Lucia "Lucy" Maltese

Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Victim. Preceded by her father, Sarafino, in 1906, one year later 16 year old Lucia, her mother Caterina and her 4 siblings, Vito (14), Rosarea (11), Maria (4) and Paolo (2), arrived on Ellis Island on August 3, 1907. They sailed on the SS Francesca from Palermo, Italy and spent a little over 2 weeks on the voyage. The family was detained while Caterina and Maria were hospitalized and their arrival in the US was marred by tragedy when little Maria passed away on Ellis Island on August 5th. Far greater tragedy was to befall the family in 1911, when 20 year old Lucy, as she was called in America, mother Catherine and sister Rose found themselves at one of the rows of long wooden tables churning out one of the most popular garments of the period at the Triangle Waist Company on the 8th floor of the Asch Building in New York City.

The company made women's blouses, known as "waists" or "shirtwaists", and it's workers were mostly recent immigrant German, Italian and European Jewish girls, some as young as 13 years old, although older women, men and young boys were also represented. Their working conditions were far from safe. They worked 14 hour shifts among heaps of flammable bolts of fabric, scraps of which piled up in bins, baskets and on the floor around them; tissue paper patterns hung from racks above their worktables. The workrooms were lit by open flame gas lamps and the cutters, mostly men, were allowed to smoke as they worked. Brought on by a New York garment workers strike in 1910, many had joined the fledgling International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. At the conclusion of the strike, most companies had signed agreements with the union improving working conditions. The Triangle Company, however, refused to sign and was under no obligation to abide by established safety rules.

On March 25, 1911, around 4:30pm, fire broke out on the 8th floor. Most on that floor and the executives on the 10th floor were able to escape, but workers on the 9th floor, who had not been alerted to the fire, found themselves trapped. Of the four 9th floor exits, the elevators made as many trips as they could but were commandeered by 8th floor workers and then stopped working altogether, one stairwell door was soon blocked by fire and smoke, the other stairwell door had been locked (although denied by the owners in their subsequent trial, it was common practice to lock factory workers in to prevent them from stealing) and the only fire escape collapsed under the weight of the escaping workers. Many died from being overcome by the smoke and flames quickly filling the building, some leapt down the elevator shafts, but 62 workers realized there was no other means of escape and jumped from the windows to the pavement 9 stories below. Or worse, they were pushed toward the open windows by the panicked crowd and had no choice. The fire department responded quickly, but their hoses' spray could not reach the top floors and ladders of the time were unable to reach above the 6th floor. By the time the fire was extinguished, 141 people had lost their lives. In the next few days, 5 more would die from their injuries.

From her documented injuries and cause of death, Lucy was overcome by the smoke and flames and never escaped the burning building. She and her sister, Rose, were one of nine pairs of siblings to perish in the fire. Her body was identified by her father, Sarafino, in the early hours of March 26. She, her mother and sister appear as Case #54 in the April 1912 Final Report of the Red Cross Emergency Relief Committee: "A married woman 38 years old and her two daughters, 20 and 14, were killed; leaving her husband and two sons, 19 and 5 years old. The three women were earning together about $36.00 a week; the man and his son, respectively shoemaker and barber, about $15.00. Temporary assistance was given and money to cover the funeral expenses of the two girls. (The mother's body was buried with the unidentified.) A little later, on the recommendation of the Italian Consul-General, $750.00 was given to enable the man to set up a shoe shop. In October it was learned that instead of doing this he has been living on the money, and has done no work since the fire, and that his son also has worked very little. The little boy is well taken care of by a cousin. In January the man asked for more money, to cover the expense of removing his wife's body, which he had identified by some belongings in the possession of the coroner, to a private grave by the side of the daughters. It was found that $60.00 would have sufficed amply for all the legitimate expenses connected with this transfer, though the undertaker's bill was for four times that amount, and $60.00 was therefore given, the family agreeing that this was a fair payment under the circumstances." Although the Maltese family's start in the New World had been marred by unimaginable misfortune, surely Lucy would have taken great pride in her nephew, Serphin, who was elected a New York State Senator, serving the area of Southern and Central Queens for 20 years.

Public outrage following the tragedy and subsequent acquittal of the company's owners paved the way for a flood of legislation to improve factory safety and hastened the growth and clout of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. A bystander who witnessed the workers jumping from the windows was inspired to a life of public service fighting for the rights of factory workers; Frances Perkins went on to become the first woman appointed to a Presidential Cabinet position as Franklin Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire was the most deadly workplace disaster in New York City until the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.

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