History of Whitley County, Indiana, Part 21

Author: Kaler, Samuel P. 1n; Maring, R. H. (Richard H.), 1859-, jt. auth
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: [Indianapolis, Ind.] : B. F. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 940

USA > Indiana > Whitley County > History of Whitley County, Indiana > Part 21

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

These men can truly be called the pio- neer clerks of Whitley county. How dif- ferent were the conditions then from now. Then, court was first held in private houses, then in a two-story building that stood on the west side of the public square, then in the massive brick structure that preceded the present temple of justice. In 1838 the county was sparsely settled, the roads were mere Indian trails, the streams were not bridged and many of the townships were not organized. Then the records were copied in inferior books with quill pens, and it is 'said that when Richard Collins was clerk,

some of the attorneys could read what he was writing by the squeaking of his goose quill pen as it glided over the pages.

In after years as the business of the courts increased, the clerk was obliged to work at nights and on Sundays to keep up his records. Now the records are made with the latest improved writing machines and the clerk can keep regular office hours. Then if the sheriff desired to serve notice on a juror living in a remote part of the county, it meant an all day's drive. Now he can call up his man by telephone and trans- act the business in a few moments.

In the beginning, the clerk also filled the offices of auditor and recorder, and the sheriff's office had to seek the man as the compensation of the offices was not enough to induce any man to seek the office. In an adjoining county, it is said that after a cer- tain man had been elected sheriff and quali- fied, he traded the office for a shot gun, and perhaps the consideration for the transfer was adequate.

In the early days, time evidently hung heavily upon the clerk's hands, and I find that one in order to pass the time, perhaps while some attorney was delivering a tire- some argument before a suffering jury. amused himself by executing a pencil draw- ing on the margin of an old order book. The drawing represented a noble red man, and under the portrait he had written these lines :

"How vain are all things here below The course of justice, oh how slow !"

Times have changed, and we may con- gratulate ourselves that we are living in an

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age of improved utilities, but let us never forget the struggles and hardships of the pioneers whose work has been so effective in the advancements that have followed. In our rapid strides forward let us occasion-

ally pause, look back and learn a lesson from the past. In the language of John Clark Ridpath, the noted Indiana historian : "The past has taught its lesson; the pres- ent has its duty and the future its hope."

MEDICAL PROFESSION.

PREPARED BY S. P. KALER, ASSISTED BY DRS. FRANCIS M. MAGERS AND DAVID G. LINVILL.

It must be remembered that the surface of Whitley county was originally half or more covered with lakes, swamps and marshes, the remainder with heavy timber and fallen and decaying trees and vegeta- tion. The rivers and streams were ob- structed and in the heat of mid-summer ma- laria held high carnival. Bridges and cul- verts were few and almost altogether of the corduroy type. The homes were cabins, swarming with mosquitoes and other insects. Screens for doors and windows were for years after unknown. Everything was un- sanitary and conditions for health very bad, the property of the inhabitants consisting of their unimproved lands and scarcely any- thing else.

Nearly all the physicians were from east- ern Ohio and other eastern states, since it could scarcely be presumed that there were at that time any parties engaged in the study of medicine preparatory to the practice of it. It might be proper under these cir- cumstances to give a brief resume of the condition of the profession in these states east of us, in order that we may become better acquainted with the history of the pio- neer doctors of the country. The greater number of physicians in the east were what is called regulars-those who bled, blistered.

gave mercury, antimony, quinine and man- drake root. etc., etc .. secundem artem. Homeopathy was scarcely known this side of the Atlantic, Thomsonianism was in its infancy, and hydropathy, phisiopathy, electi- cism, chronothermalism and other isms had not been born to the world. In the year 1822, the celebrated Dr. Samuel Thomson, having already invented a system of medi- cine, had it patented, as the following docu- ment will show :

(Eagle, etc.)

Fifth Edition. No. 2144.

Thomson Patent.

This may certify, that we have received of Thomas M. Greene twenty dollars in full for the right of preparing and using for himself and family the medicine and system of practice secured to Samuel Thomson by letters of patent from the President of the United States, dated January 28. 1823, and that he is hereby constituted a member of the Friendly Botanic Society and is entitled to an enjoyment of all the privileges at- tached to membership therein.

Dated at Locust Grove, this 27th day of August, 1834.

