1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:06,920 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. Everybody. Today's classic is a much requested listener favorite. 2 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:10,280 Speaker 1: It's the Radium Girls and this episode came out in 3 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: September from PASS hosts Sarah and Bablina, and it was 4 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:17,919 Speaker 1: rerun about a year later, and since that time, the 5 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 1: Radium Girls have made headlines a couple of other times. 6 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: One of the last surviving Radium Girls, May Keen, died 7 00:00:25,720 --> 00:00:28,200 Speaker 1: at the age of a hundred and seven, and Mabel 8 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: May Williams, another of the last Radium Girls, died in 9 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: at the age of a hundred and four. So let's 10 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:40,440 Speaker 1: get to it. Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History 11 00:00:40,479 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 1: Class from how Stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome 12 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:53,240 Speaker 1: to the podcast. I'm Deblina Chok reboarding and I'm scared 13 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: out and we're just gearing up for our long Labor 14 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 1: Day weekend. But by the time this episode airs, that 15 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 1: will already have passed and a labor related memorial should 16 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:05,640 Speaker 1: have been unveiled in a town called Ottawa, Illinois. And 17 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: the memorial, which was unveiled Friday, September two, is a 18 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:12,200 Speaker 1: statue of a woman holding flowers in one hand and 19 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 1: paint brushes in the other and it's meant to symbolize 20 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: the women who worked for the Ottawa based Luminous Processes 21 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,679 Speaker 1: factory and there they painted watch and clock dials in 22 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:24,959 Speaker 1: the early twentieth century. And they were women who ended 23 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:28,440 Speaker 1: up getting serious radiation poisoning as a result of their jobs. 24 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:31,560 Speaker 1: And I'm not sure how much national media attention this 25 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:34,679 Speaker 1: memorial and it's unveiling are going to receive. It was 26 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:38,280 Speaker 1: conceived of by a young lady named Madeline Pillar, who 27 00:01:38,319 --> 00:01:41,839 Speaker 1: actually came up with this idea for the memorial after 28 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: doing a junior high history project. How about that. Yeah, 29 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 1: her dad is a sculptor, and she did this project 30 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: and kind of couldn't get this woman out of her 31 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 1: head and proposed the idea of doing a memorial to them. 32 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: And they raised all this money. But we're not sure. 33 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:57,120 Speaker 1: I haven't seen that many news stories about it. I 34 00:01:57,160 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 1: just randomly kind of stumbled upon it. But the story 35 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: of the women who came to be known as the 36 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: Radium Girls actually became a media sensation in the nineties 37 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:08,760 Speaker 1: and the nineteen thirties. Yeah, they certainly deserve a monument. 38 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:12,360 Speaker 1: And it wasn't just an Illinois based story either, because 39 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: workers a factories in Connecticut and New Jersey were really 40 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:19,080 Speaker 1: in the same boat. In fact, it was a story 41 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: coming out of New Jersey that first brought this issue, 42 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:26,360 Speaker 1: this radium poisoning issue, to the public's attention in the 43 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 1: first place. And that's the story that we're going to 44 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: focus on today in the podcast, And we're gonna just 45 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:35,880 Speaker 1: sort of take a look at the historical circumstances in 46 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: working conditions that led to these women getting radiation poisoning 47 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 1: in the first place, because you're probably gonna wonder pretty 48 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: quickly how something like this could happen. Yeah, and we're 49 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:47,799 Speaker 1: also going to take a look at how they came 50 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:50,240 Speaker 1: to be known as the Radium Girls and their struggle 51 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:53,240 Speaker 1: for justice that led to some workplace reforms in the end, 52 00:02:53,280 --> 00:02:55,080 Speaker 1: so kind of try to put a positive spin on 53 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:58,600 Speaker 1: what is