1 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:05,800 Speaker 1: You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart 2 00:00:05,880 --> 00:00:16,799 Speaker 1: Radio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Bankey. Most of 3 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:20,360 Speaker 1: the children lived on the street. Others had left school 4 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: to work so their families might have enough food to eat. 5 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:26,440 Speaker 1: No matter where they came from, they worked from morning 6 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: until night, regardless of the weather. Called newsies, the children, 7 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 1: who were mostly boys, sold newspapers on New York City 8 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:39,239 Speaker 1: street corners. Whatever their backgrounds. The news he's shared a 9 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,720 Speaker 1: system after buying a stack of a hundred papers from 10 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 1: the publisher for fifty cents, that'd sell each paper for 11 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 1: a penny. That meant they earned just fifty cents for 12 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:52,520 Speaker 1: a day's work if they were lucky enough to sell 13 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:56,320 Speaker 1: all hundred papers. It's the equivalent of sixteen dollars a 14 00:00:56,360 --> 00:01:01,720 Speaker 1: day in today's money. And in July of eight, New 15 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:06,080 Speaker 1: Yorkers stopped getting their papers. The news ees went on strike, 16 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: and that put wealthy news giants like William Randolph Hurst 17 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 1: and Joseph Pulitzer in a bind. The newspapers had bumped 18 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:16,680 Speaker 1: the price to sixty cents a bundle, cutting into the 19 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:20,760 Speaker 1: newses miniscule profits, and when the kids found out that 20 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:23,479 Speaker 1: not only had the price gone up, but the bundles 21 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:27,440 Speaker 1: included fewer papers that had enough. They tipped the New 22 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:31,560 Speaker 1: York Journal delivery wagon over and stole the papers. The 23 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:34,360 Speaker 1: next day, the news hees met at Manhattan's City Hall 24 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: Park and formed a union. From that day forward, they 25 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: all vowed to never buy or sell a paper until 26 00:01:41,319 --> 00:01:44,840 Speaker 1: Hurst and Pulitzer met their demands returned the price for 27 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: a hundred papers backed fifty cents. Eighteen year old Louis 28 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 1: Biletti and twenty one year old David Simons were some 29 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 1: of the older news ease and became the initial leaders 30 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: of the newsboys strike. The publishing giants ignored the newses. 31 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:03,640 Speaker 1: In their eyes, the problem would soon be resolved. They 32 00:02:03,680 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: had enough money to hold, and the kids didn't. Furthermore, 33 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:11,760 Speaker 1: police broke up strikers, often by force, but the news 34 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:15,160 Speaker 1: hees knew the system from the street level. They ambushed 35 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:19,080 Speaker 1: the journal wagons, stealing the papers so scabs couldn't sell them. 36 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:22,399 Speaker 1: They marched through the streets, tearing up papers and dousing 37 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:26,399 Speaker 1: unsympathetic news stands with water, though never the women resellers. 38 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 1: Bloody told the group a feller don't socle. Lady Bloody 39 00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: held speeches in the park, telling fellow news ees and 40 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,960 Speaker 1: gathered crowds alike. I'm trying to figure how ten cents 41 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:39,359 Speaker 1: on a hundred papers can mean more to a millionaire 42 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:41,560 Speaker 1: than it does to newsboys, and I can't see it. 43 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: From then on, more patrons took up the newses cause 44 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:48,800 Speaker 1: the papers started to panic, and the public thought it 45 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:51,799 Speaker 1: was funny that rich men like Pulitzer and Hearst were 46 00:02:51,919 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: hemorrhaging money due to a bunch of poor street kids. 47 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:58,360 Speaker 1: And sure, the strike had hurt the papers, but the 48 00:02:58,520 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 1: kids weren't faring well either. Within a week, word leaked 49 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:06,160 Speaker 1: that the papers had bought Ballettian Simmons. When both began 50 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:08,720 Speaker 1: wearing nicer clothes, the two were kicked out of the 51 00:03:08,840 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 1: union and narrowly escaped beating. After two weeks, Pulitzer and 52 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: Hurst agreed to buy back any unsold newspapers each day, 53 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: Thinking they've been offered