Katherine compiled a list of all the women who worked with her in the factory who had either gotten sick or died. The dial painters’ cases were combined to avoid any duplicate tes - timonies assigned to the Court of Chancery. The trial date was set for January 12, 1928, and the goal for the women was for the court to rule that the company was to blame for their tremendous con - ditions (Moore 417-428). USRC agreed to provide $15,000 to each woman, a pension of $600 a year for life, past/future medical
Women working at a factory of the United States Radium Corportation, 1922. Wikimedia Commons/public domain
expenses, and USRC covering all court costs. However, the women had to be exam - ined each month and if they were no longer suffering from radium poisoning, the monthly payments would cease (Moore 227). Katherine Schaub unfortunately discov- ered a sarcoma in her leg and then had to wear a metal brace indefinitely. Her mental health took a turn for the worse, leading her to drink and refuse some of the treat - ments. As her diagnosis sinks in, her physical and mental health deteriorates, and she is committed to a hospital later that year (Moore 273). There were serval other similar cases around this time with women in Ottawa. In 1927, Ella Cruse, a mid-twenties female who had worked in a radium dial factory, started to develop aches in her jaw and body. Within a matter of days, she developed a painful pimple on her cheek that grew to become so enormous that she became confined to her bed and died shortly after from “Streptococcic poisoning” (Moore 188). Another case was with Catherine Donohue. She and her friends Marie and Charlotte expressed their experiences and suspected their illnesses were due to the paint. Catherine was further examined by Doctor Charles Loffler, in an informal clinic set up in a local hotel. In 1938, they decided to go to court with an attorney named Leonard Grossman. Grossman’s main focus was representing the poor and women. Because
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