USA > Iowa > Calhoun County > Past and present of Calhoun County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress, and achievement, Volume I > Part 26
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Jonathan P. Dolliver was born in West Virginia, February 6, 1858. In his eighteenth year he was graduated at the West Virginia University and upon leaving college took up the study of law. In 1878 he decided to try his fortunes in the West and opened a law offiee at Manson. A little later he removed to Fort Dodge and it was
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not long until he was a factor in political affairs. In 1884 he pre- sided over the republican state convention at Des Moines and four years later was nominated by the republicans of his district for Con- gress, having been an unsuccessful candidate for the nomination in 1886. He defeated Captain Yeoman and remained in the lower house of Congress until the death of United States Senator John H. Gear, when he was appointed to the vacaney by Governor Shaw. At the next session of the General Assembly he was elected for the unex- pired term and by successive elections remained in the senate until his death on October 15, 1910. The later years of his life were occu- pied with his official duties and he rarely appeared in court.
Jacob M. Toliver, of Lake City, eame to the county at an early date and was for years the district attorney. He is no doubt the old- est resident lawyer in the county. Another early attorney of Cal- houn County was J. A. Gould, who located at Pomeroy soon after the town was founded. O. J. Jolley was the first lawyer to establish an office in Roekwell City after that town was made the county seat.
From the Calhoun County Bar Docket for April, 1915. the fol- lowing list of resident attorneys is taken: Rockwell City-I. E. Dougherty, R. C. Gray, W. E. Gray, J. F. Lavender, M. W. Friek, E. C. Stevenson: Lake City-John W. Jacobs, M. E. Hutchison, J. M. Toliver: Lohrville-William Towers: Manson-V. P. MeManus: Pomeroy- A. T. Horton.
NOTED TRIALS
As a rule, the people of Calhoun County believe in schools, attend church, mind their own business and are not given to dissensions that beget lawsuits. Now and then there has been some crime committed by one who has overstepped the bounds of the peaceful and law- abiding customs of the community, but in such cases justice has been meted ont to the off'ender with promptness and impartiality.
The first murder case ever tried in the county was that of the State of Iowa vs. Jacob Kephart, for the killing of Henry Randall in Williams Township in the fall of 1877. Kephart was arrested, tried before Judge Duffie, convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to serve two years in the penitentiary.
THE WILCOX HOMICIDE
On the last day of April, 1900, Henry Wilcox, a youth of nineteen years, shot and killed his father in Jackson Township. After the
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shooting, Henry went to the Coon River bottoms, where he left the gun and then returned to the house. His brother Andrew had in the meantime notified the neighbors of what had happened, Coroner Esliek was summoned from Rockwell City and an inquest was held at which the evidence clearly showed how the deed was committed. Nothing was done with the son, however, until the following October, when he was indicted by the grand jury, arrested and lodged in jail to await trial.
At the February term of the District Court in 1901, young Wilcox was arraigned for trial. The state was represented by Marion E. Hutchinson, who had just been elected county attorney and this was his first official case. George W. Bowen, of Carroll, and the firm of Mccrary & MeCrary appeared for the defense. The evidence showed that there had been some quarreling between Henry and his father: that between the hours of 6 and 7 o'clock in the morning the young man took a double barreled shotgun and started for the woods to shoot squirrels, but upon coming to the field where his father and brother Sidney were at work he stopped to talk a little while with Sidney. The two boys then left the team standing and started to where their father was at work a short distance away. As they approached the elder Wilcox drew a knife and ordered Henry to leave the farm, threatening to disembowel him if he did not go. The boy warned his father to stop, but no attention was given to the warning. Fcaring that his life was in danger, Henry then fired both barrels of the gun in quick succession. The first charge took effect beneath the right arm and the second in the face, producing almost instantaneous death.
