The Nevada Journal

A Castor Oil Epidemic.--On a late trip of one of our New Orleans steamers, she was crowded with German emigrants. As might be expected, their appetite for fruit and vegetables, after a long sea voyage, was most voracious. At Selma, a short distance below this city, the boat received some fifteen or twenty sacks of castor beans, consigned to Mr. Blow. The appearance of the bean, "good to the eye," excited the cravings of the emigrants. Finally, curiosity and appetite triumphed; a bag was surreptitiously opened, a large pan full extracted, and a huge luncheon of soup prepared. In a short time the passengers in the cabin, and the officers of the boat, were startled by the report that the cholera, in its worst form, had broken out on deck. On going below, they found that the castor oil was doing its work. The bag lay exposed, and a large pot full of this rare delicacy steaming hot on the table. The thing was soon solved, and the captain had to go into quarantine, because, as he said, "the Dutch didn't know beans."
St. Louis Rep.