Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-07-12
A Famous MadstOne's History.

Out in Savannah, Mo-, upon the same tract
of land upon which he settled in 1874, still
lives Uncle John" Nelson, noted for his
many virtues, and famous throughout the
entire Northwest as the possessor of one of
the most succe ssful madst0nes on record.
These good old-fashioned madstones are
thought by many people of the West as worth
far more to relieve victims of hydrophobia
than any other means known to good old
graRdmothers or studious physicians or in
vestigating scientists. The Chicago Tribune
in late issue tells many new things about
madstones, the most interesting of these
stones probably being that owned by "Uncle
John" Nelson of Savannah. Uncle John
lie genial Irishman and never wearies of
relating the virtues of his wonderful little
cure for the terrible consequences of dog
bites.
''In the thirties," he said, when me and
brother Jeems was apprentices in Columbia,
there was another fellow named Jack Strobe
learning the saddler's trade. One night he
got full and shot negro woman. For fear
of consequences he ran off and went on u
whaling voyage, and was gone four years.
When be came back be hunted us up and
gave us the maidstone, which he got in the
Indian Ocean. That was in lS45
II have had it ever since and
have applied it to bites every year. When
brother Jeems left me sawed it in two pieces,
and gave him one; nut several years ago,
knowing that police came to me to be treated
with it, he gave his piece back to me, 90 that
now have both pieces" The two stones
are similar in shape and size, SO that the
description of one will answer. 1t is of an
oblOng shape, measuring about seven-eighths
of an inch by ive-eighths wide, and three
eighths of an inch thick. 1t is composed of
two colors, white streaked with reddish
brown The edges of the white portion, next
the dark streaks, have the appearance of
coral. The white part, which is about three
| fourths of the whole, is of somewhat harder
texture than the dark streaks. The stone has
been used so much that the owner has been
forced to encircle it with silver band. The
stone is applied to the edge of the wound and
if any poison is therein it adheres firmly
thereto until full, like sponge, being Pc
riod of twenty minutes to three hours, when
| it drops of. The stone lie then rinsed in a
preparation composed of tablespoonful of
sweet milk in saucertul of warm water, and
applied again to the wound, to which
it adheres as firmly as at first This
rinsing and application are repeated
until the stone refuses to adhere, when the
poison Is all drawn from the system. The
repested rinsing of the surcharged stone de-
posits thick, viscid scum upon the milk and
water used. This scum is comparatively
colorless, perhaps little dirty. Mr.. Nelson
saws that wounds made by the bite of mad
dog are hot and dry until the maidstone has
extracted all the poison, when watary secre-
ton will gather around the sore. The first
use made of this maidstone by "Uncle John"
was in 1916, when an orphan boy was bitten
! in tnht ths,l sttlr IS fbn
right hand. When the stone was applied to
the wound, it stuck so closely that the boy
could shake his hand and not loosen its hold.
| He was perfectly well so long as MIR. Nelson
kept track of him, which vas many years In
| deed, the stone has never failed but once,
and in that case the patient was bitten through
the upper lip This was Fred Remev, who
with three other men, was bitten by a mad
dog at Red Oak, Iowa, in May, 1885, All
four men came to Savannah Immediately and
had the maidstone applied, and it worked all
right, extracting the virus from the wounds.
At one application of the stone to Remey's
lip it became full and dropped into his
mouth, and this may have deposited some of
the poison in his system where the stone
could not reach. At any rate, the four men
went home, and in June Remey was attacked
with hydrophobia and died after extreme
the same dog at the same time, treated at the
same time and place and under the same
conditions, are all well and hearty to-day
All told, over 500 persons have been treated
by Uncle Johns maidstone in the last forty
years. The greatest number treated in any
one year was thirty-one. In all cases the
patients have written to him after their re-
turn home, in many instances several times,
assuring him of their good health. As many
as five persons have been at Mr.. Nelson's
house at one time under treatment. The
months in which he receives the greatest
number of visitors are July and August.
This has been the case dprine the entire
forty years. One of the worst bitten men
ever treated was Mr.. Martin of Washington
county. Kan, who was aroused the night of
Nov. "a, 1885, by his dog fighting with
another one, On going to the door and
stepping out, the strange dog sprang at Mr..
Martins throat, and to save himself he
grabbed the brute by the peck, but before he
or his wife, who ran to his assistance, could
get rid of the dog, his arms were feariully
lacerattd. He came to Savannah and re-
manned nearly week.