The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

A fire broke out on the eighth floor of a garment factory late on a Saturday afternoon. Doors to the stairwells had been locked to stop workers taking breaks, the single fire escape collapsed, and ladders reached only to the sixth floor.

One hundred and forty-six people died, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrant women aged sixteen to twenty-three. The outrage that followed produced dozens of new fire-safety and labour laws in New York State.