Disaster at the Hardware Store
A shelf collapse at a prominent Seattle hardware firm results in injury and property loss, highlighting the hazards of downtown commercial growth.
Yesterday forenoon, while Mr. Wusthoff, of the firm of Wusthoff & Ward, hardware dealers on Front Street, was in the act of taking down some goods from an upper shelf in their establishment, all the shelving on the north side of their store, owing to the negligence of the joiners who did not put it up properly, fell with a crash upon the floor. The falling mass caused severe injuries upon Mr. Ward, who was struck and severely bruised about the head and otherwise injured; it is, we are glad to state, not dangerously so. His partner and two or three others, who were in the store at the time, also sustained slight injuries from the falling wreckage. The damage resulting to the firm from this untoward event, from breakage and otherwise, will not fall short of one hundred dollars.
“Owing to the negligence of the joiners who did not put it up properly, [it] fell with a crash upon the floor.”
In 1876, Seattle’s rapid expansion led to rushed construction that caused immediate, tangible accidents. Today, that same urgency and 'get-it-done' speed in development manifests in the city's ongoing struggles with construction site safety, permitting backlogs, and the quality of new-build housing.
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