USA > Maryland > Washington County > Hagerstown > A history of Washington County, Maryland from the earliest settlements to the present time, including a history of Hagerstown > Part 45
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On a single day, in his eountry praetiee, he visited and preseribed for as high as one hundred and eighty-six patients. On his last birth day he rode on horseback upwards of twenty-five miles. For upwards of forty days immediately preceding his mother's death, he saw her every day, notwith- standing she lived 6 miles below Frederiek, a dis- tance of 32 miles from Hagerstown, and attended to his other praetiee besides. During this very period, too, he had a patient in Chambersburg, 20 miles distant, whom he oeeasionally saw." For thirty-seven years he made these remarkable jour- neys on the back of his old horse "Charlie" which was as remarkable in his way as the Doetor in his higher sphere. "Charlie" died in 1857, at the remarkable age of 44 years and six months.
Dr. Dorsey was a member of the Episcopal Church, a vestryman for many years, and the chief supporter of St. John's Parish; but this did not prevent him from being devotedly fond of fox hunting, as why should it? of horse-racing although he did not bet, and of eoek-fighting. Of this latter sport, although a most humane inan, he was an enthusiastie follower and frequently made a quizzieal mixture of it with his works of charity and duties as vestryman. There are but few of the older citizens of Hagerstown who are not familiar with numerous aneedotes of this re- markable man. This sketeh of him would be in- complete without the record of some of them. Shortly after his death, Judge John Thompson Mason delivered a leeture upon his life and ehar- acter to a large gathering in St. John's Lutheran Church. From that masterly discourse I have gathered the facts here given, and have freely quoted from it. I cannot refrain from giving the following anecdotes gathered from the same sourec :
"No man was fonder of good eating, yet no one was oftener required to put up with what was bad, or had his appetitie subjected to severer tests. On one occasion, after a hard ride, he was invited to partake of a homely meal. His over- kind hostess discovering that his knife was not as clean as it might have been, deliberately, in his presence, licked il. that she might wipe it eleancr.
"But once his stomach did quail. He had tapped a woman with dropsy and measured the water drawn from her in a pint bowl furnished for the purpose. After he had finished the oper- ation, he was asked to supper. About to refresh himself with a drink of the milk set before him,
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to his horror he discovered it was contained in the identieal vessel with which he had a few mo- ments before been made so familar, under such different circumstanees.
"Many years ago a gentleman from Virginia made us, as he frequently did, a visit. He had met Dr. Dorsey often at Montpelier, but did not know him intimately. Among the first remarks he made upon his arrival, was that our old physic- ian was a queer man. "Why," said he, "I met him today below Sharpsburg, with a bag swung across his horse, balanced with a game cock in one end and a jug in the other." Upon being asked what it meant, the Doctor responded, "only a jug of gruel prepared by my wife for one of my poor patients ; and as for the cock, I intend to stop at Sharpsburg as I return, where I expect to mcet Harrison from Martinsburg, and we are to have a round. I shall whip him certainly," he continued, "as I never had one of my brass-baeks whipped in a fair fight."
"On one occasion, for nine days and nights, so pressing were his professional engagements, that he never went to bed. On the tenth he presided, as Chief Judge, at the great race between the famous horses Industry and Bachelor, and was the merriest man on the ground.
"He told many marvelous stories and anec- dotes which ereated great amusement amongst his friends.
"He once had a very fleet horse, and to illus- trate his pre-eminence in this respect, he used to tell, in sober seriousness, the following story: On one occasion, he said, soon after leaving Clear- spring, a summer's rain storm came upon liim. He put whip to his horse and although the eloud had so far overtaken him that the rain was already falling upon the hinder part of his horse, yet sueh was the speed he was going, the rain eould not get up to the saddle, and in this way the contest was waged for six long miles, neither party gain- ing or losing an ineh, and not until he remem- bered that to keep dry he would not only have to beat the storm but he would have to reach home sufficiently in advance of it to enable both himself and his horse to secure shelter, did he ply whip and spur afresh, and thus he soon distaneed and put to shame his celestial competitor.
