Home Run HomeiLtedr1
h. ; " '1 -,:' ;
Whisky, Calomel, Asafetida
Favored Remedies in 1860's
By BEN MAXWELL
Being seriously sick in Salem in the 1860s was a pretty discour
aging predicament.
There were no hospitals, physicians were uninformed about
antiseptic surgery, and patent medicines and dubious household
remedies were miracle drugs of their day.
Eighty-five years ago the med-'
King of Swat when he was
old to Red Soz.
St. Mary's Industrial school, where Babe Ruth and Al Jolson
once were among 20,000 boys trained there.
t
By GEORGE A. BUWEN
(AP Hiwifttturu)
Baltimore, Feb. 21 The training school where Babe Ruth
learned 'to play baseball is to be closed.
St. Mary's Industrial school will shut its doors June 30. It
will be the end of 84 years of training more than 20,000 orphan
and delinquent boys.
Att lee Admits
Leveling Plan
London, Feb. 21 () Prime
Minister Attlee slapped back to
day at a conservative charge
that the labor party is trying to
reduce all Britons to the level
of the least efficient.
. In a direct reply to the conser
vative charge, voiced by Win
ston Churchill, the prime min
ister said:
"During the last four and a
half years-there have been great
changes and a considerable lev
eling up. Some people call it le
veling down. Of course, it de
pends where you start.
"If you were right at the top
you were leveled down. If you
were down you were leveled up.
If you were in the middle, you
are about where you were.
Attlee spoke at a campaign
meeting in his election constitu
ency of Walthamstown.
He appealed anew for the vote
of the British working class,
which he described as "the peo
ple we are depending on to get
this country through a very dif
ficult economic situation."
- Lord Woolton, chairman of
the conservative party, declared
the election which will take
place Thursday is "neck and
neck."
He told a political rally at
Grantham in the midlands "it is
going to be a great and exciting
finish. I hope you will do your
duty by the conservative party."
Pruning Specialist
Will Offer Advice
Dallas C. O. Rawlings, horti
cultural specialist at Oregon
State college will be In Polk
county February 27 and 28 to
assist In pruning problems with
individual growers, according to
N. John Hansen, county exten
sion agent.
Hansen explained that these
two days of individual work
have been scheduled due to the
fact that the pruning demonstra
tions in January were cancelled
due to weather conditions.
Hansen stated that any fruit
growers wishing assistance in
pruning problems are asked to
contact the county extension of
fice by Friday. The phone num
ber is Dallas 2247 and the ex
tension office is located in the
basement of the courthouse,
St. Mary's Home was its popu
lar name in Baltimore. Through
out the nation for the last two
decades or so it was better
known as Babe Ruth's home.
It was home to George Her
man Ruth as boy and youth
for most of his 12 years be
tween seven and 19.
Contrary to the belief of
many, he wasn't an orphan.
His parents sent him to St.
Mary's to get him away from
the saloon they owned.
The Babe would have spent
two more years in the school
if it hadn't been for baseball.
Sportsminded brothers of a re
ligious order spotted him as a
natural and convinced Owner
Jack Dunn of the Baltimore
Orioles to give him a tryout.
Dunn had to sign iegal papers
making him guardian until Ruth
became 21.
It was the start of one of
the diamond's greatest ca
reers. In the same year, 1914,
Ruth was sold to the Boston
Red Sox where he made his
name as a pitcher. Later he
became the Sultan of Swat
with the New York Yankees.
The Babe's name reflected on
B-36 Survivor Gropes Way
To Safety with Ankle Hurt
McChord Air Force Base, Wash., Feb. 21 U.R)Lt. Charles
Pooler of Beloit, Kans. spent three night and two days on lonely
Princess Royal island groping his way to safety with a fractured
ankle with only bits of candy bars for food.
Lt. Pooler is the 12th survivor of an air force B-36 superbomber
from which 17 men parachuted-
over the heavily forested island
off the British Columbia coast
late last Monday night. Five
men still are missing.
His harrowing experience was
pieced , together from informa
tion gathered here from the
captain of a U.S. coast guard
cutter who asked that his name
not be used. The captain was
interviewed at base operations
here.
