"Woodward and other over lookers used to beat me with pieces of thick leather straps made supple by oil, and having an iron buckle at the end, drew blood almost every time it was applied."
~John Brown quoted in the "Lion" newspaper in 1828.
Image From: http://cleansockshope.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/crying-child-logo-bw.jpg
~John Brown quoted in the "Lion" newspaper in 1828.
Image From: http://cleansockshope.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/crying-child-logo-bw.jpg
"We went to the mill at five in the morning. We worked until dinner time and then to nine or ten at night; on Saturday it could be till eleven and often till twelve at night. We were sent to clean the machinery on the Sunday."
~Man interviewed in 1849 who had worked in a mill as a child.
Image from:http://www.docstoc.com/docs/10064/Keating-Owen-Child-Labor-Act-of-1916-_1916_---2
~Man interviewed in 1849 who had worked in a mill as a child.
Image from:http://www.docstoc.com/docs/10064/Keating-Owen-Child-Labor-Act-of-1916-_1916_---2
"The smallest children in the factories were scavengers……they go under the machine, while it is going……….it is very dangerous when they first come, but they become used to it."
~Charles Aberdeen worked in a Manchester cotton factory, written in 1832.
Image from: http://anthoniji.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/dumbing-down-society-with-blanket-child-labor-law-if-i-were-the-elite/
~Charles Aberdeen worked in a Manchester cotton factory, written in 1832.
Image from: http://anthoniji.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/dumbing-down-society-with-blanket-child-labor-law-if-i-were-the-elite/
"Sarah Golding was poorly and so she stopped her machine. James Birch, the over looker, knocked her to the floor. She got up as well as she could. He knocked her down again. Then she was carried to her house.......she was found dead in her bed. There was another girl called Mary......she knocked her food can to the floor. The master, Mr. Newton, kicked her and caused her to wear away till she died. There was another, Caroline Thompson, who was beaten till she went out of her mind. The over lookers used to cut off the hair of any girl caught talking to a lad. This head shaving was a dreadful punishment. We were more afraid of it than any other punishment for girls are proud of their hair."
~An interview in 1849 with an unknown woman who worked in a cotton factory as a child.
Image from:http://www.businessinsider.com/child-labor-in-america-2013-1
~An interview in 1849 with an unknown woman who worked in a cotton factory as a child.
Image from:http://www.businessinsider.com/child-labor-in-america-2013-1
“A girl named Mary Richards, who was not quite ten years of age, attended a drawing frame, below which, and about a foot from the floor, was a horizontal shaft, by which the frames above were turned. It happened one evening, that her apron was caught by the shaft. In an instant the poor girl was drawn into the machine and dashed on the floor. She uttered the most heart-rending shrieks! Witnesses saw her whirled round and round by the shaft and heard the bones of her arms, legs, thighs, etc. successively snapped and crushed, seemingly, to atoms, as the machinery whirled her round, and drew her body tighter and tighter within the works. As she flailed helplessly, her blood was scattered over the frame and streamed upon the floor. At last, her mangled body was jammed in so fast, between the shafts and the floor, that it stopped the main shaft. When she was extricated, every bone was found broken and her head dreadfully crushed. Eventually, her body was removed and carried off quite lifeless. Within an hour, another girl was assigned to work the same machine.” ~Dr. Ward, Manchester
Image From: https://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/causes.html
Image From: https://www.continuetolearn.uiowa.edu/laborctr/child_labor/about/causes.html
Working Conditions:
- Mines:
- Employers did not allow the breaker boys to wear gloves for fear that they would inhibit the agility of the boys' hands. If a boy were caught wearing gloves, the boss would beat him.
- If a breaker boy worked long hours around the coal crusher he often suffered from hearing loss. Fingers were often caught in coal conveyors, causing either severe maiming of the hand or the loss of fingers. Occasionally a boy fell into the coal crusher and was ground to pieces.
- Working conditions were significantly more dangerous in the underground mining operations. The daily chances of severe injury or death were much greater than above ground. Poisonous gases, especially methane, which was released naturally by the process of coal mining, were always present underground. A buildup of methane and carbon monoxide usually led to an explosion that killed many of the miners. Mining tunnels often collapsed, either paralyzing or crushing the workers to death. Sometimes a young miner would be crushed to the ground so severely that his body would have to be scraped from the floor of the mine with a shovel. Underground fires, a precursor or aftermath of an explosion, would trap workers underground with no means of escape.
- Textile Mills:
- Risk of losing fingers or a hand in the machinery that rapidly spun the bobbins.
- Nerve strain and eyestrain were very common among young textile workers.
- Sweatshops:
- Handled poisonous glues and numerous chemicals that were frequently used in the garment industry.
- The rooms in which the children labored were locked in order to ensure that each laborer worked for his or her full ten to twelve hours each day. If there were a fire in the house, there was no means of escape.