PIKE PLATT & Co .. Agents for Samuel Thomson.

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The great joke was in being entitled to enjoyment of the system. Several settlers came to Whitley county up to 1845 armed with this deadly weapon against disease. The holder, for the consideration of twenty dollars, who became possessor of this docu- ment, agreed in the "spirit of mutual inter- est and honor" not to reveal any part of said information to any person, except his fellow purchasers, to the injury of the proprietor. under the penalty of forfeiting their word and honor and all right to use the medicine. Accompanying the letters patent was a 24mo book of one hundred and sixty-eight pages of texts and a supplement of twenty- eight more, which was supposed to contain all that was necessary to know in the depart- ment of anatomy, physiology, materia med- ica, practice of surgery, midwifery and chemistry. While Hippocrates, the "Father of Medicine," wrote many aphorisms, Thom- son had but one: "Heat is life, and cold is death," and as a result, all that was neces- sary to treat a case was to keep the patient warm-in fact, hot. This was mainly ac- complished by pepper, lobelia, and steam. Thomson and his confreres used six prepa- rations in particular, which were applicable to almost any disease and in any stage of it, which were numbered from one to six. in order to avoid confusion. No. 1, lobelia. No. 2, cayenne pepper. No. 3. bayberry root, bark, Whitepond lily root, and the in- ner bark of the hemlock. No. 4, bitters, made of bitter herb, bayberry and poplar bark, one ounce of each to a pint of hot wa- ter. and a half pint of spirit. No. 5. cough syrup. No. 6, tincture of myrrh and cay- enne pepper. These six preparations, with

a steaming, were supposed to be competent to cure any form of disease curable or in- curable,-everything from consumption to the itch. This system has its victims in nearly all the early burying-grounds of the county. The following case actually hap- pened in Smith township, Whitley county, in 1839, and will serve to illustrate the treat- ment of rheumatism : The doctor ordered a large iron kettle to be filled with water and brought to the boiling point, the kettle being removed from the fire, and the patient being divested of most of his clothing, a couple of sticks placed across the kettle for him to sit on, and a blanket thrown around him to hold the steam. Either from the quality of the sticks or weight of the pa- tient. the sticks gave way and the unhappy subject of treatment found himself a poste- riori at the bottom of the kettle. This sud- den, excessive and untimely application of the principles of health heat-as might be inferred-aroused all the evil passion of the patient and the fears of the doctor, who beat a hasty. retreat, followed by the victim, and the race was only concluded when old Eel river separated the pursuer and the pur- sued. It need not be remarked that the treatment was so successful that the doctor needed not to come back.

As time progressed. other vegetables were added to the materia medica, until it became fairly extensive. These worthies went about the country abusing the calomel doctors, who were killing people, as they said, by blisters, bleeding, opium, tartar emetic, etc. Clearly a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Dr. Thomson believed, with the ancient phi- losophers, that there were only four ele-

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ments, fire, air, earth and water, as the fol- lowing stanza from one of his poems will show :

"My system's founded on the truth, Man's air, and water, fire and earth. And death is cold and life is heat, These, tempered well, your health's complete."

Dr. Thomson, of course, condemned nearly, if not every remedy used by the regulars, especially saltpeter, which he said had the most certain deadly effects on the human system of any drug used as medicine. In its nature cold, there cannot be any other effect than to increase that powerful enemy to heat. An elderly physician, still in the practice, says he heard a celebrated professor of this system boast that he never graduated a young man in less than six weeks, but this was seemingly too long a course, when the average boy of twelve years might fa- miliarize himself with the system in a few hours. This aged professor was also a preacher and was charged with being some- what prodigal in his statements and reckless in handling the truth. On being remon- strated with, he confessed to the weakness, and said that he had shed barrels of tears on account of it. But this system has gone the way of many others.

Another "hoodoo" of the early days was the Uroscopian, or water doctor. These gentlemen did not subject the urine to a chemical or any other test, but pretended to diagnose all kinds of disease, without see- ing the patient, requiring only a sample of the water. This he shook, smelled, felt of. and, when he wanted to make the case appear very grave, and thought the pay was good,

actually tasted it. This, with a few slight- of-hand performances, sometimes putting a drop on the window pane, and looking through it, and varying his performances to create mystery, constituted the examination. These worthies were frequently the victims of pretended bearers of samples. For many years there was a current joke about Colum- bia City referring to an unfortunate female and a certain county official in which the samples became disarranged.

