Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1902-08-18
THE DOCTOR AT
PLEASANT HILL

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Stranger, do ye know yer bizaess s3
doctor
as thar any crtter ycre as says
CONT demanded the doctor as his
right hand went back for his gun.
"Wc want somebody who kin tell q
broken leg from case of typhoid fe-
ver," continued jim, "and if ye are the
man the job is open. The last critter
took Il skip bekase he treated Tom Bar
lum fur dyspepsia instead of broken
rib. Should ye make any sich mistake
as that
Il never make medical or surgca!
blundcrs," stifliy interrupted the new
doctor as his hand went back again.
"Are ye sensitive cuss:'
las to my purfeshun, yes"
And the stranger drew his revolver
from its holster and looked around him
for a human target. The committee adj
mired his action He was Il doctor With
sand. He WAS proud of his profession
and would fight for it. The next day
he entered upon his Job and word
went about the camp that we had 4
fighting doctor and that there was to
be no fooing with him. lie had a
shanty by himself, and he said he had
with him in his satcAel all necessary
drugs and surgical instruments. 1t was
week before he had a ease. Then
Abe Johnson had an attack of bilious
colic-that Is, d dozen of Us pronounced
it bilious collie, whom the doctor arrived
and felt of his pulse and looked at his
tongue and said it was the beginning
of & serious case of Gr0pSy. rs be said
it his hand went back to his gun. and
he looked around and listened fer pro.
testatons. There was none. and he
ordered that Abe should be stood on
his head for i've minutes to let the
blood leave his feet and then stripped
Of all his clothes and then wrapped ia
a water soaked blanket. The water
was ice Geld at the time, and it took
four of Us to get the blanket around
the yelling and struggling Abe and
keep it there for an hour. The cure
was complete. There are things which
even bilious collie has to give in to, and
the way we treated Abe would have
scared the yellow fever out of camp in
q hurry.
This remarkable cure of "lropsy"
was one fer the new doctor, but he
didn't come out quite so we'll With his
next case, which was that of Joe
Singleton. Joe complained of pains in
his head terrible backaehe and
dry throat and the doctor said it was
case of catarrh of the stomach. He
had his hand on the butt of his pistol
as he looked around to see who differ
ed with him, but nobody opposed his
diagnosis. He left powder to be
given every thirty minutes, and the
half dozen Of lis who tasted it was
sure it was nothing but ginger. At the
end of two days the patient was worse,
and the doctor bled him and also rails
ed blister on the stomach and order
ed the patient to drink two quarts of
hot water Nothing availed, however,
and at the end of ten days Joe expired. |
There was 10 question but what the
Lord had removed him in spite of all
that medical science could do There
might have been, but the doctor said
it was 50. and he said it while toying
with his gun, and it seemed best to let
him have his way.
A few days later old Tom Hastings
fell over the rocks and broke his collar
bone The doctor was sent for, and
he felt of Toms pulse and looked at
his tongue and dallied with the collar
bone, and by and by he said
"You had fall, but your collar bone
Is only bruised. What ails you is Or
ganic weakness of the heart, and il
you don't do exactly as l tell you
you'll be dead man in week."
But he can't raise his arm, and that
shows broken collar bone" protested
Toms chum
"Does it?" demanded the doctor as
he felt for his gun. 81 don't think it
does. II there is any one here who
wants to pick me up on my diagnosis
Why
That was enough. He was not pick ed
up. He dosed Tom with some Of that
ginger ordered starvation diet and
blistered the soles of his feet to draw
the blood from his heart. After four
days of this treatment Toms chum |
took him over the mountain to Silver /,
City, and there a doctor fixed him up.
1t was all in the collar bone. The Sill
yer City doctor didn't go back on the
profession, however. He explained that
all the symptoms pointed so strongly
to heart disease that it was only by |
luck and chance that he caught on to !
the collar bone.
Our doctor suffered somewhat in his
reputation now and then. but he had |
been with Us SIX weeks and was carry |
ing things with a stiff hand when Pete |
Harper WAS struck by flying stone