WEBVTT

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Think about your weekend. Think about clocking

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out at the end of a really long, exhausting workday.

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Oh, that feeling of just being entirely drained.

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Right. I want you to genuinely put yourself in

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that head space for a second. You've just worked

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a 52 -hour week. Which is just brutal. Totally

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brutal. Your body aches from sitting hunched

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over a violently vibrating machine. You're breathing

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in the stale air that's just... thick with cotton

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dust. You can practically feel it in your lungs.

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Exactly. And you're making absolute pennies for

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your labor. So it's late Saturday afternoon.

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The sun is starting to dip. And you are eagerly

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waiting to just grab your coat, go home, rest

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your hands, and finally see your family. You're

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just watching the clock at that point. You are.

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And you finally get the signal to leave. So you

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walk over to the heavy door leading to the stairwell.

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You turn the knob. And you find that it has been

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intentionally locked from the outside. It's just

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a terrifying thought. You are trapped. OK, let's

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unpack this, because to truly grasp the sheer

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suffocating horror of the scenario, we have to

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less transition from our modern comforts and

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step directly into the gritty, highly combustible

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reality of Greenwich Village in 1911. Yeah, we

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really have to set the scene. We do. So welcome

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to today's deep dive. We are looking at a comprehensive

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historical overview of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist

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Factory Fire in New York City. It is a really

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heavy topic, obviously. It is, yeah. But our

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mission today is to explore how a horrifying,

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entirely preventable tragedy fundamentally transformed

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American labor laws, fueled the massive growth

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of labor unions, and why modern memorial efforts

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are fighting so hard to keep the memory of these

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specific immigrant workers alive right now. Right,

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because it's not just some abstract historical

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event. it's an absolute cornerstone of American

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social history. To understand the modern workplace

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like, why we have the specific safety standards

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we do, why the labor movement shifted from a

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fringe concept to a massive political force,

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you really have to understand the mechanics of

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what happened on that Saturday afternoon in March

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of 1911. So let's start with the location itself.

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Right, so we were looking at the Ash building,

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it was later renamed the Brown building, and

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it actually still stands today in Manhattan.

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Wait, it's still there? Yeah, it's right on the

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northwest corner of Green Street and Washington

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Place, which is just a block east of Washington

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Square Park. Today, it's actually part of the

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New York University campus. Oh, wow. I bet half

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the students don't even know. Probably not, though

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it is a national historic landmark. But back

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in 1911, the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors

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of this 10 -story building were occupied by the

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Triangle Waste Company. And they were churning

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out shirtwaists, which if you don't know, those

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are those high collared puffy sleeved blouses

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that were basically the absolute uniform of the

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modern working woman at the time. Exactly. If

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you look at any photograph of a Gibson girl from

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that era, she's wearing a shirtwaist. Right.

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So the factory was owned by two men, Max Blank

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and Isaac Harris. And they were themselves Jewish

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immigrants who had kind of climbed the ladder

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of the garment industry. Right. Yeah. They became

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known around the city as the the shirtwaist kings.

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The shirtwaist kings, wow. And they normally

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employed about 500 workers in this massive open

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floor space. But before we get to the disaster

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itself, we really need to look at the human element.

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Like, who were the people sitting at those long

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tables? Yeah, shoulder to shoulder, listening

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to the deafening roar of hundreds of sewing machines.

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Exactly. Who were they? Well, the vast majority

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of those 500 workers were young, recent Italian

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and Jewish immigrant women and girls. And when

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you say young, I mean, how young are we talking?

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We mean the ages primarily range from 14 to 23

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years old. 14. That's eighth grade. Yeah. I mean,

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these were individuals who often came from deep

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poverty. They were arriving from the pale of

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settlement in Eastern Europe or the impoverished

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regions of southern Italy. And they were living

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in those densely packed, poorly ventilated tenements

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of the Lower East Side. Exactly. Most of them

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had little to no formal education, and they possess

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a very poor command of the English language.

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Which makes them incredibly vulnerable. Oh, completely.

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They were navigating a brand new country, a massive

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overwhelming city, and a brutal industrial economy

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all at the exact same time. The economics of

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their situation are just staggering when you

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really lay them out. I mean, they were working

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nine hours a day on weekdays, plus an additional

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seven hours on Saturdays. Which adds up fast.

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It does. That's 52 hours of grueling, repetitive,

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physical labor every single week. And the compensation

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for that was between $7 and $12 a week. Yeah,

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which doesn't sound like much. And it wasn't.

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No. Even if we adjust that to modern currency,

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it's roughly the equivalent of maybe $240 to

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$400 a week. So we are talking about $5 to $8

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an hour in today's money. It's essentially starvation

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wages. But there is a deeper mechanical aspect

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to how they were paid, too. It wasn't just a

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simple hourly wage. Right, right. Can you explain

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that? Because the subcontracting thing is wild.

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Yeah, so the garment industry operated heavily

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on a piece rate system or basically a subcontracting

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system within the factory walls. Blanken Harris

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would pay a male contractor, who is known as

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a sweater, a set amount for a batch of garments.

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OK. And then that sweater would hire these young

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women to do the actual sewing. And he paid them

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out of his own cut. So his profit entirely depends

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on squeezing them. Exactly. The sweater's profit

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margin depended entirely on driving these girls

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to work as fast as humanly possible while paying

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them as little as possible. And the deductions,

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too. The sources mentioned they were actually

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charged for their own supplies. Oh, it was awful.

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They had their pay docked for the needles they

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broke, the thread they used, even the electric

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power that ran their sewing machines. Wait, they

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had to pay for the electricity to run the bosses'

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machines? They absolutely did. They were squeezed

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from every conceivable angle. Which really makes

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me think about the modern fast fashion supply

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chain, you know. But we need to look closer at

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the mechanism of that exploitation here. Today,

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brands use shell companies and oversized contractors

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specifically to create like a legal firewall

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between themselves and sweatshop conditions.

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Right. Distance and plausible deniability are

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the economic incentives. Exactly. But Blank and

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Harris were doing the exact same thing, just

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geographically closer. I mean, they hired people

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who couldn't speak English because a language

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barrier is a built -in firewall against complaints.

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That's a great point. If your workers don't speak

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the language of the police, or the building inspectors

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or the newspapers, they are inherently isolated.

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And that eye -sumption was a calculated business

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decision. Management heavily preferred hiring

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these young immigrant women over men because

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they were cheaper. But crucially, they were perceived

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as much less likely to unionize. They just wanted

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a docile workforce. Exactly. They were viewed

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as compliant and easily intimidated. I mean,

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if a 14 -year -old girl who speaks only Yiddish

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or Sicilian complains about the peace raid or

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the locked doors, you can simply fire her. And

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there's a thousand more stepping off the boats

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at Ellis Island to take her place. Right. The

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sources strongly point to a system built entirely

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on extraction. When you intentionally hire the

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most vulnerable, easily -silenced demographic

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you can find, you are prioritizing margin over

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humanity. But wait, just to play devil's advocate

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here for a second, were Blank and Harris uniquely

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evil? Or were they just operating a standard

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business in 1911? Like, if they viewed these

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women as disposable cogs, wasn't that just the

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prevailing industrial mindset of the era? Well,

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it was certainly the prevailing mindset, yes.

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But the Triangle Factory was notorious, even

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among its peers, for its strictness and its intense

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anti -union paranoia. So they were bad even for

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1911? Yes. And this dehumanization of the workforce

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didn't just create a miserable daily existence,

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it set the literal and physical stage for the

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disaster. Because when you devalue human life

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in your underlying business model, you are certainly

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not going to invest capital in protecting that

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life. You're not going to spend money on extra

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exits or fire drills or better ventilation because

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the people inside are seen as easily replaceable

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inventory, not human beings. Wow. That just sets

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up the perfect horrific storm for March 25, 1911.

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It really does. So let's get into the day. It's

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a Saturday. It is approximately 4 .4 in the afternoon.

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The workday is just minutes away from ending.

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The workers are likely thinking about gathering

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their coats, getting their meager paychecks,

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and heading back to the tenements. And then the

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spark. Right. At the northeast corner of the

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eighth floor, tucked under one of the cutters

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tables, a fire flares up in a scrap bin. And

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do we know how it started? The fire marshal later

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concluded that the most likely cause was an un

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-extinguished match or a cigarette butt tossed

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into this wooden bin. Now, you have to picture

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what was in this bin and what was in the room.

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This wasn't a modern office trash can. Right.

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This bin contained two months worth of accumulated

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fabric cuttings. Wait, two months? Why would

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they let hundreds of pounds of highly flammable

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scraps just pile up under the tables for two

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months? Because the scraps had value. The owners

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sold the scraps to a rag man who would come and

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collect them by the ton to be recycled into shoddy

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or cheap felt. OK, so it was a side hustle for

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the owners. Exactly. But the rag man hadn't been

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there in over eight weeks. So you have hundreds

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of pounds of leftover sheer cotton and lawn fabric

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piled up. And somebody was smoking near. I thought

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smoking was banned. It was technically banned

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in the factory for obvious reasons, but it was

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an open secret. that the mail cutters, who had

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slightly more status in the factory hierarchy,

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would sneak cigarettes. They would exhale the

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smoke downward through their lapels to avoid

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being caught by the floor managers. So a discarded

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cigarette meets a mountain of bone dry fabric.

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And the physical environment of that room, it

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is hard to overstate how primed it was for a

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flash fire. The physics of the space were deadly.

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It wasn't just the scraps in the bin. Above the

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tables, lines of finished and unfinished delicate

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cotton shirtwaists were hung from wires strung

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across the ceiling. Oh, so the fire can literally

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travel across the ceiling. Right. They acted

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almost like a canopy of kindling. Plus, the wooden

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tables were soaked in lubricating oil that constantly

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dripped from the hundreds of sewing machines.

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The floorboards were saturated with years of

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this machine oil. That sounds like a bomb waiting

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to go off. It was. And perhaps most dangerous

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of all, the air itself was thick with suspended

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cotton dust and lint, which can act almost like

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an explosive accelerant when exposed to an open

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flame. The environment was a literal tinderbox.

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What's terrifying is the speed at which this

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environment turned against them. The communication

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breakdown was just instantaneous and catastrophic.

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Yeah, the warnings failed almost immediately.

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Right. I mean, the first fire alarm wasn't even

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sent from inside the Ash building. It was pulled

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at 4 .45 p .m. by a random passerby out on Washington

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Place who happened to look up and see smoke billowing

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from the eighth floor windows. Which is wild

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to think about. It is. Inside, a bookkeeper on

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the eighth floor managed to use a telephone to

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warn the executive offices up on the floor. But

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there was no audible alarm system in the building.

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There was no internal public address system.

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No bells. Nothing. Nothing. There was no way

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to ring the ninth floor. And imagine the claustrophobia

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and the suddenness of that realization. You are

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sandwiched on the ninth floor surrounded by the

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deafening noise of 250 sewing machines running

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at full tilt. You wouldn't be able to hear a

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thing. Not a thing. According to survivor Yetta

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Lubitz, The very first warning they had of the

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fire on the ninth floor was the arrival of the

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fire itself. I guess me chills. Yeah, the flames

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just burst up through the windows from the floor

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below, drafting up the exterior of the building

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and catching the fabric hanging from the ninth

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floor ceiling. It bypassed any warning and simply

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exploded into their reality. And this is where

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we really have to look at the architecture of

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the Ash building because the safety protocols,

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or really the complete lack of them, instantly

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turned this from an emergency into a massacre.

