The risks of being a grocer were made evident on this day in 1934 when the Fargo Forum ran a story on the bizarre hazards facing Red Owl grocer E. D. Branigan. Branigan, manager of the Fargo Red Owl store, had been a grocery clerk for decades and was conditioned for the experience that he encountered several days earlier involving tropical fruit and fauna.
While working in the produce department that week, Branigan was approached by a customer requesting some fresh bananas. The grocer quickly found the latest banana shipment and reached in to the box to grab a bunch for the customer. As Branigan pulled his arm out of the box, he felt a painful sting on the end of his finger. He immediately dropped the banana bunch, and dozens of different ants and spiders scrambled from the fruit. Nearby employees quickly killed the insects, but Branigan, unaware of which of the tropical bugs had bitten his hand, hurried to tie a string around the infected finger in order to slow the circulation of the blood. A doctor was called who cut the finger open in order to apply an oxidizing agent in order to counteract any poison that may have been injected. Branigan reported that the sting was a “terrific shock and had a weakening effect.” Banana spiders, ants, and tarantulas were among the insects and arachnids that had run from the dropped bananas, none of which were new to grocer Branigan.

In fact, the Fargo incident was Branigan’s third encounter with tropical bugs. As a young man, he had come across a giant banana spider while working at a grocery store in Minneapolis. Although the spider bit Branigan, it was not of the poisonous variety and the man escaped unharmed. In 1922, Branigan was working at a store in Milwaukee when he found another large, brown banana spider. “This one didn’t bite him and he posed for a newspaper cameraman with the creature perched on a bunch of bananas.” One could only guess that Branigan did not realize how many close calls he would have on the job when he entered the grocery business as a young man.

Sources:
Fargo Forum and Daily Republican. April 3, 1934 (Evening ed.): p. 1.

--Jayme L. Job

This text and audio may not be copied without securing prior permission from North Dakota Public Radio.