The story as it is told
On October 22, 1926, a McGill student named J. Gordon Whitehead walked into Houdini's dressing room at the Princess Theatre in Montreal. He asked whether it was true that Houdini could take any punch to the stomach.
Before Houdini could tense up, Whitehead hit him, hard, several times. The blows burst his appendix, and nine days later, on Halloween, the world's greatest escape artist was dead.
A darker version has Whitehead sent by Spiritualists whom Houdini had humiliated.
What we can confirm
The darker theory, that Spiritualists sent Whitehead, has no evidence behind it.
In October 1926 Houdini was touring Canada and spending his offstage hours attacking fake spirit mediums. McGill University's archive records that he spoke to students in Montreal on October 20 about his investigation of a Boston medium.
Within days, a McGill student, J. Gordon Whitehead (Begley gives the full name), came to his dressing room and asked whether it was true that Houdini could take any blow to the stomach. Accounts agree he struck before Houdini had braced himself. McGill's archive describes "about three non-malicious punches," with a second student, Samuel Smilovitz, there to sketch him. Adam Begley, writing for Yale University Press, places the visit on the morning of Friday, October 22, at the Princess Theatre, and says Houdini had already felt ill the day before.
Houdini kept going. He took the train to Detroit, where a doctor at the Garrick Theatre suspected acute appendicitis on Sunday, October 24, with a fever of 102. He played the show anyway. He was operated on Monday, October 25. His appendix had burst and peritonitis had set in, and in 1926 there were no antibiotics to stop it. He died on the afternoon of Sunday, October 31, 1926.
The Associated Press story from Detroit that ran in Washington's Evening Star the next day reported that he had been "operated upon for appendicitis last Monday" and then developed peritonitis. It also said his family blamed his illness on "a blow struck by a McGill University student at Montreal." On the same page, a second AP report from Montreal ran under the headline "Fatal Blow Is Denied," quoting people there who said Houdini was already ill when he arrived. The dispute started the day after he died.
The punch story also got support from Houdini's life insurance company. In June 1927 New York Life paid Bess Houdini double the face value of his policy on the theory that a blow, an accident, had killed him. Begley quotes a surgeon's review that finds no causal link between a blow and appendicitis and says the timing "must be seen as coincidence." McGill's archive is gentler and says the punches likely aggravated an appendicitis that was already there.
What the record supports: the punches happened, and they may have hidden or worsened the pain of an appendicitis he already had. The record does not show that the punches caused the appendicitis. Houdini died of peritonitis after his appendix burst, following several days in which he kept performing before he had surgery, at a time when there were no antibiotics to treat the infection.
The facts
- Oct 20, 1926 McGill talk; students Whitehead and Smilovitz; "about three non-malicious punches"; blow likely aggravated existing appendicitis. McGill University Archives, mcgill.ca
- Punch morning of Fri Oct 22, Princess Theatre; ill the day before; Detroit diagnosis Sun Oct 24 at the Garrick, fever 102; surgery Mon Oct 25; died afternoon of Sun Oct 31; diffuse peritonitis; surgeon's review "must be seen as coincidence"; Spiritualist-agent theory has no evidence. Adam Begley, Yale University Press, Mar 11, 2020, yalebooks.yale.edu
- AP, Detroit, Nov 1, 1926: operated for appendicitis "last Monday," peritonitis followed; family blamed "a blow struck by a McGill University student at Montreal"; same page carries AP Montreal report "Fatal Blow Is Denied"; body to go to New York "in the bronze casket he carried everywhere." Evening Star (Washington), Nov 1, 1926, p. 2, Chronicling America, loc.gov
- LoC holds clippings announcing his death, item rights note: LoC "not aware of any U.S. copyright or any other restrictions." loc.gov
Sources
- Oct 20, 1926 McGill talk; students Whitehead and Smilovitz; "about three non-malicious punches"; blow likely aggravated existing appendicitis. McGill University Archives, mcgill.ca
- Punch morning of Fri Oct 22, Princess Theatre; ill the day before; Detroit diagnosis Sun Oct 24 at the Garrick, fever 102; surgery Mon Oct 25; died afternoon of Sun Oct 31; diffuse peritonitis; surgeon's review "must be seen as coincidence"; Spiritualist-agent theory has no evidence. Adam Begley, Yale University Press, Mar 11, 2020, yalebooks.yale.edu
- AP, Detroit, Nov 1, 1926: operated for appendicitis "last Monday," peritonitis followed; family blamed "a blow struck by a McGill University student at Montreal"; same page carries AP Montreal report "Fatal Blow Is Denied"; body to go to New York "in the bronze casket he carried everywhere." Evening Star (Washington), Nov 1, 1926, p. 2, Chronicling America, loc.gov
- LoC holds clippings announcing his death, item rights note: LoC "not aware of any U.S. copyright or any other restrictions." loc.gov