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First of all, there were no sprinklers in the

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building. None. Right. And to address your earlier

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point about building codes, the Ash building

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was considered a modern, quote unquote, fireproof

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building. Fireproof? How? Well, technically,

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the structure itself was fireproof. The steel

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frame, the stone facade, the concrete floors,

00:12:33.009 --> 00:12:35.350
they didn't burn. But the contents of the building

00:12:35.350 --> 00:12:38.480
were a furnace. The architects and the city codes

00:12:38.480 --> 00:12:40.940
focused on ensuring the building wouldn't collapse

00:12:40.940 --> 00:12:43.019
and destroy neighboring property. They cared

00:12:43.019 --> 00:12:45.179
about the real estate, not the people. Exactly.

00:12:45.379 --> 00:12:47.480
They gave almost zero thought to the people trapped

00:12:47.480 --> 00:12:49.659
inside the fireproof box. That is a chilling

00:12:49.659 --> 00:12:52.269
distinction. The building survives, but everyone

00:12:52.269 --> 00:12:55.230
inside cooks. So let's look at the exit options

00:12:55.230 --> 00:12:58.289
for these girls. The ninth floor had a few potential

00:12:58.289 --> 00:13:01.809
routes, two freight elevators, a single exterior

00:13:01.809 --> 00:13:04.309
fire escape, and two narrow stairways leading

00:13:04.309 --> 00:13:06.990
down to Green Street and Washington Place. But

00:13:06.990 --> 00:13:09.509
within three minutes, just three minutes of the

00:13:09.509 --> 00:13:12.110
fire reaching the ninth floor, the Green Street

00:13:12.110 --> 00:13:15.250
stairway became a wall of fire. Three minutes?

00:13:15.470 --> 00:13:18.250
That's no time at all. None. The stairwell acted

00:13:18.250 --> 00:13:20.570
like a chimney, drawing the superheated air,

00:13:20.929 --> 00:13:24.070
smoke, and flames violently upward. It was completely

00:13:24.070 --> 00:13:26.669
impassable in both directions. What's fascinating

00:13:26.669 --> 00:13:30.029
here, in the most macabre sense, is the brutal

00:13:30.029 --> 00:13:32.980
irony of the factory floor's design. The sources

00:13:32.980 --> 00:13:35.279
note that the only thing in that entire open

00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:37.720
room that wasn't highly flammable was the steel

00:13:37.720 --> 00:13:40.019
trim. Right, just the trim. Everything else,

00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:42.259
the wicker baskets blocking the narrow aisles,

00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:44.639
the wooden tables, the cotton garments, the oil

00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:48.320
soaked floors, was pure fuel. So when the workers

00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:50.460
realized they couldn't go down the Green Street

00:13:50.460 --> 00:13:54.090
stairs, mass panic naturally set in. Dozens of

00:13:54.090 --> 00:13:56.629
terrified women crowded onto the single exterior

00:13:56.629 --> 00:13:59.309
fire escape. And this fire escape was an architectural

00:13:59.309 --> 00:14:01.509
illusion. It was a disaster waiting to happen.

00:14:01.690 --> 00:14:04.070
Why? What was wrong with it? Well, city officials

00:14:04.070 --> 00:14:06.470
had previously granted a variance to the building

00:14:06.470 --> 00:14:10.409
owners, allowing them to erect this flimsy, narrow,

00:14:10.809 --> 00:14:13.110
poorly anchored iron structure on the back of

00:14:13.110 --> 00:14:16.129
the building instead of requiring a proper fire

00:14:16.129 --> 00:14:19.129
rated third internal staircase. So they took

00:14:19.129 --> 00:14:22.389
the cheap way out. Absolutely. It was essentially

00:14:22.389 --> 00:14:25.070
a cosmetic addition to appease the bare minimum

00:14:25.070 --> 00:14:28.129
of the law. It was likely already rusted and

00:14:28.129 --> 00:14:30.809
structurally compromised before the fire even

00:14:30.809 --> 00:14:33.470
started. Furthermore, it didn't even lead directly

00:14:33.470 --> 00:14:35.629
to the ground. Wait, it didn't go to the street?

00:14:35.879 --> 00:14:38.379
No, it ended at a skylight over a basement courtyard.

00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:41.460
Oh my god. So you have dozens of people desperate

00:14:41.460 --> 00:14:43.700
to escape the intense blistering heat of the

00:14:43.700 --> 00:14:46.480
ninth floor piling onto this narrow iron lattice.

00:14:47.080 --> 00:14:48.820
Yeah. And the combination of the sheer weight

00:14:48.820 --> 00:14:51.139
of the crowd and the extreme thermal stress from

00:14:51.139 --> 00:14:53.299
the flames blasting out of the windows caused

00:14:53.299 --> 00:14:55.919
the iron to warp, twist, and pull away from the

00:14:55.919 --> 00:14:58.149
masonry. The addictive way. The entire structure

00:14:58.149 --> 00:15:00.529
completely collapsed. It spilled approximately

00:15:00.529 --> 00:15:04.090
20 victims nearly 100 feet down, crashing through

00:15:04.090 --> 00:15:06.409
the glass skylight to the concrete pavement below.

00:15:07.029 --> 00:15:10.409
In an instant, that entire escape route was simply

00:15:10.409 --> 00:15:12.830
gone. Okay, so let's map this out for the listener.

00:15:13.070 --> 00:15:16.169
The Green Street stairs are burning. The fire

00:15:16.169 --> 00:15:19.029
escape has just detached from the building. The

00:15:19.029 --> 00:15:21.090
elevators are making trips. And we will definitely

00:15:21.090 --> 00:15:23.309
get to the incredible heroism of those operators

00:15:23.309 --> 00:15:26.970
in a minute. But hundreds of workers are rushing

00:15:26.970 --> 00:15:29.490
in a crush of bodies toward the door for the

00:15:29.490 --> 00:15:32.309
Washington Place stairway. The last real option.

00:15:32.509 --> 00:15:35.190
Right. And this is the detail that is burned

00:15:35.190 --> 00:15:37.549
into the memory of this event. This is the detail

00:15:37.549 --> 00:15:41.049
that changes history. The door is locked. It

00:15:41.049 --> 00:15:43.509
was heavily bolted. And we have to examine the

00:15:43.509 --> 00:15:45.470
mechanics of why it was locked because it speaks

00:15:45.470 --> 00:15:47.629
directly to that economic paranoia we discussed

00:15:47.629 --> 00:15:49.610
earlier. Right, the peace rate system and all

00:15:49.610 --> 00:15:52.590
that. Yes. Management intentionally locked the

00:15:52.590 --> 00:15:55.090
Washington Place doors during working hours to

00:15:55.090 --> 00:15:57.490
force all employees to exit through the single

00:15:57.490 --> 00:15:59.629
green street door at the end of their shift.

00:15:59.730 --> 00:16:01.610
And why did they want a bottleneck like that?

00:16:01.730 --> 00:16:04.549
Because at that single exit, a foreman stood

00:16:04.549 --> 00:16:07.269
by to inspect every single woman's purse and

00:16:07.269 --> 00:16:09.879
physically pat them down. They wanted to ensure

00:16:09.879 --> 00:16:12.620
no one was stealing scraps of fabric or a spool

00:16:12.620 --> 00:16:15.759
of thread or a finished shirt waist. They locked

00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:18.740
human beings in a room to protect scraps of cloth.

00:16:19.279 --> 00:16:22.519
It is the ultimate manifestation of valuing property

00:16:22.519 --> 00:16:26.019
over life. It was also a tactic of control. Historians

00:16:26.019 --> 00:16:28.559
point out that locking the secondary doors allowed

00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:30.639
the owners to tightly control who came in and

00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:33.139
out. It kept union organizers from slipping into

00:16:33.139 --> 00:16:35.399
the factory floor to distribute literature or

00:16:35.399 --> 00:16:37.700
talk to the workers. Oh, so it was anti -union,

00:16:37.980 --> 00:16:40.700
too. Very much so. The owners were terrified

00:16:40.700 --> 00:16:43.259
of the workforce organizing. They were so paranoid

00:16:43.259 --> 00:16:46.139
about inventory shrinkage and unionization that

00:16:46.139 --> 00:16:48.360
they literally locked their employees inside

00:16:48.360 --> 00:16:51.120
a 10 -story firebox. I just want you listening

00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:54.019
right now to pause and try to imagine the sensory

00:16:54.019 --> 00:16:57.080
overload and the sheer terror on that ninth floor.

00:16:57.600 --> 00:17:00.580
You are a 16 -year -old girl. You're being crushed

00:17:00.580 --> 00:17:02.980
against a heavy wooden door by dozens of your

00:17:02.980 --> 00:17:06.259
coworkers. The air is thick, choking black smoke.

00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:08.619
You can't breathe. Your eyes are burning. The

00:17:08.619 --> 00:17:11.799
heat must have been unimaginable. Yes. And the

00:17:11.799 --> 00:17:14.680
roar of the fire is deafening. You just watch

00:17:14.680 --> 00:17:17.160
the fire escape tear away from the wall, and

00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:19.559
the heavy door to the stairs will not budge.

00:17:19.710 --> 00:17:22.309
Because the foreman, who had the key on his belt,

00:17:22.769 --> 00:17:25.069
had already panicked and escaped by another route.

00:17:25.730 --> 00:17:28.430
Exactly. You are trapped. How could a building

00:17:28.430 --> 00:17:31.430
in the middle of New York City be so wildly unprepared

00:17:31.430 --> 00:17:34.150
for an emergency? Especially when fires were

00:17:34.150 --> 00:17:36.529
relatively common in the garment industry. Well,

00:17:36.690 --> 00:17:39.670
it comes down to a deeply cynical economic concept

00:17:39.670 --> 00:17:42.819
called moral hazard. Moral hazard. What does

00:17:42.819 --> 00:17:45.079
that mean in this context? A leading industry

00:17:45.079 --> 00:17:47.539
journal at the time, the Insurance Monitor, had

00:17:47.539 --> 00:17:50.059
actually published an observation that shirtwaists

00:17:50.059 --> 00:17:51.700
had recently started to fall out of fashion.

00:17:52.099 --> 00:17:54.400
The trend was shifting. Okay, so demand was dropping.

00:17:54.660 --> 00:17:57.180
Right. The journal noted that insurance for such

00:17:57.180 --> 00:18:00.210
stock was saturated with moral hazard. In the

00:18:00.210 --> 00:18:02.509
garment industry, there was a well -known dark

00:18:02.509 --> 00:18:05.950
pattern of mysterious catastrophic fires, conveniently

00:18:05.950 --> 00:18:08.250
breaking out whenever a manufacturer had excess

00:18:08.250 --> 00:18:10.269
out of style inventory. Oh, I see where this

00:18:10.269 --> 00:18:12.289
is going. Yeah. The fire allowed the owners to

00:18:12.289 --> 00:18:14.690
liquidate their unsellable stock by collecting

00:18:14.690 --> 00:18:17.339
the insurance money. That is incredible. So the

00:18:17.339 --> 00:18:19.160
insurance companies knew this was a systemic

00:18:19.160 --> 00:18:22.579
issue, and the sources explicitly mention that

00:18:22.579 --> 00:18:25.319
Blank and Harris were known to have had four

00:18:25.319 --> 00:18:28.200
previous suspicious fire claims at their various

00:18:28.200 --> 00:18:30.559
facilities. Four of them, yes. Now, to be perfectly

00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:33.240
clear, investigations concluded that arson was

00:18:33.240 --> 00:18:36.480
not suspected in this specific 1911 fire. It

00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:38.759
was deemed an accident caused by that cigarette.

