A Town that was Poisoned by Bread on this This Day in History

 

This day in History: On this day in 1967, hundreds of people in the city of Chiquinquirá, in Colombia, were poisoned, and 81 died, after eating bread that had been made with flour that had been contaminated with parathion, a liquid insecticide. All but ten of the deaths were children; the deaths would later be attributed to an accident that happened when the flour and the parathion were being transported in the same delivery truck. When the truck driver made a sharp turn, three of the containers of parathion shattered and spilled into the bags of flour, which was then delivered to the bakery. 

Murder charges would later be filed against a Bogotá truck driver who had delivered the flour and the owner of the bakery that had baked and sold the bread to local residents.

Parathion is so toxic it has been banned in most countries. Parathion was commonly used for suicides in the 1950s and 1960s.

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Bobbie Gentry on this Day in History

 

This day in history: American singer-songwriter Bobbie Gentry was born on this day in 1942. Gentry rose to international fame in 1967 with her Southern Gothic narrative "Ode to Billie Joe". The track spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was third in the Billboard year-end chart of 1967, earning Gentry Grammy awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1968.

If you have not heard the song, then you are missing out. 

For one thing, the song is a mystery story:

"Part of the song's enduring power is that the song asks more questions than it answers. There's a suicide in the first verse, and it just gets weirder after that. Why did Billie Joe jump off the bridge? Is the girl who's singing the same girl spotted with Billie Joe on the bridge? What did they throw off the bridge?" Source

The song was also social commentary:

"In this song, a family finds out about the death of Billie Joe and shares gossip about him at the dinner table along with their other mundane concerns. Bobbie Gentry explained: 'The message of the song revolves around the nonchalant way the family talks about the suicide. The song is a study in unconscious cruelty.'" Source

There is actually an 8 minute long, original, uncut, 11-verse recording of the song that has never surfaced. 

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