The Osceola times., 1882-03-04
WRITES OF THE MAIDSTONE.
Tho wonderful story Of Its Effects Told
From Personal Observation by Wom"h

!, nnrsuit of some definite statements
as To the cures said to be performed by
the mad stone, was introduced TO Mrs'
smith. whom he found to be bright,
intelligent and sprightly old lady oi
76 wears of age, and who Willingly gave
all the information she possessed, inter
spersing the interview with many ahec-
dotes. The mad stone is In shape OF
masonic badge worn by chapter memprs
of that order, with round instead OF
souare corners. 1t is one and one-half
inches long by one and onehalf inches
wide at tie widest part and two elghths
of an inch in thickness, its weight beng
about one ounce. 1t is Of copper coior,
tinged with green, some portions oil ~
being brown, others of a lead color. AS
Mrs. Smith said, it is somewhat OF the
nature of the chameleon as to color.
Mrs. Smith said my husband got 1t
from Mr.. John Giger, of Jefferson coun,
ty, Mo. about thirty-fye years ago and
he got il from friend some thirty years
previous to that time, and that iriend
got il from the Indians. This iriend
resided in Arkansas. | do not know
where it was originally found, but
have heard that they are found IN the
head of an elk. The stone was about
twice as large as it is now. MI uiger
broke it in two and gave halt oil IL 10
Mr.. Boldduke, his nephew, who used MS
stone on horses and cattle that had been
snakebittep until it would not take hold
on a person who had been bitten by
mad dog, and for that reason Capt.smlt6
would never allow this one to be used
to cure ANYTHING but the bite OF mad
dog or a mad cat. Persons frequently
applied to him to cure them of snake
bite. but he would not try it. The first
person bitten and to whom this stone
was applied coming under my ohserva'
tion and knowledge was Mrs. SpSn,
who had been bitten by mad cat ana
the mad stone was applied and stuck
many times, and she recovered from
the bite. She is now dead A large
number of persons, nearly a hundred l
suppose, have had il applied when bit
ten by mad dogs and only one went mad
after it was applied. That was a very
sad case. That person was Mrs. McRea
wife of Mai McRea, at Jefferson bar
racks. When she was bitten nsae wanted
to 90 to the mad stone, but her husband
did not believe the dog was mad, and
consequently she did not go. After nine
weeks the lady went mad. Then he
sent for Capt Smith, DIR. - Pope who
kept the college in st. Louis and died IN
Paris, DR.. Taussig and DR.. Bailey, the
surgeon at the barracks, and had the
stone applied. Capt. Smith told the
physicians i. could do no good, and il
did not, although it stuck to the place
where the dog had bitten her on the
face. She died in few hours. After
/ that, because he saw the stone stick, DR..
Pope sent every one bitten by mad dogs
I to Capt. Smith to have the mad stone
/ applied, and believe he had great faith
/ in it or he would not have sent them. 1t
will not stick when applied TO an ordi-
nary bite of a dog or sore, but when the
/ dog is mad it will stick sometimes as
much as twenty times, in some cases only
two or three times. Sometimes persons
have stayed with us for weeks applying
/ the stone every day. One young man
| from Illinois stayed eight weeks. Ii is
wonderful how frightened persons be-
come who have been bitten by mad
dogs. DIR. Perkett, residing in Caronde-
let, always sent patients TO us, and | be-
lieve had faith in the mad stone. will
refer to two cases to prove the power
possessed by this stone-the first was
that of a Mr.. Nicholas Bore and his little
son, about eight years ago. They came
TO our house and had the stone applied.
Ii stuck to both of them, but only few
times to the little boy. The man was
badly bitten in two or three places and
he would not remain until the stone
quit sticking, but went home. The man
went mad and died, but his son got
well. The other is the case OF Mrs.
Court and her daughter, residing at Ben
ton station. They were bitten and did
not know that the dog was mad until the
girl went mad. The mother came to
me in great fear. | applied the mad
stone and she did not 90 mad. In a
great many cases the dog would bite
other animals, as dogs. cows and horses,
and they would go mad and the person,
when the stone was applied, would not,
1t never failed when the person came in
time, except in the case of Mr.. Bore.
When the stone has been applied and it
sticks, ! let it stay on until can snap it
off with my finger. The person can
walk about the room with it sticking on.
Then place it in milk warm water. /
have used one cup ever since We had the
stone. 1t sinks to the bottom and little
! bubbles about the size of grain of
wheat, and resembling a persons eye in
/ appearance, will rise to the surface of the
water and disappear. There will be a
| green substance sometimes, | have fan
cied, on the water, yet they may have
| only been Imagination. After these
/ bubbles quit rising the stone is again ap-
/ piled and this IS kept up until the stone
will not stick. Among those who have
had the stone applied and who have the
greatest faith in it, are Mr.. Field, who
stands at the glove counter in Bsrr's, in
| st. Louis, Mr.. and MIS-. Oscar Buchanan
The dog that bit the latter also bit S
horse at Mr.. Sutton's. which went mad
Mrs. Court and a Mr.. Doepka, wine
merchant in st. Louis. In the latter's
case the sore had healed, yet the stone
stuck to the place where he had beer
bitten. | cannot now recall the names
of most of them.
"The directions we got with the stone
were to put it into warm milk, but il
would not work. You see it is very
porous and the pores would fill up with
the particles of milk and would not stick
50 we always used water.
"A German doctor offered Capt. Smith
one thousand dollars for the stone after
seeing it work, but the captain said he
would not part with it for fear one of his
own family might be bitten. | never
had another one. There used to be one
in st. Charles, but it has been taken 10
some plBce in Illinois. | don't know
where. Persons coming TO us to be
cured would offer any amount of money
to be cured, but | have never charged
any one more than three dollars lay