Death, Destruction, & The Labor Movement at Victor Camden
By: Graham Alexander
Workers enter through the front entrance of Victor Building 17 (The Nipper Building) | Despite its stature at Victor Camden, this building was not a headquarters building of the Victor Company - instead it was a manufacturing building until it was slowly converted to offices in the 1950s.
Its a difficult task to do an article entirely on one of the most macabre, negative, and tragic elements of The Victor Company legacy - in fact…I don’t know a decent attorney that would ever advise talking about such things - let alone doing an article about them; but I also feel its important for modern folks to look at tragedy through the lens of historic context for the purpose of not only education - but in honoring the victims of the event(s). Truth is, the Victor legacy has A LOT of very happy stories like husbands and wives meeting, multiple generations of families coming through the workplace, dreams coming true in every sense of the word. The Victor Company during the late 1800s to well into the mid century - a model for progress. With daycare centers, world class cafeterias, sports teams, clubs, and a doctor on staff- It was as equally work centric as it was glamorous to be in ‘the house that music built’ for many thousands of Victor’s staff. Seeing artists through the recording studios and sound laboratories - watching celebrities pour through the Camden Plant on a regular basis….must have felt like an inside look into a world very few ever got to see; show business - in the most literal sense. A Victor employee park created an almost ‘google’ type campus for a time period…. employee benefits were generous for the time - the company was one of the first to adopt the 8 hour work day…paid vacation…maternity leave….regular cost of living raises. One article described walking through the Victor Plant as a workplace of between 5000 and 10,000 excited people…whistling to the music over the P.A. system (a first in the manufacturing industry) as a “Roman Era Temple” of musical and manufacturing progress - it was its own town, in many ways….and it was somewhere between what Silicone Valley is today for technology - and what Los Angeles was 30 years ago for the Entertainment business; it was music’s mecca.
But it had a darker side at times…if you’d like to read an account of the light side click HERE
I wanted to start this article with a reverence for the many, many, many, Victor workers (too many) who lost their lives during the course of their work for the early music industry - largely during an era (1896-1960s) in which our modern safety regulations for tooling, equipment, record presses, metal work, woodwork, electrical work were forming ...and humanity was learning about the pitfalls of being a responsible industrialized nation - OFTEN thanks to the help of well-run unions and the US government’s hand in helping to create a system that no other industrialized nation had had prior; a safer and fairer industrial sector.
Now, before you say ‘DID HE JUST THANK THE GOVERNMENT???’ - yes; I did. As someone that has operated manufacturing facilities (and still does) - as well as designed AND worked first hand on Victor® Home Audio products, Victor Victrolas® (big and small) - as well as made electrical modifications and invented patented manufacturing techniques for The Victor Company, I can tell you first hand that we owe a WHOLE lot to the people that (sadly) passed away in factory and manufacturing accidents across the earlier industrialized world (and specifically at Victor) and these events subsequently led to the safety regulations we have today.
I can’t entertain the idea of claiming such regulations to be heavy handed - these ideas aren’t all invalid….and we hear them a lot. Getting into making ANYTHING in the USA is not quite as simple as it once was…and the last several years have seen a lot of deregulation. In many ways, some of this deregulation has been positive - but some of these now removed regulations were made with good and exceedingly justified cause. You can decide for yourself how to take this - but I hope when you read some of these events as they occurred - you’ll reconsider the 'en vogue' concept that *all regulation* is bad; If all regulation is *bad*, these victims of workplace accidents would have died in vain…and it would be a tragedy equal to the death or injury itself if their loss of life didn’t result in the regulations that would eventually come to save lives into the modern era.
Without further ado, I’ll present these stories as small snapshots of the dangers of largely unregulated industrial America - culled (for the first time) from Victor Talking Machine Co’s health plans and life insurance files (for more detail) and MAYBE this might change some hearts and minds about approaching the future as slightly more moderately minded on this issue….and encourage global manufacturing standards to meet the same standards that our labor movement fought for in the early and middle part of the 20th century.
