During the 1911 Triangle Waist Company fire, two elevator operators, Joe Zitto and Joe Gaspar, each made 15-20 trips rescuing workers, nearly all of them immigrants. The elevators were meant to hold 15 passengers, but 30 or more piled inside. When workers on the 8th floor saw the elevator descend from the 10th floor without stopping for them, they broke the elevator’s glass door and jumped on top of the car. After the last descent, some desperate workers plunged down the empty shaft to their death. Read more about the fire and one immigrant survivor in Tazia and Gemma (see NOVELS).
