Episode 795: The Pickwick Club Disaster | Forensic Files

Hey weirdos. I'm Elena. >> I'm Ash. >> And this is Morbid. [music] >> Yay. [music] And you know what's crazy?
We don't have any business. >> No business. >> No real business. >> No. And I sound more like a real person
this time. You know, somebody literally said, "Who narrated The Last Morton?" And the thing is, this is why you need
to listen to the beginning of the episode because I told you >> this is where we tell you if one of us
is sick, we might sound a little weird or like >> you know whatever. Somebody was like,
"Who the [ __ ] was that?" [laughter] It's >> like, "I'm sorry." Okay. >> I know.
>> I don't know what to tell you. >> And I think somebody else was like, "What happened to Ash's voice?" And I
was like, "If you listen to the beginning, we said it." >> Well, I'm like, "Babes, only so many
things can happen." >> Yeah. >> I don't know. Ursula visited me in the night and took it. Like, [laughter]
what? Just listen to the beginning. I promise it's just us chatting with you. >> It's us trying to catch up with you.
>> That's all it is. >> Tell you what's going on. >> We're trying to connect. >> That's all.
>> We won't connect this time cuz there's no business. I'm not sick. >> No. >> Anymore.
>> Just hot. >> The only thing I can say is get tickets to the live show while they're
available. >> While they're hot. >> Uh, Radio City Music Hall June 27th. >> For some reason, I keep saying like,
"Get it while it's hot." And I keep thinking of the Sex in the City thing. >> Get it? Well, it's hot.
>> Hot. And it's one of the most cringy clips ever [laughter] >> cuz it's when she's dressed in the
>> like a Parisian. >> And is she holding the >> the McDonald's? Right. >> McDonald's, right?
>> Yeah. Get it while it's hot. >> I don't know why. It's been like my vocal stump lately.
>> I love that a lot. So, get them while they're hot. >> Uh, >> and picture us in Beret saying that.
>> Yeah, do that. And pre-order the Butcher Legacy. Yeah. Get that while it's hot.
>> While it's hot. Do it. Um, it's great. It's I promise. I That's my guarantee is
that it's great. >> Guaranteed. Great. >> It's a great >> You should put that on the cover.
>> Little period to the trilogy. >> I like it. So So go. >> Not an ellipses. >> A a period to the trilogy.
>> Okay. Didn't say to the series to the trilogy. >> All right. I see what you're doing.
>> It's its own little story. >> I like that. >> Yeah. All right. Uh, but that's it. So,
here we are. We're going to start >> today. We're going to talk about um something that I think needs to be
taught to more people. This thing that happened, especially people in Massachusetts, because like I didn't
know about this and I was like, "Hi, born and raised. >> Am I going to know about this?"
>> What? No. Absolutely not. >> Okay. >> Because like I don't think most people don't know.
>> Yeah. Because the other thing about this, we're talking about the Pwick Club disaster.
And there's also what I found out at the end was there's no plaque or memorial for this.
>> What the hell? >> Yeah. So, I think we need to like try to >> make that happen cuz I [clears throat]
feel like it needs to happen. >> Yeah. A lot of people >> cuz even you're saying that I don't
think I've heard of that. >> And I think that's why a lot of people don't know about it is cuz there's
nothing to show memorial existed at all. >> That's really shitty. >> So, we need to make that happen.
>> Yeah. I love you, Boston. Let's do this. Let's do it. >> We're We'll try for the Coconut Grove um
fire. >> There is a memorial. >> Yeah. And like if you take a duck tour, they talk about the Coconut Grove, but I
don't think they talk about the >> Pwick. We need one for the Picwick. There was a lot of people who died in
this and it was pretty rough. >> Oh, no. Yeah. Again, I have not heard of this. >> Yeah. So, let's begin, shall we?
>> Uh on Beach Street in Boston's theater district >> theater. Uh, in 1924, Hyman Bloomberg
found himself trying to sell off a now defunct Cafe Drafus. >> What's a cafe Drafus? [laughter]
>> The [ __ ] Uh, so the Cafe Drafus was a club. It was >> It was like a place where you could
gather in 1924. Okay. >> Um, it was actually kind of like a speak easy-ish kind of thing
in the 20s. Um, and it had closed amidst like kind of skin doll. >> I love >> and some legal issues.
>> I don't love legal issues [laughter] stuff going on. >> So after finding trouble getting anyone
to bite at the building, a man named Timothy Barry expressed interest. He said, "I want to rent the first floor of
this place." And Barry told Bloomberg he and several of his investors were interested in opening a new social club.
>> Social club. >> Social club. a cler where you chat >> where you become social
>> and have a little drink. >> Uh and they were only waiting on the city to approve their charter. So they
wanted the building. Um and desperate for a tenant, Bloomberg wasn't in the position to turn anyone away. So he was
like, "Hell yeah, you can take that space." >> Okay. >> Now, the Pwick Club, social club, opened
in April and occupied the first floor, again, what had once been Cafe Drafus. It's unknown whether Heyman Bloomberg
knew anything about his new tenant before he offered Barry the lease. >> Oh no. >> But if he did, he probably wouldn't have
been so eager. >> Perhaps in 1924, Timothy Barry was, according to author John Keefe, known as
quote, "A man who had many friends in Boston political, legal, and newspaper circles." Okay.
>> In other words, he was a man of power, strongly suspected of having ties to organized crime. Oh, now opening the
business at the height of the prohibition era, the Pwick was officially a social club, quote unquote,
cuz those were like official things. Okay? >> But in truth, >> it was really a speak easy. Like it was
a speak easy. In fact, as a social club, the Pwick, like by definition as a social club was supposed to have strict
rules for membership. That's what a social club had. >> I'm obsessed. >> But in reality, anyone could get in.
>> I love that. As long as they knew what to say to the man at the door, which is
speak easy. >> Speak easy. I'm so obsessed with that. >> Have you ever been to a speak easy?
>> Yes. I love speak easy. >> It's just it's got such a vibe. >> That's the thing. Like it feels
dangerous. >> We're like not great for women and like not great for like many people.
>> Not great. Uh the vibe though, >> the aesthetic. The [laughter] aesthetic honey.
>> That's all I say when I say I love the 20s. I don't want to be there. No, >> I want to visit.
>> I want us I want us to like dress like we're in the 20s again and for places to
look like we're in the 20s. >> That's what I want. >> But to have modernday respect and uh
understanding of community and culture. >> I want what we that that's exactly what
I want. I want what we thought the the 2020s was going to be. Remember when we all entered 2020 and we said it's the