LOCATION: Eldridge Johnson’s expanded manufacturing space on the top floor of the Collings Carriage Co. Building, North Front St., Camden, NJ
DATE OF INCIDENT: December, 1897
DEATHS: 1
INJURIES: 1
LEGAL RECOURSE: None
REGULATION: This was one of many accidents cited by the drafters of what became most modern building (and elevator) code inspection protocols.
STORY: While E.R. Johnson was growing the early Victor Talking Machine Co., he would come to own not only the garage workshop in which the business began, but also the upper floor of the Collings Carriage Co. - a very well known horse carriage repair company…which was actively attempting to join the market as a automobile manufacturer. The owner of the building from which Johnson leased the top floor was negligent in his maintenance of the roof and elevator - which resulted in a rusting of the thinner cables utilized in the lift. At this time, elevators had no required standards of build by the state - and this particular elevator was a cheaper model that Colling’s Carriage (according to internal reports) consistently overloaded. Combined with the rust on the cable which weakened the sole support of the elevator - and the stress of overloading the elevator with larger than capacity items over a few years - created a tragic situation in which 18 Year Old William Bayard Sparks was killed instantly after falling 55 feet in the cab as it hurdled towards the ground. Remarkably, Patrick Conners would survive the same fall with broken bones - and did not return to work for Eldridge R. Johnson in Camden. There is evidence to show that, while not responsible, E.R. Johnson compensated both Conner and Sparks’ family. The tragedy couldn’t have come at a worse time for the sensitive CEO of Victor - he was prone to depression; which no doubt flared shortly after the event.
Mr. Collings, the owner of the building, made sure he had the elevator repaired before a serious investigation could be done into his failure to maintain the building. Thus, because of a complete lack of regulation - and no legal representation for the relatively low income young workers - the case never went beyond a stern article that insinuated the reality without having any legal bearing; Mr. Collings would have likely been found guilty of negligent manslaughter - and a conspiracy to avoid those charges - if he was tried to modern standards.
LOCATION: Victor Building 17 ‘The Nipper Building’, Camden, NJ (1 Market St)
DATE OF INCIDENT: May 19th, 1913
DEATHS: 0
INJURIES: 1
LEGAL RECOURSE: 2 arrests, 2 firings, 3 months prison sentence
REGULATION: Increased security duty at the Victor Plant - particularly for night shifts - would last until the 1990s.
STORY: On floor 2 of Victor Bldg. 17 (which did not yet have the portion of the building that contained the famous ‘Nipper Tower’, 2 Victor employees (brothers) threatened a third employee whom sat closest to the window - and opened said window during normal finishing operations on tabletop Victor Victrola Phonographs. The two brothers, whom already had a history of causing trouble according to 2 other write-ups in Victor’s management documentation (a sort of precursor to modern H.R. concepts) - threatened the 20 year old employee with a beating if he did not close the window on the relatively chilly spring day in 1913. The two brothers waited until the overtime 9pm workbell to dismiss workers for home (this was prior to the establishment of the 9-5pm 8 hour work day in which Victor would stager workers in 10-12 hour daytime and nighttime shifts) and proceeded to corner the 20 year old worker and stab him with a knife borrowed from the finishing department of Victor. The two boys then ran (chased by a crowd of fellow Victor employees) until they reached the nearby FERRY TERMINAL building - where they were held down forcefully until the Camden Police Department arrived to arrest the two.
Victor would go on to dismiss the two employees - they were charged as sentenced to 3 months in the local jail. Victor management increased the Victor Security Division in order to accompany employees leaving late at night and ensure their safety. The victim survived and returned to work - but he would never work the night shift again.
LOCATION: Victor Building 4 - Camden, NJ (Cooper & 2nd St)
DATE OF INCIDENT: August 13th, 1912
DEATHS: 0
INJURIES: 1
LEGAL RECOURSE: None
REGULATION: Boiler accidents like this helped to regulate everything from building codes, to electrical regulation through the early 1900s and into the 1940s.
