Uncategorized – Empowering women through fiction and history.

Working Women’s Tragedy: The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911

Photo Credit: A cartoon referring to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire depicts a factory owner, his coat adorned with dollar signs, holding a door closed while workers shut inside struggle to escape amid flames and smoke, 1911, artist unknown (name illegible), International Ladies Garment Workers Union Photographs: Kheel Center, Cornell University/Flickr/CC BY 2.0

Today is Labor Day in the United States. Sadly, much of the meaning behind this day has been lost in the fanfare of celebrations and BBQs. Labor Day is about celebrating the strides made by working men and women in America in establishing more humane conditions, like the 8-hour work day and work environments that don’t resemble old sweatshops.

To say working women especially didn’t have it easy in the 19th and early 20th centuries is a gross understatement. They had to endure extremely low wages (more so than working men), long hours, unsafe and unsanitary conditions, and harassment from all sides. Even with Progressive Era reforms, change came very slowly.

Probably the most famous example of the consequences of the injustices working women had to face during this time was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. I became fascinated with this piece of women’s history when I saw a PBS special a long time ago. The story, in fact, was part of what inspired me to write historical fiction. I have somewhere in my files a story idea based on this event which may or may not get written and published someday.

What intrigued me then and now is the question of who were the victims of the fire. From the list of 146 workers who died in the fire, only fifteen were men. And yes, I counted them (there’s a list on the Cornell University website of all of the victims here.) That means that 131 women died in the fire. According to historical documents, we know they were immigrant women, mostly of Italian and Eastern European origin. A quick scan of the list mentioned above shows the majority of these women were between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five.

But what do we really know about them? The Cornell University list doesn’t give us much more than their names, ages, nationalities, how long they had lived in the United States and their addresses. In other words, statistical data that’s easy to locate in historical records.

But what was their life like? To answer this question, we have put ourselves in their place. Many of these women had been in America for less than five years. They came with their families and carried with them hopes and dreams of a better life. Some were escaping persecution like the pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe. Others came from Southern Italy where hardship and few job opportunities were the norm.

What they got instead was extreme poverty, misery, and exploitation. Their work week was hardly the 9-to-5 schedule we know today. It was not uncommon for these women to start their workday before the sun went up and end it well after the sun went down. They worked ten or eleven hours a day, every day (no weekends off here!) with only a tiny break for lunch.

How much were they paid? An average of six dollars a week, roughly equivalent to $210 today (that’s less than $11,000 a year – imagine trying to live on that in post-COVID inflation times!) To add insult to injury, these women often had to bring their own materials to work (like sewing needles) because their employers refused to provide them. That’s like coming to work and bringing your own laptop and printer!

They not only worked long hours for little pay, but they also experienced severe indignity and humiliation. In most cases, they were so closely watched, that they didn’t even have the freedom to go to the ladies’ room whenever they needed it. Doors were locked and kept locked, ostensibly because employers were afraid they would steal materials and smuggle them out during working hours or leave for an extra long bathroom break. This was, in fact, one of the reasons why the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire turned into a tragedy of massive proportions. There was one entrance that would have offered escape for the workers but to get to it, they had to open the doors, and the doors were locked and bolted.

The fire escape leading from the upper floors where the fire hose and ladders didn’t get to was in such bad shape that it collapsed when workers tried to use it as an escape from the fire.

Photo Credit: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire escape after the fire, 1911, photographer unknown, International Ladies Garment Workers Union Photographs: Kheel Center, Cornell University/Flickr/CC BY 2.0

These women also worked in appalling conditions. The floor was littered with dirt and debris from the work they did and never cleaned. Sanitation was a joke. For the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, most of the materials, like cotton and paper, were highly inflammable. Reports lay blame on this waste lying around for the quick spreading of the fire. How quick? Everything was over in less than twenty minutes.

Things did begin to change in the latter part of the 1910s, partly as a result of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory tragedy. In New York, where the tragedy occurred, the state legislation passed thirty-six bills regarding labor laws. Around the country, fire laws were put in place to ensure buildings and workers worked in safety.

