USA > Minnesota > Mower County > The history of Mower County, Minnesota : illustrated > Part 35
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The LeRoy Independent .- This newspaper was founded by a man named Haynes in 1875, as the "LeRoy News." He continued it for about six months and sold to C. B. Kennedy, who was its editor and proprietor for three years and then leased the office to James A. Henderson, who managed it a year, with C. F. Burdick as assistant for about three months. J. S. Bishop then purchased the office and operated the same nearly three years, and then sold to J. MeKnight, who took possession April 16, 1883. After J. McKnight there were several changes. Then came S. C. Wheeler, B. T. Barnes and A. E. Pennell, successively. William M. Frank, John Frank and C. F. Hambrecht then owned the paper for a while. They sold to S. E. Bronson, and after him came Harlan G. Palmer, who in February, 1908, sold to Ralph Prescott, the present editor.
Grand Meadow News .- The first newspaper at Grand Meadow was called the News. It was started in 1878, by the Dunlevy Brothers, who came from Lansing, Iowa. It was Republican in politics; a bright, newsy sheet, and for some time received sub- stantial encouragement. It was run at Grand Meadow for about two years, when it was removed to Lansing, Iowa.
Another paper, also called the News, was later established in Grand Meadow. It was started in the spring of 1880, by M. V. Scribner, a photographer. He ran the paper for about one year, then removed it to Fairmont; and later to Wells, Minnesota.
The Grand Meadow Record .- This publication had its first issue in Grand Meadow in December, 1882. L. G. Moore founded this journal. The early files have not been preserved. Bert A. Johnson is the present editor of the paper.
Grand Meadow Mercury .- In the spring of 1880, B. F. Lang- worthy & Son established the Grand Meadow Mercury. They conducted it here for a little over one year, then removed it to Austin. In the carly summer of 1882 the paper was removed to Spring Valley, Fillmore county, and the name changed to Spring Valley Mercury.
Brownsdale Journal .- Volume 1, number 1 of this six column folio, made its appearance July 1, 1884. Rosa E. Moore was
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editress and assistant manager, her husband, L. G. Moore, being the owner and manager.
The Brownsdale Leafilet .- On August 6, 1890, B. A. Johnson, son of M. B. Johnson, with a small hand lever press and a few fonts of type, launched forth the first issue of the Brownsdale Leaflet, size 9x12. It was later enlarged. On July 1, 1891, the News outfit, a paper whose life was but three months, was pur- chased from J. W. Burchard and the paper enlarged to a six column folio. On October 1, 1892, L. L. Quimby moved from New Richmond, Wisconsin, and purchased a half interest and the paper was enlarged to a five column quarto. On June 1, 1893, Mr. Quimby purchased a half interest with B. E. Baldwin in the hardware and implement business, which interest he held until the following March, selling to D. L. Tanner. About a month later, April 19, Mr. Quimby purchased Mr. Johnson's interest in the Leaflet and conducted it alone until May 17, 1907, when he was forced to give it up on account of his growing telephone business. Since that time Brownsdale has had no paper.
The Lyle Tribune, an independent paper, is printed and pub- lished at Lyle by Wm. Nordland. The paper was established in 1893. Elmer T. Wilson was one of the early editors. The paper was published by John Gould & Co. from 1896 until January 1, 1902, when sickness forced him to retire from business. At that time the paper was leased to Mr. and Mrs. R. Ferris, who managed it until July of the same year, when Chas. Gould & Co. took charge of the paper, until December 1, 1902, when it was purchased by the present owner. The printing office has been located in various parts of the village, but never had a permanent home until No- vember 1, 1909, when the present building was purchased. In the early years of the paper an old Washington hand press and a few fonts of type was the equipment, but in 1907 a cylinder press and gasoline engine were installed, which, together with the other modern equipment that had been added from time to time, put the plant on a substantial basis, enabling it to turn out the work re- quired by the thriving village in which it is located. Under the present management the circulation of the Tribune has nearly doubled, and the job department has become one of the strongest. features of the plant.
