Deming graphic. (Deming, N.M.) 1903-1948, 1905-02-24
ADDRESS OF DR.. SwOPE.
Al the Opera House on Monday Eve
nins, the Occasion Being Fully
Reported on Our First PaGe.

IN FEBRUARY 1884, rate, the stern
finger of disease, pointed out to me
this land, "a Mecca for the tubercular
infected.
The cruel hand of the great White
Plague had laid its clammy fingers up
on the vitals of my nearest relative:
he with whom had played from early
childhood, under the cool shade, and up
on the beautiful blue grass lawns Of
Kentucky; ard bore him away to this
barren waste of bountiful sunshine,
that might have its salubrious assist
ance in my effort to restore his health.
Neither chance, nor the small lines that
mark the course of the railroads on the
maps, guided my footsteps; but, in
the ponderous tones Of compiled Stats
tics sought for information, that
would fulfill the requirements acknow-
lodged by leaders of thought and re-
search in the medical profession, as
most conducive to the arrest of develop
ment, and permanent cure of this dread
ed and dreadful malady. And | found
that these elements, pointed out by
Flint, Barstow and 0sler, in successive
generations, namely, even:temperature,
dryness, and sunshine predominated to
greater extent in this region than any
where in the United States, and pro-
baby any where On this sphere.
With this ! was satisfied. and | be-
gan to look for the drawbacks. One
illustrated article pictured lone horse
man pursuing his solitary journey
over barren waste, with a sort of net
covered umbrella, like hoop arrange
ment over his head, about which
swarmed myriads Of gnats and mos
quitoes. Another pictured a lonesome
looking settler protruding his head from
an opening in the top of a little old sod
shanty on the plains, where he had
been showed under by sand storm.
And still another, depicted sleepy cow
boy awakened by the morning kiss of a
lurid sun, shaking tarantulas and cent?
pepes out of his boots, preparatory to
adjusting them for a morning ride:
have been looking in vain for those
gnats and mosquitoes for ten years:
have slept out on the plains from Jan
uary to Decembe.' and have never
found any thing worse in my bed in the
morning than AL Watkins. have laid
out on the mountain side and watched
the handle Of the dipper swing from
the eastern to the western horizon,
while | courted Morpheus by repeating
Poe's Raven to the music of a coyote
orchestra, serene in the thought that
the warmth Of my body was not res
toring to life some hybernating cent?
! pede, | have looked up to the glancing
moonbeams as they filtered through the
zephJr-stirred leaves Of the alamo that
lulled me to sleep on an August night,
with no thought Of a diamond rattle.
snake or ella monster sharing my
couch on the bosom Of mother earth.
l have never seen a sand storm as bad
as the dust kIek'e d up by q flock
of sheep, that, as a boy drove along
a dusty road in my old Kentucky
home.
In February, 1894, | came west by
easy stages, stopping over night from
time TO time, until reached the goal of
my journey-a knot on the great South.
ern Pacific bamboo cane-the village of
Deming; which had but two medical
men then, one a grouchY invalid, dying
of nephritis, and another who ran u
livery stable and was a doc" in the
widest and most comprehensive accep-
tation Of the term. Here | left my in
valid and journeyed on to the land of
flowers, where the orange and green Of
the citrous orchards We'd with the spice
laden perfumes Of the pepper trees for
the attention Of tourists, where the fog
crept up over the landscape until the
landscape WAS not, and the real estate
men went about the streets with Ian
terms at midday, seeking whom they
might devour. l returned to DeminR,
satisfied that my research was not in
vain, and my conclusions correct.
have not yet changed my mind. I left
the sun kissed plans Of the Mimbres
valley and jOurneyed nOrthward toward