00:18:39.420 --> 00:18:42.960
But the point is the precedent. They were entirely

00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:45.509
accustomed to factory fires and perhaps accustomed

00:18:45.509 --> 00:18:48.430
to benefiting financially from them. Exactly.

00:18:48.869 --> 00:18:51.329
When your previous fires have resulted in lucrative

00:18:51.329 --> 00:18:54.289
insurance payouts, you have zero financial incentive

00:18:54.289 --> 00:18:56.589
to invest capital into preventative measures.

00:18:57.069 --> 00:18:59.569
You don't buy sprinklers or install expensive

00:18:59.569 --> 00:19:02.269
alarm systems if a fire is viewed as a potential

00:19:02.269 --> 00:19:04.829
financial safety net. Right. Why spend money

00:19:04.829 --> 00:19:06.529
to prevent something you might want to happen?

00:19:06.750 --> 00:19:09.630
Exactly. But this time the fire didn't just consume

00:19:09.630 --> 00:19:12.410
out -of -season blouses. The structural failures,

00:19:12.769 --> 00:19:15.529
the locked doors, the intense heat, it forced

00:19:15.529 --> 00:19:18.309
the workers into an impossible, unthinkable choice.

00:19:18.890 --> 00:19:20.549
The temperature on the ninth floor was becoming

00:19:20.549 --> 00:19:23.380
unsurvivable. And this is the moment the horror

00:19:23.380 --> 00:19:25.359
breaks out of the confines of the Ash building

00:19:25.359 --> 00:19:27.660
and falls directly into the public eye. It does,

00:19:27.700 --> 00:19:30.279
in the most tragic way possible. The fire department

00:19:30.279 --> 00:19:33.299
actually arrived incredibly quickly. The first

00:19:33.299 --> 00:19:36.859
alarms were sounded around 4 .45 p .m. and horse

00:19:36.859 --> 00:19:39.160
-drawn fire engines were clattering into Washington

00:19:39.160 --> 00:19:42.039
Place within minutes. But when they got there,

00:19:42.380 --> 00:19:44.720
the technological limitations of the era became

00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:47.259
brutally apparent. They raised their tallest

00:19:47.259 --> 00:19:50.180
ladders, fully extended. The ladders only reached

00:19:50.180 --> 00:19:52.960
as high as the sixth, maybe the seventh floor,

00:19:53.700 --> 00:19:55.859
the women were trapped on the eighth, ninth,

00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:58.579
and tenth floors. So they were just out of reach.

00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:02.500
30 feet short. The firemen were physically helpless

00:20:02.500 --> 00:20:06.259
to reach them from the outside. But inside, amidst

00:20:06.259 --> 00:20:09.440
the smoke and the stampede, there were incredible

00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:12.240
acts of bravery that we absolutely must highlight.

00:20:12.460 --> 00:20:15.619
Yes, the elevator operators. Right. We have to

00:20:15.619 --> 00:20:18.700
talk about Joseph Zito and Gaspar Mortiaro. These

00:20:18.700 --> 00:20:21.339
men were operating the passenger elevators on

00:20:21.339 --> 00:20:23.700
the Washington Place side of the building. When

00:20:23.700 --> 00:20:25.500
the fire broke out, they didn't flee the building.

00:20:25.579 --> 00:20:27.880
They went up into it. They deliberately traveled

00:20:27.880 --> 00:20:30.559
upward, plunging their cars into the dense smoke,

00:20:31.059 --> 00:20:33.579
making three distinct trips up to the ninth floor

00:20:33.579 --> 00:20:35.960
to pull terrified passengers down to safety.

00:20:36.259 --> 00:20:39.359
They saved dozens of lives. They were opening

00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:42.180
the elevator doors into a wall of flame, pulling

00:20:42.180 --> 00:20:44.440
girls into the car until it was overflowing,

00:20:44.880 --> 00:20:46.880
dropping down to the street and going right back

00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:49.519
up. But the mechanics of the elevators eventually

00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:52.299
failed under the extreme conditions. The heat

00:20:52.299 --> 00:20:55.079
in the shafts became so incredibly intense that

00:20:55.079 --> 00:20:58.539
the metal guide rails of Morioro's elevator actually

00:20:58.539 --> 00:21:01.319
began to expand and buckle. The metal was warping

00:21:01.319 --> 00:21:04.890
from the heat. Yes. Furthermore... Desperate

00:21:04.890 --> 00:21:07.049
victims on the ninth floor who couldn't squeeze

00:21:07.049 --> 00:21:09.750
into the crowded cars began to pry the elevator

00:21:09.750 --> 00:21:12.450
doors open by force. Because they knew the elevator

00:21:12.450 --> 00:21:14.809
shaft was a vertical drop to the bottom and the

00:21:14.809 --> 00:21:18.170
room behind them was an inferno. Exactly. They

00:21:18.170 --> 00:21:20.569
peered into the empty shaft hoping to somehow

00:21:20.569 --> 00:21:23.170
grab the greasy cables and slide down or hoping

00:21:23.170 --> 00:21:25.250
to land on the roof of the car as it descended.

00:21:25.430 --> 00:21:28.420
Just sheer desperation. Dozens of workers jumped

00:21:28.420 --> 00:21:31.519
blindly into the dark shafts. The sheer weight

00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:33.720
and the kinetic impact of the falling bodies

00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:36.519
crashing onto the roof of Zito's elevator car

00:21:36.519 --> 00:21:39.940
warped the metal roof inward. It jammed the mechanism

00:21:39.940 --> 00:21:42.359
and made it impossible for him to make a fourth

00:21:42.359 --> 00:21:44.759
attempt. So the elevators were dead? They were

00:21:44.759 --> 00:21:47.599
dead. With the Washington Place stairs locked,

00:21:47.779 --> 00:21:50.839
the Green Street stairs, a chimney of fire, the

00:21:50.839 --> 00:21:53.420
fire escape destroyed, the elevators disabled,

00:21:53.900 --> 00:21:56.400
and the firemen's ladders stopping 30 feet below

00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:59.039
them, the workers crowded at the night floor

00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:01.500
windows realized with absolute certainty that

00:22:01.500 --> 00:22:04.299
no help was coming. Yeah. The flames were pressing

00:22:04.299 --> 00:22:06.819
against their backs, the clothing and hair were

00:22:06.819 --> 00:22:09.599
catching fire, they began to step out onto the

00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:12.829
ledges. and they began to jump. 62 people jumped

00:22:12.829 --> 00:22:15.589
or fell to their deaths from those windows. 62.

00:22:15.950 --> 00:22:17.750
And we have accounts from people on the ground.

00:22:18.650 --> 00:22:20.670
The reporter William Gunshepard, working for

00:22:20.670 --> 00:22:22.470
the United Press, happened to be walking through

00:22:22.470 --> 00:22:25.150
Washington Square Park and heard the fire engines.

00:22:25.250 --> 00:22:27.410
He just happened to be there. Yeah, he ran to

00:22:27.410 --> 00:22:29.849
the scene and found himself standing on the sidewalk

00:22:29.849 --> 00:22:33.210
witnessing this unimaginable horror. He later

00:22:33.210 --> 00:22:35.150
wrote a dispatch that was syndicated across the

00:22:35.150 --> 00:22:37.910
country, and he included a quote that is just

00:22:37.910 --> 00:22:40.700
hauntingly visceral. What did he say? He wrote,

00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:43.900
I learned a new sound that day, a sound more

00:22:43.900 --> 00:22:46.680
horrible than description can picture, the thud

00:22:46.680 --> 00:22:49.059
of a speeding living body on a stone sidewalk.

00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:52.130
Wow. It is so crucial to understand that this

00:22:52.130 --> 00:22:54.809
wasn't a hidden tragedy. It wasn't an explosion

00:22:54.809 --> 00:22:57.750
deep in a coal mine in a remote Appalachian town,

00:22:57.829 --> 00:23:00.970
you know? Right. It was a massive, highly visible

00:23:00.970 --> 00:23:04.130
public trauma. It occurred in broad daylight

00:23:04.130 --> 00:23:06.450
on a Saturday afternoon right in the middle of

00:23:06.450 --> 00:23:09.190
a bustling Manhattan neighborhood. A massive

00:23:09.190 --> 00:23:11.329
crowd of thousands of people gathered behind

00:23:11.329 --> 00:23:14.289
police cordons, helplessly, agonizingly watching.

00:23:14.630 --> 00:23:16.849
Louis Waldman, a man who later became a New York

00:23:16.849 --> 00:23:19.289
socialist state assemblyman, was reading in the

00:23:19.289 --> 00:23:21.900
Astrolabe. nearby and ran out when he heard the

00:23:21.900 --> 00:23:23.920
commotion. And what did you see? He described

00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:26.400
looking up at the eighth, ninth, and tenth stories

00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:29.859
and seeing an enormous roaring cornice of flames.

00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:33.180
Waldman's eyewitness account captures the pure

00:23:33.180 --> 00:23:36.339
psychological devastation of the event. He said

00:23:36.339 --> 00:23:40.140
the crowd stood frozen as they watched girl after

00:23:40.140 --> 00:23:43.039
girl appear at the reddened windows, pause for

00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:45.539
a terrified moment, and then leap to the pavement

00:23:45.539 --> 00:23:49.039
below to land as mangled bloody pulp. That is

00:23:49.039 --> 00:23:51.839
just horrifying to even picture. He described

00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:54.059
the horrific sight of girls who hesitated too

00:23:54.059 --> 00:23:56.559
long on the sills, their dresses catching fire,

00:23:56.960 --> 00:23:59.299
and plunging to the street like living torches.

00:23:59.460 --> 00:24:01.460
But the firemen, they had those nets, right?

00:24:01.500 --> 00:24:04.559
The life nets. They did try frantically to deploy

00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:07.140
life nets. These were heavy canvas nets stretched

00:24:07.140 --> 00:24:09.799
tight by dozens of firemen and civilian volunteers

00:24:09.799 --> 00:24:12.079
designed to catch people jumping from burning

00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:14.759
buildings. That didn't work. Again, the physics

00:24:14.759 --> 00:24:17.210
of the situation overwhelmed the equipment. The

00:24:17.210 --> 00:24:19.049
life nets were designed for jumps from a third

00:24:19.049 --> 00:24:21.430
or fourth story. Ah, and this was the ninth floor.

00:24:22.089 --> 00:24:24.549
Right. When multiple bodies falling from 100

00:24:24.549 --> 00:24:27.289
feet in the air hit those nets at terminal velocity,

00:24:27.789 --> 00:24:30.349
the kinetic energy was too immense. The nets

00:24:30.349 --> 00:24:32.750
simply ripped apart, where the firemen holding

00:24:32.750 --> 00:24:34.809
them were violently thrown to the ground, breaking

00:24:34.809 --> 00:24:37.170
their arms and shoulders. The impact drove the

00:24:37.170 --> 00:24:39.269
victims straight through the canvas and onto

00:24:39.269 --> 00:24:42.799
the concrete. Waldman noted the profound psychological

00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:45.200
weight on the bystanders. He said the emotions

00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:47.339
railing through the crowd were indescribable.