a solid deal, the children, some 54 00:03:20,919 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: of them just seven years old, went back to work. Sadly, 55 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:28,079 Speaker 1: labor laws barely existed at the turn of the century, 56 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: and it would take more than child labor to change them. 57 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:46,360 Speaker 1: I'm Lauren Bogelbaum. Welcome to American shadows by the American 58 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: dream was more of a nightmare for New York City 59 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 1: sweatshop employees. Factory workers earned barely enough to scrape by. 60 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: The housing developments where they lived were filthy and unsafe 61 00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 1: without proper pervices or regulation. Garbage lined the streets. Parents 62 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:08,040 Speaker 1: couldn't afford decent food, much less childcare, and children often 63 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:12,840 Speaker 1: roamed the streets and attended kept at or below poverty levels. 64 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:16,479 Speaker 1: Frustrated workers began to clash with city officials and the 65 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:20,960 Speaker 1: corruption at Tammany Hall. Women wanted voting rights, workers wanted 66 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:25,960 Speaker 1: better pay and conditions. Wealthy business owners rewarded politicians for 67 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 1: preventing or sidelining new laws aimed at protecting workers. Safer 68 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:33,599 Speaker 1: conditions and higher pay affected their bottom line. After all, 69 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:38,640 Speaker 1: Tammany Hall politicians kept the tensions at bay, occasionally doing 70 00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:42,479 Speaker 1: local communities some small favor, maybe a cleaner park or 71 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:46,080 Speaker 1: a half hearted attempt at trash pick up. Every Day, 72 00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 1: workers piled into the sweatshops, often working from five in 73 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:53,560 Speaker 1: the morning until nine at night. Hundred hour workweeks were 74 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:58,920 Speaker 1: not uncommon. Tuberculosis spread quickly in overcrowded factories and poorly 75 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:04,679 Speaker 1: ventilated sweatshops. In July of nine, two hundred garment workers 76 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: at Rosen Brothers shirtwaist manufacturing shop walked out, demanding pay increase. 77 00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:14,279 Speaker 1: The shirts women's blouses that buttoned up the front had 78 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:17,760 Speaker 1: become all the rage, and employees hoped the huge demand 79 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:22,440 Speaker 1: would prompt management to give them a decent wage. Management 80 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:26,719 Speaker 1: refused to negotiate, hiring strike breakers to attack the picket lines. 81 00:05:27,279 --> 00:05:30,400 Speaker 1: If the picketers fought back tammany officials ordered the police 82 00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:34,080 Speaker 1: force to arrest them or beat them back. The clothing 83 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:37,680 Speaker 1: company wasn't the first or the last to use the technique, 84 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,479 Speaker 1: but this time the workers didn't back down. The strike 85 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:43,920 Speaker 1: went on for a month before the company relented and 86 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 1: gave their employees a raise. Elsewhere in the city, women 87 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:50,640 Speaker 1: and teen girls working in a necktie shop had it 88 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:54,040 Speaker 1: rougher being female. They were paid a pittance compared to 89 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,360 Speaker 1: their male counterparts. Their pay was so small that no 90 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:00,040 Speaker 1: matter how many hours they worked, they couldn't afford to 91 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 1: live anywhere except in the attics, sellers, and small rooms 92 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:07,640 Speaker 1: that the company provided, and despite the outcry for equal rights, 93 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 1: the businesses and politicians ignored them. When the women went 94 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: on strike, the company felt certain that losing both their 95 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:17,160 Speaker 1: pay and their homes would have them back to work 96 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:20,840 Speaker 1: in no time. But after weeks of lost profits, the 97 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: necktie company relented. While gender equality had a long way 98 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:27,360 Speaker 1: to go, the women and girls were given a raise. 