Iowa Old Press
Alton Democrat, Alton, (Sioux), Iowa, Saturday, September 24, 1904,
Page 4, Column 5:
A Fatal Party
A children's party at Seney south of here on the edge of Plymouth
county ended disastrously last week. Half a dozen children were poisoned by
pressed chicken and one has died. Others are dangerously ill. The six year
old daughter of John Osborne was the victim. She was a niece of Billy
Sardeson who formerly lived at Alton. Billy gives this version of the
poisoning. The chickens from which the poisoning was received were killed
by Mr. Osborn (sic--Osborne) on his own place shortly before they were
cooked. Mr. Sardeson explains the origin of the poisoning as having been
due to the fact that the kettle in which the chickens were boiled was left
tightly covered and set away to cool. He believes that under such
circumstances, decomposition begins to take place and that ptomaine's then
are formed. Several other occurrences of the same kind have come to Mr.
Sardeson's notice and he is satisfied that allowing any meat, especially
fowls or game, to cool in a closed vessel after cooking will make them
dangerous.