00:24:47.660 --> 00:24:50.119
Women were shrieking hysterically, scores of

00:24:50.119 --> 00:24:52.539
people fainted right there on the street, and

00:24:52.539 --> 00:24:55.440
grown men openly wept, hurling themselves against

00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:58.480
the police lines in sheer frenzy, desperate to

00:24:58.480 --> 00:25:01.240
do something, anything, to stop the slaughter.

00:25:01.720 --> 00:25:03.920
The entire city was collectively scarred in a

00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:06.420
matter of 30 minutes. By the time the fire department

00:25:06.420 --> 00:25:08.720
finally managed to push streams of water into

00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:11.299
the building and extinguish the flames, the death

00:25:11.299 --> 00:25:16.420
toll was staggering. 146 people died, 123 women

00:25:16.420 --> 00:25:19.839
and girls, and 23 men. And then the aftermath

00:25:19.839 --> 00:25:22.220
of dealing with the bodies. It's just as grim.

00:25:22.579 --> 00:25:25.720
Right. The bodies, those on the sidewalk, those

00:25:25.720 --> 00:25:28.180
pulled from the elevator shafts, and the charred

00:25:28.180 --> 00:25:30.500
remains recovered from the factory floor were

00:25:30.500 --> 00:25:33.119
loaded onto police wagons and taken to Charities

00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:36.640
Pier, a covered dock located at 26th Street and

00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:39.519
the East River. And that pier grimly became known

00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:43.000
in the press as Misery Lane. Misery Lane. Yes.

00:25:43.230 --> 00:25:45.890
For days, friends, relatives, and frantic parents

00:25:45.890 --> 00:25:48.349
had to walk through this makeshift, cavernous

00:25:48.349 --> 00:25:51.069
morgue. The bodies were laid out in rough pine

00:25:51.069 --> 00:25:53.309
coffins. The families had to move down the line

00:25:53.309 --> 00:25:55.849
examining jewelry, scraps of unburned fabric,

00:25:55.930 --> 00:25:58.490
or the shape of a shoe, trying to identify the

00:25:58.490 --> 00:26:00.349
burned and broken remains of their daughters

00:26:00.349 --> 00:26:02.890
and sisters. The details of the victims really

00:26:02.890 --> 00:26:05.150
drive home the scale of the loss. The youngest

00:26:05.150 --> 00:26:07.869
victims were just 14 years old, Kate Leona and

00:26:07.869 --> 00:26:10.829
Rosaria Maltese. The oldest was a 43 -year -old

00:26:10.829 --> 00:26:13.490
woman named Providencia Pano. And the coroner

00:26:13.490 --> 00:26:15.589
determined that most died from severe burns,

00:26:16.230 --> 00:26:19.109
asphyxiation from the toxic smoke, massive blunt

00:26:19.109 --> 00:26:21.170
impact injuries from the fall, or a terrible

00:26:21.170 --> 00:26:23.809
combination of all three. And to connect this

00:26:23.809 --> 00:26:26.210
historical event directly to our present day,

00:26:26.549 --> 00:26:28.809
it's worth highlighting the forensic difficulties

00:26:28.809 --> 00:26:32.569
of 1911. Six of the victims were so badly burned

00:26:32.569 --> 00:26:35.430
that they were completely unrecognizable. No

00:26:35.430 --> 00:26:37.549
one came forward with matching descriptions of

00:26:37.549 --> 00:26:40.250
jewelry or clothing. They remained listed as

00:26:40.250 --> 00:26:43.380
unknown. for a full century. A hundred years.

00:26:43.740 --> 00:26:46.400
It wasn't until 2011 leading up to the centennial

00:26:46.400 --> 00:26:49.240
anniversary that an independent historian named

00:26:49.240 --> 00:26:51.920
Michael Hirsch made it his mission to find them.

00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:54.619
That is an incredible piece of historical detective

00:26:54.619 --> 00:26:57.809
work. It is. How did he even do it? It took four

00:26:57.809 --> 00:27:02.210
years of meticulous, obsessive research. He cross

00:27:02.210 --> 00:27:04.950
-referenced thousands of pages of obscure census

00:27:04.950 --> 00:27:07.470
data, missing persons reports filed in the days

00:27:07.470 --> 00:27:09.809
after the fire, marriage certificates and old

00:27:09.809 --> 00:27:12.130
church records. He managed to track down the

00:27:12.130 --> 00:27:14.410
surviving descendants and definitively identify

00:27:14.410 --> 00:27:16.990
those final six victims by name. They were finally

00:27:16.990 --> 00:27:20.000
given their names back. Josephine Camerata, Konstantina

00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:23.500
Peluso, Fanny Rosen, Dora Evans, Maria Giuseppola

00:27:23.500 --> 00:27:25.480
Letty and Max Lauren. It's beautiful that he

00:27:25.480 --> 00:27:28.220
did that. It really is. They are buried together

00:27:28.220 --> 00:27:31.019
beneath a large monument featuring a kneeling,

00:27:31.079 --> 00:27:33.599
weeping woman in the Cemetery of the Evergreens

00:27:33.599 --> 00:27:36.960
in Brooklyn. The Hebrew Free Burial Association

00:27:36.960 --> 00:27:40.200
also buried 22 of the Jewish victims in a special

00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:42.640
dedicated section at Mount Richmond Cemetery

00:27:42.640 --> 00:27:45.559
in Staten Island. The impact on the working class

00:27:45.559 --> 00:27:48.970
community was just immeasurable. The grief was

00:27:48.970 --> 00:27:51.099
a physical weight on the city. But here's where

00:27:51.099 --> 00:27:53.220
it gets really interesting, because this is where

00:27:53.220 --> 00:27:56.680
the narrative moves from tragedy to infuriating

00:27:56.680 --> 00:28:01.200
injustice. You have 146 dead bodies on the pavement

00:28:01.200 --> 00:28:04.079
and in the morgue. A tragedy of this magnitude,

00:28:04.380 --> 00:28:07.180
caused by such blatant negligence, demands justice.

00:28:07.700 --> 00:28:09.539
You would naturally assume that society would

00:28:09.539 --> 00:28:11.740
demand immediate severe punishment for the owners.

00:28:12.220 --> 00:28:15.279
That is the logical human assumption. If a factory

00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:18.559
owner locks the doors and 146 people burn to

00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:21.539
death, someone must go to prison. But the reality

00:28:21.539 --> 00:28:24.940
of the American legal system in 1911 shatters

00:28:24.940 --> 00:28:28.119
that assumption entirely. The tragedy was vastly

00:28:28.119 --> 00:28:30.579
compounded by a court system that was fundamentally

00:28:30.579 --> 00:28:33.720
designed to protect property, capital, and the

00:28:33.720 --> 00:28:36.579
wealthy while placing almost impossible burdens

00:28:36.579 --> 00:28:39.859
on immigrant laborers seeking restitution. So

00:28:39.859 --> 00:28:42.880
let's talk about the owners, Max Blank and Isaac

00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:46.029
Harris. Where were they during the fire? When

00:28:46.029 --> 00:28:48.269
the spark hit the scrap bin, they were actually

00:28:48.269 --> 00:28:50.309
in the building up in their executive offices

00:28:50.309 --> 00:28:52.710
on the 10th floor. They had even invited their

00:28:52.710 --> 00:28:55.500
children to the factory that afternoon. But when

00:28:55.500 --> 00:28:57.859
the smoke rose through the stairwells, they didn't

00:28:57.859 --> 00:29:00.059
go down to the ninth floor to unlock the doors

00:29:00.059 --> 00:29:03.240
or help organize an evacuation. They, along with

00:29:03.240 --> 00:29:05.579
their families and the 10th floor office staff,

00:29:06.140 --> 00:29:07.839
fled upward to the roof of the building. And

00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:09.640
they managed to climb across to an adjoining

00:29:09.640 --> 00:29:12.180
building and survived without a scratch. Unbelievable.

00:29:12.599 --> 00:29:14.880
So in mid -April, following a massive public

00:29:14.880 --> 00:29:17.599
outcry and a grand jury investigation, Blank

00:29:17.599 --> 00:29:19.900
and Harris were indicted on charges of first

00:29:19.900 --> 00:29:22.369
and second degree manslaughter. The trial began

00:29:22.369 --> 00:29:25.829
in December of 1911 in a packed Manhattan courtroom.

00:29:26.890 --> 00:29:30.049
The owners had vast financial resources and they

00:29:30.049 --> 00:29:32.130
used them to hire one of the most prominent,

00:29:32.269 --> 00:29:35.089
expensive defense lawyers in New York, a man

00:29:35.089 --> 00:29:38.630
named Max Stoyer. And Stoyer's strategy was brilliant

00:29:38.630 --> 00:29:41.349
in a deeply ruthless, cynical way, wasn't it?

00:29:41.349 --> 00:29:43.630
Oh, absolutely. He knew he couldn't argue that

00:29:43.630 --> 00:29:45.450
the fire didn't happen or that the conditions

00:29:45.450 --> 00:29:48.369
weren't dangerous. He focused entirely on dismantling

00:29:48.369 --> 00:29:52.339
the prosecution's specific legal burden. The

00:29:52.339 --> 00:29:54.599
prosecution's entire case rested heavily on proving

00:29:54.599 --> 00:29:56.980
that the owners were personally, criminally responsible

00:29:56.980 --> 00:29:59.119
for the locked door on the Washington Place stairway.

00:29:59.240 --> 00:30:01.140
Well, they brought in survivors to testify, right?

00:30:01.240 --> 00:30:03.839
Yes. A young survivor named Kate Alterman was

00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:06.440
a key witness for the prosecution. She had been

00:30:06.440 --> 00:30:08.700
on the ninth floor, she had tried the Washington

00:30:08.700 --> 00:30:11.140
Place door, and she testified under oath that

00:30:11.140 --> 00:30:13.279
it was locked. Wait, if an eyewitness testifies

00:30:13.279 --> 00:30:14.920
the door was locked, shouldn't that be an open

00:30:14.920 --> 00:30:18.029
and shut case? How did Stoyer counter that? He

00:30:18.029 --> 00:30:20.809
essentially weaponized the trauma and the language

00:30:20.809 --> 00:30:24.769
barrier against her. Stoyer cross -examined Alterman

00:30:24.769 --> 00:30:28.589
for hours. He didn't yell at her. Instead, he

00:30:28.589 --> 00:30:31.130
politely, persistently asked her to repeat her

00:30:31.130 --> 00:30:33.269
account of the fire over and over again from

00:30:33.269 --> 00:30:35.009
the beginning. What was the point of that? Well,

00:30:35.029 --> 00:30:37.609
Kate Alterman was an immigrant. English was not

00:30:37.609 --> 00:30:41.089
her first language. She was testifying in a terrifying

00:30:41.089 --> 00:30:43.950
formal courtroom setting against the wealthy

00:30:43.950 --> 00:30:47.579
men who used to employ her. Because she was deeply

00:30:47.579 --> 00:30:50.599
traumatized and likely wanted to ensure she delivered

00:30:50.599 --> 00:30:53.400
her story accurately without stumbling over the

00:30:53.400 --> 00:30:55.839
English translations, she had mentally rehearsed

00:30:55.839 --> 00:30:58.839
her account. Like memorizing a script to make

00:30:58.839 --> 00:31:00.400
sure you don't mess up the facts when you're

00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:03.119
nervous. Exactly. So every time Stoyer asked

00:31:03.119 --> 00:31:05.759
her to recount the timeline, she used the exact

00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:08.759
same key phrases, the same descriptive adjectives

00:31:08.759 --> 00:31:11.180
in the same order. And he used that against her.

