The Mythical Safe That Cost Jack Daniel's Founder His Life Just Turned Up in NYC

Artifact is on display for the brand's 150th anniversary

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Every brand story contains an element of myth.

In the case of Jack Daniel's, legend has it that the brand's founder, Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniel, had a mysterious safe that led to his death. 

One day, after forgetting the combination, he kicked it so hard that he gave himself gangrene. An infection passed from his sore toe to his whole foot, then to his leg, which was amputated. This didn't stop the gangrene from traveling, however, and Daniel ultimately died in 1911, at age 61, of progressive gangrene complications. 

Since then, the safe has never left his office, which is part of a living museum in Lynchburg, Tenn.

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