25: The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

When the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory caught fire in 1911, it was the worst workplace fire in New York City’s history. In fact, if it weren’t for September 11th, it would still hold that horrible record. In just 18 minutes, the fire took 146 lives. It was devastating, but it was also preventable. The incident inspired activists and politicians. It also encouraged workers to join unions and fight for their right to a safe work environment. Then we discuss the most famous kidnapping in American history — that of baby Charles Lindbergh. Baby Lindbergh was taken from the second story of his family home. The kidnapper left behind a broken ladder and a poorly written ransom note. The nearly two year old boy was the son of aviation star Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The distraught parents did everything they could to get their baby back. They paid the ransom and searched high and low for their child. But it was too late… And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases. In this episode, Kristin pulled from: “Rose Freedman, Last Survivor of Triangle Fire, Dies at 107,” New York Times Triangle: Remembering The Fire, HBO documentary “The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire,” History.com “The Triangle Fire of 1911,” by John M Hoenig “The 1911 Triangle Factory Fire,” Cornell University In this episode, Brandi pulled from: “Hauptmann Trial (1935)” Famous-Trials.com “Lindbergh Kidnapping” FBI.gov