Marie Moentmann (1900–1974) was a 15-year-old girl who lost her hands and full use of both arms in a factory accident in 1915 in St. Louis, Missouri.
She became a center of public attention in what the St. Louis Post-Dispatch called an "extraordinary case." Charity events were held on her behalf while she recovered, and gifts from the public flooded her hospital room. The company where she had been employed as an under-age worker quickly settled her suit for damages.
She was fitted with artificial hands, which she learned to use with proficiency. She had trouble finding employment but was eventually set up in business by a friend.
The accident
Marie Moentmann was severely injured on November 5, 1915, when she was working on a rotary stamp press or a printing press at the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mills, 610–612 South Seventh Street, St. Louis. She had begun working there at the age of 14. The first news stories about the accident gave Marie's age as seventeen.
She was pushing burlap bags into a cylinder roll with a stick. One bag went into the roll crooked, and Marie tried to straighten it out with her right hand. Her fingers were caught; she grasped her wrist with her right hand, but her fingers were caught, the roll continued to turn, and both hands were "terribly mangled." The cylinders were studded with small spikes to hold the bags. The St. Louis Star reported:
Nettie McManus, ... who stood at the next machine, screamed when she saw her companion's plight. Edward Wright, foreman, ... turned off the power, and released the rolls and extricated the girl's hands. She retained consciousness, although every one of the thirty girls who were working in the second floor factory room with her became hysterical, [and] several fainted.
Marie was able to walk into an elevator and entered an ambulance before losing consciousness.
Police officer Frederick Proehl escorted the girl to the hospital, and on the way she refused to look at her mangled, bandaged hands in her lap, stating, "Do not talk about the accident. Do not talk about my hands."
Proehl said Marie had been working at the factory for a year, "and because of her sweet, sunny disposition and blonde prettiness [she] is a great favorite." She earned $5.80 or $5.90 per week.
At the hospital, her right arm was amputated below her shoulder and her left arm at the wrist. At first, she was not told of the extent of the operation, doctors believing the shock of knowledge might kill her; she believed only that the tip of a finger was severed. No one visiting her was permitted to speak of the extent of her injuries.
On December 17 another operation was performed under local anesthetic, which Marie was able to watch. She made good progress until January 3, 1916, when she fell ill with pneumonia. It was a "long siege," but she was sent home later in the month.
On March 3 the next year, Dr. Robert Wilson cut a small section of bone from her right arm, at no charge, so she could be fitted with a prosthetic arm. Mrs. C.A. Lange contributed $50 for the device, with the balance to come from Marie's funds.
Public reaction
Efforts to assist Marie and her family began quickly. One of the first was an invitation to a play at the Shenandoah Theater, "Little Lord Fauntleroy," which she attended via ambulance on November 25 with her sister, Mrs. Theresa Wilenauer.
A "bridge and 500" party was given at the Planters Hotel for her benefit. More than a thousand tickets were sold at $1 each. Loretta Wand was the chief organizer. From $1,200 to $1,400 was raised from more than eight hundred "society women" who attended. The money was to be paid to the girl at $10 a week, and a hundred women said they would each contribute fifty cents a week. Later in the month, the organizers gave her a bank book with the sum of $1,085.72.
On Christmas Eve, 1915, she attended a benefit matinee given for her at the New Grand Central Theater. She received scores of Christmas gifts from well-wishers, many of which she gave away to fellow patients.
Criminal and civil law
At the insistence of
State Factory Inspector A. Sidney Johnston, assistant City Prosecuting Attorney Wilson on December 16 issued four charges against E.W. Hummert, superintendent of the factory:
That he permitted a child under 16 to operate a cylinder machine. That he permitted a child to work more than eight hours continuously. That he employed a child under 16. That he failed to provide a guard for a dangerous machine or post a notice that it was dangerous.