STORY: The Victor Company required so much power for its manufacturing plant - like many industries of the time - that it required its own entire power plant to generate the sheer voltage required to run the manufacturing, laboratories, offices, and recording studio buildings. The ‘wet generators’ of the 1920s and 1930s weren’t yet available in 1912, so Victor’s first power plant located at Cooper & 2nd street was, in fact - steam powered. Large boilers burned coal which generated steam which churned generators to create a steady flow of power to the manufacturing power - including the first record pressing plant which was attached to Victor Building 4 (at the adjoining Victor Building 3 - today known as Victor Building 8). Steam explosions weren’t uncommon prior to more regulations placed upon boiler and steam inspections - eventually all 50 states would require a staff member to have a ‘steam certificate’ in order to maintain and operate (greatly improved) boilers as the decades wore on.
This method of generating power was replaced by a new power plant at the waterfront (Victor Bldg. 12) - which attached to the new pressing plant (Victor Bldg. 13) - turning Bldg. 3 and 4 to other tasks from the 1920s on…but precious few would forget the dangers of being scalded by a steam boiler meltdown - which could result very easily in death by creating instant scalds in the lungs - and on the body.
LOCATION: Victor Building 18 ‘The Nipper Building’, Camden, NJ (1 Market St)
DATE OF INCIDENT: March 4th, 1912
DEATHS: 1
INJURIES: 0
LEGAL RECOURSE: None
REGULATION: Large companies would gradually introduce mental health protocol and HR departments to assist workers suffering from mental illness & depression. None the less, these two topics were referred to in the insurance papers as ‘Suffering from Malaise’ - a general pre mid century term for what we now know as Depression. There is still not a full proof methodology for mental health crises in the business world in the modern age - but its worth it to look upon how far we’ve come as a society as a result of the (unintended) ignorance of the old era.
STORY: Elmer Houck was a 46 year old man working in Building 18 (located at FRONT ST - attached to building 3 (now known as building 8) who suffered from depression. As a finisher (a term applied to anyone that finished the product - today this would be known as either an assembler OR inspector) Elmer worked in making sure Victor Victrolas were ready for shipping around the world. The biggest problem for this position was that it was often the division with the most layoffs when times got tough. The panic of 1911 (which began in 1910) caused a slight downtick in the US economy which saw consumer sales slow for products like records and record players. Victor executives laid of several employees the same day as Elmer as a result of cutbacks in the workforce due to an unhappy near future of sales of Victor Records & Victor Victrolas - and for Elmer, this was something that quite possibly pushed him over the edge - and the man tragically committed suicide by gas. The life insurance policy was distributed to his sister in Lewisburg PA, and the company paid tribute to him in a memorial service. Because of the nature of how Victor (and later RCA-Victor) recalled workers based on sales - Elmer’s job was restored just a few weeks later.
LOCATION: Victor Building 3 (later Building 8), Camden, NJ (Cooper & Front St.)
DATE OF INCIDENT: Feb 19th, 1916
DEATHS: 1
INJURIES: 0
LEGAL RECOURSE: None
REGULATION: Equipment safety requirements, and organizations like OSHA are a direct result of accidents like this.
STORY: Boiling Lye was a critical part of the manufacture of RECORDS for The Victor Co. and Buildings #3 (and #4) contained early metal plating, and creation of wax material for Victor Record masters used at the studios in the Victor Plant. Boiling lye is a toxic and dangerous material - often used in the manufacture of CANDLES - and often dangerous to inexperienced users of the chemical. Boiling large open vats of LYE was not at all abnormal for The Victor Company, which produced its own master 4”thick polished recording wax blend disks to be the initial recording master for the disk cutters at both Camden and New York City Studios of the era. This special blend of materials was largely seen as a trade secret - which helped to create recordings with low noise, high durability, and a shocking frequency response during recording. The vats of boiling lye, however, had very little covering. The minds of the era believed - in some ways - that safety in the workplace was a responsibility of the common sense worker. Thus, it would take organizations like OSHA - and UNION leaders to push for common sense safety equipment on machines and equipment at factories around the US. Victor would produce its own wax recording masters from 1897 till 1948 when the lacquer disk would take the place of the wax disk - which was far easier (but still dangerous) to manufacture.
