CANZIANI

Posted by Cathy Gowdy on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 at 05:47:28 :

Marin Journal
Thursday, December 18, 1919
Page 1

__?__hes and Mother Die From Poison

Victims of poison engendered in a can of string beans which they ate last Friday night, Mrs. Annetta Canziani and her two little children, Alvira, aged 5, and Romolo, aged 3, are dead, and the father, Alessandro Canziani, is at the Cottage hospital dangerously ill and under the care of two physicians.

Dr. J. H. Kuser and Dr. R. G. Dufficy, who are in charge of the cases, ascribe the deaths and illness to botulism, a disease about which little is known.

The children died early Tuesday morning, both passing away about 6 o’clock. The mother, who, with the father, was taken to the Cottage hospital, died yesterday shortly after noon.

Canziani, a laborer employed at Tiburon, came home from work Friday night and, according to his statement to the physicians, partook of canned peaches and canned string beans, both home grown. The beans were put up in a sort of bottle by the process known as “cold-pack.”

Upon arising Saturday morning, Canziani said, he and his family complained of dizziness. He went to work, however. The next day all the members of the family were worse. Monday night Dr. Dufficy was called. Upon his arrival he found the children suffering from paralysis of the throat and unable to talk. They died in the morning, the little girl at home and the boy at the hospital. The home on Irwin street was closed and the father and mother removed to the Cottage hospital.

As a last resort to save the lives of the parents, Dr. Dufficy yesterday made use of an anti toxin serum sent to him from the University of California. The woman, however, was beyond aid, and no improvement was noticed in the condition of the husband. Dr. Kuser secured samples of the fruit and beans eaten by the family and is conducting a pathological experiment by feeding them exclusively to four healthy pullets.

Both physicians declare that all danger from botulism, from which the three members of the family died, can be avoided by thoroughly cooking canned fruit or vegetables before they are served.