ultimately a very sad story. But before we 54 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 1: can talk about the Radium Girl, so we need to 55 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:02,640 Speaker 1: take a closer look at the element that's at the 56 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:05,440 Speaker 1: heart of their story, and that is, of course radium, 57 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 1: literally the element very good pun to blainess. So we're 58 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 1: going to be talking about radium, of course, but that 59 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 1: also gives us the chance to talk about one of 60 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: our most frequently requested podcast subjects Polish born scientists and 61 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: Nobel Prize winner Marie Curry. And this isn't a podcast 62 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: on her, it's not a profile on her, but she 63 00:03:25,639 --> 00:03:29,360 Speaker 1: is an important character in it, mostly because she discovered 64 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:34,960 Speaker 1: radium in eighteen and radioactivity was still pretty new at 65 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: that time. It was not well understood. The German physicist 66 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:42,200 Speaker 1: Wilhelm Konrad ren Gen had just discovered X rays back 67 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: in and just a few weeks after that discovery, and 68 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: rebekr l had identified radioactivity during experiments with uranium salts. 69 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 1: So when Marie Carey made her discovery, all of this 70 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: stuff was kind of floating around and kind of new science, 71 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 1: and people were really fascinated by it, and Curie was 72 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:03,360 Speaker 1: one of them. She was really fascinated, especially by Beckerrel's 73 00:04:03,400 --> 00:04:05,960 Speaker 1: findings because not that much attention were given to them 74 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: at the time. So she started experimenting with pitch blend, 75 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: which was which is a shiny tar like byproduct of mining. 76 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: That eventually led she and her husband Pierre to isolate 77 00:04:17,360 --> 00:04:20,640 Speaker 1: two new chemical elements, polonium and the one we're focusing 78 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:24,839 Speaker 1: on today, which is radium. It was radioactive, it seemed 79 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:28,240 Speaker 1: to pulse with spontaneous energy. And the other cool thing 80 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:30,680 Speaker 1: about radium was that it glowed in the dark. Yeah, 81 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:33,240 Speaker 1: that certainly seemed to be a selling point for it, 82 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:35,840 Speaker 1: as we'll see, But by this time people had started 83 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:40,159 Speaker 1: to realize that even though radiation was invisible, it did 84 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 1: have strong powers. They could cause injury. Scientists were exposed 85 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:47,719 Speaker 1: to enlarge doses and they suffered from skin burns and 86 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 1: hair loss. So clearly this element could do something. But 87 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:56,560 Speaker 1: this also cluded physicians into the possibilities that radiation held 88 00:04:56,600 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: for treating cancer. Something that's powerful could potentially fight something 89 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: that was hurting people as well as burn them or 90 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 1: injure them. Yeah, So it was that potential, and along 91 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: with those kind of magical glowy properties that it had 92 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:14,359 Speaker 1: that gave it this reputation as a wonder substance. Pretty 93 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:17,120 Speaker 1: much from the get go, people thought it could cure 94 00:05:17,200 --> 00:05:21,360 Speaker 1: everything from arthritis to diabetes, not just cancer, and an 95 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:25,440 Speaker 1: entire radium industry grew out of that belief. Some form 96 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:28,279 Speaker 1: of the word radium was actually incorporated into a lot 97 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:31,359 Speaker 1: of brand names, whether the products actually contained radium or 98 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:34,680 Speaker 1: it was funny, Yeah, but a lot of products had 99 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 1: radium added in them, including toothpaste, hair tonic, bath salts, lotions, 100 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 1: heating pads, and male pouches. Do you know what male pouches? 