Hocking Hills, 43138

Logan Town Center

I don't know why it never previously occurred to me to include a small map of our mutual hometown of Logan, Ohio. Thankfully, the city of Logan has helped me with that with its excellent Historic Walking Tour.

My great-grandfather, A.E. Huls, built the Huls house at 212 E Hunter Street (upper right, #24) in 1902, just in time for Uncle Charley's December birth. My grandfather was born there in August 1904.

Years later, in anticipation of Uncle Charley's June 1925 graduation from The Ohio State University with a degree in journalism, he built the Huls Printing building at 51 E. Main Street (center, marked with a ⭐️). While it is not currently noted on the walking tour, the building still stands and houses the county's records.

Sadly my grandfather traded the house in 1947 (it cost too much to paint!) but we got a funny story out of it. Doc Yaw, with whom Grandpa had traded houses, was furious when he found out how much it would be to paint his new house.

Even sadder was Grandpa also sold the family business between 1970 and 1975. He didn't know he had a budding printer and journalist in the family....

-30-

May his memory be a blessing

Here is buried the dear young (unmarried) man,

Isaac Div son of Eliezer Reuben who died at 22 years.

10 Shevat 5685 (4 February 1925)

May his soul be bound up in eternal life.

David Puskin

1903-1925

-30-

The lede is buried

The Troxel Family plot.

Uncle Charlie was dead and buried.

The heir was dead and they had buried the lede.

Did any of these crazy thoughts run through my great-grandfather's mind as he stared at the coffin and/or the grave?

My grandfather's?

Why do we say, 'the lede was buried"?

The "lede" is the introductory section of a news story that summarizes but entices the reader to read more.

Charlie was the heir, the lede, and now all those hopes, dreams, and expectations fell on my grandfather's young shoulders. He was expected to, and did, give up his engineering dreams.

Within two years he had left The Ohio State University and gone home to Logan and his father's business, Huls Printing.

No longer, "and Sons."

Another journalistic leftover is -30- which has been traditionally used by North American journalists  to indicate the end of a story or article.

Many journalists have even had it put on their tombstones.

-30-

Bring out your dead

Services for Uncle Charley were held in one of the two front parlors.
Nine years later joint services for both of his parents would be held in those same front parlors.

I do not remember now where I first read this, but on Monday, Feb. 2: Dr. W.G. Rhoten, Hocking County Health Commissioner, was refused entrance into the Huls home in Logan. He wanted to check, or test, Charley's body for spinal meningitis.

The next day this orphan clipping appeared:

Funeral Services for Plague Victim
Logan Youth Stricken by Meningitis

LOGAN, O., Feb. 3. -- On advice of Dr. W.G. Rhoten, city health commissioner, funeral services for Charles H. Huls who died in Columbus Saturday night were held privately at the home of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. A.E. Huls on East Hunter Street Tuesday afternoon at one o'clock.

This action was taken by the health commissioner after it was learned that the death certificate which was issued in Columbus by Dr. J.L. Gordon bore the statement that the cause of death was [2.] meningitis. A change was made in the certificate which at first stated that the death was due to [1.] tetanus, after a second death occurred and an investigation disclosed that the cause of it was [2.] "epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis." This fact caused a change to be made in the certificate.*

Dr. Rhoten was called by Dr. Beer in Columbus who suggested that an effort be made to hold a post mortem over the body of Huls. This was deemed inadvisable by the parents and the inquest was dropped.

Precautionary measures were taken by health officials to prevent any possibility of a contagion of the disease from spreading.

Charley's death certificate was later changed a third and final time to read, "Accidental Strychnine Poisoning."

-30-

Extra! Extra!

Two stories appeared in the Monday, Feb. 2, 1925 edition of the Lancaster (Ohio) Eagle-Gazette as the breaking news story developed.

First to be laid out was this tiny brief, way back on page 10:

Son of Eugene Huls Dies At Ohio State

Charles Huls, 22, son of Eugene Huls, for many years State Factory Inspector and editor of the Logan Republican, died Saturday night, following the extraction of an ulcerated tooth Friday. Young Huls was a senior in the college of commerce and journalism at O. S. U. and edited the Makio in 1924.

