Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2026
                           All Rights Reserved
                        USGenNet Data Repository

        Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page:
                <http://www.us-data.org/fineprint.html>

Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott
for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/
===========================================================================
USGenNet Data Repository Notice: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced
in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization.
Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain
the consent of the transcriber prior to use.  Individuals desiring to use
this material in their own research may do so.
=============================================================================
Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott
All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded.
=============================================================================
Geneva Daily Times
Saturday, 2 December, 1911

         THE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE
         
         ISAAC HARRIS and MAX BLANCK To Be Placed On Trial
           In New York On Monday.
           
         New York, Dec. 2. - The final chapter in one of the greatest
       tragedies of recent years - The Triangle Shirtwaist fire - will
       begin Monday, when ISAAC HARRIS and MAX BLANCK, proprietors of
       the company, go on trial before Judge Crain in General Sessions,
       charged with first degree manslaughter in connection with the
       deaths of the 146 persons mostly young girls, who were burned
       or leaped to their death during the holocaust.
       
         There are seven indictments against HARRIS and BLANCK, the
       first degree manslaughter charge being the one selected by
       Assistant District Attorney Bostwick as that on which he be-
       lieves he is most likely to win the verdict against them.
       
         The criminality of the defendants is alleged to lie in the
       conditions which they allowed to exist in their factory in
       the Asch building at the time of the fire. It is alleged that
       the doors of the factory, which swing open inside, were locked;
       that the fire escapes were not only too few in number but were
       so poorly constructed as to make it impossible for any number
       of persons to descend by them at one time; that the staircases
       were too small to permit rapid exit of the employees; that too
       many persons were employed per square foot of floor space; that
       fire drills were never ordered by the employers; that proper
       equipment for rapidly extinguishing small fires was not on hand.
       There are many other allegations also.
       
         The fire, which occurred on last March 25, presented one of
       the most gruesome spectacles ever witnessed in New York City.
       Within a minute after the start of the conflagration, the
       first girl had leaped from a ninth story window. A moment
       later every window was crowded with the young girls, striving
       to reach the free air and escape the terrific flames inside.
       The highly inflammable materials inside caused the blaze to
       spread within a few minutes to the eigth and tenth floors.
       The employees tried to batter down the doors, said to have
       been locked, but were either crushed to death in the mad
       panic or killed by inhaling the flames and smoke. Some of
       them tried to get away by means of the fire escape, which
       broke like so much paper under their weight.
       
         Spirit ran high among the survivors of the holocaust. Mass
       meetings were held, which were joined in by other members of
       the shirtwaist union. Resolutions were passed sympathizing
       with the bereaved relatives of the victims. When the common
       funeral of all the victims took place, there was held in
       connection with it a great parade of protest. Investigations
       of conditions were demanded, and the indictment of the pro-
       prietors of the shirtwaist company followed.
       
===============================================================================