The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1901-01-11
The Cooke Brothers.

The State of Tennessee has ever been
famous the birthplace of famous and
remarkable men. In all the walks of life
her sons have achieved wonderful results
and won undying fame. None have won
for themselves more laurels in so short
lifetime than DR.. James r. Cooke and his
twin brother, Walter, who were born in
the city of Knoxville, Tenn, about thirty
five years ago.
DR.. Cooke was one of the most gifted
and remarkable surgeons of his day, and
possessed such wonderful skill that his
feats in surgery were little short of the
supernatural. The most remarkable thing
in connection with his achievements was
the fact that he was blind, due to blum
der of an oculist, who put a poison in
his eyes in his infancy. In spite of this
terrible occurrence he did not give up
and become burden upon his people, but
started out to make his own way in the
world, and win for himself fame. He
went to the Institute for the Blind at
Nashville, and after remaining there for
some time he went to the New England
Conservatory of Music and graduated
from that institution with the highest
honors, being one of the finest performers
ever graduated from there. Soon firing
of music he took up the profession of
medicine and the sciences, and after grad
uation from the Boston Medical College,
and taking postgraduate courses in the
Universities of Harvard and Pennsyl-
vania, he began to practice in Boston, and
in a short time won an enyiable reputa-
ton in that city of culture. He made a
speciality of toXocology, the science of poi
sons and it was this fact that ruined him.
for he performed all his experiments
upon himself with poisons and their anti
dotes.
DIR. Cooke had only the sense o, touch
to guide him. and yet he was able by this
faculty to diagnose diseases and detect
foreign grOwths that escaped the notice
of other famous surgeons He also per-
formed operations that astonished the en-
tire scientific world. He wrote a treat
Use entitled Blind Leaders of the Blind,
which is today regarded as an authority
upon the subjects with which it deals.
But it was in the weird fields of spir-
itualism and hypnotism that he perhaps
won his greatest fame. No other investi-
gator in these new sciences has ever gone
so far into the hidden realms of the mys-
ferrous as did DIR. Cooke. 1t was in the
occult sciences that the strange and Won
derful personality of the man was re-
Nealad. His offices were the Mecca of the
wealthiest and most distinguished of Bos-
tons fashionable society, and his income
amounted to many thousands yearly.
DR.. Cooke had the delicate faculty of
touch so highly developed that he can
distinguish the difference in color and tell
the different denominations of paper cur
rency. He also had the power of facial
expression to a wonderful degree and
could tell the shape of any building or OBJ
stacle that might be in his path.
A remarkable coincidence was that he
cd aS
father, who bore the same name and vet
he had never seen his fathers writing,
nor had he practiced to accomplish such
a result.
1t was in the field of law that the other
brother excelled. He was not so unfortu-
nate as his brother, but he gained almost
as much distinction in his chosen profess |
sion as did DR.. Cooke in his.
Walter Cooke graduated from the
University of Tennessee at the early age
of Is, and Immediately entered upon the
study of law in an office in Knoxville. He |
had a very retentive memory and was
soon prepared for the practice of his call |
ing Notwithstanding his quick prepa-
ration he was said to be one of the best |
equipped lawyers that ever practiced in |
the Tennessee courts, and was considered !
the most brilliant all-round attorney in |
the State. He was a master orator, and
the words flowed from his tongue with an
case and beauty that charmed all who
listened to him speak. He could play |
upon the heartstrings of his hearers like !
a great musician would upon the keys of
some grand old organ. He had a most
magnetic personality, and could move a
Jury at Will, and he scarcely ever lost a
case He often rose to the heights of the
purest eloquence, and then it was that
he held such mastery sway over his audi !
ence. The man was lost behind the beau
ty of his language, and one would listen
enraptured for hours, forgetting the on
ward fight of time. He would carry
his hearers out TO self and lead them into
lands of beautiful dreams and reveries.
Into the web of fancy he would weave the
sweetest threads of song, making one
forget all the sorrows Of life and all the
pangs Of pain. His opponents feared him