Aug. 15, 1959: Hundreds suffer food poisoning at company picnic in Angola | History Journal

Angola hospitals were filled and a temporary ward had to be set up on Aug. 15, 1959, when around 800 people were stricken with food poisoning at a company’s summer picnic.

About 3,000 people attended the picnic by Elkhart-based Miles Pharmaceutical Laboratories at Buck Lake Ranch in Angola, according to a Journal Gazette story on Aug. 16.

Barbecued chicken, ham salad and other food that had been sitting in an unrefrigerated truck for several hours was served around noon. Around 2 p.m., people began to fall ill – many of them children or elderly.

Elmhurst Hospital treated 150 people, and Cameron Hospital had 200 in Angola. About 100 to 150 more were bedded in a temporary hospital at the National Guard Armory in Angola, and 50 were treated at a school there. Hospitals in Elkhart and LaGrange treated hundreds, and a facility in Coldwater, Michigan, also saw patients from the picnic.

Indiana State Police troopers patrolled routes from Angola to Elkhart looking for people who were traveling when illness hit. Families were found near cars that had been pulled over when someone became ill.

Only four of the food poisoning patients remained in Angola hospitals the following day. State health officials took samples of the food for testing.

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“Food Poisoning Fells Hundreds at Angola Outing; 5 Are Critical,” Aug. 16, 1959

ANGOLA – A gay industry picnic at nearby Buck Lake Ranch ended in near-tragedy Saturday afternoon when hundreds of persons at the outing were stricken by food poisoning. At least 800 became violently ill. Many of them collapsed along the highways and were carted off to hospitals in trucks.

How many others were stricken en route to their homes in Elkhart and Goshen later in the afternoon was unknown.

State health officials described the outbreak as a “milk case of food poisoning,” and said most of the victims have been released from the hospitals.

However, a spokesman for Elmhurst Hospital here said 45 persons “were seriously ill.” He added that they were expected to recover.

Dr. Mary Cameron, head of the Cameron Hospital here, said she had five patients “in critical condition.”

Doctors said that those listed in serious or critical condition probably suffered from some other ailment, such as a heart condition. One reportedly was a pregnant woman.

Those felled were among 3,000 persons attending the annual picnic of Miles Pharmaceutical Laboratories in Elkhart. They were celebrating at the private ranch, frequently rented for large outings. Officials said all the food had been supplied by a catering service.

“We had them lying on the floors in the halls and doubled up two-to-a-bed,” Elmhurst Hospital resident physician Dr. John Hartman said. “It definitely was acute food poisoning. every stomach pump within reach was used in almost perpetual motion.”

Elmhurst said it treated 150 persons. Angola’s other hospital, Cameron Hospital, said it received 200. An additional 100-150 were bedded in the National Guard Armory, 50 at the Henry Public School, 100 at Elkhart General Hospital and 120 at LaGrange, plus an unknown number at a hospital in Coldwater, Mich.

Most of those affected were sent home following hospital treatment. However, a number of persons suffering from shock and several cardiac and diabetic patients remained seriously ill.

Steuben County Sheriff Ronald Parker said that when the food poisoning broke out around 2 p.m. “We hauled them in anything we could find – ambulances, trucks, buses, station wagons. Most of them were doubled up in pain.”

Parker said authorities feared late in the day that some victims might be “dropping on the highways” in Michigan or Ohio. Angola is located in the extreme northeastern corner of Indiana, a few miles from the Michigan and Ohio lines.

State police troopers maintained a regular patrol along routes from Angola to Elkhart to watch for other victims. Authorities issued commercial radio messages to all persons traveling U.S. 20, the main highway from Angola to Elkhart. The messages told the drivers to pull over to the side if anyone in their car became ill.

Cameron Hospital administrator, Mrs. Daisy McCallister, said victims suffered “violent cramps and diarrhea.” She said that the poisoning apparently struck mostly young children and elderly persons.

She noted that all the victims mentioned eating ham and chicken.

“It’s obvious what happened,” said Harry Smythe, owner and operator of Buck Lake Ranch. “That food came here from an Elkhart caterer at about 7 in the morning. It stayed inside the truck until noon. The temperature outside all the time was 95. You could fry an egg in the sun.”

Smythe says he leases the ranch grounds to the Miles firm each year. “The only thing I serve,” Smythe added, “is liquid refreshments, such as pop and coffee.”

Norris Lehman, Steuben County sanitation officer, said: “A bakery in Elkhart furnished the food, which included ham and barbecued chicken. A Miles Laboratory truck, which was unrefrigerated, brought the food to the picnic area early in the morning and it was not served until noon.”

“We suspect ‘staff’ poisoning,” Lehman said. “It is common in meats, milk products and other perishables.”

Mrs. Ann Randolf, a Miles lab technician, said people were “just standing around after having finished lunch of barbecued chicken, ham sandwiches, potato salad, baked beans and chocolate cake.

“The kids were starting their two hours of free rides,” she said. “All of a sudden, just like that, everyone started throwing up. It was awful. They’d just stand there ant throw up. We all ran for the Red Cross aid station.”

Mrs. Patricia Reyes, wife of a Miles employee, said she became so ill for three hours “I didn’t care whether I lived or died.”

Indiana State Trooper Richard Todd said at least 25 persons were picked up along adjacent highways and five others on the Indiana Toll Road when they became too ill to drive.

The first case was reported shortly after 1:30 p.m. One person said that about 70 were stricken before anyone realized just what was happening.

The vast acreage of Buck Lake Ranch, which is located on U.S. Highway 20 west of here, became a confused mass of humanity minutes after the first were stricken. People by the scores suddenly doubled up with pain and sought aid.

First aid officials at the scene knew that they had a major outbreak on their hands and immediately summoned help. Civilian Defense as well as police and Red Cross personnel rushed to the scene and physicians and nurses from the area were summoned.

Transporting the victims was a major job that had to be done in a matter of minutes and all types of vehicles were commandeered. Hospitals in Angola soon were swamped and the temporary hospital in the Armory was overflowing.

At the outbreak, all medical facilities in Angola were put on an emergency basis. Mattresses were rushed to the hospitals and other emergency centers by police, Red Cross and Civil Defense workers.

At each of the hospitals and emergency sites, the food poison victims were given injections of dramamine and paragoric, medical authorities said. Some of the older persons, however, were also treated for shock.

Samples of the food were taken to Indianapolis for analysis. In the state capital, Dr. A.O. Offutt, state health commissioner, said samples of the food were impounded and placed in freezer. he said they would be tested Monday.

Miles officials called off the picnic before a gala stage show, imported from Chicago, was to go on.

Miles Laboratories is celebrating its 75th year in business. It’s best known product is Alka Seltzer.

The firm recently expanded into the field of medical research, and several doctors and chemists were reportedly at the picnic. Those who did not become ill helped treat the victims.