Tragedy at Franklin Mine: A Fatal Night for Three Workers
A high stump falls through a miners' cabin, taking three lives and leaving families in mourning in South 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.
The intelligence was spread yesterday afternoon that three men had been killed at the Franklin mine. A high stump or broken-off tree fell across one of the cabins in which the miners lived. The three occupants were all sitting around the stove, joking and telling yarns, when the stump came crashing through. The men were all instantly killed. They were John J. Smith, John Cannon, and Hurt Gault. The latter was a young man about 24 years of age, and leaves a wife and little child who live in South Seattle. Mr. Smith was about 30 years of age, and has a brother residing in Lucas, Iowa. Mr. Cannon was about 50 years of age, and came to this county from Drifton, Pennsylvania, where his folks reside. Mrs. Gault has delicate health, and was nearly overcome when her neighbor, Mrs. Baglev, carried out the instructions of the following dispatch from Wm. J. Yates, foreman of the Franklin mine: 'Tell Mrs. Gault that her husband was killed today.' Mr. Gault was an Oddfellow, and the members of that order have been very active in their attentions to the deceased and to the bereaved family. The funeral will take place from the Oddfellows Hall, corner of Front and Marion streets, at 2 p.m. today. The other two men will be buried by members of the Catholic Church tomorrow afternoon. Many of the miners came to town for the purpose of attending the funerals. The accident cast a gloom over the entire settlement at Franklin, and was totally unexpected, as the miners had taken particular pains to cut down all the heavy trees in the vicinity of the cabins. It seems that this one stump was supposed to be sound and safe, but the accident showed the mistake.
“The accident cast a gloom over the entire settlement at Franklin, and was totally unexpected, as the miners had taken particular pains to cut down all the heavy trees in the vicinity of the cabins.”
Mining accidents in the late 1800s were a brutal reality of the Pacific Northwest's rapid industrialization. Today, the ghost town of Franklin remains a stark reminder of the danger faced by workers who built the state's economy, echoing modern debates over industrial safety and the precariousness of working-class lives.
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