The Adams Review .- The Review is the youngest of the Mower county newspapers, and was established in 1897 by V. W. Sabin. Two years later W. F. St. Clair of Nebraska, acquired an interest in the paper. Mr. St. Clair increased the business and subscription list of the paper considerably and enjoyed an excel- lent patronage. In 1906 he sold the plant and business to K. L. Niles, and in April, 1909, Mr. Niles disposed of the property to Keith & Keith, who are also owners of the Mower County Re-
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publican, Austin. Paul C. Keith is the resident editor and man- ager, and is well supported by the enterprising business men of Adams. The Review aims to furnish all the local news that is news, and has a large list of subscribers in southern Mower county. The paper gives evidence of a continued prosperous career.
Alumni Altruist .- When interest in the Austin High School Alumni Association began to wane, Ida Smith Decker conceived the plan of publishing a paper to be eireulated among the absent as well as the local members of the association, the paper to eon- tain greetings and news from the various classes and graduates. Mrs. Decker was the author and editor of the first edition, which was published ready for the annual alumni meets in June, 1901. It served its purpose admirably and interest was at once awak- ened. It has been published every year since with the exception of 1903. The omission was so marked and the eall for the paper so insistent that at every alumni meeting since a fresh, crisp copy of the Altruist has been the central attraction. Unlike some of our county publications, it has always been self-supporting.
Copies are mailed to members all over the country. It is the only publication of its kind in the state and has done more to make the association a suceess than any other faetor.
The following have served as editors: 1901, Ida Smith Decker, '81; 1902, Etta Barnes Decker, '79; 1904, Gertrude Ellis Skinner, '81; 1905, Ada Morgan Crane, '92; 1906, The Todd Sisters, '99, '02, '04; 1907, George E. Anderson, '93; 1908, Grace Kimball, '95; 1909, Fred C. Ulmer ; 1910, Stella Slaven ; 1911, Lucile Gilbertson.
Among the newspapers of the county started within the last decade, which lived but a few months and then eeased publiea- tion are: "The Racine Recorder," "Rose Creek Rose Bud" and "Austin Weekly Journal." For several years "The Dexterite" was published in Dexter and then for lack of patronage sus- pended publication.
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CHAPTER XXV.
THE PHYSICIAN.
His Proud Achievements-His Solemn Oath-His Ethics-The True Physician-His Reward-His Delicate Relation to the Human Family-His Inventions and Discoveries Free Gifts --- The Pioneer Doctor - His Character and Services - His Limitations-The Pioneer Physicians of Mower County-The Mower County Medical Association-Edited by A. W. Allen, M. D.
"Men most nearly resemble the gods when They afford health to their fellow men."
In an age when, in the combat of man against man, heroes are worshiped according to the number they slay in battle, it is inspiring and elevating to be permitted to pay tribute to the men who won glory in fighting disease and through whose devotion and skill thousands of useful lives have been saved and been made happy.
"For every man slain by Cæsar, Napoleon and Grant in all their bloody campaigns, Jenner, Pasteur and Lister have saved alive a thousand." The first anasthetic has done more for the real happiness of mankind than all the philosophers from Socrates to Mills. Society laurels the soldier and the philosopher and practically ignores the physician. Few remember his labors, for what Sir Thomas Browne said three hundred years ago is surely true : "The iniquity of oblivion blindly scattereth her poppy and deals with the memory of men without distinction to merit to perpetuity."
"Medicine is the most cosmopolitan of the three great 'learned' professions. Medicines never built a prison or lit a fagot, never incited men to battle or crucified anyone. Saint and sinner, white and black, rich and poor, are equal and alike when they cross the sacred portals of the temple of Aesculapius." No other secular profession has ever reached such a consciousness of duties which it corporately owes to the rest of the world. What are the principles which a profession, more profuse in its disinterested charities than any other profession in the world has established for its guidance ?
It was about 2,300 years ago that the practitioners of the art of healing began to take an oath emphasizing the responsibilities which the nobility and holiness of the art imposed upon them. Hippocrates, forever to be revered, gave the oath his name. When
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a Greek physician took the. Hippoeratie oath and a graduate of the modern medical school takes it, the act is one not only of obligation for himself, but of recognition of a great benefactor of mankind. The Hippocratic oath assumes that when a man has learned the art of restoring the sick to health he has passed into a realm in which the rules of personal selfishness are imme- diately abridged, if not expunged, and recognized in a system of principles and rules governing all licensed physicians, and enforced and respected by high-toned and cultured gentlemen- a standard of professional honor so sacred and inviolate that no graduate or regular practitioner will ever presume or dare to violate it.
