Eben Byers

Eben Byers
Eben Byers
Personal information
Full name	Eben McBurney Byers
Born	April 12, 1880; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Died	March 31, 1932 (aged 51); Manhattan, New York
Sporting nationality	United States
Career
Status	Amateur
Best results in major championships; (wins: 1)
PGA Championship	DNP
U.S. Open	CUT: 1908
The Open Championship	DNP
U.S. Amateur	Won: 1906
British Amateur	T17: 1904

Eben McBurney Byers (April 12, 1880 – March 31, 1932) was a wealthy American socialite, athlete, and industrialist. He won the 1906 U.S. Amateur in golf. He earned notoriety in the early 1930s when he died from multiple radiation-induced cancers after consuming a popular patent medicine made from radium dissolved in water.

Biography

The son of industrialist Alexander Byers, Eben Byers was educated at St. Paul's School and Yale College,^[1] 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^[2] and 1903.^[3] Byers eventually became the chairman of the Girard Iron Company, which had been created by his father.^[1]

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.^[4] 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.^[5]

Byers began taking enormous doses of Radithor, which he believed had greatly improved his health, drinking nearly 1,400 bottles.^[6] 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 abscessed, and holes were forming in his skull. His death on March 31, 1932, was attributed to "radiation poisoning" using the terminology of the time, but it was due to cancers, not acute radiation syndrome.^[4]^[7] He is buried in Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in a lead-lined coffin.^[5]

Legacy

Due to Byers' prominence, his death received much publicity. The Wall Street Journal ran a headline reading "The Radium Water Worked Fine until His Jaw Came Off" after his death.^[8]^[9] His illness and eventual death also led to a heightened awareness of the dangers of ingesting radioactive materials, and to the adoption of laws that increased the powers of the FDA.^[3]

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.^[10]

Major championships

Amateur wins (1)

Year	Championship	Winning score	Runner-up
1906	U.S. Amateur	2 up	George Lyon

Results timeline

Tournament	1900	1901	1902	1903	1904	1905	1906	1907	1908	1909
U.S. Open	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	CUT	DNP
U.S. Amateur	R16	R16	2	2	R16	QF	1	SF	QF	DNP
The Amateur Championship	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	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	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP	DNP

Note: Byers died before the founding of the Masters Tournament, and never played in The Open Championship. 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.

References

^ ^a ^b Leonard, John William (1922). Who's Who in Finance and Banking. Who's Who in Finance Inc. p. 110.
^ "Travis Out Of The Race". New York Tribune. July 18, 1902. p. 5. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
^ ^a ^b Wade, Don; McCord, Gary. And Then Arnie Told Chi Chi... McGraw-Hill Professional. pp. 33–4. ISBN 0-8092-3549-8.
^ ^a ^b "Radium Drinks". Time. April 11, 1932. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
^ ^a ^b "Eben M. Byers: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Amateur Golf, Modern Medicine and the FDA" (PDF). Allegheny Cemetery Heritage. Fall 2004. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
^ "Radium Cures". museumofquackery.com.
^ "Death Stirs Action on Radium 'Cures'. Trade Commission Speeds Its Inquiry. Health Department Checks Drug Wholesalers. Autopsy Shows Symptoms. Maker of "Radithor" Denies It Killed Byers, as Does Victim's Physician in Pittsburgh. Walker Uses Apparatus. Friends Alarmed to Find Mayor Has Been Drinking Radium-Charged Water for Last Six Months". The New York Times. April 2, 1932. Retrieved 2011-10-01. Federal and local agencies, as well as medical authorities in various parts of the country, were stirred to action yesterday as a result of the death of Eben M. Byers, wealthy Pittsburgh steel manufacturer and sportsman, who died here Wednesday at the Doctors' Hospital from causes attributed to radium poisoning resulting from the drinking of water containing radium in solution. ...
^ Stipp, David (June 9, 2003). "A Little Poison Can Be Good For You The received wisdom about toxins and radiation may be all wet". Fortune. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
^ Evans, Robley D. (1933). "Radium Poisoning a Review of Present Knowledge *". American Journal of Public Health and the Nations Health. 23 (10): 1017. doi:10.2105/AJPH.23.10.1017-b.
^ Harvie, David I. (2005). Deadly Sunshine: The History and Fatal Legacy of Radium (1 ed.). Tempus Publishing Limited. pp. 160–161. ISBN 0-7524-3395-4.