The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1904-12-23
$4,000 FOR A
PAIR OF SHOES
Former Sioux City Shoemaker
Gets That Sum for
Single Pair.
MAKES CRIPPLE WALk
Matthew HiIIsert Realizes Boyhoot
Ambition to Develop the Science
of Manufacturing Shoes
His Interesting Career.
MAKES CRIPPLE WALk

Sioux City Tribune. Matthew fiji
CERT. who formerly ran Il shoe
shop on lower Fourth street.
Sioux City, recently came into prom
inence nationally by winning u $1,000
suit for pair of shoes he made for a
New York millionaire.
The demand Of $4,000 for q pair Of
shoes was so unique that the judge who
read the papers characterized 1t as pre-
iposterous. but when the evidence de-
yeloped that Hillgert had spent half
year of patient experiment producing
pair of shoes which enabled the mil
l1onaire to walk for the first time III
his life, he ordered the bill paid
Hillgert was the son of shoemaker
lat Gaiena, ILL.,. and learned his trade
under his father, who made shoes for
Senator Washburn, Congressman Nc
Cleland and other famous Illinois
statesmen. When he was a boy he
went to live with Mr.. and Mrs Fred
Strict, who now reside at GIG Park
street. Sioux City. Mrs. Strict practi-
cally reared the boy Her husband, who
,is shoemaker, worked for years for
the elder Hillgert.
Cherished Scheme in Boyhood.
/, ''When 1 saw Mats picture in the
New York papers a few days ago."
prised, for as boy he was remark
able fellow and was continually figur-
Ing on now to manufacture shoes for
people with deformed feet. When he
was learning his trade he frequently
suggested to his father, an old fash
doned 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 wearers
deformity would be concealed. The
telder Hillgert invariably pooh pcohed
his sons ideas and babe him cease be-
:ing q dreamer. Matt was fine young
fellow. He was dutiful. respectful and
worked hard at the bench. and finally
learned expert cutting at shoe fac
tory In Galena. Then he came west to
tSioux City and for a while ran shoe
,shop here. Many Sioux City people
remember him"
When Hllgert lived here he patented
Ia ventilated shoe and later went to Salt
idIake City to try his long cherished
theories regarding the manufacture of
shoes for cripples. There he made
money. and when he called upon the
iStriefs on his way to New York four
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
SIS to 5000. but believed the field was
not wide enough In the Mormon city
Mrs. Strict" he said, I'm going to
30 to New York. There I'll find field
for my work and depend upon 1t. I'll
make good.
L Has Succeeded Remarkably.
J And he has. He is Of sufficient i'm
portance In that great metropolis that
the New York papers gave him write
sup Of several columns and filed 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
Mast 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.
4 He began the construction of scien-
tific shoes many years ago. People with
deformed feet are required to have plas-
ter casts made of them and then Hill
CERT studies them ana makes a shoe
to fit all the hollows and bumps. The
outside of the shoe looks exactly like
any other shoe. For people Of sedentary
habits he manufactures a shoe which
has an electric battery betwee the
outer and inner layers of the sole. With
every step light shock promot, the
circulation and stimulates the bl hin.
Blood Vessels Abused.
Hillgert says the electrical appliance
Al iIduc LleGcSSdlS pGCauSS IilSlueIll
civilization and abuse of the blood yes-
sells connected It'll the spine made it
SO. He requires about three weeks to
construct shoe for an ordinary pa
tlent. After the patient has worn them
"a while. Hillgert takes them back to
make additional alterations. When the
1foot has regalned 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 practiced on him
self before he tackled the public. He
induced In himself certain diseases
which he wished to cure. Once ne man
aged to bring on locomotor ataxia and
by working on the opposing basis he
discovered how to make a shoe that
would cure the disease.
But Hillgert's great reputation lies
In the fact that he manufactures shoes
for people with club feet, short lef s and
4 crooked limbs, SO that they may walk
perfectly and without limp. Sc ne of
the shoes he has made took him 1 / year
of work and study and anon the
wealthy patients with whom he deals
there is seldom a kick on the pri es he
sharges.