Girls as young as 11 hired at Radium Dial
Despite employment ads stating a minimum age of 18, some painters at Radium Dial in Ottawa, Illinois were as young as 11 years old.
Where this was said
Illinois: The Radium Dial Company and Peg Looney
At 51:08 · chapter starts 49:40
While Molly Maggia was dying in New Jersey, hundreds of young women in Ottawa, Illinois were lining up for jobs at the Radium Dial Company, which used identical techniques and identical lies. Despite a stated minimum hiring age of 18, some painters at Radium Dial were as young as 11 years old [1] — Alaina Urquhart "Girls as young as 11 hired at Radium Dial: Despite employment ads stating a minimum age of 18, some painters at Radium Dial in Ottawa, Illi…" 51:08 . The Illinois girls became local celebrities too — glowing at dances, bringing paint vials home to entertain family with glowing fingernails and eyelids. Peg Looney, hired at 17, was told the paint would make her beautiful. Within years, her jaw was falling apart. In 1928 she collapsed at work; the company rushed her to their own company hospital, barred her family from visiting, and told them she had diphtheria. Peg died at 24. When her family arranged for an autopsy to be witnessed by her own doctor, they arrived to find it had already been performed — and the company declared it diphtheria.
Peg Looney: Quarantined by the Company, Dead at 24
When Peg Looney collapsed at work at Radium Dial in 1928, the company rushed her to their own hospital, barred her family from visiting, and told them she had diphtheria. She died at 24. When her family insisted on a Catholic burial and scheduled an autopsy, they arrived to find it had already been performed — and the company declared she had died of diphtheria.
The Radium Girls File Suit: Five Women Against a Corporation
In 1927, Grace Fryer and four other dying Radium Girls filed a landmark lawsuit against U.S. Radium for $125,000 — after two years of searching for a lawyer willing to take the case. By the time of the hearing, none of the five could raise their arms to take an oath. The company's lawyers responded by asking for a delay because their witnesses were on vacation in Europe.
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