"Again, he has often seriously affirmed that he was at one time so annoyed by the depredations of blaek-birds that he was compelled to resort to poison to destroy them, which he did by soaking
wheat with arsenie and scattering it over the fields. A stream passed through the farm, and the poor poisoned birds rushed to it in such numbers to quench their dreadful thirst, and in fact to meet their instant death, that upon visiting his farm the following day he found, to his surprise and dismay, that the number of dead birds was so great that they had completely choked up the stream, and for at least a quarter of a mile back his farm was submerged in water, thus injuring his property more than the poor birds had donc when living.
"To illustrate the severity of a case of small- pox that came within his practice, he stated that the patient, who was a stranger, was removed from Hagerstown to a temporary hut ereeted for the purpose under a large elm tree near town, and so malignant was thic disease that in a few days the tree was actually covered with loathsome ulcers, giving every indication that the tree had contract- ed the dreadful malady."
"At another time he was relating to a friend an adventure lie had with a robber on one of his solitary rides. He set out by representing the darkness of the night as terrible. After proceed- ing with his story at length, he said he discover- ed, concealed behind a tree at some distance, a suspicious looking objeet. His friend, interpos- ing, asked how he could see such a distance? "Why," said the Doctor, "the moon was shining as bright as day." "But you have just stated," the response was, "that the night was very dark." "Bless ine," said he, "I have got two stories mixed. But, never mind, I will tell you the other story also, as soon as I get through with this."
"Notwithstanding these anecdotes, no man ever possessed in a higher degree than he did all the substantial elements of truth. His faee, his step, his grasp, his address no less than his tongue, and his whole life, certified him a man of truth, candor, and simplieity of heart.
"But great as was his fondness for all kinds of sport, he was never known to negleet a duty to his fellow man to indulge in them. He would deny himself sleep and food, in order to attend a horse-raee or a chieken-fight; but never to do so did he withhold from a patient any service in his power. He would yield the .allurements of pleas- ure for the ealls of duty, with cheerful alacrity.
"The true explanation of these peculiarities is to be found in the natural vivacity of his tem- per and spirits, rather than in any obliquity of the
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moral sense. It led him into all kinds of amuse- ments, and, I might add, boyish mischief, and even oeeasional exeesses. No elonds of adversity or sorrow eould long obscure the genial sunshine of his jovial heart. To the end of his days, this inestimable blessing, eheerfulness, never forsook him. Notwithstanding his limbs tottered with the weight of aeenmulated years, his heart still glowed with the fires of youth. Up to his last sickness he continued in the full possession of the tastes, the apppetites, the spirits and capacities of a boy. His long life was one unbroken season of youthful enjoyment and sunshine. He never beeame an old man, except in the veneration and love of his fellow-citizens, until he laid down at last to arise no more. His beaming and cheerful eountenanee earried the light of hope and gladness into every sick-room into which it entered, and was often more salutary than medieine. Many have been the elouds of sorrow and distress which have been dispelled from the languishing bed of suffering by the joyous sunshine of his presence alone.
"Our duty, as religious beings, is two-fold- our duty to God, and our duty to our fellow-man. We have referred to what may be regarded as the short-eomings of the deceased in his obligations under the branch of his Christian duty ; as respects the second, no man ever performed with more sern- pulous fidelity than he did the obligations apper- taining to it. In all the various walks of life, he was never known, when a fellow-being needed his aid, to ask "and who is my neighbor?" nor, "when he saw him, to pass on the other side." As a physican, the deceased responded with as mueh promptness to the ealls of the poor as to those of the rieh. Without a murmur he would rise from his bed of repose in all honrs of the night and in all weather, and visit the most remote part of the county to see a patient from whom he would never expect to be paid a cent. He would visit alike the cottage of the poor and the man- sion of the great, and often he would be made by Providence unwittingly the author of relief and joy, as is illustrated by the following incident :
"On one occasion, while returning from a pro- fossional visit at an unusual distance from home, he was overtaken by the darkness of the night, and, as was most uncommon for him, he became bewildered, and finally lost his way. After wan- dering for some time along the foot of our South Mountain, chilled and weared, he at length dis- covered a distant light. It was to him a beaeon
of joy. Far otherwise was it to the inmates of the house from which the light emanated. It was to them the signal of sorrow and distress. He soon approached the rnde and solitary tenement and applied for admission. He fonnd a woman the only inmate, save two little affrighted child- ren, who were nestling close to their suffering mother. She was in the bitter pangs of ehild- birth, and a single room constituted the whole eapacity of this humble mansion. She attempted some remonstrance against the admission of a stranger under circumstanees so painful and deli- cate. Hle forgot his own sufferings in those of the poor woman. In answer to the inquiry as to where her husband was, she stated that he had gone to Hagerstown "for old Doetor Dorsey," and added, in a tone of despair, "but before they re- turn I shall be dead;" her contenance showing that she felt what Martha nttered, "if thon hadst been here he had not died." When the Doctor diselosed himself, there followed a seene which no artist's peneil eould despiet! The suffering in- valid was soon relieved, and as the morning snn took the place of the clouds and darkness of the night, so, in this house, did joy and gladness fol- low sorrow and despair.