LOCATION: Victor Building 17 ‘The Nipper Building’, Camden, NJ (1 Market St)
DATE OF INCIDENT: May 8th, 1914
DEATHS: 1
INJURIES: 0
LEGAL RECOURSE: None
REGULATION: Hard hats, safety harnesses, and OSHA.
STORY: Falls from tall buildings weren’t uncommon in the early industrial world. For the first time, buildings heights regularly began beating the wooden structures of the generations before - which themselves would gradually come to be regulated in most American cities to being built no higher than 2 or 3 floors (wood structure). However, this didn’t stop brick, stone, and/or steel type buildings from reaching …basically whatever height the engineer could build them. At the Camden, NJ waterfront - a windy day preceded this accident (not uncommon for a riverside) and a total lack of proper safety regulations or equipment meant that a woman working in Building 17A (before The Nipper Tower was constructed) witnessed a truly horrid site; a man working on the roof of Bldg. 17 fell all 6 stories to his death after a swift wind came and made the rickety scaffolding an unreliable partner. A tragedy of immense proportions, the regulations from these types of workplace accidents led to safety and equipment regulations - and regulations related to the mental health of a bystander witnessing a traumatic event.
LOCATION: Victor Building 17 ‘The Nipper Building’, Camden, NJ (1 Market St)
DATE OF INCIDENT: March 15th, 1920
DEATHS: 0
INJURIES: 1
LEGAL RECOURSE: 1 arrests, 3 months prison sentence
REGULATION: Increased security duty at the Victor Plant - particularly for night shifts - would last until the 1990s.
STORY: Edward Hartman was like a lot of foremen at manufacturing facilities (or workplaces in general). He talked tough, and he didn’t seem afraid of anyone or anything. Hartman wasn’t afraid of a good firing and so on March 4th, 1920 - he suspended George Le Cates from working at his job at the Victor Cabinet Dept. at Bldg. 17 for a period of 10 days minimum. At the end of the 10 day period, Le Cates entered Building 17 through the grand new entrance below The Nipper Tower at what is now 1 Market St., and he demanded he be reinstated. Hartman believed Le Cates to be lazy - and a poor worker who might possibly be a trouble maker to other employees work environment; so he decided to fire Le Cates on the spot. Needless to say, Le Cates didn’t seem to care about being a stereotype of himself when he pulled out a revolver and fired into Hartman. Hartman noted to police that he felt Le Cates stood and reloaded - however Le Cates claimed he ran as soon as the trigger was pulled. Either way, if his shooting skills are any indication - his Victor Victrola manufacturing skills must have been truly horrendous; he grazed Hartman’s hip at POINT BLANK RANGE. He was arrested and sentenced to jail for 3 months - and soon disappeared. Mr. Hartman would work for Victor till the 1940s - and security protocols were once again improved to prevent such an event from happening again.
LOCATION: Victor Building 15, Camden, NJ (Front St. and Cooper)
DATE OF INCIDENT: February 14th, 1914
DEATHS: 0
INJURIES: 1
LEGAL RECOURSE: Lawsuit, settled for $3,000
REGULATION: OSHA and mid century manufacturing unions would address unsafe work environment accidents like this one through the 1940s-1960s.
STORY: Mr. George Cooper had an unrestrained barrel of chemical solution hit him during a reorganization of the experimental chemical laboratories located in victor Bldg. 15. Mr. Cooper complained to the company, whom promptly told him they didn’t have an answer. He filed suit against the company whom opted to settle with the man - given that his argument was concise and clear; Victor was negligent.