Scotts Mills Host
Rebekah Convention
- Brooks Harmony Rebekah
Lodge of Gervais met for its
regular session with all the of
ficers present. Mrs. Margaret
Jones, noble grand presiding.
Mr. and Mrs. Willis Caldwell
were admitted to membership by
card. Plans were made to at
tend the district convention at
Scotts Mills, March 11. Duke
Ballweber was reported on the
sick list. The good of the order
chairman, Mrs. Katie Sturgis
presented a short program.
Refreshments were served fol
lowing the meeting by Mrs. Ber-
na Pomeroy and Mrs. Rose ung.
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St. Mary's and it was proud of
him.
Fire destroyed the school In
1919. The Babe helped raise
money for rebuilding He took
the school band on a western
trip to give concerts.
St. Mary's was founded in
1866 by the Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Baltimore. Xav
erian priests always ran it. The
state and city contributed to
its support.
It was non-sectarian. Sing
er Al Jolson, another famous
"alumnus," cracked he was
"the only son of a rabbi to
be taught by priests."
St. Mary's was incorporated
as a public institution in 1874
Up until 1937 it was for the
poor, orphans and boys need
ing correction. Since then it
was entirely for delinquents.
...
Increasing deficits led - the
trustees to vote to close Mt.
Mary's.
The state, rather than in
crease its appropriations, decid
ed to send its delinquents to the
Maryland Training School for
boys.
Caters Leave Roberts
Roberts A. G. Cater left for
Pasco, Wash., where he will
be employed several months
Mrs. Cater will join him next
week. Jack Cater has left for
Shepherd air base, Wichita Falls,
Texas.
he was frequently forced to
stop for rest. His ankle and the
intense cold caused him great
pain. He often called for help.
His cries were finally -heard
Thursday morning by a rescue
crew from ' the Canadian de
stroyer Cayuga. He was taken
aboard the vessel and given
treatment, but heavy seas pre
vented his evacuation until yes
terday.
Lt. Pooler landed in a tree
40 feet above the ground.
After several unsuccessful
tries to free himself and climb
down, he was forced to cut the
shrouds of his parachute and
drop to the ground. He fractur
ed his ankle in doing so. -
He estimated he was four and
one-half miles from shore and
that it would take him nine days
to reach there. For food he had
three candy bars. He divided
each Into three parts, allowing
himself a half part each in the
morning and evening.
Struggling through deep snow
A coast guard cutter took him
to Port Hardy where he was
put aboard the C-47 and flown
here. Newsmen met the plane
but were not allowed to talk
to him.
Today, Lt. Pooler was photo
graphed at the base hospital.
But Col. Hervey Porter, flight
surgeon at the hospital said, "He
will not be Interviewed in my
hospital."
Lt. Pooler was expected to be
transferred to the army's nearby
Madigan general hospital later.
He told attendants he was in no
great pain.
icine cabinet of a Salem physi
cian, or the shelves of the drug
store, contained about 60 drugs:
calomel being the mainstay of
them all. Vaccination was in
use against smallpox. Louis Pas
teur's bacteriological discoveries
were then of more interest to the
vintner than the surgeon and
applied principles of asepsis
were yet 20 years in the offing.
For the afflicted traditional
household remedies were the
first line of medical defense. The
rustic, whose aching bunions
forecast rain, wore a piece of
asafetida dangling from a string
around his neck. He regarded
it as an ounce of prevention. Just
how it worked against infection
he was at loss to explain, x-er-haps
the stench of asafetida dis
interating in the springtime was
convincing enough.
.Turpentine was regarded by
pioneers as an infallible disin
fectant, powdered alum, sulphur
and molasses and sassafras tea
were standard cupboard reme
dies in the 1860s.
Whisky completed the house
hold pharmacopoeia of pioneer
times. Whisky with salt made
a gargle though the flavor of the
whisky was somewhat impaired.