99 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:31,799 Speaker 1: The early nineteen hundreds were a time of change, though 100 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:36,479 Speaker 1: the women's and workers rights advocate Clara Lemlich worked tirelessly 101 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:40,800 Speaker 1: as a union organizer. Her small five foot frame allowed 102 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:44,240 Speaker 1: her to move from shop to shop mostly unnoticed. The 103 00:06:44,279 --> 00:06:48,280 Speaker 1: long hours, miniscule pay, and unsafe working conditions were only 104 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:51,680 Speaker 1: a part of what angered her. Women and girls were 105 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 1: expected to work with salacious foremen and managers who changed clocks, 106 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 1: and supervisors who followed them to the bathroom and subjected 107 00:06:58,960 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: the women to daily search is of their purses and 108 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:05,680 Speaker 1: other belongings to businesses. Clara was a threat that had 109 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:10,400 Speaker 1: to be dealt with. It's unclear witch company or companies 110 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:13,800 Speaker 1: hired Charles Rose and his gang of men to stalk Clara, 111 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:18,280 Speaker 1: but their goal was clear, make sure Clara knew who 112 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:21,080 Speaker 1: she was up against in the most brutal way possible. 113 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 1: On September they followed her through the streets of New 114 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: York's Lower East Side, until they were away from public view. 115 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:33,440 Speaker 1: She recognized Charles and a few of the other men 116 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:37,800 Speaker 1: as strikebreakers and understood what was about to happen. Two 117 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:40,440 Speaker 1: days later, she returned to the picket line with broken 118 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:44,240 Speaker 1: ribs and her face battered. The story of her brutal 119 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:46,920 Speaker 1: attack served to tell the others what the men and 120 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: those who had hired them would sink to. Max Blank 121 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 1: and Isaac Harris, who owned the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, watched 122 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:58,840 Speaker 1: the strikes but paid little attention. So far, they had 123 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:01,320 Speaker 1: managed to keep their employee is in line, though not 124 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 1: because they treated them much better. The company was the 125 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:09,360 Speaker 1: largest manufacturer of shirtwaist blouses, popular with the poorest career 126 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:12,280 Speaker 1: woman to the richest of socialites, and the men felt 127 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:17,320 Speaker 1: their operation would go unscathed. The opposite was true. Their 128 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:20,120 Speaker 1: company was about to make some major changes when it 129 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:29,440 Speaker 1: came to employee welfare. Blank and Harris were Jewish immigrants 130 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:33,360 Speaker 1: from Russia, where they had endured horrific conditions and sweatshops themselves. 131 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:37,600 Speaker 1: Despite this, neither man seemed particularly bothered that they had 132 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:40,240 Speaker 1: become perpetrators of the same type of treatment that they 133 00:08:40,240 --> 00:08:45,000 Speaker 1: had fled from. The Triangle Shirtwaist Company occupied the eighth, ninth, 134 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:48,520 Speaker 1: and tenth floors of a building on Washington Place. The 135 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:51,640 Speaker 1: average work day began at eight am sharp. The young 136 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:54,839 Speaker 1: girls and women talked about the latest play or fashions 137 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 1: as they jostled their way to the freight elevators. There 138 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:02,199 Speaker 1: were stairwells, but those remained locked and reserved for the management, 139 00:09:02,559 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 1: mostly men, like owners Blanket Harris and factory manager Samuel Bernstein. 140 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: The passenger elevators were also locked and manned by operators. 141 00:09:11,760 --> 00:09:15,719 Speaker 1: Only management and customers were permitted to use them. On 142 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:20,080 Speaker 1: March nineteen eleven, the women and girls, some making as 143 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:23,160 Speaker 1: little as seven dollars a week, hurried to their stations 144 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 1: as they did every day. There were quotas to be met. 145 00:09:27,679 --> 00:09:30,640 Speaker 1: With more women in the workforce, demand for the simple 146 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:34,160 Speaker 1: button up blouses meant the company expected their employees to 147 00:09:34,200 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: work faster, and by the end of the day garments 148 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:42,160 Speaker 1: piled up at the buttonhole machine. Business was good. Blanket 149 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:46,480 Speaker 1: Harris claimed they were the shirtwaist Kings. Their company bundled, boxed, 150 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:49,920 Speaker 1: and shipped over two thousand garments a day. Every day. 151 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:52,760 Speaker 1: The men raked in the money, and all that wealth 152 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:56,560 Speaker 1: went to their heads, to them the workers didn't have 153 00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:00,200 Speaker 1: a lot to complain about. Six hundred employees were read 154 