World War I had just ended. Smoking for women had just begun to make its appearance and prohibition was just about to create its impact upon the social life of Americans, when a tragic party was held, an event that cast a deep shock upon the residents of Alliance.

The guests;

• Willard and Helen (Sebring) Gahris, of Sebring, the Hosts
• Col. Charles C. and Emily (Brosius) Weybrecht, of Alliance
• William and Annette (Sharer) Morgan, of Alliance
• John C. and Katherine (Ballou) Sharer, of Alliance
• A. Fred and Ella (Bullock) Morris, of Alliance
• Dr. Willis and Jessie (Williams) Sanford, of Alliance
• Clem and Mary Bates, of Alliance
• Lewis and Maude (Showden) Brush, of Salem

The event was a fine social affair and Helen Sebring Gahris, host of the party, wishing to make her table more festive, brought candy, nuts and a jar of ripe olives, which she had purchased at the L. M. Barth Grocery in Alliance. Unwittingly, she would kill her friends with the social kindness.

Was it the Turkey?
The main course of the dinner that Saturday night was roast turkey. It was the first prime suspect when the health of those who ate it turned foul.

In 1919 there were no fast frozen foods as we know them today. The turkey had been preserved by what used to be called cold storage. It had been frozen, but not at the low temperatures used today.

Was it the Alcohol?
The rum was blamed, as well, at first. Though Prohibition had gone into effect less than two months before, Willard Gahris was as eager to bring a bottle of alcoholic beverage, as his wife was interested in carting along her olives. Several men at the party imbibed in spite of the new law.

“The most ridiculous story that made the rounds in Alliance was that the ripe olive story was merely a cover-up, and the guests were poisoned by wood alcohol in the bootleg liquor.” Others saw the liquor as a guardian angel.

Was it the Mushrooms?
Mushrooms consumed the next day by John Sharer and William Morgan were thought to be poisonous.

Was it the Olives?
Soon, however, it was the olives that came under closest scrutiny. In hindsight they were suspect as soon as they were placed on the table.

Annette (Sharer) Morgan liked ripe olives, and took one, but said many times afterward that the olive was soft, and not as black as it should have been, but a mottled brown”. “She took one bite, and since it did not taste right, put it down and did not touch it again.

“Ella Morris thought that the olive she had taken did not smell right, and cautioned her husband, Fred, not to eat any. Fortunately for him he took her advice.

“Others at the table ate the olives without question. Some ate several olives. Shortly after dinner, Col. Weybrecht, the guest of honor, became quite nauseated. One fact is certain; those who became ill had eaten olives in various amounts."

Sunday, August 24, 1919
John Sharer picked up William Morgan at his home (Glamorgan Castle) to go mushroom picking, a common practice of the day. The Sharer’s and the Morgan’s enjoyed the fresh mushrooms for lunch. John Sharer, who attended the dinner with his wife, Katherine, was first to report symptoms, while visiting his mother on Sunday afternoon.

Sitting where he could look out of the window, he asked his mother whether there were one or two girls walking up Union Avenue. It seemed strange to him that they were dressed alike, and moved in unison. His mother assured him that there was only one, to which John replied that he had better have his eyes checked.

His wasn't the only fuzzy vision. Mrs. Gahris had fallen ill while she golfed on Sunday and Col. Weybrecht also had experienced double vision.

Monday, August 25, 1919
Mrs. Annette (Sharer) Morgan rushed to John & Kit Sharer’s home after receiving an alarming phone call from the Sharer maid.

Dr. John Roach was called and fungus poisoning was suspected. Col. Morgan felt he was responsible for mistaking edible mushrooms from non-edible ones.

Later that afternoon, Col. Weybrecht suffered an apparent cerebral hemorrhage and by evening, word was received that Helen Gahris was very ill, ptomaine poisoning, her doctor believed.

By this time, Col. Morgan realized that it couldn’t have been the mushrooms, everyone’s illnesses were all the same, it must have been something they all had eaten from Saturday night’s party. Soon the friends began to die.
Helen Gahris' died late Monday.

By 9:00 p.m., a call to the Cleveland Clinic summoned Dr. John Phillips, chief of internal medicine at the Clinic. He arrived in Alliance at midnight. Dr. Phillips diagnosed it was an outbreak of botulism. There was little solace to victims of the botulism outbreak, no effective treatment was known.

Tuesday, August 26, 1919
Col. Weybrecht died at 4 a.m. Tuesday morning. The rest of the Gahris party was contacted. Jessie Sanford and Mary Bates were both ill, as well as Lou and Maude Brush of Salem. Fred Morris had left Sunday night for a trip East, but later found to be alright.

The Lakeside Country Club and Canton Medical Society were called and no other guests at the Saturday night party were ill, except those at the Gahris table. With the exception of the club chef and one waiter, who had sampled the olives.

Frank McAvoy, died, the Lakeside Country Club Chef and Robert Jennings, died, the waiter of the Gahris table.

Fortunately, the “Mammouth Ripe Olives” jar packed by Curtiss Brothers of California was still in the club refrigerator with a few olives left. They were sent out for analysis and were later found to contain bacillus botulinus.
John Sharer died Tuesday night.


Wednesday, August 27, 1919
Katherine Sharer died early Wednesday morning, within hours of her husband.

Thursday, August 28, 1919
Jessie Sanford’s condition worsened and Mary Bates became critically ill.

Friday, August 29, 1919
A difficult day… John and Katherine Sharer’s funerals were held in the morning. Col Weybrecht’s funeral was in the afternoon, attended by over ten thousand mourners.

Saturday, August 30, 1919
Jessie Sanford died, the seventh and last fatal victim, one week after the dinner party.

It was reported that residents of the Alliance area were in mourning for months, as the investigation surrounding the poisoning continued for quite some time.

Even those in the Gahris party who fought off the symptoms of botulism took months to fully recover. Clem and Mary Bates, Louis and Maude Brush, Jessie Sanford's husband, Dr. Willis Sanford, Col. Weybrecht's wife, Emily. They all battled illness through the winter.

Col. Morgan’s dislike for ripe olives, and thus his abstinence from them, probably saved his life. Though lucky or strong-willed enough to have survived, Annette (Sharer) Morgan later admitted that she was extremely ill the week following the Lakeside dinner. Her eyes did not focus properly and she felt generally bad. She said that her eyes never were as good afterward. This was the result of one bite of a contaminated olive. She never tasted another olive after the Gahris party.
Curtiss Brothers of California, the company that packed the product “Mammoth Ripe Olives”, never recovered. How many contaminated jars were distributed across the country? How many deaths were caused? The answers may never be known, but there was sufficient adverse publicity that Curtiss Brothers soon went out of business.

Indeed, bacillus botulinus, a hardy bacteria that secretes a lethal poison, eventually was found to be the culprit. Motor nerves are attacked with initial symptoms often not noticed for almost a day after tainted food is devoured.

The eyesight is usually first affected in the form of double vision. In another 12 hours, the speech becomes impaired, accompanied by difficulty in swallowing and difficulty in breathing. There is no fever, and the patient remains rational and conscious until death occurs by asphyxiation.

A sad chapter in the history of Alliance
For further information, there are several written histories of the event collected at Rodman Public Library in Alliance or visit the Alliance Memory website