101 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:47,880 Speaker 1: Because you told me that it's it's your job to 102 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:52,760 Speaker 1: tell listeners they were condoms, So those also contained radium 103 00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:56,760 Speaker 1: or some but radium or raid on laced water was 104 00:05:56,800 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: probably one of the most widely touted products, and it 105 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:02,240 Speaker 1: was called with sunshine because people thought that this was 106 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:05,880 Speaker 1: some sort of magical elixir that could like extend your 107 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:09,480 Speaker 1: youth and make you healthy. And one brand in particular 108 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 1: was called Rata Thor. You read about this a lot. 109 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:14,360 Speaker 1: It was a popular brand of radioactive water, and doctors 110 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 1: would give it to patients as a tonic. Really doesn't 111 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,200 Speaker 1: sound good. It doesn't. It doesn't sound good to us now, 112 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: but maybe it would have back then. I don't know, 113 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:23,360 Speaker 1: And you and I were talking about it. It makes 114 00:06:23,400 --> 00:06:26,800 Speaker 1: you kind of concerned. What are we drinking or consuming 115 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: now that will sound as horrible and ridiculous as radium 116 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:34,400 Speaker 1: laced tonic in the future. I mean, gosh, yeah, I 117 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:37,080 Speaker 1: kind of don't want to know. Maybe I should, But 118 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: but radium's use went beyond just personal and health products. 119 00:06:40,640 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 1: To write in nineteen o two, radium was isolated into 120 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,599 Speaker 1: pure metal, and Marie Cury was involved with that as well, 121 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:51,240 Speaker 1: And soon after American electrical engineer William J. Hammer created 122 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: a radium treated paint which had the trade name Undark, 123 00:06:55,400 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 1: that when applied to things, would make them glow in 124 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:00,279 Speaker 1: the dark. So this was used on scientific inst events 125 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 1: and things like that. It was expensive to do, but 126 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 1: it became really significant during World War One, especially when 127 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:10,040 Speaker 1: people realize the advantage of applying this to military instruments. 128 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:13,000 Speaker 1: You're in a dark trench and you can actually read 129 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: your watch or read your instrument exactly. So that's where 130 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 1: our story about the Radium girls really begins. So between 131 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:24,040 Speaker 1: nineteen seventeen and nineteen nine, hundreds of young women got 132 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:30,520 Speaker 1: jobs applying radium treated paint too watches, to aircraft controls, clocks, 133 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: and compass spaces in factories in states like Illinois and 134 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: New Jersey, Connecticut, uh, even Long Island factories were owned 135 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 1: by a big corporation, even though they were in different 136 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:45,240 Speaker 1: parts of the country. It was the US Radium Corporation. 137 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:48,320 Speaker 1: And for the young women getting these jobs, it seems 138 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:51,440 Speaker 1: like a pretty great opportunity, mostly because it paid a 139 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:54,360 Speaker 1: lot better than other factory jobs at the time more 140 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:57,360 Speaker 1: than three times as much. It was about eighteen dollars 141 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 1: per week instead of five dollars per week. They got 142 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 1: paid about a penny and a half per dial they painted, 143 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: and they would paint about two fifty dials a day, 144 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:10,200 Speaker 1: so a pretty good job. And the work didn't seem 145 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:13,880 Speaker 1: too treacherous either, at least for the time. The women 146 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 1: sat together at these long tables with racks of dials, 147 00:08:17,840 --> 00:08:21,440 Speaker 1: and they would paint the faces sitting next to them 148 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:25,280 Speaker 1: and um mix up this concoction of glue and water 149 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 1: and radium powder into a glowing greenish white paint and 150 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:32,920 Speaker 1: then use their little camel hair brushes to apply the 151 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:35,720 Speaker 1: paint to the dial numbers. So it sounds kind of social, 152 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:39,960 Speaker 1: kind of artistic in a way. A pretty nice job. Yeah. 153 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:42,960 Speaker 1: As they were painting these dial numbers, though, after a 154 00:08:43,000 --> 00:08:46,040 Speaker 1: few strokes the brushes, those camel hair brushes they were 155 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:49,199 Speaker 1: using would lose their shape and the women couldn't paint 156 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 1: as accurately. So their supervisors had kind of a solution 157 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:55,040 Speaker 1: for this. They told them to point the brushes with 158 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:57,640 Speaker 1: their lips, and according to an article in the journal 159 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:01,440 Speaker 1: American History, some women later quoted, the bosses are saying, quote, 160 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:04,320 Speaker 1: not to worry if you swallow any radium, it'll make 161 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:07,560 Speaker 1: your cheeks rosy. So Grace Friar was one of seventy 162 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:09,840 Speaker 1: young women who started working at a factory like this 163 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:13,360 Speaker 1: an orange New Jersey in the spring of nineteen seventeen. 