The Acquittal of Blanck and Harris

Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, the owners of the Triangle Waist Company, were tried for manslaughter on the theory that they knew the ninth-floor door was locked. Their defense attorney, Max Steuer, had the key prosecution witness, Kate Alterman, repeat her account several times and then suggested to the jury that her consistent wording proved she had been coached. On December 27, 1911, the jury acquitted both men. On March 11, 1914, twenty-three civil suits against the owners were settled for seventy-five dollars per life; the owners' insurers, by contrast, had paid them roughly four hundred dollars per victim. In 1913 Blanck was charged again—for locking a door in his new factory during working hours—and was fined twenty dollars.