The great panacea with this school was "blood physic," made up of juniper berries, epsom salts, senna leaves and often some other herb of practically no medicinal value. An ordinary dose of this, properly prepared, would nearly fill a gallon pot. The late Dr. Firestone once related to the writer that he was attending a case in Troy township, of a low grade of fever. The family had been persuaded that the doctor was incompe- tent, and sent for a water doctor over south of Pierceton. On Firestone's next trip he found a pot of this mixture ready for ad- ministration. He advised that it would be fatal, but after he left it was given and two hours afterward the poor patient ceased to require the services of a physician. He had gone to that place "where few physicians go." Many so called regular doctors were the veriest frauds. Young men, who thought they might as well be doctors, would spend a few days, weeks or possibly months in the office of some physician, "then go out west" to practice. The only requisites for this kind of practice was a horse, a few bot- tles and jugs and fewer medicines and a goodly amount of what the Arkansas doctor called the three "I's," ignorance, independ- ence and impudence.

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Two young men brought up in Wayne county, Ohio, happened to meet not many miles from here. Mutually recognizing each other, one of them cried out. "For God's sake, H ---- , don't tell on me, for I can purge 'em and puke 'em as good as any body." The other replied: "Don't you think I'll tell. for the people would then find out what scamps we both are, for I am prac- ticing below here at

This class generally relied greatly on their experience-that is, they had taken during their lives an occasional dose of pink and senna, calomel and jalap, castor oil, had been bled, and blistered and had not for- gotten the effects or why they had been given. Happily for the people "out west," there came an end to this kind of work. In our early years of malaria and unsanitary condition many poor souls were ready to ac- cept the services of any one calling himself doctor. Some of these doctors began busi- ness with self-constituted diplomas, resemb- ling very much the one that may be found in the Comedy of Moliere entitled "Le Malade Imaginaire or the Hypochondriac," which reads thus:

Ego cum is to bonets, Venerabile et docto. Dono tibi et concedo Virtutem et puisanciam

Medicandi

Purgandi.

Seigandi.

Percundi

Taillandi

Coupandi et.

Occidendi.

Impune per totam terram.

A literal translation of this bastard Latin and French would seem to declare that the newly fledged doctor is fully empowered to dose. purge, bleed, cut and kill with impunity unto the ends of the earth.

In comparatively recent years there ap- peared in Columbia City an ignorant, shab- by and filthy, long-haired German, who styled himself as Dr. Schweitz. He came on the first of April and rightly celebrated the day by hunting up the township asses- sor and listing about twelve thousand dollars of notes, accounts, books, surgical instru- ments. rights, franchises, choses in action and what not. This gave him standing as a capitalist, though he had not a thing but his shabby clothes, and long before tax paying time had come he had flown, to the disgust of many creditors. Did we say that he had nothing. He had a diploma. which he called a "bluma." He was always prating about it, but it was so sacred it was not put on ex- hibition, except to some people, who did not know what it was- except the doctor made them believe it was something sublime. In fact it was an old patent for a piece of land in Clark county, Ohio, and the seal was a green wafer with the impress of the United States land office. Doc had a case; he had several. Such characters always get them, but this was a case in which the man refused to pay the bill, because of the utter incapacity of the doctor. Schweitz secured the services of a lawyer, who still practices in Columbia City, and, together with a couple of witnesses, made the trip to a justice of the peace in the southern part of the county. The trial began with all solemnity, but the doctor fell flat. He did not even know how to take the temperature of a pa-

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tient. The lawsuit ended in a farce and ignominious defeat. Schweitz did not pay the livery bill,-but then he didn't pay any- thing else. Finally the lawyer said to him, "Doc, if you don't pay that bill, I will, for I am getting tired of being dunned for it." The reply was, "Well, well, I think that would be the best," and the lawyer paid it. When Schweitz had a case he would ascer- tain from the patient the seat of trouble. whether of the head, stomach, liver or other organ. Then he would go to Dr. Sand- meyer, the druggist, and ask for "five cents liver, or stomach, or throat." etc. When these quacks encountered severe forms of disease, they were about as successful as the celebrated firm of Sangrado and Gil Blas, the latter remarking that when a malignant form of fever made its appearance in one of the cities of Spain under their treatment it was never necessary to visit the patient but once, for before time for the second he was either dead or moribund, and that they made more widows and orphans in six weeks than were made during the siege of Troy.