Evidence was also introduced to show that A. J. Wilcox, the father, was a high tempered man, of quarrelsome disposition, and that he was cruel at times to his wife and children, while on the other hand Henry was a peaceable, quiet fellow, not likely to provoke trouble. On Saturday, February 23, 1901, the jury returned a verdict of man- slaughter. The defendant was then released on bail until March 7, 1901. when he was brought before the court and sentenced to eighteen months at hard labor in the penitentiary. His youth and the fact that he felt that he was abont to be assaulted by his father were the mitigating circumstances that led to the short sentence.
THE PRATT CASE
Josiah M. Pratt, a farmer living about a mile and a half south of Y'etter, died on June 24, 1905, under conditions which some of his
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neighbors and relatives thought indieated that he had been poisoned. Upon their request the sheriff, county attorney and coroner stopped the funeral procession on the way to the cemetery on the 26th and proceeded to hold an inquest. The stomach of the dead man was re- moved and sent to the state chemist. C. N. Kinney, at Des Moines, that the contents thereof might be analyzed. After the autopsy and preliminary inquest the funeral cortege was permitted to proceed and nothing further was done in the matter until a partial report was returned by Professor Kinney.
On July 5, 1905, the coroner's jury was reconvened at Rockwell City. The report of the state ehemist was presented to the jury and upon it and other eorroborative evidenee the jury returned a verdiet that "Josiah M. Pratt came to his death by reason of poison adminis- tered to him by William Persing and Jennie Pratt."
William Persing, who had been employed by Mr. Pratt sinee the preceding winter, was arrested on June 26th, at the time of the first inquest and on the afternoon of July 5th, immediately after the ren- dering of the verdict, Mrs. Pratt was placed under arrest. They were given a preliminary hearing before Thomas Tennant, a justiee of the peace in Roekwell City, on July 8, 1905, and in September the grand jury returned an indietment for murder.
The ease came up at the January term of the District Court. Marion E. Hutchison, county attorney, was assisted in the proseeu- tion hy T. D. Healy, of Fort Dodge; Gray & Gray appeared as coun- sel for William Persing, and Mrs. Pratt was defended by J. M. Par- sons and J. F. Lavender. The defendants asked for separate hear- ings and Mrs. Pratt was the first to be placed on trial. There were a host of witnesses, both for the state and for the defense, and so many people had formed or expressed an opinion that several days were spent in the selection of a jury. The evidence indicated that there was undue intimaey between Mrs. Pratt and the hired man; that their aetions were indisereet at times, to say the least ; that Persing had been known to purchase arsenie at a drug store in Yetter, and that he and Mrs. Pratt had been in the habit of preparing drinks for Mr. Pratt during his illness. Professor Kinney, who analyzed the contents of Pratt's stomach was ealled as an expert witness and testified that out of the sixty or seventy-five stomachs he had examined that of Pratt was the worst one he ever saw.
The trial attraeted wide-spread attention. Several newspapers in the larger eities of the Middle West sent special correspondents to Roekwell City, where they remained in constant attendance upon
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the trial, which lasted for three weeks. The last three days of that time were taken up by the attorneys in arguing the case and on Jan- uary 18, 1906, it was given to the jury. The jury failed to agree and at the next term of court Mrs. Pratt was released from custody and the case against Persing was dismissed. Public opinion in Calhoun County is still divided as to the guilt or innocence of the defendants in this famous ease, but the authorities saw that the evidence at a see- ond trial would be no more convincing to a jury than it had been at the first, and, rather than put the county to the expense of another long and tedious hearing, with the possibility of another disagree- ment on the part of the jury, entered a nolle and set the defendants at liberty.
STATE VS. BROWN
Among the residents of Lineoln Township at the beginning of the present century was J. M. Brown, who owned a good farm not far from Manson. He had a son, George G. Brown, who had acquired the reputation of being a noted and successful gambler. This son aeeum- ulated a considerable fortune, married and purchased a fine residence in Manson. He then persuaded his parents to surrender the farm, offering to assume a small mortgage and to take care of his father and mother for the remainder of their natural lives. The parents finally consented and went to live with their son in Manson, much against the wishes of the son's wife. George was afflicted with tuber- culosis and went to Colorado for his health, leaving his wife and par- ents together.