Sunflower seed soaKed in
whisky became a remedy for
rheumatism. Men took their
whisky straight for snake bite,
the grippe and nearly any other
ailment, real or imaginary. Wo
men folks sipped a prescribed
toddy for feminine weaknesses
and hid the bottle in the pantry,
away from prying eyes of the
men, eager for snake bite and a
couple of swigs that would
empty the flask.
Goose grease was an accepted
palliative for sore throat. Bleed
ing from less serious wounds
might be checked by an applica
tion of cobwebs. Onion and to
bacco juice were good for ear
ache. If the wound was painful
but not serious there was noth
ing like smoke from burning
brown sugar. Or, if the patient
was down with scarlet fever, the
thing to do was to rub the whole
body with a bacon rind and then
tie the rind around the neck
More sophisticated town folks
were not infrequently just as
gullible as the yokel with the
asafetida around his neck. They
were disposed to experiment
with patent medicine cure-alls
before they summoned the doc
tor. A considerable percentage
of the column space of a Salem
newspaper for January 4, 1864,
consists of patent medicine advertising.
Dr. Hoofland's German Bit
ters, declared to be a non-alcoholic
tonic, was proclaimed as a
cure for liver complaint, dispep-
sla, yellow fever, nervous de
bility and other diseases arising
from a disordered stomach oi
liver. Rev. J. Newton Brown,
editor of the Encyclopedia of
Religious Knowledge, endorsed
this great boon to better health,
and it was recommended for the
soldier by Sergeant Isaac Malone
and his 10 Civil War comrades
who never expected to see the
sergeant alive again.
Ayers Sarsaparilla was recom
mended for pimples, scrofula,
St. Anthony's fire and syphillis.
A cherry pectoral made by the
same benefactor was presented
as a renowned cure for every
lung and threat complaint. Dr.
Swift's Infallible linament was
good for piles and toothache and
recommended for lameness in
animals.
Consider, finally, Helmhold's
Fluid Extract Buchu, a non-
secret concoction represented as
containing only cubebs, buchu
and juniper berries. Here was
something for those afflictions
arising from excesses and habits
of dissipation. And Hemhold's
Improved Rose Wash was mod
estly suggested in conspicuous
type as a cure for those secret
diseases.
came the Marion County Medi
cal society. O. Larsell, an au
thority on Oregon medical his
tory, states that Dr. Belt rep
resented the best type of phy
sician, who despite informal
medical training, rendered great
service to the communty.
Another was Dr. R. W. Shaw.
B. F. Ramp, Marion county pio
neer of 1853 who celebrated his
99th birthday July 23, 1949,
remembers him well. ' About 94
years ago young Ramp was
shooting beans up a mud and
stick chimney in the family cab
in. They came rattling down
and one lodged in the youngster's
ear. His distress soon became
acute and his parents tried to
flush the obstacle out with
warm water. That caused the
bean to swell and the agony in
creased. Finally the child was
taken to Dr. Shaw who removed
the bean now at the point of
germination.
Dr. Horace Carpenter served
during the Civil war as a sur
geon's assistant for an Oregon
cavalry regiment. From 1883 to
1886 he was superintendent of
the State Insane Asylum at Sa
lem. Dr. Carpenter made
strenuous effort to maintain
high standard for the profession
and his contemporaries regard
ed him as the best surgeon in
Oregon,
Salem's physicians of the
1860s though some may have
stropped a scalpel on their boot
top, never prescribed stringed
asafetida as a preventive medi
cine. And they treated the cur
ative claims of Fluid Extract of
Buchu with derision and con
tempt.
If they were unlearned in
methods of modern therapy most
were competent practioioners for
their time. Their fees were
modest because they were per
mitted to retain what they made,
Patients of means paid a rea
sonable charge, those unable to
pay, or who paid ever so slowly.
nevertheless received all the
benefit of the doctor's skill with
out the necessity for socialized
medicine.
Among early Salem physicians
listed in the Pacific Coast Busi
ness Directory for 1867 are Doc
tors A. M. Belt, E. R. Fisk,
McAfee and Carpenter, Daniel
Peyton and James C. Shelton,
But there were local practition
ers even before their time.