00:31:11.259 --> 00:31:13.960
He dramatically turned to the jury. He didn't

00:31:13.960 --> 00:31:16.359
argue that she was lying about the fire. He argued

00:31:16.359 --> 00:31:18.319
that because she used the exact same phrasing

00:31:18.319 --> 00:31:20.859
every time, her testimony was nothing more than

00:31:20.859 --> 00:31:23.740
rote memorization. That is just sickening. He

00:31:23.740 --> 00:31:26.380
suggested to the jury that she had been aggressively

00:31:26.380 --> 00:31:29.940
coached by the overzealous prosecutors, and therefore

00:31:29.940 --> 00:31:32.140
her memory of the locked door couldn't be trusted.

00:31:32.759 --> 00:31:35.680
He entirely discredited her as an independent,

00:31:35.880 --> 00:31:38.200
reliable witness in the eyes of the jury. He

00:31:38.200 --> 00:31:40.279
used her vulnerability and her attempt to be

00:31:40.279 --> 00:31:43.160
precise as proof of perjury. But even with her

00:31:43.160 --> 00:31:45.680
testimony weakened, physical evidence showed

00:31:45.680 --> 00:31:48.200
the locks were engaged. The door frames were

00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:51.220
burned, but the heavy deadbolts were found extended.

00:31:52.140 --> 00:31:54.599
How could a jury acquit these men? If we look

00:31:54.599 --> 00:31:56.839
closely at the legal mechanics of the era, it

00:31:56.839 --> 00:31:58.880
comes down to the judge's instructions regarding

00:31:58.880 --> 00:32:01.339
the strict burden of proof. The investigation

00:32:01.339 --> 00:32:03.599
absolutely proved that the locks existed and

00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:05.680
that management's policy was to keep them locked

00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:09.339
during working hours. However, the judge explicitly

00:32:09.339 --> 00:32:11.799
instructed the jury that to convict Blank and

00:32:11.799 --> 00:32:14.339
Harrison Manslaughter, the prosecution had to

00:32:14.339 --> 00:32:16.599
prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the owners

00:32:16.599 --> 00:32:19.579
personally knew that specific door was locked

00:32:19.579 --> 00:32:21.720
at the exact moment the fire broke out. Which

00:32:21.720 --> 00:32:24.900
is an impossible standard. Unless the prosecution

00:32:24.900 --> 00:32:27.789
could produce a witness who testified, I walked

00:32:27.789 --> 00:32:31.569
up to the 10th floor at 4 .35 p .m. and specifically

00:32:31.569 --> 00:32:33.970
told Mr. Blank the ninth floor door is currently

00:32:33.970 --> 00:32:36.750
locked. They couldn't prove real time knowledge.

00:32:37.049 --> 00:32:39.349
Exactly. Stores stress that the foreman might

00:32:39.349 --> 00:32:41.150
have locked it without their immediate knowledge

00:32:41.150 --> 00:32:43.809
or that someone else turned the key because the

00:32:43.809 --> 00:32:46.869
prosecution failed to prove that specific microscopic

00:32:46.869 --> 00:32:49.230
level of real time knowledge. The jury felt they

00:32:49.230 --> 00:32:52.369
had no choice under the law. Wow. After less

00:32:52.369 --> 00:32:54.410
than two hours of deliberation, they acquitted

00:32:54.410 --> 00:32:58.460
both men of manslaughter. They walked free. 146

00:32:58.460 --> 00:33:01.259
people were dead, the city was in mourning, and

00:33:01.259 --> 00:33:02.900
the owners walked out of the courtroom through

00:33:02.900 --> 00:33:05.740
a side door to avoid the angry mob outside. It's

00:33:05.740 --> 00:33:07.960
hard to stomach. It really is. The families of

00:33:07.960 --> 00:33:09.980
the victims eventually sued them in a civil court

00:33:09.980 --> 00:33:12.880
in 1913, and there, with a lower burden of proof,

00:33:13.460 --> 00:33:15.220
Blank and Harris were found liable for wrongful

00:33:15.220 --> 00:33:17.740
death. But the compensation awarded by the court

00:33:17.740 --> 00:33:21.000
to the grieving families was a measly $75 per

00:33:21.000 --> 00:33:25.109
deceased victim. And here is the ultimate sickening

00:33:25.109 --> 00:33:28.490
insult that perfectly encapsulates the unregulated

00:33:28.490 --> 00:33:31.789
capitalism of the Gilded Age. When you look at

00:33:31.789 --> 00:33:34.869
the insurance mathematics, Blank and Harris had

00:33:34.869 --> 00:33:37.750
heavily, aggressively insured their factory and

00:33:37.750 --> 00:33:40.470
their inventory against fire damage. Of course

00:33:40.470 --> 00:33:42.470
they did. The insurance companies paid them out

00:33:42.470 --> 00:33:45.680
in full. When the dust settled, the owners received

00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:51.079
$64 ,925 more than their reported property losses.

00:33:51.259 --> 00:33:54.519
Wait, they made money? Yes. When you divide that

00:33:54.519 --> 00:33:57.180
massive surplus out, the owners essentially received

00:33:57.180 --> 00:34:00.299
about $445 per casualty from their insurance

00:34:00.299 --> 00:34:02.339
policies. Let me get this straight. The courts

00:34:02.339 --> 00:34:04.859
forced them to pay the family $75 for a human

00:34:04.859 --> 00:34:08.659
life, but they collected $445 for that same life

00:34:08.659 --> 00:34:11.090
from their insurance. They literally turned a

00:34:11.090 --> 00:34:14.329
profit of nearly $65 ,000 off the disaster that

00:34:14.329 --> 00:34:16.909
incinerated their employees. Yes. They made a

00:34:16.909 --> 00:34:18.869
staggering profit on the deaths of their workers.

00:34:19.409 --> 00:34:21.530
And to further demonstrate the sheer lack of

00:34:21.530 --> 00:34:24.610
consequence or remorse, in the summer of 1913,

00:34:24.869 --> 00:34:27.730
just two years after the Triangle Firemax Blank

00:34:27.730 --> 00:34:30.989
was arrested again. For what? For locking a factory

00:34:30.989 --> 00:34:34.110
door during working hours at his brand new garment

00:34:34.110 --> 00:34:36.929
facility. You have got to be kidding me. I wish

00:34:36.929 --> 00:34:40.139
I were. A building inspector caught him. He was

00:34:40.139 --> 00:34:43.039
taken to court, found guilty, and the judge handed

00:34:43.039 --> 00:34:45.980
down the absolute minimum fine allowed by law.

00:34:46.599 --> 00:34:50.440
$20. The judge even apologized to Blank for the

00:34:50.440 --> 00:34:54.199
inconvenience. $20. It is just staggering. It

00:34:54.199 --> 00:34:56.880
proves undeniably that the legal system at the

00:34:56.880 --> 00:34:59.539
time simply was not designed to protect the working

00:34:59.539 --> 00:35:02.079
class. The courts functioned exactly as they

00:35:02.079 --> 00:35:04.400
were built to function, protecting capital. If

00:35:04.400 --> 00:35:06.239
we connect this to the bigger picture... The

00:35:06.239 --> 00:35:08.760
justice system failed the victims entirely. But

00:35:08.760 --> 00:35:11.320
human grief and rage of that magnitude, compressed

00:35:11.320 --> 00:35:13.159
across hundreds of thousands of immigrants in

00:35:13.159 --> 00:35:15.260
the Lower East Side, cannot just evaporate. It

00:35:15.260 --> 00:35:17.559
has to go somewhere. And because the courtroom

00:35:17.559 --> 00:35:19.960
offered a locked door, that rage spilled out

00:35:19.960 --> 00:35:22.340
into the streets, into the Union Hall, and eventually

00:35:22.340 --> 00:35:24.260
all the way up to the State House in Albany,

00:35:24.539 --> 00:35:26.980
sparking a massive revolution in labor organization

00:35:26.980 --> 00:35:29.460
and workplace safety. The reaction from the labor

00:35:29.460 --> 00:35:31.820
unions and socialist organizers was immediate,

00:35:32.199 --> 00:35:35.500
visceral, and furious. They realized that waiting

00:35:35.500 --> 00:35:37.960
for the courts or the factory owners to develop

00:35:37.960 --> 00:35:42.380
a conscience was suicidal. Right. On April tick,

00:35:42.559 --> 00:35:45.619
1911, a massive memorial meeting was held at

00:35:45.619 --> 00:35:48.199
the Metropolitan Opera House. It was a tense

00:35:48.199 --> 00:35:50.840
mixed crowd packed with wealthy middle -class

00:35:50.840 --> 00:35:52.960
progressive reformers in the orchestra seats

00:35:52.960 --> 00:35:56.059
and grieving furious members of the Women's Trade

00:35:56.059 --> 00:35:58.179
Union League. up in the galleries. And that's

00:35:58.179 --> 00:36:00.400
where Ro Schneiderman spoke, right? Yes. Ro Schneiderman,

00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:03.079
a prominent fiery socialist and union activist

00:36:03.079 --> 00:36:05.000
who herself had worked in the garment factories,

00:36:05.460 --> 00:36:07.619
stood up at the podium and delivered a speech

00:36:07.619 --> 00:36:10.079
that completely shifted the paradigm. Her words

00:36:10.079 --> 00:36:13.099
are incredibly powerful. They cut right through

00:36:13.099 --> 00:36:15.300
the performative grief of the wealthy attendees.

00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:18.539
She told the crowd, I would be a traitor to these

00:36:18.539 --> 00:36:20.719
poor burned bodies if I came here to talk good

00:36:20.719 --> 00:36:23.280
fellowship. We have tried you good people of

00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:25.500
the public and we have found you wanting. This

00:36:25.500 --> 00:36:27.360
is not the first time girls have been burned

00:36:27.360 --> 00:36:29.780
alive in the city. Every week I must learn of

00:36:29.780 --> 00:36:32.219
the untimely death of one of my sister workers.

00:36:32.780 --> 00:36:35.840
Every year thousands of us are maimed. The life

00:36:35.840 --> 00:36:38.340
of men and women is so cheap and property is

00:36:38.340 --> 00:36:41.219
so sacred. there are so many of us for one job

00:36:41.219 --> 00:36:44.599
it matters little if 146 of us are burned to

00:36:44.599 --> 00:36:47.420
death. Too much blood has been spilled. I know

00:36:47.420 --> 00:36:49.539
from my experience it is up to the working people

00:36:49.539 --> 00:36:52.000
to save themselves. The only way they can save

00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:54.340
themselves is by a strong working -class movement.

00:36:54.699 --> 00:36:57.480
She was articulating a profound militant shift.