His death occurred at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity home where he was a member. The Huls family is very well known in Lancaster.

Then the front page (above) was laid out. The front page is always laid out last to make sure the latest news and updates get attention. This front page is a nightmare. It didn't stack the separate headlines like most newspapers did in 1925, but it split them down the middle. I don't care if the left is sans serif and the right is serif -- it's a mess:

Sudden Death Of Two O.S.U. Students Causes Alarm
Order Friends Of Dead Men Be Isolated

(By The Associated Press)
COLUMBUS. Feb. 2--Further precautionary measures to prevent a possible outbreak of cerebro meningitis at Ohio State University, and where to [sic] students have died suddenly and under mysterious circumstances were taken today when Dr. H. Shindle Wingert, university physician examined six personal friend [sic] of one of the deceased students and ordered them isolated.

Charles E. [sic] Huls of Logan died Saturday in a fraternity house, of what was thought to be tetanus. Davis [sic] Puskin of Canton, a junior in the college of journalism died suddenly yesterday after circumstances similar to those surrounding the death of Huls.

To determine whether both students died from the same cause, local health authorities asked Logan officials to perform a post mortem over Huls. Information received here today, however is to the effect that the student's family objects to the procedure.

In the midst of his examination of other students, Dr. Wingert issued a statement urging students "not to be scared about the present flurry.

"There is little to cause general eoncern," he said. "Individuals, however are urged to keep their general health at a high level, observe regular hours, keep in good physical condition and keep the face and hands scrupulously clean. Fear lowers the vitality and besides, there is not much occasion for it."

Puskin, the second student to die arose yesterday morning, apparently in good health. He went to the bathroom to shave was seized with convlsions [sic] and died within 20 minutes.

-30-

The tragedy more sharply

So far I have been unable to find an obituary for David other than what was published in the O.S.U. Lantern on Monday, Feb. 2, 1925:

DAVID PUSKEN

The news that a second Ohio State student has died from causes apparently similar to those which caused the death of Charley Huls brings the tragedy to us more sharply.

We did not know David Pusken (Puskin appears on his grave, but Pushkin and Pusken were also used at OSU) as we knew Charley Huls, but that is our fault, and our loss, we are sure.

Death does not stride the University often, and when it does it affects us all the stronger. We grieve at the death of a fellow student, although we did not know him, for he had a great deal in common with all of us. He went to school here, and that gives us a community of interest.

The Lantern extends its sympathy to the relatives and friends of David Pusken with all sincerity.

-30-

Very serious trouble

Charles Henry Huls

Logan, Ohio

January 31, 1925

Dear Folks:

Just a few hospital notes from the son who isn't quite all here. I lost a tooth since I wrote to you last. An abscess had formed at the root of the gold crown in the lower jaw and I had an X-Ray taken and then the tooth was pulled. It certainly was arelief [sic] to get [rid sic] that pain and get a nights rest.

I didn't go to bed either Wednesday or Thursday nights and all I've had to eat since Thursday noon is tomato soup and milk toast. Went over to see Dr. Wingert again this morning and he gave me a dose of salts and some capsules and told me to go home and stay in bed today. Took the medicine at noon and was going to say that up until 5 there had been no action but it came just as I finished the sentence. Really I don't see where there will be much good done as I haven't exactly eater for over two days.

Besides having the tooth raising cain I blistered the whole inside of my mouth with camphor and toothache drops and it just finished peeling this afternoon. And then I burned a blister on the outside of my chin with the electric light bulb. It's funny but the tooth hurst [sic] so much that I didn't feel it when I cooked the other parts. I hd [sic] to get a hot water bottle.

