WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MARCH 18, 2021 31
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
Labor rights protesters marched in memory of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory victims in 2011 and successfully lobbied government for greater worker
protections. Photo via The Villager
girls — were hastily preparing shirtwaists
(blouses) to meet their daily
quota before the close of business.
The actual cause of the fi re remains
remains unknown to this day, but it is
believed that someone on the eighth
fl oor dropped a match or a smoldering
cigarette into a pile of fabric scraps.
Seconds later, the fi re quickly engulfed
the fl oor and quickly grew out
of control aft er spreading to the many
piles of cloth that lined the factory.
Quickly, fl ames engulfed the ninth
and 10th fl oors.
Many workers tried to fl ee from the
burning factory stairwells, but were
unable to as the exits had been locked
from the outside by the factory owners.
Others inside the 10th fl oor of the
Asch Building managed to reach the
rooft op and ran to safety on the adjoining
roof of New York University.
Fire Department units, some with
vehicles and others by horse and
buggy, rushed to the scene. Workers
inside the building did their part to
try to extinguish the fl ames, but the
inferno moved and expanded too fast
to keep up.
To make matters worse, the water
pressure in the fi re hoses they used
was incapable of quenching the
fl ames.
THE JUMPERS
The fire proved to be a futile task
for the FDNY as well. Even though
the department had the most modern
firefighting equipment of its
time, its tallest ladder reached its
limit two stories shy of the eighth
floor.
Scores of the trapped workers
died from smoke inhalation or were
burned to death. About 20 women
did manage to escape through a
rickety fire escape on the eighth
floor, but others died when the fire
escape — later found to have had
rusty metal supports — failed, sending
them plunging to their deaths.
With the last means of egress gone
and the intense flames continuing to
consume their factory, those stuck
inside the burning building ran for
the windows, desperate for air. They
were faced with a grim decision —
either burn or suffocate from the
blaze, or to avoid the suffering by
leaping out of the buildings.
Either way, they were doomed to
perish.
Seconds later, bodies of the young
female workers began falling from
the upper floors of the Triangle
Shirtwaist factory. Crowds of onlookers
gathered near the factory
and helplessly watched one worker
after another take fatal plunges;
some of the workers were observed
leaping hand-in-hand in groups of
three or four.
Among the eyewitnesses to the
horror was Frances Perkins, who
would later become the first female
Cabinet member, serving as Secretary
of Labor for President Franklin
D. Roosevelt.
“The nets were broken,” she wrote
in her journal. “The firemen kept
shouting for them not to jump, but
they had no choice; the flames were
right behind them, for by this time,
the fire was far gone.”
The horror finally ended at
around 5:15 p.m. when the last body
fell from the Triangle Shirtwaist
Factory.
In just 45 minutes, 146 people had
lost their lives in the inferno considered
to be the worst industrial
disaster in the city’s history.
Some firefighters inspecting the
damage afterward found numerous
corpses inside the factory charred
beyond recognition.
A CITY MOURNED
All but seven of the dead workers
were eventually identified by relatives
through a temporary morgue
set up near the East River.
Those whose remains were not
identified were given a proper
burial at a mass funeral held on
April 5, 1911, in which hundreds
of thousands of New Yorkers —
moved by the sorrowful event
— participated.
Prior to the tragic inferno, labor
organizers tried to raise awareness
about the factory’s working conditions.
Though four small fires had
occurred at the site in the previous
year, Triangle’s owners — Isaac
Harris and Max Blanck — failed to
improve working conditions. They
had claimed that the building was
technically “fireproof ” under existing
codes.
Both Harris and Blanck were
eventually put on trial on manslaughter
charges for the deadly
blaze, but were ultimately acquitted.
In the end, prosecutors were
unable to prove that they knew
that the exit doors to the factory
had been locked.
Despite the horror of the Triangle
Shirtwaist fire, the tragic
event helped galvanize the labor
movement in New York City, helping
to bring about political change
and new rules improving worker
safety in all industries.
Sources include the March 31, 2011,
issue of the Ridgewood Times, The
Villager and “New York: An Illustrated
History,” by Ric Burns, James
Sanders and Lisa Ades (expanded
edition, 2003, Alfred A. Knopf). It is
the companion work of Burns’ PBS
series, “New York: A Documentary
Film.”
* * *
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The Way It Was” that you
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