Wednesday, Feb. 08, 2012

Twist in Time: Family Gathering Turned Deadly

It was a proud moment for Grover Mitchell when he got his horseless carriage.

He was pleased with his new vehicle, and on Sunday, Jan. 27, 1918, he loaded his wife Nellie and their two children into the car for an inaugural spin. Little did he know he was taking them to their deaths.

The Mitchells left their home on North Lake Street in Madera and headed out to the country. Their destination was the Mackeys, home of Nellie Mitchell's parents and her younger siblings.

When the Mitchells arrived, Nellie carried their infant in her arms, while their 3-year-old, Orval, walked with his dad. Standing on the porch to greet them were Nellie Mitchell's father, her 6-year-old sister Nina and her 14-year-old brother Elsworth. Inside, her mother was busily putting the finishing touches on the evening meal — including a deadly jar of apricots.

After the meal, Grover and Nellie Mitchell gathered their two children and bade Grandma and Grandpa goodbye. They climbed into their new auto and headed for town and a rendezvous with destiny. The first sign of disaster came the next morning when nearly everyone in both families became ill. Doctors Ransom, Rinker and Dearborn hurried to investigate. They all agreed that this was a case of food poisoning caused by eating the improperly prepared apricots.

On Tuesday, Jan. 29, little 3-year-old Orval Andrew Mitchell died. The next to go was 6-year-old Nina Mackey. She died the next day, and within an hour her brother Elsworth also succumbed to the devastating affliction. Clearly, this was a tragedy of major proportions, but the Grim Reaper still had more havoc to wreak.

The helplessness of the situation was underscored when the little 1-year-old Mitchell died on Thursday, Jan. 31, 1918.

Now four youngsters had died. At this point, having consumed the children, the disease turned in another direction — the ptomaine poisoning began to take its toll on the adults.

On Friday night, Mrs. Mackey lost her battle, and within hours, her daughter, Nellie Mitchell, followed her in death. A few days later, F. J. Mackey fell to the disease. All told, the deadly poison had left seven victims.

The only one who survived that Sunday evening dinner in 1918 was Grover Mitchell. In a quirky twist in time, he had refused the proffered dish of apricots and so escaped the fate of his wife, his children, his niece and nephew and his in-laws. No doubt, in the months that followed, he made several trips to Arbor Vitae to visit the graves of his beloved family. Today, Maderans can do the same thing. Their tombstones are there, standing as grim reminders that the "good old days" sometimes were not all that good.