00:36:57.820 --> 00:37:00.539
The Triangle Fire proved with horrific clarity

00:37:00.539 --> 00:37:02.960
that relying on the benevolence of factory owners

00:37:02.960 --> 00:37:05.679
or the weak legal frameworks of the Gilded Age

00:37:05.679 --> 00:37:08.079
was a literal death sentence. They had to fight

00:37:08.079 --> 00:37:11.340
for themselves. Exactly. The working class realized

00:37:11.340 --> 00:37:13.800
they had to organize and they had to do it aggressively

00:37:13.800 --> 00:37:16.920
with strikes and collective bargaining. This

00:37:16.920 --> 00:37:19.719
tragedy directly spurred the massive explosive

00:37:19.719 --> 00:37:22.599
growth of the International Ladies Garment Workers

00:37:22.599 --> 00:37:27.500
Union or ILGWU. Women who had previously been

00:37:27.500 --> 00:37:30.000
terrified of being blacklisted or beaten by police

00:37:30.000 --> 00:37:32.559
for striking suddenly realized they had nothing

00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:35.300
left to lose. They joined in droves. They did,

00:37:35.739 --> 00:37:37.840
transforming the union into one of the most powerful

00:37:37.840 --> 00:37:40.039
political forces in the country. But the outrage

00:37:40.039 --> 00:37:43.039
didn't just fuel the unions on the streets. It

00:37:43.039 --> 00:37:45.699
finally forcibly bridged the gap to political

00:37:45.699 --> 00:37:48.710
action. The progressive reformers knew they needed

00:37:48.710 --> 00:37:51.469
legislation. In New York City, a Committee on

00:37:51.469 --> 00:37:54.190
Public Safety was formed. And the person heading

00:37:54.190 --> 00:37:56.349
it up is a name history buffs will definitely

00:37:56.349 --> 00:37:59.829
recognize, Frances Berkins. Oh, Frances Berkins

00:37:59.829 --> 00:38:02.409
is a monumental figure in American history. She

00:38:02.409 --> 00:38:04.610
was a sociologist and a workers' rights advocate.

00:38:04.750 --> 00:38:06.789
She was actually at the fire, wasn't she? She

00:38:06.789 --> 00:38:10.210
was. On the day of the Triangle Fire, she had

00:38:10.210 --> 00:38:12.690
been having tea at a townhouse near Washington

00:38:12.690 --> 00:38:16.110
Square. She heard the engines, ran to the scene,

00:38:16.489 --> 00:38:18.690
and physically watched the girls jumping from

00:38:18.690 --> 00:38:22.590
the ledges. That horrific sight radicalized her

00:38:22.590 --> 00:38:25.110
approach to government intervention. She dedicated

00:38:25.110 --> 00:38:27.969
the rest of her life to labor reform. And she

00:38:27.969 --> 00:38:31.869
went on to do huge things. Huge things. 22 years

00:38:31.869 --> 00:38:34.369
later, President Franklin D. Roosevelt would

00:38:34.369 --> 00:38:36.489
appoint her as the United States Secretary of

00:38:36.489 --> 00:38:39.289
Labor. She became the very first woman to hold

00:38:39.289 --> 00:38:42.210
a cabinet position, and she was the primary architect

00:38:42.210 --> 00:38:45.250
to the New Deal, including Social Security and

00:38:45.250 --> 00:38:47.909
the Fair Labor Standards Act. And it all traces

00:38:47.909 --> 00:38:49.989
back to what she witnessed on the pavement of

00:38:49.989 --> 00:38:52.050
Washington Place. Berkins and the Committee on

00:38:52.050 --> 00:38:54.329
Public Safety knew they couldn't just write angry

00:38:54.329 --> 00:38:56.750
letters. They needed to change the laws in Albany.

00:38:56.750 --> 00:38:59.190
They started heavily lobbying the state legislature.

00:38:59.690 --> 00:39:02.050
This intense pressure led to the creation of

00:39:02.050 --> 00:39:04.230
the Factory Investigating Commission by the New

00:39:04.230 --> 00:39:06.789
York state legislature. Now, here is where the

00:39:06.789 --> 00:39:09.050
mechanics of New York politics get genuinely

00:39:09.050 --> 00:39:11.170
fascinating. Yes, the political alliance here

00:39:11.170 --> 00:39:13.809
is wild. The commission was chaired by Robert

00:39:13.809 --> 00:39:15.929
Wagner, the Democratic majority leader of the

00:39:15.929 --> 00:39:18.949
state Senate, and co -chaired by Al Smith, the

00:39:18.949 --> 00:39:21.760
majority leader of the assembly. What is wild

00:39:21.760 --> 00:39:23.900
about this dynamic is that Wagner and Smith were

00:39:23.900 --> 00:39:26.980
absolute guide -in -the -hole Tammany Hall politicians?

00:39:27.079 --> 00:39:30.420
It is a bizarre, seemingly contradictory alliance.

00:39:31.079 --> 00:39:34.400
Tammany Hall was the infamous, heavily corrupt,

00:39:34.500 --> 00:39:36.559
democratic political machine that essentially

00:39:36.559 --> 00:39:39.980
ran New York politics through patronage, bribery,

00:39:40.159 --> 00:39:42.670
and ward boss control. So you had these highly

00:39:42.670 --> 00:39:45.329
educated middle class progressive reformers,

00:39:45.409 --> 00:39:47.949
often derisively called do -gooders or goo -goos

00:39:47.949 --> 00:39:50.309
by the tough political establishment, suddenly

00:39:50.309 --> 00:39:53.070
teaming up with the cigar -chomping corrupt machine

00:39:53.070 --> 00:39:55.530
politicians of Tammany Hall. Right. Why would

00:39:55.530 --> 00:39:57.630
a corrupt political machine suddenly care about

00:39:57.630 --> 00:39:59.590
workplace safety? Didn't they usually protect

00:39:59.590 --> 00:40:01.829
the wealthy factory owners who paid them kickbacks?

00:40:02.309 --> 00:40:05.170
Usually, yes. But the head of Tammany Hall, the

00:40:05.170 --> 00:40:08.670
boss, was a man named Charles F. Murphy. Murphy

00:40:08.670 --> 00:40:11.760
was, above all things, a ruthless pragmatist.

00:40:12.320 --> 00:40:14.380
He looked at the massive crowds marching in the

00:40:14.380 --> 00:40:17.260
streets. He saw hundreds of thousands of furious

00:40:17.260 --> 00:40:20.199
Jewish and Italian immigrants, people who historically

00:40:20.199 --> 00:40:23.219
voted for Tammany Ward bosses in exchange for

00:40:23.219 --> 00:40:25.239
neighborhood favors. He saw the writing on the

00:40:25.239 --> 00:40:29.039
wall. Exactly. Murphy realized a profound political

00:40:29.039 --> 00:40:34.460
truth. Dead workers don't vote. But angry, radicalized

00:40:34.460 --> 00:40:36.780
immigrant families who blamed the politicians

00:40:36.780 --> 00:40:39.000
for their daughter's deaths. They vote you out

00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:40.860
of power. So it was just self -preservation?

00:40:41.380 --> 00:40:43.880
Purely. Murphy realized the incredible political

00:40:43.880 --> 00:40:46.260
goodwill and voting power to be gained by pivoting

00:40:46.260 --> 00:40:48.460
the machine to champion the downtrodden working

00:40:48.460 --> 00:40:50.900
class. The machine realized that keeping the

00:40:50.900 --> 00:40:53.099
immigrant workforce alive and improving their

00:40:53.099 --> 00:40:56.690
conditions kept Tammany Hall in power. So, purely

00:40:56.690 --> 00:40:58.849
out of political survival and opportunism, the

00:40:58.849 --> 00:41:00.789
corrupt machine throws its massive weight behind

00:41:00.789 --> 00:41:02.969
the reformers. And because Tammany Hall knew

00:41:02.969 --> 00:41:06.010
how to wield power effectively, the Factory Investigating

00:41:06.010 --> 00:41:07.829
Commission wasn't just a toothless committee

00:41:07.829 --> 00:41:10.929
holding polite hearings. No, they did incredibly

00:41:10.929 --> 00:41:15.010
thorough, aggressive work. They held widely publicized,

00:41:15.050 --> 00:41:17.969
dramatic investigations all over the state, from

00:41:17.969 --> 00:41:21.030
New York City up to Buffalo. They interviewed

00:41:21.030 --> 00:41:25.530
222 witnesses. They took over 3 ,500 pages of

00:41:25.530 --> 00:41:27.590
sworn testimony. And they didn't just stay in

00:41:27.590 --> 00:41:29.389
the courtroom, right? Right. They didn't just

00:41:29.389 --> 00:41:32.130
sit there. They hired field agents, including

00:41:32.130 --> 00:41:35.230
Frances Perkins herself, to do unannounced on

00:41:35.230 --> 00:41:37.849
-site inspections of factories. Al Smith and

00:41:37.849 --> 00:41:40.469
Robert Wagner physically walked through hundreds

00:41:40.469 --> 00:41:43.210
of factories. They crawled down rusted fire escapes.

00:41:43.570 --> 00:41:45.750
They stood in unventilated rooms choked with

00:41:45.750 --> 00:41:48.289
chemical fumes. They saw children losing fingers

00:41:48.289 --> 00:41:50.530
in unguarded machinery. They saw it all firsthand.

00:41:50.780 --> 00:41:53.179
Their findings were horrifying, exposing the

00:41:53.179 --> 00:41:55.000
fact that the Triangle conditions were not an

00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:57.420
anomaly, but the absolute industry standard.

00:41:58.320 --> 00:42:00.639
But crucially, this commission led to tangible,

00:42:01.219 --> 00:42:03.960
aggressive legislative results. The commission's

00:42:03.960 --> 00:42:07.179
work directly resulted in 38 new labor laws passed

00:42:07.179 --> 00:42:10.420
in New York State between 1911 and 1913. Let's

00:42:10.420 --> 00:42:12.519
talk about the specific engineering behind those

00:42:12.519 --> 00:42:14.260
laws, because they are the foundation of our

00:42:14.260 --> 00:42:17.000
modern world. We're talking about strict, non

00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:20.500
-negotiable mandates. Laws requiring outward

00:42:20.500 --> 00:42:23.739
swinging doors so a crush of panic bodies wouldn't

00:42:23.739 --> 00:42:26.719
seal a door shut. The invention and mandatory

00:42:26.719 --> 00:42:29.579
installation of panic bars. Those horizontal

00:42:29.579 --> 00:42:32.119
push bars on exit doors. Which are everywhere

00:42:32.119 --> 00:42:35.059
now. Everywhere. Strict mandates for clearly

00:42:35.059 --> 00:42:38.699
marked illuminated exit signs. Stringent requirements

00:42:38.699 --> 00:42:42.280
for internal fireproof stairwells. The mandatory

00:42:42.280 --> 00:42:44.679
availability of fire extinguishers on every floor.

00:42:44.829 --> 00:42:47.469
the installation of integrated alarm systems,

00:42:48.269 --> 00:42:50.730
and, crucially, the mandate for automatic sprinkler

00:42:50.730 --> 00:42:53.230
systems in high -occupancy commercial buildings.

00:42:53.710 --> 00:42:55.769
They also passed laws fundamentally altering

00:42:55.769 --> 00:42:58.119
the treatment of workers. They mandated better

00:42:58.119 --> 00:43:00.420
ventilation, proper eating and toilet facilities.

