Sloss Furnace Research Paper

Even if it meant, working for low wages in a crowded or an unsafe environment. “From this hour, a hard life began for me. He refused to employ me except by the week. He paid me three dollars and for this he hurried me from early until late.” The owners, Blanck and Harris would often walk through their factory, looking the other way while young teenagers worked to improve their lives. This was the first indication the owners were guilty; the owners were present with their families just a few hours before the tragic fire started. They could see factory workers worked long hours with little or no breaks. They often worked without food or were afraid to stop to eat because of the demands from their boss. The pressure was real and it came from the owners and the people they hired to run the factory. One factory employee gave this description…“The bosses in the shops are hardly what you would call educated men, and the girls to them are part of the machines they are running. They yell at the girls and they "call them down" even worse than I imagine the Negro slaves were in the South.” (Life in the Shop, by Clara Lemlich)

Not only were the workers not treated well, the building was also very unsanitary and unsafe. They worked on top of each other in cramped spaces where there were just lines and lines of sewing machines. The exit doors were locked in order to stop the workers from leaving to go to the bathroom. Only the foreman had the keys to unlock the doors.There were four elevators that had access to the factory floors but only one of them were in working condition. In order to get to the working elevator, the workers had to go down a long narrow hallway. This elevator was only able to hold 12 people at a time. Factory floors had no sprinkler system and the entire building only had one fire escape that was not big enough for all of the people in

The Triangle shirtwaist factory fire on March 25, 1911, was one of the worst tragedies ever back then, causing the death of 146 workers. This company was owned by Max Blank and Isaac Harris. They had a little shop by 1900 and it grew quickly, they moved their business to the ninth floor of the new ten-story Asch building. There were approximately 500 workers, mostly immigrant women, worked at the Triangle shirtwaist company. Bessie Cohen, who survived was inside the building and wrote a short story of what had happened. Most women either died from the fire or jumped from a high height. They jumped because the fire trucks' ladders could only reach up to seventh floor. The doors were locked to prevent workers from stealing or leaving, thus, they had no escape. According to fire marshal, cigarettes were the cause of the fire. Cotton is even more flammable than paper, more like explosively. Plus, the factory had woods and there were oxygen. After the fire, they had an investigation.

Even in the summer it was a dangerous place to work. In the summer it would get very hot. In the factories, the boilers would create steam and fly up into the air, making the visibility right in front of person. Sometimes though a bull would jump off the conveyor belt and

These workers, mostly young female, Jewish and Italian immigrants from Europe, worked long hours for low wages, half of them were teenagers and small percentages were elderly women. (Kaufman 14) Stated Michael T. Kaufman in the New York Times Article, “Bessie Cohen, 107, Survivor of 1922 Shirtwaist fire, dies.” Approximately 2 years before this horrific fire, demands were being made by the factory workers. According to Kaufman article, 20,000 shirtwaist workers were on a three-month strike in New York City and Philadelphia to strengthen the union and force public attention on work conditions in sweatshops. (18) Nothing was done. “That’s the whole trouble of this fire. Nobody cared. Nobody…” (Douglas 13) states Rose Freedman on Martin Douglas New York Times article “Rose Freedman, Last survivor of Triangle Fire, dies at

The working conditions were terrible factories were not the best places to work. The only light present was the sunlight that came through the windows. Machines spit out smoke and in some factories, workers came out covered in black soot by the end of the day.  Shifts were usually 14-16  hours a day for six days a week, with extra time required during busy periods. Workers were often required to clean their machines during their mealtimes.  However,

The Tringle Shirtwaist Fire was the epitome for the labor reform that would impact years to follow. In the year 1911, a tragic incident shook New York City, this incident being the “Triangle Shirtwaist Fire”. The Triangle Shirtwaist Company employed an approximate of 500 people these people being from the minority group of young Jewish and Italian women. The Triangle Shirtwaist Company had already started to play a “key role” in the era of labor history. After about 200 of the company’s women tried to join the “International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union abbreviated to (ILGWU) the company resorted to firing many of their women. In 1909, after the company had taken part in firing women after they tried to join the (ILGWU), it caused an outbreak better working and leading to a "walk-out" of the female garment workers. During the walk-out and strikes, the strikers worked towards having better-working conditions in the clothing factories.

March 25, 1911 about 145 people were killed due to a tragic fire. The fire was called the Triangle Factory, it was one of the largest disaster in New York before 9/11. Before the fire there weren’t many rules that aided in the prevention of massive fires, and a lot of people died because of that. Since the fire new labor laws and fire safety laws.

It is March 28, 1911, you wake up, make your coffee, and begin reading the newspaper, you notice a large printing at the top, reading, “148 leap to death or perish in fire.” As you read on, you come to realize that three days ago, women and men that lived on your street, are now dead due to a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.

The fire, which murdered 146 material specialists, happened in New York City in 1911. The fire murdered the specialists since they were bolted into their working environment and had no chance to get of getting away. One entryway was constantly bolted and the other entryway dependably had a gatekeeper at it. In the result of the flame, the proprietors of the industrial facility were let off with an ostensible fine and no different disciplines. The fire demonstrated that numerous American laborers were compelled to work in extremely perilous conditions.

The workdays began before dawn in the coal country.When the men and boys got ready for work,they wore different clothing. The men wore rubber boots with coveralls,as the boys pulled on caps,overcoats, and laced up hobnailed boots.The young boys worked in the breaker.The breaker was the tall,gloomy part where coal was broken and

At one point before the fire there were as many as 20 fires in one week. With how many fires there were, the fire department was exhausted daily. There also was a limited amount of paid firefighters and it was becoming harder to keep up with the extinguishment of fires in the city. The end results of this fire were about “300 people dead 100,000 others homeless.

On the 25th of March in the year 1911 in the city of New York City, a tragic event took place. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory caught on fire inside of the work areas. The factory was located in the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors of the Asch Building on the corner of Washington Place and Greene Street on the island of Manhattan. This workplace was a real “sweatshop”. Its main employers were young immigrant women, who rarely spoke English. They worked 12 hours a day, everyday and only made a total of about $12 a week. The rules were said to be very strict and one was that cigarettes were not allowed but many say that they were often sneaked in and that is rumored to what have started the fire in the excess rag bin. Many believe it was from a cigarette butt that had not been properly disposed of but

Only fifteen minutes away from being released after a hard day’s work, to enjoy a Saturday evening with their families and the promise of a nice Sunday off, 146 workers would lose their lives in New York City’s worst factory fire ever. When the smoke was gone and the fires extinguished, 146 workers of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory lay dead from a senseless tragedy that could have been prevented. When all the bodies were accounted for it was determined that fifty-three had died by Jumping from the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors. Nineteen fell to their deaths in the elevator shaft while trying to escape the fire. More than twenty workers would die when the overloaded fire escapes collapsed beneath their feet, sending them falling to their deaths. The rest consisted of fifty workers who would become entombed within the ninth floor burning to death before they could escape.

In fact, death was not a stranger to the miners. One sabotaged accident left fifteen victims presumed dead. Negrel, the head engineer and supervisor, had the opinion that "not one of the victims could still be alive, all fifteen must certainly have perished from drowning of asphyxia..." (455) Even despite all the danger the workers had to suffer major injustices. Etienne argued against the Company saying "You cut down the price per tub and then pretend to make up for the cut by paying for