raarin 20s. You sent a shiver down my spine just >> and we all said, "I'm so excited. It's
the Roaring 20s back again." >> Yeah. >> And then all of a sudden, Co was like, "Fuck y'all."
>> Literally, >> I want to do that. I want to do the original thing that we wanted [laughter]
>> because that sucked. >> Uh, but yeah, the 1920s, the aesthetic is just bar none.
>> Chef the best. Like the dress >> and the hairstyles, >> the way men dressed in the I know.
>> I can't get over it. >> I love it. I don't love the makeup. I will say >> um >> it depends.
>> I don't hate it. >> I don't like the eyebrows. >> The eyebrows leave something to be
desired. >> I really don't like the eyebrows. >> But for someone with um really light
eyebrows like that are like sparse, >> I think I would do okay. >> All right. >> Cuz I really have to fill mine in.
>> You have good eyebrows. [clears throat] >> So I feel like Thank you. I fill them
in. But I wouldn't have to in the 20s. That's true. >> Just draw a line. [laughter]
>> It's literally just a line >> which so easy. >> And it expands a lot of your forehead.
>> Hell yeah. Uh, now at first the Pwick garnered little attention from anyone outside of the neighborhood. Then in
January 1925, the club appeared in the headlines for the first time when a police raid turned up dozens of cases of
rum, whiskey, and gin hidden in the basement. Yikes. They arrested the bartender, Max Molmat, uh, and shut the
place down for a few days. But by early February, Max got off with a small fine,
and the Pwick opened its doors for business again. Now, the Pway and I feel like that probably gave it like a little
bit of like a like, >> yeah, dust off your shoulder kind of thing. It was like, oh, okay.
>> The Pwick Club wasn't that different from the countless other speak easys in Boston at the time. But after having
been raided and found to be serving alcohol, all of a sudden, they jumped very quickly to the top of the Boston
Police and Licensing Commission's list of establishments to keep a nice little eye on for that year.
>> But doesn't that guy have a little connection? >> He does. All right. >> He sure does. Now, in fact, just hours
after Max paid his fine at the courthouse, the Boston police arrived at the Pwick to undertake another raid.
>> Oh, that's not cool. >> That isn't cool. Give him a second. >> He just paid. >> Give him a second. All right.
>> Yeah, let him live. >> This time though, things would not go as smoothly as they had on the previous
occasion. When they entered the club and announced themselves, the entire room erupted into chaos.
>> Oh my god. By the time the whole thing came to an end, nine men were arrested
on charges of public drunkenness. And one man, 29-year-old William Fitz Henry, was arrested for assaulting an officer.
>> Damn. Of course, William Fitz Henry was arrested for assaulting an officer. >> William Fitz Henry in Boston assaulting
a [laughter] police officer. >> Yeah, he's assaulting a police officer to this day.
>> He's so Boston. >> Fitz Henry is the most [ __ ] Irish name Boston name I could ever hear. Now,
according to the Boston Globe, Ken, [laughter] when the police quote dropped in unexpectedly at the club, there was
considerable excitement. And that while the excitement was at its height, Fitz Henry struck the officer, knocking him
down and almost rendering him [laughter] unconscious. >> Damn. If there's one thing Fitz Henry is
going to do, it's knock your ass out. >> That's one [laughter] thing. Now, less than a month later, the Pwick was back
on the front pages when a group of drunk young men led police on a two-mile car chase through Boston's narrow, winding
streets until the pursuing officers managed to force the car off the road and take them into custody.
>> They had all been drinking at the Pwick prior to getting in the car. And a few
days after that, police were called to the club to the club when a fight broke out.
>> They said everybody in the club is fighting. They are [laughter] now. The police had been called by a nurse from
the Hay Market Relief Station after she treated a man who told her he'd been stabbed in the leg during a brawl at the
Pwick. >> Tim, the Picwick is nuts. >> The Pwick goes crazy. >> The Picwick does not [ __ ] around.
>> When the officers arrived at the Pwick, they entered to find a room full of drunk and very belligerent. [laughter]
I don't know why this is >> It just is cuz it's so [ __ ] Boston. >> It's just so Boston. Like this part is
funny cuz it's just chaos >> and just everybody drank it. >> Yeah. It's just pure just chicainery.
>> I love it. >> So they come in, they find a bunch of drug belligerent men who were no mood to
see, much less talk to the police. According to the police report, one of the officers told the men to beat it,
but no one made an attempt to leave. They all just stared at him. They were like, "Fuck off."
>> They said, "You beat it, [ __ ] >> You beat it. Why are you in here?" Frustrated, one of the officers
attempted to arrest one of the drunk men, which is when the scene just exploded into what the press described
as quote >> a small riot in the Pwick club. >> Oh no. >> As one of the officers grappled with the
drunk men, the other ran down the street to the nearest precinct for reinforcements, and the scene was
brought into order a short time later. >> Damn. But with so many incidents in less
than a year, >> this is all less than a year. >> That's the craziest thing. >> The Pwick had started to gain a
reputation with the public as >> maybe a little seedy, >> maybe a little uh tough spa, illreute,
you know, maybe whatever, what have you. >> Um, one reporter wrote, "Many people
have regarded it as sort of an underworld social center." >> Obsessed. A place where bandits and
their girlfriends might gather after the evening's work was over. Sign me the [ __ ] up.
>> I said, "Are you trying to keep people away? Sign me up. [laughter] You might be invited."
>> Bandits and their girlfriends. Here's the thing. When I was like 12 years old,
I literally wanted to be a mob wife. I used to watch Mob Wives and I said, "Someday I will grow up and be Dria
Deanzo." >> So back then, >> oh yeah. >> Before my frontal lobe was [laughter] developed. before your frontal lobe is
developed and you realize what that entailed. >> But back then, oh, I would have loved
this. I would have been a bandit's girlfriend. >> Now, some of this reputation definitely
came from the numerous times that the club's name had appeared in the papers with arrests and criminal activity, but
at least a small portion of it was likely the result of the rumors of Timothy and Daniel Barry's connections
to organized crime figures as well. Whatever the case though, the reputation and the frequent visits from the BPD
started to take a toll on the Pwick's profits. And in March, Barry announced the club was going to be shutting its
