
William Murray was never a soldier, but helping Union troops hold a West Virginia bridge cost him a leg — and, thirty years later, his life in Seattle.
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.
A Fate That Overtook a Veteran Boiler Maker in the War.
William Murray, a veteran boiler maker and one who received the injury that finally caused his death while fighting for the Union, passed away at Providence hospital yesterday at his sixty-second year.
Mr. Murray was a native of Ireland and came to the United States in 1850. His first home was at Pittsburg, Pa., where he worked as a boiler maker in the McNeil Bros. factory. During the war of the rebellion the Union soldiers were encamped on his father-in-law's farm near [the] tunnel in West Virginia. Mr. Murray was not a soldier, but joined the troops to help them hold a bridge near the tunnel. The Confederates made a successful attack on the picket line, and, while retreating through the bridge, Mr. Murray fell through and broke his left leg below the knee. Some defect in the setting of the bones prevented a complete healing, and as years have passed Mr. Murray has frequently been a sufferer. About six years ago he came to this city. For a while he worked at Sullivan's boiler shop and later was janitor of the Douthitt building on Second street. Some time ago his leg troubled him so severely that he went to Providence hospital, where an operation was performed. His strength, however, had been so sapped that he slowly failed until death relieved him.
He leaves three sons, William Murray, a Green river rancher; H. J. Murray, of this city, and James Murray, of Tacoma; two daughters, Kate and Rose Murray, of Seattle. The funeral services will be held tomorrow morning at [nine] o'clock at the church of Our Lady of Good Help, followed by interment in Calvary cemetery.
“Mr. Murray was not a soldier, but joined the troops to help them hold a bridge near the tunnel.”
A civilian hurt while helping soldiers, whose wound never properly healed, dies decades later in a city hospital — a reminder that the people who build a city's boilers and sweep its office buildings rarely appear in its booster speeches. The same questions about industrial injury, veterans' care and who pays for the long aftermath of other men's wars are still with us.
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