An Acre of Mine Fell In. His Estate Wants $20,000.
Thomas Anderson died in a December 1894 cave-in at the Carbon Hill mine. In Tacoma, his administrator alleges the company was negligent and seeks $20,000.
Tacoma, June 22.—Special.—William Cheader, as administrator of the estate of Thomas Anderson, deceased, brought action today against the Carbon Hill Coal Company on account of alleged negligence in the care and conduct of the mine, through which, on December 3, 1894, an acre or more in extent of the mine fell in, causing the death of Thomas Anderson. Plaintiff places the damages at $20,000. J. H. Camon and Patterson Thompson, of Seattle, are attorneys for plaintiff.
“on account of alleged negligence in the care and conduct of the mine, through which ... an acre or more in extent of the mine fell in, causing the death of Thomas Anderson.”
The Carbon Hill disaster was one of many industrial deaths in Washington's coal country, where company power often outpaced safety oversight. Today's wrongful-death and workplace-safety lawsuits still turn on the same question: what did the operator know, and what should it have done?
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.