doors for good >> or now the Picwick Club did in fact shut down in March, but the entire closure
kind of looks like it was like a little bit of theater. >> Was it a roose? >> It looks like it was a little bit of
theater. >> Oh, in the the theater district as well. >> In the the theater district. maybe to
rehab the club's image and kind of like rebuff the attention of local law enforcement.
>> Okay. >> Just a few weeks after the club supposedly closed for good, a new establishment, the Greenwich Village
Club, opened in its place. >> Okay. >> With a large number of invitations going out to prominent members of the
community. In reality, this was just a facade to hide the fact that the Pwick Club had simply moved to the second
floor and guests who appeared to be visiting the Greenwich Village Club were in fact going to the Pwick Club.
>> I'm so obsessed with that. >> Like, it's it's so shady. >> I love a Roose. >> Now, unfortunately for the patrons of
the new Picwick Club, the second floor of the building had no restrooms. So, clubgoers had to either go to the first
or third floor to go to the bathroom. >> Okay. And at some point in late March, a
fire broke out at the Taylor shop that was on the third floor. >> Oh no. >> The fire caused a lot of damage to the
upper floors and required about 3,000 gallons of water to put out. >> Holy [ __ ]
>> Fortunately, the first and second floors of the building were relatively unharmed. So, the Pwick Club was able to
remain open. >> Okay. >> That said, the firefighters had to chop large holes. I almost Because we're
talking about Boston. I feel like my soul I almost just said large holes >> large holes
>> but I've I've curbed it for this podcast like I feel like talking >> I know >> I've trained myself not to be like full
>> but you can >> that this one feels like I'm like chop large holes >> you have to [laughter] it's it's the
ambiance >> it just feels right. The firefighters had to chop large holes >> they just did
>> in various parts of the floor uh just to allow the water >> to drain properly into the basement.
Okay. >> A few weeks later, Timothy Barry hired a carpenter to just patch over the holes
so the club could reopen. >> I feel like we could have done better than that. Now, the Greenwich Village
Club never reopened after the fire, and the tailor whose shop had the started the fire had moved elsewhere, leaving
the Pway Club the only business in the building in the summer, which is like, "All right, let's go."
>> Yeah. >> The next time the club appeared in the press, it was to be for far more
shocking reasons than a small fire or a uh quote unquote small riot. Oh no. Now on the evening of July 4th, it was like
July 3rd into July 4th, 1925, the Picwick Club opened its doors for the Before the Fourth Dance. Okay.
>> Being held [clears throat] that evening in celebration of, you guessed it, Independence Day,
>> Amar's birthday. >> Yeah. Having Amara having hired a fivepiece orchestra and freshly
decorated for the occasion. >> That doesn't sound seedy at all. >> No. Barry expected a large crowd that
evening and once the evening got going, his expectations were exceeded. Okay. It
was just to the gills, >> bustling. >> Now, that evening, 29-year-old May Lawson was out on a date with John Owen,
and things were going well. >> Hell yeah. >> Uh, what John told reporters later was,
"Mrs. Lawson had recently separated from her husband. They hadn't been married very long, and she was brokenhearted,
and I knew she liked to dance, and I urged her to accompany me to the club." Oh, no. Now, John wasn't much of much of
a dancer himself, so he had no objections. When another man came over to the table and asked me to dance, he
said, "Sure, you can dance." >> A >> that's a that's a man right there. >> That's nice.
>> Um, it was after midnight and the band had just begun playing 12th Street Rag,
a song perfectly suited for the Charleston, which was the most popular dance. >> I love the Charleston.
>> Everybody do the Charleston real quick. >> Obsessed. >> Now, at as the band wound up, couples
from every corner of the room were going to the floor. The room was shaking with
the enthusiasm of so many people jumping, moving, dancing, doing the same moves. So, the same jumps, the same
stomps all at the same time. >> No. >> Uh John Owen recalled later, "It was pretty wild in there. Horns and rattles
and firecrackers, too." >> Firecrackers lighting and throwing them all night >> inside. [snorts]
>> Yeah. >> You guys all right? >> No. >> No. The light-hearted mood in the Picwick that night was kind of uncommon
for this place, as I'm sure you can tell, >> cuz usually people were just like, >> like gregarious just like enthusiastic
jaunty kind of mood. Since the first raid in January, there was always the potential for the police or some other
city authority to come by anytime and break up a party. So things were generally fairly chill before this. But
that night, everyone was in good spirits. There was no sign of the police anywhere and a raid was kind of like the
furthest thing from anyone's mind. Finally, >> they were busy. You know, >> they were having fun. It sounds like it
was a great time. Now, the party was scheduled to shut down at 4:00 a.m. >> Damn,
>> that's a party. >> I was going to say Boston doesn't do that anymore. >> No, they do not.
>> You get out of there at 1:00. >> Yep. No. So, around 3:30 a.m. the orchestra leader, Billy Glennon, which
of course Billy Glenn. >> I was like, yeah, we all knew him. >> Yeah, I was going to say I think I knew
Billy Glennon. >> Who doesn't? Uh he started looking through his sheet music for one last
song to send everybody on their way. >> Nice. >> Um he later said, "I was just about to
pick out the last piece we were going to play when Rocco yelled at me that the lights look dim." I said, "Gee, yeah,
they do." Then the porter said to me, "Look at the sand coming down from the ceiling."
>> Uh what? >> Glennon's brother, Jimmy, was the manager of the club. Of course, Jimmy
Glennon was the manager. >> Yeah, duh. So Billy knew about the fire and how the firefighters had hacked
holes into the floors to allow for drainage and that since then the holes had been covered over with cheap trap
doors to allow for drainage of heavy rain. >> Okay. [laughter] >> It had rained heavily in recent days. So
Billy figured the dust and plaster drifting down from the ceiling must have been caused by the recent rains and the
building was just resettling, you know. >> Yeah. How great. >> Billy Glennon went back to sifting
through his sheet music. Then just a few seconds later, he heard an alarming sound shoot through the room. He later
said, "In a couple of seconds, there was a ripping, tearing noise and I saw the ceiling start to fall in and the wall on
the left of at the front of the room seemed to move." >> What? >> Then the lights went out and there was a