In San Francisco, my favorite city and the birthplace of my protagonist for the Adele Gossling Mysteries, building safety laws were in place a little earlier because of the city’s own tragedy — the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. My book, Murder Among The Rubble, coming out at the end of this year, includes not only a murder mystery but also a little background on the earthquake and its aftermath. You can preorder it here.

If you love fun, engaging mysteries set in the past, you’ll enjoy The Missing Ruby Necklace! It’s available exclusively to newsletter subscribers here. By signing up, you’ll also get news about upcoming releases, fun facts about women’s history, classic true-crime tidbits, and more!

The Lady in the Pond: The Case of Hazel Drew

I love books and films that are “inspired by true events”. I actually like these better than biopics or fiction that tries to portray the life of a real-life person based on historical evidence. Stories inspired by true events are about creating another story that readers know isn’t supposed to be true but is inspired by the truth.

This is why I chose to write Book 6 of my Adele Gossling Mysteries inspired by true events from a real live unsolved mystery. The story of Hazel Drew took me in for several reasons. The murder happened in 1908, around the time frame of the Adele Gossling Mysteries. Modern life was starting to hit America in the face and the Progressive Era brought about many positive changes in the nation. Unsolved cases always intrigue me, and this one remains unsolved, though there are several theories about who could have killed Hazel Drew and why. After doing more research, I discovered the murder of Hazel Drew inspired another creative work that went on to become a cult classic in the 1990s: The hit series Twin Peaks.

Hazel Drew was, in many ways, one of the era’s modern women. She was a working girl who wasn’t confined to the ideals of the separate spheres. Rather than being conventional and restrained by her womanhood, she was not ashamed of going out and having a little fun and using what money she had to buy elegant things. There is evidence she wanted to move beyond her position as a domestic servant (something Victorian era ideology, with its rigid social definitions, wouldn’t have allowed), though what that would have looked like, no one knew. And, like many New Women of the day, she was an enigma.

Here lies the most fascinating aspect of this case. Hazel Drew presented herself as one thing but, digging into her life after she was murdered, police found evidence of a hidden self. Interviews with family members and friends reveal they observed Hazel didn’t have a beau and didn’t seem much interested in men. But in a suitcase she left at the train station on the day of her death, police found dozens of letters from men (most of them unidentified) who professed undying love and devotion to Hazel. These letters painted a picture not of the modest, church-going young woman most Sand Lake residents had known, but a vivacious, bubbly girl who loved expensive trinkets and fancy restaurants and sojourns to New York City, none of which were exactly within a domestic servant’s budget. Many in her more conservative and backward hometown thought her “too big for her britches” – owning jewelry and clothes her maid’s salary could ill afford and working for some of the most prominent families in town, including the city treasurer and a prominent businessman.

Photo Image: Postcard of Sand Lake, NY, where Hazel Drew lived and worked and was killed, 1910, eBay store: Amg37/Wikimedia Commons/PD US

Why, then, was she found face-down in Teal’s Pond one summer night in 1908, dead from a blow to the back of the head, her face so mangled from being in the water that only her dental records could identify her? Who might have had it in for this maid (another disposable working girl, which I talk about here)? And why, after months of searching for the killer, did the local police simply give up where the case remains unsolved today?

These are questions still left unanswered in the Hazel Drew murder case. But they are questions Adele and her friends answer about the case of Arabella Parnell in The Case of the Dead Domestic. The book celebrates its 1-year publiversary this month and is on sale now! Get all the information and buy links here.

Beating The Heat In the 19th and Early 20th Centuries

Today ends the Dog Days of Summer for this year. Those are the days that are said to be the hottest of the year. But this year, it seems as if the dog days will never end. Here in Ohio, we’ve gotten extreme heat warnings with detailed instructions on what we need to do to keep safe. Last week, a friend of mine living in the southern part of the United States posted a screenshot of the dangerous heat warning they were getting in their area, with temps predicted to reach 115 degrees!

We know heat waves are no joke even in the 21st century with all our amazing and convenient ways to beat the heat (hello, A/C). But in the 19th and early 20th centuries, they were even more dangerous. Our beloved air conditioning was only invented in 1902 and didn’t start appearing in homes until 1914. And keep in mind we dress very differently today than people did then. Why does that matter? Think about what we would do if we couldn’t dress in short-sleeved or sleeveless shirts, flip-flops, and shorts in the summer. If someone (especially women) would have gone out in such clothing in the 19th or early 20th centuries, people would have been shocked, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that person would be arrested for indecent exposure. Not to mention women wore layers and layers of clothing, especially in the first half of the 19th century. Those petticoats and bustles weren’t exactly a great way to beat the heat.

