S1 Ep36: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Crimes of the Centuries

Amber Hunt and Audioboom

History, Documentary, Society & Culture, True Crime

4.7 • 4K Ratings

🗓️ 16 August 2021

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

People enjoying a warm, sunny Saturday in New York City first noticed smoke arising from a building at about 4:40 p.m. and rushed to gather at the base of a 10-story building that was quickly engulfed in flames. The scene greeting them was horrific: Dozens of workers were trapped on the building's ninth floor. With the flames closing in, some chose to jump to their deaths.

More than 100 years later, the 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory remains one of the deadliest industrial disasters in American history.

"Crimes of the Centuries" is a podcast from Grab Bag Collab exploring forgotten crimes from times past that made a mark and helped change history.

Follow us on Instagram and Twitter: @centuriespod

Transcript

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0:36.0	Some crimes are so heartbreaking or shocking that they earn the label crime of the century.
0:44.0	But the stories that made headlines and decades passed aren't necessarily remembered today.
0:52.0	I'm Amber Hunt, a journalist and author.
0:56.0	And in each episode of this show, I'll examine a case that's maybe lesser known today, but was huge when it happened.
1:04.0	This is crimes of the centuries.
1:09.0	Hundreds of people had gathered at the base of the burning building in New York City to gawk skyward at the flames and smoke pouring from the eighth and ninth floors.
1:30.0	What they saw was horrifying.
1:32.0	Dozens of people were pressed against the windows, frantically screaming to the people below.
1:38.0	Fire they screamed, get help!
1:40.0	The people on the street could see that the flames were growing.
1:44.0	The people up above could sense there was no way out.
1:48.0	So they started to jump.
1:50.0	Most went alone, but some held hands.
1:53.0	In one case, a man picked up three of the women near him, one by one, and held them elegantly at the window in a sort of dancer's pose before letting go.
2:04.0	The last was his sweetheart, so they embraced and kissed goodbye.
2:09.0	And after a broken body lay at rest on the sidewalk, the man jumped to join her.
2:15.0	The date was March 25, 1911.
	...

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