Charles Blondin

popular name: Berrien Upshaw

date_of_death: January 12, 1949

age: 47

cause_of_death: Suicide - leaped from building

claim_to_fame: The Odd and the Interesting

best_know_for: Berrien "Red" Upshaw was a mean, nasty, ill-tempered loser and wife beater - and those were some of his good qualities. But he did have one quality that served him well - he was known as a suave and charming man to the ladies. His charm wooed a young Margaret Mitchell and she married Berrien “Red” Kinnard Upshaw, an ex-football player from a prominent Raleigh (North Carolina) family, on September 2nd 1922. But after after 4 months Upshaw took off to the mid-west and engaged in bootlegging and other illegal pursuits. He returned back to Margaret but the family wanted nothing to do with him. The marriage was annulled two years later and Margaret married John Marsh (Red's best man at the wedding). Margaret went on to write the best-selling novel Gone With The Wind while Upshaw continued to drink heavily, was institutionalized briefly in the early 1940s and leaped to his death from the 2nd story of a Salvation Army flop-house in Galveston, Texas in 1949. In the end, Berrien Upshaw was so disliked, even by his own family, that his family in the last line of his brief obituary specifically requested no flowers be sent.

popular name: Eben Byers

date_of_death: March 31, 1932

age: 51

cause_of_death: Cancer due to excessive radiation exposure

claim_to_fame: The Odd and the Interesting

best_know_for: Eben Byers, popular Pittsburgh sportsman, socialite and industrialist, fell out of an upper berth in 1927 returning from a Yale-Harvard football game and injured his arm. His Pittsburgh physiotherapist, Dr. Charles Clinton Moyar, prescribed a patented drink called ''Radithor." Radithor, a popular and expensive mixture of radium 226 and radium 228 in distilled water, was advertised as an effective treatment for over 150 "endocrinologic" diseases, especially lassitude and sexual impotence. Over 400 000 bottles, each containing over 2 μCi (74 kBq) of radium, were marketed and sold worldwide between 1925 and 1930. Byers was drinking in excess of 3-4 bottles a day for years, claiming the elixir eased the arm pain and gave him a little energy boost. He enthusiastically recommended it to friends, sent them cases of it, even gave some to one of his horses. but stopped in October 1930 (after taking some 1400 doses) when that effect faded. Soon after he lost weight, had horrible headaches and his teeth began to fall out. In 1931, the Federal Trade Commission asked him to testify about his experience, but he was too sick to travel, so the commission sent a lawyer to take his statement at his home; the lawyer reported that Byers's "whole upper jaw, excepting two front teeth and most of his lower jaw had been removed" and that "All the remaining bone tissue of his body was disintegrating, and holes were actually forming in his skull." The death of the Pittsburgh millionaire sportsman Eben M. Byers, who was an avid Radithor user, by radium poisoning in 1932 brought an end to this era and prompted the development of regulatory controls for all radiopharmaceuticals. The grave of Eben Byers can be found at the historic Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

popular name: Daisy and Violet Hilton

date_of_death: January 4, 1969

age: 60

cause_of_death: Hong Kong flu

claim_to_fame: The Odd and the Interesting

best_know_for: Daisy and Violet Hilton, born in the early 1900s in Brighton, England, were conjoined twins joined at the hip and buttocks. Their lives were a blend of exploitation and fame, marked by challenges and achievements. Born to an unmarried barmaid, Kate Skinner, the twins were sold to her employer, Mary Hilton, who saw their potential as a spectacle. Under Mary Hilton's care, they were trained as performers and toured extensively, particularly in the U.S., where they were exhibited as "freaks" in sideshows and carnivals. After Mary's death, the twins became the wards of her daughter and son-in-law, Edith and Meyer Myers, who continued exploiting them financially and refusing to allow them out in public unless they were performing. They later gained legal independence in 1931 after suing the Myers family, receiving $100,000 in restitution (far below what they earned). The Hiltons became vaudeville stars, captivating their audiences with their talents including dancing, singing and playing instruments. Despite their fame, the Hilton sisters faced significant personal challenges. Exploitation in their early years left them unprepared to manage their finances and lives independently. They attempted romantic relationships, but societal prejudice and legal barriers prevented marriage. Their brief appearance in Tod Browning's 1932 cult classic film Freaks and the 1951 biopic Chained for Life showcased their lives but didn't lead to lasting success. As vaudeville declined, the sisters struggled financially. They ended up working in a grocery store in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 1969, they died of the Hong Kong flu, passing within days of each other due to their physical connection. After their passing, they were laid to rest at Forest Lawn West in Charlotte, NC.