TRIANGLE FACTORY FIRE
Words & Music by James Power © 2012

Let me tell you a story of a great tragedy
One that took many a life
Is a tale about greed, Is a tale about strife
That's the Triangle Factory Fire
The Triangle Factory Fire

It was 1911 in the city New York
A building where fashons are made
Young girls & women in the factory there toiled
Making less than a dollar a day
For a seamstress' 12 hour's pay

The factory was owned by two men on renown
"The Shirtwaist Kings" they were hailed
Mister Isaac Harris & Mister Max Blanck
Who cared just for the profits they made
Caring just for the profits they made

Just two years before in 1909
The women they'd gone out on strike
Claiming unsafe conditions & unfair wages
They were beaten, arrested & fired
Young girls were beat up, arrested & fired

It was March 25th when the tragedy came
As they finished their work for the day
On the 8th floor a cigarette carelessly discarded
Set a fire that turned to a blaze
A fire turned into a blaze

Harris & Blanck were on the 10th floor
And were told of the fire right away
They quickly departed to save their lives
To the workers no warning they gave
No warning to the workers was made

Women soon panicked as they saw smoke & flames
They rushed to escape from the fire
But Harris & Blanck had locked up the doors
The women they screamed for their lives
The women screamed for their dear lives

There was only one fire escape to be found
It snapped like a twig and it fell
All that the women could do then was jump
For the 8th & 9th became hell
The 8th & 9th floor was their hell

Witnesses watched as a man on the ledge
Helped the young girls from the flames
They jumped from his arms to their certain death
Before he, too, did the same
The young man, too, jumped to his grave

It was just twenty minutes from start until end
That children rained from the sky
And the same police who'd arrested the strikers
Now carried their bodies aside
146 died

The families mourned, the city grew dark
But the darkness soon turned to rage
They looked to the courts to find their justice
For Harris & Blanck had to pay
For the lives that they stole they must pay

But the trial it lasted only two days
"Not Guilty!", the verdict they gave
Not only did Harris & Blanck pay no price
From insurance $6,000 they made
From the fire $6,000 they made

It's a story of greed, it's a story of strife
And people who sought a new life
For the immigrant woman no justice prevailed
That's the Triangle Factory Fire
The Triangle Factory Fire

http://jamespower.net

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On March 25, 1911, at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, 146 immigrant workers (mostly teenage girls & young women) died in a fire that engulfed the 8th, 9th, and 10th floor of the Asch Building at 23-29 Washington Place in New York City. It was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of NYC and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history.