Happy Land, Triangle Shirtwaist fires happened same day, 79 years apart

[niyad]

Happy Land, Triangle Shirtwaist fires happened same day, 79 years apart

They were two of the greatest tragedies in New York City history. And they were both fires. And they both happened on March 25.



The first changed the laws of this country forever. When the Triangle Shirtwaist garment factory burned in 1911, killing 146, almost of them young immigrant women, the nation was so horrified that labor and workplace rules were introduced that form the basis of safety regulations used today.



Bodies of victims of an arson fire at the Happy Land


The other fire, 79 years later, was murder, plain and simple, with flouting of safety regulations contributing to the disaster. Until 9/11, the Happy Land Social Club blaze, which killed 87 people, held the record for the biggest mass murder in the city's modern history. Again, most of the victims were young immigrants.

The scenes were horrific. In the Triangle fire, many women, trapped behind locked doors and faced by an inferno fueled by fabric dust and discarded trimmings, chose to jump to their deaths on the sidewalks below. In the Happy Land blaze, terrified customers of the illegal social club scrambled to get out of the single exit. Their bodies, too, ended up on the sidewalk, dragged there by emergency workers as they fought to put out the fire and rescue other occupants.


This 1911 file photo shows the burned out remains of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company in New York's Greenwich Village neighborhood. (Photo: AP)

The Triangle fire started in a rag bin of the sweatshop, located on the top three floors of a nine-story building in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. (Shirtwaists were a type of women's blouse popular in the late 19thand early 20th centuries.) According to contemporary reports, a manager tried using a hose to extinguish the blaze, but it was rotted and its valve was rusted shut. Panic ensued in the crowded workshops as the women fought to get out only to find doors locked and a single narrow staircase blocked. Many of those who didn't throw themselves from windows burned to death.


The Happy Land fire began with an act of revenge. A 25-year-old Cuban immigrant, Julio Gonzalez, went to the club, located in The Bronx, in the early hours of March 25, 1990, to try to win back his ex-girlfriend. An argument ensued and a bouncer ejected Gonzalez, who then went to a local Amoco station and bought a dollar's worth of gasoline, which he poured around the entrance and then lit it. The fire raced up the stairs, the only exit to the club, the other exits having been blocked to prevent people evading the cover charge. Trapped, 87 people, mostly from Central America, died from the flames and intense smoke, including the club's owner.

. . . .

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/25/triangle-shirtwaist-fire-and-happy-land-blaze-new-york-city-on-this-day/70423212/

[AndreaCG]

1. I worked the arraignment of the Happy Land killer

It was one of the few presided over by our chief judge Burton Roberts as opposed to the regular arrangement judge. For those who remember Bonfire of the Vanities, the outrageous judge was based on him. Yet Tom Wolfe didn't quite manage to capture Roberts' quirkiness. The first time I was there when he had a case, he yelled at the probation officer and banged his fist on the bench. Not a gavel, his fist. (Practically no judge I ever worked with used a gavel, though no other used his fist either.)

Judge Judy's husband Judge Gerry Sheindlin also was a judge in Bronx supreme court. He was a real character too. He'd yell at one of the lawyers for a solid minute then turn to the court staff and wink. He'd yell at the staff too sometimes but would also apologize if he was wrong. Never yelled at me for some reason, though I only filled in if his regular clerk was out. He was a pretty decent judge but had a habit of juggling four or five trials and/or hearings at a time which was a nightmare for the clerk. So I was very glad just to be there occasionally.

On edit: Just remembered I was also at the arraignment of Joel Rifkin, the prostitute killer immortalized on Seinfeld. One of his victims washed up in the Bronx. For his arraignment they closed the courtroom to the public and press, but had him sit in the front row for a half hour while I was the only other person there. Of course he was shackled and couldn't do anything but stare at me, but I was still creeped out.

[niyad]

2. that must have been so hard. thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us.

[AndreaCG]

3. Thank you for responding

I think most people can come up with some interesting insights about their jobs, regardless of whether celebrities or notorious people are involved. i have done stand up comedy for many years and only recently started doing jokes about the courts. Sometimes it takes a while to get perspective. Other times things fall into the category of no one would believe I didn't fabricate this shit cause it's so outrageous. Of course with the news lately about the shit cops and republicans pull it's hard to top reality.

[niyad]

4. true. the Onion is having to work harder these days to stay ahead of reality.

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. That's creep mode on Rifkin

I grew up in NYC, so I remember all these clearly (Rifkin was from Nassau County, though - thanks for the Bronx body clarification). Was Larry Davis a bronx case? That was around the same time as Happy Land, I think. All those crazy big trials back then: Howard beach, Bensonhurst, Central Park Jogger, Robert Chambers-Jennifer Levin. It seems like the news has shifted off of these "big case" stories, or at least the NY media was much more about them as leads at the time.

[AndreaCG]

7. I remember the name Larry Davis

But no details including what borough it took place in.

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. Larry Davis shot multiple cops who were coming to "arrest" him

Then ran off, sparking one the biggest manhunts in NYC history. He turned himself in after a week or so of wall to wall coverage in the NY press. When he went to trial it turned out the cops were dirty and were coming to kill him. In a shocking verdict, he was acquitted of all but weapons charges (it was like the anti-Bernard Goetz). Later in his life, he killed somebody else (I think), and ended up getting killed in a prison fight. Still, I remember the signs all around NY during the manhunt: Run, Larry, run!!!

[AndreaCG]

9. Thanks. Don't know why I don't remember this

Nt

[Omaha Steve]

6. Thanks for posting

Great post

K&R!

[niyad]

10. you are most welcome.

[appalachiablue]

11. K&R