Dr. Love, the dentist who pulled the tooth said it never should never have been crowned. He said the abscess had started over a year ago. Said it was getting dangerous and would have caused very serious trouble if it had been neglected any longer. The X-Ray showed the sac extending over to the roots of the adjoining teeth and when I saw the tooth I wondered how the sac ever came out the same hole.*

*typed on letterhead

Uncle Charley's last unmailed letter home ends here.

It was found after his death.

I thought there was another page but I cannot find it at this time.

Sadly, Uncle Charley was dead by 10:30 p.m.

-30-

This week's invalid

Charles Henry Huls

Logan, Ohio

January 28, 1925

Dear Folks:

This week's invalid will now be heard from. He is in no danger but plenty of misery although he is right now having a good laugh over the box of taffy which just came.

If you could see my face you would soon see that there isn't much room left for any taffy. Cold has settled in my lower jaw and every tooth has been aching since 9 last night. I slept very little and had to get up a couple of times to rub on baum. Was in bed all afternoon and the turn for the better is here now. Have been sitting for the last hour with an electric light bulb under my jaw, warming it up a little. Was going to get a hot water bottle, but the light does just as well. Am using plenty of baum and have three tubes left.

We got the package from Ewing and everything was there that I needed although he only sent 5 razor blades instead of a dozen. The fruit cake was the best part of the package. Jack Heed said it was the best he had ever eaten and said I didn't need to be bashful about offereing [sic] him a piece at any time, no matter how small it was.

I ran out of handkerchiefs today and Fred didn't have any (at least he couldn't locate them among the other stuff in his drawer) so I had to buy some.

If my face gets alright I'll probably drive home Friday afternoon but I won't take any chances of catching more cold on such a drive. Will have to close now as the old teeth are sure raising hell.

Love,

    Hen.*

*typed on letterhead

###

A dry wit

Charles Henry Huls

Logan, Ohio

January 19, 1925

Dear Mom:

Received your letter of yesterday and the paper this noon. Your mention of the Hudson licenses reminds me to tell you that the Ford is now wearing 403,207 or something near that.

The dress shirts were well packed and came in good condition. And regarding the pajamas, the mixup occured [sic] after Christmas vacation when there were too many in the wash.

I think Pop has taken the right attitude in not wanting to run for mayor.** He will have his hands full with the paper and he doesn't need any more work and worries. It's about time that he starts to rest for a little while. Chief Myers said the other night when he was up here that he never saw a man who was so continually on the job.

I enjoyed the editorials enclosed very much and certainly think Pop hit the nail on the head. I saw the one about girls smoking and cut it out and gave it to Ruth Trott to read. She became alarmed about being nervous so much lately and went to a doctor who told her that she had to quit so she has.

I hdan't [sic] seen the statement by Thompson about no drinking in the University and certainly would like to be present if he ever makes such a statement. Was talking to Miss Auch, the student auditor today, and she says that something must be done about it. And the whole cause for the present situation is that there are too many old dry bags on the committee of student affairs. Old Prof. Tuttle of the Law college got up and said that there was very little if any drinking around the school and I really believe that such people have convinced Thompson that dry conditions exist. He's getting too old for the job and is held down too much by the trustees to certain duties to get around and find things for himself. I think that before I graduate I'll go to him and tell him a few things if I can get in to see him.

Harden was only a pledge of the Betas. He would have been initiated this fall had he returned to school.

Our new cook certainly is good. The meals are so different and so much better that I really enjoy eating here now. She gives us variety and although we have to have potatoes and things like that most every meal she fixes them in different ways so that we don't get tired of them. And she serves side dishes and salads nearly every night. The Sunday meals are real meals too. She is a colored woman and is very clean. She wears white all the time and you can't do that and wear them long. Old Ma Hessenger always wore the conventional black so that she never had to change clothes. I don't ever remember meeting her in the kitchen in any other color during the entire time she was here. I don't know whether she wore the same dress all the time or not but I'll bet she never had to hang them up when she undressed at night. And by the way, she is now living at the Beta house. Relly [sic], I feel sorry for the boys, although they might pledge here soon.

