Tragedy in Ballard: Child Dies After Eating Canned Plums
A five-year-old girl has died and several others are ill in Ballard following a meal of canned fruit, prompting a medical investigation.
Hazel Flynn, the five-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Flynn of Ballard, died from being poisoned by eating plums yesterday afternoon. Three other children and two women are also sick from the same cause, but their condition is not considered critical. The attending physicians have not notified the coroner as they do not think an autopsy will be necessary, there being no suspicious circumstances surrounding the case. Last Friday evening, Mrs. Edward Ray, who lives at Ballard, accompanied by her two children, visited neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Flynn, who live on Chestnut street, near Second avenue. During the evening, Mrs. Ray and her children and Mrs. Flynn and two of her children ate some candy and also some canned plums. The next day all were taken sick. Hazel Flynn became very sick and in spite of the endeavors of the attending physicians, died yesterday afternoon at 4 o'clock, having suffered for forty-eight hours.
“Hazel Flynn became very sick and in spite of the endeavors of the attending physicians, died yesterday afternoon at 4 o'clock.”
Food safety was a major public health concern in the late 19th century as canning technology was still maturing. Today, Ballard is a bustling neighborhood, but in 1895, it was a separate town grappling with the basic infrastructure and safety challenges of a rapidly growing industrial suburb.
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