On January 18, 1931, a sixty-year-old Whittier man went to see his doctor. He complained of stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, and severe diarrhea. Unable to diagnose the patient, the doctor sent him to the local hospital for tests. The lab tested him for amebic and bacillary dysentery—both were negative. They administered a Wasserman test for syphilis and he tested negative.

The hospital kept him under observation without arriving at a definitive diagnosis. Maybe he had caught a seasonal influenza. After three days, his symptoms had almost entirely cleared, so they released him and he returned home.

About ten days later he developed muscle soreness in his calves, and stiffness and numbness in his toes. The symptoms worsened. He had difficulty walking and suffered a bilateral foot drop. When he tried to walk on his own, he was forced to hold on to something for support.

His doctor reported the case to another Whittier physician, Dr. Frank G. Crandall, as suspected poliomyelitis. Polio would be devastating. There was no vaccine or cure for the disease. A patient could die or spend years in bed without recovering.

Within days, he lost the use of his fingers. His wrists dropped. His hands atrophied. Doctors transferred him to County General Hospital, where he remained confined to bed—unable to walk, stand, dress, or feed himself.

Dr. Crandall consulted with Dr. George H. Roth of the Los Angeles County Health Department. The polio virus was too small to be seen with the available technology, so doctors manually checked for muscle weakness or “physical defects.”  Drs. Crandall and Roth agreed that the patient did not have polio.

If not polio, then what else could render a man helpless in such a short period of time?

They had heard reports from the Midwest and South of a malady caused by drinking adulterated Jamaica Ginger. During the summer of 1930, 10,000 cases of the disease were reported in the South.

Jamaica Ginger was a patent medicine in continuous use since the 1820s used to treat everything from flatulence to upper respiratory infections and menstrual disorders. It was a common household remedy, which made its poisoning even more monstrous. The victims in some cases were children.

The extract typically contained 70% to 90% ethanol by weight, which was necessary to keep the ginger oleoresin in solution. Not only did Jake, as it was called, have a kick, as a medicine it was legal to purchase during Prohibition. That was a huge plus for people who couldn’t afford to frequent local speakeasies or buy from a bootlegger. When compared to standard whiskey, which contains 40% to 50% alcohol, a two-ounce bottle of Jake, costing about fifty cents, was a cheap high.

As soon as the government learned about the legal loophole, it was determined to close it. They did it by requiring manufacturers of Jamaica Ginger to include a high concentration of bitter ginger solids to make it too disgusting to drink.

The government’s solution worked for a while until some manufacturers and distributors bypassed the regulations. They experimented with various substances that would fool government tests and finally found a cheap industrial plasticizer called tri-orthocresyl phosphate (TOCP). A powerful neurotoxin.

Following the Whittier case, two men in Los Angeles, J. D. Hoagland (46) of 1129 ½ Mignonette Street, and David Grant (66) of 403 Court Street, sought treatment for Jake paralysis. Dr. John S. Fox, assistant city health officer, supervised their treatment. The victims admitted to consuming the ginger extract. One of them drank a bottle a day for 15 days, and the other downed five bottles a day for five days.

Dr. Fox issued a warning against the use of the extract as a beverage. He said a single drink could result in paralysis. But even with Dr. Fox’s warning, four new cases were reported from the North Bunker Hill district. One man not only suffered from “drop foot,” a defining characteristic of drinking the poison, but his face and limbs were also paralyzed. Another victim permanently lost their sight.

City laboratories analyzed samples of the extract sold in drug and grocery stores on Bunker Hill. The labs found TOCP.