100 years ago in Omak, Washington: 27 injured as fireworks grandstand with 400 people collapses

The casualty list from Fourth of July accidents grew into the dozens.

The region’s worst Fourth of July disaster came in Omak, Washington, where the grandstand collapsed during the celebration. About 400 people went down.

About 27 were injured, seven of them severely. They were being treated for broken limbs and dislocations.

The distraught manager of the attraction, a “young farmer on the reservation,” offered to “sell all of his bucking horses and other property and divide the proceeds among the injured.”

In Spokane, most of the mayhem was caused by auto accidents, including one that claimed the life of Spokane grocer when his car overturned on a steep grade near the Green Bluff prairie.

Two other men were badly injured in a crash during Spokane’s Fourth of July auto race. Both the driver and the mechanic were hurt when the car overturned.

Seven Fort George Wright soldiers and a chauffeur were hurt when their car “turned turtle.” Four of the men were thrown into a sand pit and were treated for various injuries.

Fireworks were the cause of several other serious accidents. A firecracker exploded near the eye of a 2-year-old girl, and doctors feared she might lose sight in that eye.

Elsewhere, “an Italian, whose name was not learned,” was rushed to a doctor after a “giant cracker” exploded near his head. He believed he was about to go blind, but the doctor reassured him that he had just been stunned and his eyesight was unaffected.

Another man, 18, was holding a firecracker when it exploded, burning his eyelashes off, but doctors believed there would be no permanent injury.