164 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:17,240 Speaker 1: Later about the brushes, she said, quote, I think I 165 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:20,120 Speaker 1: pointed mine with my lips about six times to every 166 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 1: watch style. It didn't taste funny, it didn't have any taste, 167 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: and I didn't know it was harmful. To add to matters, 168 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:31,439 Speaker 1: the workers really had fun with this, licking the brushes 169 00:09:31,559 --> 00:09:33,760 Speaker 1: with the radium on it. They'd paint their nails and 170 00:09:33,800 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 1: their teeth to sort of amuse each other and surprise 171 00:09:36,960 --> 00:09:40,000 Speaker 1: their boyfriends when the lights would go out. Friar even 172 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:44,080 Speaker 1: remembers that after she'd blow her nose, her handkerchief would 173 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 1: glow in the dark with this radium residue. But they 174 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:49,959 Speaker 1: just all have a good laugh about it, go back 175 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: to work, keep up licking those brushes and and keep painting. Yeah, 176 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:57,360 Speaker 1: they didn't have any indication that it was hurting them 177 00:09:57,400 --> 00:10:00,680 Speaker 1: in Friar quit the factory to take a better job 178 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:03,400 Speaker 1: as a bank teller, But only two years later she 179 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:07,240 Speaker 1: started having some major problems. Her teeth started falling out 180 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:10,880 Speaker 1: and she developed painful abscesses in her jaw. She got 181 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:13,840 Speaker 1: X rayed and it showed that she had such severe 182 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:16,920 Speaker 1: bone decay. The many doctors and dennis that she went 183 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:18,839 Speaker 1: to to try to figure out what was going on, 184 00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:21,520 Speaker 1: they said that they had never seen anything like it. 185 00:10:21,559 --> 00:10:25,959 Speaker 1: They've never seen bone decay to that degree. In July nine, 186 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:29,760 Speaker 1: one doctor finally suggested that her problems might have been 187 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:31,960 Speaker 1: caused by her former job as a dial painter. And 188 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:34,560 Speaker 1: I think the delay there is is pretty remarkable. So 189 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:37,560 Speaker 1: it was nineteen two when she started having these symptoms. 190 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:40,840 Speaker 1: It's not till nineteen five when somebody says, this looks 191 00:10:40,880 --> 00:10:44,760 Speaker 1: like it's radium poisoning. And it turned out that Friar 192 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:48,240 Speaker 1: wasn't the only former dial maker having issues. I guess 193 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:50,000 Speaker 1: we can just assume that it took that long for 194 00:10:50,320 --> 00:10:53,360 Speaker 1: word to spread among the medical community what was going on. 195 00:10:53,480 --> 00:10:56,400 Speaker 1: But at the request of the Orange City Health Department, 196 00:10:56,440 --> 00:11:00,319 Speaker 1: the National Consumers League, which was an organization that fought 197 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:04,199 Speaker 1: for safe workplaces and reasonable wages and decent working hours, 198 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:09,080 Speaker 1: started an investigation on these suspicious deaths of four radium 199 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:13,480 Speaker 1: factory workers between nineteen and nineteen twenty four. So right 200 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:16,600 Speaker 1: around that time that Friar is realizing what's wrong with her, 201 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:20,480 Speaker 1: other people are realizing something's going on here. Yeah, the 202 00:11:20,520 --> 00:11:23,960 Speaker 1: cause of death for these other four radium factory workers 203 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:28,360 Speaker 1: was listed as things like phosphorus poisoning, mouth ulcers, and syphilis. 