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:02,679 Speaker 1: out over three floors, after all, and they had the 155 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:06,840 Speaker 1: latest sewing machines. And while they were expected to work 156 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: thirteen hour days, seven days a week, the shifts were 157 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:13,920 Speaker 1: shorter than at some other companies, with no breaks except 158 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:16,960 Speaker 1: a half hour lunch. Smokers often took drags on their 159 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:20,760 Speaker 1: cigarettes between cutting fabric, then tossed the butts into nearby 160 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:25,360 Speaker 1: trash cans. Despite the flammable materials surrounding them, no one 161 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:29,239 Speaker 1: called them on it. At four thirty pm that day, 162 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,600 Speaker 1: a foreman began rounds to distribute the weekly pay envelopes, 163 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:35,520 Speaker 1: Starting on the tenth floor, Some of the young girls 164 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:38,040 Speaker 1: talked about a weekend date with a new bow of 165 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:41,760 Speaker 1: some older women playned a nice dinner at home. One 166 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:45,200 Speaker 1: girl started to sing a popular song, Every little movement 167 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:49,400 Speaker 1: has a meaning all its own. Then a scream echoed 168 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:53,360 Speaker 1: from one of the floors below. Like the others, Bernstein 169 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:57,079 Speaker 1: turned to look out the tenth floor window. Smoke billowed 170 00:10:57,120 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 1: past them. One of the women shouted that a fire 171 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:02,600 Speaker 1: had broken out on the eighth floor, a wide open 172 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:07,280 Speaker 1: space full of flammable cotton and tissue paper. Every employee 173 00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:11,959 Speaker 1: immediately understood the danger. On the eighth floor, one of 174 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:14,880 Speaker 1: the fabric cutters grabbed a fire bucket to douse the flames, 175 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:19,080 Speaker 1: though one bucket was hardly effective against the rapidly spreading fire. 176 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:22,600 Speaker 1: The hundred naty workers on the floor headed for the 177 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:25,360 Speaker 1: nearest stairwells in an attempt to force the doors open. 178 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:29,600 Speaker 1: Realizing the fire was spreading fast and the stairs were blocked, 179 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:33,680 Speaker 1: others climbed out onto the balcony and window ledges. On 180 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:36,480 Speaker 1: the tenth floor, Bernstein gathered a few of the other 181 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:40,280 Speaker 1: men and began hooking up the emergency fire hose. When 182 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:42,720 Speaker 1: they turned on the valve, they discovered there was no 183 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:46,760 Speaker 1: water pressure. To Bernstein's horror, one of the workers clothes 184 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:52,520 Speaker 1: caught fire, engulfing him in flames. Employees crushed themselves against 185 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:55,559 Speaker 1: the door, screaming for help. When someone on the other 186 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,560 Speaker 1: side finally opened one of the doors. Bernstein had to 187 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:02,000 Speaker 1: rescue a woman who had fallen from being trampled and 188 00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:05,240 Speaker 1: one of the seamstresses, Dinah, tried calling the ninth floor. 189 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:09,360 Speaker 1: Bernstein pulled her away and towards the staircase. They were 190 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:11,480 Speaker 1: met with a wall of people trying to shove their 191 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:14,839 Speaker 1: way down the stairs. If he and Dinah joined them 192 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:19,240 Speaker 1: did meet a fiery death. Somehow, he had to convince 193 00:12:19,320 --> 00:12:21,880 Speaker 1: as many people as he could their only chance of 194 00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:25,160 Speaker 1: survival meant heading up to the roof of the burning building. 195 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:40,640 Speaker 1: Outside the building, spectators began to gather. Employees who had 196 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:43,400 Speaker 1: found their way to the rickety fire escape crawled down 197 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:47,160 Speaker 1: to an open window on another floor, finding the stairwells 198 00:12:47,200 --> 00:12:50,440 Speaker 1: locked there as well. Some of them reappeared moments later, 199 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:54,720 Speaker 1: while some did not. More workers found their way onto 200 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:58,080 Speaker 1: the fire escape. The spectators watched in horror as the 201 00:12:58,120 --> 00:13:01,880 Speaker 1: flimsy metals swayed and creak, finally buckling under the weight, 202 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:06,000 Speaker 1: spilling twenty people to their death. On one of the floors, 203 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:08,760 Speaker 1: twenty four year old yet A Lubits began to cry 204 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 