Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1904-12-16
$4,000 FOR A
PAIR or SHOES
Former Sioux City Shoemaker
Gets That Sum for .
Single Pair.
MAKES CRIPPLE WALK
Matthew HiIlgert Realizes a Boyhooe
Ambition to Develop the Science
of Manufacturing Shoes
His interesting Career.

Sioux City Tribune: Matthew Hill
CERT, Who formerly ran u shoe
shop on lower Fourth street,
Sioux City, recently came into prom
inence nationally by winning a $4,000
suit for a pair OF shoes he made for a
New York millionaire.
The demand OF $4,000 for a pair of
shoes was so unique that the judge who
read the papers characterized ii as pre-
posterous, but when the evidence de-
veloped that Hillgert had spent a half
year OF patient experiment producing
a pair of shoes which enabled the mil
~lionaire to walk for the first time in
bis life. he ordered the bill paid.
Hillgert was the son Of a shoemaker
at Galena. ILL.,. and learned his trade
under his father, who made shoes for
Senator Washburn, Congressman Nc
Clellaud and other famous Illinois
statesmen. When he was a boy he
went TO live with Mr.. and Mrs. Fred
Strict, who now reside at 616 Park
street, Sioux City. Mrs. Strict practi-
cally reared the boy. Her husband, who
is a shoemaker, worked for years for
the elder Hillgert.
Cherished Scheme in 5oyhood.
When | saw MATHS picture in the
New York papers a few days ago"
said Mrs. Strict, II was not sur
prised. for as a boy he was a remark
able fellow n was continually fgur-
ing on how 10 manufacture shoes for
people with deformed feet. When he
was learning his trade he frequently
suggested to his father, an old fash
toned German, that by taking plaster
casts Of feet and building the shoes to
conform with it, it would be possible
to fashion shoes so that the wearer's
deformity would be concealed. The
elder Hillgert invariably pooh-poohed
his sons ideas and bade him cease be-
ing a dreamer. Matt was a fine young
fellow. He was dutiful, respectful and
worked hard at the bench, and finally
learned expert cutting at a shoe fac
tory in Galena. Then he came west TO
Sioux City and for a while ran q shoe
shop here. Many Sioux City people
remember him.
When Hillgert lived here he patented
n ventilated shoe and later e to Salt
Lake City to try his long cherished
theories regarding the manufacture Of
shoes for ~cripples. There he made
money, and when he called upon the
StriefS on his way to New York fouy
years ago, he brought with him a large
number of photographs Of people he
had fitted out with shoes, enabling
them to walk. He got good prices, from
VNO IL 2@OVg Jul I'll VI kiA1 AlNIn NN1o
not wide enough in the Mormon city.
Mrs. Strict" he said, Tn going to
go to New York. There I'll find a field
for my work and depend upon ii, III
make good"
Has Succeeded Remarkably.
And he has. He is Of sufficient i'm
portance in that great metropolis that
the New York papers gave him a write
up of several columns and filled out an
entire page with illustrations showing
the methods he employs in his bust
ness. A picture OF the now famous ex-
pert attracted Mrs. Strief's attention
last Sunday and she learned with much
pleasure of the prosperity of the boy
she brought up in her home. Hillgert
is about 40 years old and has two chill
dren.
He began the construction OF scien-
tilc shoes many years ago. People with
deformed feet are required TO have pias-
ter casts made of them and then Hill
CERT studies them nj makes a shoe
to fit all the hollows and bumps. TIE
outside OF the shoe looks exactly like
any other shoe. For people of s~edentary
habits he manufactures a shoe which
has an electric battery between the
outer and inner layers OF the SOLE. With
every step a light shock promotes the
circulation stimulates the brain.
Blood Vessels Abused.
Hiiigert ays the electrical Appliance
Is made necessary because modern
civilization and abuse of the blood YES
sells connected 18th the spine made 1t
so. He requires about three weeks to
CONSTRUCT a shoe for an ordinary pa
tient. After the patient has worn them
a while, Hillgert takes them back to
make additional alterations. When the
foot has regained perfect poise and
the wearer is walking normally the ex-
pert considers his work done. 1t is lit
tie wonder that he gets high prices for
his shoes.
Hillgert claims he pract.ced on him
self before he tackled the public. He
induced in himself certain diseases
which he wished to cure. Once he nam
aged to bring on locomotor ataxia and
BY working on the opposing basis he
discovered how to make n shoe that
would cure the disease.
But Hlllgert's great reputation lies
in the fact that he manufactures shoes
for people with club feet, short legs and
crooked limbs, so that they may walk
perfectly and without a limp. Some of
the shoes he has made took him a year
of work and study and among the
wealthy patients with whom he deals
there Is seldom a kick on the prices he
otorxac 1919 ~