ter terrible crash. >> Oh my god. Now, Cambridge cab driver Tom Garvey had arrived just before the
collapse and was standing uh at the far side of the room waiting on a fair who had gone to get their coat from the coat
check. He said, "I looked over at the corner and I saw everyone jump up. I thought it was a fight at first and all
of a sudden there was a big noise and the lights went out. The next thing I knew I was lying down with things
pressing onto my back and sides. >> Oh god. He tried to get up, but he was pinned to the floor by something heavy
and his face was pressed into the floor and he's like choking on dust and debris.
>> What the [ __ ] >> He said a lot of things went through my head. I could hear people fighting to
get out when someone grabbed hold of me. Tom Garvey was close to the door, so it
was easy for whoever grabbed him to pull him to safety, which like good, >> but those stuck inside were in a much
more dire situation. Uh John Owen, who we talked about before, said a second after the collapse, the room was filled
with shrieks, and the floor on one side started to give way, and the dancing couples were thrown into a gaping wound
in the floor. >> What the hell? >> I turned around just in time to see Mrs. Lawson and her partner disappear through
the floor. >> Oh my god. >> He made his way to where his date was or had just been, but when he looked into
the hole in the floor, he said all he saw was blackness. just a black hole. He said he turned to crawl back to where he
had just been and he found there was nothing for him to hold on to as the floor beneath him started to crumble.
Seconds later, he too was swallowed up by the cavernous hole. What the hell is going on? Having been in the Pwick
countless times before this, Billy Glennon knew the layout and was able to get himself and several others to the
office near the back of the club. He said, "I don't remember just how I got out through the office window or who
went before me. Johnny Donovan, our drummer, got out." All right. And so did Frank Mulvy, the piano player. Outside,
he looked around for his brother Jimmy and the rest of the band, but he couldn't see any of them anywhere. Then
to his absolute horror, he said he looked back at the disaster where he just escaped from, and the entire
building collapsed on itself. "Oh my god," >> he said. After the thing went down,
there was absolute silence. That was one of the darnest things about it. No yelling or anything after the
place settled. We knew there must be a lot of people in there, but none of them let out a yip. It was just as still as
if the place was shut up. >> That's a nightmare. >> Isn't that bone chilling? >> That's a nightmare. At a certain point,
the stories of the survivors all kind of sound similar. Like one person watches in horror as their date, their friend or
a stranger who had just been sitting next to them loses their balance and disappears into the dark cavernous hole
in the floor. Eddie Whan watched helplessly as his friend John Mclofflin slid into the hole in the floor. The
same was true for Frank and Virginia Vera. The couple had just been in the hall when this floor started to give
way. Virginia managed to make it to the front door unharmed, but when she turned
back to grab her husband, Frank was gone. Oh, Virginia Vera was very likely the last person to make it out through
the front door when the building came down. >> Wow. >> Now, in the darkness of the wreckage on
the first floor, it took some time, but eventually John Owen regained his senses
and came out of the days that followed the fall. He said 5 minutes went by, which seemed like hours to me, when
finally the police rescued me, and I was taken to safety with the cries of injured and screams for help coming from
all corners. Now, being in the heart of the city, it didn't take long for emergency responders to arrive at the
scene. Seconds after the collapse began, the dorman, Rocco Scarpardo, ran out into the street and started shouting for
help before running back inside to help get others out. Rocco was in the building when the floor gave way and
suffered a minor injury to his knee. >> But his yelling in the street prompted a
local beat officer to trigger the alarm box on Mason Street, which drew the men from the local firehouse to come.
>> That was good. When the building came down, there was roughly a hundred or so
people in the Pwick. >> Oh my god. >> By the time rescue crews came, about half of those inside had made it out,
but many, many more remain trapped in the rubble with four stories of building on top of them. Now
>> that is unthinkable. >> The men were quickly to reach the injured who they located now from the
screams that were finally happening beneath the debris. The sound of those trapped beneath the rebels was among the
most troubling aspects of of the scene. According to everybody who talked about it later, I'm sure
>> um survival Ethel Conlin said, "I couldn't get them out of my mind for days. They were just awful."
>> The PTSD that you would suffer after something like that. >> I can't even imagine.
>> No. It took nearly 100 men, hours of digging in near pitch dark conditions, but finally the first bodies. Four men
and two women were found in a pocket in the corner of the building. A short time
later, Boston Mayor James Curley arrived at the scene and seeing the catastrophe
sent a request for 100 more firefighters. Now, at the time of the collapse, rescue workers were limited in
terms of the equipment available to really help recover survivors. Um although motorized vehicles did exist,
few if any were strong enough to handle the incredible weight of four stories of
trapped debris and 50 people underneath it, >> right? >> Instead, workers had to move slowly and
methodically through the wreckage looking for survivors. And when they found one, they had to remove whatever
debris they could by hand and try to pull the individual out. Larry Doyle of Ladder 8 had been working for about half
an hour when he came upon um a rusty chiba. He was alive but pinned beneath two giant timbers that left no room for
Doyle to get a hold of him. Instead, Doyle tied a rope around his waist and attempted to pull him out. But
immediately after he started pulling, uh Chiba cried out, "Stop! You're tearing me apart. You're going to kill me."
>> Oh my god. He stopped and he tried to kind of like him a little bit and with no other ways of getting him out of
here, he waited a few seconds and then he gave the rope one more yank and ultimately he did free him.
>> Okay, good. >> But the and the timbers did allow for him to like squeeze him out kind of
thing. Like just like >> he didn't get torn in half. Now >> he probably had so many broken bones
that's probably why he felt like that. >> Exactly. And it was probably like actually pulling him apart at that
point. So after he had saved Chiba, he Doyle climbed back into the debris and began feeling his way through looking