204 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:32,040 Speaker 1: But the factory workers thought that the paint ingredients did 205 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:34,840 Speaker 1: have something to do with it. So New Jersey Consumer 206 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:38,599 Speaker 1: League chairman Catherine Wiley consulted some experts. She brought in 207 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:41,480 Speaker 1: a statistician, and she went to Harvard and consulted some people, 208 00:11:41,480 --> 00:11:43,640 Speaker 1: and she found out when she was talking to people 209 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:48,000 Speaker 1: at Harvard that a few years earlier, physiology professor Cecil 210 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:50,960 Speaker 1: Drinker had been asked to study the working conditions at 211 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:53,840 Speaker 1: US Radium and report back to the company. So somebody 212 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:57,120 Speaker 1: had already been looking into this before it even came 213 00:11:57,160 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: to their attention, and Drinker found out that pretty much 214 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:03,320 Speaker 1: the hire workforce that US Radium was contaminated. They had 215 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:07,520 Speaker 1: strange blood conditions, and several workers had advanced radium necrosis. 216 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:10,960 Speaker 1: So Drinker made suggestions at that point, and as of 217 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:14,400 Speaker 1: June I think that's when his report came out, and 218 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 1: he suggested that they make changes that would protect the workers. 219 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:20,520 Speaker 1: But Arthur Rhoder, who was president of US Radium at 220 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:23,680 Speaker 1: the time, he resisted this, and furthermore, he refused to 221 00:12:23,679 --> 00:12:26,920 Speaker 1: give drink Or permission to publish his findings, saying that 222 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 1: Drinker had agreed to confidentiality and that he wasn't allowed to. 223 00:12:38,679 --> 00:12:41,400 Speaker 1: So it actually turned out later they found out that 224 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:45,079 Speaker 1: Rhodor had been circulating a false report under Drinker's name. 225 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: It was basically his report, but it said, oh, there's 226 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,280 Speaker 1: no harm here, there's no problem with the radium that's 227 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:53,080 Speaker 1: used in in the paint, and why he didn't want 228 00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:56,400 Speaker 1: Drinker to publish the real report exactly. But to be honest, 229 00:12:56,440 --> 00:12:59,760 Speaker 1: Drinker's report wasn't the only thing out there that indicated 230 00:12:59,800 --> 00:13:02,000 Speaker 1: that radium was a hazard. There were There was also 231 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:05,080 Speaker 1: scientific and medical literature, some of the dating back as 232 00:13:05,120 --> 00:13:08,360 Speaker 1: far as nineteen o six that contained plenty of information 233 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:11,560 Speaker 1: about the hazards of radium, even one of US Radium's 234 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:15,160 Speaker 1: own publications, And that's the part I think is really surprising. 235 00:13:15,840 --> 00:13:18,400 Speaker 1: It was distributed to hospitals and doctors offices, and it 236 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:22,360 Speaker 1: contained a section with dozens of references. This report was 237 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:26,280 Speaker 1: called Radium Dangers dash Injurious Effects, and so it was 238 00:13:26,320 --> 00:13:28,720 Speaker 1: out there they knew what was going on the entire time, 239 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:32,920 Speaker 1: from the same company encouraging their workers to moisten their brushes. Yeah, 240 00:13:32,960 --> 00:13:34,640 Speaker 1: and too, I guess to be fair, we don't know 241 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:37,400 Speaker 1: that the supervisors on the floor actually knew that there 242 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:40,559 Speaker 1: were dangers, but it became pretty clear the company as 243 00:13:40,559 --> 00:13:45,040 Speaker 1: a whole did, though, So the consumer leagues wildly tried 244 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:48,880 Speaker 1: to get us Radium to pay for the medical expenses 245 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:51,040 Speaker 1: for Friar and for the other workers who were ill, 246 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:55,000 Speaker 1: but the company insisted that radium was not to blame, 247 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: and it went beyond that though, and launched this campaign 248 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:02,199 Speaker 1: of misinformation, and they tried to tarnish the women workers 249 00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:06,199 Speaker 1: reputations by saying that the problem wasn't radium, it was 250 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:10,680 Speaker 1: actually that they had syphilis. And in n when Friar 251 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:15,160 Speaker 1: started exploring radium as a cause for her illness, a 252 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:19,440 Speaker 1: Columbia University doctor named Frederick Flynn, who said that he 253 00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:23,000 Speaker 1: was referred to her by friends, asked to examine her 254 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:25,320 Speaker 1: and he found her health to be quote as good 255 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:28,600 Speaker 1: as my own. Later, though, Fryar found out that Flynn 256 00:14:28,680 --> 00:14:32,320 Speaker 1: wasn't even a medical doctor. He was an industrial toxicologist 257 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:35,640 Speaker 1: on contract with US Radium. So it became pretty clear 258 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:39,280 Speaker 1: that almost from the get