It is Saturday the 25th March 1911 and workers file into the cramped asch building, in downtown
Manhattan for another long and poorly paid day of work.
The some 500 people reporting for work that day consist mainly of newly immigrated women
from Italian and Jewish backgrounds.
The hours, low pay and type of work rarely attract established people in the city.
And because of this they are treated by their employers with suspicion, as such the top
3 floors of the 10 story building which formed the factory had their staircase doors locked.
This apparently normal practice in the industry helped prevent the workers from stealing some
paid break time or even worse pocket product.
The work is the making of shirtwaists the bodice of a dress or for a blouse or woman's
shirt.
Smoking inside the factory is banned as just a small ember can result in flames amongst
the cut fabric.
The workers that day would soon become the unwitting martyrs for workers rights as in
the late afternoon the triangle factory would burst into flames.
The resulting inferno would burn the event into American history as one of the country's
worst industrial disasters, and even to today still holds New York’s worst industrial
catastrophe death toll.
Today we are looking at the triangle shirtwaist disaster and I’m going to rate it here a
7 on my disaster scale but here 8 on my historical legacy scale, let’s see if you will agree
with my ratings.
At the turn of the century New York City is seeing a boom in economic and architectural
advancement.
The city for many is the first experience of the United States.
Each individual of the shuffling masses wants to fulfill the American dream and create a
better life for themselves, back home poverty and persecution was what many expected, but
a new life in a new world offered hope.
To many industry owners these new foreign workers offered an opportunity, cheap labor.
One such industry which found the cost effective manpower of immigration was the textile industry,
and many garment factories sprung up.
One such was the triangle waist company based in the Asch building in Manhattan nyc.
But before we look at the company we need to look at the building they operated from.
Building work for the asch building begun in 1900, it was to be a steel framed 10 story
high structure.
The design is very much an icon of New York architecture, neo renaissance and was quickly
completed in 1901.
The building boasted what the owners Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, claimed was fire proof rooms,
this drew in garment workers as fire was a big concern in the industry with fine cut
fabric being like a tinderbox if exposed to enough heat.
The building had a number of questionable features, with only a single fire escape,
poorly lit stairwells and a lack of landings.
Furthermore, as more garment manufacturer ramped up and ventilation became more stifled,
temperatures ranged from boiling to freezing.
There were no set limits to numbers of people per room leading to cramped conditions where
workers jostled for space amongst the heavy sewing machinery.
Inadequate toilet facilities were afforded to the staff, which resulted in horrendously
unsanitary conditions.
And all of this was compounded by employers locking their staff in on the shop floor during
the working day.
The city had allowed the asch building to only have 2 staircases, one to green street
and another to Washington place, in exchange for building an exterior metal fire escape.
In order to not accrue more costs in construction this staircase was made of flimsy iron and
when unmaintained quickly became weaker by the elements.
The working week for a triangle waist employee was a brutal 52 hour affair, with an hourly
rate around $4 in today’s money.
This involved a 6 day week consisting of 5 9 hours days followed by a 7 hour Saturday.
Many of the 500 employees were women ranging in age from 14-40s, although the average age
was in the early to mid 20s.
Max Blanck and Isaac Harris’s business model involved subcontracting work out under the
one company umbrella triangle waist.
Subcontracting was beneficial to the owners as it allowed them to pocket the profit without
much of the risk.
You see the subcontractors did the hiring firing and paying of the companies workers,
which allowed the wages to be set at rock bottom levels as each contractor pocketed
cash along the way to Max Blanck and Isaac Harris,.
It seemed like change was on the horizon for the industry after a walk out in 1909 at the
triangle waste factory and in the 1910 cloak masters strike.
The latter enabled a grievance procedure for garment workers and A number of new unions
were set up to investigate and fight poor working conditions, but unscrupulous employers
ignored any complaints.
And this was the story at the asch building, with poor fire controls, a lack of regular
inspections and dangerously stored flammable inventory.
As an effort to stop fires smoking was banned on the shop floor, however some still snuck
in puffs under their coats as they worked.
Which all leads us to 1911 and the event that shocked the city and country.
As the Saturday shift came to an end on the 25th of March, a flame appeared in one of
the wooden buckets used to keep offcuts of fabric on the 8th floor.
Around 1640 the flaming bucket spat out ignited debris into the room setting the hanging garments
ablaze, by now it was too late.
The floor filled with thick smoke as panic spread amongst the workers.