for survivors. And after a few minutes, his hand fell upon what felt like a woman's leg. And he called out to her,
but he got no response. >> A few minutes later, he'd removed enough debris to get up beside her, which is
when he realized the woman was dead. And he said this woman's spine was snapped backwards at a 90° angle.
>> Oh my god. >> Which I can't imagine. >> I can't even picture that. After more
than an hour digging around, an hour digging around looking like through the rubble for survivors. Yeah.
>> Larry Doyle had breathed in an incredible amount of dust and debris and he was having trouble breathing.
>> But he insisted there were more people trapped inside and he was ready to go back in. It was only after he collapsed
from exhaustion and respiratory trouble that he finally agreed to be seen by a doctor at the nearest hospital. And even
then, it took four other firefighters to keep him from going back into the wreck
after they let him out. >> What a hero. >> Yeah, >> Larry Doyle. >> For real. >> Now, given the size and scope of the
disaster, the rescue operation quickly turned into what the press called a quote all helpers volunteer event.
Meaning anyone with expertise was encouraged to come out and lend a hand. Uh while most who pitched in were
emergency responders, city workers, construction crews, there was also a lot of doctors, nurses, and paramedics that
came to the site as first responders. In one case, Dr. Michael Gity of Boston City Hospital crawled down to a man who
was trapped under the rubble as a result of his finger being hopelessly stuck between two pieces of concrete.
>> Oh my god, this is insane. After applying a local anesthetic, Dr. Gity was able to amputate his finger and the
man was pulled to safely and taken to the hospital. >> You got to be kidding me.
>> Dr. Gity crawled into the rubble and safely performed an amputation. >> That's next.
>> In 1925 >> in total darkness. >> In total darkness. >> That's next [ __ ] incredible [ __ ]
doctor. Other doctors from the city hospital were at the scene performing similar rescues in near darkness. All
while several hundred or even thousands of pounds of precarious rubble ominously
cracked and groaned around them. And they're performing amputations to save people. Y
>> that's incredible. >> Now eventually the cries and pleas from the injured started to quiet
>> until finally they couldn't be heard at all. >> Mhm. By the time the sun came up, there
were still at least 50 people reported missing. But the consensus belief was that if they were still in the rubble,
they probably wouldn't be found alive. That morning, the first report of the collapse went out on the front page of
the Boston Daily Globe, announcing 12 confirmed dead. But by the time the rescue operation was complete, the death
toll rose to 44 with countless others injured. [sighs and gasps] Now, when news of the accident started spreading
around the city, some people showed up to volunteer or offer support, like Reverend Lawrence Morris from St. James
Church arrived at the site to provide last rights to the victims, >> while others brought food and other
essentials to help volunteers. There were many others, however, who simply showed up to the scene to take a look.
>> That's so gross. >> Uh, the work of digging out the ruins went on for several days, and by the
second day, thousands have had come to see the scene. Some in hopes of finding a missing relative, of course,
>> but most just to see the wreckage. >> Lucky lose. >> Yeah. Now, according to the press,
quote, "There was no disorder, no wild attempts to break the police line, no noise."
>> That's good. >> Somehow, the crowds even forbore to push and elbow each other to get a better
point of vantage. So, they were at least like chill. >> Yeah. >> Now, they were just there to take in the
tragedy of an unimaginable thing that had happened. >> I don't know why you would want to see
that. When asked for comment about the crowds, one officer tasked with guarding the site said, "If they had to do this
for pay, they'd wish they were somewhere else. They can't see anything, and they
are far too far away to even hear what's going on." So, he's like, "Get the [ __ ]
out." >> He's like, "What's the point?" >> Now, before the first day was even over,
serious questions of accountability were being raised by those in positions of power.
>> Yeah. >> Building Commissioner John Mahoney had long lamented the crumbling buildings in
Boston and suspected that might be the cause. I would think that would be at least part of it.
>> Mayor James Curley, on the other hand, blamed the collapse on overcrowding. In
a public in a statement to the public, he said, "Considering the fact that no official with authority to prevent
overcrowding was present in the building, it is most probable that the club management taking advantage of the
night before crowds, seeking unrestrained freedom in their pursuit of pleasure, readily accepted all who came
to the club after the closing of the property licensed amusement places in Boston. Now, at the time, it would have
been impossible for the mayor or anyone else to make such a definitive statement
on the cause of the accident since an investigation into the cause had not even begun.
>> Yeah. So, everybody was just kind of guessing. But his statements, James Curley's statements reflect the
widespread very conservative perspective in Boston that viewed nightclubs, dance
halls, and other similar spaces as contributing to immorality. >> Mhm. Now, the following day, The Globe
offered a different perspective and potential cause of the collapse. This time from someone who was inside the
building when it came down. >> According to Frank Decker, one of the singers performing in the club that
night, it was quote, "The steady swaying of the dancers and their stamping of feet as they all performed the
Charleston that could have caused the collapse." He said, "Imagine the force of 50 couples leaping up and down in
unison. The heavy trampoline set the floor swaying. Then it cracked. I paid no attention to this shark crack at the
moment as I thought someone had set off a firecracker, but the real meaning of it came to me a moment later. Now, in
retrospect, Frank Decker's theory that dancing had caused the collapse might seem like kind of silly since most
buildings are designed to withstand a far greater shock than a few dozen people dancing.
>> But what we know now that there was like trap doors and that kind of thing. >> That's the thing. At the time, it seemed
intuitive to Bostononians following the story in the press and remained a popular urban legend long after the real
cause had been revealed that it was dancing the Charleston Charleston that caused this collapse.
>> Oh no. So now the Charleston was cursed. >> Yeah, it was cursed. Now during one of
the trials that followed the incident, one of the structural engineers tasked with evaluating the building testified