Fred isn't feeling well tonight. He came home with a headache and didn't eat anything, but went to bed. He was asleep when I went in the dorm a little while ago. His whole trouble is that he is staying up all night too often. He is working too hard on the Makio and must quit. Really he is doing more work than is necessary. And he continually eats candy. He walks down stairs to a meal with a chocolate bar in his mouth. There is nothing seriously wrong with him but there will be if he doesn't start getting to bed by midnight. If he'd let me I could do a lot of Makio work for him during the afternoons when I have no classes, but he is pretty stubborn about such things.

I sent my brown coat and vest home with the laundry to be cleaned with the trousers which I left at vacation. Have warners mail it to me as I am not just sure when I will be home. If I come this week it will have to be Sunday morning as there are too [sic] more committee meetings called for Saturday and it is important that I be there.

Well, that's all and I'm going to get some sleep tonight so I'll close. I'm well and feeling fine and think Fred will be in the morning after about 15 hours sleep.

Love,

    Hen.*

*typed on letterhead.

**A.E. Huls was mayor of Logan, Ohio from 1912-1916.

###

Alive and very well

Charles Henry Huls

Logan, Ohio

January 15, 1925

Dear Folks:

I'm still alive and very well. The only reason you haven't heard from me is just because I'm up to my old habits of letting Fred write

Before I forget to tell you I'll mention here that I carried the Hudson keys up here with me and will keep them until I come home or either send them by mail if you want them.

We certainly enjoyed the fruitcake and candy and Mrs Abernathy was tickled to death about hers. The other party passed nice compliments also.

And there's another thing I must mention before I forget. I'll need my dress shirts next week so send them right away. Rather I should have said that I need one next week.

We expected to see you in Columbus when Pop called and said he had come up. Enjoyed eating with him that night and always want both of you to let us know whenever you are in town.

Fred certainly has been working hard on the Makio. Cunningham told me today that he had an awful time to keep the other candidates satisfied because he let Fred do the most work. But he asked what he could do. He said the work had to be done and there was only one person whom he could give things to and know they would be done right and on time without going into details.

Fred has also been studying hard and I believe will have easier and lees [sic] work than last quarter.

I didn't get to read Pop's article in the paper. I was told that it was in a couple of days after it appeared and I couldn't get a back number of the paper up here in the north end. Several of the boys said it was a very good and fair statement of affairs and it surprised me as some ofthem [sic] are wet.

Prof. Myers was up to the hpuse [sic] the other night and I had a long talk with him. He says I have a wonderful chance at home and advises me to take over the paper but says I should work at least a year on a city paper for the sake of experience and education. He doesn't advise sticking to a city paper however. Said he ahd [sic] advised his son in this way and that he had followed the suggestions and was on a country paper doing very well. He offered to get me a job for a year when I graduate.

I don't believe I'd like to do regular work on a daily for very long as there is not much chance for advancement beyond a certain point and it is certainly a grind, but I would like to get a little taste of city work and from what Pop said at Christmas I take it that will be all right for me to do this.

It will be better if I can get a job in line now and I wanted to make sure that you would have no objections to such a plan before I did anything definite.

WE've [sic] had plenty of ice here this week and there had been a lot of sliding. So far I've been able to keep my feet but I've seen several hit the cement pretty hard.

I had planned to drive home this week end but I have two meetings Sunday and it is important that I attend both so I will have to postpone my trip another week.

It's midnight now and I'm going to enter the refrigerator (as defined by A.E.H.) and get a good sleep. Once I get under the covers I'll never move till morning. Fred has been in bed for about an hour.

Love,

    Hen.

P.S. Don't forget the Republican and the Waboos.*

*typed on letterhead with handwritten post script

###

A load off

Charles Henry Huls

Logan, Ohio

January 5, 1925

Dear Mom,

This will let you know that I safely arrived in Columbus. Had a flat tire at Winchester thanks to Price not putting in a new tube. I won't have to get any new ones, however, so don't worry about that.

Found the house all cleaned up and the room in order so that was a load off my mind.