So how did people combat the heat in the 19th and early 20th centuries? They had to get creative.

Photo credit: Children on the streets of New York City trying to beat the heat with the park water fountain, 1908, Library of Congress: LoC Public Domain Archive/No known restrictions

Since we know the greatest threat to human life during a heat wave is dehydration, people had to utilize whatever water sources they could find. Keep in mind running water was still not a common thing in homes until the 1930s. However, since horses were the mode of transportation in the 19th and early 20th centuries drinking fountains were more plentiful so people could water the horses. These were not the days when most people just popped a bottle of water in their purse or backpack. So fountains were a main source of water when out and about. And many of us have seen photographs of people using fire hydrants to squirt water all over the streets and kids playing in the water. That wasn’t just a form of fun for them — it was a real way to stay safe in the summer heat.

Water is always a great way to cool off in any decade. One of my students recently said he goes to the pool every weekend to get away from the heat. People in the 19th and early 20th centuries did the exact same thing. Escaping to the pool or the beach where they could not only experience a cooling swim but also have an excuse to shed some of those layers was a great way to handle the hot summer weather.

One of the worst things about heat waves is that it makes it harder to sleep at night. In the eras before the A/C, Mother Nature provided the best cooling system. It wasn’t uncommon for people to sleep outside. This could be on porches or fire escapes, but many people who didn’t have those options would scurry to the beach and sleep right on the sand. And city and town parks were places where people set up their beds and slept for the night. Even the White House had a porch where President William Taft slept outside in a heat wave and later, President Woodrow Wilson made it his office so he could catch the breezes on hot summer days.

We have to remember that refrigerators weren’t a common household appliance until the late 1920s (and even then, only for the rich) so homes had ice boxes that needed big blocks of ice to keep food cool. And where did they get this ice? From the iceman, of course! The iceman became everybody’s best friend during a heat wave. They would give chips of ice to people to help them cool off (for a price, of course) and some ice men even let children lick at a big block of ice (needless to say, sanitary standards back then were not what they are now).

And finally, there’s the old stand-by that we still use today: the fan. However, electric fans didn’t become available until the early 20th century and even then, most people still didn’t have the electricity to run them so they weren’t commonly used. But paper fans were and it wasn’t unusual to see people carrying around with them folded fans or paddle fans to keep cool in the heat.

Think I’m making all this up? Take a look at these photographs from the early 20th century!

If you want more about what life was like in the early 20th century, don’t forget about my Adele Gossling Mysteries! You can get the first book in the series for free at any online bookstore. All the information you need to grab your copy is here.

Not only that, I have a box set for Books 4-6 coming out at the end of this month. How would you like to get 3 books for a great discounted price? You can preorder the box set here.

Medicinal Purposes: The History of the Hot Toddy

For centuries, alcohol was used as an alternative to medicine. In the mid-1800s, hard liquor like whiskey, rum, and gin were given to babies (I kid you not) to help with teething and doctors would even recommend a hot toddy to an infant who was having trouble sleeping. If that shocks you, bear in mind the consensus is that the hard liquors in the 19th and early 20th centuries were weaker than they are today (which is one reason why they drank so much more then than we do today).

In Book 2 of my Adele Gossling Mysteries, the hot toddy plays a vital role in the murder (spoiler alert: It’s not the murder weapon). Hot toddies bring visions of a cold night in Dickensian London with the wind whistling outside, the snow falling, and people cozying up by the fire with the warm drink to warm themselves up and soothe their nerves before bed.

Photo Credit: Hot Toddy, Frank Moss Bennett, 1929, oil on canvas: Picryl/Public Domain

The main ingredients of a hot toddy, as we know it today, are, as one of my characters in Book 2 describes it: hot water or hot cider “if Mr. Poland brings it around”, sugar, lemon juice, whiskey, and “the trimmings” which include a slice of lemon and a cinnamon stick.

