Tuesday, January 5, 2010

After the Fire


I cannot believe that the superintendents for the factory do not fix even the smallest mistakes that could turn really big. I mean, the factory didn't even have decent fire escapes. No safety precautions. I heard that the superintendents locked the doors so the workers would not sneak out to take a break or to get a drink. The factory owners are eing questioned. I hope that they get a good punishment for killing all those women and girls. Lucy and her family are moving to another part of New York and away from the fire. The do not want to live near where the girls were killed. I don't blame them. Well, I think that it is time for me to go, too. Lucy's mother offered for me to come live with them in the other city, but I said that I had to go back home and help my family. Now I know firsthand what life was like living in the 1800s.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire



At work today, the superintendents were yelling at us like usual, and then we heard a fire engine coming down the street. Of coure, us being girls, we just had to see what was going on. The engine got closer and closer until it stopped in front of the building right next to ours. We all peered out the windows, and just at we saw the flames, the superintendents started rushing us out of the building and away from the fire that was ensuing. As soon as Lucy and I got to the sidewalk, we could not believe our eyes. The Triangle factory was ablaze with huge flames. licking the building and the fces of the women in the windows. Their faces were formed in grotesque expressions and we could hear their cries for help. Then one of them clibed on the windowsil and jumped. A sickening thud followed her dead body. Then another girl jumped. Thud. She was dead too. The women who gathered around the building with their husbands shrieked with horror, and some started to faint. Lucy vomited on the pavement and I helped her sit down on the opposite sidewalk. She looked at me and said "Now I know why our superintendents helped us out of the building; that could have been us". We stared in horror as the girls fell to their deaths. We realized that the firemen were there, but they seemed to be doing nothing, until we saw their ladder being raised and holding a safety net. I thought that this terrible event would be over, but the girls just kept falling. They broke the safety net. I could not watch these girls falling like birds with broken wings, so I helped Lucy home. When we got home, Lucy's mother asked us why we were home so early, and I told her what I saw. She wanted to go and see for herself, but I told her that that place was not to be seen in its present state. I could not sleep that night. The sound of bodies hitting the pavement was ringing through my ears and every time I closed my eyes I saw those girls' faces that would never be seen alive again.

Friday, January 1, 2010

The Triangle Shirtwaist Strike



Well, I think that today was not a good day at all. I realized that the factory that was right next to us is the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, and I know what will happen to the wonen inside the building. I cannot stop it, though. No one can change history. But today, the women went on strike and the superintendents were in an uproar about the women demanding stuff, but they would not tell us specifically what. The superintendents also said that if anyone wanted to use the bathroom or have a drink, that they would be fired. Lucy and I looked at each other and we just rolled our eyes because they said this everyday and we had "trained" ourselves to use the bathroom when work was over. When work was over, Lucy and I wanted to see if the women who were on strike were still outside. A few of the women were, but not very many. Only five or six at the most. Lucy and I went up to one of the women and asked her why they went on strike. She told us that the factory owners were not giving them breaks, giving low pay, they locked the doors when work started, and there was no proper fire escape. She told us that the owners said that if they did not get inside the building in five minutes, they all would be fired. She did not want to work in the filthy place again, so she quit and she is going to look for another job that has safer precautions.