Jim Kalafus
Member
Researcher Michael Hirsch has identified, or rather given names to the six unknown Triangle victims, as the anniversary approaches.
They were 23 year old Max Florin, 18/22 year old Concetta Prestifilippo, 18 year old Josephine Cammarata, who may have been Concetta Prestifilippo's cousin, 18 year old Dora Evans, 21 year old Fannie Rosen, and 33 year old Maria Lauletti.
Back in 1911, no master list of who died was ever published. Newspapers kept a running toll of those whose bodies were identified, and those who died in the hospitals, but these lists were extremely inaccurate and required in-depth genealogical research to straighten out.
Strange to say, none of the mainstream newspapers seem to have written a "Missing after the fire" human interest story about the skeletal remains and body fragments buried at Evergreens Cemetery.
Mr. Hirsch solved this particular riddle, in part, by reading through the smaller, ethnic, newspapers that DID carry human interest articles about those who never came home.
Less satisfying, by far, than the press coverage of Mr. Hirsch's discoveries, was the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Triangle episode last night.
It began promisingly enough, by mentioning Triangle workers Michaela Marciano, Catherine Maltese and her teenage daughters, and Julia Rosen and her teenage son. It also made me happy to see that for ONCE it was allowed that the Triangle was a "plum" job to land, and delved into the owners' motivations with more depth than has previously been shown.
Then it headed south, fast.
The 1909 Garment Workers Strike began at the Triangle factor, and was incited by the arbitrary firing of an employee named Jake Kline (who returned to work in the factory after the strike and died in the fire)...yet the VERY SPECIFIC cause of the initial walkout was never mentioned, in favor of the usual cliches about workers developing social conscience, etc.
The documentary then exhaustively detailed the back story leading up to the fire. The beatings, the protest marches, the support of Anne Morgan (daughter of J.P.) and Alva Vanderbilt Belmont which helped turn the tide of public opinion in favor of the workers, were all delved into. Which would have been fine in a two hour format, but in one hour it ate up far too much time and reduced the amount of information about the disaster that could be related...
What does the program tell us about Michaela Marciano? That she survived the Vesuvius eruption and died. About the Maltese family? That they all died, and that 14 year old Lucia Maltese was the youngest victim. Julia Rosen and her son, Israel? Although it mentions them in the opening montage, it never returns to them in the closing montage, so they are not even allowed the brief nod that the others get.
The 146 victims become bit players in what was actually another "turn of the century strike" documentary. You come away from it knowing more about Anne Morgan than you do Julia Rosen.
Julia was a widow. She and Israel worked in the factory, while her 14 year old daughter, Esther, remained at home and raised her younger siblings.
Julia was listed in newspapers as having died of multiple injuries. The bodies were layed out in two rows, with the least disturbing at the front and the most horribly mutilated at the back, to make the task of identification slightly easier on the families. Julia was #138 of 146, so the multiple injuries were most likely massive skull fractures.
Morgue attendants found a pay packet in her clothing marked "Mrs. Rosen" and also found $852 in a roll bound to her leg under her stocking. So, they knew who the body in coffin 138 was, but it took time to locate her family for positive ID. Esther, her 14 year old, spoke no English and knew only that her mother and brother had not come home for several days. She was taken to the morgue, where she identified her mother by the braids that she, Esther, had set into her hair that morning.
Israel Rosen was not identified until the Friday after the fire, and was only known by his signet ring.
Catherine Maltese was one of the skeletons buried as unknown after the fire. Some months later her husband recognized something of hers among the effects found with the various skeletal remains, and she was reburied with her daughters.
There are hundreds of well documented stories of those who found themselves in the Triangle Factory that day, yet exactly none were presented.
Daisy Lopez Fitze. An immigrant from the Caribbean. She married a Swiss man, who returned to Switzerland to buy an inn and left her with a nest egg with which to support herself until the inn was established. She wished to turn as much of his money back over to him as she could, and so took a job in the Triangle. She survived the nine story jump, only to die in the hospital some days later. Sad but interesting story. Has anyone traced her husband in Switzerland? Does his family have more information about him and Daisy? The producers COULD have taken that approach, but didn't.
One can overlook that the glass and wood door which may or may not have been locked was presented as a solid wood door that was definitely locked. One can overlook that the show claims that a single girl survived the nine story jump when, in fact, more than ten did and a few lingered for days before dying. But, one cannot overlook the fact that, once again, the key players in a major event have been reduced to walk ons in what should have been their own story.