It was not long until the displeasure of the younger Mrs. Brown found expression, which her father-in-law resented and family quar- rels became frequent. On Saturday morning, August 29, 1908, one of these quarrels commeneed at the breakfast table and Mr. Brown struck his daughter-in-law with his fist. She left the table and started up stairs, with the old man in elose pursuit. On the landing of the stairway he picked up an Indian athletic club, weighing about five' pounds, with which he crushed his daughter-in-law's skull, her death following in a few minutes.
Brown was arrested and arraigned for trial at the sneeeeding November term of the District Court. The state was represented by J. F. Lavender, county attorney, F. F. Hunter and J. M. Parsons, and the attorneys for the defense were Michael and Robert Healy, of Fort Dodge, and Hutchison & Jacobs, of Lake City. Judge F. M. Powers presided during the trial. On the witness stand the story of
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the ill feeling that existed between the defendant and his vietim was brought out. IIe stated that buteher knives and revolvers had been taken from his daughter-in-law; that when she left the breakfast table in such haste and started up stairs he feared that she "was going to get her gun," and that his aim was merely to prevent her from doing so, but in a moment of passion seized the club and struek the blow that resulted in her death.
The jury was out about two hours and returned a verdict of manslaughter. Brown was senteneed to serve eight years in the peni- tentiary and pay a fine of $1,000. This sentence was pronounced by the court on December 1, 1908, but, owing to the state of the son's health in Colorado, he was not taken immediately to prison. George G. Brown died at Denver on January 4, 1909, and his remains were brought to Manson for burial. In September following J. M. Brown was taken to the state prison at Anamosa.
There has never been any question but that Mr. Brown killed his daughter-in-law at the time and in the manner above narrated. But there are people living in the vieinity of Manson that still believe that he was provoked beyond the power of human endurance and that the sentence was severe. The whole sad affair illustrates the truth of the old adage that there is no house large enough for two families. Had the father remained upon his farm the crime might not have been committed, but by listening to his son be beeame a felon and forfeited his liberty.
There have been other trials that attraeted considerable attention, but the ones above enumerated were the most sensational that ever oeeurred in Calhoun County. They serve to show that the people believe in the prompt administration of justice and that the court has never failed to perform its duty. In the eonduet of these and similar eases the lawyers of Calhoun have demonstrated their ability to "hold their own."
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CHAPTER XVII THE MEDICAL PROFESSION
MEDICINE IN ANCIENT TIMES-THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH-EVOLUTION OF THE PROFESSION-HOME REMEDIES IN NEW SETTLEMENTS-THE PIO- NEER DOCTOR-HIS CHARACTER AND STANDING AS A CITIZEN-IIIS METHODS OF TREATMENT-FIRST PHYSICIANS IN CALHOUN COUNTY -MENTION OF EARLY DOCTORS-LIST OF PHYSICIANS OF 1886-CEN- TRAL DISTRICT MEDICAL ASSOCIATION-COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETIES,
The practice of medicine is almost as old as the human race. When the first man suffered physical pain, or the enervating influences of a fever, no doubt he experimented with ernde remedies in search of something that would give him relief. If he discovered something that did him good-or at least did him no harm-he remembered the herb and recommended it to his neighbor afflicted with a similar ailment. In this way the profession of medicine was born, and from this simple beginning centuries of evolution have developed the practice of medi- cine into one of the most honored and honorable occupations.
All the ancient civilizations manifested almost a superstitious reverence for the healing art. In Egypt the god Osiris and his wife Isis were the guardians of health-the tutelary deities of the medical arts: ÆEsculapius was the god of health in ancient Greece; and "Galen the Greek" taught medical classes in Rome long before the dawn of the Christian Era. Hippocrates, another Greek, who lived from 460 to 337, B. C., has been termed the "father of medicine." He required his pupils to take an oath in the name of "Apollo, the physician. Æsculapius, Hygeia, Panacea, and all the gods and goddesses; to reckon him who teaches me this art equally with my parents; to look upon his offspring as my brothers; to share with him my substance and to relieve his necessities if required; to pass my life and practice my art with purity and holiness, and whatsoever in connection with my professional practice, or not in connection with it. I may see or hear, that will I not divulge, holding that all such things should be kept secret."