00:43:00.679 --> 00:43:02.460
And finally, they legally limited the number

00:43:02.460 --> 00:43:04.480
of hours that women and children could be forced

00:43:04.480 --> 00:43:06.719
to work in a week. They essentially outlawed

00:43:06.719 --> 00:43:09.579
the 52 hours sweatshop grind. Within two years,

00:43:09.840 --> 00:43:12.619
60 of the 64 new laws recommended by the commission

00:43:12.619 --> 00:43:15.380
were signed into legislation. It completely transformed

00:43:15.380 --> 00:43:17.519
New York overnight into one of the most progressive

00:43:17.519 --> 00:43:19.940
states in the country for labor reform. And that

00:43:19.940 --> 00:43:22.719
legislative shockwave had a massive national

00:43:22.719 --> 00:43:26.599
ripple effect. In October of 1911, just months

00:43:26.599 --> 00:43:29.039
after the fire, the American Society of Safety

00:43:29.039 --> 00:43:31.559
Professionals was founded in New York. The next

00:43:31.559 --> 00:43:33.519
year, the first Cooperative Safety Congress took

00:43:33.519 --> 00:43:35.699
place, which eventually led to the establishment

00:43:35.699 --> 00:43:37.960
of the National Council for Industrial Safety,

00:43:38.340 --> 00:43:41.320
known today as the National Safety Council. The

00:43:41.320 --> 00:43:43.420
entire modern infrastructure of occupational

00:43:43.420 --> 00:43:46.219
safety, the very concept that a government must

00:43:46.219 --> 00:43:48.980
actively regulate workplace hazards, was born

00:43:48.980 --> 00:43:51.099
directly from the ashes of the Ash building.

00:43:51.300 --> 00:43:53.179
Absolutely. I want you to take a moment and just

00:43:53.179 --> 00:43:55.519
look around the room you are in right now. If

00:43:55.519 --> 00:43:57.920
you are listening to this at work, look up at

00:43:57.920 --> 00:44:00.260
the illuminated red exit signs above the doors.

00:44:00.719 --> 00:44:02.760
Look at the push bars on the emergency stairwells

00:44:02.760 --> 00:44:05.440
that guarantee no manager can ever lock you inside.

00:44:05.840 --> 00:44:07.820
Look up at the sprinklers mounted on the ceiling.

00:44:08.680 --> 00:44:12.380
Exactly. Look at the posted OSHA compliance notices

00:44:12.380 --> 00:44:15.559
in your break room. Every single one of those

00:44:15.559 --> 00:44:17.619
everyday safety features, things we interact

00:44:17.619 --> 00:44:20.500
with daily and take completely for granted, are

00:44:20.500 --> 00:44:23.780
written in the blood of the 146 Triangle Workers.

00:44:24.219 --> 00:44:26.440
They died a horrific death so that your workplace

00:44:26.440 --> 00:44:29.280
wouldn't become a death trap. It is a sobering,

00:44:29.280 --> 00:44:32.440
heavy realization. The laws enacted because of

00:44:32.440 --> 00:44:35.690
their deaths change the future. undoubtedly protecting

00:44:35.690 --> 00:44:38.230
millions of lives over the next century. But

00:44:38.230 --> 00:44:41.059
there is another crucial emotional aspect of

00:44:41.059 --> 00:44:43.099
this history. What's that? Well, we've talked

00:44:43.099 --> 00:44:45.559
about the macro level changes, the laws, the

00:44:45.559 --> 00:44:47.780
unions, the political machines. But what about

00:44:47.780 --> 00:44:50.380
the memory of the specific individuals who died?

00:44:50.960 --> 00:44:53.139
The young immigrant women whose lives and futures

00:44:53.139 --> 00:44:55.860
were cut so brutally short. How do we ensure

00:44:55.860 --> 00:44:57.659
they aren't just reduced to a statistic in a

00:44:57.659 --> 00:45:01.059
labor history textbook? That is where the incredible

00:45:01.059 --> 00:45:03.579
century long effort of memorialization comes

00:45:03.579 --> 00:45:06.000
in. Because keeping their memory alive isn't

00:45:06.000 --> 00:45:08.460
just about reading a bronze plaque. It is an

00:45:08.460 --> 00:45:11.940
active ongoing fiercely protective effort. The

00:45:11.940 --> 00:45:14.360
legacy of the Triangle Fire is being physically

00:45:14.360 --> 00:45:16.880
and emotionally woven into the everyday fabric

00:45:16.880 --> 00:45:19.659
of New York City. A major driving force behind

00:45:19.659 --> 00:45:22.139
this modern effort is the remember the Triangle

00:45:22.139 --> 00:45:25.250
Fire Coalition, which was formed in 2008. It

00:45:25.250 --> 00:45:27.449
is a really remarkable alliance. It consists

00:45:27.449 --> 00:45:30.329
of over 200 different organizations, labor unions,

00:45:30.730 --> 00:45:33.510
arts organizations, human rights groups, university

00:45:33.510 --> 00:45:36.190
faculties, and most importantly, the descendants

00:45:36.190 --> 00:45:38.590
and families of the victims. And they came together

00:45:38.590 --> 00:45:40.969
originally for the 2011 anniversary, right? They

00:45:40.969 --> 00:45:42.869
did. They came together originally to coordinate

00:45:42.869 --> 00:45:45.650
a massive city -wide centennial commemoration

00:45:45.650 --> 00:45:48.289
in 2011. But their ultimate driving goal was

00:45:48.289 --> 00:45:50.730
to establish a permanent public art memorial

00:45:50.730 --> 00:45:53.239
at the site of the fire. The coalition actually

00:45:53.239 --> 00:45:56.340
grew out of a deeply moving grassroots public

00:45:56.340 --> 00:45:59.519
art project called Chalk. A filmmaker and artist

00:45:59.519 --> 00:46:03.260
named Ruth Sergel started it back in 2004. The

00:46:03.260 --> 00:46:05.360
mechanics of the Chalk project are beautiful

00:46:05.360 --> 00:46:07.539
in their simplicity and their emotional weight.

00:46:08.260 --> 00:46:10.679
Every year on March 25th, the anniversary of

00:46:10.679 --> 00:46:13.699
the fire, volunteer artists, teachers, and union

00:46:13.699 --> 00:46:15.880
members spread out across the boroughs of New

00:46:15.880 --> 00:46:18.000
York City. Yeah, they take a list of the victim's

00:46:18.000 --> 00:46:19.840
names and addresses and they walk to the former

00:46:19.840 --> 00:46:21.659
tenement buildings where those young women used

00:46:21.659 --> 00:46:23.980
to live before they went to work that Saturday.

00:46:24.239 --> 00:46:26.599
And right there on the modern sidewalk in front

00:46:26.599 --> 00:46:28.679
of those apartment buildings, they write the

00:46:28.679 --> 00:46:31.309
victim's name. their age, and the cause of death

00:46:31.309 --> 00:46:34.349
in thick, bright chalk, often drawing a flower

00:46:34.349 --> 00:46:37.050
or a simple triangle next to it. It is a brilliant

00:46:37.050 --> 00:46:39.590
way to decentralize the grief. It really is.

00:46:39.630 --> 00:46:41.889
Instead of asking people to come to a monument,

00:46:42.050 --> 00:46:44.570
it brings the history to the neighborhoods. It

00:46:44.570 --> 00:46:46.730
reminds the modern residents of the Lower East

00:46:46.730 --> 00:46:49.289
Side or Brooklyn or the Bronx that these girls

00:46:49.289 --> 00:46:51.590
lived in these very buildings. They walked these

00:46:51.590 --> 00:46:53.909
exact streets. They shopped at these corner stores.

00:46:54.150 --> 00:46:56.929
And because it is chalk, it washes away with

00:46:56.929 --> 00:46:58.889
the rain, meaning the community has to actively

00:46:58.829 --> 00:47:01.469
return every single year to rewrite the names,

00:47:02.110 --> 00:47:04.750
making the act of remembering a continuous physical

00:47:04.750 --> 00:47:07.659
effort. For the centennial anniversary in 2011,

00:47:08.059 --> 00:47:10.860
the commemoration efforts were massive. Thousands

00:47:10.860 --> 00:47:13.280
of people, organized by the coalition, marched

00:47:13.280 --> 00:47:15.880
through the streets of Greenwich Village. They

00:47:15.880 --> 00:47:20.599
held aloft 146 shirtwaist kites, essentially

00:47:20.599 --> 00:47:23.480
long poles with white women's blouses attached,

00:47:23.679 --> 00:47:25.920
each bearing a sash with the name of a victim

00:47:25.920 --> 00:47:29.300
floating above the crab like ghosts. And at exactly

00:47:29.300 --> 00:47:33.389
4 .45 p .m. The exact moment the first passerby

00:47:33.389 --> 00:47:35.670
pulled the fire alarm a hundred years earlier,

00:47:36.070 --> 00:47:38.389
hundreds of bells rang out simultaneously across

00:47:38.389 --> 00:47:40.989
the nation. Churches, university clock towers,

00:47:41.150 --> 00:47:44.110
and firehouses coordinated this massive acoustic

00:47:44.110 --> 00:47:46.409
memorial. But the coalition didn't want to stop

00:47:46.409 --> 00:47:48.489
at annual events. They wanted something permanent.

00:47:48.550 --> 00:47:50.570
They wanted to alter the physical building itself.

00:47:50.969 --> 00:47:53.150
And after years of fundraising and navigating

00:47:53.150 --> 00:47:55.389
the complexities of altering a historic landmark,

00:47:55.849 --> 00:47:58.110
they finally succeeded. They absolutely did.

00:47:58.429 --> 00:48:01.369
In late 2023, with the final editions completed

00:48:01.369 --> 00:48:05.389
in 2024, a permanent stunning memorial was officially

00:48:05.389 --> 00:48:07.809
unveiled on the facade of the Brown building

00:48:07.809 --> 00:48:11.550
itself, the exact site of the fire. The architectural

00:48:11.550 --> 00:48:14.190
designers Richard Joan Yu and Yuri Wegman won

00:48:14.190 --> 00:48:17.110
a highly competitive international design competition

00:48:17.110 --> 00:48:20.030
for it. And their design is both architecturally

00:48:20.030 --> 00:48:23.429
spare and incredibly emotionally powerful. Let's

00:48:23.429 --> 00:48:25.210
break down the mechanics of the design because

00:48:25.210 --> 00:48:27.889
the symbolism is deeply intentional. The memorial

00:48:27.889 --> 00:48:30.989
features textured stainless steel ribbons. There

00:48:30.989 --> 00:48:33.090
is a vertical ribbon that attaches to the corner

00:48:33.090 --> 00:48:35.190
of the building, starting high up at the window

00:48:35.190 --> 00:48:37.389
ledge of the ninth floor, the epicenter of the

00:48:37.389 --> 00:48:40.030
tragedy. And it descends straight down the stone

00:48:40.030 --> 00:48:42.650
facade, splitting into two strands as it reaches

00:48:42.650 --> 00:48:44.670
the third floor. And those ribbons have a specific

00:48:44.670 --> 00:48:47.699
meaning, right? Yes. These steel ribbons are

00:48:47.699 --> 00:48:50.059
designed to directly evoke the traditional black

00:48:50.059 --> 00:48:52.159
mourning ribbons that immigrant communities used

00:48:52.159 --> 00:48:54.179
to drape over the front doors and facades of

00:48:54.179 --> 00:48:56.179
their tenement buildings when someone in the

00:48:56.179 --> 00:48:58.980
family died. It marks the building itself as

00:48:58.980 --> 00:49:01.840
a site of profound grief. Then those vertical

00:49:01.840 --> 00:49:04.239
ribbons connect to a horizontal ribbon that wraps

00:49:04.239 --> 00:49:06.239
around the corner of the building, positioned

00:49:06.239 --> 00:49:09.460
about 12 feet above street level. And this horizontal

