Copyright dailyrecord
A renowned author endured his final days in excruciating pain and met a peculiar end after accidentally swallowing a toothpick whilst on a cruise. Sherwood Anderson, a celebrated American writer known for his tumultuous personal life including a nervous breakdown and four marriages, died in 1941 under bizarre circumstances - a tragedy so strange it seems like a plot from one of his novels. At the age of 64, he was enjoying a leisurely cruise to South America with his fourth wife when calamity struck. While sipping a martini at a party, Anderson unknowingly swallowed a small wooden toothpick hidden in his olive. In the ensuing days, he began to suffer from increasing pain as the ship continued its journey south. He was eventually evacuated from the ship in Panama and rushed to hospital, but by then it was tragically too late. Doctors made the grim discovery that the sharp fragment of toothpick had punctured his intestines, leading to a lethal infection known as peritonitis. Anderson passed away shortly after arriving in Panama, marking one of the most unusual endings in literary history, reports the Mirror . Born in Ohio in 1876, the author had led a life filled with drama even before his odd demise. He had been a successful businessman until a nervous breakdown in 1912 saw him disappear from his office and wander aimlessly through the streets, asking passers-by who he was. This breakdown marked the end of his business career but sparked the beginning of his writing journey. From that moment, Anderson plunged into fiction writing. His revolutionary 1919 collection Winesburg, Ohio depicted small-town American life and influenced a generation of authors - including Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner and John Steinbeck. Anderson once quipped he possessed "a heart that always needed editing", which might explain his habit of constantly remarrying. His first wife, Cornelia Lane, hailed from a wealthy family and they had three children together. But whilst he constructed his business empire, she allegedly grew tired of his unpredictable temperament and lengthy disappearances. They ultimately divorced and he wed free-spirited artist Tennessee Mitchell - experiencing a "passionate, stormy and exhausting" romance which wouldn't endure. His subsequent wife Elizabeth Prall was a New York bestseller, but Anderson's restless character resurfaced, as did whispers of affairs with other women. His fourth and final spouse Eleanor Copenhaver was 23 years his junior, but remained by his side until his death in 1941. When medics carried out the post-mortem, they discovered the tiny toothpick still lodged in his intestinal wall - a fragment of wood that had killed one of America's finest storytellers. His epitaph reveals everything: "Life, not death, is the great adventure." For Sherwood Anderson, it proved chillingly accurate.
