the first "dead peasants" payoff? the triangle shirtwaist fire victims
today marks the 101st anniversary of the triangle shirtwaist factory fire. in watching the films about it (an hbo documentary that is available "on demand" and a pbs special http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/triangle/ ) and reading the stories, this part really struck me:
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Consequences and legacy
The company's owners, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, who survived the fire by fleeing to the building's roof when the fire began, were indicted on charges of first- and second-degree manslaughter in mid-April; the pair's trial began on December 4, 1911.[36] Max Steuer, counsel for the defendants, managed to destroy the credibility of one of the survivors, Kate Alterman, by asking her to repeat her testimony a number of times, which she did without altering key phrases. Steuer argued to the jury that Alterman and possibly other witnesses had memorized their statements, and might even have been told what to say by the prosecutors. The defense also stressed that the prosecution had failed to prove that the owners knew the exit doors were locked at the time in question. The jury acquitted the two men, but they lost a subsequent civil suit in 1913 in which plaintiffs won compensation in the amount of $75 per deceased victim. The insurance company paid Blanck and Harris about $60,000 more than the reported losses, or about $400 per casualty. In 1913, Blanck was once again arrested for locking the door in his factory during working hours. He was fined $20.[37]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire
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