A book keeper managed to telephone up to the next the tenth floor to warn of the unfolding
catastrophe, but was unable to warn the people on the 9th.
No fire alarm system was in place in the factory leaving the 9th floor workers oblivious.
The first sign of disaster reared it’s head on the 9th floor as the flames burst into
the green street stairway blocking escape.
You see the floor had a number of exits, including two freight elevators, a fire escape, and
stairways down to Greene Street and Washington Place, the door to the Washington Place stairway
was locked by management as part of their theft prevention scheme.
The foreman who held the key had escaped before the fire had consumed the 9th floor.
The greene street staircase now completely engulfed with flames left only the fire escape
and elevator shaft as an option for the stranded workers.
Lift operators Joseph Zito and Gaspar Mortillaro continued to ferry people off the 9th floor
until the heat buckled the rails.
As the panicked staff gathered on the exterior fire escape, under the weight and heat of
the fire the poorly built structure collapsed, sending 20 hurtling into the pavement below.
This left the stranded workers nowhere to go but to wait for rescue or the flames.
The fire department was quick to arrive in the scene, but was inadequately prepared for
a fire on a tall building.
As such the provided ladders failed to reach the 9th floor leaving little way of escape
and hardly a fighting chance for extinguishing the fire.
With ever decreasing options some decided to jump out the windows and down the elevator
shaft rather than face the flames.
The ground around the asch building was littered with 62 dead bodies leaving a horrific spectacle
for the bystanders on the streets surrounding the inferno.
The fire eventually subsided but it left a terrifying death toll in its wake.
It is estimated that 146 perished on the 25th 23 men and 123 women.
The bodies of the victims were taken for identification to charities pier, examination discovered
most had succumbed to smoke inhalation, burns and blunt force trauma.
The dead due to their varying religious and ethnic background would be interred around
the city in a total of 16 cemeteries.
The event shook the city and caused outrage amongst the working classes as well as the
upper echelons of society.
Unsurprisingly the company owners were not amongst the dead as they had escaped onto
the roof.
But in the wake of the tragedy they were arrested and tried for manslaughter and indicted on
the 11th April.
Although the terrible working conditions should have been criminal, the trial came down to
whether the two men knew that the staircases were locked.
The trial would last 23 days, and after a brilliant defense orchestrated by max steuer
the two men were acquitted of all charges on the 27th December.
The defense lawyer had planted enough doubt in the minds of the jury as to whether the
owners were aware of the policy of locking their staff in.
It was likely they knew but an impossible task to prove, with any chance of evidence
going up in flames.
A civil suit would eventually be brought to the men which they lost and had to pay out
the grand sum of just $75 dollars per life lost in 1914.
The two men would not change their ways as in 1913 their replacement factory was found
yet again to be flaunting the fire rules.
When city inspectors looked at the new premises they found it not to be fireproof, without
fire escapes, and without adequate exits.
The two were fined the minimum amount, and yet again they continued to ignore the minimum
fire regulations.
In August of 1913, Max Blanck was charged with locking one of the doors of his factory
during working hours.
He was Brought to court, fined a measly twenty dollars, and given an apology from the judge
for the imposition.
And this was not unique within the industry where workers were seen as a mere cheap commodity
to be exploited.
But the shock of the ease in which the 146 died and the apparent even easier way in which
the owners shirked responsibility led to outrage across the city.
This outrage turned into action and workers unions memberships in the industry grew rapidly.
The public grief-stricken gathered in churches, synagogues, and in the streets.
But it didn’t just end with workers self organising, the city implemented new laws
initially aimed at fire related issues Such as better building access and egress, fireproofing
requirements, the availability of fire extinguishers, the installation of alarm systems and automatic
sprinklers.
But would expand to better eating and toilet facilities, and limiting the number of hours
that women and children could work.
The triangle waist company would continue to 1918 when it would be disbanded.
But what if the cause of the fire?
Well eye witness reports pointed the location of the fire to the wooden bin, the fire Marshall
thought the likely culprit to be a discarded cigarette or match.
But another cause has to be addressed, and that is arson.
The industry had a worrying trend when a type of garment went out of favor suspiciously
factories tended to catch alight, followed rather quickly by a large insurance claim.
Contemporary insurance journals places waists as losing popularity within the fashion industry,
but we will never know for sure as this line of inquiry was never pursued.
Which is not surprising considering the criminal trials outcome.
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