1: when she realized the stairwells were locked. A manager promptly 205 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:17,200 Speaker 1: reprimanded her. She paused, but only for a second, deciding 206 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:19,680 Speaker 1: that if she were about to die, she'd act anyway 207 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:23,400 Speaker 1: she wanted. She followed other girls who were hopping from 208 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:27,239 Speaker 1: table to table dodging the fire. The flames were everywhere, 209 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:31,679 Speaker 1: and their hair began smolder. Coughing from inhaling smoke and 210 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:35,239 Speaker 1: ash Yetta found her way to the staircase, where Bernstein 211 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:39,760 Speaker 1: ushered her up the stairs. Owner Isaac Harris, had been 212 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:42,760 Speaker 1: on the phone placing orders when flames shot out of 213 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:46,320 Speaker 1: the tenth floor elevator shaft. Having a key to the 214 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:50,200 Speaker 1: passenger elevator, he quickly ushered seven d other employees passed 215 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:52,640 Speaker 1: the fire and crammed as many of them as would 216 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:55,640 Speaker 1: fit into the elevator car, sending it to the rooftop 217 00:13:55,640 --> 00:13:58,680 Speaker 1: and back. He had time to rescue a second load 218 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:02,920 Speaker 1: of people, but out a third when the elevator rails 219 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:06,520 Speaker 1: buckled from the heat. Harris and the remaining employees hurried 220 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:10,120 Speaker 1: for the stairwell and headed to the roof. Everyone covered 221 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:12,840 Speaker 1: their faces as best they could and climbed the dark 222 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:17,520 Speaker 1: stairwell filled with smoke. They reached the rooftop and had 223 00:14:17,559 --> 00:14:20,960 Speaker 1: another choice to make the fire engine sirens rang in 224 00:14:21,000 --> 00:14:23,960 Speaker 1: the distance, but the fire wouldn't wait. They had to 225 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:27,800 Speaker 1: get off the building before the roof collapsed. South and 226 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:30,440 Speaker 1: east sides of the building had nothing but a hundred 227 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:34,120 Speaker 1: and thirty ft drop. Two taller buildings sat on the 228 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:39,000 Speaker 1: north and west sides. Survival meant reaching one of them. Below, 229 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:44,520 Speaker 1: Engine Company seventy two barreled down Broadway. Flames shot out 230 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:47,960 Speaker 1: of the eighth floor windows. The firefighters began hooking up 231 00:14:47,960 --> 00:14:51,160 Speaker 1: hoses to the closest fire hydrants. As people began to 232 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:55,600 Speaker 1: crawl out onto the ledges above them, Captain Howard Rush 233 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:58,840 Speaker 1: realized what was about to happen. He ordered his men 234 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:01,960 Speaker 1: to set up life next catch the jumpers. He had 235 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:04,280 Speaker 1: little hope the nets would work to save them from 236 00:15:04,280 --> 00:15:07,800 Speaker 1: such a fall, but he had to try. A man 237 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:10,880 Speaker 1: on a ledge pissed a woman, and the two clasped 238 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:15,560 Speaker 1: hands and jumped to their deaths. Others followed a One 239 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:19,600 Speaker 1: woman's dress caught momentarily on a steel sign. When her 240 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:22,720 Speaker 1: burning clothes gave way, she fell to the sidewalk below. 241 00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 1: Those trapped on the roof were aware of the fire trucks, 242 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:30,040 Speaker 1: and they also knew they couldn't wait for firemen to 243 00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:35,560 Speaker 1: reach them, nor would they survive jumping. Desperate, Harris took 244 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:38,080 Speaker 1: a running leap and managed to grab hold of one 245 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:40,960 Speaker 1: of the taller buildings ledges. He pulled himself up and 246 00:15:41,000 --> 00:15:44,400 Speaker 1: over and summoned help. A janitor supplied him with a 247 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:46,720 Speaker 1: ladder and the two men lowered it to the roof 248 00:15:46,920 --> 00:15:50,480 Speaker 1: and the employees stranded there. The professor in the second 249 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:54,080 Speaker 1: building also found two painters ladders, and though the ladders 250 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:57,200 Speaker 1: were too short to bridge the buildings, his students lowered 251 00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:00,240 Speaker 1: them and held on while Bernstein hoisted people up to 252 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:03,360 Speaker 1: reach the bottom rungs until he was the last on 253 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:07,000 Speaker 1: the rooftop. It was now or never. The flames had 254 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:09,800 Speaker 1: reached the roof, with threatening to cave in at any moment. 