[ RadSafe ] Re: Last surviving Radium Girl celebrates 100th birthday

[Cehn at aol.com]

As an HP who grew up in Waterbury, CT (same as Mae Keane) I can offer some  
local color to this thread.  My uncle had a scrap metal business not far  from 
Waterbury Clock Co., and collected scrap metal from them.  I  would do a rad 
survey there, but his business is long gone.  Rumor has  it that a Waterbury 
Clock manager committed suicide after the bone cancer story  broke.  Waterbury 
Clock reached a settlement with the girls to provide  a small stipend in 
medical care and other benefits.
 
On the positive side, Waterbury Clock is important in another way. It  made 
the first dollar pocket watch, which was probably the most famous single  watch 
ever made, and it sold widely in Europe also. I have seen the  "Waterbury 
watch" mentioned in British novels before World War II. 
 
Another book on the subject: R. Mullner, Deadly Glow (1999).

--Joel I. Cehn
_joelc at alum.wpi.edu_ (mailto:joelc at alum.wpi.edu)