Remember the $5 of wager that I said I was going to use for the Follies. Well, I won't have to as I'm being taken with Jack by Jack and will sit in the box. I'm going to Scarlet Mask this week the same way. Isn't that pretty nice.

Well, I'm going to bed now for a good sleep. Don't have to get up tomorrow till 8:30. Fred is well and got his schedule fixed O.K.

Love,

    Hen.*

*handwritten on letterhead

###

The wicked stepmother

It's February, and as always my thoughts turn to the deaths of Uncle Charley and David, as well as the other men who were poisoned but survived: Robert, Edward, Del, Timothy, and Harold. It has been 99 years since the two men died and five more were poisoned.

Ninety-nine years and no one was ever arrested and convicted.

However, while poking around the internet for clues, I came upon yet another strychnine poisoning in Ohio in 1925! While I sincerely doubt there's a connection, maybe the OSU poisonings eight months earlier were a cause of inspiration?

Find a Grave

On Saturday, October 3, 1925 a 13-year-old girl named Esta Winifred Strome died abruptly and painfully at her home in New Carlile, Clark County. By Tuesday, Oct. 6 (the same day Esta was buried.) her step-mother, Birdie Gardner Strome, was arrested and accused of poisoning Esta with the strychnine found in the girl's intestinal track.

The next day the bodies of Birdie's former husband and sister-in-law were exhumed from Enon Cemetery in Enon, Clark County: George Frock, who died on Sept. 14, 1922, and Mary Frock Faulder, who died on Aug. 28, 1920. Apparently both had died under similar grim circumstances, and I found testimony that strychnine was found in George's body.

After the death of her first husband George, Birdie lived briefly with Henry Homer Baltzell before his arrest and conviction in 1923 on robbery charges. At Birdie's trial, pharmacist Arthur E. Smith stated he sold Henry a quantity of strychnine, and Henry testified that he gave it to Birdie prior to Frock’s death.

Esta's father Carrie Strome testified he married Birdie in 1923, a year after George died. He understandably sued Birdie for divorce on Friday, Feb.5, 1926.

Birdie was arraigned on October 31 and pleaded not guilty. Her trial started on December 7 and she was convicted on Dec. 17, 1925. The jury of nine men and three women recommended mercy.

Birdie died two years later on Feb. 15, 1927 aged 60 in Union County, Ohio at the Marysville Reformatory. She is buried in an unmarked grave in Oakdale Cemetery in Marysville, Union County.

Her father died 33 years after Esta and shares his headstone with his daughter.

-30-

May his soul be bound up in eternal life

David Isaac Puskin

David slept in, popped an R&W and went to shave.

Within 30 minutes he was dead on the bathroom floor.

1903 - February 1, 1925

Buried at the Canton Hebrew Cemetery.

-30-

The son who isn't quite all here

Charles Henry Huls

Logan, Ohio

January 31, 1925

    Dear Folks:

    Just a few hospital notes from the son who isn't quite all here. I lost a tooth since I wrote to you last. An abscess had formed at the root of the gold crown in the lower jaw and I had an X-Ray taken and then the tooth was pulled. It certainly was arelief [sic] to get [rid, sic] that pain and get a nights rest.

    I didn't go to bed either Wednesday or Thursday nights and all I've had to eat since Thursday noon is tomato soup and milk toast. Went over to see Dr. Wingert again this morning and he gave me a dose of salts and some capsules and told me to go home and stay in bed today. Took the medicine at noon and was going to say that up until 5 there had been no action but it came just as I finished the sentence. Really I don't see where there will be much good done as I haven't exactly eater [sic] for over two days.

    Besides having the tooth raising cain I blistered the whole inside of my mouth with camphor and toothache drops and it just finished peeling this afternoon. And then I burned a blister on the outside of my chin with the electric light bulb. It's funny but the tooth hurst [sic] so much that I didn't feel it when I cooked the other parts. I hd [sic] to get a hot water bottle.