LOCATION: Victor Building 2 ‘The Victor Records Building’, Camden, NJ (201 North Front St)
DATE OF INCIDENT: July 22nd, 1916
DEATHS: 0
INJURIES: 1
LEGAL RECOURSE: Lawsuit
REGULATION: Electrical regulations in industrial era buildings were as rickety as nob and tube wiring. Many times, not a great amount of thought or study had been made into elements like ‘grounding’, voltage load of a cable - or the effect of high voltage on humans. Through the 1920s and 1930s, most of the electrical regulations we know today would begin to be known as standard across homes and businesses.
STORY: BURNED is a nice word; nearly killed and your hand essentially melted to the bone is another…much less nice word(s). Alexander Wood was an excellent electrician for The Victor Company, he would even go on to contribute to electrifying Victor’s home audio line in the Victor design laboratories. But Alexander began his work assisting in the wiring of 201 North Front St., Camden NJ - the fabled ‘Victor Records Building’ also known as Victor Bldg. 2
The Victor Company settled with Mr. Wood and he returned to work for many more years - however his hand never fully recovered from the scarring that occurred on the construction site on that hot day in 1916.
LOCATION: Victor Building 13, and 17 ‘The Nipper Building’, Camden, NJ (1 Market St)
DATE OF INCIDENT: Jan 14th, 1920
DEATHS: 0
INJURIES: 2
LEGAL RECOURSE: 2 Lawsuits
REGULATION: Increased safety for laborers was a critical concept missing from the average American life in 1920. Experience restrictions on workers performing dangerous work - and an under regulated world created a perfect storm for people to lose entire limbs in accidents…regularly.
STORY: Two separate incidents that happened to be filed around the same time in the Camden City court - this incident occurs as 1 incident in the insurance files of Victor (as they were probably handled on the same day). Many record pressers in Building 13 were young women - in this case; the lack of safety regulations - and probably lack of training/experience with these hulking record pressing machines led to Miss Jane Bernardi having her hand crushed entirely in a press machine in Building 13. Similarly (and just a few hundred feet away), Mr. Willis Harvey (19) worked the coal loading area at Victor Bldg. 12 (The new power plant) - and had his hand entirely removed by an automatic coal crushing machine while he attempted to work on the machine by order of his superiors. The Victor Company paid $15,000 to Mr. Harvey…and $7000 to Miss Jane Bernardi. Both did not return to work.
LOCATION: Employee’s Home, Camden, NJ
DATE OF INCIDENT: Aug 19th, 1925
DEATHS: 1
INJURIES: 0
LEGAL RECOURSE: None
REGULATION: The mental health structure of corporations - and by all means most of society - was almost non existent in 1925. What DID exist was based very little on rehabilitating those with mental illness - and focused primarily on placing such cases in asylums. Lovingly known as “Insane Asylums”, early state laws required conversations of being ‘found mentally ill’ to be transferred in some cases to a workplace supervisor. This concept created a tragic storm of keeping those with mental illness in a system with little thought as to the broader effect on the patient’s mental health…it also served to violate a patient’s private medical history.
STORY: Harry Davis, Sr. suffered from depression, and displayed self harm tendencies and outbursts of rage in an era that had no understanding of this concept in mental health. Thus, when The Victor Company dismissed Mr. Davis (and about 700 employees) due to a downturn in business and manufacturing - Mr. Davis understood that he was likely to be called back when the Summer ended (which was not uncommon for manufacturers of the era to do when business got slower). Mr. Davis waited for the word to return but fell deeper into depression and self harm when his family encouraged him to see a doctor. Shortly before the visit, Harry received positive news that he would be due back at this job at Victor soon and gave him a start date. The doctor reviewed Mr. Davis and ordered him involuntarily committed to an asylum for an indeterminate amount of time. Mr. Davis understood that the doctor would likely inform the Victor Company (as this was not illegal at the time…and was even encouraged by mental health professionals), and that his job offer may very well be removed. In a deep depression over this (and his failing marriage) and inconsolable about his upcoming involuntary stay in the ‘Blackwood Sanitarium’, Harry tragically ended his life at the age of 52.
