NEWSPAPER ARTICLE/OBIT:
One man was burned to death and another escaped with severe burns yesterday afternoon when an explosion aboard a gasboat at the Lake Union Drydocks & Machine Works set fire to the United States customs slip and did about $20,000 damage before firemen put out the flames. A lighted match on the gasboat was said to have caused the explosion.
Toll of the fire and explosion included:
Ken Wylie, 26 years old; a carpenter, burned to death.
Steve Shepherd, customs engineer, burned on the face and back.
Two gasboats, valued at $17,000 destroyed.
An automobile and part of the customs dock burned.
Several yachts and other gasboats, valued at $60,000 were saved by quick work of their captains and
crews, who cut them loose from the burning slip and guided them out into the lake.
The fire sent up an unusually dense cloud of black smoke seen from Capitol and Queen Anne Hills and from many sections of the North End. A fireboat and several companies fought the fire.
Wylie lighted a match while working in the bilge of the gasboat. Rex, owned by Shepherd and his brother-in-law, Matt McCarthy. The explosion followed. Shepherd, who was working with him, was partly hurled through a skylight. He climbed out the rest of the way, his clothing aflame, and collapsed on the gunwale on the burning boat.
W. O. Storkel, a customs agent, pulled him ashore, put out the flames in his clothes and made a futile effort to rescue Wylie whose screams he could hear. Shepherd disappeared from the scene of the blaze shortly after firemen arrived, and it was for a time feared that he had stumbled off the dock. He was later found at his home at 2217 Second Avenue NE where friends had taken him. His injuries are not serious.
The customs slip is on the east shore of the lake near the foot of Galer Street, a stones' throw from the City Light plant. The Retriever, the customers' forty-foot boarding gasboat, docked beside the Rex in the covered customs slip, also was destroyed. She was valued at $15,000. The Rex was valued at $2,000.
Among the nearby docked boats which were saved were the Stella Mavis, the Canco and the Gadget, the latter owned by Richard E. Lang, president of the National Grocery Company, firemen said.
Because of the flames' headway, firemen for many minutes were unable to check the fire on the Rex sufficiently to recover Wylie's body. It was finally taken from the embers. He was 28 years old. His wife and baby girl, living at Richmond Highlands, survive him. He had been employed by Shepherd to aid in repairing the Rex, which had only recently returned from an Alaskan trip.
The gasoline or gas fumes which exploded must have been in the waste in the bilge, Shepherd said. No fuel was in her tanks. Two oil drums, one in the cabin and one on deck, were empty, he declared.
The automobile destroyed was owned by Shepherd and was in the garage adjoining the slip. Three confiscated automobiles were saved. The Rex was a 55-foot trawler.
Mrs. Wylie, a stenographer, was at work in the Terminal Sales Building when informed of the accident. She hurried to the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Martin Jahnsen, 4205 Sixth Avenue NE where Janet Lorraine, her 6 year-old daughter, had been left for the day. Later Mrs. Wylie visited the University Undertaking Parlors, where Wylie's body had been removed.
Wylie is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Wylie, 3812 McKinley Place, and a twin brother, Russell, as well as by his widow and daughter. Wylie's funeral services will be held in the University Undertaking Company parlors at 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon.
Seattle Daily Times, March 29, 1931
One man was burned to death and another escaped with severe burns yesterday afternoon when an explosion aboard a gasboat at the Lake Union Drydocks & Machine Works set fire to the United States customs slip and did about $20,000 damage before firemen put out the flames. A lighted match on the gasboat was said to have caused the explosion.
Toll of the fire and explosion included:
Ken Wylie, 26 years old; a carpenter, burned to death.
Steve Shepherd, customs engineer, burned on the face and back.
Two gasboats, valued at $17,000 destroyed.
An automobile and part of the customs dock burned.
Several yachts and other gasboats, valued at $60,000 were saved by quick work of their captains and
crews, who cut them loose from the burning slip and guided them out into the lake.
The fire sent up an unusually dense cloud of black smoke seen from Capitol and Queen Anne Hills and from many sections of the North End. A fireboat and several companies fought the fire.
Wylie lighted a match while working in the bilge of the gasboat. Rex, owned by Shepherd and his brother-in-law, Matt McCarthy. The explosion followed. Shepherd, who was working with him, was partly hurled through a skylight. He climbed out the rest of the way, his clothing aflame, and collapsed on the gunwale on the burning boat.
