The Dinner Guests

As we’ve mentioned, the author of the Recollection we are sharing was William H. Morgan. He was the son of Col. Henry Morgan and Annette Sharer Morgan. His Aunt and Uncle were John Sharer and his wife Katherine Ballou Sharer. The Olive Poisoning tragedy affected his family very profoundly. Here are his descriptions of the Morgan and Sharer family members who attended the dinner party.

My Uncle, John Sharer, one of mother’s brothers, and Aunt Kit were also favorites of mine. They too were outgoing and enjoyed parties. Their daughter Ann was about 7 years old. Uncle John owned the Sharer Jewelry Store, which was partially on the site of the present J.C. Penney Company. The Sharer home on South Union Avenue stood on the present location of the Columbia Gas Office.

My parents too enjoyed company and parties. Dad neither smoked nor drank but it never prevented him from entering into the fun. Fortunately his dislike of ripe olives probably saved his life. He always carried the title Colonel. It was not military, but had been conferred on him by a one time Governor of Ohio, George Nash, and was probably akin to a Kentucky Colonel, but there were considerably fewer of them in Ohio. Neither was mother a shrinking violet, being very outgoing.

The Other Members of the Dinner Party

The Brushes also were an interesting couple. They had one son, Stuart, a few years older than I was, whose wife, Kay, in later years became quite a well-known novelist. Neither are living. Lou Brush had been brought up in Alliance. Both of his parents taught at Mount Union College. Lou later got into the newspaper business in Salem. He was the type of person who would try anything. My earliest remembrance of him was of Dad taking me to a balloon ascension in Alliance when I was very young. One of the astronauts was Lou Brush, and I was duly impressed, and never forgot it. Maude Brush I believe originally came from Pittsburgh. She too had personality plus. They were a couple who would be an asset to any party.

The Morrises I had known and liked as far back as I could remember. Fred Morris was a very close associate of Father’s, being head of Sales at Morgan Engineering. Mother had known them both since school days. They too enjoyed a good time.

Dr. Sanford and his wife Jessie lived in Alliance, but his office was in Sebring. I did not know them well at the time although I learned to know Dr. Sanford very well in the 20’s after he moved his office to Alliance and became my dentist.

Clem and Mary Bates I did not know well at the time. Clem was head of the Buckeye Jack Company, then a well known Alliance industry.

So much for my knowledge of the guests at the Lakeside Club Party. There was no one in that crowd that would not have thoroughly enjoyed the evening. After these many years, it is still difficult to reconcile the tragedy that unfolded during the following week.

Tomorrow: The Dinner Party

Part 5

Table of Contents

Part 1 – Introduction

Part 2 – Who was Col. Weybrecht?

Part 3 – The party hostess: Helen Sebring Gahris

Part 4 – The dinner guests

Part 5 – The dinner party – August 23, 1919

Part 6 – The first effects of the tainted olives

Part 7 – The similarities in the symptoms become obvious

Part 8 – Other members of the dinner party are contacted

Part 9 – The first information published in The Alliance Review

Part 10 – Jessie Sanford struggles

Part 11 – Funerals are held for the dead

Part 12 – The final victim

Part 13 – Aftermath for the Morgan Family

Part 14 – What happened to the other guests at the Gahris dinner party?

The party hostess: Helen Sebring Gahris

We return today to the oral history provided by William H. Morgan for a description of the dinner party and its hostess.

The Lakeside Club of Canton had scheduled a dinner dance for Saturday, August 23rd, and Mr. and Mrs. W. I. Gahris of Sebring, who were members, thought it an excellent opportunity to entertain Col. C. C. Weybrecht, who had returned from France only a month before and a number of their mutual friends. The old wooden club house stood on the west shore of Meyers Lake, and the property also contained a nine hole golf course.

Mrs. Gahris, wishing to make her table more festive, brought candy, nuts and a jar of ripe olives, which she had purchased at the L.M. Barth grocery in Alliance.

L. M. Barth & Muntz Grocery – Alliance Historical Society photograph

The Gahris party consisted of: Willard I. Gahris & Helen Sebring Gahris (Sebring, Ohio); Col. Charles C. Weybrecht & Emily Brosius Weybrecht (Alliance); Col. W. H. Morgan & Annette Sharer Morgan (Alliance); John C. Sharer & Katherine Ballou Sharer (Alliance); A. Fred Morris & Ella Bullock Morris (Alliance); Louis H. Brush & Maude Snowden Brush (Salem, Ohio); Dr. Willis F. Sanford & Jessie Williams Sanford (Alliance); Clem Bates & Mary Bates (Alliance)….

I knew the Gahrises but not so well as the Weybrechts. They too were outgoing and enjoyed a good time. They were also somewhat younger than most of their guests at the Lakeside party. Bill, as he was known, was an official of the Sebring Pottery which was owned by Frank A. Sebring, the father of Helen Gahris. One of Helen’s brothers, Frank H. Sebring was married to my first cousin, Margaret Ramsey, the daughter of Mrs. Willis H. Ramsey, Dad’s sister. The Gahrises had one daughter, Gretchen, about 7 years old at the time of the tragedy.

Tomorrow: The Dinner Guests

Part 4

Table of Contents

Part 1 – Introduction

Part 2 – Who was Col. Weybrecht?