255 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:13,200 Speaker 1: The students called out to Bernstein, encouraging him to make 256 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:16,160 Speaker 1: a leap for it. He took several steps back to 257 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:20,680 Speaker 1: get a running start, He ran and jumped, managing to 258 00:16:20,800 --> 00:16:24,280 Speaker 1: just barely grab the last rung on the ladder. When 259 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:26,720 Speaker 1: he reached the safety of the other rooftop, he and 260 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:30,040 Speaker 1: the others had a sobering view their co workers, who 261 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:32,240 Speaker 1: hadn't made it to the roof with them, were leaping 262 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:35,920 Speaker 1: from the ledges. Sixty two people jumped to their deaths 263 00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:41,400 Speaker 1: that day. Had the stairwells and elevators been unlocked, evacuation 264 00:16:41,440 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 1: would have taken barely a few minutes. Instead, approximately a 265 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:50,680 Speaker 1: hundred and forty six people died. The papers reported on 266 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:53,360 Speaker 1: the cause and how long it had taken firefighters to 267 00:16:53,400 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 1: put out the blaze. All that remained then was figuring 268 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:11,040 Speaker 1: out who was at fault. The answer should have been 269 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:16,160 Speaker 1: easy enough. After the investigation, Blank and Harris were indicted 270 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:20,040 Speaker 1: on charges of first and second degree manslaughter in mid April. 271 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:23,520 Speaker 1: The men hired the best lawyer money could buy for 272 00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:27,080 Speaker 1: their joint trial, which began on December four of nineteen eleven. 273 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:32,480 Speaker 1: By all accounts, attorney Max Stawyer had the reputation of 274 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:37,159 Speaker 1: a shark. Getting his clients off on all charges required 275 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:42,640 Speaker 1: that he destroy all survivors credibility as witnesses. He ruthlessly 276 00:17:42,760 --> 00:17:47,000 Speaker 1: questioned each one repeatedly. When one woman didn't waver in 277 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:50,200 Speaker 1: her responses, he said that her calm demeanor and repeated 278 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:53,639 Speaker 1: insistence indicated she had rehearsed her answers instead of speaking 279 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:57,919 Speaker 1: from memory. And Stawyer questioned the defense's argument that the 280 00:17:57,960 --> 00:18:01,520 Speaker 1: doors had been maliciously locked during working hours to trap 281 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:06,640 Speaker 1: workers inside. Sure conditions the factory were poor. The building 282 00:18:06,720 --> 00:18:10,879 Speaker 1: suffered from faulty ventilation and outdated heating and cooling systems, 283 00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:14,960 Speaker 1: as well as dimly lit stairwells. Paper and fabric clippings 284 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:19,520 Speaker 1: littered the floor pemicles were haphazardly stored patterns hung from 285 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:23,200 Speaker 1: the ceilings. Inadequate fire buckets, and few restrooms to provide 286 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:27,440 Speaker 1: running water made the factory high risk, but Stawyer claimed 287 00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:30,920 Speaker 1: that the mostly steel and iron building had been advertised 288 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:35,360 Speaker 1: as fireproof. In short, Stawyer claimed that his clients were 289 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:40,160 Speaker 1: not negligent. Sadly, the jury agreed and acquitted both men 290 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:44,960 Speaker 1: of all charges. That didn't stop the civil lawsuits, though 291 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:50,359 Speaker 1: families remained understandably angry. While the men may not have 292 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:53,560 Speaker 1: been at fault for starting the fire, they had insisted 293 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:56,640 Speaker 1: that the stairwells and elevators be locked, and had allowed 294 00:18:56,640 --> 00:19:01,240 Speaker 1: working conditions that were ripe for such a fire. Stawyer 295 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:04,800 Speaker 1: represented the men in the civil lawsuits as well. One 296 00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:08,800 Speaker 1: by one, he tore down the victim's credibility. In the end, 297 00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:12,040 Speaker 1: neither man paid out a single penny to the survivors 298 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:16,480 Speaker 1: or their families. The following year, the twenty three litigants 299 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:19,959 Speaker 1: managed to get the company's insurance to pay just seventy 300 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:26,280 Speaker 1: five per claim. Later, in Blank found himself in trouble 301 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:29,680 Speaker 1: once more for locking doors in his Fifth Avenue factory. 