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Until His Jaw Came Off Multi-cache

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Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:



YOU WONT NEED A GEIGER COUNTER OR A RADIATION SUIT...


TO FIND THIS CACHE




This is one of the odd stories that really makes you think about life during the turn of the 20th century.

Eben M Byers was the son of a wealthy industrialist and a very well know U.S. Amateur Golf champion. His friends considered him a "ladies man" and his skills on the course were know nationwide. But his claim to fame today would not be for his long drive.

In 1906, at the age of 27, Eben was returning to Pittsburgh via train from the Girard Iron Works in Girard,Ohio when the train suddenly lurched throwing the young man from his berth and injuring his arm. He complained of persistent pain and his Pittsburgh doctor named C.C.Moyar suggested taking Radithor, a patent medicine new to the market.

Manufactured by William J. A. Bailey, a Harvard College dropout who passed himself off as a real doctor of medicine, Radithor was a new tonic advertised as "Pure Sunshine in a Bottle". It was made by dissolving radium in water to high concentrations, and which Bailey held could cure many ailments.

Byers was known to have consumed enormous doses of Radithor, as much as three bottles a day, which he claimed cured him. Over the course of the rest of his life he drank somewhere in the range of 1400 bottles. When he stopped taking Radithor in 1930 he had accumulated significant amounts of radium in his bones, leading to fractures, lesions, and eventually the loss of most of his jaw, owing to the appearance of holes in his skull. He died in 1932. At the time of his death the Wall Street Journal ran an article with the heading "The Radium Water Worked Fine until His Jaw Came Off" . This prompted the investigation into what we would call "Quack Medicine". Though no one was brought up on charges.

Today Mr. Byers lies in Allegheny Cemetery in a lead lined coffin. According to the Cemetery newsletter from 2006, his body was exhumed temporarily by the Federal Government for radioactive testing. His name can been seen on the left side of the mausoleum close to the top. It's hard to read but it's there.

This is where you'll begin the hunt. The first stage is a virtual. In order to get the coordinates for the final you must COUNT THE NUMBER OF PILLARS AT HIS MAUSOLEUM AND SUBSTITUTE THAT NUMBER IN FOR THE LAST TWO DIGITS OF THE WEST COORDINATES.

N 40º 28.408
W 079º 57.4_ _

Once you find the number get back in your car and drive to the final. The final IS NOT LOCATED IN THE CEMETERY BUT AT A NEAR BY PARK. PLEASE RECOVER JUST AS GOOD OR BETTER THAN YOU FOUND IT!!! When you're at the cemetery please be respectful. Also this is a DAYLIGHT ONLY cache. The gates close at 5:00 PM so plan accordingly. There are no dogs or bikes allowed in the park. While there pick up a tour map from the office or use my waypoints below to visit some of the other famous people buried there. The list below is not a comprehensive list of the famous now calling the cemetery home but just a few that I thought were neat.

That's it. There are some links below for those who want to know more about Eben M Byers or Allegheny Cemetery. Good luck and happy hunting!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eben_Byers

http://www.alleghenycemetery.com/images/newsletter/newsletter_XIII_1.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegheny_Cemetery

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Haqre fbzr ybtf ng gur onfr bs n gerr.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)