Ninety-nine years ago today: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

March 25, 2010

in Uncategorized

New York, March 25, 1911. An eyewitness report as relayed by telephone, disseminated by telegraph, and archived by internet:

I was walking through Washington Square when a puff of smoke issuing from the factory building caught my eye. I reached the building before the alarm was turned in. I saw every feature of the tragedy visible from outside the building. I learned a new sound—a more horrible sound than description can picture. It was the thud of a speeding, living body on a stone sidewalk. . . .

A story all should know.

Online archive of photos, documents, and oral histories hosted by Cornell.

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