The Deadly Aftermath of the Great Seattle Fire
A workman is crushed by the unstable ruins of the Union Block, sparking a tragedy as crews attempt to clear the debris of the city's recent destruction.
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.
The wall between the Union and San Francisco blocks, which had been allowed to stand after the great fire of June 6, was blown down at 11:25 yesterday morning, causing the instant death of one man and fatally injuring another who were working underneath. The wall had been pronounced safe by an architect, but it was to be taken down by degrees by means of a derrick. On the Union block side of the wall, Charles Schmidt was the only one who did not run when the warning was given. He stood and looked up at the wall until it had commenced falling, and then turned to seek safety in the area under the sidewalk, about ten feet distant. He had not gone half that distance before the awful crash came. John Brewster, who was working on the iron front, was caught by the falling mass and buried to the basement below, a distance of thirty feet. Schmidt's body was found two hours later in a hole; his head was crushed in, and his features were hardly recognizable. He was unmarried and about 40 years of age, having lived in Seattle about five years.
“He stood and looked up at the wall until it had commenced falling, and then turned to seek safety.”
In the chaotic months following the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, the city raced to clear debris and rebuild. This incident highlights the extreme peril faced by laborers tasked with dismantling the city's charred skeleton—a stark reminder of the human cost of rapid urban redevelopment that still mirrors the dangerous conditions of modern demolition and construction work.
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