Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-01-17
MR.. SAUTER'S MAIDSTONE.
With II lie Treats One Hundred Per.
sons Year.
A Man who Regards, All Deaths from
Dog-Bltes ms Unnecessary.
New York sun.

DYER, lND,, Jan. ,-One OF the uNe
madstones in the United States Is owned
by Charles j. Sauter, of this town. Mr..
Sautel came into possession OF this stone
some thirty years ago, when he li'ed
across the line In Illinois, He knew a
wandering Frenchman who had failed TO
make a living, and who one day APP
/ preached him in confidence, and, produc-
| ing the stone, described its wonderful
properties TO him. The Frenchman
wanted 500 for it, but Sauter could not
/ raise the money. After an unsuccessful
/ attempt to form stock company, Snuter
/ took all the money he had--aJout 500
and offered il to the ErunChman, who ac-
/ ccpted the same.
/ once in possession of the prize, Sautcr
managed 10 get himself bitten by dog in
short order, and ON applying the stone ne
was .ulghtcd to notice that IL stuck to
/ the wound. As he has never had any
| symptoms Of hydrophobia he, OF course,
/ mas confidence in the stone.
During the thirty years that the stone
| has been in Mr.. Snutcr's possession hun
| dreds Of people have had 1t applied to
/ their wounds and only one has died. but
/ tine owner refused TO admit that the
/ trouble In this case WIS hydro
/ phuba. Tho mau came here full OF whis-
/ ky,retusrd to keep the stone on,cOntjnucd
drinking, and was finally kicked to death
/ by horse he was trying 10 stable. Mr..
/ Sauter's Investment of 500 has been Il
| paying one, for he is visited by more than
one hundred people year, and he charges
them all the way from 50 to $50 for the
| particular treatment which he gives them.
| Generally his patients come here, but he
/ mas gone as far away as Iowa and North
ern Mchigan with the stone.
In using the stone for dog bite 1t Is
| first put In lukewarm water fora few mo-
ments and tn n applied to the wound, the
after being made to bleed slightly Then,
| If there is any poison IN the system, the
stone Immediately adheres, and will con-
tinue to do so until the poison is all eX-
tracted or the stone is full. When the
stone falls off il IL again placed in warm
water for Il few minutes, when it will be
covered with white scum, which Sauter
claims is the poison which 1t has eX
tracted. This is continued AS long as
| the stone will stick. When 1t will no
| longer adhere to the wound IL Is believed
that the poison has all been absorbed and
! the patient is discharged as cured. II the
stone refuses to stick to the wound in the
! first place, then II Is claimed that there is
| no poison in the blood, and the charge is
/ hut So If several applications are
necessary to remove all the poison, the
charge runs as high as S25. Mr.. Slnter
keeps minute record of all his cases, and
| this shows that IN not more than 10 per
cent. Of them does the stone stick. On
| this list may he seen the names OF nun
dyeds of people living in adjacent states,
aud there are several of them living in
/ Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska and
Kansas. Throughout Illinois and In
DIANA where the farmers have great faith
/ in the efficacy OF madstones, IL is com
mon thing for the people to take up u
subscription to enable some fellow to 80
/ 10 the stone.
| a year or two ago man in Iowa who
/ knew OF boy who had been bitten by
mad dog, and who had great faith in mad
/ stones, was highly indignant when nc dis
covered the lads physicians had made no
| effort to lud one. The boy was fright
cned almost to death, and his nerves be-
came so shattered that he finally had
spasm or two, and though the doctors
said it was not hydrOphobia, the man
on the outside knew II was. Believing
| that great responsibility rested upon
/ him, he went to the telegraph
office one night and sent messages
/ in all directions to editors of newspa-
pers, asking them If they knew where
| q maidstone was to be had. One Of these
| kilograms was received IN Chicago, and
! by somebody there was forwarded to
! Sauter, who Immediately communicated
| with the Iowa enthusiast The result OF
brI,f telegraphic correspondence was
that Sautcr took his precious stone and
went 70 Iowa, meeting the oticious indi-
yldual and going with him to the bedside
OF the boy. The lad by tins time was in
a pitiable plight, and his parents were not
disposed to permit any exp riments with
| the stnne;a but SAuier convinced them
I that no harm could come of 1t anyway,
| and In the absence OF doctors, he went to
work, The boy took great interest in
the proceedings. At the first application
the stone stuck, and the Joyous eXclama-
lions of the neighbor and of Sauter con-
vinced everybody that some marvellous
cure was going on, After the third appli-
cation the stone refused TO adhere, and
the hunter pronounced the boy cured.
rhe lad appeared TO feel better, and was
better. In the course of two or three
days he sat up, and week later he was
out and around as well az ever. The
neghbor declared that 1t was the mad
stone, bot the physicians insisted that
moth the sickness aud the cure were in
large measure due to the boys magma
tlon.
SauteI claims that the stone will cure
any kind OF insect or animal bites, and he
points with pride To case, which he
says is the greatest he ever had, of lion
tanner named Dliscoll, who was severely
hitten in several places by a whelp. Ac-
co dug to Sauter's story, Driscoll came
here almost helpless--had to- be carried
m fact---and his wounds We're so numer-
GUS and SO large that IL seemed almost
out Of the question for one lit stoue 10
do him any good. All hands went Mt Ii
with great zeal. Driscoll himself was an
ardent believer in mad-Stoues. Hts father
had been cured 10y one, aud hi had known
of other men who had been benefited
bv them in Ike manuer. The
stone aud the patti Mt were made ready.
Then Sauter applied the charm e. the big
gest wound, aud found that 1t stuck so
lightly that II was almost impossible to
knock 1t on. After ten minutes had
elapsed IL tn off OF its own accord, heing
full, as Sauter says, and on beng picked
up with u pair of tongs aud put into a
bus ket OF hot water green scum imme-
iiat,ly rose 20 the surface. The operation
was repeated again and again until all the
wounds had been treated and the stone
would adhere no more, the performance
consuming nearly three days, when the
1 patient WAS discharged al cured
The stone 10 which such rvmarkahle
/ powers are ascribed is common enough IN
appearances. IL is llttle over an inch
I in lantffb ~. tueh tbf,b ard A.