Another Mushroom Death

Apparently mushrooms really were a threat to humanity in the early 20th century. While researching the family of Thomas Benjamin Norris (always called T.B. Norris in the newspapers), a long-time shoe magnate in Omaha, Nebraska, I stumbled on this story in the 3 August 1900 Omaha World Herald. These Norrises are no relation to the ones I've been tracing.

"Chicago, Ill., Aug 2–Three persons are dead in the home of J.A. Norris, near Harvey, Ill., and four others are seriously ill, the result of eating toadstools which they mistook for mushrooms. The dead are: Mrs. Edith Norris, Maud Norris, Thomas Norris. The others poisoned: J.A. Norris, Eva Norris, Edith Norris,Robert Smith. Thomas Norris, 12 years old, undoubtedly saved those yet alive. Half clad and suffering with pain that almost crazed him, he rode bareback to Homewood, three miles away, and fell exhausted as he reached the house of a physician. He died soon after noon, but the doctor reached the Norris home in time to save four of the seven who ate the deadly toadstools."

It sure makes one wonder about the mushrooms in the grocery stores.