Ten random things: February 11

Ten victims of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire:

1. Dinah Greenberg, 18, asphyxiation/burns
2. Josephine Carlisi, 31, multiple injuries/burns
3. Julia Rosen, 35, multiple injuries
4. Essie Bernstein, 19, asphyxiation/burns
5. Michela "Mechi" Marciano, 20 or 25, skull fractured and body badly burned
6. Ethel Schneider, 30, asphyxiation/burns
7. Becky Ostrowsky, 20, multiple injuries and burns
8. Nettie Lefkowitz, 23, asphyxiation/burns
9. Ida Kenowitz, 18, asphyxiation and body charred
10. Yetta Fichtenhultz, 18, burns

Earlier today I finished Triangle: The Fire That Changed America, a history of the fire that was, until September 11, 2001, the deadliest workplace disaster in New York City. Author David Von Drehle makes a good case for the truth of his subtitle; the fire (which killed 148 people, the vast majority of whom were women or children) led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards, helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, and profoundly changed the nature of the Democratic Party in not just in New York but also, thanks to the influence of such reform-minded politicians like Al Smith, Robert Walker, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, across the nation.