W. O. Storkel, a customs agent, pulled him ashore, put out the flames in his clothes and made a futile effort to rescue Wylie whose screams he could hear. Shepherd disappeared from the scene of the blaze shortly after firemen arrived, and it was for a time feared that he had stumbled off the dock. He was later found at his home at 2217 Second Avenue NE where friends had taken him. His injuries are not serious.
The customs slip is on the east shore of the lake near the foot of Galer Street, a stones' throw from the City Light plant. The Retriever, the customers' forty-foot boarding gasboat, docked beside the Rex in the covered customs slip, also was destroyed. She was valued at $15,000. The Rex was valued at $2,000.
Among the nearby docked boats which were saved were the Stella Mavis, the Canco and the Gadget, the latter owned by Richard E. Lang, president of the National Grocery Company, firemen said.
Because of the flames' headway, firemen for many minutes were unable to check the fire on the Rex sufficiently to recover Wylie's body. It was finally taken from the embers. He was 28 years old. His wife and baby girl, living at Richmond Highlands, survive him. He had been employed by Shepherd to aid in repairing the Rex, which had only recently returned from an Alaskan trip.
The gasoline or gas fumes which exploded must have been in the waste in the bilge, Shepherd said. No fuel was in her tanks. Two oil drums, one in the cabin and one on deck, were empty, he declared.
The automobile destroyed was owned by Shepherd and was in the garage adjoining the slip. Three confiscated automobiles were saved. The Rex was a 55-foot trawler.
Mrs. Wylie, a stenographer, was at work in the Terminal Sales Building when informed of the accident. She hurried to the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Martin Jahnsen, 4205 Sixth Avenue NE where Janet Lorraine, her 6 year-old daughter, had been left for the day. Later Mrs. Wylie visited the University Undertaking Parlors, where Wylie's body had been removed.
Wylie is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Wylie, 3812 McKinley Place, and a twin brother, Russell, as well as by his widow and daughter. Wylie's funeral services will be held in the University Undertaking Company parlors at 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon.
Seattle Daily Times, March 29, 1931
NEWSPAPER ARTICLE/OBIT:
One man was burned to death and another escaped with severe burns yesterday afternoon when an explosion aboard a gasboat at the Lake Union Drydocks & Machine Works set fire to the United States customs slip and did about $20,000 damage before firemen put out the flames. A lighted match on the gasboat was said to have caused the explosion.
Toll of the fire and explosion included:
Ken Wylie, 26 years old; a carpenter, burned to death.
Steve Shepherd, customs engineer, burned on the face and back.
Two gasboats, valued at $17,000 destroyed.
An automobile and part of the customs dock burned.
Several yachts and other gasboats, valued at $60,000 were saved by quick work of their captains and
crews, who cut them loose from the burning slip and guided them out into the lake.
The fire sent up an unusually dense cloud of black smoke seen from Capitol and Queen Anne Hills and from many sections of the North End. A fireboat and several companies fought the fire.
Wylie lighted a match while working in the bilge of the gasboat. Rex, owned by Shepherd and his brother-in-law, Matt McCarthy. The explosion followed. Shepherd, who was working with him, was partly hurled through a skylight. He climbed out the rest of the way, his clothing aflame, and collapsed on the gunwale on the burning boat.
W. O. Storkel, a customs agent, pulled him ashore, put out the flames in his clothes and made a futile effort to rescue Wylie whose screams he could hear. Shepherd disappeared from the scene of the blaze shortly after firemen arrived, and it was for a time feared that he had stumbled off the dock. He was later found at his home at 2217 Second Avenue NE where friends had taken him. His injuries are not serious.
The customs slip is on the east shore of the lake near the foot of Galer Street, a stones' throw from the City Light plant. The Retriever, the customers' forty-foot boarding gasboat, docked beside the Rex in the covered customs slip, also was destroyed. She was valued at $15,000. The Rex was valued at $2,000.
Among the nearby docked boats which were saved were the Stella Mavis, the Canco and the Gadget, the latter owned by Richard E. Lang, president of the National Grocery Company, firemen said.
