A Fall in the Kennedy Mill
Floyd More was repairing machinery at the Kennedy mill in Dalkena when he fell and shattered his leg — a routine catastrophe in a trade with no safety net.
Floyd More, who for some months past has been employed in the Kennedy mill at Dalkena, met with a serious accident Wednesday afternoon. While Mr. More was engaged in fixing some machinery in the mill he fell and broke his leg. The injured man was brought to Newport on the Metaline and removed to the Antler Hotel, where Dr. Phillips, who was summoned, set the limb and made the patient as comfortable as possible.
“While Mr. More was engaged in fixing some machinery in the mill he fell and broke his leg.”
Washington had no workmen's compensation law until 1911, so an injured mill hand depended on his employer's goodwill — and on a hotel room serving as a hospital bed. The Kennedy mill is long gone, but timber and mill work still rank among the most dangerous jobs in Pend Oreille County. Then as now, the accident is recorded in a few bare sentences, told from the company's side.
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