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3 Bizarre Cases of Death by Shaving
by guest BLOGSTAR - October 22, 2009 - 8:35 PM

by Brett & Kate McKay

shaverightThese days, nothing can be more routine for a man than shaving. We hardly give a second thought to scraping a razor against our skin each morning. If we fear anything about the process, it’s that we’ll nick ourselves or end up with severe razor burn.

But it wasn’t always so.

Shaving was once a dangerous and sometimes lethal endeavor. Before the advent of safety razors and sanitation laws, a man risked his life when he decided to clean up with a close shave. Here are three stories of men who met their end in pursuit of a baby smooth face.

Michael F. Farley, 1921

Michael F. Farley immigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1881 when he was 18 years old. He ran a successful liquor business in New York and was elected to Congress in 1915. But Mr. Farley’s Horatio Alger story was cut short after a visit to the barbershop. Little did Mr. Farley know that the badger brush the barber was using to create that nice luxurious lather on his face was contaminated with – I kid you not- anthrax. Farley was infected with the virus and died a few days later. Who knew a barber brush could be a weapon of mass destruction?

John Henry Taylor, 1911

John Henry Taylor was a friendly horticulturalist who decided to take a trip on a Red Line cruise ship back in 1911. In between matches of shuffle board, Mr. Taylor felt his beard was getting a little rough and decided to visit the on-board barber. The waves must have been pretty rough that day because the barber gave ol’ John Henry a little nick on the neck. Because small cuts are par for the course when getting a shave, John Henry didn’t think much of it and returned to his cabin. But later that night, his throat began to swell up and fill with fluid. The ship doctor said it was just a case of blood poisoning and told Taylor that it would soon heal itself. Two days later the swelling increased, and Taylor could no longer speak. A week after the initial cut, John Henry Taylor suffocated and died from severe edema.

John Thoreau, 1841

John Thoreau was the brother of famous American writer and Transcendentalist, Henry David Thoreau. In the winter of 1841, while taking part in his daily shave, John Thoreau cut himself with his razor. A few days later he came down with lockjaw and died in Henry David’s arms. His brother’s death devastated Thoreau. He didn’t talk to his family or write in his journal for weeks.

Thoreau’s good friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson, suggested that he go spend some time out in the woods alone near a pond called Walden. Thoreau took this sage advice, and one of America’s greatest essays was born. All thanks to shaving.

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Brett McKay runs The Art of Manliness with his wonderful wife Kate. You can learn how to get a close shave without killing yourself in their new book, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manner for the Modern Man.

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Comments (14)

  1. Anthrax is a bacterium, not a virus. Bacillus anthracis.

    posted by jon on 10-22-2009 at 9:59 pm

  2. Small Goof….Anthrax is a bacterium, not a virus

    posted by Greyops on 10-22-2009 at 10:11 pm

  3. Sweeney Todd would be proud.

    posted by Kristen on 10-23-2009 at 8:14 am

  4. Does anyone else see the ad for the rolling razor under this story?

    that is awkward….

    posted by Kirk on 10-23-2009 at 9:07 am

  5. There was an early 20th century Russian composer named Alexander Scriabin; he composed some of the most adventurous and difficult piano music of all time. More interestingly, he had a messianic complex and was bat-crap crazy. He literally thought that if he could play this one piece he was writing (called the “Mysterium”) in the Himalayas on an organ that projected colored lights onto a screen while being played, he could bring all of humanity to a higher plane of consciousness and thus destroy the world, freeing us from our shackles of pain and so forth. So, yeah–he was nuts.

    One day, he shaved over a pimple with a rusty razor, got sepsis, and died. He never finished the Mysterium, and he never brought about the end of the world. So–yay for shaving accidents, I guess.

    posted by Matt S. on 10-23-2009 at 9:07 am

  6. Duuuude, razors scare me!

    posted by John on 10-23-2009 at 9:21 am

  7. haha, I can’t stop thinking of Sweeny Todd, now:)
    AND I see the rolling razor ad, too – way awkward.

    Has anyone ever tried to shave with a straight blade?

    (obvi I haven’t…)

    posted by OkieMelissa on 10-23-2009 at 10:36 am

  8. I always think of Lord Carnevon, George Herbert, who was Howard Carter’s financial backer for the excavation of King Tut’s tomb. He died from an infection after shaving a mosquito bite, right in Cairo, Eqypt. His death lead to the whole “curse of the mummy” myth. Happy Halloween!

    posted by Heather on 10-23-2009 at 11:27 am

  9. I’ll have to agree – Sweeney Todd inspired all the way. The music will be in my head all day!

    And yes, I too found the rolling razor add rather…creepy…following that blog!

    recaptcha: plumper 1929 – I don’t think wall street would agree

    posted by Hastings on 10-23-2009 at 11:29 am

  10. anthrax virus??? come on again anthrax is a bacterium not a virus. the three deaths listed above technically caused by razors, true they were brought forth by said shaving implements but they died of other causes. i would, and do, use a straight razor compared to what is commonly out on the market, because i control how sharp it is. and before you think anything im 23 so still a young buck.

    posted by larry craig on 10-23-2009 at 5:24 pm

  11. I have a buddy who used to wear a full beard, after a few years of it he decided to shave it off. I don’t know if it was the razor or what but he got a really bad infection and had to be hospitalized for weeks. He lived but is severely scarred – it looks like his beard was burned off. Insult to injury – he can no longer gow hair on his face, and so, cannot grow a beard to cover up the scars…

    posted by matthew on 10-23-2009 at 6:18 pm

  12. Wow
    ReCaptcha: The Hurtful, how fitting!!

    posted by kokopeli420 on 10-24-2009 at 4:12 am

  13. interesting article my granddad uses a straight razor I tried for a few months but then I went back to an electric razor for the convenience. I shave in the car on my way to work.

    BTW: Im fairly sure ads by Google are tailored to keywords in the article.

    posted by John on 10-24-2009 at 2:19 pm

  14. Heather- i thought the same thing too!

    i also thought of one of my favourite george bernard shaw snippets-

    A razor company once invited George Bernard Shaw to shave his famous beard. He responded with a postcard:

    Gentlemen:

    I shall never shave, for the same reason that I started a beard, and for the reason my father started his. I remember standing at his side, when I was five, while he was shaving for the last time. “Father,” I asked, “Why do you shave?” He stood there for a full minute and finally looked down at me. “Why the hell do I?” he said.

    – GBS

    posted by emmiline on 10-27-2009 at 2:53 am

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