 In his biography, Enrico Caruso Jr. points to an on-stage injury suffered by Caruso as the possible trigger of his fatal illness.A falling pillar in "Samson and Delilah" on 3 December had hit him on the back, over the left kidney (and not on the chest as popularly reported).A few days before a performance of "Pagliacci" at the Met (Pierre Key says it was 4 December, the day after the "Samson and Delilah" injury) he suffered a chill and developed a cough and a "dull pain in his side".