· At Coesse during the building of the Pittsburg & Fort Wayne Railroad, a doctor was called to see a drunken man and he pro- nounced it Asiatic cholera and the scare went all over the country for miles around. We must not forget the Indian doctor. Many early settlers thought that while a white doc- tor might do for ordinary ague, it took a regular untutored red man of the forest to deal with the intricate and severe diseases, probably on the theory that the fellow said. his dog was good for coon hunting because he did not know anything else, and even white men who had been with the Indians for awhile were supposed to have absorbed

some of that superior intelligence. The In- dian doctor, cutting a piece of poplar bark to plug a wound, rubbing a palsey, or dropsy with a twig or herb or punishing a stomach with a nasty decoction of weeds, was re- garded as almost a superhuman being, en- dowed with special wisdom from on high. And who has not heard of witches, Hex, as cur German friends styled them. Many neighborhoods in this county even until re- cent times were tinctured with the belief that many forms of disease was due to "witch riding" and many forms and ceremonies were gone over to rid the victim from the power of the witch. And the worst was that many of the witches were not only sus- pected, but really known and there was a case in Richland township late in the '40s in which a witch was ordered to leave the neighborhood, and she forthwith went, fear- ing threatened violence if she did not. And who has not heard of miraculous cures from laying on of hands, rubbing and blowing of breath, accompanied by some jargon of words. The power could be transmitted, but not to one of the same sex. It must be the opposite. Why, there is living today a man in Columbia City, a prominent business man, who when a boy was cured of con- sumption by having his hair cut close to his head. the hair burned to ashes and the ashes put into a hole bored in a living oak tree. When the hole healed over the patient was cured. Not over twenty years ago a Colum- bia City family was sorely stricken with consumption. Several members of the fam- ily died and about a year after the father's death, a son was stricken. He was told that if his father's beard was secured and butined to ashes and drank by him he would

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recover. A dark and uncanny night friends exhumed the father's body. secured the whiskers, and je-interred the body. The son drank the whiskers and died.

When ague, that omnipresent disease, that was always stealing back when sup- posed to be cured, was invading every Whit- ley county home, the remedies tried could never be enumerated and if by chance the victim did not have a shake for some time after trying the remedy, he was sure that he had discovered an absolute specific and was desirous of having it tried by all his fellow sufferers. We have heard of eating three lemons a day, eating a pound of raisins while the chill was on. roasting a toad and eating while the fever was on, walking three times around a circle, with the eyes fixed intently on the new moon at first appearance, bathing in a lake, river, or swamp at sun- rise, but perhaps the most peculiar and far- fetched remedy ever suggested was com- municated in all confidence to Dr. D. G. Linvill. A man moved from Pennsylvania and located about a mile and a half south of Columbia City. The whole family had the shakes of course, but the venerable head had the worst case. Dr. Linvill would break it up, but it returned, as the air was so thick with malaria that you could almost cut it with a knife. Finally the old man struck the remedy. He went in all soberness to the doctor, and tokdl him that he had found a sure remedy, but said he, "If I were to tell yon, you would make fun of me." The doc- tor assured him that he would not, as he was anxious as anyone could be to know it. After a double assurance that he would not be laughed at, he told it with as much con- fidence and soberness as if it were a matter

of life and death, which he really thought that it was. "I trimmed my finger nails, cooked the clippings in mush and fed the mush to the dog. The dog was not par- ticularly affected, but when time for the chill came. I retched and vomited awfully. throwing up a large quanity of gall and bit- terness, and my ague was cured." But it returned and, fully disgusted, he returned to Pennsylvania. The doctor held his mirth until away from the house, when he burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter, that did not subside till he reached town; not so much at the remedy, but at the sincerity with which it was told.