Robert Louis Stevenson, seeing the life of the medical man only from without, was not far wrong when he spoke of the modern scientific medical man as probably the noblest figure of the age. The noble and exalted character of the ancient profes- sion of medicine is surpassed by no sister science in the mag- nificence of its gifts. Reflecting upon its purity, beneficence and grandeur it must be accorded to be the noblest of professions. Though the noblest of professions, it is the meanest of trades. The true physician will make his profession no trade, but will be accurate in diagnosis and painstaking in prescribing. He will allow no prejudice nor theory to interfere with the relief of human suffering and the saving of human life; and will lay under contribution every source of information, be it humble or exalted, that ean be made useful in the cure of disease. He will be kind to the poor, sympathetic with the sick, ethical toward medical colleagues and courteous toward all men.
The true physician is he who has a proper conception and estimation of the real character of his profession; whose intel- lectual and moral fitness give weight, standing and character in the consideration and estimation of society and the public at large. His privileges and powers for good or for evil are great ; in fact no other profession, calling or vocation in this life occu- pies such a delicate relation to the human family.
There is a tremendous developing and edneating power in medical work. The medical man is almost the only member of the community who does not make money out of his important discoveries. It is a point of honor with him to allow the whole world to profit by his researches when he finds a new remedy for discase. The greatest and best medical and surgical discov- eries and inventions have been free gifts to suffering humanity the moment their value was demonstrated. The reward of the physician is in the benefit which the siek and helpless receive, and in the gratitude, which should not be stinted, of the community at large. Medical men are not angels; they are in fact very
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human creatures with hard work to do, and often many mouths to feed; but there is a strain of benevolence in all their work. From the beginning they are taught a doctrine of helpfulness to others, and are made to think that their lifework should not be one in which every service must receive its pecuniary reward. The physician is a host in himself, a natural leader among his fellow men, a center of influence for the most practical good, an efficient helper in times of direst need, a trusted and honest citizen. What more can any prophet ask than honor in his own country and a daily welcome among his own friends !
It does not take long for the waves of oblivion to close over those who have taken a most prominent and active part in the affairs of the day. The life of the pioneer doctor is no exception to this law, for as, Dr. John Browne tells us, "It is the lot of the successful medical practitioner to be invaluable when alive, and to be forgotten soon after he is dead, and this is not altogether or chiefly from any special ingratitude or injustice on the part of mankind, but from the very nature of the case." However, the pioneer physician still lives in the memory of many of us, though he is now more rare as an individual than in the years gone by, and is gradually passing out of existence. The history, written and unwritten, of the pioneer physician of Mower county, as elsewhere, presents him to view as working out the destiny of the wilderness, hand in hand with the other forces of civilization for the common good. He was an integral part of the primitive social fabric. As such he shared the manners, the customs, the aims, and the ambitions of his companions, and he, with them, was controlled by the forces which determine the common state and the common destiny. The chief concern of himself and com- panions was materially engaged with the serious problem of existence. The struggle to survive was, at its best, a competi- tion with nature. Hard winters and poor roads were the chief impediments. Only rough outlines remain of the heroic and adventurous side of the pioneer physican's long, active and honored life. The imagination cannot, unaided by the facts, picture the primitive conditons with which he had to contend. Long and dreary rides, by day and night, in summer's heat and winter's cold, through snow, and mud, and rain, was his common lot. He trusted himself to the mercy of the elements, crossed unbridged streams, made his way through uncut forests, and traveled the roadless wilderness. He spent one-fifth of his life in his conveyance, and in some cases traveled as many as two hundred thousand miles in the same.
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes has graphically described the old doctor's daily routine : "Half a dollar a visit-drive, drive, drive all day ; get up in the night and harness your own horse --
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drive again ten miles in a snowstorm; shake powders out of a vial-drive back again, if you don't happen to be stuck in a drift ; no home, no peace, no continuous meals, no unbroken sleep, no Sunday, no holiday, no social intercourse, but eternal jog, jog, jog in a sulky."