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There was a revival of the Hippoeratie oath among the doctors. of the Middle Ages, and a few medical schools in more modern times impose a similar obligation upon their alummi. Some of the principles laid down in the oath of Hippocrates are to be found in the profes- sional code of ethics as laid down in this twentieth century.
It was not until 1315 that a systematic study of the human anat- omy by dissection was commenced by a Doctor Mondino, of Bologna .. When the populace learned that Mondino was actually cutting up the dead body of a human being he was almost mobbed. But what would modern surgery amount to had it not been for a careful study of the intricate mechanism of the human body by actual contact with it through the medium of dissection? This incident is only one of many the profession has had to encounter when science comes in conflict with the preconceived notions of the multitude.
Soon after the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, was established in 1582 a medical department was added and from this institution modern medical progress marks it beginning. In 1765 Dr. John Morgan and Dr. William Shippen opened a medical school in Phila- delphia, that afterward became the medical department of the College of Philadelphia. That was the first medical school in what is now the United States of America. At the present time nearly every state university has its medical department and there is scarcely a large city in the land in which there are not one or more medical colleges. With the wonderful increase in the facilities for obtaining a professional education, it is not surprising that the practice of medicine has made great strides within the memory of persons vet living.
Voltaire once defined a physician as "A man who crams drugs of which he knows little into a body of which he knows less." That defi- nition may have been applicable to a certain class of French empirics at the time it was written, but since Voltaire's day the medical profes- sion has assumed greater responsibilities and through the intelligent and concerted action of the physicians themselves the practice has been elevated to a higher plane. The physician of the twentieth century is, with rare exceptions, a man entitled to the honor and respect of the community, both for his professional ability and his standing as a citi- zen in the ordinary walks of life.
HOME REMEDIES
In the early settlement of every section of the Mississippi Valley the pioneer followed the example of his primitive ancestor and "cured
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by experimentation." If one remedy failed to produce results another was tried, and so on, until death relieved the patient of his suffering or a strong constitution-aided perhaps to some extent by the treat- ment-restored him to health. Each family kept on hand a stock of roots, bark and herbs, and all common ailments were treated by the administration of "home-made medicine." How many of the old resi- dents of Calhoun County now living can remember the boneset tea, the burdock bitters, the decoctions of wild cherry bark or sarsaparilla root and the poultices and plasters that "Grandma" or "Aunt Jane" would prepare and apply-internally or externally, as the case seemed to demand-with more soleninity than the surgeon of the present day cuts open a man and robs him of his appendix.
When one of the frontier inhabitants was stricken with illness, several of the neighbors would gather at the house, each to advocate somne favorite remedy, and the result was often a case of "when doc- tors disagree there are none to decide." If the disease baffled the skill of these neighbors, some one would volunteer to go for the nearest doctor, who often lived miles away.
THE PIONEER DOCTOR
Such was the condition in practically every frontier settlement when the first physician arrived, and no addition to the population was, as a rule, given a more cordial reception. Yet the life of a pioneer physician was no sinecure. About the only inducement for a doctor to cast his lot in a new settlement was that he might grow up with the country and succeed in establishing himself in a lucrative practice before his competitor arrived in the field. In this ambition some suc- ceeded, others failed. Money was a rare article and his fees, if he col- lected any at all, were paid in such produce as the pioneer farmers could spare and the doctor could use.
The old-time doctor was not always a graduate of a medical school. Perhaps in a majority of cases his medical education had been ac- quired by "reading" for a year or two with some older physician and assisting his preceptor in his practice. When he thought he knew enough to begin practieing on his own responsibilty, he would look about for a suitable location, and in many instances some new settle- ment appeared to him to offer the best opportunity for the exercise of his talents. Of course, there were numerous exceptions to this rule and some of the best physicians, already established in practice, would be caught by the wanderlust and seek a new location in some young but growing community.