and said, "As the steady pounding of feet continued, the wooden joust under the lenolium floor began to vibrate.
Structural engineers use the term mechanical resonance to describe what was happening. Under certain conditions,
a suspended beam or crossmember will vi vibrate violently when the when subjected to steady rhythmic
oscillations. Those vibrations have been known to cause catastrophic failures in
bridges, buildings, and even airplanes. The Pwick Club dancers knew nothing about resonance. They had no idea what
was going on under their feet. Of course, before anyone could arrive at the accur at an accurate explanation for
why the building collapsed, city workers needed to clear away the rubble, which proved more challenging than expected.
In addition to the expected difficulties of moving, you know, several tons of debris, the large crowds surrounding the
area was like a big challenge. >> Yeah. >> And while most of them were orderly and
complied with police directions, others were less respectful. People are always going to people. This is going to enrage
you. On July 6th, just days after the collapse, >> police arrested one of the workers,
Angelo Cook, after he was seen stealing cash from the pockets of the few remaining dead bodies in the ruins.
>> You got to be [ __ ] kidding. >> He's going to dead people's >> wallet, >> pants pockets, and stealing their money.
>> That's a piece of [ __ ] There's a special place in >> the lowest type of low. Yeah, that's the
karmic retribution on that >> that it will it will reverberate through generations of his family. Like, [ __ ]
that. >> Wow. >> On July 7th, the majority of the ruins had been cleared from the scene and the
last of the bodies had been removed to go to the morg for identification. Meanwhile, across the city, a grand jury
was being convened to hear testimony and evaluate the evidence. M that afternoon,
after hearing some survivor testimony, District Attorney Thomas O'Brien >> led the there was going to be an
O'Brien. >> Uh he led the grand jury to the site so they could see the space for themselves
and view the foundation of the building. By that time, structural engineers had begun evaluating the building and
suspected the collapse had not been caused by dancers, but by a structural issue with the party wall. And I'll tell
you what a party wall is, >> okay? Um, it's basically the shared wall between the building that housed the
Pwick and the building next to it. >> Oh. >> Now, in the era when the Drafus was
built, uh, buildings were often built to lean against one another as a source of
stability. They were very close to each other. And that shared wall was the party wall between them. It was
>> almost like a like a condo or like >> it was just like they were just almost like a condo except it's not all the
same building. There's the buildings that are so close to each other they lean on each other for support.
>> That's wild. >> Yeah. Now, in this case, the building next to the Pwick had recently been torn
down. >> Oh. >> Thus removing a potentially significant source of support in the party wall.
>> Stop. >> Based on their initial observations, the engineers suspected that that could have
been the reason for the collapse. Yeah. >> Testifying before the grand jury, Harry
Haven, one of the engineers in charge of the project uh to be built next to the Pwick, said there were concerns about
the structural integrity integrity of the Pwick building itself, and that those concerns had been shared with the
property owners, but nothing had been done about it. >> Mhm. >> Now, after several days of testimony and
evidence, the grand jury indicted six individuals in the Pwick case. The following were indicted on charges of
manslaughter. Timothy Barry, the owner of the club, George Funk, the architect in charge of the building's repair
project following the fire, and Hyman Bloomberg, the owner of the building. Three others associated with the Picl
Club were indicted on like lesser charges. Fair enough to me. Now, a few days later, the grand jury reconvened
and returned six more indictments for manslaughter against the architects involved in the restoration and
construction projects, including Fritz Nathan, John Pulz, John Tobin, Edward Romer, James Hendrik, and Lawrence
Perkins. All nine men pleaded not guilty, and their trials were scheduled for the following uh following months.
>> Okay. Now, given the high-profile nature of the Picway case, everyone from the
district attorney to the mayor urged a speedy trial for those accused of manslaughter, if for no other reason
than to demonstrate that the city took the matter of unstable infrastructure very seriously.
>> Now, just one week after the grand jury returned indictments for the accused,
the trial against all 12 of the men uh began at Suffach County Superior Court. The first to testify was Chief of Police
Daniel Senate who among several other individuals who testified um they were testifying to the level of destruction
caused by the fire that had occurred on the third floor several months earlier. >> Okay.
>> The consensus among those who spoke on the effect of the fire was that while the third floor had been quote very
badly burned, the building itself remained structurally sound. >> Okay. It's kind of hard to
>> It is >> like to I don't know to >> to feel comfortable with that. >> Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Thank you.
>> Now, according to Guy Emerson, the expert for the prosecution, he said the collapse of the Picwick Club was due to
the a failure of the concrete peers under the foundation due to a lack of lateral bracing on the easterly side.
Now, after the building beside the Picwick was torn down, effectively making the party wall useless, Bloomberg
hired a construction firm to add to the concrete peers to provide structural support because he knew the
[clears throat] party wall was going to be weak. >> But also, you probably should have
closed down the club be like while that was going to happen. >> Well, also the peers were very poorly
built and weren't capable of supporting the£100,000 that they were required to support.
>> So, that was uh useless. According to one of the evaluating engineers, one of
the peers was quote, "The rottenest piece of concrete I ever saw. There were pockets of gravel in the mixture. The
cement was of poor quality, and there wasn't enough of it. The shoddy craftsmanship of the peers creating the
perfect conditions for a kind of quote dominoike collapse under the right circumstances."
>> [sighs] >> Now, that's what's crazy about this is it's like this somewhat strange twist
where it turned out that it wasn't one single theory. That was correct. >> A lot of them.
>> Several were kind of working in combination with each other. The concrete peers had been poorly made and
unprofessionally installed. So, when the music and the dancing reached its peak,
