Santa Fe daily New Mexican., 1897-10-05
A NEW DRUG STORE.

We had four or five saloons and one
grocery at Cedar Hill when the outfit of a
man named Dayton arrived. He had sew
en- pack mules loaded with goods, and after
day or two he unpacked and set up for
business and hung out a sign reading,
"Dry Goods, Clothing, Hardware, Gro
ceries Boots and Shoes and Tinware; Also
Drug Store The shanty which he occu-
pied for a store was about IA feet square,
and he had everything packed in heap.
The drug store was an innovation. 1t
was not only the first to be established at
Cedar Hill, but the only one for 200 miles
around, and we were inclined to look upon
the druggist with awe and respect, states
writer in The American Druggist. We
were very healthy lot up there, and,
aside from accident, no man had lost a day
for six months. No sooner was that drug
store opened for business, however, than
most of us felt yearning. Hiram Davis
hit the nail on the head when he said to
the crowd:
"Boys, that drug store reminds me Of
home and of the old woman and children.
Jest think of pills and salts and calomel
and quinine! Civilizashun has como
knockin at our DOORS and it's our solemn
dooty to feel bad and buy somethin."
Plenty of us began to feel bad," but
when we came to buying something we
found that the druggist was doing busi-
ness on line Of his own. When Abo
Smallman dropped in to get dose of calo-
mel for his liver, which was doing bust
ness seven days in the week and in need
of no encouragement of any sort, Mr.. Day
ton said to him:
II bought this drug store outfit of
tenderfoot down at Grass Valley He was
sick and discouraged and wanted to go
back home. I don't know much about
the business myself. I'll hunt up the cal
omel and sell it to you, but won't be re-
sponsible for the results"
"What dye mean by results?" queried
Abe.
"Waal, I've got calomel, arsenic salts
and lot of other things all mixed up
here, and Pm not going to guarantee any
thing Mebbe it'll be calomel and mebbe
not"
We all SHE'D for a day or two at that,
but when we came to think it over we
rather liked the uncertainty and the drug
gist was kept busy with our purchases.
Some of his liquids and powders were in
bottles or papers, duly labeled, and some
Of the powders were in parcels without
labels on them. If anybody asked for ep-
som Salts for instance, the druggist would
fish around under the heap Of boots and
shoes and clothing till he got hold of box
or parcel and, bringing it out, be would
say:
"All know about this stuff is that it
amt copperas. took parcel of copperas
on a debt once, and SO l know the stuff
when l see it, If you want to run chances,
you can take it along"
Most everybody was willing to run
chances, and for two weeks all went well.
If nobody was made any better, nobody
was made any worse, and the druggist did
Il rushing trade. Then came an afternoon
on which old Joe Crosby laid down his
working tools and announced that he was
"off his feed, and had got to have some
thing to ward off bilious attack.
81 can't say what's good for it, said
the druggist, but I'll fish up lot of
packages, and you can take your choice"
He laid out ten parcels on the counter,
and old Joe wet the tip of his finger and
tasted the contents of each in succession.
He finally found one to suit his palate, at
least, and he bought dollars worth and
went off to his shanty to dose. Half an
hour later ho was taken with violent
cramps and inside of two hours he was
dead. A move was made on the druggist,
but the smiling and urbane Mr.. Dayton
replied:
Gentlemen, it might have been pow
dered borax, OF it might have been arsenic.
can't tell the difference between the two,
and have been free to say so. l gave
him good weight, and he took his
chances"
Our purchases wero light for the next
week, but in time we got over the scare
and went to buying again. A fortnight
after the death of Crosby, man named
Healy was made terribly sick for two OF
three days by dose of some unknown
stuff, and the next day Sile Warner entered
tho drug store to say:
81 amt feelin jest as 1 orter, and
want somethin to brace me up. Kin you
recommend lracer?"
II never recommend" was the reply. !
Here's tho bottles and here's the pack
ages. They may brace or they may lay
you out" ,
"Waal this is world of chance" con |
tinued Sile, as he paved the stuff over,
"and I'll take dollars wuth of this stuff |
in the bottle. It'll wet the throat when
1T goes down, anyway"
The stuff was probably laudanum, for
Sile never woke up from that nights
Sleep His chum went over to give the
druggist fits about the matter, but Mr.. |
Dayton headed him off with:
"Dead, eh? Sorry to hear it, but he
took his chances. | will now label that
bottle : Poison, and should any Of you
wish to commit suicide, you will know |
what to ask for"
We tried to brace up after the second |
calamity, and were gradually getting our
confidence back when man named Grim |
shaw got something for chills. The drug.
gist wouldn't recommend it, as usual,
but it had been marked by the tenderfoot
as GOOD for chills." 1t proved to be-
One dose removed Mr. Grimshaw from
this chilly world, and over his grave we
held public meeting, and
Whereas, 1t bein only a question Of
time when our drug store will kill off ev-
cry man in Cedar Hill; and
Whereas, We owe dooty to ourselves
and them as has gone; now, tharfore,
" Resolved, That one or the t'other of III
has got to git"
The "t'other" was the drug store. After
a general consultation, we made up
shake purse of $50 to buy all the drugs left
on hand, and after everybody had given
himself one last dose of whatever he fam
cied the remainder was thrown into q
raVine. md Mr. ia avton turped his atten- !