He always responded to the call of the poor, and gave freely his services to those who could not pay without hardship. Who can narrate the past events in the life of such a man? His deeds were "written upon the tablets of loving and grateful hearts, and the hearts are now dust. The long and exhausting rides through storm, or mud, or snow; the exposure to contagions; the patient vigils by the bedside of pain; the kindly deeds of charity ; the reassuring messages to the despondent; the shield- ing of the innocent; the guarding of secrets; the numberless self-abnegations that cannot be tabulated, and are soon for- gotten, like the roses of yesterday." Wealth did not flow into the old practitioner's coffers ; in fact, he needed no coffers. He was a poor collector, and with all his efforts he obtained but little, and never what was his due. As an offset to the generally acknowledged abilities of the old doctor in every other line of his work, it must also be admitted that he was greatly deficient in business tact. Often content with the sentiment of apparent appreciation of services rendered to his patrons, of lives saved, of sufferings assuaged, and of health restored, he was too easily satisfied with the reflection that he had a very noble profession, but a very poor trade.
Though poor in purse, he was rich in heart, in head, and in public esteem. He made at least a very measurable success of life, if success consists in being of some small use to the con- munity or country in which one lives; if it consists in having an intelligent, sympathetic outlook for human needs; if it is success to love one's work ; if it is success to have friends and be a friend, then the old doctor has made a success of life.
He was a lonely worker, and relied largely on his own unaided observation for his knowledge. Isolated by conditions of his life, he did not know the educating influences of society work. He was a busy man, with little leisure for the indulgence of liter- ary or other tastes. He possessed, however, what no books or laboratories can furnish, and that is : a capacity for work, willing- ness to be helpful, broad sympathies, honesty, and a great deal of common sense. His greatest fame was the fealty of a few friends; his recompense a final peace at life's twilight hour. He was a hardworking man, beloved and revered by all. He was discreet and silent, and held his counsel when he entered the sick-room. In every family he was indispensable, important, and oftentimes a dignified personage. He was the adviser of the
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family in matters not always purely medical. As time passed, the cirele of his friends enlarged, his brain expanded, and his heart steadily grew mellower. Could all the pleasant, touching, heroic incidents be told in connection with the old doctor, it would be a revelation to the young physician of today ; but he can never know the admiration and love in which the old doctor was held. "How like an angel light was his coming in the stormy midnight to the lonely cabin miles away from the nearest neighbor. Earnest, cheery, confident, his presence lightened the burden, took away the responsibility, dispelled the gloom. The old doetor, with his two-wheeled gig and saddle bag, his setons, crude herbs, and veresections, resourceful, brave and true ; busy, blunt and honest, loyally doing his best-who was physician, surgeon, obstetrician, oculist, aurist, guide, philosopher and friend-is sleeping under the oaks on the prairies he loved so well."
"We shall ne'er see his like again, Not a better man was found, By the Crier on his round, Through the town."
The early history of the pioneer physician is naturally a story of feeble resources. His professional limitations were, therefore, necessarily great. To enable us to understand these limitations we must take a retrospective glance at the condi- tions of medicine sixty years ago. Imagine, if you can, the for- lorn condition of the doctor without our present means of physical diagnosis, without the elinical thermometer, the various specula, the hypodermatie syringe, the ophthalmoseope, the oto- scope, the rhinoseope, the aspirator, and many other similar instruments; without the aid of hematology, of anæstheties, of antisepsis, of the modern mieroscope, without our laboratories and experiments, our chemistry, our bacteriology, our roentgen rays, our experimental pharmacology, and our antitoxins-with- out anything except his eyes, his ears, his fingers, his native vigor and resourcefulness; then we can appreciate the professional limitation of our fathers, appreciate no less the triumphal march of medieine during a single lifetime. It requires no prophet's power to foretell the fact that the science of medicine stands at this hour upon the threshold of an era which will belittle all the past. In this most wonderful era of the world's history, this magie age, the science of medieine is rapidly being elevated into the position of one of the bulwarks of society and one of the mainstays of civilization. It made possible the building of the Panama canal, made Havana a clean city, and diminished the possibility of introducing yellow fever among us. It has kept
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cholera in check, pointed out the danger of bubonic plague through the rat-infested districts of San Francisco, and it now urges that the government shall maintain sentinels to guard the gulf coast from yellow fever, the Mississippi from cholera, the whole United States from bubonic plague. It also discovered the stegonyia as a yellow fever carrier, and the rat and ground squirrel as plague distributors.
The medical history of Mower county begins with J. C. Jones, who located in LeRoy township in the spring of 1855. His wife was also a physician. They remained until 1866 and then re- moved to Missouri.
