A Note From 1886 About Quail-Eating Contests

"After two bites Miller was taken violently ill."

From the December 26, 1886 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

“Ten days before Mann, the Minneapolis quail eater, started in on his task to eat thirty birds in thirty days for a bet of $1,000, Charles Miller commenced the same business on another wager. Yesterday Miller attacked his twenty-eighth bird. He had been complaining for the past five days that he could not sleep at night and that he seemed to have a load of stones on his chest. He felt well when he sat down to his quail, ate a little bread and butter and potatoes, and then attacked the bird. After two bites Miller was taken violently ill, vomiting and being unable to go on with the task. A hack was sent for at once, and he was taken to a doctor’s and from thence to his home. No serious results are looked for, and he will probably be alright in a day or two. Mann ate his eighteenth quail last night, and is still feeling well.”

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