Part 3 – The party hostess: Helen Sebring Gahris

Part 4 – The dinner guests

Part 5 – The dinner party – August 23, 1919

Part 6 – The first effects of the tainted olives

Part 7 – The similarities in the symptoms become obvious

Part 8 – Other members of the dinner party are contacted

Part 9 – The first information published in The Alliance Review

Part 10 – Jessie Sanford struggles

Part 11 – Funerals are held for the dead

Part 12 – The final victim

Part 13 – Aftermath for the Morgan Family

Part 14 – What happened to the other guests at the Gahris dinner party?

Who Was Col. Weybrecht?

In this part of the Great Olive Poisoning story, we will take a look at who Col. Charles C. Weybrecht was. The following information comes from William H. Morgan’s recounting of the story as part of Rodman Public Library’s Oral History Project.

Col. Charles C. Weybrecht

Charlie Weybrecht was a big man physically with a warm and winning personality to match. He was liked by all who knew him and I cannot imagine his having an enemy. He particularly liked young people and I never tired of the many stories he told to me and my friends.

From an early age, the military had a strong appeal to Charlie Weybrecht. He was a student of military history and joined the Ohio National Guard. During the Spanish American War he served as a Major in the 8th Ohio Regiment. After his return from Cuba he resumed his business career, but retained his commission in the Ohio National Guard.

By 1916 Charlie Weybrecht had attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. That year the Ohio National Guard was called into Federal service and dispatched to El Paso, Texas during the time Brig. Gen. John 3. Pershing was chasing the bandit Pancho Villa around northern Mexico, following Villa’s raid on Columbus New Mexico. Villa was a folk hero to the Mexicans so had little difficulty in keeping ahead of the pursuing gringos. The expedition was called off and the Ohio National Guard returned home.

April 1917 soon came up and with it the declaration of war against Germany. The Ohio National Guard again called into Federal service became a part of the regular army as the 37th Division. The 8th Ohio Regiment to which Charlie Weybrecht, now a full Colonel, commanded, became the 146th.

The 37th Division first trained at Camp Sheridan, Montgomery, Alabama. Later moved to Camp Lee, Petersburg, Virginia, then to France.

During the late summer of 1918 the 37th Division engaged in heavy fighting in the Meuse Argonne offensive on the Western Front. This was indeed a traumatic experience for Col. Weybrecht. He was a very kind man and felt personally responsible for the welfare of the boys under him, many of whom were killed or severely wounded. A personal tragedy came when his nephew, Edgar Weybrecht, B.F.’s son died of pneumonia in Belgium. Col. Weybrecht told Dad after his return, that the glamor of war had disappeared for him forever.

Following the Armistice on November 11th, Col. Weybrecht was assigned to supervising the embarkation of men and supplies of the A.E.F., for return to the United States from the port of Nantes.

Col. Weybrecht enjoyed the work at Nantes and did an excellent job for which he was commended. His return home was delayed and he did not reach Alliance until July 1919.

Emily Weybrecht too was very popular. She had a vivacious and outgoing personality. She drove a gasoline-powered car as early as 1913 or 1914, which was somewhat unusual at that time. Some of the women drove electrics, but that was about the extent of women’s lib in the teens.

Tomorrow: Who threw the dinner party?

Part 3

Table of Contents

Part 1 – Introduction

Part 2 – Who was Col. Weybrecht?

Part 3 – The party hostess: Helen Sebring Gahris

Part 4 – The dinner guests

Part 5 – The dinner party – August 23, 1919

Part 6 – The first effects of the tainted olives

Part 7 – The similarities in the symptoms become obvious

Part 8 – Other members of the dinner party are contacted

Part 9 – The first information published in The Alliance Review

Part 10 – Jessie Sanford struggles

Part 11 – Funerals are held for the dead

Part 12 – The final victim

Part 13 – Aftermath for the Morgan Family

Part 14 – What happened to the other guests at the Gahris dinner party?

Introduction

August 23, 2019 marked the 100th anniversary of the Great Olive Poisoning, which killed five prominent citizens of Alliance, the Lakeside Club (Canton, Ohio) chef, and waiter and sickened four others attending a celebratory dinner party.

William H. Morgan, the son of Col. Henry Morgan, recounted his story in a letter written to Rodman Public Library Director, Harriet Clem in 1982 as part of the library’s Oral History Project. Over the next few days, we will relay Mr. Morgan’s recollections of that fateful dinner party, one which was to celebrate Col. Charles C. Weybrecht’s return from France at the end of World War I.

The story begins with two brief social column items from The Alliance Review:

Social News, The Alliance Review and Leader, 07-23-1919

Col. Charles C. Weybrecht returned to the United States via the steamer Rotterdam on July 22, 1919 where his wife, Emily and Mrs. L. L. Lamborn had come to meet him. From his landing in New York, he proceeded to Camp Dix to get his discharge.

Next, we will tell the story of who Col. Charles C. Weybrecht was.

Table of Contents

Part 1 – Introduction

Part 2 – Who was Col. Weybrecht?

Part 3 – The party hostess: Helen Sebring Gahris

Part 4 – The dinner guests

Part 5 – The dinner party – August 23, 1919

Part 6 – The first effects of the tainted olives

Part 7 – The similarities in the symptoms become obvious

Part 8 – Other members of the dinner party are contacted

Part 9 – The first information published in The Alliance Review

Part 10 – Jessie Sanford struggles

Part 11 – Funerals are held for the dead

Part 12 – The final victim

Part 13 – Aftermath for the Morgan Family

Part 14 – What happened to the other guests at the Gahris dinner party?