The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1875-10-20
orr NEW YORK LETTER
NEW York, October Is, lS1o-
- In nr nI-Ack


Who in ali these United States ha.
not heard of II. T. Helmbold, tb,
L manufacturer and vender of Bucbu
n Two-thirds Of the people have pait
8 money for his medicines, and wheth
, er they received any benefit there
i, from or not, they may be benefited by
, reading somewhat Of his history
: Last Thursday Or ."Helmbold was,
!, for he fourth time, incarcerated in a
~luaatic asylum, where be will prob.
ably stay the remainder of bis life.
Henry I. Helmbold commenced
+ life as a druggists clerk in Philadel-
8 phia, progressing by the help Of a
brother, TO the proprietorship Of a
small drug store. lie conceived the
idea of putting up Buchu in the form
= since so well k1own, twenty years
, ago. and after various ups and downs
he failed three times-succ eded
in establishing it as a standard pat
ent medicine, and received from its
| sale an income Of hundreds of thou
sands Of dollars per annum. But the
doctor could not stand prosperity.
/, The more his goods sold the more ex-
travagant be became. He commence
ed q life of the widest e~xcessin point
of expenditure ever known in this
city. He had n six-in-hand team,
the six horses costing him not less
!, than S20,0 00. The drag to %hieh
they were driven was the most cx-
pensive and elegant eyer imported to
America. Then be had a score or
more of other horses fcs every pur-
pose that horse-aesh is used. OF
course he was compelled TO have
large and elegant stables, and an
army of people to care for and man.
age his equine interests. His princi-
pal coachman was paid a salary of
So. OOC per annum, with rooms and
subsistence added. The doctor was
not badly off for places in life. He
had a house in New York, q man.
sion at Long Branch, and the most
expensive apartments in the most eX-
pensive hotels 10 the country shelter
ed him at times. lie seemed 10 have
an itch for throwing away money. 1t
was nothing for him to take his six
horse drag, with his c~oaehman and
outriders, with a foil retinuo of SER
wants. to Baltimore or Boston, en-
gage the most snmptuOGs apartments
and astonish the natives by q display
such as they never had seen before.
The little fellow would get into that
immense drag all alone, with a coach
man six feet six 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 eu-
logies of interested newspapers he
took for honest tributes, and the fat
terry of hungry sycophants he swal-
lowed as sweet morsels.
He believed himself to be a really
great man, and nothing could be too
gross for him to believe of himself,
consequently be was surrounded with
& mob of parasites who traded flat
terry fer money. These fellows alb
solutely got the little man TO actual
" believe that be could be President,
and be spent a great deal of money
to bring himself before the people.
And with all bis vanity and insani-
ty, be was in many respects a shrewd
business man. He was the boldest
advertiser that ever lived, and so far
as his Legitimate business was con-
eerRed, it was well and sbrewdly
done. lie had the trick of startling
the public into buying bis medicines,
and he was the closest and sLrewd-
est man in the business 10 dealing
with newspapers. He never threw
away any money in his business.
Could he have managed outside as
well as inside, be would have been
worth $4,000, 600 to-day. 1t was
nothing uncommon for him to con-
tract 500, coo to 5000, 900 for adver-
Using at a single stroke. He made
e~ontrsats TO tie amount Of $4,000
for advertising his "Catawba Pills"
before a single box bad been put up.
Bot wine, gambling. horses, pfmps
and parasites did their work at last,
and three years ago Hembold slipped
away to Europe a paupor. A dozen
great fotunes had slipped through his
fingers, and he was compelled to live
or the continent on the charity of a
brother. His magnificent stores in
New York and Philadelphia, his hors-
es, his carriages, everything went un-
der the hammer, leaving nothing but
what would not sell. His friends"
all left him of course, and when be
returned q few months ago he was as
crazy as a loon. His wife was COM
PEELED to send him to an asylum
where he will probably die. Yale.
Helmbold!. The only use be ever
was to the world that endured him
was to point a moral. There wasn't
enough of bin to adorn g tale.
BUSINESS .
continues fairly good, though not
brisk. There have been some heavy
movements of dry goods Of a forced
nature, and something ia doing in
other goods, but it is far from salts
factory. One of the largest tea hous-I
es 10 the city told me that the month
OF September was the worst month
they had since they had been in
trade, and that October promised
nothing better. The fact is a horri-
bic lack Of confidence that restricts
buyers to just what they can get OIL
with; and the imitation movement in
Ohio and Pennsylvania has increas-
ed the feeling Of uncertainty. After
the election-when the inGationists
in those States are dead aud buried
it is hoped there viii be a revival. |
But trade cannot possibly get into a
regs,sr channel this year, and basil,
ness men are tsting 10 sail accord
ingly.
TIE SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION of
CRUELTY TO CHILDREN
finds its baaSs ~ ia its terribly need
ed work. At the last meeting the
society's attorney reported a list of
con-ietla1s pnouob N sictan thaf