    Dr. Love, the dentist who pulled the tooth said it never should never have been crowned. He said the abscess had started over a year ago. Said it was getting dangerous and would have caused very serious trouble if it had been neglected any longer. The X-Ray showed the sac extending over to the roots of the adjoining teeth and when I saw the tooth I wondered how the sac ever came out the same hole.*

*typed on letterhead

Charley's last unmailed letter home ends here. 

It was found after his death.

(I thought there was another page but I cannot find it at this time.)

Charley's convulsions started about 8 p.m.

He was dead by 10:30 p.m.

-30-

Still looking for clews

Thoughts of Great-Uncle Charley always crowd my head the last week of January. What would he have been like? What kind of man would he have been? Would he have been kind to his future great-niece?

Would I have even existed?!

His remaining letters shown his final week was fairly humdrum, other than a persistent cold and that darned toothache.

A CNN story in September rekindled my interest in the Tylenol Murders, which I wrote about in The ripple effect. I reached out to the husband of one of the surviving family members and he passed my request to talk on to his wife, Kasia Janus. She wrote back to me in November but I have heard nothing since then so maybe she changed her mind or decided it was too painful.

However, I saw a CBS story today that reminded me so I wrote to Ms. Janus again. This new story brought up touch DNA and how a survivor had been swabbed so her DNA could be compared to DNA found on her bottle 40 years later.

I admit I got shivers. If only there was surviving evidence from Uncle Charley's or David Puskin's murders, or from the other five men that were poisoned but survived, that we could use 98 years later. I know that our families wouldn't get justice after all these years, but could we get closure?

I think so. My father, the oldest surviving Huls at this time,  might. I certainly would and I think my brother would, too. Maybe even my cousins.

But as an amateur genealogist, this new field of genetic genealogy fascinates me no end.

Criminals beware! The geeks are coming for you!

-30-

Brothers who were, but are now with the stars

I recently found this obituary in the April 1925 issue of The Phi Gamma Delta Magazine under Fratres Qui Fuerunt Sed Nunc Ad Astra:

CHARLES H. HULS

(Ohio State '25)

Phi Gamma Delta paid a large share of the toll taken by either stupidity or criminal intent when strychnine was mixed with quinine in the college of pharmacy dispensary at Ohio State University.

One of the two student deaths caused by this fatal confusion was that of Brother Charles Henry Huls, '25.

Huls died suddenly on January 31, 1925, in the chapter-house a few days after having a tooth extracted. The cause at first was thought to be tetanus.

Another student death followed shortly and an investigation showed that strychnine had been dispensed for quinine at the college of pharmacy where many students were wont to get remedies.

Further investigation disclosed numerous sudden and serious illnesses had followed the taking of capsules from the dispensary.

For two days during the investigation, a virulent and strange malady called "spotted fever," a form of meningitis, was suspected and several Fijis, intimates of Huls, were held under constant surveillance by doctors. 

Brother Huls was one of the leaders in student activities at Ohio State. He was editor of the year book and a member of Sphinx*, Bucket and Dipper**, Pi Delta Epsilon***, Sigma Delta Chi**** and the varsity band. He was also active in chapter affairs and at the time of his death was corresponding secretary.

Ae a student, he was respected by his colleagues and professors; as a Fiji, he was beloved by his brothers; as an all around good fellow, he enjoyed large popularity.

Huls' home was in Logan and he is buried near there. Among his survivors is Brother Fred Huls, a junior at Ohio State.

*SPHINX is the oldest honorary at Ohio State University. Since 1907, SPHINX has recognized 24 exceptional senior students with membership annually.

**Bucket & Dipper is a Junior Class Honorary comprised of up to 30 members dedicated to scholarship, leadership, and service. Since its creation as a student organization in 1907, Bucket & Dipper has been ​a dedicated group of juniors at The Ohio State University. This tight-knit group is rooted in tradition surrounding the Illibuck (Illi), Mirror Lake, and local service. 