"Many years ago, when I was a small child, there stood upon the banks of the Conoeoeheagne, a neat but humble cottage, which was the habi- tation of a solitary and respectable widow. Not a vestige of it now remains, and its inmate lias long since gone to her rest. One dark and gloomy afternoon in November, about the year 1821 or '2, a single horseman was scen to approach this se- cluded spot. As he drew nigh he was recognized as Dr. Dorsey. As no one was sick at the time in the neighborhood, his appearance was nnex- pected and excited surprise, as it was not his prac- tice to make social or formal visits.
"He entered the house, and for him, made an unusually long stay. To this day there hangs around that visit. a melancholy mystery-there was imparted, on that occasion, a sad secret, which never was revealed by him who gave or by her who received it. Its purport, however, may in part be imagined by what followed.
"A few days after, the family carriage of the good physician might have been seen wending the same road, and at last stopping at the same cot- tage. The Doctor alighted, and was followed by a young, well dressed woman, having the air and mien of a lady, and possessing also great personal
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beauty. They entered the house together, and after a brief sojourn the Doctor returned alone to his carriage and drove off.
"What heart can fully appreciate, or what im- agination can picture the weight of sorrow and shame that oppressed the soul of that voluntary exile in her loncly prison !
"Days and wecks elapsed. The Doctor was regular in his visits. The curiosity of the neigh- borhood was excited, but every effort to gain in- formation in regard to the mystery was unavailing. At last the same carriage drove to the door, and the same persons that came in it re-entered and took their departure. But now another had been added to the party. An unconscious, helpless in- fant made the third, and though innocent before God and man, and without the stain of any sin, was yet fleeing and hiding from shame and the scorn of the world.
"Who this unhappy woman was, whence she came, or whither she went, no one in our County save her one friend, ever knew. The impression, however, always was, that at Hagerstown they sep- arated-the mother going to Virginia, the intant to Pennsylvania.'
"The work of the physician was no better per- formed in this instance than was that of the philanthropist and diplomatist.
"About the time I grew to manhood, in the year 1836 or "7, I made a visit with a companion, long since departed, to a number of our college friends in different sections in Virgina. In our perambulations we were introduced into a most interesting family, which made more than an ordi- nary impression. The lady of this hospitable man- sion carried with her a screne but melancholy air of dignity. She seemed always pensive and sad, yet withal there was a cheerful contentment in her deportment and countenance. She had a family of young and lovely children. Her husband was as tender and attentive as possible, yet without ostentation. Beside their own children there was another inmate of the family-a handsome boy, about sixteen years of age. He was stated to- be the son of relatives who had lived in Pennsylvania, and that his parents having died in destitute eir- cumstances, when he was but an infant, he had been adopted as one of their own children. The looks, the words, the intercourse which this boy received were those which parental tenderness could only give. Besides it was intimated that there was a mystery attending his history which had
never been satisfactorily cleared up-no suspic- ions, however, were ever hinted even, not consist- ent with the outward face of things in that fam- ily, but for myself, I confess that before I left this house my mind had irresistibly and involuntarily turned to the solitary cottage on the banks of the Conococheaguc, and now, whenever I revert to this long and buried romance in real life, how sure I feel that tlic part taken by our good old friend in it, has secured for him a pearl of priceless value in the crown which he wears in the eternal world.