go US Radium had been 259 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:45,160 Speaker 1: acting um shady about covering up the effects of the element. Yeah, 260 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:47,600 Speaker 1: and we should say that although Flynn wasn't a doctor, 261 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:49,320 Speaker 1: I mean, as you pointed out earlier, it took a 262 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:52,680 Speaker 1: long time for doctors to kind of you mean, you 263 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:55,360 Speaker 1: mentioned catching on to the fact that these women had 264 00:14:55,360 --> 00:14:58,160 Speaker 1: had radium for their teeth falling out had something to 265 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:00,320 Speaker 1: do with it, right, But I think part of it 266 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:03,160 Speaker 1: was also that they didn't want to Radium had so 267 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:06,240 Speaker 1: much promise. They didn't want to admit that maybe this 268 00:15:06,280 --> 00:15:09,600 Speaker 1: wonder element that they had found also had some negative 269 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:11,720 Speaker 1: effects because they were afraid it would keep people from 270 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:15,560 Speaker 1: accepting the positive effects that radium could have and just 271 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:19,200 Speaker 1: give it a bad name essentially. Right. So Friar did 272 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:22,240 Speaker 1: decide to sue US Radium in NI, but it took 273 00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:24,200 Speaker 1: her two years to find an attorney who was willing 274 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:27,960 Speaker 1: to take her case. On May eighteenth, ninety seven, though 275 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:31,200 Speaker 1: Raymond Barry, who was a young Newark attorney, took the 276 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:33,720 Speaker 1: case on contingency and filed a lawsuit in a New 277 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:37,200 Speaker 1: Jersey court on her behalf, and pretty much right away, 278 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:40,520 Speaker 1: four other women with severe medical problems joined the lawsuit. 279 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:44,920 Speaker 1: Their names were Edma Husman, Catherine Shobe, and two sisters 280 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 1: also Quentin McDonald and Albina Larisse. And as the case 281 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:52,520 Speaker 1: started to grow into a huge media sensation, the press 282 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:54,920 Speaker 1: in the US and Europe soon dubbed the five women 283 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,640 Speaker 1: the Radium Girls. So that's where the name comes from. 284 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 1: So the Radium Girls were looking for two hundred and 285 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:04,960 Speaker 1: fifty thou dollars in compensation for medical expenses and pain 286 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:08,360 Speaker 1: for each of them. But first there was this legal 287 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: obstacle in New Jersey's law that they had to get by. 288 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:15,880 Speaker 1: It was two year statute of limitations. But the lawyer, 289 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:19,480 Speaker 1: Raymond Barry, argued that the statute applied from the moment 290 00:16:19,520 --> 00:16:21,880 Speaker 1: the women learned about the source of their problems, not 291 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:24,560 Speaker 1: from the date they quit working for the factory, since, 292 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 1: as we've discussed, that took quite some time. He also 293 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:32,680 Speaker 1: said that US Radium's campaign of misinformation was the reason 294 00:16:32,720 --> 00:16:35,400 Speaker 1: the women weren't informed in the first place, and the 295 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:38,520 Speaker 1: reason why they didn't take legal action within the statute 296 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:44,320 Speaker 1: of limitations. So maybe Radium's fake doctor sort of complicated 297 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 1: matters here. Definitely. Whillas was going on, though, medical examiners 298 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:51,520 Speaker 1: kept looking into the situation. Medical examiners from New Jersey 299 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:54,720 Speaker 1: and New York. They investigated the suspicious deaths of the 300 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:57,800 Speaker 1: plant workers, and in the process, a deceased sister of 301 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:01,760 Speaker 1: two of the Radium girls McDonald Lurie was exhumed on 302 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:07,239 Speaker 1: October sixteenth. Her name was Amelia Maggia, and she had 303 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:09,520 Speaker 1: also worked at the plant, and her bones were found 304 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:13,280 Speaker 1: to be highly radioactive. Her former dentist to tip them 305 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:15,520 Speaker 1: off on it. He actually had removed part of her 306 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:18,399 Speaker 1: jaw soon before she died because it had deteriorated to 307 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:22,560 Speaker 1: that point, and he kind of suspected that radium poisoning 308 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:24,920 Speaker 1: might be part of the issue radiation