Dr. Francis L. McHugh came to the county in 1840 and located on section 12, Richland township, from which place he moved to Columbia City in 1851. He was smart, able, affable, courteous, and faithful. He had a rich Irish brogue. His range of medicine included eleven remedies only, digi- talis, rhubarb, jalap, quinine, aloes, cayenne. calomel, myrrh, epsom salts, salt and antimony. He had a perfect knowledge of the properties and effect of these, and was a good practitioner for his day, riding all over Whitley and into the adjoining . counties. He was once called into consultation on a case in the north of Kosciusko county. The patient had been sick a long time, and was much reduced and almost bloodless. Dr. McHugh prescribed common salt, and told the people so. instead of hedging his remedy about in mystery. The man rapidly recov- ered, and then refused to pay because he was cured by salt instead of a lot of mysterious compounds. Whoever knew Dr. McHugh knew his failings. He would get drunk, but when under the influence of liquor would

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never attempt to diagnose a case or give any medicine. People would sometimes come a great ways and get him while drunk. Arriving at the place, he would take a nap, then drink some milk, and assure himself that he was in proper condition before even seeing the patient. His appetite for liquor at times was uncontrollable. Dr. Linvill once came upon him as he was ready to begin a drunk and with a glass raised he said : "Doctor, I would drink that if I knew it would kill me in fifteen minutes." He had a noble brown mare that was faithful to him and seemed to know when he was drunk. She has been known to stand guard over her master for hours, in the stable or at the roadside, until he recovered from a drunk.

He moved to the south side of the square in Columbia City, where he lived and died, leaving considerable property. Near his residence, directly south of the courthouse. was a little building that served as postoffice. grocery, tailorshop and Dr. Linvill's office. Dr. Linvill had prepared some of Hall's solution of strychnine from some of Kepner's whiskey with the dog-leg tobacco leaves in it. Dr. McHugh came in, perceiving it was whiskey took a good swig. He then ex- claimed, 'Strychnine, by G-,' and ran home and quickly dosed himself with a large quantity of calomel and jalap. When Dr. Linvill arrived, he already had slight con- vulsions, but by heroic treatment he was saved. When sober he never made a mis- take. When drunk he never tried to prescribe.

Dr. James B. Simcoke came in 1842. He was fairly educated, but out of his ele- ment as a doctor. He was a politician and was elected sheriff. After his bad luck letting

the Indians charged with murder get away from him, he left the place. Dr. J. T. Beebe came from Mount Gilead, Ohio, in 1845 and in 1846 Dr. A. H. Tyler, a cousin from the same place, joined hin and the firm did considerable business. They were good practitioners and business men and made considerable money. They sold out in 1849 to Swayzee and Linvill, closed their ac- counts, with money where they could, and traded them for horses, cattle or anything they could get and drove it away. Beebe returned to Ohio, but we do not know what became of Tyler. We are unable to ascer- tain anything about Dr. Samuel Marshall, who came in 1846, except that his stay in the place was short and uneventful. Dr. William M. Martin came in 1848. He was a bachelor, not overstocked with medical knowledge or skill and not over chaste in his morals. He became involved in one or two domestic scandals. He went from here to Kendallville, became a morphine fiend, and died from its effects during the Civil war. While he was here he was once called upon to pull a tooth. Setting on the turnkey or rather cant-hook, he gave it a jerk with the most shocking expression ever coined in words.

Dr. Peter L. Cole came in 1846. He was a dandy-a veritable dude. Dark com- plexioned, frisky, clever and crafty. He was peculiar, but made some warm friends. He belonged to the class who "came west" to practice and soon moved on farthier west.

Dr. Francis A. Rogers came in 1848. He was a preacher and son of a Methodist preacher from Ohio. His medical knowl- edge was gained from "Watson's Practice." Like the fortune teller, he was a pretty good

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guesser and reader of character. He was smart and shrewd. preached a little, doctored a little, dabbled in politics, and loved the women. He was truly a mushroom doctor, and not being able to fool even a part of the people all the time, he soon folded his tent and, like the Arab, stole away.

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History of Whitley County, Indiana, Part 21

Author: Kaler, Samuel P. 1n; Maring, R. H. (Richard H.), 1859-, jt. auth Publication date: 1907 Publisher: [Indianapolis, Ind.] : B. F. Bowen & Co. Number of Pages: 940

Author: Kaler, Samuel P. 1n; Maring, R. H. (Richard H.), 1859-, jt. auth
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: [Indianapolis, Ind.] : B. F. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 940