00:49:09.460 --> 00:49:12.099
ribbon is where the true humanity of the victims

00:49:12.099 --> 00:49:15.019
is permanently etched into the city. The names

00:49:15.019 --> 00:49:18.400
and the ages of all 146 victims are literally

00:49:18.400 --> 00:49:21.039
stenciled into the metal. But they aren't engraved

00:49:21.039 --> 00:49:23.519
or painted. They are cut completely through the

00:49:23.519 --> 00:49:26.800
steel ribbon as empty space. And because they

00:49:26.800 --> 00:49:29.679
are cut out, the architects installed a dark

00:49:29.679 --> 00:49:31.559
reflective panel along the lower edge of the

00:49:31.559 --> 00:49:34.880
ribbon. When you, as a visitor, walk up to the

00:49:34.880 --> 00:49:37.639
memorial on Washington Place, you stand underneath

00:49:37.639 --> 00:49:39.840
this ribbon, you look up into the reflective

00:49:39.840 --> 00:49:41.960
panel, and you read the names reflected back

00:49:41.960 --> 00:49:44.360
at you. But because the letters are empty space

00:49:44.360 --> 00:49:46.559
in the steel above, you are literally looking

00:49:46.559 --> 00:49:49.300
through their names and seeing the sky or the

00:49:49.300 --> 00:49:51.800
reflection of the city through them. It is a

00:49:51.800 --> 00:49:54.019
brilliant architectural choice that forces the

00:49:54.019 --> 00:49:56.840
viewer to look upward. mirroring the way the

00:49:56.840 --> 00:49:59.500
crowds in 1911 looked up in horror at those same

00:49:59.500 --> 00:50:02.760
windows. And the memorial pays very close respectful

00:50:02.760 --> 00:50:05.139
attention to the specific cultural identities

00:50:05.139 --> 00:50:08.639
of the victims. The reflective panel also contains

00:50:08.639 --> 00:50:11.719
text quotes from eyewitnesses, fragments of survivor

00:50:11.719 --> 00:50:15.329
testimonies, and historical context. But it isn't

00:50:15.329 --> 00:50:17.610
just written in English. The text is presented

00:50:17.610 --> 00:50:20.389
in English, Italian, and Yiddish. Furthermore,

00:50:20.690 --> 00:50:23.090
for the married women who died in the fire, the

00:50:23.090 --> 00:50:25.630
memorial deliberately lists both their birth

00:50:25.630 --> 00:50:28.630
names and their married names. That is a vital

00:50:28.630 --> 00:50:31.429
detail. It emphasizes their family connections.

00:50:31.610 --> 00:50:34.349
It shows they had histories, lineages, and identities

00:50:34.349 --> 00:50:36.949
long before they became victims of industrial

00:50:36.949 --> 00:50:39.650
negligence. This raises an important question

00:50:39.650 --> 00:50:41.909
regarding how we interact with the past. How

00:50:41.909 --> 00:50:44.250
does physical public art change our relationship

00:50:44.250 --> 00:50:47.050
with history? When you include Yiddish and Italian

00:50:47.050 --> 00:50:49.269
on a plaque in the middle of an upscale modern

00:50:49.269 --> 00:50:52.449
university campus, when you carve their specific

00:50:52.449 --> 00:50:55.050
ethnic names into the steel of the very building

00:50:55.050 --> 00:50:57.969
where they were trapped, you are actively rehumanizing

00:50:57.969 --> 00:51:00.190
the victims. You are returning their identities.

00:51:00.550 --> 00:51:04.150
You are returning to them the distinct rich cultural

00:51:04.150 --> 00:51:06.489
identities that the factory owners deliberately

00:51:06.489 --> 00:51:09.730
tried to exploit, commodify, and ultimately erase.

00:51:10.090 --> 00:51:12.550
You are forcing the modern world to slow down,

00:51:12.750 --> 00:51:15.530
look up, and acknowledge exactly who paid the

00:51:15.530 --> 00:51:19.269
ultimate price for unregulated industrial capitalism.

00:51:19.650 --> 00:51:22.110
It takes the event out of the abstract realm

00:51:22.110 --> 00:51:24.949
of history books and anchors it in physical reality.

00:51:25.090 --> 00:51:28.530
It says, Kate Leon, 14 years old, was here. She

00:51:28.530 --> 00:51:31.630
existed. She mattered. And we refuse to forget

00:51:31.630 --> 00:51:34.989
her. As we bring this expensive deep dive to

00:51:34.989 --> 00:51:37.690
a close, it is vital to summarize exactly why

00:51:37.690 --> 00:51:40.190
this event is an absolute cornerstone for anyone

00:51:40.190 --> 00:51:42.590
studying American social reform movements. The

00:51:42.590 --> 00:51:45.130
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire is the ultimate

00:51:45.130 --> 00:51:47.849
tragic intersection of multiple major societal

00:51:47.849 --> 00:51:50.329
currents colliding all at once. It is a story

00:51:50.329 --> 00:51:52.949
about immigration and the deeply vulnerable status

00:51:52.949 --> 00:51:55.409
of new arrivals seeking the American dream but

00:51:55.409 --> 00:51:57.670
finding exploitation instead. It's a story about

00:51:57.670 --> 00:52:00.500
women's rights too. Absolutely. Considering the

00:52:00.500 --> 00:52:03.420
workforce was overwhelmingly young, female, and

00:52:03.420 --> 00:52:05.860
politically disenfranchised, they couldn't even

00:52:05.860 --> 00:52:07.519
vote for the politicians they needed to protect

00:52:07.519 --> 00:52:11.039
them. It is a glaring, undeniable indictment

00:52:11.039 --> 00:52:14.300
of unchecked corporate greed and the lethal dangers

00:52:14.300 --> 00:52:17.650
of unregulated industrialization. But from the

00:52:17.650 --> 00:52:20.610
ashes of that horror came the birth of modern,

00:52:20.989 --> 00:52:23.789
militant, organized labor. The fire forced the

00:52:23.789 --> 00:52:25.409
government, which had been dragging its feet

00:52:25.409 --> 00:52:28.630
for decades, to finally step in and declare that

00:52:28.630 --> 00:52:31.289
human life must be legally valued over property

00:52:31.289 --> 00:52:34.030
and profit margins. The legacy of those workers

00:52:34.030 --> 00:52:36.889
is OSHA. It's the concept of mandatory fire drills,

00:52:37.230 --> 00:52:40.010
its minimum wage laws, child labor laws, workers'

00:52:40.329 --> 00:52:42.349
compensation, and the very existence of the weekend.

00:52:42.510 --> 00:52:44.250
And as you think about the sheer scale of all

00:52:44.250 --> 00:52:46.710
of this, the next time you are forced to participate

00:52:46.710 --> 00:52:49.329
in an annoying fire drill at work, or you grumble

00:52:49.329 --> 00:52:51.710
about safety compliance training, remember that

00:52:51.710 --> 00:52:54.130
you are participating in the direct, hard -won

00:52:54.130 --> 00:52:57.489
legacy of those 146 workers. Their sacrifice

00:52:57.489 --> 00:52:59.730
built the invisible safety nets that we all rely

00:52:59.730 --> 00:53:02.130
on today. I want to leave you with one final

00:53:02.130 --> 00:53:05.349
lingering thought. During the intense legislative

00:53:05.349 --> 00:53:08.110
investigations after the fire, New York City's

00:53:08.110 --> 00:53:10.929
fire chief, a man named John Kenlin, was called

00:53:10.929 --> 00:53:13.559
to testify before the commission. He stated on

00:53:13.559 --> 00:53:16.000
the official record that his department had actively

00:53:16.000 --> 00:53:19.000
identified more than 200 other garment factories

00:53:19.000 --> 00:53:21.820
in New York City alone that had the exact same

00:53:21.820 --> 00:53:25.039
deadly conditions as the Triangle factory. 200

00:53:25.039 --> 00:53:28.119
buildings, just as dangerous, full of locked

00:53:28.119 --> 00:53:31.340
doors, oil -soaked floors, and highly flammable

00:53:31.340 --> 00:53:33.920
materials. Think about the massive implications

00:53:33.920 --> 00:53:37.179
of that single statistic. The Triangle fire happened

00:53:37.179 --> 00:53:40.219
at 4 .40 p .m. on a Saturday. It happened in

00:53:40.219 --> 00:53:42.300
broad daylight, right in the heart of a bustling

00:53:42.300 --> 00:53:44.599
neighborhood. Everyone saw it. Thousands of middle

00:53:44.599 --> 00:53:46.639
class and upper class New Yorkers stood on the

00:53:46.639 --> 00:53:48.940
streets, horrified and helplessly captivated,

00:53:49.320 --> 00:53:51.679
physically watching the bodies fall. It was an

00:53:51.679 --> 00:53:54.760
unavoidable, visceral public spectacle. But what

00:53:54.760 --> 00:53:56.619
if the spark from that cigarette had ignited

00:53:56.619 --> 00:53:59.159
in the scrap bin at 2 -Bro AM instead? What if

00:53:59.159 --> 00:54:01.199
it had been a factory running a covert night

00:54:01.199 --> 00:54:03.579
shift? If the fire had happened in the dead of

00:54:03.579 --> 00:54:05.599
night, those young girls would have jumped in

00:54:05.599 --> 00:54:07.960
the dark. They would have fallen unseen by the

00:54:07.960 --> 00:54:10.150
public. The flames would have been extinguished,

00:54:10.489 --> 00:54:12.349
the bodies would have been quietly carted away

00:54:12.349 --> 00:54:15.090
to Misery Lane before dawn, and the city would

00:54:15.090 --> 00:54:17.389
have woken up to a brief headline on page four

00:54:17.389 --> 00:54:20.630
of the newspaper, rather than a trauma violently

00:54:20.630 --> 00:54:23.929
burned into their own eyes. If the tragedy hadn't

00:54:23.929 --> 00:54:27.119
been a massive public spectacle... If the comfortable

00:54:27.119 --> 00:54:29.699
public hadn't been physically forced to stand

00:54:29.699 --> 00:54:32.659
on the sidewalk and watch the gruesome, undeniable

00:54:32.659 --> 00:54:35.199
consequences of their cheap clothing and the

00:54:35.199 --> 00:54:37.559
owner's cheap labor, would Tammany Hall ever

00:54:37.559 --> 00:54:40.059
have flipped? Would the labor laws have ever

00:54:40.059 --> 00:54:43.300
actually changed? Or does true justice only happen

00:54:43.300 --> 00:54:45.719
when society is violently forced to look at the

00:54:45.719 --> 00:54:48.019
bodies? Thank you so much for joining us on this

00:54:48.019 --> 00:54:49.960
deep dive. Take care of yourself, and we will

00:54:49.960 --> 00:54:50.639
see you next time.