Evening star., 1928-05-13
) WOMEN DYING
OF RAD|UM POISON
Follow Usual Lives as They
Await End From Incur
able MaIady.
Sncciai nspatch 10 The Star and North
A,,,n,.i.,nt, NnNNsnaIhnr AllianNn


were dying. that there was no escape,
that though you might be going about
your affairs today as usual, nothing
could be done to save you?
Would these soft May days, the last
May you might ever see. find you panic
struck and helpless with horror? Or
would you greet each Spring mornns
with courageous determination TO make
the most of what was left---to plan
ahead a little way, to so to the movies,
70 shop. to lead your normal life?
Five Women Face Death.
Five young women who live in
Newark. or its suburbs, have this prob
lem before them. They are under SEN
tence of death by disease which they
have been told cannot be cured, with
each day bringing the end swiftly
nearer.
Medical experts have found that the
bodies of these girls contain radium.
which is gradually destroying their bone
and tissue. without any palliative the
CHASTITY evidence has been piled up be-
fore then in a court where the five are
pressing joint suit for 81 ,2S0,0o0 DAM
ages.
They have heard the reading of ten
death certificates of former co-worKers
in a factory where all of them painted
luminous watch dialS. alternately wet
ting the brushes with their lips ana
thrlsting them into compound con-
tanning radium and zinc sulphide. The
certificates agreed upon this cause:
''Pernicious anemia, probably second
ary to exposure TO radioactive SUD-
stances"
Doctors testified that symptoms Of
disease in the dead and in the living
were shockingly similar.
Keeping Up the Routine.
After this the case was adjourned
went home. Went home to do what?
To do the housework. to do the usual
things in so far as their condition
permitted, and to think their own
thoughts.
When they contracted the disease
four were minors and all five belonged
to the church and were devout by
nature. If they go to church more
now it is partly because church-going
is less of a tax on them physically
than almost anything else.
The longest journey any OF them
has made of late was that OF MISS
katherine Schaub. I24 South Seventh
street. Newark She attended the
cathedral conservation Of the new
Catholic bishop in the Newark do
ceSe.
Poetry Expresses Feeling.
Often Miss Schaub goes TO the Do
uinican Convent of the Perpetual
Alteration. She has tried to tell in
verse something of the comfort she
finds there:
within these cloister walls, my Lord,
Thou calmeSt the tempest Of my soul;
Mid terror. rent and ripped asunder,
My heart is mended, grace is born.
Once within these walls
I'll fear is banished from my soul.
Once more / feel it can be done,
That can reach the goal.
And il all else fails me.
] am glad just to be within these
walls
Which Thou has built for me-
Wants to Enjoy Spring.
The sunlight sheen is still on Miss
Schaubs blond hair, but her face is
the color of ashes and she keeps closing
her eyes and signing, because she Is
so tired
II can't tell just how I feel about
it." she says, because my mind
changes all the time. Sometimes l
feel sure the doctors are wrong. and
God won't let me die. Other times
shudder goes through me. I feel SO
old, too, and as IL never appreciated
life before. I want to enjoy the
Spring"
Unable to work anywhere outside OF
her home for two years, Miss Schaub
collapsed in court through inability TO
sit up straight for any length OF time,
yet she has stopped taking treatment
and never has taken such drastic meas
ureg for life as Miss Grace Fryer, 497
fremont avenue, Orange. the only MEM
Der Of the group now employed any
where.
rs Operations In Year.
Miss Fryer, an attractive girl with
dark eyes and curling dark hair, has a
position with the Fidelity Union Trust
Co, Newark. She goes 70 work daily.
although only a steel frame holds her
body erect She has had rs operations
on her Jaw In one year and the bone in
one arm is partly gone. The arm Is
useless.
4 am happier at work" says Miss
Fryer. II think it is good for me 70
be out in the air, and like TO be with
healthy people. II only l could catch
health the way ! caught this disease.
Three times a week go TO New YORK
for q tonic and treatment, and am
taking the best possible care Of myself
and being just as happy az ] can. i
won't give up"
Mrs. Edna Hussman. so Buchanan
street, Hillside, cannot walk on the
street without assistance, but she
answers the telephone and takes care
Of the house.
Going on Tin Same Old Way"
what the doctors said has fright
ene6 Ene into changing my way Of liy-
ing" she explained brayely. Il have
q good deal ri pain ard I'm crippled,
bit ag long as can I'll 20 on In the
aa1le old way because il is pieasanter
than any other.
In the evenings my husband takes
me out driving, and If there's no pain
~ the time I manage 10 forget. Re-
Ilgi0n7 1t seems more precious than
ever"
Religion ig a consolation. also 10 Mrs
Gulnt2 Mcdonald, 2sg Highland ave-
nue, Orange.
IL more Than ! used 10. she said "and
! try 10 live better than ! eyer did be-
fore. Hope for this Dfe2 Well, the
doctors say there isn't any. They call
IL hopeless. Just the same I'll neVel
give up. Permanently. ! mean, be-
cause occasionally ! % get very de-
pressed"
Mrs. McDonald'g arms and legs are
effected by the Fs6ium poisoning, and
she suffers fran spells of weakness. Bat
she continues ~ Keep house for her
family. There sTe two children.
Mrs Alicia LATIce. zs5 Austin street
Orange, IL the only one ~ the FIVE Whe
vas 0f sRe II the time of her employ
gnent IN painting watch dlals. she fse
been feeling much worse ot iate. One
Lex liz 4 inches shorter than the otheT