Because of the flames' headway, firemen for many minutes were unable to check the fire on the Rex sufficiently to recover Wylie's body. It was finally taken from the embers. He was 28 years old. His wife and baby girl, living at Richmond Highlands, survive him. He had been employed by Shepherd to aid in repairing the Rex, which had only recently returned from an Alaskan trip.
The gasoline or gas fumes which exploded must have been in the waste in the bilge, Shepherd said. No fuel was in her tanks. Two oil drums, one in the cabin and one on deck, were empty, he declared.
The automobile destroyed was owned by Shepherd and was in the garage adjoining the slip. Three confiscated automobiles were saved. The Rex was a 55-foot trawler.
Mrs. Wylie, a stenographer, was at work in the Terminal Sales Building when informed of the accident. She hurried to the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Martin Jahnsen, 4205 Sixth Avenue NE where Janet Lorraine, her 6 year-old daughter, had been left for the day. Later Mrs. Wylie visited the University Undertaking Parlors, where Wylie's body had been removed.
Wylie is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Wylie, 3812 McKinley Place, and a twin brother, Russell, as well as by his widow and daughter. Wylie's funeral services will be held in the University Undertaking Company parlors at 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon.
Seattle Daily Times, March 29, 1931
One man was burned to death and another escaped with severe burns yesterday afternoon when an explosion aboard a gasboat at the Lake Union Drydocks & Machine Works set fire to the United States customs slip and did about $20,000 damage before firemen put out the flames. A lighted match on the gasboat was said to have caused the explosion.
Toll of the fire and explosion included:
Ken Wylie, 26 years old; a carpenter, burned to death.
Steve Shepherd, customs engineer, burned on the face and back.
Two gasboats, valued at $17,000 destroyed.
An automobile and part of the customs dock burned.
Several yachts and other gasboats, valued at $60,000 were saved by quick work of their captains and
crews, who cut them loose from the burning slip and guided them out into the lake.
The fire sent up an unusually dense cloud of black smoke seen from Capitol and Queen Anne Hills and from many sections of the North End. A fireboat and several companies fought the fire.
Wylie lighted a match while working in the bilge of the gasboat. Rex, owned by Shepherd and his brother-in-law, Matt McCarthy. The explosion followed. Shepherd, who was working with him, was partly hurled through a skylight. He climbed out the rest of the way, his clothing aflame, and collapsed on the gunwale on the burning boat.
W. O. Storkel, a customs agent, pulled him ashore, put out the flames in his clothes and made a futile effort to rescue Wylie whose screams he could hear. Shepherd disappeared from the scene of the blaze shortly after firemen arrived, and it was for a time feared that he had stumbled off the dock. He was later found at his home at 2217 Second Avenue NE where friends had taken him. His injuries are not serious.
The customs slip is on the east shore of the lake near the foot of Galer Street, a stones' throw from the City Light plant. The Retriever, the customers' forty-foot boarding gasboat, docked beside the Rex in the covered customs slip, also was destroyed. She was valued at $15,000. The Rex was valued at $2,000.
Among the nearby docked boats which were saved were the Stella Mavis, the Canco and the Gadget, the latter owned by Richard E. Lang, president of the National Grocery Company, firemen said.
Because of the flames' headway, firemen for many minutes were unable to check the fire on the Rex sufficiently to recover Wylie's body. It was finally taken from the embers. He was 28 years old. His wife and baby girl, living at Richmond Highlands, survive him. He had been employed by Shepherd to aid in repairing the Rex, which had only recently returned from an Alaskan trip.
The gasoline or gas fumes which exploded must have been in the waste in the bilge, Shepherd said. No fuel was in her tanks. Two oil drums, one in the cabin and one on deck, were empty, he declared.
The automobile destroyed was owned by Shepherd and was in the garage adjoining the slip. Three confiscated automobiles were saved. The Rex was a 55-foot trawler.
Mrs. Wylie, a stenographer, was at work in the Terminal Sales Building when informed of the accident. She hurried to the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Martin Jahnsen, 4205 Sixth Avenue NE where Janet Lorraine, her 6 year-old daughter, had been left for the day. Later Mrs. Wylie visited the University Undertaking Parlors, where Wylie's body had been removed.
Wylie is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Wylie, 3812 McKinley Place, and a twin brother, Russell, as well as by his widow and daughter. Wylie's funeral services will be held in the University Undertaking Company parlors at 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon.
Seattle Daily Times, March 29, 1931
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