poisoning, and so 309 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:28,440 Speaker 1: they exhumed the body and found that he was correct. Yeah, 310 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:32,840 Speaker 1: So these investigations, the exhumation and all of that and 311 00:17:32,840 --> 00:17:36,880 Speaker 1: the legal maneuverings took up quite a bit of time, obviously, 312 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:39,040 Speaker 1: and in fact, it took up so much time that 313 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:45,200 Speaker 1: the first hearing didn't take place until January, and by 314 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:49,080 Speaker 1: that point the women's health had really deteriorated. Some of 315 00:17:49,119 --> 00:17:52,240 Speaker 1: them couldn't even raise their arms to take the oath. 316 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:56,280 Speaker 1: Of the two sisters we mentioned where bedridden Grace Friar 317 00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:59,080 Speaker 1: had lost all of her teeth and couldn't sit up 318 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:03,560 Speaker 1: without using a back Braith definitely couldn't walk um. But 319 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:08,239 Speaker 1: the severity of their conditions really affected people in the 320 00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:10,920 Speaker 1: courtroom when they did testify. When those who were able 321 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:13,840 Speaker 1: to testify, people in the courtroom were said to have 322 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:24,560 Speaker 1: wept when they when they watched them. Just an example 323 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:28,200 Speaker 1: of one of their testimonies. Edna Husband's testimony included details 324 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:31,440 Speaker 1: about her financial troubles which were caused by the medical 325 00:18:31,440 --> 00:18:34,480 Speaker 1: bills that she had, and she said, quote, I cannot 326 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:37,480 Speaker 1: even keep my little house or bungalow. I know I 327 00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:39,800 Speaker 1: will not live much longer. For now, I cannot sleep 328 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:42,879 Speaker 1: at night for the pains. So, of course everyone was 329 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:46,800 Speaker 1: fascinated with the story, and it was everywhere. Even Marie 330 00:18:46,840 --> 00:18:49,199 Speaker 1: Curie heard about it, and she was really surprised to 331 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:52,200 Speaker 1: learn how the factory workers had been handling radium on 332 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:55,639 Speaker 1: on the job. Referring to the radium girl, she said, quote, 333 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:58,760 Speaker 1: I see no hope for them. My experiments with radium 334 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:01,320 Speaker 1: convinced me that if always In has taken, if the 335 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:05,159 Speaker 1: poison sorry is taken internally, it is practically impossible to 336 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:08,840 Speaker 1: destroy it. So, you know, just an aside here. Many 337 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:10,679 Speaker 1: of you may know this, but Curie herself died in 338 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:15,080 Speaker 1: four of complications resulting from long term radium exposure. Also, 339 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:18,280 Speaker 1: but even then, with with Curie saying that she saw 340 00:19:18,320 --> 00:19:21,640 Speaker 1: no hope for them, with the Radium girls visibly deteriorating 341 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: and public sympathy pouring in, US Radium didn't hesitate to 342 00:19:26,359 --> 00:19:29,560 Speaker 1: try to still delay the legal proceedings as much as 343 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:32,920 Speaker 1: they possibly could, so after a hearing in April, the 344 00:19:33,000 --> 00:19:37,600 Speaker 1: judge granted the defense a five month adjournment, and Barry 345 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:40,120 Speaker 1: tried to remind the judge that the women might not 346 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:44,520 Speaker 1: last those five months, not survive until September. And he 347 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:47,399 Speaker 1: even found lawyers with cases that we're going to be 348 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:49,480 Speaker 1: tried in less than a month who were willing to 349 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:52,960 Speaker 1: switch dates with him, but US Radium absolutely refused, said 350 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:56,320 Speaker 1: that their witnesses we're not going to be ready. They 351 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:59,439 Speaker 1: weren't going to be available until that five month window 352 00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:03,800 Speaker 1: was is up. Yeah, so what ended ultimately helping them 353 00:20:03,840 --> 00:20:06,320 Speaker 1: move the trial up was the power of the press, 354 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:09,879 Speaker 1: in particular Walter Littman of The New York World, and 355 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:12,000 Speaker 1: he helped kind of speed things along. The New York 356 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:14,439 Speaker 1: World was a really influential paper at the time, and 357 00:20:14,520 --> 00:20:17,280 Speaker 1: Littmann had written a number of editorials about the Radium Girls. 358 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:21,400 Speaker 1: When he wrote on May tenth, night was particularly scathing. 