302 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:32,720 Speaker 1: This time the judge had to do something, so he 303 00:19:32,800 --> 00:19:36,399 Speaker 1: fined Blank twenty dollars and then apologized for having to 304 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:40,840 Speaker 1: punish him. While this piece of American history is bleak, 305 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:46,320 Speaker 1: changes did come from such an avoidable tragedy. Investigations into 306 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:49,520 Speaker 1: the Triangle Shirtwaist company led the New York State legislature 307 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:53,640 Speaker 1: to create a Factory Investigating Commission. The commission looked into 308 00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:57,919 Speaker 1: conditions at factories throughout the city. They frequently tangled with 309 00:19:57,960 --> 00:20:01,560 Speaker 1: tammany hall officials, yet still managed to put sixty four 310 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:05,240 Speaker 1: new labor rights laws into place. The new laws mandated 311 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:08,400 Speaker 1: the building access not be limited, that there be adequate 312 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:12,600 Speaker 1: fireproofing and fire extinguishers. It also called for the installation 313 00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:17,119 Speaker 1: of fire alarms and sprinkler systems. As for the conditions, 314 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:20,440 Speaker 1: workers were to be given eating facilities separate from their 315 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:24,320 Speaker 1: desks or work areas, and factories were to provide proper 316 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:33,760 Speaker 1: lavatories with running water. There's more to this story. Stick 317 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:36,560 Speaker 1: around after this brief sponsor break to hear all about it. 318 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:46,680 Speaker 1: Workers aren't the only ones who have found themselves in 319 00:20:46,800 --> 00:20:52,480 Speaker 1: danger due to unsafe workplace conditions. In March of nine nine, 320 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:56,320 Speaker 1: Americans flocked to theaters to see the latest blockbuster disaster 321 00:20:56,440 --> 00:21:00,920 Speaker 1: movie in the China Syndrome, a journalist discovers a cover 322 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:04,520 Speaker 1: up on safety issues at a nuclear power plant. Though 323 00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:07,480 Speaker 1: the movie became a box office hit, many people found 324 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:11,359 Speaker 1: the premise a little unrealistic. They couldn't have been more wrong. 325 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:16,119 Speaker 1: On a sandbar in the Susquehanna River, just ten miles 326 00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:20,399 Speaker 1: from Pennsylvania's capital of Harrisburg stood three Mile Island, a 327 00:21:20,560 --> 00:21:24,480 Speaker 1: state of the art nuclear power plant. In v eight. 328 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:27,320 Speaker 1: The four year old plant had a second reactor added 329 00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:31,200 Speaker 1: to ramp up affordable and reliable power during the energy crisis. 330 00:21:32,119 --> 00:21:35,560 Speaker 1: Nuclear power plants used the controlled fission of uranium to 331 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:39,520 Speaker 1: produce controlled heat, which is used to turn water into steam, 332 00:21:39,680 --> 00:21:45,000 Speaker 1: which drives turbines that generate electricity. The problem started at 333 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:48,520 Speaker 1: four in the morning on March nineteen seventy nine, when 334 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:51,800 Speaker 1: a minor malfunction caused temperatures to rise in the unit 335 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:56,359 Speaker 1: to reactor. It automatically shut down and a tiny pressure 336 00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:59,439 Speaker 1: valve opened to release an excess of cooling water in 337 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:03,560 Speaker 1: the form of steam, but then the valve failed to close. 338 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:06,800 Speaker 1: There was no sensor in place to report this failure, 339 00:22:06,920 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: so no one noticed that too much cooling water was 340 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:14,280 Speaker 1: draining out through the valve. Residual heat from the fission 341 00:22:14,320 --> 00:22:17,679 Speaker 1: process continued to heat the core. By early morning, the 342 00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:21,720 Speaker 1: temperature reached four thousand degrees, just a thousand shive a meltdown. 343 00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:25,840 Speaker 1: If a meltdown occurred, radiation would drift across the countryside, 344 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:30,960 Speaker 1: exposing the population to radiation poisoning. Another automatic system was 345 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:34,600 Speaker 1: pushing in replacement coolant water, but the stuck valve was 346 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:37,480 Speaker 1: sending it into the pressurizer, which you do not want 347 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:41,240 Speaker 1: to fill up with water. The workers noticed, and in 348 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:45,480 Speaker 1: a panic, shut down the emergency water system. While they 349 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:49,080 Speaker 1: scrambled to understand what had happened. The contaminated water released 350 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:53,359 Speaker 1: radioactive gases into the plant. While not life threatening, the 351 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:57,520 Speaker 1: levels were dangerous, and without a cooling mechanism, the core 352 00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 1: continued to heat. A six fifty six am, the plant 353 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:05,960 Speaker 1: supervisor declared a site area emergency. A half hour later, 354 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:10,040 Speaker 1: station manager Gary Miller announced a general emergency. By eight 355 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:13,359 Speaker 1: a m. News of the accident spread outside the plant. 