People have died in a variety of unusual and unexpected ways throughout history. It appears that for every person who died comfortably in their bed, there was another who died while on the toilet or after falling into a tiger cage. One unlucky member of the group is Jack Daniels, the eponymous originator of the famed whiskey, who died after kicking a safe that wouldn't open. Here are the complete details about his death.
Who Was Jack Daniel?
Jack Daniel whose real name was Jasper Newton “Jack” Daniel was an American producer. He was born on September 5, 1850. He is the founder of Jack Daniel's Tennessee whiskey.
As the tenth child, Jack Daniel was very young when his mother died. His father died soon after in the Civil War. Daniel was independent from a young age, and when he was in his teens, a local priest and moonshiner named Dan Call took him in.
That's where he started making whiskey with Call and the distiller Nathan “Nearest” Green, who was a slave who kept working for Call after he got his freedom. He learned how to make whiskey using the “sour mash” method and how to filter whiskey through charcoal, both of which were popular at the time. Other distillers gave up on the process because it took too long and cost too much, but it became an important part of Daniel's end product.
Daniel started a legal brewing business in 1875 with the money he got from his father's estate. In 1884, he bought the hollow and land where the Jack Daniel's Distillery is still located. The land has a cave at the bottom of a limestone cliff. It is called “Stillhouse Hollow” or “Jack Daniel's Hollow.”
Today, there is a life-size figure of Jack Daniel in front of the cave spring. Many people think that good whiskey needs water that has been filtered through limestone. Moore County, Tennessee, had more than 15 breweries at the time.
How Did Jack Daniel Die?
Jack Daniel died in Lynchburg on October 10, 1911. The cause of his death was infectious blood poisoning. The infection may have started in Daniel's toe, which he hurt when he kicked his safe when he couldn't open it early one morning at work. He always had trouble remembering the combination.
Was Jack Daniel Married?
Daniels never got married or had his own family. Instead, he focused all of his energy on his business, which helped him build his adult beverage company. In 1907, when he was in his 60s, he realized he needed a successor to take over the business. He chose his nephews Lem Motlow and Richard Daniel to transition leadership gradually.