Unnamed Triangle Waist Company Victims Identified
For the first time, the names of all the victims in the 1911 Triangle Waist Company fire will be read after a researcher’s identification of six unknown victims.
web.archive.org
They were 23 year old Max Florin, 18/22 year old Concetta Prestifilippo, 18 year old Josephine Cammarata, who may have been Concetta Prestifilippo's cousin, 18 year old Dora Evans, 21 year old Fannie Rosen, and 33 year old Maria Lauletti.
Back in 1911, no master list of who died was ever published. Newspapers kept a running toll of those whose bodies were identified, and those who died in the hospitals, but these lists were extremely inaccurate and required in-depth genealogical research to straighten out.
Strange to say, none of the mainstream newspapers seem to have written a "Missing after the fire" human interest story about the skeletal remains and body fragments buried at Evergreens Cemetery.
Mr. Hirsch solved this particular riddle, in part, by reading through the smaller, ethnic, newspapers that DID carry human interest articles about those who never came home.
Less satisfying, by far, than the press coverage of Mr. Hirsch's discoveries, was the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE Triangle episode last night.
It began promisingly enough, by mentioning Triangle workers Michaela Marciano, Catherine Maltese and her teenage daughters, and Julia Rosen and her teenage son. It also made me happy to see that for ONCE it was allowed that the Triangle was a "plum" job to land, and delved into the owners' motivations with more depth than has previously been shown.
Then it headed south, fast.
The 1909 Garment Workers Strike began at the Triangle factor, and was incited by the arbitrary firing of an employee named Jake Kline (who returned to work in the factory after the strike and died in the fire)...yet the VERY SPECIFIC cause of the initial walkout was never mentioned, in favor of the usual cliches about workers developing social conscience, etc.
The documentary then exhaustively detailed the back story leading up to the fire. The beatings, the protest marches, the support of Anne Morgan (daughter of J.P.) and Alva Vanderbilt Belmont which helped turn the tide of public opinion in favor of the workers, were all delved into. Which would have been fine in a two hour format, but in one hour it ate up far too much time and reduced the amount of information about the disaster that could be related...
What does the program tell us about Michaela Marciano? That she survived the Vesuvius eruption and died. About the Maltese family? That they all died, and that 14 year old Lucia Maltese was the youngest victim. Julia Rosen and her son, Israel? Although it mentions them in the opening montage, it never returns to them in the closing montage, so they are not even allowed the brief nod that the others get.
The 146 victims become bit players in what was actually another "turn of the century strike" documentary. You come away from it knowing more about Anne Morgan than you do Julia Rosen.
Julia was a widow. She and Israel worked in the factory, while her 14 year old daughter, Esther, remained at home and raised her younger siblings.
Julia was listed in newspapers as having died of multiple injuries. The bodies were layed out in two rows, with the least disturbing at the front and the most horribly mutilated at the back, to make the task of identification slightly easier on the families. Julia was #138 of 146, so the multiple injuries were most likely massive skull fractures.
Morgue attendants found a pay packet in her clothing marked "Mrs. Rosen" and also found $852 in a roll bound to her leg under her stocking. So, they knew who the body in coffin 138 was, but it took time to locate her family for positive ID. Esther, her 14 year old, spoke no English and knew only that her mother and brother had not come home for several days. She was taken to the morgue, where she identified her mother by the braids that she, Esther, had set into her hair that morning.
Israel Rosen was not identified until the Friday after the fire, and was only known by his signet ring.
Catherine Maltese was one of the skeletons buried as unknown after the fire. Some months later her husband recognized something of hers among the effects found with the various skeletal remains, and she was reburied with her daughters.
There are hundreds of well documented stories of those who found themselves in the Triangle Factory that day, yet exactly none were presented.
Daisy Lopez Fitze. An immigrant from the Caribbean. She married a Swiss man, who returned to Switzerland to buy an inn and left her with a nest egg with which to support herself until the inn was established. She wished to turn as much of his money back over to him as she could, and so took a job in the Triangle. She survived the nine story jump, only to die in the hospital some days later. Sad but interesting story. Has anyone traced her husband in Switzerland? Does his family have more information about him and Daisy? The producers COULD have taken that approach, but didn't.
One can overlook that the glass and wood door which may or may not have been locked was presented as a solid wood door that was definitely locked. One can overlook that the show claims that a single girl survived the nine story jump when, in fact, more than ten did and a few lingered for days before dying. But, one cannot overlook the fact that, once again, the key players in a major event have been reduced to walk ons in what should have been their own story.
