Out of This Furnace Characters

Borka is the sister of George and Francka Kracha. She is the last of the Krachas to move from Slovakia to America.

The fourth child born to Mike and Mary, Agnes is the younger sibling of Dobie, Mikie, and Pauline. Agnes falls in love with George Hornyak, but he vanishes to Cleveland. She marries an older man named Martin instead and settles in Braddock.

A Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist who is president of the Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Steel company (later the U.S. Steel Corporation). A vehement foe of organized labor, Carnegie believes that unions cut into company profits, and that steelworkers are inferior to men of capital like himself.

Frick is a manufacturer of coke, a high-carbon fuel used in industrial furnaces. He is a zealous union-buster who partners with Andrew Carnegie to fight steelworker unionization at Homestead and other mill sites.

Agnes’s boyfriend who leaves for Cleveland to escape financial troubles and never returns.

John is Zuska’s first husband. His death midway through the novel prompts Zuska to seek out Kracha in Braddock.

Joe is the younger brother of Mike Dobrejcak. He comes to Braddock from Slovakia in the spring of 1901. He gets a job in the steel mill and boards with Dorta.

Dorta’s second husband. She marries him after Joe Dubik dies in a mill accident.

Anna Kracha’s husband. He is a bartender and saloonkeeper who turns his establishment into a speakeasy during Prohibition.

Mike Dobrejcak’s best friend who works with him in the steel mill in Braddock. When Mike reaches the height of his frustration with his job’s low pay and poor opportunity for advancement, he confides his anger to Steve after a bout of heavy drinking.

A foul-mouthed Irishman and Mike Dobrejcak’s immediate furnace-gang boss at the Braddock steel mill.

A Hungarian-born Jew who opens up a rival butcher shop near George Kracha’s own butcher shop. When word spreads of Kracha’s affair with Zuska, Spetz successfully poaches many of Kracha’s scorned customers.

Flack is Andrew Carnegie’s handpicked superintendent of the Braddock steel mill. He works to stymie labor organization at the mill (largely through bureaucratic maneuvering) and he threatens Dobie’s job in an attempt to stop him from testifying against the company at the Washington, D.C., labor hearings.

Dobie’s foreman in the electrical department at the Braddock steel mill. He stayed loyal to the company during the labor strike of 1991 and won promotion in return. Dobie suspects, however, that McLaughlin is not happy in his position.

An American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960. He also helped establish the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), which eventually established the United Steelworkers of America.

William Jennings Bryan was a populist politician who ran as the Democratic candidate for president against Republican William McKinley in the 1896 presidential election. A fierce critic of concentrated wealth and the power of trusts and monopolies, Bryan’s pro-labor policies appeal to steelworkers like Mike Dobrejcak.

An Irish labor organizer, Burke is president of the nascent Braddock steelworkers union. Alongside Dobie and Steve Gralji, he petitions Flack to recognize an independent steelworkers’ union in the Braddock steelworks.

A union organizer associate of Dobie and Burke, Gralji almost single-handedly organizes the Number 3 rail mill.

One of two union representatives from the Braddock mill’s Maintenance Department, Hagerty is a sturdy, pugnacious Irishman with nine children.

Mr. Todd is Dobie’s Maintenance Department boss in the Braddock mill.

An official for the city of Braddock who collaborates with Flack to oppose the union in the Braddock mill.

Agatha is a former schoolteacher and Mary’s roommate at the Cresson Sanitarium. She suffers from a hemorrhage and tells Mary endless stories about her fiancé, Walt Button.

Walt is Agatha Holloway’s fiancé. He is a partner in an automotive agency and garage in Uniontown.

A ruthless Pennsylvania state trooper notorious for violently resisting unionizing steelworkers.

The Dexters are a wealthy American family who employ Mary, Alice, and Anna Kracha at different times to look after their children.

Lad is the son of the Dexter family whom Mary watches over. His nickname stands for “Lawrence Allan Dexter.” While still a young man, he is killed in an airplane crash in Florida.

A real-life socialist politician and trade unionist from Indiana. He was one of the founders of the Industrial Workers of the World and ran for president as a socialist candidate five times. Mike Dobrejcak votes for Debs in the 1912 presidential election.

The 31st president of the United States who served from 1929-1933. He was a member of the Republican Party.

Dr. Kralik is a Slovak doctor in Braddock who tends to members of the Kracha family. He diagnoses Mary and Pauline with both Spanish influenza and consumption and recommends they go to the sanitarium.

The 25th president of the United States who served from 1897-1901. He was a member of the Republican Party. During his second term in office, an anarchist named Leon Czolgosz assassinated McKinley.

A wealthy financier and banker, in 1901 Morgan purchased the Carnegie Steel Corporation from Andrew Carnegie to form the United States Steel Corporation.

Zuska Mihula’s sister who takes in sister and her children after the death of Zuska’s husband, John Mihula.

The 27th president of the United States who served from 1909-1913. He was a member of the Republican Party.

The 26th president of the United States who served from 1901-1909. He was a member of the Republican Party and during the election of 1912, ran as the presidential candidate for the Progressive “Bull Moose” Party.

A young employee at Kracha’s butcher shop.

A local girl in Braddock who wants to go steady with Mike, but he rejects her for Mary.

Alice’s husband and Chuck’s father.

The son of Alice and Frank Koval.

The first child of Dorta and Andrej Sedlar.

The second child of Dorta and Andrej Sedlar.

A widower whom Agnes marries.