Our friend Dean Carnegie devotes the 100th episode of his Magic Detective Podcast to the Houdini Archivist himself, Dr. Edward Saint. As a bonus, Dean includes the entire Final Houdini Seance. Enjoy!
Newspapers reported it as pneumonia. Marie Blood told me it was tuberculosis. Same with Bess. Her death was never openly reported as tuberculosis either. There was a weird stigma about it.
Thanks for putting up the link! By the way, I'm curious about this cause of death issue. I saw it in a newspaper that is pneumonia. When I read a report by William Larsen Sr. in Genii, it sure sounds like pneumonia, though I dont think he mentioned the disease by name. HOWEVER, looking up TB, the symptoms are very similar. He also suffered from asthma throughout his life, so any respiratory ailment would be far worse for him. Trying to find the death certificate to see what it says. I can't change the podcast, but I can alter it on my blog. Thanks for making me aware.
A death certificate would be great. I don't think you'll find TB listed as the cause anywhere. Same with Bess. It's just want Marie Blood told me. She said Bess died of TB and that she had caught it from Saint!
Interesting. TB is contagious. That sounds logical that Bess might have caught it from Saint if indeed that's what he had. No treatment for TB back then like there is today. I'll try and see if I can find a death certificate just to see what it says. This is always so fascinating.
It could also be that he had TB but died of pneumonia. Maybe that's how it works. I know you can have TB for a long time. Houdini's brother, Bill, for example. He battled it for 17 years.
Great stuff from Dean! He wrote that Saint died of pneumonia. I thought it was tuberculosis.
ReplyDeleteNewspapers reported it as pneumonia. Marie Blood told me it was tuberculosis. Same with Bess. Her death was never openly reported as tuberculosis either. There was a weird stigma about it.
DeleteOkay thanks! I remember reading that it was TB in a blog entry here.
DeleteThanks for putting up the link! By the way, I'm curious about this cause of death issue. I saw it in a newspaper that is pneumonia. When I read a report by William Larsen Sr. in Genii, it sure sounds like pneumonia, though I dont think he mentioned the disease by name. HOWEVER, looking up TB, the symptoms are very similar. He also suffered from asthma throughout his life, so any respiratory ailment would be far worse for him. Trying to find the death certificate to see what it says. I can't change the podcast, but I can alter it on my blog. Thanks for making me aware.
ReplyDeleteA death certificate would be great. I don't think you'll find TB listed as the cause anywhere. Same with Bess. It's just want Marie Blood told me. She said Bess died of TB and that she had caught it from Saint!
DeleteInteresting. TB is contagious. That sounds logical that Bess might have caught it from Saint if indeed that's what he had. No treatment for TB back then like there is today. I'll try and see if I can find a death certificate just to see what it says. This is always so fascinating.
DeleteIt could also be that he had TB but died of pneumonia. Maybe that's how it works. I know you can have TB for a long time. Houdini's brother, Bill, for example. He battled it for 17 years.
Delete