The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-10-15
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.
THE END OF a QUACK-BUsINESS-C CRU
ELTY TO CHILDREN-THE FASHIONS
POLITICS

PDLIIIIS-
NEW YORK, October, 10, 1915.
Who Iu ali these United States has
not heard OF II. T. Helmbold, the man
ufacturer and vender of Buchul Two
thirds of the people have paid money for
his medicines, and whether they received
any benefit therefrom, or not, they may 4
De benefited by reading somewhat Of his 1
history. Last Thursday I'D. " Helmbold |,
was, for the fourth time, incarcerated in
in lunatic asylum, where he will prob |
ably stay the remairder of his life.
Henry T. Helmbold commenced life as |
a druggists clerk in Philadelphia. pro |
crossing, by the help of brother, to the |
prnprietorshlp of small drug store.
r.. conceived the idea of putting NJ
Buchu in the form since so Well known,
twenty years ago. and after various ups
and downs-he failed three times-sue
ceeded in establishing it as a standard
patent medicine, and received from its
sale an income of hundreds of thousands
of dollars per aunum. But the doctor
could not stand prosperity. The more
his goods. sold the more eXtTavaSant he
became. He commenced a life OF the
widest excess in point of expenditure
ever known in this city. He had one
six-in-hand team, the six horses costing
him not less than $50, 600. The drag to
which they were driven was the most
expensive and elegant ever imported to
America. Then he had a score or more
of other horses for every purpose that
horse flesh is used. OF course he was
compelled to have large and elegant sta
bles. and an army of people to care for
and manage his equine interests. HIS
principal coachman was paid salary OF
S3, 600 per annum, with rooms and sub
sistence added. The doctor was not
badly off for places to live. He had
house in New York, mansion at Long
Branch. ard the most expensive apart
ments in the most expensive hotels IN
the country sheltered him at times. lie
seemed to have an itch for throwing
away money. 1t was nothing for him to
take his six horse drag, with his coach
man and outriders, with full retinue OF
servants, to Baltimore or Boston, en-
gage the most sumptuous apartments
and astonish the natives by display
such as they had never seen before.
The little fellow would get into that in
mense drag all alone, with coachman
six feet on the box, and two footmen OF
the same proportions on behind, all
dressed in white livery, and would be
driven in solitary grandeur all over the
city, bowling at every manifestation, as
pleased as a child with a new toy. The
mock eulogies of interested newspapers
he took. for honest tributes, and the flat
terry of hungry sycophants he swallowed
as sweet morSels.
He believed himself to be really great
man, and nothing could be too gross for
him to believe of himself, consequently
he was surrounded with mob of para
sites who traded lattery for money.
These fellows absolutely got the little
man to actually believe that he could be
President. and he spent great deal OF
money to bring himself before the peo-
pie.
And with all his vanity and insanity,
he was in many respects shrewd busI-
ness man. He was the boldest adver-
tiser that ever lived, and so far as his
legitimate business was concerned, 1t
was well and shrewdly done. He had
the trick of startling the public into buy
ing his medicines, and he was the closest
and sIIrewdest man in the business in
dealing with newspapers. He never
threw away any money in his business.
Could he have managed outside as well
as inside, he would have been worth
s., 600, 600 to-day. 1t was nothing un-
common for him to contract 500, 600 to
$500, 600 for advertising at a single
stroke He made contracts to the amount
of S175, 900 far advertising his ''Catawba
Pills" before single box had been put
up.
But wine, gambling, horses, pimps
and parasites did Sheir work at last, and
three years ago Henry Helmbold slipped
away to Europe pauper. a dozen great
fortunes had slipped through his fingers,
and lie was compelled to live on the con
tinent on the charity of brother. His
magnificent stores in New York and
Philadelphia, his horses, his carriages,
everything went under the hammer,
leaving nothing but what would not sell.
His friends all lett him, of course, and
when he returned, a few months ago, he
was as crazy as loon. His wife was
compelled to send him to an asylum
where he will probably die. IGte. Helm
bold. The only use he ever was to the
world that endured him was TO point
moral. There wasn't enough of him to
adorn n tale.
BUSINESS
continues fairly good, though not brisk.
There have been some heavy movements
of dry goods of a forced nature, and
something is doing in other goods, but
it is far from satisfactory. One of the
largest tea houses in tile city told me
that the month of September was the
worst month they had had since they
hEd been in trade, and that October
promised nothing better. The fact is
here Is ii horrible lack of confidence that
rest ricts buyers to just what they can
get on with: and the imitation movement
ia Ohio and Pennsylvania has increased
the feeling of uncertainty. After the
election-when the infiationists in those
States are dead and buried-i it is hoped
there will be a revival. But trade can
not possibly get into regular channel
this year, and BUSINESS men are taking in
sail accordingly.
THE SOCIETY Fer THE PREVENTION or
CRUELTY TO CHILDREN
finds it, hands full in its terribly needed
work. At the last meeting the society's
attorney reported Hs5 Of convictions
enough TO sichen the heart Of any UGo
reads them; mostly of the cases l men
toned in my last. a man, arrested for
beating little niece eight years old with
Il hoop studded with nails, gets ten days
in the city prison. The child, every one
will be glad to hear, has been taken out
of his hands and placed in a protectory.
a father, for beasing his son nine years
old over the Lead with u shovel, gels
three months Imprisonment. A woman,
for cruelty .5aating her child which she
tried to run OF with, has six months.
The Italian organ grinders fn1 their
trade of taking children round to beg,
sadly interferad with, and the parents
who let out children ior This purpose are
fined $50. The most pitifui case / that
of the German boy of seventeen. Of |
whom wrote iaet week, whose mother |
dying suddenly without d viii, lef5 him
in unrestrained possession of q handsome |
small property, to gain which, one OF the !
lowest of low women used her arts over
the bog, keeping him under her influ-
ence, hopeiessjy drunk for months, till |
he was reduced to imbeeiAty. The So
ciety has taken him from the harpy'S |
hands and had a responsible guardian |
appointed over him. The boy is recoy- |
ering, and it is hoped will become fit to |
have charge of his property when of age.
-HE FASHIONS.
Late adYices from abroad say that the |
most elegant wearers of dress have aban-
doned tournures and hoops entirely, and
scant dresses, made graceful by drapery
drawn about them in close, wrinkled
folds, relieve both the eye and the purse.
This mode the most ambitious of our la
dies have made haste to adopt; and be-
fore spring the manufacturers of cTino-