***Pi Delta Epsilon, founded in 1909 at Syracuse University, is an American honor society for student journalists. It merged with Alpha Phi Gamma(ΑΦΓ) on June 1, 1975 and became The Society for Collegiate Journalists (SCJ).

****Sigma Delta Chi, now known as The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University.

-30-

Prescription for death

Buerki

I've got some new theories to pursue. Dr. Robert Buerki, professor emeritus at The Ohio State University, wrote about the poisonings for his paper, Prescription for Death: The 1925 Ohio State Poisoning Case, which he presented at the annual meeting for The Ohio Academy of Medical History in 2012. Unable to read it in its entirety until now, I was thrilled to discover it was published in the History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals, Vol. 64, Issue 1, on Jan. 1, 2022. 

While most of his 15-page paper was a summary of previously resourced materials, Buerki did have access to some new information.

"On June 3, Governor Donahey forwarded to Ford an unsigned letter that he had received from 'some unknown source.' The letter added a bizarre note of conspiracy to an already tangled web of circumstances:

'If you really want to know the true inwardness of the poisoning at the University, put your best secret service man on the track of the first student who was taken sick. He can tell you much if he will. Why was he taken to St. Francis Hospital instead of the University Hospital? Why was Dr. McCampbell called about the case? The plot was against one man but it hit the wrong man. Who wanted a safe from the dental department "to keep all the strichnine [sic] in?"

'Who has been after Dr. Wingert for years and says he will drive him off campus? The fear of punishment for unintentional murder is keeping mouths closed, but it can be traced.

'The pressure is now on to let the matter drop 'because it will injure the University.' The inside facts can only injure the plotters. You are surrounded by athletic influences. Consult some others not under their control."

Ross

So is this "unknown source" referring to Robert H. Ross of Bellevue, Ohio? Ross became ill on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 1925. He was diagnosed with food poisoning at the time and was the first to become ill according to my timeline.

McCarthy

Or is the writer talking about Timothy "Big Tim" McCarthy, a sophomore on the varsity football team who, as far as I know, was the only man rushed to St. Francis Hospital? He was also the last known person to get sick on Feb. 2, 1925.

Hmm.

-30-

 

The ripple effect

I know I haven't posted in an extremely long time but I truly haven't found anything new to share until today. While scrolling through my multiple news feeds this morning I found an article on CNN about Kasia Janus and her father's murder by cyanide in Chicago 40 years ago.

Like many, I knew the outline -- seven deaths in a 24-hour period when someone managed to slip contaminated capsules into bottles at Chicago area pharmacies. Believe me, it wouldn't have been hard 40 years ago. Packaging was nowhere near as safe as it is now, thanks to the Federal Anti-Tampering Act of 1982.

But I don't think I knew the specifics, especially that 4-year-old Janus also lost her uncle and aunt within that 24-hour period. That blew my mind. I know how my family has struggled over the years with Uncle Charley's murder, but to lose three members? It beggars belief.

What drove me to tears was the description of 4-year-old Janus whispering in her father's ear, "Tata, it's me. I know you're playing a game. Just wake up."

I couldn't help but think of my own frantic grandfather as he watched his beloved older brother die while in the violent throes of strychnine poisoning.

Did he beg Charley not to die? Did he call him by childhood nicknames in the forlorn hope that something, anything, would stop the nightmare?

To read that her uncle and aunt catastrophically took Tylenol for their headaches after they came over to comfort Janus, her mother, and her brother made me think of Grandpa and how he nearly took a capsule himself which later tested 100 percent positive for strychnine.

They died. Grandpa only lived because the doctor called him back into the bedroom for Charley's final death throes.

I have reached out to Janus, but doubt I'll hear back. In the meantime, prayers are ascending for those who are victims of violent crimes. 

Time, most certainly, does not heal all wounds.

-30-

May his soul be bound up in eternal life

David Isaac Puskin

1903 - February 1, 1925

Buried at the Canton Hebrew Cemetery.

-30-

Rest in peace

Charles Henry Huls

December 13, 1902 -

January 31, 1925

Buried at Forest Rose Cemetery.

-30-