it caused the pockets into which the peers had been placed to crumble and the peers to fall. Without the support from
the concrete peers, the building simply collapsed into itself, unable to withstand the weight.
>> Just picturing that is like so scariest thing. Just a like a building swallowing
itself. >> Truly. >> It's like when you see videos of like sink holes. >> Yeah. Oh, sinkholes. Scar me out.
>> So scary. >> I hate it. Now, given the number of things that had to go wrong in order for
the Picwick Club to collapse, the jury was unable to agree that any of the men on trial were directly responsible for
the tragedy and all were found not guilty. >> H it's because there was so many things
that contributed to this. I think they didn't know who actually was at fault [laughter] here.
>> I'm like, maybe we can just say that everybody was then. >> Now, after the verdicts were read, Judge
Lumis addressed the jury. He said, "If I had been a member of the jury, I would have joined in your verdict. There never
was sufficient evidence that these defendants had been willfully, recklessly, or wantingly negligent.
>> Okay. >> Now, the acquitt of all 12 men was definitely a disappointment to the
victim's families who just hoped to see someone responsible for the loss of the lives at the club that night.
>> In the years that followed, a number of civil suits were filed. >> In total, $6.1 million, which were is
roughly 90 million in 2026. >> Wow. But the plaintiffs uh eventually settled for around $40,000 or $1,000 per
life lost at the Vic Picwick Club. >> I feel like that happens too often. >> It does.
>> Now, in the years that followed, the building was eventually repaired and reopened.
>> Uh from the 1960s into the late 1980s, the building was home to the famous Naked Eye Cabaret.
>> Oh. >> Until it was torn down and a parking garage was built on the site and still
remains. >> Not a parking garage. Um, as of now, there is no plaque or memorial to
indicate the 44 people whose lives were lost that night. >> That's such [ __ ] >> And again, few people remember or are
aware that this actually happened. >> Well, the fact that it just became Don't me either. And the fact that it just
became a parking garage. >> Yeah. >> I just feel like more should have been done to protect the site.
>> Yeah. >> You know, >> and let me just now that we're at the end of this, I'm going to read the 44
people's names. Uh Benjamin Alexander, Ella Cali, Bert Chapman, William Cochran, Ralph Congen, Michael Chafalo,
Charles Dostas, Francis Driscoll, Pauline Duca, Gelato Lombardi, Wayne Maher, Mary Mcern, Lillian McIsac, John
Mclofflin, Francis Mclean, Thomas McManis, Mary Moore, Max Melmmet, John Duffy, Mabel Dixon, Edward Flanigan,
Clara Frederick, Patrick Galvin, James Glennon, El Arthur Graham, William Grossman, Paul Howerin, Stuart
Henderson, Edith Jordan, Loretta Keegan, Peggy Lawson, Margaret Murphy, John Murphy, William Murray, James Murray,
Bart O'Donnell, Carl Posel Jr., Joseph Fanif, John Scales, Doris Stern, Frank Tlo, Frank Vera, Charles Whan, and
Esther Wilson. It's so sad that that many people lost their lives that like >> Yeah, it is.
>> It's just It's really getting to me that there's no memorial. That's nuts. >> And these these are all like ranging
from age 20 to >> We have a 43y old, we have a 42y old, everything in between. >> Yeah, I think it's like 43. It's like 20
to ages 20 to 43. Everything in between. >> That's crazy. >> Yeah. A lot of 30 year olds. a lot of,
you know, like people just having fun. >> Yeah. Just young people. >> Like it sucks. They weren't doing
anything wrong. They were just there >> celebrating a holiday. >> Yeah. >> It's really sad. And I really hate that
it doesn't have a plaque. I think that that parking garage needs to have a plaque.
>> I think we should write to Mara Healey. >> I was like, we I was looking up how to
petition to do this and I think we are going to try to petition to do this. I just think it's right.
>> I do too. >> And I don't like that I didn't know that this was a thing. >> Yeah. We should learn about this in
school cuz you I mean you do learn about the coconut grove >> and like the molasses flood, you know,
like you should like people lost their lives in this [clears throat] stuff. We should know
about it. >> Absolutely. >> Especially you're just parking in a garage. >> We don't know that like underneath was
the sight of a >> I really do. It should be something else. That's >> We're going to see what we can do to
petition. >> Yeah, we're going to we're going to try to talk to Mara. >> We're going to get some get some
signatures and stuff. >> Let's go. Maybe we can start something up. We'll we'll get some information
gathered and hopefully update you next episode. >> Yeah, we'll let you guys know how it's
going. That's that's our new right now. We're going to do this. >> Yeah, we're planning a live show and
we're planning a memorial. >> Exactly. >> So, I like it. >> Fun fact, Play-Doh was originally used
as wallpaper cleaner, >> huh? >> Yeah. >> You just rub it all over your wall, >> I guess. So,
>> does it still work? >> I don't know. >> I wonder. >> Let's Let's look a little more into
this. >> That's an interesting one. Wallpaper cleaner. It was originally invented as
wallpaper cleaner. In the 1930s, Coutal Products in Cincinnati uh Cincinnati, Ohio created a pliable, non-toxic putty
used to lift coal soot off of wallpaper home. Uh when homes switched to cleaner heating after World War II, the company
re uh repurposed the cleaner as a toy, which became Play-Doh. >> Wow. >> Isn't that fun?
>> Damn, that's cool. >> So, it was like an accidental toy. >> Look at Play-Doh. I love accidental
inventions. >> I do, too. Remember eating Play-Doh when you were little? eating Play-Doh.
>> It was so salty. >> It Oh, [clears throat] yeah. I did. I remember. >> Play-Doh.
>> Yeah. And I just remember the smell. Really? >> Oh, I can smell it like right now.
>> Cuz like the kids have Play-Doh. So, I can still smell it. >> Play-Doh. That's crazy cuz you I mean it
was after World War II that they switched and made it a toy. And our kids are still playing with it.
>> They're still playing with Play-Doh. >> Like that's nuts. >> And it's so simple.
>> Yeah. >> See, it's the simplest stuff. It really is. >> I think high-tech [ __ ]
>> Oh, and I love when you got like the Play-Doh sets where you can like make it
like noodles. Yeah. It's like spaghetti. I love smooshing it through something. Let's go play with Play-Doh right now.
>> Let's do that. >> All right. Well, um we hope you keep listening >> and we hope you
>> keep it >> weird. But not so weird that you don't go buy some Play-Doh right now and smush
it. >> Yeah. >> Just don't eat it anymore [music] cuz like I don't think you're supposed to.
>> I'm sure it's not. >> It's probably fine, but like I don't know. [music] >> [music]
[music] [music] [music] [music] [bell] [music] [music] [music] [music]