356 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 1: Independent investigators found slightly elevated levels of radiation from the 357 00:23:18,680 --> 00:23:23,760 Speaker 1: leaking water. The plant's parent company, Metropolitan Edison, downplay the damage, 358 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:27,320 Speaker 1: insisting that no radiation had been detected off the plant grounds. 359 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:33,000 Speaker 1: Governor Dick Thornberg had a difficult decision. Should he believe 360 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:35,480 Speaker 1: the plant manager, which would save a lot of trouble, 361 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:40,680 Speaker 1: or the investigators and order and evacuation. Considering the nature 362 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:44,000 Speaker 1: of the accident, He briefed the White House, confusing the 363 00:23:44,040 --> 00:23:47,520 Speaker 1: situation further, it was unclear who had the authority to 364 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:52,040 Speaker 1: declare an evacuation. The plant operators still had no answers 365 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 1: and were undecided on how much information the public should know. 366 00:23:56,480 --> 00:24:02,000 Speaker 1: State officials turned to the National Regulatory Commission NARC Inspectors investigated, 367 00:24:02,240 --> 00:24:05,040 Speaker 1: noting that the accident was caused for concern, but not 368 00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:10,880 Speaker 1: particularly alarming. There was another problem, though the NRC had 369 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:16,320 Speaker 1: difficulty gathering accurate information. By eight p m, plant operators 370 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:19,520 Speaker 1: finally realized that shutting down the water had been a mistake. 371 00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:24,320 Speaker 1: After restarting the pumps, core temperatures began to drop, though 372 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:28,480 Speaker 1: half the core was already molten, The narrowly missed a 373 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:33,240 Speaker 1: complete meltdown by about an hour. The trouble wasn't over yet, though. 374 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:38,480 Speaker 1: On marcht operators discovered a highly flammable bubble of hydrogen 375 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:43,280 Speaker 1: gas within the reactor building back on. A reaction between 376 00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:48,200 Speaker 1: exposed zirkiloid tubes and superheated water had created hydrogen gas. 377 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:51,399 Speaker 1: The NFC worried that the bubble had the potential to 378 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,800 Speaker 1: cause a meltdown or even a giant explosion. They just 379 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:59,440 Speaker 1: weren't sure. The plant released a public statement asking residents 380 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:03,240 Speaker 1: to stay in side. Governor Thornberg advised that pregnant women 381 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:06,359 Speaker 1: and all children within a five mile radius evacuate until 382 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:12,080 Speaker 1: further notice. Though the evacuation was voluntary, people panicked. More 383 00:25:12,119 --> 00:25:15,160 Speaker 1: than a hundred thousand people fled the area. It took 384 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:20,080 Speaker 1: two weeks before many returned. In early April, President Jimmy 385 00:25:20,119 --> 00:25:23,439 Speaker 1: Carter arrived at the plant. Operators assured him that the 386 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:25,959 Speaker 1: hydrogen bubble had been bled away from the system and 387 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:30,720 Speaker 1: no longer posed a problem. In the aftermath, investigators looked 388 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:33,480 Speaker 1: into emissions that had been released and how the accident 389 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:37,920 Speaker 1: had affected workers at the plant and nearby residents. They 390 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:41,200 Speaker 1: concluded that wild workers had been exposed to unhealthy levels 391 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,439 Speaker 1: of radiation. No one outside of the plant seemed to 392 00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:48,800 Speaker 1: have been affected. Clean Up took fourteen years and cost 393 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:52,520 Speaker 1: more than a billion dollars, and the accident spurred massive 394 00:25:52,600 --> 00:25:56,480 Speaker 1: changes in nuclear regulation making other plants greatly safer than 395 00:25:56,560 --> 00:26:00,280 Speaker 1: Three Mile Island. In twenty nineteen, the plant shut down 396 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:03,920 Speaker 1: for good. The destroyed Unit two is sealed and slated 397 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:21,399 Speaker 1: to be dismantled. In American Shadows is hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum. 398 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:25,560 Speaker 1: This episode was written by Michelle Muto, researched by Ali Steed, 399 00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:29,359 Speaker 1: and produced by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive 400 00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:34,120 Speaker 1: producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn 401 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:37,040 Speaker 1: more about the show, visit grim and Mild dot com. 402 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:40,440 Speaker 1: From more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 403 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:43,880 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts