GOMPERS, 1 have never declared a strike in all my life.

I have done lll)' share to prevent strikes, but there comes a time when not to We showed the world that women could fight
strike is but to rivet the chains of slavery upon our wrists ... And we rose and won with women's might.
11,e crowd applauds. Downstage right, two of the men, disgusted with the display the women are making, exit. 11,e rest continue to read from their
THE TRIANGLE FACTORY FIRE PROJECT This day, November 22nd, 1909, is the time and the opportu nity. 1 sar, friends, do not enter too hastil)', but if )'OU can't get the newspapers as the women continue their march in slow motion.
manufacturers to give )'OU what )'OU want, th en strike. I ask you to stand together, to have faith in rourselve.s. to be true to your ACTOR I. SHUBERTS DONATE A WEEK OF BOX OFFICE TO GLRL STRIKERS
ACT ONE comrades. Let your watchword be union and progress, and until then no surrende.r ! ACTOR 5. STRIKER ACCUSED OF ASSAULTING SCAB
11,ere is another storm ofapplause as Gompers descends the platform. The moderator, the red-haired fireplug Rose Sd111eiderma11, ACTOR 2. MRS. BELMONT OFFERS J\JlANSION AS COLLATERAL TO BAIL OUT ARRESTED STRIKER
Scene I steps forward.
ACTOR 5. 70 SHOP OWNERS SETTLE IN FIRST 48 HOURS OF SHIRTWAIST STRIKE
THE STRIKE (1909} ROSE SCHNEIDERMAN. Thank rou, Mr. Gompers. O ur next speaker is Mrs. O.H.P, Belmont, President of the Women's Trade Union
ACTOR I. THRONG CHEERS ON THE GIRL STRIKERS
Leagu e. Mrs. Belmont ...
In the darkness, a simple piano theme is lieard. Lights reveal William Sl1epherd [Actor 3/, a young reporter for the United Press, WOMEN STRIKERS. (Si11ging.)
standing downstage left. He addresses tl1e audience. Gompers assists Mrs. Belmont [Actor C/ onto tl,e platform. Atfrfty-six, Mrs. Belmont, resplendent in a hat sprouting a fountain of
Hail the waistmakers of nineteen-nine,
feathers, has survived-and inl1erited from - both a Vanderbilt an:d a Belmont. 111ere is polite applause.
SHEPHERD. Never editorialize. That was the first lesson my first editor taught me. "You're twenty-one years old;' he said. "You have Making th eir stand on the picket line,
MRS. BELMONT. Thank )'OU, Miss Schneiderman. TI1e plight of th e girls toiling in the shirtwaist factories, and indeed of all working
no right to an opinion about anrthing but beer and girls. New York reporters see a whole lotta awful:' he said., "sights that knock the ACTOR 5, 50 SHIRTWAIST GIRLS, UPSET BY SOCIALIST ORATORY, CARRIED OUT OF CENTRAL PALACE MEETING:
girls, is ret another example of the effect of the d isenfrancl1isem ent of women. TI1is day is not just about these poor, oppressed girls.
breath out of you and keep it. The key is not to look for too long, not to get sucked in. Look away, look at your hand, and remember: MAYOR'S NAME HISSED
This day is about all women, rich, poor, and m iddle-class, educated and illiterate, famous, infam ous, and unknown.
Who. What. Where. When. How. And write it all down as quick as you can. Don't try to make sense of a nrth ing, just spit out the facts
ACTOR 2. TRIANGLE WAIST COMPANY, CITY'S LARGEST, HOLDS OUT AGAINST STRIKERS
and give it a catch)' headline. TI1at's all most people read anrwar. That and the ads:' Margaret Schwartz {Actor A), twenty, forceful but frightened, shouts up to the stage from the back. of the house.
Lights change as the men exit to reveal Isaac Harris [Actor 3} and l1is partner Max Blanck {Actor 4/, co-owners of the Triangle
Lights brighten. 111e actors enter as they speak tlie following headlines and advertisements from newspapers of the day. 111e lines of MARGARET. Excuse me ...
Waist Company. Harris, the designer of the company, is small, dark, and serious. Blanck, the salesman of the firm, is large,; big-
this and other "Headline Sections" should overlap one another. MRS. BELMONT. This day begs the question, "What is a woman's place in the world?" We must- headed, and big-handed. Blanck is seated and reads from a letter.
ACTOR C. TI1e shirtwaist is a revolution in women's clothing! Si mpson Crawford's great spring fashion event of J909 offers prices of MARGARET. Excuse me, I wanted to sar few words. BLANCK. From Isaac Harris and Max Blanck, Triangle Waist Company. Gentlemen: You are aware of the agitation that is now going
the most tempting character.
ROSE SCHNEIDERMAN. Perhaps after the scheduled speakers- o n in all our s hops; our satisfied workers are b eing molested and interfered with by this so-called un ion. In order to prevent these
ACTOR 2. FIRST AIRPLANE SOARS OVER NEW YORK CITY irresponsible anarchists from gaining the upper h and, let us know as soon as you possibly can if you would be willing to form and join
MARGARET. After the scheduled speakers we'll all be asleep.
ACTOR A. VERY BEST C REAMERY BUTTER, 23 CENTS A POUND an Employers' Mutual Protection Association .
11,ere is laugl1ter from the crowd.
ACTOR 4. CATHOLIC PRIEST TALKS SOCIALISM Harris and Blanck exit up right as tl1e women strikers resume their so11g and mare/, downstage rig/rt,
ROSE SCHNEIDERMAN. Who are you, young woman?
ACTOR D, Best and Companr s pring fashions for women. misses, girls, and infants WOMEN STRIKERS. (Singing.)
MARGARET. My name is ...
Breaking the power of those who reign,
ACTOR B. SUFFRAGETTES RALLY IN PARK
11,e lights shift suddenly to left platform on the upper level. District Attorney Charles Bostwick [Actor 2} addresses the "jury." Pointing the way, smashing the chain.
ACTOR I. RUSSIAN PEASANTS CONTINUE RAMPAGE AGAINST JEWS: ENTIRE TOWNS DESTROYED BY FIRE
BOSTWICK. Gentlemen of the jurr, on March 25th, l91 l, a terrible fire took the lives of 146 people, all of them dead within the s pace ACTOR 2. WAIST STRIKE SPREADS TO JERSEY
ACTOR C. Simpson Crawford washable silk waists affords today's working girl the freedom and mobility she d emands! of half an hour. But we will not, we cannot, present a case that will encompass the enormity of th is tragedy. Instead, we will focus on
ACTOR 3. MRS, BELMONT ARRESTED ON PICKET LINE: MILLIONAIRE HUSBAND POSTS BAIL
ACTOR 3. 200 EASTERN EUROPEAN JEWS ENTER NEW YORK EVERY DAY one specific storr, that of Margaret Schwartz.
Up on tl1e bridge tire lights reveal a man smoking a cigarette.
ACTOR 5. Mountain Valley Water is radioactive! TI1is means that the greatest curative element known to modern science is active in Lights shift back to Cooper Union.
ACTOR I. The G reater New York Detective Agencr can furnish trai ned detectives to gu ard life and prop erty, and, if necessary, furnish
this wonderful water. It has cured Bright's disease, diab etes, crstitis, dropsy, gout, and rheumatis m. ROSE SCHNEIDERMAN. Miss Schwartz, a union can not be strong unless it is organized. Please continue, Mrs. Belmont.
help of all kinds, both male and female, for all trades.
ACTOR A. ITALY'S TOPSOIL CRISIS RUINING FARMING, T URNING RIVERS INTO SWAM PS: MALARIA RAMPANT MRS. BELMONT. "What is a woman's place in the world?" We must-
Lights change to reveal a street at night. Margllret walks home alone. Two 11iugs [Actors 2 and 5] approach her.
ACTOR 4. MT. VESUVIUS ERUPTS: AREA IS A VAST DESERT A collective gruml1le turns into a roar as voices from the crowd demand, "Let the girl talk!" "Get up onstage!" and "Let's hear the
THUG # I. Margaret Schwartz?
ACTOR B. 2,000,000 ITALIANS IMMIGRATE TO AMERICA THIS DECADE . II"
gir.
MARGARET. Yes?
ACTOR D. Waist importations for Easter, direct from Paris. Styles and colors that are simply b ewitching! ROSE SCHNEIDERMAN. Alright then .. ,
THUG 111. Mr. Harris and Mr. Blanck have sent us to see you home.
ACTOR 2. 100,00 TENEMENTS CROWD CITY: A NEW TOWER OF TEN OR MORE STORIES TOPS OUT EVERY FIVE DAYS MRS. BELMONT. But I haven't finished.
As Margaret backs up to get away from one of the thugs, the other grabs lrer from behind. She struggles.
ACTOR C. White Batiste shirtwaists, yoke of embroidery and lace insertions, one dollar and thirty-five cents. ROSE SCHNEIDERMAN. Please. (To Margaret. ) Come on up.
MARGARET. I don't know you . Let go of me. Help! Help me!
ACTOR 4. 84-HOUR WORKWEEK, CLOSE QUARTERS, TUBERCULOSIS THREATEN LIVES OF GARMENT WORKERS Sclmeidermar, motions Margaret up onto tl,e stage. Mrs. Belmont reluctantly descends from the platform. Margaret suddenly finds
herself standing in front of hundreds ofpeople who expect lier to speak. She begins tentatively. THUG #2. Keep your mouth shut!
ACTOR D. French linens 63 cents, French chiffon 78 cents ...
MARGARET. TI1ank yotL I have listened to )'OU all talk for three ho urs now. 1 have no further patience for talk. The fact is, because a 1111,g #2 slaps Margaret in the face. As 17,ug # 1 holds her arms, 11,ug #2 rabbit-punches her in the stomac/1. When she doubles ove1;
ACTOR I. LABOR COMMISSION URGED ON PRESIDENT TAFT 11,ug # 1 throws a blow to her head. She falls to the ground, where Thug #2 gives lier a brutal kick. 11wg # 1 adds the final blow.
few of us women we.n t to a meeting to hear about a u nion, all of us got locked out. This is not something to talk and talk and talk about
ACTOR C. Dutch neck linens 55 cents ... -our live.s are at risk. The owners will not let us earn our living; all we have is each other. Let us pledge ourselves to the union they're Ligl1ts return to the men
ACTOR B. 200 SHIRTWAIST MAKERS STRIKE AGAINST ROSEN BROTHERS so afraid of. I move that we go on a general strike! ACTOR 3. GOMPERS SAYS POLICE IN LEAGUE WITH SHOP OWNERS
ACTOR D. White and black chinas forty-nine cents ... Voices from the crowd roar their approval. Music. 11,e lights change as the tables are moved; the ban11er drops. 11,e men step ACTOR 4. STRIKERS SENT TO RIKERS
ACTOR 3. 7,000 NECK'I.YEAR WORKERS WALK OUT: DEMANDS INCLUDE PAY RAISE AND AN END TO WORK IN forward. They read from newspapers. ACTOR I. MANUFACTURERS' LAWYER CALLS WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE AN IMAGINA RY CAUSE.
BEDROOMS AND CELLARS ACTOR 3. 15,000 SHIRTWAIST WORKERS WALK OUT: FIRST STRIKE LED BY WOMEN WOMEN STRIKERS. (Si11ging and crossing downstage.)
ACTOR C. ... or the Forsythe waist, a decided novelty, one dollar and fifteen cents. ACTOR 2. 5,000 JOIN SHIRT WAIST STRIKE And we gave new courage to the men
ACTOR 2. 150 WORKERS FROM T RIANGLE WAIST FACTORY ATTEND UNION MEETING ACTOR 4. INTERNATIONAL LADIES' GARMENT WORKERS' UNION PICKETS FOR 20 PERCENT PAY RAISE, 52-HOUR Who carried on in nineteen-ten

ACTOR I. TRIANGLE WORKERS LOCKED OUT: BOSSES VOW TO O PPOSE UNION WEEK, AND PROMISE TO HIRE ONLY UNION WORKERS Marg,1ret slowly gets to her feet and, in ob,,ious pain, crosses downstage to join the women strikers,

ACTOR 5. AFL PRESIDENT SAMUEL GOMPERS TO ADDRESS SHI RTWAIST MAKERS AT COOPER UNION Upstage center, Rose Schneiderma11, who carries a placard reading, "UNITY IS STRENGTH! ORGANIZE," and Margaret lead the ACTOR 5. SHIRTWAIST STRIKE ENDS
women strikers i11 a rousing song as they march. ACTOR 4. TRIANGLE FACTORY ALLOWS WORKERS TO RETURN
Lights change to reveal ihe Cooper Union auditorium. Two long worktables are pl,1ced together center stage to form a platform.
Rose Sclmeiderman, a union organizer [Actor D/, and Samuel Gompers, the august union leader [Actor 4}. mount the platform as WOMEN STRIKERS. (Singing.) ACTOR I. WITH SHORTER HOURS-
the rest of the cast gathers round. A large union banner unfurls from the rafters. There is the sound of applause. In the black of winter of nineteen-nine,
ACTOR 4. SLIGHT RAISE-
When we froze and bled on the picket line,
ACTORS I and 4. REFUSES ALL OTHER UNION DEMANDS SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. She asked me what she was going to get an d I made a price with her of seven dollars and she was perfectly MARGARET. I was meeting David after work, so I went to the dressing room to wash up and fix my hair.
WOMEN STRIKERS and MARGARET. (Singitrg.) satisfied, and then she walked away from me and the bell rang to stop the machines. ROSE FREEDMAN. I got my paycheck and went to the dressing room for my coat and hat. I was standing there talking to some girls
And shoulder to shoulder we'll win through ROSE FREEDMAN. On the ninth floor, where I was, were the finishers-mostly women, Jewish women-an d the sewing machines, when I heard a noise like a big puff.
Led by th e 1. L.G.W.U. about 250 of them at eight long tables. There were old-timers and there were healthy girls. TI1ere were girls like me who had been here ETHEL So then I seen this girl shouting-you know, she was a very jolly girl. She used to like very much to fool us, often saying, "Here
Lights. Music out. a few years and called ourselves Americans, a nd there were European immigrants new off the boat, like my friend Yetta. comes the boss;' or "Here comes the floorlady" -and there was nothing. When I turned my face and I saw she is the one, why then I
Yetta Lubitz [Actor DJ crosses downstage cetrter. Yetta, nineteen, is soft-spoken and still somewhat ill-at-case i11 her new surround- didn't pay any attention to her. Just ran out of the dressing room to punch my time card .
Scene 2 ings. She speaks with a heavy Russian accent. DINAH. (Stage left on the eighth floor.) We had th is new machine called a telautograph. I wrote with a pen connected to some wire.s,
THE FIRE (MARCH I 911) YETTA. I had been an operator on the n inth floor for seven weeks. I put aside few dollars each week to bring my sister over from and whatever I wrote was supposed to also get written by the same kind of pen on the tenth floor. So I wrote F-1-R-E.
Russia. TI1is girl, Kate Alterman, was trying to teach me new dance s tep. 111e action switches back and forth from stage left a.nd stage right- the eighth and tenth floors .
As Shepherd addresses the m,diencc, the actors move the two long worktables into position, dividing the space into three sections:
stage left represents the eighth floor of the Triangle Factor)\ center stage represetrts the nitrth floor, and stage right the tenth floor. Kate Alternwn [Actor CJ steps downstage center. Kate has a strength that belies her timidity. She is trot completely comfortable MARY ALTER. I beard th e signal that a telautograph message was coming, but the pen didn't move, so I figured somebody was pla}fog
As the space reflects tire ground platr of the factor;\ the actors indicate downstage left when referring to the Washitrgton Place door with the English language. with the machi ne, and 1 went back to 111)' typing.
and 11pstage rig/it whetr referring to the Greene Street entrance. Other parts of the stage are 11sed to represent other locations: the KATE ALTERivlAN. I was working as a lace cutter for nine months. My mother didn't want me to work, but my friend Margaret says, DINAH. I waited, but there was no answer! Then I used the telephone. I called the tenth floor.
roof, the fire e.scape, tl1e sidewalk outside, etc. 111rougho11t this scene, when not speaking, the actors form a line upstage across the "Come on, we have a good time." Lots of young Jewish girls was there, mostly engaged-we used to have a lot of fun.
MARY ALTER. The phone rang, but I was in the middle of typing a bill and didn't want to lose my place. After a while I answered the
back and watch the action. 11,ey transform instantly into character by the simplest means (a gesture, an accent, a sha.wl) wlien they Abe Gordon [Actor JJ comes downstage center. Abe, twenty-three, is small and compact and plucky. phone and Dinah was screaming, "Fire!"
step downstage to speak directly to the audience.
ABE GORDON. I was a belt boy. On the ninth floor all the machines all along these 75-foot tables were c01mected by belts so they DINAH. I told her there was a fire on the eighth floor, to tell Mr. Blanck.
SHEPHERD. Every day I see someone on the worst day of his life. I've seen husbands kiss the bloodied lips of lifeless wives, heard could all be run by one engine. When a belt broke, I went under the table and replaced it. I had started as a button puncher, but I saved
wives whisper into the deaf ears of husbands as if they were napping and a tender word would wake them up; I've watched stunned up 12 dollars and bought the head machinist a watch fob. He said, "Abe, I'm going to make you a belt boy;• and I said, "Thank you, sir;' SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. Dinah yelled "Fire! " so loud that the girl on the other end dropped the receiver.
mothers cuddle babies veiled in the blue-gray shadow of death. We've all been taught that every human body will one day stop but what I was really thinking was, "Soon I'll have your job~ MARY ALTER. I put the phone down and went to tell Mr. Blanck.
functioning, but the reality of death makes us all children. And like child ren, the survivors scream and cry and cling.
Ethel Monick [Actor DJ steps downstage center. Ethel, sixteen, bubbles constantly with excitement. DINAH. "Hello? Hello!" I screamed, "She's gone! There's no one there!"
111e actors enter in a line upstage urukr the bridge.
ETHEL. I was a floor girl on the ninth floor. I ran pieces of waists from one statio n to the next, but I had my own de.sk, too, right next SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. We connecte.d with the tenth floor if we wanted the ninth floor. When the girl on the tenth didn't answer I
But I have a job to do, so I calm them down the only way I can: by letting them tell the.i r story. to the time clock. Every day, l would watch th e clock and race to be the first to the door. Everybody would say, "Look out for Ethel!" said, "For God's sake, the ninth floor don't know, how can we make them know?"
Max Sdnvartz fActor 1] steps downstage to the footlights. You had to be qu ick or else you'd get stuck in line-we all had to wait while the watchman at the Greene Street door searched our \,VII.LIAM BERNSTEIN. The fire was growing larger. It started to roar.
MAX. It was Saturday, March 25th , 1911. A clear, cold, windy day. The Triangle Factory was on the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors of purses. TI1e door was about 20 feet in front of me and to the left, but the dressing room was on the Washington Place side, behind me.
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. I saw Louis Sanderman, a cutter's assistant, and I said, "Louis, get me a hose as quick as you can:' He got down
the Asch building, at th e corner of Washington Place and G reene Street. My sister, Margaret, and I h urried so we wouldn't be late. I sang myself a little song of what to do when the bell rang: "Up, turn, step, step, step, coat, hat, RUN!" Saturday was a short day, so the
the hose from the eighth-floor landing and handed it over to me and I said, "Is it open wide?" But it didn't work. No press ure. No water.
bell rang at 4:45. While the machines were still turning off, I grabbed my pocketbook and hurried to the dressing room to get my coat,
Margaret joins him. I turned it one way and then the other. It don't work-I threw it away.
my hat, and my new fur muff. I had saved for weeks to buy that muff.
MARGARET. On that Thursday, we bad celebrated my engagement to David Abromowitz. He's a boy my aunt introduced me to-a WILLIAM BERNSTEIN. The line of hanging patterns caught fire and began to fall on the layers of thin goods underneath them. Light
ROSE FREEDMAN. On the tenth floor were the executives.
wonderful dancer. So we h ad a party, the whole family, dancing and singing, and we stayed up too late. My brother Max and I skipped scraps of burning fabrics started flying around the room. TI1ey came down on the other tables and they fell on the machines. Then the
work on Friday-the first day !'<lever missed. On Saturday, Mr. Bernstein was waiting for us. Mary Alter [Actor CJ steps downstage right on the tenth floor. Mary, twe,rty-eight, is a l10mely crea.ttJre of habit who is flustered by line broke and the whole string of burning patterns fell down.
having to change her routitre.
Samuel Bertrstein [Actor 5J steps downstage left on the eighth floor. SAi\1UEL BERNSTEIN. A little fellow by the name of Utter- I don't know his first name, he only worked in the factory a couple of
MARY ALTER. Mr. Harris was in his office with a salesman and Mr. Blanck was getting ready to leave with his two kids. He was going months-he was the assistant machinist. He handed me the hose from the ninth-floor landing. I kept turning it but no water can1e
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. I told them their places on the eighth floor had been taken. If they wanted to work they would have to go to to take them shopping. He had just called in to me, "Mary, get me a taxi." And I h ad. I was typing bills like usual, but I was also working from that one either.
the ninth floor. the switchboard. Edna, the regular girl, was out sick, and my Uncle Louis, who was the supervisor of the tenth floor, asked me to do
\,VII.LIAM BERNSTEIN. I went around the partition to get more water, and when l wanted to go back the door was blocked with
MAX. TI1at's how we came to be on the ninth that day. two jobs at once, which was harder because Eddie Markowitz, the shipping clerk kept, hovering over me.
people going down the stairs, so I left everythi ng stand and went out-down the stairs with the rest.
Margaret crosses in fro11t of Bernstein atrd exits downstage left. Eddie Markowitz /Actor 1/ joins Mary Alter down right. Markowitz, thirty-one, lives for his work and the occasional smile from
.tvlARY ALTER. I ran into Levine th e bookkeepe.r and told h im to call the fire department.
I was mad because it was so loud up th ere with all the machines. Maybe if my sister hadn't been engaged she would be alive. Mary.
On the upper level stage left platform, Fire Chief Edward Croker appears. Croker, fire chief at the young age of thirty-five, speaks
Max follows his sister and exits downstage left. Rose Freedman [Actor BJ is five feet tall 1111d practical beyond her seventeetr years. MARKOWITZ. I was the head shipping clerk. The s hipping, packag ing and pressing departments were on the tenth floor-along with
with the confidence ofone of the most respected officials in tire city.
Sl1e steps downstage center on the ninth fl.oar. the showroom and Mr. Harris's and Mr. Blanck's offices. There were about 60 people on the tenth floor that day. I was entering some
figures in my order book, trying to fin ish so maybe I could go help o ut Mary. Frankly, she looked a little overwhelmed. CROKER. We got the first alarm at 4:45 P.M .. and then 20 seconds later, more alarms and phone calls. At th e first alarm, engineers in
ROSE FREEDMAN. It was two days before my eighteenth birthday. I had been working at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company for two the district pumping station diverted water pressure to hydrants near the fire, and within thirty seconds, Engine Company 72 was on
years-it was across the street from where I lived, and they paid me nine dollars a week. The first day I came I said I d idn't know WILLIAM BERNSTEIN. (Stage left ot1 tl1e eighth floor.) We were getting ready to go home. The assistants were setting up the cutting
its way to the scene.
anything about sewing, but they said, "That's all right, Rose.• They had a machine for me. A Julian Special. All I h ad to do was put a tables for Monday, laying out layers of fabric with the tissue paper that separated it, then hanging the shirtwaist patterns on a line that
ran through the loft. Some cutters could cut th ro ugh 180 ply of fabric and tissue. I had it down, though-for the biggest output and MARY ALTER. (Stage rig/rt on ten.) I found Mr. Harris and Mr. Blanck o utside their offices. Everyone crowded around and we rang
button in and it goes through the waist. TI1at day, we were almost ready to leave.
the cleanest cut, it was I 46 layers. No more, no less. for the elevator.
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. I was the superintendent and manager. I was on th e eighth floor. Mr. Blank is a brother-in-law of mine, and
A bell rings in the distance. .tvlARKOWITZ. I helped Mary into the elevator, then I remembered that I left my order book in my office. That book was very valuable
Mr. Harris' wife is a cousin of mine. I had been with them for twelve years. My brother Jacob worked on the ninth floor, my cousin
to the firm. I let the elevator go.
Louis Alter was in cl1arge of the tenth, and another Bernstein -William- At 4:45 the bell rang. I was th ere with six or seven other cutters, when somebody hollered out, "Fire! " Near th e Greene Street window
there were a few pails of water... SAMU EL BERNSTEIN. (Stage left on eight.) The fire was getting bigger. On the end right on top of the table, the lawn, the fabric, was
William Bernstein [Actor 2Jjoins Samuel Bernsteitr downstage left on the eighth floor. William Bernstein, a cutter, is confident and
on fire. There was about l20 ply of lawn tl1ere, layers on top of the table. A boy was pulling me by the hand a nd hollering. I turned
has ,i bit of a swagger. SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. Mr. Harris's sister, I seen her running toward me an d hollering, "Fire, there is a fire, Mr. Bernstein!" At the
arou nd and looked at him and the boy was burning.
WILLIAM BERNSTEIN. No relation- cutting table closest to the Greene Street windows, there was a big blaze and some smoke.
Beat.
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. -worked on the eighth. vVILLIAM BERNSTEIN .... And I grabbed one of the pails of water and I spilled it on the fire and I couldn't make it go out, because
the rags on the table caught fire ... Then I started for the girls. TI1ey were running for their coats. I said, "For God's sake, don't run for your coats, get out of here as quick
WILLIAM BERNSTEIN. I was a cutter. There were 20 of us and maybe 200 mach ine operators on the eighth, but we were all men and as you can!" and I pulled them out. One of the girls, she said, "I've got my pocketbook by my machine." I just made her go along out
we worked with big knives, so most of the girls were scared of us. SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. I saw the smoke and blaze at about the second \'ofodow from th e left on the Greene Street side, near the fre ight
without it. I just drove them out.
elevator. I cried out for the pails of water and j ust then Frank, an elevator boy, had just come up and he handed me some water. In the
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. I was standing near a desk of another cousin of mine by the name of Dinah Lifschitz. DINAH. Mary never came back to the phone! I couldn't get through to the ninth floor. I couldn't get through!
meantime, the elevator door was open. It was very windy that day and it blew right through, awfully. It was impossible for me to put
Dinah Lifschitz [Actor AJ joins Sam11el Bernstein downstage left. Ditrah, twenty-two, has the look of inte,rse concentration that the fire out. SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. And then I seen how the flames were spreading and I said, "We will all get lost here:• I said, "Dinah, there is
comes from working with tmmbers 52 hours a week. only one man here and all of the girls are out of the eighth floor," and I ordered her to drop the phone.
Max steps downstage center on the nint/1 floor. He is followed by Margaret, Rose, atrd then Ethel.
DINAH. I was a bookkeeper on the eighth floor., so I was in charge of the accounts of the operators. There was a new girl who bad been DINAH. I ran to the Washington Place door. All the girls were falling on me and they squeezed me against the door.
MAX. When the bell rang for q uitting time, I grabbed my coat from a peg and ran do\\11 the stairs. When I passed the eighth floor I
working for about two days. I called Mr. Bernstein over to make a price for that girl.
smelled the smoke, but I kept running down lmtil I got outside. TI1en I remembered Margaret was still on the ninth floor.
ROSE FREEDMAN. (Center stage on nine.) I was coming from the dressing room when I smelled smoke, coming from the Greene SHEPHERD. I ran to a phone booth, called the office, and reported what I saw as it was happening. ABE GORDON. TI1e fire escape collapsed.
Street side. Sl1epherd exits downstage left. Yetta rushes downstage center 011 the ninth floor.
ETHEL Somebody yelled, "Fire!" MARGARET. (Center stage 011 nine.) I ran for the Washington Place door. YETTA. All of a sudden I see that the girls all started to run to the Greene Street door, and I started to nm, too. I th ought to go down,
ROSE FREEDMAN. All of a sudden, you've got a terrible panic. KATE ALTERMAN. I wanted to go up the Greene Street side, but the whole door was in flames, so I went and h id myselfin the toilet but the stairs were full offlame. I got scared.
ETHEL. I seen some girls rush ing to escape. I seen women at oth er machines become frozen with fear. 'TI1ey were standing with a sort rooms and bent my face over the sink. She is joined by the other girls.
of dazed look on th eir faces. I tried to go through the Greene Street door, and there was a crowd of quick girls there and I seen I can't ROSE FREEDMAN. Eveq,body was running to the vVashington Place door. MARGARET. I kept pulling at the Wash ington Place door and I could not open it, so I thought I was not strong enough to open it, so
get out there. I hollered, "Girls, here is a door." and they all rushed over and they tried to open it.
KATE ALTERMAN. And then I ran to the Washington side elevator, but there was a big crowd, and I couldn't pass through there. I
ABE GORDON. I ran straight to the fire escape. saw Margaret, an d near her was Jacob Bernstein, the manager's brother. He was trying to open the door, but it was locked. KATE ALTERlvlAN. Suddenly, I seen the Washington Place elevator come up, and all the girls that were at that door aU went towards
ETHEL I went to the elevator on the Greene Street side, and then I heard the elevator go down past us. MARGARET. The door was locked. t he elevator. And I went also there.
ABE GORDON. I looked down and saw that the fire escape ended in a skylight-there was no way to the street. ROSE FREEDMAN. It was locked. YETTA. I covered myself in cotton and it s tarted to burn. My h ands were on fire.
KATE ALTERMAN. I went to the dressing room over at the Greene Street side, where I started to call for Margaret. I thought I could ETHEL. The girls were climbi ng over the machine tables and so was I. TI1e aisles were narrow and were blocked by the cha irs and the MARGARET. I pulled and pushed the door, but it wouldn't budge. I couldn't see everyone in the smoke, so I yelled, "The door is locked
find her but I couldn't, so I tried to run to the Greene Street door and it was full of people and smoke. baskets, which were beginning to burn. So I jumped from one table to the next without getting down. I was sixteen years old and I and we can't open it!"
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. (Stage left on eight.) I saw Morris Brown, a machinist, throwing pails of water and I said, "Get away from me. could jump. Just as I got to the door, th e elevator began to go down. KATE ALTERMAN. 'TI1e elevator started to go down. The flames were coming toward me and I was being left behind.
you can't put this fire out!" And I went to the Washington Place door where there were girls all piled up-you couldn't get it no tighter. Fire Chief Croker enters downstage far left, outside the building ot1 the street. As Fire Cltief Croker looks up at the fire [as if.from outside the building on the street], Shepherd enters up left and joins him
And the door opened inwards. downstage left.
CROKER. Eight wagons were headed for the fire. I was with Engine Company 72, and we arrived two minutes after the first alarm. As
DINAH . I cried, "Please, girls, let me open the door!" And th ey kept pushing, and then Mr. Bernstein came there and pushed the girls we came onto Washington Place, I could see flames reaching out all the windows on the eighth floor. I couldn't get in the front door in CROKER. The ninth floor windows alo ng Washington Place were full of people. I ordered water sprayed up to cool them off, to prevent
away on one side. He opened the door and we all ran down. the first place-the people were running out the door, panic-stricken. The hallway inside the door was crowded with these people. the people from jumping.
Dinah looks imploringly at Samuel Bemstein, who encourages her to go. She crosses out downstage left. Bernstein tl1en heads MEEHAN. On the Washington Place stairs, at the fifth floor, there was a crowd of people, screaming. A girl had passed out and was SHEPHERD. TI1e height was eighty feet. I looked up and saw that there were scores of girls at the windows. TI1e flames from the floor
upstage towards the Greene Street stairs. blocking the way. People were scream ing and climbing over her, so I picked her up and got her walking down the stairs with the rest below were beating in their faces.
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. I ran back through the loft and up the Greene Street stairs. I remembered that I had a number of relatives of them. CROKER. TI1en, one man jumped.
upstairs, a brother, cousins and all of these people were very dear to me. About 20 feet away from the door there were cans of oil for ABE GORDON. (On the upstage staircase-the fire escape.)The whole sh aft, all around the fire escape, was filled with smoke. Suddenly, There is a gasp as the entire cast rushes forward and faces upstage. 111ose 011 tl1e street look up at the windows across tire bridge as
the machines. I suppose that was burning. I don't know. The blaze was so strong on the Greene Street side that I couldn't get in to the a steel shutter swung out just behi nd me and blocked the way. I tried to pull it aside, but it was stuck on the railing. It blocked the whole if at the building. 11rose on the ninth floor look down as iffrom the window. Croker struggles to go on.
ninth floor. fire escape. I could h ear the people behind it were screaming.
When he jumped, it seemed to encourage everybody else.
As Samuel Bernstein heads to the tenth floor {i.e., stage right/, two actors move the stage left worktable to the stage left wall, On the stage left platform, Frank Sommer {Actor 2/ appears. Sommer is an NYU law professor.
virtually closing off and eliminating the eighth floor. Meanwhile, center stage on tire ninth: SHEPHERD. I learne.d a new sound. It was the thud of a speeding, living body on a stone sidewalk. Thud-dead, thud-dead, thud-dead,
SOMMER. I was teaching a class at New York University Law School when I heard fire engines. A few months before, a colleague of thud-dead. I call them that, because the sou nd and the thought of death came to me each time, at the same instant.
YETTA. I can1e out of the dressing room. A girl examiner came right up to me and she ran to the fire escape. I followed her. mine had sent a letter to the building department about the crowded conditions at the Triangle Factory, which we could see from our
ROSE FREEDMAN. (Center stage on tire ninth floor.) Girls in shirtwaists, whic.h we.r e on fire, went fl)1ng out of the building so that
ABE GORDON. The fire escape was barely wide enough for one to go down at a time, so it filled up. windows across the airshaft.
you saw these young women burning as they flew out of the windows.
YETTA. And then a whole crowd of girls ran to the window, to the fire escape, but I got scared. TI1ere were too many girls. All the MEEHAN. 1kept running upstairs to the eighth floor.
SHEPHERD. (On the street.) I e,,en watched one girl falling. Waving her arms, trying to keep her body upright until the very instant
floors were with flames. I ran back towards the elevator. I saw a young, dark fellow at the Washington Place door. He grabbed the knob, SOMMER. Now I saw flames and heard ear-piercing shrieks as the girls in the factory appeared at the windows.
twisted it, pulled it, pushed it. "Oh;' he cried, "the door is locked!" she struck the sidewalk, she was trying to balance herself. Then came the thud-then a silent, unmoving pile of clothing and twisted,
MEEHAN. At first! didn't see anyone else, then I saw two girls at the windows, gasping and screaming. I thought they might jump. I broken limbs. I looked up to the ninth floor. 'TI1ere was a living picture in each window-four screaming heads of girls waving their
ROSE FREEDMAN. I wanted to go to the dressing room for my hat, but somebody says to me, "Rose. save yourself:' yanked the two girls out of a window and got them to the staircase. I went back to the window to see if anyone else was there. TI1e arms. "Call the firemen;• they screamed, scores of them. "Get a ladder;• cried others. They were all as alive and whole and sound as
MARGARET. I came out of the dressing room. TI1e place was full of smoke. I stated to choke. I couldn't stand it no more. people in th e street raised their hands and yelled for me not to jump.. When I saw that I decided it was time for me to turn around and were we who stood on the sidewalk. I couldn't help thi nking of that.
KATE ALTERMAN. I went to the window and I put my face out to get some a ir. I calmed down, I cried "fire" to the people below. get out. It was so black "~th smoke that I couldn't see, so I dropped on my hands and knees and crawled out that doorway and ran YETTA. (On tire ninth.) All the windows were broken . 1Vly hair was on fire. TI1e door was locked. 'TI1e smoke was thick and black and
Some girls were pushing me. I got afraid I would fall out. So, I went back again towards the elevator. downstairs. the fire was everywhere. I screamed and cried and started to run ...
Samuel Bernstein crosses downstage right, joining Markowitz on the tenth floor. YETTA. (Center stage on nine.) I don't know whether people broke o ut the windows or the flames did, but when the flames came in we Yetta slowly begins to back upstage.
ran again in the dressing room.
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. And th en I ran up to the tenth floor. SHEPHERD. "Here they come;• we yelled. "Don't jump; stay there." One girl climbed onto the window sash. 'TI1ose behind her tried to
.MARGARET. I pushed some girls in there because I thought the flames would go out before th ey reached us. hold her back.
MARKOWITZ. Mr. Harris was loading girls into the elevator. One of Mr. Blanck's little girls, t he five-year-old, got swept into the car
and started to scream and cry. He grabbed hold of her hand and pulled. He got her out of the elevator just before the doors closed and YETTA. I was crying terribly and the same young, dark fellow said, "What's the use of crying?" I felt ashan1ed. And th en I thought, ROSE FREED.MAN. Yetta jumped.
he held her close to him. "Well, my life is lost anyway:• so I started to scream again.
Yetta turns upstage and walks off up right as Rose, Kate, and Margaret slowly l1ack upstage. Actors 1 and 5 cross up tl1e down right
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. I saw Mr. Harris come back into the loft. You could see the flames coming in from the rear windows of the air CROKER. (Outside or, the street-downstage left.) TI1e fire had entire possession of the eighth floor and the west side of the ninth. stairs to the bridge.
shaft. 'TI1e girls were all sc.reaming. "let's go to the roof;' he says, "Get to the roof' Flames were rising from the eighth floor windows into the ninth floor and from the ninth to the tenth. At the seventh floor, we
SHEPHERD. Then she dropped into space, then came the thud. Two windows away, two girls were climbing onto th e sill; they were
disconnected the house fire hose and attached our hose. At the eighth floor, we saw nothing but one mass of flame.
Samuel Bernstein crosses out the Greene Street side door. fighting each other and crowding for air. TI1ey fell almost together, but I heard two distinct thuds. TI1en the flames burst out through
ABE GORDON. (Or, the fire escape.) I tried to kick the shutter out of the way, but it wouldn't move. So I just kept walking down to the the wi ndows on the floor below them.
MARKOWITZ. I had the order book in my hand when I turned and saw Mr. Blanck standing there in the middle of the floor. He didn't
sixth floor.
seem to know which way to turn, so I took the smaller child and Mr. Blanck held the other girl. Mr. Blanck was paralyzed by uncertainty, Ethel rushes downstage center.
so I pulled him by the coat and said, "Come along, Mr. Blanck'.' I saw the file cabinets start to burn as we ran th rough the flames to the SOMMER. (On the roof of the NYU building.) I led my students to the roof, where we found two ladders that, as Providen ce would
have it, painters had left behind. ETHEL. In the dressing room men and women were laughing but in a strange way I could not understand at that time. I yelled at them
J'OOf.
to stop laughing and help me find a spare machine head to smash the door. I thought about jumping out, but then I saw in my mind
Markowitz crosses out the Greene Street side and up to the upstage staircase, while William Shepherd enters downstage left. ABE GORDON. (On the fire escape.) The fire escape started to creak from the weight of all the people. Someone had broken a window, how I would look lying there on the sidewalk and I got ashamed. I didn't know which way to go. I was throwing people out of the way.
so a bunch of us went in on the sixth floor. No matter whether they were in front of me or coming from in back of me, I was pushing them down. I was only looking out for my
SHEPHERD. I was walking through Washington Square whe.n a puff of smoke issuing from the factory building caught my eye. As I
ran towards the building, a policeman- MEEHAN. The Washington Place door from the stairway to the sixth floor loft was locked. We could hear screaming and pounding own life. Girls were lying on the floor, fainted. People were s tepping on them. Some were trying to climb over the machines. Others
from inside. I turned away from the door and wedged my feet against some stairs. were running with their hair burning. My hair was smoldering. I turned and ran to the Greene Street exit.
fam es Meehan {Actor 5J enters, out of breath, upstage left. Officer Meehan is a young and eager policeman.
ABE GORDON. I still had one foot on the fire escape when I heard a loud noise. ROSE FREEDMAN. I figure I wanna know what the executives are doing. And so I ran through the flames and towards the tenth floor.
MEEHAN. Officer James Meehan-
MEEHAN. I pushed with aU I had. Rose crosses out of tire ninth floor. Meanwhile, Bernstein and Markowitz are on the upper level stage right platform and the bridge
SHEPHERD. -galloped by on his horse.
ABE GORDON. The people were falling all around me, screaming all around me. -tl1e roof
MEEHAN. I stopped my horse outside the Washington Place entrance. I ran through the lobby and up the stairs. SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. I was the last one to leave the tenth floor, too.
MEEHAN. The door frame finally splintered and some girls came running out, crying.

,sv 52
ROSE FREEDMAN. (Stage right 011 ten.) 'Tiley'd saved themselves already. of dresses that was lying on the examining table, covered my head and tried to run through the flames on the Greene Street side. TI1e when I jumped to wrap something around my han ds to save them from injury as I grasped the cable. But it wasn't presence of mind, it
MARKOWITZ. (On the roof) The nearest rooftop was about ten feet higher than ours, but Mr. Harris ... w hole door was a red curtain of fire. A young lady came and she began to pull me in th e back of my dress and she wouldn't let me go. was my new fur muff. I wasn't going to lose that muff. I think the real word for my presence of mi nd is van ity.
I kicked her with my foot and I don't know what became of her. I ran out through the G reene Street side door, right through the flames SHEPHERD. On the s idewalk lay piles of broken bodies. A policeman went about with tags, which he fastened with wires to the wrists
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN .... I don't know exactly how. ..
onto the roof. of the dead girls, numbering each with a lead pencil. I saw him fasten tag mtmber fifty-four to the wrist of a girl who wore an
MARKO'NITZ . ... climbed up there. He started screa ming for help.
Kate rushes 011t the Greene Street door upstage right and crosses back up the stairs to the bridge. engagement ring.
CROKER. (Back 011 the street, dow11stage l.eft.) We had to extinguish the fire on the eighth floor first. The blaze was a mass of fire
CROKER. (011 the street, downstage left.) We gave up trying to use the life nets. I led a squad up the Washington Place stairs. ETHEL. So of course I got home late, and I got a licking from my father wh ile my mother stood in a corner respecting his anger. He
traveling across the floors.
SHEPHERD. The firemen raised the longest ladder they had. It reached only to th e sLxth floor. I saw the last girl jump at it and miss it. kept calling me names and I kept crying, "But, Pa," but he wouldn' t listen to me and told me to go to bed.
SHEPHERD. The firemen began to raise a ladder. Others took out a life net and, while they were rushing to the sidewalk with it, two
And then the faces disappeared from the window. By now the crowd was enormous, though all this had occurred in less than seven SHEPHERD. A fireman who came downstairs from the building told me that there were at least fifty bodies in the big room on the
more girls shot down. The firemen held it under them; the bodies broke it; the grotesque simile of a dog j umping through a hoop minutes, the start of the fire and the thuds and deaths. I heard screams around the corner and hurried there. Wh at I had seen before ni nth floor. Another fireman told me that more girls h ad fallen down an airshaft in the rear of the building. The fire escape had
struck me. was not so terrible as what followed. collapsed. I went back there, into the narrow court, and saw a pile of dead girls.
CROKER. What good were life nets? The little ones went through life nets, pavement, and all. I thought they would com e down one at On the bridge, Rose appe,irs in one of the windows as Kate appears in another. ETHEL. I guess while I was sleeping they found out what happened because when I got up they were all standing around me, smiling
a time. I didn't know they would come down with arms entwined-th ree and even four togeth er.
ROSE FREEDMAN. When I came out on the roof, there were firemen. Ins tead of going down to save the people, they were saving the and kissing me.
SHEPHERD. I looked up to see whether those above watched those who fell. I noticed that they did; they watched them every inch of SHEPHERD. The floods of water from the firemen's hose that ran into the gutter were actually stained red with blood. I looked upon
building.
the way down and probably heard the roaring thuds th at we heard.
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. (On the roof) I pushed the first man up the ladder. He was a cutter. Mr. Harris and I helped the cutter up and the pile of dead bodies and I remembered these girls were the shirtwaist makers. I remembered their great strike of last year in which
MARKOWITZ. (On the roof) Mr. Harris came back with a ladder. these same girls had demanded more san itary conditions and more safety precautions in th e shops. These dead bodies were the answer.
he was going to run away and I said, "For God's sake s tay here and give us help to push the other people up;' and he stayed.
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. The ladder he brought was too short to reach the roof next door, so 1 stood at the top and pushed people up. Shepherd a11d Meehan step downstage. Meehan stoops down to begin to put a tag on a "corpse."
SOMMER. One girl's hair was on fire, so I smothered the sparks in her hair with my hands. I lifted her in my arms and tried to carri•
SHEPHERD. (011 the street.) I saw a love affair in the midst of all the horror. A yow1g man helped a girl to the windowsill. She put her her up the ladder to the other roof, but because she was unconscious, I had to wrap long strands of her hair around my h ands. Dragging Is it a man or a woman?
arms about him and kissed h im, then he held her out into space deliberately away from the building, and dropped her. She was as her, I slowly made my way up the ladder. MEEHAN. It's human, that's all you can tell.
unresisting as if he were helping her onto a streetcar instead of into eternity. Quick as a flash h e was on the windowsill himself. His
ROSE FREEDMAN. A man, he hoisted me up to the roofofthe adjacent building. Music. Lights change.
coat fluttered upward . The air filled his trouser legs. I could see that he wore tan s hoes and hose. H is hat remained on his head. Thud-
dead, thud-dead. SOMMER. The flan1es were leaping across the airshaft and threaten ing the law library, so I sent a group of stu dents to e.v acuate the
books. Scene 3
ROSE FREEDMAN . (Stage right on the tenth floor.) There were three stairs leading up to the roof, with flames running over them. And
here I am, two days before my eighteenth birthday. I was thinking about my mother, and I figure I gotta get out of this mess. I don't SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. We pushed all the people up until there was only another man and myself-a salesman by the name of CHARITIES PIER
cry. I don't complai n. I do. I bent down, covered my face, pulled my coat over my head. I can't see. The walls shook. I ran up the stairs Tichenor-and he was a large man and weighed 250 pounds. He was shivering like a fish, crying like a baby, wanted to jump over the
s ide. I had some trouble with him, but I got him up. I was the last one there and I seen the flan1es was coming up through the roof on ACTOR 2. 150 PERISH IN FACTORY FIRE
to the roof.
the Greene Street and uptown side. And nobody was there a nymore to push me up so I ran across the roof all the way to the Washington ACTOR I. ONE MAN TAKEN OUT ALIVE: PLUNGED TO BOTTOM OF ELEVATOR SHAFT AND LIVED THERE AMID
Rose runs out the Greene Street door upstage right and crosses left up the upstage stairs to the bridge. As she does this, two actors Place side where the un iversity is. FLAMES FOR FOUR HOURS.
move the stage right worktable to the stage right wall, virtually eliminating the tenth floor and clearing the stage.
SOMMER. We helped Mr. Bernstein up th e ladder. ACTOR D. DEATH LIST STAYS AT 141: ONLY 86 IDENTIFIED
SOMMER. (On the 11pper level platform stage left-the roof of the NYU building.) We took the two ladders that we found and ran one
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. When I got to the top of the stepladder, I looked down and saw five or six girls falling from the windows. SHEPHERD. (Addressi11g the a11dience.) The city morgue could not hold all the dead, so the coffins were taken instead to Charities Pier
from our building to the skylight over the Washington Place stairs and the other from the sJ..·ylight to the roof of the Asch building.
011 East 26th Street, where they were left open i11 hopes that a loved one could make identification.
Max nms on from downstage left onto the sidewalk and looks 11p at the building. Bernstein comes down the stage right staircase.
SHEPHERD. Up in the ninth floor girls were bu rning to death before our very eyes. They were jammed in the windows. No one was Tlte makeshift morgue at Charities Pier. Officer Meehan enters, reading/mm a list of descriptions of the dead.
MAX. Right wh en I came out the front door a fireman pulled me away from the building. I broke from him and tried to run back in
to find Margaret, but I tripped over a hose. I fell. lucky enough to be able to jump, it seemed. But, one by one, the jams broke. Down came th e bodies in a shower, burning, smoking MEEHAN. W ho seeks a girl with a ring bearing the initials G.S.?
bodies, with disheveled hair trailing upward. TI1ei• h ad fought each other to die by jwnping instead of by fire. The whole, sound, Beat.
Kate, Margaret, and Ethel come downstage center, on the ninth flo01: unharmed girls who had jumped on the other s ide of the building had tried to fall feet down. But these fire torches, suffering ones, fell
KATE ALTERMAN. I heard Margaret yell, then I pushed her on the s ide and I said, "Wait, I will open that door:' I tried, pulled the Who seeks a girl with a ring bearing the initials G.S.?
inertly; only intent that death should come to them on the sidewalk instead of in the furnace behind them.
handle in and out, all ways-and I couldn't open it Bertha Schwartz {Actor BJ enters up center, sees Meehan and grabs him by the arm. She speaks with a heavy Eastern E11ropean
Rose, followed by Kale, crosses the bridge and comes dow11 the stage right staircase as sl1e speaks.
accent.
MAX. I got up and tried to rw1 again and this time a policeman grabbed me. I told him my sister was inside ...
ROSE FREEDlvlAN. Then I went into the law school and walked down ten flights of stairs. Do you th ink anyone walked me down the
MARGARET. I pushed Kate aside, got hold of the handle, and pulled on the door with all my strength. BERTHA. Did you says M.S.?
ten flights? No. I sat on every floor, I was so weak.
MEEHAN. No, G.S.
KATE ALTERMAN. And then I saw Margaret bending down on her knees ... Exhausted, Kate comes down the stage right stairs.
MARGARET. The only th ing going through my head was, "David David David David ..." BERTHA. I'm looking for my daughter, Margaret. Margaret Schwartz.
KATE ALTERMAN. Somebody had hit me with water from a pail, so when I got to the bottom I was cold and wet. I was s itting on the
KATE ALTERMAN.... and her hair was loose, and the trail of her dress was a little far from her .. . curb crying for Margaret. She slwws him a picture.

MARGARET. The trail of my dress and the ends of my hair started to burn, and I fell to the grotmd an d ... SHEPHERD. The last woman to fall got snagged on a steel hook at the s i>,'th floor. She hung there for a moment u ntil her clothes This is her. Have"you see her?
burned an d she smashed to the ground. MEEHAN. Ma'am, no... (Pointing.) TI1e line to see the bodies starts over there.
Margaret starts to back upstage and Kate and Ethel turn upstage to face her.
CROKER. My men got the flames on the Greene Street s ide of the eighth floor under control, but the heat was so intense they had to BERTHA. Nyet. Nyet. No, she's not there. She probably fell and knocked her head. Or maybe s he's on the subway, heading home right
KATE ALTERMAN. ... she screamed-
fight their way with some difficulty up to the ninth floor. TI1e s ide jamb of the door remained. Flames were shooting through the door. now... maybe I should go ... (Showing the picture again.) Are you sure? Her name's Margaret.
MARGARET. "My God, I am lost!" There was a pile of bodies perhaps nine or ten feet from the door.
MEEHAN. I'm sorry, I can't help you. (As he walks away.) Who seeks a girl with a ring bearing the initials G.S.?
KATE ALTERMAN. And then a big smoke came and I yelled, "Margaret!" and she didn't reply. KATE ALTERMAN. (Sitting on the stage right stairs.) A man came over to me. He lifted my head and looked into my face. It must have
Meehan exits as Bertha, distraught, wanders off in the opposite direction, holding the picture of Margaret.
Margaret turns upstage a11d exits as Kate and Ethel turn downstage and step forward. been all black with the smoke from the fire. He wiped my face with a handkerchief. He said, "I thought you were my s ister." He gave
me his coat. I don't know who he was. 1 hope he found his s ister. ACTOR A. I 00,000 MOURNERS AND SENSATION SEEKERS THRONG LANE OF SORROW TO SEE BODIES OF FIRE VICTIMS
ETHEL. Soon I fotmd myself stan ding at the edge of the elevator shaft, trying to ho ld myself back from falling in. I gripped the sides ON CHARITIES DOCK
of the open shaft. Beh ind me, girls were screaming. I could feel them pushing more and more. ROSE FREEDMAN. I was looking around . I seen my father. He seen me. He fainted. The ambulance took him away. I seen another
lady I knew and she said to me, "Rose, is this you or your shadow? I thought you were dead:' I didn't even tnrn around when I seen ACTOR 2. MOB STORMS THE MORGUE
KATE ALTERMAN. 1 tried to get to Margaret, but it was so hot, and the smoke blinded me. So I left her.
w hat was happening. SHEPHERD. Some bodies seemed untouched by flames, but many were burned so badly th at rings h ad melted onto fingers and
ETHEL. I knew that in a few seconds I would be pushed into the sh aft. I had to make a quick decision. I jumped for the center cable. I necklaces had sunk into blackened necks.
CROKER. By 5: I 5, thirty minutes after the first alarm, we had the fi:re under control.
began to slide down, I remember pass ing the floor numbers up to five. Then something falling hit me.
ETHEL. The next thing I know I was in a bed in St. Vincent's hospital, and the first thing that occurred to m e was that I had forgotten Meehan enters.
KATE Al.TERMAN. Near the Washington side windows, Bernstein, the manager's brother, was throwing arotmd like a wildcat, ch asing
to take my tin1e card out of the clock. The nun told me not to worry. Sh e said me it was wonderful that I had enough presence of mind MEEHAN. Who seeks a girl whose pay envelope bears the name of Kaplan?
his head out of the window and pulling h imself back. He wanted to jump, I s uppose, but he was afraid. And then I saw the flames cover
him. I stood in the center of the room, and I j ust turned Ill)' coat with the fur to my face, the lining on the outside, got hold of a bunch Bertha enters and again grabs Meehan and shoves the picture i11 l1is face.

24 / 52
BERTHA. Th is is Margaret. Margaret Schwartz. Have you see her? ROSE FREEDMAN. (Up 011 the bridge.) Mr. Blan ck m et m e a nd he said he'd do an}1h ing for me-he meant give me money- to testify MRS. BELMONT. How do you want you r d aughter to be remembered? As anoth er girl burned up in a shop, or as part of a mighty
MEEHAN. Please, ma'am, I'm just trying to do my job. in cou rt that I'd saved myself through the Washington Place door. I said, "You're not kidding me, you dirty slob. Noth ing doingi' I angelic host that helped her sisters earn the right to control their own destinies?
didn't go back to work anymore. I went to college. BERTHA. My daughter burned up, b urned to ashes. You don't deserve to say one word in this place until you know such grief.
He slips or,t of her grasp and walks ,1way again.
ACTOR I. HARRIS AND BLANCK H IRE CELEBRATED ATTORNEY MAX STEUER MRS. BELMONT. AU women grieve; it's o ne of the many burdens we carry for o ur men. I myself have buried two husbands. I have
W ho seeks a girl whose pay envelope bears the nam e of Kaplan ?
ACTOR 5. C IGARETTE CAUSED THE FACTORY FIRE: CROKER FINDS STUMPS AND PACKAGE THAT EXPLAINS wept, I have torn the hair from my head. We all do that. But when the tears h ave dried, what do you do?
ACTOR D. PHYSICIANS AND NURSES CARE FOR 50 OR MORE OVERCOME BY HORRORS O F T HE SCENE- 25 BODIES
IMMEDIATE ORIGIN OF THE HOLOCAUST BERTHA. I start crying again. And I keep crying-
UNRECOGNIZABLE.
ACTOR 3. WAIST SHOP OWNERS MADE MILLIONS; T RY TO PUT BLAME ON CITY OFFICIALS Mrs. Belmont tlJrns away.from Bertha.
ACTOR C. 27 MORE IDENTIFI ED IN MORGUE SEARCH
District Attorney Charles Bostwick appears 011 the up right platform of the r,pper level. MRS. BELMONT. To you aggrieved relatives gath ered here, I can only say, " Pray to God; She will help you:•
ACTOR A 10 MORE IDENTIFIED
BOST WICK. In the th ree weeks since the tragedy, the District Attorney's office has gathered sufficient evidence that when fi re struck Bertha holds up Margaret's pictr,re.
MEEHAN. (As lie enters.) Who seeks a girl whose handbag contains two sets of rosary beads and a thimble? W ho seeks-
the Triangle Shirtwaist Company on the afternoon of March 25th, a locked door on the Washington Place side of the n inth floor led
With greater desperation, Bertha approache.s Meehan once more, holding "P the picture. BERTHA. This is my daughter! Margaret. Margaret Schwartz.
ctirectly to the death by asphyxiation of one Margaret Schwartz. We have therefore ind icted Isaac Harris and Max Blanck, proprietors
BERTHA. This is my daughter Margaret. Margaret Schwartz. Have. you see her? of the factory, on th e charges of manslaughter in the fi rst and second degree. TI1e space change.s ,is Bertha weeps. 1J1e two worktables are moved to become...

M EEHAN. Ma'am, if she's dead, she's on the pier. If she's alive, then you'd better run home and meet her. TI1e actors step forward. Sceoe2
BERTHA. You're right, she could be waiting. ACTOR D. HARRIS AND BLANCK PLEAD NOT GUILTY, FREED ON S25,000 BAIL
THE TRIAL BEGINS
Bertha heads off, upstage right. Meehan crosse.s out down left. ACTOR B. TRIAL OF HARRIS AND BLANCK POST PONED UNT IL NEXT MONTH
ACTOR C. " H ERE COME THE MURDERERS," THE W ITNESSES SHOUTED A courtroom i1I the Criminal Cor,rts br,ilding. At one table is the get1tle, intelligent District Attorney Charles Bostwick {Actor 2].
ACTOR 4. RUSH TO T HE AID OF FIRE SUFFERERS: WAISTMAKERS' UNION GOES TO THE RESCUE- RED CROSS SOCIETY
At the other table is the celebrated young defense lawyer iWax Steuer [Actor I/. On the bench (up ot1 the bridge) is Judge 1J10mas
JOINS IN THE WORK. ACTOR 5. TRIANGLE OWN ERS GET POLICE GUARD C.T. Crain {Actor A], the dean of the General Sessions cor,rt.
ACTOR A. CHURCHES UNITE IN PRAYER AS RELI EF FUNDS ARE STARTED ACTOR A. AFTER EIGHT MONTHS' DELAY, HARRIS AND BLANCK ON TRIAL AT LAST
CRAIN. Gentlemen of th e jury, before we begin I would like to rem ind you not to be affected by any mourning or any weeping in the
ACTOR 2. Saturday's awful tragedy could have been preve.n ted and more than LSO souls saved had the Asch Building been equipped Blackout. corridors. We a re here to exan1ine facts only. M r. Bostwick, your opening.
with automatic fire sprinklers. l11e Esty Sprinkler prevents spread of fire and effects great reduction in insurance rates. Particulars on
End of A ct One BOSTWICK. (Add,·esse.s the audience.) Gentlemen of the jury, on March 25th of th is year a terrible fire took th e lives of 146 people, all
request.
of them dead in the space of half a n hour.
ACTOR C. FIRE RELIEF FUND HAS $7,942 IN CONTRIBUTIONS O N FIRST DAY ACTTWO Beat.
STREET VENDOR. [Actor l.] Psst! Here they are! Get b u while they last! Souven irs of the big fire! Get a dead girl's earrings! Get a
Scene 1 Near the north e nd o f th e first cutter's table, on the Greene Street side o f th e eighth floor of the building, is wh ere the fire started. When
ring from the finger of a dead girl!
the cry of "fire" finally reached those o n the ni nth floor, they ran in every direction. Some ran to the Greene Street door. Some went to
Meehan enters "P center. DECEMBER 191 1 the roof. Some got on the freight elevators. Some ran to th e fire escape on the north s ide of the building. Others ran to the Washington
MEEHAN. Wh o seeks a man wearing tan shoes? TI1e stage is the same as Act One, with one addition: Hanging.from the edge of the bridge center stage is a large black drape with Place elevator, which made two or three trips, and escaped that way. O thers ran to the \.Yashi ngton Place door.

ACTOR A. FIRST VICTIM OF T RIANGLE FIRE LAID TO REST the ground pla11 of the nit1th floor of tl,e Triangle Factory painted on it. Music. TI1e lights come "P to reveal William Shepherd Beat.
dowmtage left. He addresses the audience. One of these was Margaret Schwar tz, now dead. Gentlemen, that door was locked, locked in defiance of the law. Section 80 of th e New
ACTOR D. WHOLE EAST SIDE TURNS OUT AS ONE HUNDRED CARRIAGES FOLLOW BODY OF JENNY FRAN CO TO T HE
GRAVE SHEPHERD. On December 4, 1911, the day the Triangle trial finally·begao, a long Indian summer came to a n e ncl Five inches of snow York Labor Law reads, "All d oors leading in o r to any such factory shall n ot be locked, bolted, or fastened during working hours." Shall
fell on New York. As always happens during the first blizzard of the season, the city seemed to pause for a mom ent. Streets, buildings, not be locked.
ACTOR 4. MAKE CHANGES O R T HERE W ILL BE GREAT ER DISASTER, SAYS FIRE CHIEF CROKER
and automobiles were as white and pure as a wedding cake. Then, as always happens, the pause ended and the snow began to melt. l11e Beat.
ACTOR 3. 5,000 FIGHT POLICE TO ENTER SERVICE FOR FIRE VICTIMS: LINE OF MOURNERS FOR FOUR BLOCKS city's horse carriage d rivers were on strike, so the h oliday shoppers were forced to trudge through brown slush with their bags and
After we have sho\\11you that Margaret Schwartz burned to death behind that locked door on the ninth floor, we will ask you for your
ACTOR I. SIX HOURS OF ENTERTAINMENT AT METROPOLITAN FOR FIRE FUND parcels. But I saw men and women laughing as they did so, because there is no place as frivolous and thrilling as New York City in the
j udgment upon the evidence according to your consciences.
ACTOR A. MAYOR WILL SAY NOTHING: DI D NOT VISIT THE SCEN E O F THE DISASTER, BUT SENT HIS SECRETARY Christmas season.
He sits down. 1J1e judge looks to Steuer Steuer stands at his table.
ACTOR D. 350,000 ATTEND FUNERAL FOR SEVEN UNIDENTIFIED FIRE VICTIMS: PROCESSION OF MOURNERS BRAVE Lights come "P as the actors enter.
STEUER. I have no opening to make. It is a case that to my mind is perfectly dear. l11ere is not anything that I know about the
RAIN TO J\IIARCH THROUGH CITY D RAPED IN BLACK ACTOR D. Henry W. Savage presents the Supreme Dramatic Novelty by Walter Brown: Every Mat1s Opinion of Every Woman (Her
Pilgrimage i11 Que.st of Love). manufacturing business.
ACTOR 4. FIRE RELIEF FUND STfLL GROWS: TOTAL NOW EXCEEDS $21,000
ACTOR A. PRESIDENT TAFT AN D FAMILY EAT FORTY-POUND TURKEY JUD GE C RAIN. You do not propose to open, M r. Steuer?
ACTOR C. 50,000 HOLD VIGIL OUTSIDE ASCH BUILDING
ACTOR 2. TOY DOGS ON SHOW AT THE WALDORF: FEMINfNE LOVERS OF MANY BREEDS EXHIBIT PETS W ITH VARYING STEUER. No, Your Honor, I am going to put witnesses right o n, and I wish to get th rough just as quickly as possible, and I respectfully
Meehan, l1aving walked slowly downstage, comes to the footlight. ask th at we now adjourn.
SUCCESS.
M EEHAN. W ho seeks a girl in a red dress? BOSTWICK. I think it may b e w ithin th e p rovince of counsel to determine the extent to which h e likes to open to the jury, but I think
ACTOR I. Tenth big week! Lew Fields' musical success TI,e Never Homes. This is exquisite fooling!
Beat. he ought to outline the theory of his defense.
ACTOR 4. Handsome Socialist Christmas gifts! Pillow tops with beautiful Socialist designs and m otifs, furnished on high-grad e
Wh o seeks a girl in a red dress? JUD GE C RAIN. It is entirely optional.
embroidery fabric and stamped in fast colors for outlining. Also a few large p ortraits in all colors of Karl Marx. Come and see these
Lights change. Mr,sic out. astonishing bargai ns! STEUER. (To Bostwick.) If you want me to, if you think it will help th e people's case or will clarify the subject, I will be delighted to do
it, thought I do not consider th at my kind of talk is at a premiu m anywhere . Do you want me to tell you what my defense is?
Scene 4 ACTOR 5. JUDGE THOMAS C.T. C RAIN TO HEAR CASE OF SH fRTWAIST KINGS
He walks over and addresses the audience.
ACTOR D. T RIANGLE BOSSES MOBBED: VICTIMS' RELATIVES SHOW HATRED WHEN MEN APPEAR IN COURT.
THE INDICTMENT We propose to show you that year in and year out on the Washington Place side on the eighth and ninth and tenth floors, the key was
As the actors disperse, they reveal Bertha clutd1i11g her photograph ofMargaret. From tl·1e lrridge, Mrs. Belmont speaks.
Blanck enters r,pstage right and reads from tl statement. all the time in the lock, and that it was never without the lock. I myself have seen and spoken to two girls who will testify before you
MRS. BELMONT. W hat kind of justice can th is poor girl exp ect w hen these m e.n , who made the hours, set the pay scale, had girls that when the fire broke out, they went to the Wash ington Place door on the ninth floor and th ey opened the door without any di fficulty.
BLANCK. Notice: The Triangle Waist Company beg to notify their customers that as of March 28th , 1911, they a re in good working followed to the bathroom if they were suspected of wasting precious. seconds of company time, how can this poor girl get justice when These girls will tell you that th e key was always in the Wash ington Place door, in the lock on the ninth floor. If, by some horrible ch an ce,
order. Headquarters now at 9 11 University Place. these men are on trial before a jury composed entirely of other men ? Until we have women on j uries, no woman can expect a fair trial. in the panic that followed the fire, some poor girl pulled th e key from the door, certainly M r. Harris and M r. Blanck did not know that
ACTOR D. NEW T RIAN G LE FACTORY SHUT DOWN: DOOR WAS LOCKED An d for woman to be granted that basic right, she must first have the right to cast a ballot for the can didate of her choice. this was so. An d if th is dreadfol e rro r was made without their knowledge, then they are guilty of n othing. (To Bostwick.) I h ope that
ACTOR C. UNION READY TO DRAFT NEW FIRE LAWS BERTHA. What about my Margaret? How does that help her? was helpful

ACTOR A. GOVERNOR DIX SIGNS BILL CREATING FACTORY INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE MRS. BELMONT. Justice for all women d oes honor to all women. Lights. Mr,sic. Fire Cl1ief Croker is on the stand.
BERTHA. She's dead. How can she vote? BOSTWICK. Chief Croker, how long have you been ch ief of the New York C ity Fire Department?
29/ 52
CROKER. Twelve years. STEUER. You do like to argue some, don't you, little girl? You do not really mean to say that you were afraid of these two men, were STEUER. And you have made a thorough examination of all the doors on the ninth floor of the Asch building?
BOSTWICK. And during that time, how many fires has your department responded to at the Triangle Factory? you? HURWITZ. I have.
CROKER. Six. TI1e fire on March 25th of this year was the sixth. ETHEL. (Angrily.) Not exactly afraid, but you know how they are-I was like nothing to them because I was only a working girl. I BOSTWICK. Now Mr. Moore, you found the lock to the Washington Place door o n the ninth floor, did you not?
know that when a girl don't do anything right, you know, she gets discharged. That is why I did not talk to them.
BOSTWICK. Please tell us what happened when you tried to enter the ninth floor of the Asch Building on that day. MOORE. 1 did .
Lights change. Music. 1he tables are moved. From t/1e bridge the actors speak.
CROKER. We tried to enter through the Washington Place door, but we couldn't budge it, so we chopped through it with axes. BOSTWICK. Where did you find it?
ACTOR B. 1,600 DEGREES OF HEAT KfLLED 146 ASCH FIRE VICTIMS
STEUER. Did you take the time to examine the lock to verify that the bolt was thrown? MOORE. lt was under some rubbish on the floor, about eleven and a h alf feet from the doorway.
ACTOR C. MRS. BELMONT, AFTER HEARING SESSION OF COURT, SAYS ENGLISH JUSTICE IS BETTER
CROKER. No, sir. There were girls burning inside. BOSTWICK. And is this the lock in question?
ACTOR A. WAIST !'v1EN GET COURT GUARDS: THREATS BY MOB AS THEY WENT TO LUNCHEON HAD ALARMED HARRIS
Beat. Bostwick. goes to his table and picks up a velvet-lined box with a framed-glass lid. He removes a brass door lock still attached to a
AND BLANCK
But that door was either locked or it was shut firmly enough that axes were the only way in. charred wooden panel.
Sce11.e 3 MOORE. 'That's the lock.
BOSTWICK. And what did you see after you bad chopped through the door?
CROKER. In the drifting smoke, I saw bodies burned to bare bones, skeletons bending over sewing machines. HARRIS AND BLANCK BOSTWICK. People's Exhibit 30 is the lock from the Washington Place door on the n inth floor of the Asch building.

BOSTWICK. How many bodies did you find on the ninth floor? STEUER. I object! On March 25th a fire occurs, and on March 26th all the conscience of the city is stirred by the terrible catastrophe
Stage right, Harris and Blanck.face Max Schwartz in their new offices.
that has occurred. Hundreds upon hundreds of people go into that debris and seek the bodies, and the Fire Department makes a
CROKER. There were five at machines. I found two in a little crevice beh ind the dressing room. One right directly in front of it. BLANCK. Mr. Schwartz, we deeply regret your loss. conclusive and minute and detailed search into that debris, and the whole question that is being agitated in the press day after day is
BOSTWICK. Did you find any in front of the Washington Place door? MAX. So do!. locks, lock, locks, and the door was locked, and pictures of the doors, gentlemen of the jury, and nothing is found, when on the tenth
CROKER. Yes, sir. I found eleven bodies there, piled o n top of each other. HARRIS. If it's a job you're looking for, we'll find a place for you in the new factory. of April, as from a clear sky, this man goes to the premises and within 25 minutes a lock is discovered, on an alleged portion of door
that somebody kicked in. And every one of the locks, may it please the gentlemen of the jury, in that building was identical from the
STEUER. But you never looked at the lock? MAX. No, that's not what I'm looking for. tenth floor down to the basement.
CROKER. No. BLANCK. Then what can we do for you? BOSTWICK. Mr. Moore, what makes you certain that this is the lock from the Washington Place door on the ninth floor of the Asch
BOSTWICK. And was one of those bodies later identified as that of Margaret Schwartz? MAX. When my sister burned up, her pay burnt up too. I'm here to collect that money. building?
CROKER. It was. BLANCK. I see. MOORE. If )'OU stood inside the Washington Place loft, the hinges of the door would have been on your right, and the handle to the
STEUER. So you can't say for certain that the door was locked or not? HARRIS. I'm afraid we can't help you. Our records were lost in the fire, so we have no way of knowing who was paid or wasn't. door would have been on your left. TI1is lock is a lock for a left-handed door, the only left-handed door on the ninth floor.
CROKER. No, sir. BLANCK. But we can talk about a job with a wage that's more than fair. STEUER. Mr. Hurwitz, is this the lock from the Washington Place door on the ninth floor of the Asch building?
STEUER. Thank you, Ch ief Croker. I'd like to commend your gallantry during this crisis. MAX. I don't want a job. I want wh at you owe my sister! HURWITZ. No, sir.
Chief Croker is replaced on tire stand by Et/1e/ Monick. HARRIS. Work would do you good. Keep your mind off things. Toughen you up. STEUER. How can you tell?
BOSTWICK. Miss Monick, when you came to work in the morning at the defendants' factory, what door did you use? MAX. What do you know about work? HURWITZ. The piece of wood is five-eighths of an inch narrower than it would have been if it had formed a piece of the door to which
it was attached. It is also a fact that the face of the lock is a bit melted, and if this is true, as we see, then the same amount of heat would
ETHEL The Greene Street door. BLANCK. Sit down. (Max doesn't.) You know, I worked in a shop. So did Mr. Harris here. He was an apprentice to a tailor in Russia.
have melted the tumblers of the lock also.
BOSTWICK. Did you ever go up the stairs of the Asch building? MAX. So what? I want-
BOSTWICK. Mr. Moore, what is the lock made of?
ETHEL Only when I work on Sundays we have to go up the stairs. BLANCK. It was somebody's apartment, really, and there were ten of us, sewing piles of clothes by band, working by candlelight
MOORE. TI1e face and case are made of brass, like any old doorknob, but the tumblers are made of cold rolled steel.
BOSTWICK. And what stairs did you go up? because there were no windows.
BOSTWICK. Does cold rolled steel react to fire differently than brass?
ETHEL The Greene Street stairs. HARRIS. And at the end of th e day we had to fight the man for our pay.
MOORE. Brass melts at a much lower temperature.
BOSTWICK. Out of habit you always used the same door? BLANCK. This is where I met Mr. Harris, and we scraped together money because we wanted to make a better shop-big, open, with
the latest machines. BOSTWICK. Which means that it makes perfect sense that the face of tl1is lock might be melted while the tumblers appeared
ETHEL That was the door all the girls used. Nobody ever used the Washington Place door. untouched?
HARRIS. And everybody gets paid what they're owed.
STEUER. Did you ever ask Mr. Harris about the door? MOORE. Yes, sir.
MAX. So pay me.
ETHEL I did not ask h im. I used to be afraid of him. BOSTWICK. What else does the condition of this lock tell you?
BLANCK. We can't give you what we don't have.
BOSTWICK. And did you try to use that door during the fire on March 25th? MOORE. That the door was closed during the fire. If it had been open, the tumblers and spindle would have been exposed and may
HARRIS. With all the civil suits against us ...
ETHEL I did. have melted in the heat.
With a curt gesture, Bla11ck stops him from continuing.
BOSTWICK. What happened? BOSTWICK. Can you open the lock so we can see the tw11blers?
BLANCK. We can only give you a job.
ETHEL I could not open it. Moore takes out a tool and tries to open the lock but can't.
Lights change. Music.
STEUER. You were afraid of Mr. Harris? MOORE. lt must be melted in there.
ETHEL Sure. Mr. Harris was the one we saw most of the time on the ninth floor. He used to come down sometimes and walk around Sce11.e4 BOSTWICK. No matter. Was there anything else that suggested that this door was locked?
four or five minutes. MOORE. Yes, the tongue of tl1e lock was extended when I found it.
THELOCK
BOSTWICK. Can you demonstrate for the court how you tried to open the door? STEUER. I object! Is it really to be ltrged upon this court that because the tongue of this lock, I think you call it, was extended on the
Ethel rises from her chair and, wit/1a look to Bostwick, slowly crosses downstage left to tire Washington Place doo,: Sire turns the Back it1 the courtroom, Bostwick questions John D. Moore (Actor 3/, a bespectacled engineer, while Steuer questions Herman 10th day of April, 1911, is that the slightest evidence that tl1e lock had its tongue extended on the 25th day of March, 191 1? Is it even
Hurwitz [Actor 5}, a locksmith.
doorknob, tugs on it, kicks it, then throws all her small weight against it. As she does so, sire begins to cry. Bostwick gently stops her to be suggested in a civilized colmtry where the j urisprudence is practiced as it is practiced here?
and leads her back to her seat. Steuer offers her a handkerchief She takes out her own. BOSTWICK. Mr. Moore, what is your profession?
BOSTWICK. Regardless of the condition of the tongue, we have shown that this is the lock from the door in question.
STEUER. Did you ever see Mr. Blanck? MOORE. I examine the scenes of fires to determine causes and liability. STEUER. (Gesturi11gfor t/1e lock.) May I?
ETHEL No, not very often. STEUER. Mr. Hurwitz, what is your occupation? BOSTWICK. Please.
STEUER. What do you mean by not very often? HURWITZ. Locksmith, sir.
Bostwick hands Steuer the lock. Steuer hands it to Hurwitz.
ETHEL What does it matte.r? I was scared. BOSTWICK. And when did you visit the Asch building?
STEUER. Can you open this, Mr. H urwitz?
MOORE. On April 10th of this year.
Hurwitz uses a small file and opens the lock wit/1in seconds. To Moore.
134 / 52
Now, Mr. Moore, if Mr. Hurwitz can remove the innards of your lock so easily, they could have been removed and replaced thousands KATE ALTERivIAN. I'm telling it the san1e way, just the same way. STEUER. Now, tell us from there what you did, starting from when your purse was burning.
of times between the fire of March 25th and the time you arrived on April 10th, don't you think so, speaking as an expert, Mr. Moore? STEUER. Did you tell th en that she had her ha nd on the knob? KATE ALTERMAN. I p ressed it to my heart to put out the fire. And I took my coat, turned it with the fur to my face and the lining on
MOORE. Evidently they could have been. KATE ALTER/v!AN. I don't remember exactly wheth er I told the knob or not. It was n ine months ago. the outside, got hold of a bunch of dresses from the exam ining table, covered up my head, and I wanted to nm through the Greene
STEUER. Now you say this is a left-handed lock. Street door, which was in flames; it was a red curtain of fire.
STEUER. Did you ever have a sister that visited you at the place?
MOORE. That's correct. ST EUER. A "red curtain of fire"?
KATE ALTERivIAN. I never did.
STEUER. And now that Mr. Hurwitz has done you the service of opening it, could he convert it into a right-handed lock? KATE ALTERMAN. l11at's right.
STEUER. Have you got a sister at all?
MOORE. Yes, he could. STEUER. You never studied those words, d id you ?
KATE ALTER/v!AN. I have a sister, yes, si r.
STEUER. Then there isn't any such thing as a right-handed or a left-handed lock. KATE ALTERMAN. No, sir.
STEUER. How many?
Steuer takes the parts of the lock and hands them to Bostwick. ST EUER. Did you receive, on the 12th of October, 191 I, a letter inviting you to a m eeting at 151 Clinton Street, o n the third floor, to
KATE ALTERivIAN. I have five sisters.
meet the lawyer for the Ladies' Waist and Dressmakers· Un ion ?
There you are. STEUER. Does o ne of your sisters live in New York?
KATE ALTERMAN. No, sir.
Lights change. Music. Rose Schneiderman appears on the stage right staircase. KATE ALTER/v!AN. No, si r, they never did.
ST EUER. Didn't you go on the 16th of October, 1911, to 151 Clinton Street, and didn't the lawyer go over the story of th e fire with each
ROSE SCHNEIDERMAN. Do you work in a fire trap? Are the doors locked during working hours? Are the windows barred or nailed STEUER. Now I want you to tell me your story over again, just as you told it before. one of you girls?
down ? Are the freight elevators closed du ring the day? Are there fire escap es o n all floors? Is the way to the fire escapes free? Is there
KATE ALTERivIAN. What kind of story do you mean? KATE ALTERMAN. No.
any scrap left near motors or engines? Are staircases wood o r iron? Write your answers to these questio ns, then send or bring them to
the Women's Trade Union League, 43 East 22nd Street. Your name will not be used. STEUER. Just tell us what you did when you heard the cry of fire. ST EUER. Well now, didn't every one of the girls get a letter to come down to 151 Clinton Street?
Lights change. Music. KATE ALTERMAN. I went to the Greene Street windows to look for fi re escapes, I didn't find any and Margaret Schwartz was with KATE ALTERMAN. No.
me. I turned away an d Margaret disappeared from me. 1 went to the dressing rooms, bent my face over the sink. I went out from the Bostwick}umps in.
Scene 5 dressing rooms, and then went to the Washington side to the door, trying to open the door, but there I saw Bernstein, the manager's
brother, trying to open the door, but he couldn't. He went to the windows. BOSTWICK. No\\\ Miss Alterman, each time that you have answered Mr. Steuer's question you have tried to repeat it in the same
KATE ALTERMAN language that you first told it here in court, have you not?
STEUER. Now, there was someth ing in there that you left out, I think, Miss Alterman. When Bernstei n was jumping around, do you
!11 the courtroom, Bostwick questions Kate Alterman. remember what that was like? Like a wildcat, wasn't it? KATE ALTERMAN. Yes,sir.
BOSTWICK. Miss Alterman, what was your relationship with Margaret Schwartz? KATE ALTERivIAN. Like a wildcat. BOSTWICK. And you remember every detail of that story as we.II today as if it had happened yesterday?
KATE ALTERMAN. She was my best friend. STEUER. You did leave that out, didn't you, just now, when you told us about Bernstein, that he jumped around like a wildcat? KATE ALTERMAN. Yes, sir.
BOSTWICK. So when you heard the cry of fire, you were quite aware of her whereabouts? KATE ALTER/v!AN. A wildcat or a wild dog. I told it that way to imagine just exactly. BOSTWICK. And it is all true?
KATE ALTERMAN. 1 was. STEUER. Now you heard the signal or bell for the shutting off of the power, didn't you? KATE ALTERMAN. Yes,sir.
BOSTWICK. Can you tell me what you saw of the last moments of Margaret Schwartz's life? KATE ALTERivIAN. Yes, sir. STEUER. Can you tell that story in any other words than those you have told it in?
KATE ALTERMAN. I was by the Wash ington Place door, and Bernstein, the manager's brother, was trying to open the door. He was STEUER. Then you got up and left your table, is that it? KATE ALTERMAN. In any other words? I remember it this way, just exactly how it was done.
jumping around like a wildcat. Margaret tried to open th e door. I pushed her o n the side and I said, "'Nait, I will open that door:• I STEUER. Will you please answer my question? Could you tell it in any other words than tl1e words you have told it in here?
KATE ALTER/v!AN. Yes, sir.
tried, pulled the h andle in and out, all ways-and I couldn't open it. And then I saw her bendi ng down o n her knees. I noticed the trail
STEUER. And was it at that time th at you went to the dressing room? K.A.TE ALTERMAN. Probably I can-
of her dress and the ends of her hair begin to burn. And then a big smoke came and I said, "Margaret:' an d she didn't reply.
KATE ALTERMAN. Yes, sir. BOSTWICK. As a matter of fact you did on Satu rday, d idn't you?
Kate begins to cry.
STEUER. That was the only time you went to the dressing room, was it? KATE ALTERiv!AN. Yes, sir.
BOSTWICK. Thank you very much, Miss Alterman.
KATE ALTER/v!AN. Yes, sir. BOSTWICK. And as a matter of fact you did, in that statement, use different words than you have stated now?
Bostwick sits and Steuer rises to cross-examine Kate.
STEUER. And of course I am speaking of that afternoon, I meant th at afternoon. K.A.TE ALTERMAN. Yes, sir.
STEUER. Did you have a sister working in the place?
KATE ALTERMAN. Of that day, yes, sir. BOSTWICK. And you could repeat over whatever you told me o n Saturday, in those other words?
KATE ALTER/vIAN. No, sir.
STEUER. Now, could you tell us again what you did after that time? KATE ALTERiv!AN. Yes, sir.
STEUER. And you are currently living in Philadelphia?
KATE ALTER/v!AN. After going out from the dressing room? BOSTWICK. Will you state to the jury why you tried to repeat wh at you told Mr. Steuer in the same language that you used the first
KATE ALTERMAN. Yes, sir.
time you told it?
STEUER. Wh en was the last tim e you saw Mr. Bostwick? STEUER. Yes.
KATE ALTERiv!AN. Because h e asked me to tell the very same story over and over.
KATE ALTER/vIAN. Saturday. KATE ALTERMAN. I noticed Bernstein, the manager's brother, at the Washington side windows. He stuck h is head out, then he drew
himself back-he wanted to jump, I s uppose, but he was afraid. He jumped liked a wildcat on the walls. Then I saw the flames cover BOSTWICK. And did you think you h ad to tell it in the same words?
STEUER. He took you up to th e building, d id he?
him. I went to the center of the room. I had a purse with me and that purse began to burn, I pressed it to my heart to put out the fire. K.A.TE ALTERMAN. No, I didn't think. I just told it the way h e asked me to say it over and over, and I told h im in the same words.
KATE ALTERMAN. Yes, sir. The whole door was aflame, it was a red curtain of fire- BOSTWICK. I have not spoken to you since you arrived here, have I?
STEUER. And he pointed out to you where the Washington Place door is? STEUER You never spoke to anybody about what you were going to tell us when you came here, did you? KATE ALTERiv!AN. No, sir. Not a word.
KATE ALTERMAN. I had to point it out to h im. He showed me the plan and asked me to show him where I saw Margaret last; I KATE ALTERMAN. No, sir. STEUER. You say you can tell the jury the same words you used in your written statement?
couldn't show him very well on the plan for I picked it in my mind as if it were before the fire, so he took me to the building.
STEUER. You have got a father and a mother and four sisters? K.A.TE ALTERMAN. Probably I can . My written statement was nine months ago.
STEUER. You have told us that she was right up against the door, isn't that so?
KATE ALTER/v!AN. Five sisters. I have a father. I have no moth er, I h ave a stepmother. Bostwick takes a stack ofpaper from his table.
KATE ALTER/vIAN. She was right near the door with her hands at the knob.
STEUER. And you never spoke to anybody else about it? BOSTWICK. I offer the statement to the jury.
STEUER. With her hands at the knob?
KATE ALTERMAN. No, sir. Steuer takes the statement from Bostwick.
KATE ALTERMAN. At the knob.
STEUER. They never asked you about it? STEUER. Tell us the words in the statement, please now.
STEUER. But you couldn't tell him that before you went up to th e loft?
KATE ALTER/v!AN. They asked me and I told them once, and then they stopped m e; they didn' t want me to talk any more about it. KATE ALTERMAN. (After a long pause.) Shall I tell you just as in the statement?
KATE ALTERMAN. Well, I don't believe I told him-I think I told him, I am not sure, though, for when I gave Ill)' statement first I
STEUER. And you didn't study the words in which you would tell it? ST EUER. Yes, the words in th e statement.
was sick that time.
KATE ALTERMAN. No, sir. KATE ALTERMAN. Well, I gave a very long statement.
STEUER. And so you didn't tell it the sam e way as you are telling it now?
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STEUER. Now, start with the words in the statem ent, please, and not an explanation, M iss Alterman, if you can . Tell us just how you IDA. TI1en we heard a noise and May cam e along an d asked what was the matter and I said, "I don't know'.' BOST WICK. She told you all about it?
started the statement, and then give us the words that a re in the statement. IDA. She told me about how the two of us did go in the h all, and that is what I do remember, and about the door; she said she seen me
MAY. We went to the Washington Place elevator but it didn't come up. She says, "May, May. I th ink the elevator must have dropped,
KAT E ALTERNIAN. Well, it would be 4:45 on Saturd ay, I tltink that I started the beginn ing of the statement ... because f hear the girls screaming~ I went to the elevator and I listened at the Washington Place side, and I didn't hear n o screa ming open it. May says s he saw me pull the door.
in the elevator.
STEUER. Please just tell th e court what you said. BOST WICK. And you believe th at?
KAT E ALTERMAN. (Another long pause.) I can't remember what I said. IDA. TI1en May said, "Ida, let's go to the door:' and the two of us rus hed to the door and I opened the door- IDA. I do. Well, that is, at fi rst I didn' t remember, but being that I was after May, then she said she was at th e door first, it makes sense
Kate breaks down crying. BOST WICK. Did yon turn the key in the lock yourself and find it unlocked ? that I pulled the door.

STEUER. M r. Bostwick asked you before wheth er you could tell it again in th e same words as the statement and you said "Yes'.' Now IDA. No. I did not try the lock myself. BOST WICK. Because May said so it is perfectly d ea r. isn't it?
you say you can't? MAY. The key was right in th e door tied to a string. 1 turned the key. IDA. Certainly.
KAT E ALTERNIAN. 1 already told you what happened. There is only one way it happened. STEUER. The key was in that Washington Place door, wasn't it? Lights change. M11sic. Samuel Bemstein replaces Ida and May 011 the stand.
STEUER. You can o nly tell the story the way you practiced it? MAY. Yes, s ir. ST EUER. Mr. Bernstein, what is your occupation?
KAT E ALTERNIAN. 1 can only tell it how 1 remember it. ST EUER. (To Ida.) And it was attached to the d oor by a string, wam 't it? SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. I am the superinten dent and manager of the T riangle Shirtwaist Factory.
STEUER. Nothing more. IDA. Yes, sir, by the string, about th ree or four inches lo ng, a piece o f tap e or something about a half-inch wide. ST EUER. How long have you held that position?
Lights change. Music. STEUER. (To 1vfay.) What color was the string? SAM UEL BERNSTEIN. 12 years.
MAY. It was a checked piece of string, a half-inch wide, if not more. ST EUER. And in those 12 years, how often did you go from one floo r o f the Asch building to another?
Scene 6
ST EUER. So you tu rned the key attach ed to the string, and then .. . SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. More than I can count.
THE PROSECUTION RESTS
MAY. Ida o pened tl1e door .. . ST EUER. TI1rough which door did you enter and leave the ninth floor?
T11e actors step forward. BOST WICK. Miss Mittelman, when you gave a statement to the Dis.trict Attorney, did you tell him that you op ened the door yourself? SAM UEL BERNSTEIN. Either the Greene Street door or the Washington Place door, depending on where I was.
ACTOR 4. PROSECUT ION RESTS IN T RIAN GLE CASE IDA. Now, which one of us turned the key or the knob, I couldn't remember then but now I do rem ember that it was May. ST EUER. You used the G reene Street and Wasltington Place doors indiscrin1inately?
ACTOR A. 155 WITNESSES CON DEMN HARRIS AND BLANCK MAY. I turned the key, she pulled the door, I walked out first ... SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. Yes, sir.
ACTOR B. TRIANGLE WOMEN WERE LOCKED IN IDA.... and I walked out w ith her. ST EUER. And were those d oors ever locked during working hours?
ACTOR D. FACT ALSO BROUG HT OUT THAT O \NNER HARRIS'S SISTER WAS T RAPPED BY BARRED D OOR BOST WICK. Were there any other persons around the door when you did this? SAM UEL BERNSTEIN. Never.
SHEPH ERD. New York has a lo ng history o f tragic fires. In 1905, a tenem ent o n Allen Street was consumed by flames. Twen ty people MAY. No. I was th e first one at the d oor. BOSTWICK. Did you ever lock either of these doors yourself?
- all imm igrants-died, including ten children who were found trapped in fron t of a locked skylight leadi ng to th e roof. M ayor
ST EUER. When you got out in the hallway, what did you see? SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. At the end of each day, I turned the key in the Washington Place door, bnt left the key in the lock.
McClellan was running for reelection, so it was im mediately clear that someone would have to be held responsible. All eyes turned to
th e Tenement House Department commissioner. 1l1e conunissione.r testified to the coroner that the Allen Street building had been MAY. I looked down and I seen the girls running down the stairs, then flames and smoke came right up and th ey made m e turn in . BOSTWICK. Why did you do that?
inspected 14 times in the six months preceding the fire, and that h is inspectors regularly cleared furnitu re. clothing, and p erishable IDA. All I could see was heads and the smoke was thick, so I ran back. SAM UEL BERNSTEIN. So that the girls would leave by the Greene Street door and have their purses searched by the watch man.
food from the fi re escapes, only to have th em cluttered again with in hours of their departure. Despite these facts, and h is strong d enial
STEUER. And after you passed through the op en Wash ington Place door on the ninth floor a second time, d id yon see Margaret STEUER. Did you tell M r. Harris and Mr. Blanck that you were turning the key in the door on March 25th of th is year?
of responsibility, the commissioner was forced to resign . The scan dalous fire ruined his political career. The commissioner's name was
Schwartz? SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. No, sir.
TI1omas C.T. Crain. And nearly six years later, who sat on the bench-who was the judge, we.ighing the evidence against Harris and
Blanck? The same 1l1omas C.T. Crain. MAY. I didn't look who was o r was not th ere, I turned right in and ran to the elevators where I thought I could get down much quicker. BOSTWICK. Mr. Bernstein, were you forcibly removed from the Criminal Courts building earlier th is year?
BOST WICK. After you had been out of this Washington Place door and looked over th e stairway, did you lock the door again? SAM UEL BERNSTEIN. I was.
Scene 7
MAY. No, sir.
BOSTWICK. Because you were attempting to brib e witnesses?
THE DEFENSE BOSTWICK. Did you ever talk to the Italian consul about the fire? SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. No, sir. I was there in answer to a su bpoena. (Pointing.) And there's the young man who served me the
On the stand are May Levantini {Actor BJ, a dark-liaired Italian whose severity makes her look older /Iran her twenty-eight years, MAY. !did. subpoena. (Shouting.) Did you serve me that? Answer me, d id you or did you not? Look, he is smiling.
and Ida Mittelman [Actor A/, an immature twenty-one-year-old who worships 1vfay unquestioningly. BOST WICK. And did you tell him that you opened th e door? BOSTWICK. M r. Bernstein, you were seen by a ba iliff talking to girls on th eir way in to testify before grand jury. What did you say to
STEUER. M iss Levantini, were you employed by the defendants at the time of th e fire? May looks to Steuer. Pa11se. them ?
MAY. ! was. MAY. I don't rem ember. SAM UEL BERNSTEIN. W hen this man came out, I was ta lking to one of the girls, bnt it had nothing to do with the case.
STEUER. Are you now? Bostwick takes a document.from his table. BOSTWICK. And did you offer this girl money fo r any reason?
MAY. No, sir. SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. No.
BOST WICK. I have here an affidavit from the Italian consul saying th at you made no mention of openi ng the door. D id that part come
BOST WICK. M iss M ittelman, are you c urrently employed by Mr. Harris and Mr. Bla nck? to yon after you talked to M r. Bernstein? BOSTWICK. Did you not visit May Levantini at her home?
LOA. Yes. MAY. No. I told the truth. SAM UEL BERNSTEIN. I did, because s he was sick.
BOST WICK. I see. BOST WICK. And what is the truth? BOSTWICK. Did you give money to May Levantini to say that she left the ninth floor by the Washington Place door?
ST EUER. M iss Levantini, do you have a civil suit pendi ng against the defendants? MAY. I opened the door. SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. No.
MAY. !do. BOSTWICK. You said Ida opened the d oor. BOSTWICK. Did you suggest s he change her version of the story after she had talked to the Italian consul?
STEUER. So why are you testifying in th eir defense? MAY. I turned the key in tl1e lock. SAM UEL BERNSTEIN. No!
MAY. To tell the truth. BOST WICK. And that is your memory of what you actually did, not what someone told you you d id? BOSTWICK. There's no need to shout, M r. Bernstein. S ince the fire, has your salar y increased ?
ST EUER. M iss M ittelman, you worked near Miss Levantini, didn't yon ? MAY. It is. SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. That's none of your busi ness.
I DA. Yes, on the first row of machines from the Washington Place side. BOSTWICK. (To Ida.) How often have you talked to M iss Levantini about all this? BOSTWICK. Mr. Bernstein-
STEUER. After the power was shut off on M arch 25, where d id you go? IDA. We're best friends. We talk all the time. SAM UEL BERNSTEIN. I'm making more now than before.
IDA. I went to Mays table. BOST WICK. And has your talk with May Levantini m ade the th ing fresh in your m ind? BOSTWICK. How much more?
MAY. I was just in the d ressing room, coming out of it, when Ida called me. IDA. Yes, sir. She told me it all. SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. About three dollars more a week.

4W 52
 Bostwick presents a stack of documents. STEUER. What did you do when you realized there was a fire? BOSTWICK. (To Harris.) How much in all the instances would you say was the value of all the goods that you found had been taken
BOST\\IICK. People's Exhibit 31 is the payroll records of the Triangle Waist Company. HARRIS. I guided girls onto the Washington Place elevators until they stopped mnning. At this point I started to holler, "Girls, let us by the.se employees?

Bostwick hands a document to Bernstein. go to the roof!" HARRIS. In one year, you mean?

Mr. Bernstein, what is the difference between your salary in March 1909 and on the day of the fire? STEUER. Did you fear for your life? BOSTWICK. In one year.

SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. It's the same. HARRIS. I was not thinking of that, but the girls were afraid of the smoke, so I said, "Go, one of you, two of you. If you can't all go, HARRIS. Prior to the fire?
better at least one should get out:' I brought them out onto the roof, climbed to an adjacent building, broke a skylight, and passed back BOSTWICK. Yes.
BOST\\IICK. So your pay was the same for the two years before the fire, but in the nine months since the fire you've gotten a raise?
the ladder I found there.
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. That's right. HARRIS. Well.
STEUER. Was your sister working on the ninth floor at the time of the fire?
BOSTWICK. And have any of the other employees received comparable raises? Beat.
HARRIS. She was.
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. I don't know. 10 dollars or 8 dollars or 12 dollars or 15 dollars, something like that.
STEUER. Mr. Harris, would you ever allow your own sister to be locked in a room that was even slightly prone to fire?
BOST\\IICK. Mr. Bernstein ... BOSTWICK. You would say it was not over 25 dollars, wouldn't you?
HARRIS. Absolutely not.
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. No, they haven't STEUER. I object to that as immateriall
STEUER. Mr. Blanck, what are the ages of your children?
BOSTWICK. So, you were the only one to get a raise. BOSTWICK. Did the amount lost to theft each year exceed 25 dollars?
BLANCK. Mildred is twelve and Henrietta is five.
STEUER. Mr. Bernstein, what was your brother's nan1e? HARRIS. No, it would not exceed that much.
STEUER. Two little girls. And where were they on the day of the fire?
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. Jacob. STEUER. Mr. Harris, was there any rule in your factory that the door on the Washington Place side should be locked before the
BLANCK. They were in the office with me. Their mother had gone South and I was going to take them shopping. employees left the shop?
STEUER. How did he die?
STEUER. And what was your first thought when you heard the cry of fire? HARRIS. No orders were given.
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. He perished in the fire, sir.
BLANCK. To get the girls to the roof. BLANCK. l11ere was no such thing as a locked door on the premises.
STEUER. I'm sorry for your loss.
STEUER. How did you do that? STEUER. Did you know whether the Washington Place door was locked or unlocked at 4:45 on March 25th of this year?
Beat.
BLANCK. I picked up Henrietta and another man picked up Mildred, and we ran out through the smoke. They were screaming and BLANCK. I did not.
But I have to ask you, if your brother was killed by this terrible fire. why are you here testifying for the men who have been blamed for crying. even after we got out. And I kissed them ...
his death? HARRIS. I had no idea.
Blanck appears to choke up. Steuer hands him a handkerchief
SAMUEL BERNSTEIN. Because it wasn't their fault. It was an act of God. Liglits change. Mllsic. The actors step forward.
STEUER. Thank you, sir.
Lights change. Bernstein is replaced on the stand by Harris and Blanck. The remaining cast members watch from above on the ACTOR 5. DEFENSE RESTS 1N TRIAN GLE TRIAL
BOSTWICK. (To Harris.) Mr. Harris, did you tell Robert Wolfson on March 27th last that the door had to be locked or the employees
bridge. ACTOR B. BLANCK CRIES FOR CHILDREN; HARRIS BEMOANS STEALING
would steal your fortune?
STEUER. Mr. Harris, Mr. Blanck, thank you for coming. ACTOR C. MORE WITNESSES CONTRADICT THE TESTIMONY OF HARRIS AND BLAN CK'S GIRL EMPLOYEES
HARRIS. Who is Robert Wolfson?
BLANCK. You're welcome. ACTOR D. SAYS TRIANGLE DOORS VvERE NEVER LOCKED
BOSTWICK. Didn't he work for you for nine years?
STEUER. How do the two of you work as co-proprietors? BLANCK. Oh, the cutter. From up on the bridge, Judge Crain charges the jury.
HARRIS. I am a designer and a pattern maker, and I oversee production. HARRIS. Yes, I know him. JUDGE CRAIN. Gentlemen of the jury, I charge that before you find these defendants guilty of manslaughter in the first degree, you
BLANCK. I'm mainly concerned with sales. must find that this door was locked. You must also find beyond a reasonable doubt that such locking caused the death of Margaret
BOSTWICK. Did you tell him what I asked you? Schwartz. And you must also find that the door was locked with the knowledge of the defendants. Now, do your duty.
BOSTWICK. Mr. Blanck, how many people do you employ at the Triangle Waist Company?
HARRIS. I never speak to those people. Liglits change. Mu.sic.
BLANCK. In the busy season? About 500 people.
BOSTWICK. Did you see him March 27th, two days after the fire?
BOSTWICK. How many shirtwaists can you produce in one day, at peak production? Scene 8
Blanck nods to Harris.
HARRIS. Around 2,000 waists per day. DELIBERATION
HARRIS. Yes.
BOSTWICK. 2,000 waists per day. That is impressive. That would make the gross annual income of the Triangle Company about .. ,?
BOSTWICK. Did you tell him you had to keep the door locked? On the stage right staircase, still keepitlg her vigil, Bertha reads haltingly from a piece of paper. Even as she struggles with the
BLANCK. About one million dollars per year. language, her passion overcomes her.
HARRIS. I can't remember what I said to him.
STEUER. Did your work take you from one floor of the Asch building to another? Steuer takes a pocketbook from his table and throws it to Bostwick. BERTHA.
BLANCK. Many times a day. ll1ere will come a time
STEUER. Just open it and see for yourself how big it is.
When your time will end, you golden princes.
STEUER. And did you use the Washington Place door? Bostwick opens the pocketbook and pulls Ollt four s/1irtwaists. Meanwhile, let this haunt your consciences:
HARRIS. Yes, many times. Let the burning building, our daughters in flames
Mr. Harris, is theft a major problem in your company?
STEUER. And did you ever find the Washington Place door to the ninth floor ever locked? Be the nightmare that destroys your sleep,
HARRIS. (Passionately.) It is! You see how many waists can be cranuned into a small space.
BLANCK. Never. ll1e poison that embitters your lives,
STEUER. What evidence of theft do you have? ll1e horror that kills your joy.
HARRIS. Not once. And in the midst of celebrations for your children,
HARRIS. We once locked up about six girls and we found in the room of one girl about two dozen waists, and another girl had about
BOSTWICK. Mr. Harris, you ordered a watchman stationed at the Greene Street door on the ninth floor, did you not? three dozen waists! May )'OU be struck blind with fear over the
HARRIS. Yes. Memory of this red avalanche
STEUER. And what action did you take against these thieves?
Until time erases you.
BOST\NICK. (To Blanck.) Did you order a watchman at the Washington Place door? Harris is about to respond when Blan.ck gestures to stop him.
Lights change. M11Sic out.
BLANCK.No. BLANCK. This was not long after the strike, and we didn't want to make any trouble, so we discharged them.
BOSTWICK. (To Harris.) Was the reason you ordered a watchman at the Greene Street door only because you kept the Washington STEUER. But you declined to press charges against these girls who clearly stole from you? Scene9
Place door locked?
HARRIS. We could not, because when we arrested a few of them and had them fined, a few of the girls sued us for damages. THE VERDICT
HARRIS. No.
BLAN CK. We found the best way was to discharge them and not bother with them anymore.
December 27, 1911, 4:45 P.M. Judge Crain addresses the jllry. 11,e Jury Foreman {Actor 4/ stands on the left platform Ott the upper
BLANCK. The employees could get out any way they wished.
lewl. Bertha watches from the bridge, as do Mrs. Belmont and Ethel.
45/52
JUDGE CRAIN. Mr. Foreman, have you reached a verdict? I'm so sorry- BERTHA. When I was girl, girls worked at home, sewing, clean ing, cooking. Here in America, girls work in stores, on the street, in
JURY FOREMAN. We have. Bernstein stumbles into Kate. factories. Good for them if they want to, but even if they work like men they're still gi rls. Who will protect them? No one can protect
them all.
JUDGE CRAIN. On the first charge, of manslaughter in the first degree, do you find the defendants guilty or not guilty? KATE ALTERMAN. You're drunk.
She struggles to contim,e.
JURY FOREMAN. Not guilty. BERNSTEIN. Almost always now.
So I don't blame some official. I don't blame the bosses even. I say every man and woman in this city is responsible for this fire. We are
A cry of shock and disbelieffrom the women. KATE ALTERivlAN. Go home, then.
all at the m ercy of each other. We are all respo nsible!
JUDGE CRAIN. O n the second charge, of manslaughter in the second d egree, do you find the defendants guilty or not guilty? BERNSTEIN. I've been to every one, you know.
11,e stage clears. Music. Shepherd continues.
JURY FORE.MAN. Not guilty. KATE ALTERMAN. Every o ne what?
SHEPHERD. In the months following the verdict, th e inquiry into who was to blame gave way to a new question: What do we do now?
A cry of anguish from Bertha. BERNSTEIN. Funerals. This makes 147 funerals. And no one says a word to me. I say, 'Tm sorry, I'm sorry," and they say nothing. Weep all day, every day? Kill ourselves? Kill others so we share the same terrible power that God seems to wield at his whim? How, in
JUDGE CRAIN. Is that the verdict of all of you? Silence. the end, do we bear the crushing burden of survival? TI1ere was, of course, no satisfactory answer. But we struggle to find one anyway.

JURY FOREMAN. That's right, that's the verdict of all ofus. See? Nothing. I did what r was told! Put me on trial. Nobody puts me on trial, but nobody forgives me, either. He exits downstage left as the other actors enter speaking their headlines.
JUDGE CRAIN. Thank you gentlemen, that concludes your service. TI1e defendants are free to go. Silence. ACTOR 4. 200 TESTIFY BEFORE FIRE COMMISSION

Bertha and Ethel weep. Actors 1, 2, and 5 rip down the ground plan, which has bee,1 lianging from the bridge center stage, and KATE ALTERivlAN. l forgive you. ACTOR A. EIGHT SAFETY LAWS PASSED IN WAKE OF TRIANGLE FIRE
declare: BERNSTEIN. You do? ACTOR I. FI RE COMMISSION EXPANDS SCOPE THROUGHOUT STATE
ACTOR 2. 146 DEAD, NO ONE GUJLTY KATE ALTERivlAN. Yes. ACTOR 2. COMMITTEE OF SAFETY REPORTS 74 BUILDINGS AND FORCES 7l TO COMPLY WITH THE LAW
ACTOR 5. EVIDENCE OF 100 WITNESSES FAILED TO CONVICT MEN BERNSTEIN. I don't deserve it, but thank you. Thank you . .. ACTOR C. Spring is upon us once again! This season's collection of Simpson and Crawford's lawn waists is bursting forth in colors as
ACTOR I. HARRIS AND BLANCK LEAVE COURT WITH A STRONG POUCE GUARD TO PROTECT THEM lovely as early spring flowers.
He tries to hug her but she stops him.
ACTOR 2. THRONG IN THE STREETS HISSES AND REVILES THE DEFENDANTS ACTOR 5. 25 LAWS PUSHED THROUGH STAT E LEGISLATURE BY FACTORY INVESTIGATION COMMITTEE
KATE ALTERivlAN. I should go with the others.
1he actors gather together below, and Mrs. Belmont, Bertha at1d Ethel speak from the bridge. As they speak the foreman comes ACTOR B. UNION MEMBERSHJP INCREASES EIGHT FOLD IN FOUR YEARS
BERNSTEIN. Please tell Mrs. Schwartz if there's anything I can do . . .
down the stairs from the upper platform and crosses tl1rough the angry crowd. ACTOR D. New for spring, tl1e racquet waists! Norfolk waists of white or tan linen, with collar and cuffs of pique ...
KATE ALTERMAN. There is something. But it's for me.
M RS. BELMONT. As long as the working girl has no vote she will get no justice, if such justice is against any man's interest. ACTOR 3. CENSURES TRIANGLE COMPANY: FIRE PREVENTION INSPECTORS FIND IT STILL DISREGARDS REGULATIONS
Silence.
ETHEL I seen you. I heard every word. You' re not scary, you're just greedy old men. You should be locked up! ACTOR A. NINETEENTH AMENDMENT RATIFIED: vVOME.N WIN VOTE.
BERNSTEIN. What is it?
BERTHA. Ubiitzi! Murderers! God sees you! He knows wh at you did. ACTOR C . French handmade, hand-embroidered li ngerie shirtwaists in Neptune green, antique gold, and TI1ames gra)\ Waists with
KATE ALTERivlAN. Talk to Mr. Harris for me. Were trying to bring over my little cousin and I need a better job .. .
Shepl1erd stops the Jury Foreman stage left. tucked fronts, Mousquetaire sleeves and lace edging ...
BERNSTEIN. You want me to talk to Mr. Harris?
SHEPHERD. What made up your mind in this case? ACTOR 2. MAX BLANCK CHARGED WITH LOCKING EMPLOYEES IN HIS NEW FACTORY
KATE ALTERivlAN. Yes, please.
JURY FOREMAN. I believed that piece of charred wood and the lock with the shot bolt that the State put into evidence. But then I ACTOR 5. FEWER FIRES HERE: DECREASE IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS TO THE RATE OF 2,452 A YEAR
BERNSTEIN. Didn't you hear? TI1ey fired me.
believed also the testimony that the key was usually in the door and that it was tied to it with a piece of string. So there was the thought ACTOR D. Smart, dainty and up to the minute, this lingerie waist is a charming combination oflace insertions, embroidered medallions
in my mind that during the first rush for the door some panic-s tricken girl m ight have turned the key in an effort to open it. And if KATE ALTERMAN. O h. and pin tucks .. .
that was so, then Harris and Blanck could n ot have known it, as the judge demanded they should, to be com~cted. I can not see that BERNSTEIN. Do you s till forgive me? ACTOR 2. HARRIS AND BLANCK SUED FOR SEWING FAKE CONSUMERS LEAGUE LABELS INTO WAISTS
anyone was responsible for the disaster. It seems to me it was an act of the Almighty.
KATE ALTERMAN. No. ACTOR 4. GIRLS BRAVE GALE IN A FIRE DRILL: FIRST OF A SERIES OF TESTS CONDUCTED BY EDWARD F. CROKER,
SHEPHERD. What is your occupation, sir?
She hurries off down left. Lights change. FORt.'IERLY FIRE CHIEF
JURY FOREMAN. I'm a factory owner.
ACTOR C. Our new lin e will change the way you dress forever!
Scene II
ACTOR 2. T RIANGLE JURORS SMUGGLED OUT OF COURTROOM
End of Play
ACTOR D. WOMEN URGE NEW TRIANGLE TRIAL: SUFFRAGISTS AND WO.MENS TRADE UNION LEAGUE DEMAND REACTION
PUNISHMENT
Sl1epl1erd addresses the audience.
ACTOR 5. T RIANGLE BOSSES SETTLE 23 CIVIL SUITS: FAMILIES OF THE DEAD GET $75 EACH
SHEPHERD. When a stranger dies, it's easy to stay impartial, but when it's dozens of your neighbors, it's impossible not to editorialize.
ACTOR A. JUROR REGRETS VERDICT, SAYS CRAIN'S CHARGE LEFT HIM NO CHOICE So heres my opin ion: If Harris and Blanck had been found guilty, t he e nti re episode would've been forgotten in a week. But the Jaw
ACTOR 5. T RIANGLE BOSSES GET $445 A LI FE FROM INSURANCE COMPANIES said there was no murder, so these became 146 deaths by natural causes. And as is always the case with natural causes, everyone had
Lights. Max Schwartz enters right with a letter he has just written. He reads. an opin ion about wh at exactly went wrong.
ROSE SCHNEJDERMAN. (From the stage right staircase, speaking to a crowd.) 1 would be a traitor to those poor burned bodies if I
MAX. Dear Mama, I thi nk of that day every day. Every day I hear the bell a nd run d own the stairs. I smeU th e smoke but keep going
down. Every day I try to run back, to save Margaret, and I trip. I fall. I scream at the policeman to let me go, please, let me go back came here to talk good fellowship. We have tried you, good people of the public, and we have fou nd you wanting. This is not the first
inside. Every day. Please don't be mad, or sad, or a nything. Someone has to pay for what happened. Love, Max. time girls have been burned alive in the city. Every week I must learn of the untimely death of o ne of my sister workers. Every year
thousands of us are m aimed. There are so many of us for one job it matters little if 146 of us are burned to death. We have tried you
Max pulls out a gun, and exits up right. Lights change. citizens; we are trying you now, and you have a couple of dollars for tl1e sorrowing mothers, brothers, and sisters by way of a charity
ACTOR 4. PLAN FOR NEW TRIANGLE TRIAL DROPPED gift. But every time the workers come out in the only way they know to protest against conditions which are unbearable, the strong
ACTOR 3. BROTHER OF TRIANGLE FIRE VICTIM COMMITS SUICIDE: NOTE BLAMES HARRIS AND BLANCK hand of the law is allowed to press down heavily upon us. I can't talk fellowship to you who are gathered here. Too much blood has
been spilled. I know from my experience that the working people can exp ect no aid from the law. The only way they can save themselves
Scene 10 is by a strong working-class m ovement.

FUNERAL MRS. BELMONT. (From up on the bridge, speaking to a crowd.) The verdict rendered by the jury in the Triangle case proves that
conditions have not changed. I only ask that this want of the recogn ition of the individual value of each poor girl's right to protection
As the mourners disperse, Bertha enters up center, followed by Kate Alterman. Bertha is dressed in black, and holds pictures of may awaken the womanhood of th is country to the necessity of -cooperatio n, a nd that aU classes of women shall be botmd by a
both Margaret and Max. As she crosses down left, Bernstein, looking disheveled, tries to stop he1: s isterhood too strong, too brave, too intelligent to bear much longer their disenfranchisement.
BERNSTEIN. !'m sorry for your loss. He was a good worker. Center stage, Bertha steps forward.
Bertha walks away without speaking.

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