Eben Byers
Encyclopedia
Eben McBurney Byers was a wealthy American
socialite
, athlete, and industrialist
. Byers earned notoriety in the early 1930s when he died from radiation poisoning
after consuming a popular patent medicine
made from radium
dissolved in water
.
, where he earned a reputation as an athlete and ladies' man. He was the U.S. Amateur golf champion of 1906, after finishing runner-up in 1902 and 1903. Byers eventually became the chairman of the Girard Iron Company, which had been created by his father.
In 1927, while returning via chartered train from the annual Harvard–Yale football game, Byers fell from his berth
and injured his arm. He complained of persistent pain and a doctor suggested that he take Radithor
, a patent medicine
manufactured by William J. A. Bailey
. Bailey was a Harvard University
dropout who falsely claimed to be a doctor of medicine and became rich from the sale of Radithor. Bailey created Radithor by dissolving radium in water to high concentrations, claiming it could cure many ailments by stimulating the endocrine system
. He offered physicians a 17% rebate on the prescription of each dose of Radithor.
Byers began taking enormous doses of Radithor, which he believed had greatly improved his health, drinking nearly 1400 bottles. In the process, he subjected himself to more than three times the acute lethal radiation dose. By 1930, when Byers stopped taking the remedy, he had accumulated significant amounts of radium in his bones resulting in the loss of most of his jaw. Byers' brain was also abscess
ed and holes were forming in his skull. He died from radium poisoning on March 31, 1932. He is buried in Allegheny Cemetery
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, in a lead-lined coffin.
ran a headline reading "The Radium Water Worked Fine until His Jaw Came Off" after his death.
His illness and eventual death also led to a heightened awareness of the dangers of radiation poisoning, and to the adoption of laws that increased the powers of the FDA
.
William Bailey was never tried for Byers' death, although the Federal Trade Commission
issued an order against his business. However this did not stop Bailey from trading in radioactive products. He later founded a new company – "Radium Institute", in New York – and marketed a radioactive belt-clip, a radioactive paperweight, and a mechanism which made water radioactive.
, or the British Open
. As an amateur, he could not play in the PGA Championship
.
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion
R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10
Source for U.S. Amateur: USGA Championship Database
Source for 1904 British Amateur: Golf, July 1904, pg. 6.
Source for 1907 British Amateur: The Glascow Herald, May 29, 1907, pg. 12.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
socialite
Socialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
, athlete, and industrialist
Business magnate
A business magnate, sometimes referred to as a capitalist, czar, mogul, tycoon, baron, oligarch, or industrialist, is an informal term used to refer to an entrepreneur who has reached prominence and derived a notable amount of wealth from a particular industry .-Etymology:The word magnate itself...
. Byers earned notoriety in the early 1930s when he died from radiation poisoning
Radiation poisoning
Acute radiation syndrome also known as radiation poisoning, radiation sickness or radiation toxicity, is a constellation of health effects which occur within several months of exposure to high amounts of ionizing radiation...
after consuming a popular patent medicine
Patent medicine
Patent medicine refers to medical compounds of questionable effectiveness sold under a variety of names and labels. The term "patent medicine" is somewhat of a misnomer because, in most cases, although many of the products were trademarked, they were never patented...
made from radium
Radium
Radium is a chemical element with atomic number 88, represented by the symbol Ra. Radium is an almost pure-white alkaline earth metal, but it readily oxidizes on exposure to air, becoming black in color. All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope being radium-226,...
dissolved in water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
.
Biography
The son of industrialist Alexander Byers, Eben Byers was educated at St. Paul's School and Yale CollegeYale College
Yale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...
, where he earned a reputation as an athlete and ladies' man. He was the U.S. Amateur golf champion of 1906, after finishing runner-up in 1902 and 1903. Byers eventually became the chairman of the Girard Iron Company, which had been created by his father.
In 1927, while returning via chartered train from the annual Harvard–Yale football game, Byers fell from his berth
Berth (sleeping)
The word berth was originally used to describe beds and sleeping accommodation on boats and ships and has now been extended to refer to similar facilities on trains, aircraft and buses.-Beds in boats or ships:...
and injured his arm. He complained of persistent pain and a doctor suggested that he take Radithor
Radithor
Radithor was a patent medicine that is a well known example of radioactive quackery. It consisted of triple distilled water containing at a minimum each of the radium 226 and 228 isotopes.-History:...
, a patent medicine
Patent medicine
Patent medicine refers to medical compounds of questionable effectiveness sold under a variety of names and labels. The term "patent medicine" is somewhat of a misnomer because, in most cases, although many of the products were trademarked, they were never patented...
manufactured by William J. A. Bailey
William J. A. Bailey
William John Aloysius Bailey was a Harvard University dropout who falsely claimed to be a doctor of medicine, and who promoted the use of radioactive radium as a cure for coughs, flu, and other common ailments...