AUSTIN.
The pioneer physician of Austin was that venerable practi- tioner of the kindly old school, Dr. Orlenzer Allen, who came in April, 1856, and practiced until 1870, when he removed to Wiscon- sin, where he lived until the time of his death, April 5, 1883. He was born at Alfred, New York, in 1830, and located in Wisconsin in 1842. His medical education was received at the Rush Medical College, at Chicago, from which institution he graduated in 1856. Dr. Allen was an ideal country physician, kindly, self-sacrificing and able. His twin brother, Ormanzo, was also a prominent figure in Austin and Mower county in an early day. The next physician to locate in Austin was Dr. J. N. Wheat, a homeopatlı. He came in September, 1856. Dr. Wheat was born in Old Hadley, Massa- chusetts, January 16, 1818, spent his boyhood in New York and Ohio, and graduated in medicine at Buffalo in 1852. He became one of the foremost citizens of Mower county. Dr. S. P. Thorn- hill came in the winter of 1869-70. He was born in Rockingham county, Virginia, March 21, 1821, and studied medicine at West Carlisle, Ohio. He served as regimental and brigade surgeon in the Civil war, and subsequently came to Austin, where he died in 1879. Dr. Hiram L. Coon graduated from the Rush Medical College in 1855, came to Austin in 1856, remained a few years and then moved to Northfield. Dr. W. C. Jones came to Austin during the Civil war, practiced a few years and died about 1879. He was the father of B. F. Jones, at one time a newspaper editor and politician of Austin. Dr. W. L. Hollister came to Mower county in 1867, lived at Lansing a while, and then came to Austin in 1871. He still resides here. Dr. O. W. Gibson came to Austin in February, 1867. He was born in Tioga county, Pennsylvania, in 1839. During the Civil war he served in both army and navy as surgeon. Dr. James P. Squires came to Austin in 1873. He was born in Livingston county, New York, in 1825, and graduated in medicine at Buffalo, New York, in 1851. He was an army sur- geon and came here from Faribault county, this state. Dr.
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Thomas Phillips, a homeopath, came in May, 1882. He was born in Canada, graduated from the University of Chicago in 1880 and later from the Hahnemann Medical College in the same city. Dr. Ellen M. Fairbanks, wife of Alonzo Fairbanks, came to Austin with her husband in 1859. In 1881 she graduated from the Woman's Medical College at Chicago. A Dr. McDonald, a grad- uate of MeGill University, Montreal, practiced here a few years in the early eighties. Dr. C. H. Johnson came to Austin, June 16, 1884. He was born in Canada, in 1855, graduated from McGill University, Montreal, and came here at once. With this the story of the earlier physicians of Austin ends, those coming since the middle eighties being numbered among the comparatively modern physicians of the city.
BROWNSDALE.
Brownsdale was the home of a number of physicians at an early day. Dr. Hunter came to Brownsdale in the fall of 1871 and died the following year. Dr. Eryhmy came from Preston, Minnesota, in the spring of 1871 and remained until the spring of 1874, when he went to California, where he died a few years later. Dr. Bidell, another early physician, stayed in this county a year or so, either in Brownsdale or Grand Meadow, and then went to the Dakotas. He was a graduate of the Chicago Medical school. Dr. A. S. Britz came in 1876 and stayed until 1880. He was born in Indiana, March 1, 1844, served in the Civil war, and graduated in medicine at Chicago. After leaving here he went to Clearwater, Minnesota. Dr. Hall came from Preston in 1876 and after remaining a few months went to Lake City. Dr. Mink- ler, who graduated in medicine in Canada, came here in 1875, but in a short time returned to Wisconsin. Dr. Dodd, a graduate of the Rush Medical College, Chicago, came in 1880. In 1882, owing to failing health, he went to California, where he died. Dr. David Kyto, who had graduated in medicine at Indianapolis, practiced here a short time in 1883. Dr. C. S. Beaulieu came in 1880; Dr. Gray in 1883; Dr. Johnson in 1884; and Dr. Foward in 1884. Dr. G. W. Gray was born in 1851 and came to Minnesota in 1877, practicing in Grand Meadow until 1883, when he came to Browns- dale. Dr. Frank M. Johnson was born in Wisconsin in 1854. He graduated from the Rush Medical College in the class of 1882, and came to Brownsdale in the fall of 1883.
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