In the early morning hours of July 4, 1925, the crowd at The Pickwick Club in Boston were celebrating the holiday at the “Before-the-Fourth” dance when roughly fifty couples took to the dance floor for one of the final songs of the night. With so much revelry and vibrations from the dancing, no one noticed the subtle sounds distressed infrastructure makes just before a tragedy, and even if they had, there likely wasn’t enough time to avoid the disaster. Around 3:30 am, the ceiling above them collapsed, as the entire five-story building came down on top of them, killing forty-four people and injuring countless more.

At the time, the Pickwick Club disaster was the deadliest building collapse and one of the worst accidents in in the city’s history. It was followed by large investigation, during which the disaster was temporarily blamed on the Charleston, and a sensational trial aimed at punishing those responsible. However, in the one hundred years since the disaster, the tragedy at the Pickwick Club has been largely forgotten, overshadowed by larger and more devastating accidents.

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References

Boston Daily Globe. 1925. "12 bodies taken from the Pickwick Club ruins as searchers place toll of death at 40." Boston Daily Globe, July 5: 1.

—. 1925. "Leaping of dancers caused collapse, view of survivor." Boston Daily Globe, July 6: 11.

—. 1925. "Officer beaten in raid staged at Pickwick Club." Boston Daily Globe, February 9: 2.

—. 1925. "Stabbing and small riot in Pickwick Club." Boston Daily Globe, March 23: 1.

—. 1925. "Survivors' stories of building horror." Boston Daily Globe, July 5: 20.

—. 1925. "Testifies Hendrick said Pickwick safe." Boston Daily Globe, Juky 28: 1.

—. 1925. "Testimony ends in cluyb tragedy." Boston Daily Globe, July 11: 10.

—. 1925. "Thousands seek sight of ruins." Boston Daily Globe, July 6: 12.

Donovan, John J. 1925. "Probe planned by grand jury." Boston Daily Globe, July 5: 20.

Harris, Henry. 1925. "Pickwick Club lure lay in its mystery." Boston Daily Globe, July 5: 18.

Keefe, John E. 2024. Deathtrap: Boston's Pickwick Club Disaster. Boston, MA: Menotomy Publishing.

—. 2018. The Pickwick Club Disaster. Boston, MA: Menotomy Publishing.

Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022) Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023) Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash Kelley Listener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra Lally Listener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Listener Tale Theme Music licensed from https://www.purple-planet.com Main Theme: Matti Paalanen — Trick or Treat — Provided by Jamendo Ad Music: Title: Artist: BlueJay Studio — Spooky Waltz — Provided by Jamendo

Brief Summary

The episode discusses the 1925 Pwick Club disaster in Boston, where a club collapse killed 44 people during a Fourth of July celebration.

Key points

Chaos Erupts at the Pwick Club. A police raid leads to chaos and arrests, highlighting the club's wild reputation.
The Pwick Club's Wild Reputation. The Pwick Club gained notoriety for its chaotic atmosphere and police raids.
The Pwick Club's Seedy Closure. The club's closure appears to be a facade to escape police scrutiny.
The Collapse Begins. As the party continues, the ceiling starts to fall, leading to chaos and destruction.
Rescue Efforts. Emergency responders arrive to rescue those trapped under the rubble, facing dire conditions.
The Aftermath. The death toll rises to 44 as the community grapples with the tragedy.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

What the hell?

Reacting to the lack of a memorial for a disaster.

2:57WatchJun 15, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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