359 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:24,640 Speaker 1: He called the delay a quote damnable travesty of justice 360 00:20:24,680 --> 00:20:28,320 Speaker 1: and said that if ever a case called for prompt adjudication, 361 00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:31,040 Speaker 1: it is the case of five crippled women who are 362 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:33,720 Speaker 1: fighting for a few miserable dollars to ease their last 363 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:37,719 Speaker 1: days on earth. And those editorials, combined with the public 364 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:41,120 Speaker 1: outrage they caused, and the efforts of Barry and others 365 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:44,160 Speaker 1: altogether helped convince the New Jersey court system to change 366 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:48,480 Speaker 1: the trial day to early June. But just days before 367 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:51,639 Speaker 1: the trial, the Radium Girls ended up settling out of court. 368 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:55,840 Speaker 1: They got ten thousand dollars each, coverage of their medical 369 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:59,480 Speaker 1: expenses and a six hundred dollar annuity until death, so 370 00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:02,840 Speaker 1: much less than they were hoping for in the end. Yeah, 371 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:05,760 Speaker 1: but at least it was something before they passed away, 372 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:10,200 Speaker 1: because some of them did start dying from their condition 373 00:21:10,280 --> 00:21:13,440 Speaker 1: pretty quickly after that. McDonald died in nineteen twenty nine 374 00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:17,200 Speaker 1: at age thirty four, Friar died at age thirty four, 375 00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:21,080 Speaker 1: and Shob died at age thirty in nineteen thirty three, 376 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:24,560 Speaker 1: and Husman died in nineteen thirty nine at age thirty seven. 377 00:21:24,640 --> 00:21:28,399 Speaker 1: One lived for quite some time after it. Larisse she 378 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:31,959 Speaker 1: died in nineteen forty six at age fifty one. But 379 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:35,440 Speaker 1: it's a really sad story anyway you look at it, 380 00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:38,360 Speaker 1: But there is a silver lining the reason why we're 381 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 1: covering this for Labor Day. They did make some strides 382 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:46,720 Speaker 1: for workers. Industry safety standards were enhanced, and the Radium 383 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:49,600 Speaker 1: Girls set a precedent in case law for the right 384 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:53,840 Speaker 1: of individual workers to soothe their employers for damages caused 385 00:21:53,840 --> 00:21:57,159 Speaker 1: by labor abuse. And of course it made people aware 386 00:21:57,160 --> 00:22:00,280 Speaker 1: of the dangers of radium. New tolerance levels were for 387 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:03,960 Speaker 1: workers and for researchers. And as for some of the 388 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:07,560 Speaker 1: products that we talked about earlier, the FTC issued a 389 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:10,840 Speaker 1: cease and desist order against the manufacturer of the product 390 00:22:10,960 --> 00:22:17,200 Speaker 1: Rati Thor in which tonic liquid sunshine exactly that magical elick, Sir. 391 00:22:17,680 --> 00:22:19,920 Speaker 1: And they found that it contained enough radium to kill 392 00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:22,679 Speaker 1: the people who drank it regularly. And of course the 393 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:25,760 Speaker 1: Radium Girls are not forgotten. There have been poems, books, 394 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:29,400 Speaker 1: and plays written about them. And now there's that memorial 395 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:32,880 Speaker 1: to that we mentioned earlier in Illinois. So so we're 396 00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:35,320 Speaker 1: speaking from the past. But maybe after this Labor Day 397 00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:38,520 Speaker 1: weekend we will go um check out photos of the 398 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,879 Speaker 1: unveiling of the memorial and and hope that something like 399 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:44,640 Speaker 1: this does get a little press for for Labor Day weekend. 400 00:22:51,320 --> 00:22:54,760 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us for this Saturday classic. 401 00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:57,240 Speaker 1: Since this is out of the archive, if you heard 402 00:22:57,280 --> 00:22:59,600 Speaker 1: an email address or a Facebook U r L or 403 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:02,440 Speaker 1: something similar during the course of the show, that may 404 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:05,800 Speaker 1: be obsolete now, so here is our current contact information. 405 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,040 Speaker 1: We are at History Podcasts at how stuff works dot com, 406 00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:11,920 Speaker 1: and then we're at Missed in the History. All over 407 00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:16,080 Speaker 1: social media that is our name on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, 408 00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:22,240 Speaker 1: and Instagram. Thanks again for listening. For more on this 409 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:31,840 Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.