Dr. W. H. Willson, the mis
sionary who founded Salem, had
a somewhat informal medical
training under Elijah White dur
ing a voyage to the Pacific coast,
He died of a heart attack while
sitting in an armchair in W. K
Smith's drug store,' April 17,
1856. Dr. Willson was distin
guished as a raconteur and an
early historian of Salem devotes
more space telling about Dr.
Willson's resistence to tempta
tions of plug tobacco than in
mention of his medical practice.
Dr. A. M. Belt, among the first
of the immigrant physicians,
practiced in Salem from 1850 to
1881. In 1871 he resided at the
northeast corner of Union and
Church street. For many years
Dr. Belt was a member of Wil
lamette university medical de
partment faculty and was presi
dent of an organization that be-
Capital Journal, Salem, Ore., Tuesday, February 21, 195013
ganized by Doctors Carpenter,
Peyton and Jessup in 1873, was
Salem's first institution offering
hospitalization. This two story
structure, 60 by 30 feet and built
with an ell, was located on Cap-
tol street between State and
Ferry (this extension of Capitol
no longer survives as a street).
The first story housed four
wards, a kitchen and parlor.
cieven waras were located on
the second floor and all were
ventilated and supplied with
water and other conveniences,
Further, says the description
in the Salem directory for 1874,
'that no neglect should be oc-
cassioned, a janitor with his wife
rooms in the home and prepares
the diet on strictly hygiene prin
ciples as directed by the visiting
physician and surgeon and cal
culated to restore health rapidly
and permanently."
At Hal D. Patton's 50th an
niversary banquet, January 13,
182Z, the late Dr. W. H. Byrd
remarked of Salem's early doc
tors, "these men have been dead,
most of them for 25 years or
more. If they could come back
upon earth today and they
were all good men in their
time they would be disquali
fied for the practice of medicine,
so many changes have taken
place in one generation. . . . Two
of these earnest and energetic
practitioners died in the insane
asylum. Two of them died from
that terrible disease, cancer; and
only three of them, that I re
call, lived to a good, round and
ripe old age and died from na
tural causes."
Dr. J. C. Shelton, whose card
appeared in a Salem newspaper
for January 4, was a true bo
tanic practitoner and did not
use calomel or other mineral
drugs in treatment. In 1874 he
lived at the souhteast corner of
Front and Division street. Tad
Shelton, Marion county assessor,
is his son.
Many older Salem residents
will recall Dr. Charles H. Hall
who practiced in Salem from
1868 until 1902. He was at one
time professor of pathology and
general practice in Willamette
Medical department. Mrs. Mary
R. Hall, daughter of A. F. Walk
er, Methodist missionary who
arrived in the Columbia river
in 1840, was the last survivor of
the Lausanne party. She died in
Salem January 13, 1903 at the
age of 66. She was Mrs. John
H. McNary's mother.
Although Dr. W. A. Cusick did
not practice in Salem until the
middle 1880s, he was among the
first three graduates from Wil
lamette medical department in
July 1867. He .was consulting
physician at the state hospital
for the insane for 37 years. Dr
Cusick retired from active prac
tice In 1908 and died in 1919.
The writer recalls him as
slight, kindly man who had a
penetrating eye and a pleasant
bedside manner. He was highly
regarded by an older Salem gen
eration. Dr. W. B. Morse who
died In 1944 was his son-in-law.
Oregon Home for the Sick, or-
New Detroit Church
Active at Session
Silverton Mrs. Arthur Char
les Bates was among the numer
ous ministers' wives of the state
of Oregon serving the Christian
churches, privileged to attend
the sessions at Mallory street
church of the Christian state
board of missions.
Presidents of the various jun
ior guilds and state missionary
groups were also asked as guests.
The new organization for the
Christian church at Detroit, the
baby church" of the state had
the honor of reporting the first
fellowship organization.
Others attending from Silver-
ton were Mrs. Gus Herr, Mrs,
Carrol Rold and Mrs. Carl
Specht.
9:30 P.M.
Hear
Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker's
Favorite Story
"Around the World in
Eighty Days"
I tUJU.ll
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