MASS POISONING

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 145, 16 December 1933, Page 23

MASS POISONING

More than 150 employees of a credit rating firm on Broadway, New York, became violently ill of food poisoning following luncheon in the employees' co-operative restaurant, says the "New York Times c .'' Pending an analysis of the various items on the menu, the police were inclined to attribute the illness to egg-salad sandwiches that were served. Twenty internes, a corps of hospital nurses, and several squads of patrolmen and detectives under Deputy Inspector James J. Wall were,in the building from 3.30 p.m. until almost 8 o'clock helping the victims, taking their names and addresses, and getting them into taxieabs and ambulances. Twenty-two of the employees were taken to hospital to rgmain overnight. The majority in this group, had to undergo treatment with the stomach. pump. None was expected to die. The police obtained the names of sixty other men and women who were treated in the building and sent home, but many left in the confusion without leaving their names for the police record. Between thirty-five and fifty left their desks early in the afternoon before they knew the real cause of their illness. Eight ambulances from different hospitals were sent to the scene when the firm's officials realised the gravity of the situation. Later nurses were sent over when the internes were swamped by the increasing number of cases. About 6 o'clock, when most of the girl clerks, stenographers, and other employees were taken ill, conditions in the building were at their worst. The scene presented was probably without precedent. Girls, ashen under their rouge and powder, staggered down tho corridors toward the emergency rooms set up by the nurses and internes. Some walked alone, clinging to the walls for support, some sagged between hardier co-workers. In.the various offices on the fifth and sixth floors, where the emergency rooms were set up, the victims sat at desks with their heads resting on their arms. Many were slumped in chairs. Coats, hats, and umbrellas, discarded by women who were stricken as they were about to leave the building, were scattered over the floors. About 000 of the 1200 men and women employed by tho firm had' luncheon in tho co-operative restaurant. This was an unusually large number, many staying indoors because of rain. The firm does not operate the rcstaurrant. Tha employees purchase the

A LUNCHEON DRAMA ON BROADWAY

food themselves, through Joseph Gentile, of their purchasing department, and after it is prepared, get it at the lunch counter at cost prices. None of the items on the menu is more than 5 cents. Four women are hired to work in the. restaurant. One of them, Miss Meta Horst, of Madison Street, Brooklyn, prepared the egg salad at home and brought it to the restaurant in wooden five-gallon tubs, according to the police. One of the tubs was taken for inspection by the Health Department, so were samples of the egg mayonnaise put in the salad. The items on the menu in addition to the egg salad, which was served in sandwiches, included ham sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, cheeso buns, layer cake, and raisin cake. Coffee, tea, cream, and sugar, according to the police, were served free through the courtesy of the firm. The restaurant opens at 11.30 a.m. and closes at 2.30 p.m., employees from different departments coming in at different times. Those who ate first began to feel the effects about 3 o'clock. They complained of headaches. More than thirty-five were permitted to leave early, but at first none suspected that the food might be responsible. The parious departments are scattered all through the fourteen floors of the building, so the complaints were not cumulative. The wail of ambulances running through the rain towards the building and the sirens of the ambulances on lower. Broadway puzzled home-going workers. T Men and women gathered in tha doorways of office buildings and stores near City Hall, out of the storm, and bandied rumours about a big explosion uptown. Many ran through tho downpour to congregate around the assembled ambulances in front of the' building, .blocking rush-hour motor traffic on Broadway until, the police dispersed the throng. Taxieabs gained by tho misfortune of the food victims. Tl/e general service manager for the credit-rating firm, ordered cabs for the girls who were weak and dizzy after the emergency treatment and paid their fare to wherever they lived. Lieutenant John Hanky, in charge of the detectives assigned to the scene, said that there were no arrests _ and that none was contemplated. "There was no criminal act," he said. "So far as we can see it was obviously accidental."