Summary

The start of Chapter 26, “Ottawa, Illinois, August 1927,” described Mary Ellen (Ella) Cruz’s fatigue and difficulty walking. Her recent doctors were unable to help. She felt a “hard ridge under her chin” and what seemed to be a pimple on her cheek that swelled under her touch (190). Only days after the blemish appeared, it swelled across her face and “septic poisoning set in” (192). She died less than a week later from what the doctors deemed a face infection. In Chapter 27, “Newark, New Jersey, 1927,” Berry found it fruitful, to be in favor of the World, the most influential contemporary American newspaper, that rallied public sympathy for their suit. Berry also found a specialist, von Sochocky’s former assistant Elizabeth Hughes, to perform radioactivity tests on the women. Despite this, they needed a more accurate means of proof of radium in the bone.

This led to...