"Nor were his good deeds confined to his pro- fession. He was ever ready cheerful to respond to any demand upon his charity or friendship. As a husband and father he was most devoted. To his eye every womanly charm and virtue were concentrated in his wife, and she in her turn adored him as the perfection of all that a man should be. The strict fidelity and beautiful de- votion and affection which marked the entire period of their long protracted married life, are worthy of all admiration and imitation. Though his wife survived him, she ceased from his denise to care for the world, and death, which soon fol- lowed, was hailed with joy as the occasion by which she was to be reunited to her husband in an endless existence.
"He was a steady, though an unostentatious friend. He perhaps lost more money by security- ship and long indulgence, than any man who ever lived in our County. Had he been like most men, he might have died possessed of great wealth, but so far from it he died comparatively poor. If he was a leader on all occasions of sport and amusement, he was no less conspicuous in every noble and charitable enterprise. He was for years the main support of his church in this town. Had it not been for him, on many occasions they would have been a broken and scattered people without a head. He has literally kept the congre- gation together, and if scenes like those through which they have passed should arise again to test the vitality of the church, who of us will not miss the services of its valued fricnd? He was a mem- ber of the vestry, I suppose, for half a century, and although strong efforts at times were made to defeat him, he always proved invincible. For this office I believe he could have beaten General Jackson. How well he discharged his duty in this respect, the memory of those little soiled, an- cient looking paper visitants, pew bills, which haunted, night and day, delinquent church sub-
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scribers, will fully attest. In the vestry he was president, secretary, treasurer, collector, and, I believe. everything else. I have known him to make the fires and ring the bell himself. He was head man at all church weddings and funerals. and while I have never known him to officiate on these occasions, or to attempt to preach, yet I have seen him baptize children in extremis mor- tis, with water and the cross.
"I have never known an instance before of a man, not influenced by pious zeal or religious enthusiasm, who yet devoted himself so steadily and faithfully to the interests of his church for upwards of half a century. May we not hopefully affirm, that in the religious advantages of his last illness, and his peaceful and happy death, we wit- nessed the fruits of this pious peculiarity ?
"Of St. James College he was a firm, untiring friend and patron, and by those connected with that valuable institution he will be long remember- ed and regretted. He was one of its trustees from its first organization, and among the earliest and most liberal contributors to this great and sue- cessful educational enterprise.
"It will be conceded that in all his business transactions he was as honest as steel. In his habits he was plain, unaffected and economical. Indeed, the simplicity of his dress and manners was unique. He would boast of having worn cer- tain articles of clothing for many years, the truth of which was abundantly attested in their antique appearance. He has often shown me a pair of shoes which he said he had worn for fourteen years, and they carried upon their complexion and in their soles evidence that one of them might well have been the identical shoe which the Psalm- ist had in his mind when he said: "Over Edom will I cast out my shoe."
"Hospitality was one of his shining virtues. A plate, a bodl. a cordial welcome and a long talk, were always ready for his friends. He was devoted to society, and was a great talker. Ho would talk to any one who would listen, and often his horse would constitute his only auditor. In conversational conflicts few persons could stand up before him. He abounded in narratives and anecdotes. An excellent friend of his, now no more, used to say of him, that he had an assort- ment of stories on hand for every occasion, and that they varied from one to twenty miles in length, to suit his different rides and companions. "He was equal to every occasion, and was at
home in all society. He would attend the death bed or funeral of a patient in the morning, partie- ipate in regulating the temporal affairs of his church at noon, attend a race or a cock-fight in the evening, and dance at a wedding at night. He could be as elegant and agreeable in refined company as any one, and could make himself equally at home in low society. From the fash- ionable and refined dinner table he could readily translate himself to a corn-husking, and would hardly seem to realize that the flavor of old Ma- deira and savory viands had been exchanged for hard cider, pork and beans; and often he would so blend two different occasions, either by his manner or dress, that one could hardly discover, so far as he was concerned, the precise line of sep- aration between them. For example, on an oc- casion of a gay wedding to which the Doctor was invited and expected, he was late in making his appearance, as was not unusual. The company, however, were soon cheered by his welcome ap- proach, but to the great surprise of all, to the horror of the superstitious, and amusement of oth- ers, he entered the house with a long black scarf streaming from his hat. He had just returned from a funeral, and in his haste to be present at the wedding, he had forgotten to exchange the habilinents of woe for those of joy.
