The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-08-07
KELLEY NOT FIRST.
n CURE FOR DRUNKENNESS RE-
PORTED FROM THE LONG AGO.

Doctor's" Simple Remedies the
s'Afsdicins" Cured Joe Robinson with
cut Asking the Doctor"
II was about tho medicated whisky
cure which we proposed to speak. To
DIR. Keeley, who, living down at
Dwight. Is almost neighbor. credit Is
generally given for being the first per-
son who employed the pharmacopeia
for tho purpose Of killing drunkard's
appetite. But DIR. Keeley Is by no
means entitled to this credit. The first
physician whose medicine ever cured
drinking man of his thirst was a long
haired, spectacled old tourist who called
himself "the Indian DOCTOR" and who
operated down In the neighborhood of
Belpre, o.
Tho doctor did not tell the secret
Of his medicament, but three or four
boys who lived near the farmhouse
where he boarded had an inkling, be-
cause the boys had the contract for
catching the toads for which the doctor
paid them 10 cents dozen.
While the Doctors abode has been
spoken of as farmhouse it was more
than that, for. being near a stockyard,
where trains clay over" it was also
boarding house, or tavern, whittier the
drovers came for entertainments
Among the stockmen whose duties
brought them frequently to the yards,
and therefore to the farmhouse board
ing place, was man named Joe Robin
son, who had drunk whisky all the way
from st. Louis to Baltimore, with spe-
cial reference to Piedmont and the
country along the II mile grade Of the
Baltimore and Ohio. Robinson was
firm, vigorous and vigilant drinker, one
who allowed no guilty dramshop to es-
cape. He was such a shining light that
at least Ia temperance societies were
working upon him at once, for it was
known that the credit for his reforma-
tion would mean much. But he resisted
all their entreating efforts.
This brings things up to one May
evening. Robinson had arrived at
Belpre with seven cars Of hogs and q
large, commodious and farreaching jag.
He took the hogs into the stockyards
and the jag to the city of Parkersburg,
w. Va, just across the river, for he
wanted to trim and ornament it little
before retiring. Now it so occurred that
it was damp night, and Harry Stone
and Hughey Drain, the boys who had
the contract for supplying hoptoads to
the salve making Indian doctor, set out
on their own hook and without consul
tation with their employer to get -four
bag full of toads. They were eminently
successful, and at 8 O'Clock they ap-
peared at the boarding house with a
peck Of kicking, piping, shrieking spoil.
For good measure they had on this oc-
casion added three belated garter snakes,
two lizards and hoot owl. The family
was not happy.
Mrs. Bruce directed the boys to carry
their burden, of the character Of which
she had no idea, up to the DOCTORS
room, he being out. The boys did So
or at least they thought they did-but
they turned the wrong corner at the
head Of the stairs and deposited the
sack in the room to be occupied by Joe
Robinson.
Mr.. Robinson came home from Par
kersburg about midnight. The evening
had been most successful one. He had
found IL new saloons. He entered the
room in the boarding house with the
presumption that he was either the czar
of Russia or Napoleon Bonaparte, but
was not quite sure which. In his doubt
he collided with the paper -four bag
full Of hoptoads and things. There were
few words Of wicked derivation, and
then, turning up the light, Mr. Robin
son looked to see what he had found.
who're you, feller?" he inquired,
addressing the bag. won't answer,
hey? Too p'lite to talk to a drover.
huh? 'Lril Take thatl' And he aimed
an unsteady kick at the Doctors ingre-
dients. Then things happened.
An active garter snake left the bag
in midair, and, alighting on a picture
frame, twisted and squirmed before Mr..
Robinson's view. Then the toads began
raining around him, and when he felt
most surprised and interested the owl
came forth and few ut the lamp. The
sack fell to the floor and q lizard shot
into heightened view and the rest of the
hoptoads leaped out into comparative
liberty. Mr.. Robinson clambered in
fright upon the bed and found himself
in the presence Of half dozen Of the
batrachian invaders which had been
flung upon the counterpane by the force
of that very vigorous and masterful
kick. He crept behind the bureau and,
loi garter snake dropped therefrom
and made for tho shelter Of the closet.
In the middle of the floor there were,
he believed, about 5000 varied kinds of
hopping visitors, and with a wailing
cry Mr.. Robinson crashed through the
vortex and made for the door and bolted
S)r the night outside.
The next morning very pale and un.
ltrung man appeared at the farm board
Ing house and answered to tho name of
Joe Robinson. He went up to his apart
ment and looked about for some signs
Of the visitation of the night before, but