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If the professional and technical knowledge of the pioneer physi- cian were limited, his stock of drugs, medicines, surgical instruments and applianees were equally as limited. A generous supply of ealo- mel. some jalap, aloes, Dover's powder, castor oil and a few other substances constituted the principal remedies in his Pharmacopoeia. Sulphate of quinine was rare and too expensive for general use in practice, so the doctor relied upon heroie doses of peruvian bark in cases of malaria. In cases of fever the standard treatment was to relieve the patient of a quantity of blood, consequently every doetor carried with him one or more laneets. If a drastic cathartic, followed by letting of blood. with perhaps a "fly blister" over the seat of any loeal pain, failed to improve the condition of the patient, the doctor would "look wise and trust to a rugged constitution to pull the sick person through."
But, greatly to the credit of these old-time doctors, it can be truthfully said that most of them were just as conseientious in their work and had as much faith in the remedies they administered as the most celebrated specialist has in his treatment today. It can also be truthfully said that a majority of the early physicians were suffi- eiently sincere in their desire to relieve suffering humanity that they, as the population of the new settlement increased, refused to remain in the medioere class and attended some medieal sehool, even after they had been engaged in practice for years. This was especially true after the physicians began to organize themselves into medieal societies. where none was admitted without a diploma from some aceredited medical college.
When the first doctors began practice in Calhoun County they did not visit their patients in automobiles. Even if the automobile had been invented at that time, the condition of the roads-where there were any roads at all-was such that the vehicle would have been practically useless. The doctor relied upon his trusty horse to carry him on his round of visits. His practice extended over a large dis- triet of country and frequently had no road to follow but the "blazed trail" through the timber or a faint path over the prairie, where he guided his way by the stars. Sometimes on starless nights he carried a lantern, so that he could find the trail in case he wandered away from it in the darkness. After visiting his patient, if he did not remain until morning with the family, he would drop the reins upon his horse's neck and trust to the animal's instinet to find the way home.
Written prescriptions would have been as useless as the automo- bile in frontier practice, as there were no drug stores at which they
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could have been filled. To overcome this difficulty the doctor ear- ried his medicines with him in a pair of "pill-bags"-a contrivance composed of two leathern boxes divided into compartments for vials of various sizes and connected by a broad strap that could be thrown across the saddle.
Next to the lancet. the principal surgical instrument was probably the "turnkey" for extraeting teeth, for the doctor was often called upon to perform this duty of dentist as well as his regular calling of physician. A story is told of a customer once complaining to a negro barber that the razor pulled, to which the darkey replied : "Yas sah: I knows it pulls, but if the razor handle doesn't break de beard am bound to come off." So it was when the old-time doetor got that turnkey fastened on a tooth, for if the instrument did not break the tooth was bound to come out. Comparing the manner of extracting teeth then with the painless method of the present day, the old turnkey almost reminds one of the tortures of the Spanish inqui- sition.
And yet these early doctors, crude as were many of their methods, were the forerunners of and paved the way for the specialists in these early years of the Twentieth Century. They were neither arrogant nor selfish as a rule and if one of them discovered a new remedy, or a new way of administering an old one, he was always ready to impart the information of his discovery to his professional brethren. Thus, step by step, the fund of medical knowledge was inereased, co-opera- tion among doetors became established, and the profession was lifted higher and higher. If one of the old-time doetors could come back to earth and step into the office of some prominent specialist, he would doubtless stand aghast at the array of X-ray machines, microscopes, stethoscopes and various other instruments and applianees, and hic might not realize that he had played his humble part in bringing about this advance in the praetiee of medicine.
Over and above the professional ealling and position of the early physician, he was a man of prominence and influence in other mat- ters. Often his adviee was asked regarding affairs entirely foreign to his business: his travels about the settlement brought him in touch with all the latest gossip, which made him a welcome ealler in other households; he was quite frequently the only man in the community who subscribed for and read a weekly newspaper, and this led his neighbors to follow his leadership in matters political. Look back over the history of almost any county in the broad Mississippi Valley and the names of physicians will appear as members of the legisla-
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