The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-09-01
THE DOCTOR WHO LEFT
by NJ. Quadl


In the old days there were a couple
of hundred of US at Turkey Bend and
no doctor within thirty miles of the
camp. Now and then a miner fell sick
had come and he couldn't have been
saved anyhow There was a pot of tar
for cuts, pot of grease for sprains and
bruises, and il anyone felt that his in
ternal economy needed bracing up he
went out and dug bearwood or gath
cred bark from a tree. If a miner was
really ill, his tent mate nursed him as
well as possible, which consisted in
washing his feet, cutting his hair AMI
asking him whether he wanted to be
buried on the hillside or in the valley.
but it was considered a point of honor
not to fall sick. Now and then STRAP
doctor passed through the Bend and
left a few doses of calomel or quinine
behind, but We were not prepared for
the surprise when stranger sat down
among us one day and announced that
doc" AS far as his personal looks
went, he might have been taken for a
wagon driver who had got the bounce
and was picking up the next best
a mining camp.
We rather liked the idea of a doctor
coming among US. as it helped to dig
nifty the camp. but old Joe Hurry, who
had been elected as general boss
felt it his duty to call upon the man
and saw:
Look yere, stranger, ar We willin,
to answer a few questions about YER
self?'
"Oh, certainly" was the prompt re-
ply;
ve?"
1T do. sir. am a graduate of sin
different colleges. and I have practiced
for ten years in Illinois,
THAT orter pass said old Joe, who
didn't know whether the doctor grad
ia fod fv~nvr ,<,11A
Got stock of medicine with YEP"
Enough to last for a year, sir. Here,
| try my elixir for general 1assitude.
It's my own compound. and it works
| He handed Joe a pint bottle of good
whisky, with little wintergreen rub
| bed on the cork to get up an odor, and
| after taking swig the old man smiled
| all over his wrinkled face and said:
| Il don't know nuthin' bout medicines,
| 'cept calomel and ointments, but I be-
| lieve if I was dyin' that elixir would
draw me back from the grave. I reckon
| We kin go right ahead and do bizness.
I thought at first that We looked like a
| man who'd run a sawmfll or driv' a
six mewl team. but I see was mis-
| tooken.''
What old Joe thought and said set
tied 1t for the rest of US, though we
| didn't accept the newcomer quite as
| literally as he did. The fact was he
looked more ike teamster than doc
from top to bottom. One of the sici
men in camp just then was named Bin
CARING. He had chills and fever an6
| had got down rather weak. He sent
| for the phys, surg and doc" and three
| or four miners were assembled to hear
the diagnosis. The doctor looked as dig
| nif1ed as a clam as he sat down and
| counted BilPs pulse by. an old silver
watch which hadn't licked for months
and after finding it anywhere from 100
to 500 he asked for sight of the tongue
Bill stuck it out for survey, and with
a solemn shake of the head the doctor
said:
MY man, you may be beyond the
reach of human skill, but I'll try to
save you. You are on the verge of the
grave. Your lungs and liver have al
your gall has busted and overfowee
your heart
That Scared Bill half to death, and
he began to weep, but after taking ont
dose of the elixir he recovered his nerve
He was given six doses day for &
week, and perhaps quinine added. and
at the end of that time he was able t.
be out. 1t was looked upon as a mirac
ulous cure. The doctor said he caugh
the case just right. If he had been tel
| seconds later, he never could have un
tangled that liver from the lungs ant
got that busted gall into working or
der again.
His next case was that of Sam Adams
who had nothing more serious than
bilious attack and wouldn't have beel
laid up beyond thirty-six hours if Their
had been no doctor to send for. Sam
pulse was counted, his tongue inspect
ed and his eyelids turned back and Dr.
Ford solemnly said:
Its a. case Of what we call febri
finitus, or water on the brain. I ma
possibly save you. but had you waite
five seconds longer before calling m
your clavic1e would have been drive
through your diaphragm and produce
a mortal fatality
He didn't have any more of the Ell
ixir, having consumed it himself. an
whether he dosed Sam with antimon
or corn salve we never knew What
ever it was. it killed the miner in abou
three days, and the doctor got out of
by explaining:
He was beyond saving He had pre-
badly inherited febris fnitus from hi
parents, and working with the shove
and pick had gradually rushed the ven
tricle against the pulmonary pylorou
until the hearts action was stopped"
We accepted the explanation, and h
was next called in to see a mine
named Dobbs. The man had a touc
of rheumatic fever. but his case wa
, | diagnosed as a ''transcendent case {
carotid artery threatening to interruI
the workings of the lateral tibia." an
he was dosed accordingly. AS near q