"On another occasion he was one of a party at a wedding dinner. The company at first were dull and dry, and the Doctor was forced, perhaps not against his will, to do a greater part of the talking. He at last carelessly put his hand in his coat pocket to draw out his handkerchief, when instead thereof he drew forth to the aston- ishing gaze of the party, an infant's cap. Some blushed, others hid their faces, while others roared with laughter. The Do tor himself made many apologies, and tried hard to blush, and notwith- standing he protested it was an accident, and that he was to attend the christening of an infant the same day, and for whom the cap was a present from his wife, he stood convicted by a majority of those present of the deliberate perpetration of not an unmeaning practical joke or prophecy. "ITe could remember and narrate, with perfect accuracy, every thing that ever occurred in his life. Who of my hearers can do the same? If any of you could repeat everything that had come under your observation during life, you would have much to tell that might excite incredulity. Why, then, should the well collated cireumstanees
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of a long and eventful life cause surprise? And does it not oeeur to those who make this objee- tion, that it is quite as easy to remember events that really did oeeur, as it is to repeat accurately a story wholly fictitious? For it is remarkable, that the narratives of the old Doctor, though often repeated, were always precisely the same. I re- peat, it was the result of a strong and accurate memory. He could earry you back to the last eentury. Every incident of his school and college life could be repeated. He remembered every in- cident eonneeted with the great Jefferson Barbe- cue in 1800. He could almost tell how many chickens, turkeys and the like each person con- tributed on that occasion. To me he has repeat- edly described the very color and appearance of the beef that was given by Col. Barnes at Mont- pelier, and even the identical field out of which it was driven. He knew the history of every man and woman almost in the County, and who, in ref- erence to them, ever deteeted him in an error? A man of our day would searcely credit an ae- count of a procession of pack horses passing through Hagerstown ladened with merchandise for the only west then known. Yet Doctor Dorsey has seen this. Who would not receive with incred- ulity his comic-tragie account of the scenes con- nected with the execution connected with the Cot- trells, some forty years ago? How he came pos- sessed of one of their bodies for disseetion-how he rode from point to point to avoid pursuit, with the dead body beside hin on the horse, the grini eorpse at one moment sitting up erect behind him, and then again dangling down before him like a bag of meal! how it tumbled off, and how he struggled to get it baek again! Yet there are men probably here tonight who know this story to be literally true. It almost sounds marvelous that he should have administered more than 200 grains of ealomel to himself in less than twelve hours, when he had the eholera in 1832. Yet no faet is better established. To modern physicians it would seem impossible that he should have ridden on horseback, in a single week, more than five hundred miles. There are men living who might safely swear to the truth of this assertion. I have known myself to ride from Baltimore to Hagerstown with the same horse 'in a single day, a distance of upwards of seventy miles, and on the same night to visit, besides, patients in the country. With a horse race or chieken fight in contemplation he would ride from twenty to thirty
miles before breakfast. On one of his early rounds on such an oceasion, he met at Montpelier the late Rev. Mr. Ryan, a most holy and pure man. He had spent the night with us in discharge of his christian duties, and was preparing to return to Hagerstown. At the breakfast table, Dr. Dor- sey so fascinated him with accounts of the delights and innocency of horse-raeing, and so earnestly pressed him to join him in his contemplated visit, that the good old priest at last so far con- sented as to agree to witness the raee from the- turnpike. I shall never forget these two good old physicians, one of the soul and the other of the body, jogging off together on so extraordinary a mission ; nor have I ever yet been able to bring myself to believe that either was any the worse for it?
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