The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1873-03-29

nan ul lhcH lhlck on one cage ana tapcrs tn'
ner towards the other edge It has been squared
on the ends, perhaps with file, and is flat on
one side and round on the other, and is black as
ebony and very smooth and close grained 1t is
not porous to the naked eye, but with a magni.
flying glass You can see pores 1t looks like
wave washed pebble and closely resembles the
black Turkey milestone. Having nothing else
to do while there | whitfield out of wood Il pat
tern OF its exact size and shape which any one
can see. Whence this talismanic stone came
originallyno one knows. Nr. Charles Sautcr, its
I present owner bought it twenty years ago from
George Wolf Il shoemaker Mt Texas. Iroquos Co.,
I'll. Geo. Wolf got it from German or French
! Doctor, Che spoke both of the languages
equally well) who boarded with him, but was
put in Jail for malpractice, and died in jail and
having no family or relatives, left his books in
struments and this stone with Mr.. Wolf for his
board, telling him it was of great value and how
to use it, This is all Squire Sautcr knows Of its
origin. He told me he paid Wolf one hundred
dollars for the stone Iasked Mr.. SGuter how he
became SO convinced of the value Of the stone as
to pay one hundred dollars for it. He said:
Twenty years ago my dog went mad and bit
my sow, My SOW went mad and we put her in
log stable, and she spent her time gnawing and
putting merely against the logs, till her mouth
would bleed, and died three days after the ninth
day OF hydrophobia | and another man chased
the dog to Kill him, but the dog chased us The
other man had gun, | had nothing but stones,
and so climbed up crab apple tree, but I could
not get my legs up quick enough and he bit my
big toe through my boot. Every one thought
would go mad and bite them was afraid would
myself ana bite my wife. wanted some one to
20 with me to the madStonc but everybody was
afraid OF me- so went alone On irving the mad
stone II stuck on my toe ! stayed three DAYS,
using the stone till it would stick no LONGER and
came home cured. This is over nineteen wears
ago. ana have escaped hydrophobia all this
Tune The stone cured me and wanted it badly. |
Many persons thought me very foolish and super
stitious at the time Showing the stone to
two doctors once in Chicago at a meeting of
Supervisors, they both ridiculcd it. one saving il
was all an absurdity-there was nothing in il.
proposed that we should both be bit bvomod
dog, and that he should depend on his medicines
and would use nothing but my maidstone He
said, Did if he would do it."
Before the stone was applied il was put into n
teacupful of warm water for five minutes, and in
the meantime the wounds were scraped a little
with penknife The stone was then taken ont
and wiped dry with common cloth. "Now,n
said he, 81 can soon tell whether the dog that bit
your boy mad or not If the doc was mad
and there is yiru. in the wound the stone will
stick" He then put it on the scraped bite and
it positively stuck IA tried it number Of times
by lifting it up; and he declared the dog that bit
him was mad. After the stone had stuck about {
an hour it looscd its hold and fell off 1t was
again put into some warm, pure water and seem.
ed to be giving out to the rain water what it had
absorbed from the wound. The stone would turn
gray white, giving out its oily fluid in the water
and the greasy globulcs rise to the top. This
Mr.. Sauter claimed was the virus The stone
was applied till twelve o'clock at night the first
day, keeping it on each wound as long as il .
would stick. II il equally good for the bite of t
the rattlesnakc or a mad dog, but will not stick
on a wound unless it has virus in it. At the end
Of two days the stone would stick no more and
we came away. Some stay several weeks One
young lady was there five weeks, they told me.
The price charged for using the stone is fifteen Z
dollars, and one dollar per day for boarding as
ong as you stay. Mr. Sautcr keeps, in blank
book, a list of the names and residences of per
sons using the maidstone. On counting them
ound one hundred and eight names, which he q
said he had put down mostly from memory, fifty {
wo Of which had been treated within a year -
past, and so far as Mr.. Sautcr ever knew or heard
III were afterwards safe with one exception, One
nan who was bitten on the forehead would not
keep the stone on, drank whisky excessively got
Sicked by horse while he had the measles and
lied, and his folks called it hydrophobia.
Chas Sautcr is n wcll.todo farmer, a German
" birth, but has been in this country fOrtythrce
iears, and speaks good English. He has good
character for honesty and yeraety in the neigh
jorhood where he resides. He is intelligent and
Ias very retentivc memory For many years
lc was Justice Of the Peace, Supervisor, &c. in
lhcago, and has held offices of trust in Bloom
or twenty years. He il neither designing nor
upcrsttious, unless his faith in the maidstone Is
uch, People will think differently about these
statements Most intelligent persons and many
eminent physicians consider the maidstone de.
usion remnant Of the days of darkness and bar
jarlty. do not wish To aid In the spread of
superstition. There is an excess Of il in the
world already; nor is my object TO assist Mr.
>autcr to make money. He does not need it.
Further, am not yet fully convinced Of the cur
alive powers Of the maidstone But people are
bit hv mad dogs ard 20 and use the maidstone
and escape hydrophohia, every man, woman aud
child and even cattle, and this looks rs if there
was either some virtue in this magical stone or
else not more than one in hundreds that are bit
ten is in any danger. Respectfully
HENRY BELK,
Ottawa, March y, 1913. File Maker