![]() Those who escaped illness hadn't eaten any.Īt L.M. Investigators found that everyone who got sick had sampled the olives. Others theorized Bolshevik spies had infiltrated the club.įinally, the culprit was identified. Some wondered if the guests had consumed illegal alcohol. Only those in Weybrecht’s party were affected. Yet nearly 200 club patrons had turkey that night and did not fall ill. A few did not get sick.Īs health officials tried to determine the cause, early suspicion centered on the roast turkey served at the dinner. Seven deaths in one week! Several guests slowly recovered from illness. Lakeside Club waiter Robert Jennings died Tuesday and chef Fred McAvoy died Wednesday. Then paralysis took hold.įamily doctors rushed to the homes of the afflicted, but there was little they could do. It began with double vision and led to impaired speech, shallow breathing and difficulty swallowing. We learned too that Charlie Weybrecht had experienced double vision.”Ĭoncerned calls went back and forth Monday among the party guests. “We later learned that Helen Gahris had played golf on that Sunday and had also experienced double vision. Grandmother assured him that there was only one, to which John replied that he had better have his eyes checked. “It seemed strange to him that they were dressed exactly alike and moved in unison. “Uncle John, sitting where he could look out of the window asked his mother whether there were two girls walking up Union Avenue,” Morgan recalled in a 1982 report on file at Rodman Public Library in Alliance. His uncle John Sharer visited the Morgan mansion, Glamorgan Castle, that Sunday and walked to the nearby home of his mother, Mary Louise Sharer. Morgan, was only 15 in 1919 but vividly recalled the week's events for the rest of his life. ![]() The next day, life began to unravel in Alliance. The party broke up and the friends bid each other farewell. It was a lovely dinner and the guests enjoyed themselves, although Colonel Weybrecht fell ill at the end of the evening and had to be excused. As an extra touch, Helen Gahris had the table decorated with candy, nuts and olives. The menu included roast turkey, dressing, browned potatoes, green corn, salad, cantaloupe, cake and ice cream. The affluent guests chatted at a large table while the club held a dinner dance for 200 patrons. Willis Sanford and Jessie Williams Sanford and iron magnate Clem Bates and Mary Bates. Fred Morris and Ella Bullock Morris Salem newspaper publisher Louis H. Sharer and Katherine “Kit” Ballou Sharer executive A. He and his wife, Emily Brosius Weybrecht, attended the Gahris party that Saturday evening with six other couples: industrialist William Henry Morgan and Annette Sharer Morgan jeweler John C. ![]() Beloved by his troops, he was known for bravery, generosity and kindness. Weybrecht was a jovial, burly man who had spent 30 years in the military and had served as adjutant general of the Ohio National Guard. Sebring residents Willard and Helen Gahris had invited a small group of Alliance friends to the private club to celebrate Weybrecht’s return from the Great War, where he had commanded U.S. 23, 1919, at the Lakeside Club on Meyers Lake in Canton when a terrible calamity befell his welcome-home party 100 years ago. The 50-year-old decorated officer was the guest of honor Aug. Weybrecht survived World War I, the Spanish-American War and the Mexican Border War, but he did not survive dinner.
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