. Bailey was a Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
dropout who falsely claimed to be a doctor of medicine and became rich from the sale of Radithor. Bailey created Radithor by dissolving radium in water to high concentrations, claiming it could cure many ailments by stimulating the endocrine system
Endocrine system
In physiology, the endocrine system is a system of glands, each of which secretes a type of hormone directly into the bloodstream to regulate the body. The endocrine system is in contrast to the exocrine system, which secretes its chemicals using ducts. It derives from the Greek words "endo"...
. He offered physicians a 17% rebate on the prescription of each dose of Radithor.
Byers began taking enormous doses of Radithor, which he believed had greatly improved his health, drinking nearly 1400 bottles. In the process, he subjected himself to more than three times the acute lethal radiation dose. By 1930, when Byers stopped taking the remedy, he had accumulated significant amounts of radium in his bones resulting in the loss of most of his jaw. Byers' brain was also abscess
Abscess
An abscess is a collection of pus that has accumulated in a cavity formed by the tissue in which the pus resides due to an infectious process or other foreign materials...
ed and holes were forming in his skull. He died from radium poisoning on March 31, 1932. He is buried in Allegheny Cemetery
Allegheny Cemetery
Allegheny Cemetery is one of the largest and oldest burial grounds in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.It is a nonsectarian, wooded hillside park located at 4734 Butler Street in the Lawrenceville neighborhood and bounded by Bloomfield, Garfield, and Stanton Heights...
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, in a lead-lined coffin.
Legacy
Due to Byers' prominence, his death received much publicity. The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
ran a headline reading "The Radium Water Worked Fine until His Jaw Came Off" after his death.
His illness and eventual death also led to a heightened awareness of the dangers of radiation poisoning, and to the adoption of laws that increased the powers of the FDA
Food and Drug Administration
The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...
.
William Bailey was never tried for Byers' death, although the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
issued an order against his business. However this did not stop Bailey from trading in radioactive products. He later founded a new company – "Radium Institute", in New York – and marketed a radioactive belt-clip, a radioactive paperweight, and a mechanism which made water radioactive.
Amateur wins (1)
| Year | Championship | Winning Score | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1906 | U.S. Amateur | 2 up |  George LyonGeorge Lyon (golfer) George Seymour Lyon was a Canadian golfer, an Olympic gold medallist, an eight-time Canadian Amateur Championship winner, and a member of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.... |
Results timeline
Byers never played in the Masters Tournament, U.S. OpenU.S. Open (golf)
The United States Open Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Open, is the annual open golf tournament of the United States. It is the second of the four major championships in golf, and is on the official schedule of both the PGA Tour and the European Tour...
, or the British Open
The Open Championship
The Open Championship, or simply The Open , is the oldest of the four major championships in professional golf. It is the only "major" held outside the USA and is administered by The R&A, which is the governing body of golf outside the USA and Mexico...
. As an amateur, he could not play in the PGA Championship
PGA Championship
The PGA Championship is an annual golf tournament conducted by the PGA of America as part of the PGA Tour. It is one of the four major championships in men's professional golf, and is the golf season's final major, usually played in mid-August, customarily four weeks after The Open Championship...
.
| Tournament | 1900 | 1901 | 1902 | 1903 | 1904 | 1905 | 1906 | 1907 | 1908 | 1909 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Amateur | R16 | R16 | 2 | 2 | R16 | QF | 1 | SF | QF | DNP |
| The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur... |
DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | R32 | DNP | DNP | R128 | DNP | DNP |
| Tournament | 1910 | 1911 | 1912 | 1913 | 1914 | 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 | 1919 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Amateur | R32 | R32 | R32 | R16 | R16 | R32 | R32 | NT | NT | DNQ |
| The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur... |
DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | NT | NT | NT | NT | NT |
| Tournament | 1920 | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | 1926 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Amateur | DNQ | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNQ |
| The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship The Amateur Championship is a golf tournament which is held annually in the United Kingdom. It is one of the two leading individual tournaments for amateur golfers, alongside the U.S. Amateur... |
DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP | DNP |
NT = No tournament
DNP = Did not play
DNQ = Did not qualify for match play portion
R256, R128, R64, R32, R16, QF, SF = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Green background for wins. Yellow background for top-10
Source for U.S. Amateur: USGA Championship Database
Source for 1904 British Amateur: Golf, July 1904, pg. 6.
Source for 1907 British Amateur: The Glascow Herald, May 29, 1907, pg. 12.
Further reading
- Roger M. Macklis, "The Great Radium Scandal", Scientific AmericanScientific AmericanScientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
, 269(2), pp. 94–99, August 1993.