Ironically, the hot toddy wasn’t hot when it first appeared. And its ingredients weren’t much like the hot toddy we know today. British soldiers serving in India in the 19th century were sent expensive beer, among other provisions, and to make it stretch, they would water it down with water and fermented palm sap.

Later in the century, the drink started to take the form we know it today with add-ons like lemon, cinnamon, and sometimes honey and became popular in Britain. As mentioned above, it was used for medicinal purposes, such as to ward off colds and coughs before we had the kind of medicines we have today.

When exactly the hot toddy moved from a cold cocktail to a hot drink is questionable. Some speculate it was the Scotch who made it hot to accommodate the cold and damp weather of their country. Others say that, since the toddy was used as medicine, people started to heat it up as it made those medicinal properties that much more potent.

The hot toddy is, of course, associated with Britain, but it made its way to America in the 1880s. Americans preferred to call it a “hot scotch” and, while the British hot toddy could use a variety of hard liquors, the Americans mostly stuck to scotch as the alcohol of choice in the beverage. If you’re into cocktails and never tried a hot toddy, you can check out this site for some interesting recipes.

And if you’ve never read A Wordless Death, the second book of the Adele Gossling Mysteries, I invite you to check it out, as it’s at a great discount for this entire month! You can get the details here. And don’t forget that Book 1, The Carnation Murder, is always free! Check that one out here.

A Safe and Sane 4th of July

Today is Independence Day in America, also known as the 4th of July. Americans have always been enthusiastic about their freedom, especially when you consider it’s an integral part of the American way of life. The Gilded Age and Progressive Era were no exception. America was coming into its own during the late 19th/early 20th centuries in commerce, politics, and society. The Spanish-American War of 1898 brought America onto the world stage for the first time. Things were pretty good.

But Americans carried their enthusiasm a little too far. We know the staples of 21st-century 4th of July celebrations. It’s a social holiday with family BBQs and fireworks to boot. The latter is especially synonymous with Independence Day for most Americans. I’ll never forget the first fireworks display I saw when I was living in San Francisco in 1995 at Crissy Field. It was an impactful show of country spirit and dedication.

Photo Credit: Drawing of a skeleton dressed up for the 4th of July celebrations, 1899, lithograph, created by L. Crusius, Welcome Collection: Look and Learn/CC BY 4.0

It’s hard to believe in the Progressive Era, some politicians were pushing for a “quiet” 4th of July, encouraging Americans to stay home instead of going out and celebrating with fireworks. But they had good reason. The enthusiasm for the 4th had by that time gotten out of hand. Children were going around shooting off toy guns to join in the fun and sometimes their aim wasn’t so careful. Fireworks, as you might imagine, weren’t exactly sophisticated in those days so safety wasn’t a priority. In addition, when people set off canons, firecrackers, and other explosives, they caused many injuries and even death. And we’re talking serious statics here. In 1903 (the year my Adele Gossling Mysteries opens), more than 400 people died and 4,000 were injured during the nation’s 4th of July celebrations. Many of these came from tetanus as a result of shrapnel wounds from dangerous explosives or careless toy guns.

These well-wishers of what was dubbed the Safe and Sane movement weren’t exactly welcomed with open arms. We know many Americans made fun of the reform movements taking place in the early 20th century and they resented these politicians who wanted to take away their fun on Independence Day. Many cities began to implement ordinances to try and curtail these dangerous celebrations. In San Francisco (where part of my series takes place) women’s clubs worked to get toy guns out of the hands of kids younger than seventeen.

This movement encouraged other cities to implement more community-related events around the Fourth (like the yearly firework display at Crissy Field in San Francisco that I saw in the 1990s). Other events besides fireworks were sports, games, and picnics. These events gave Americans a chance to celebrate the holiday in a social environment that was, well, safe and sane!

Want to see more Progressive Era politics in action? Read the Adele Gossling Mysteries! Book 1 is available for free. Book 2 is on sale now!

If you love fun, engaging mysteries set in the past, you’ll enjoy my novella The Missing Ruby Necklace! It’s available exclusively to my newsletter subscribers and you can get it here. By signing up, you’ll also get news about upcoming releases, fun facts about women’s history, classic true-crime tidbits, and more!