Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-03-09

sor' thinks it deserves. white pep-
per- he observed scornfully when
showh tEe clipping "AlI right, let
mem think so. Doiyn in the vaults of
the trust Company OF America is the
secret formula which they'll open after
ttligert Is dead. Then they won't
Hilgert is an understood man. about
~ years old. He talks rapidly, and
mas d gesture TO suit each phrase. With
remarkable mimicry he enacts the con-
tortlons of the cripples who have come
10 MIN 10 be cured, and then he shows
you now they walked when they left
ms hands He laughs constantly in a
mlrthless manner, and his speech is
literally interlarded with profanity and
proverbs, twisted into unusual form
ana rarely bearing on the subject of
MS discussion. His bushy brown hair,
streaked with gray, is Combed into a
pompadour, n his full mustache and
every feature Of his face witch with
excitement as he tells of the "persecu-
tlon' to which he is being subjected.
rms IS a superficial description of a
man who in five years has become q
Millionaire, his friends say, by the use
or a faculty amounting to a genius for
the correction of deformities and their
permanent relief through the construc-
ton OF surgical boots, and, Of far
greater import, the application of this
wonderful" preparation. His ]detractors
insist that when he has been called a
skillful shoemaker he has received his
full due; beyond that. they declare, he
plays upon the credulity of his clients
and through rare good fortune he has
persuaded some that his services were
worth fabulous sums for the real ef-
fort involved.
Chamber Of Miseries.
All his life he has been a shoemaker.
Not that the Professor" pleads guilty
to this Indictment; he terms himself
a specialist on feet and footwear, as
was his father before him. He tells
a moving tale of the discovery Of this
instinct, which his admirers call genius.
This arrest means everything for
Hilgert." said the Professor" with a
~portentious shake of his head. You
know what 1t means. 1t means that at
last the world is to know Of the great
science that Hilgert has discovered
how to cure through the feet. l only
wish they'd bring John D. Rockefeller
here; I'd cure him. They say it's his
stomach, but they amt a-going to cure
him by putting a lot of medicine in
hin. No, sir. Not by my means. His
feet-that's the ticket-cure him
lIlIOuSu HIS lStl. les, u III lCCls
In his place, which he calls Hilgert
House, the Professor" has a Cham
Der of Miseries' which he takes par
ticular delight in displaying to his Wis
itors. The four walls are o%verhung
with braces, supports, Crutches, bands
and every sort of instruments en-
ployed to aid the crippled. All Of them,
he declares, were discarded by patients
who wore them when they went to him
and needed them no longer after a
course of his treatment" and the use
of his magic boots"
There are apartments set aside for the
use of out Of town patients, who pay well
for the privilege of staying under his roof
while taking the treatment" This by no
means consists Of fitting the shoe. Any
one who gets a paltry twenty-five or thirty
dollars for a pair of the common or home
grown variety Of surgical shoe could do
that. The Professor" docs ever so much
more. And here is where DIT" White
house, who styles himself an osteopath,
but who is Indignantly renudiated by the
members Of that school, play his part.
Where the Doctor Comes In.
The Doctor" assures you that he has
nothing 10 do directly with the"Profes-
sor." Not at all. Doesn't he pay 500 a
month for his offices? And doesn't he
treat" his patients quite independently Of
the Hi'gcrt institution? Yet on the gaudy
letter head OF the corporation there APP
pears. second only TO the Professors, -
the nam Of DIR. Albert Whitehouse, me
charo-therapy." n the Professor him
self Is the authority for the statement that
the Doctor does all OF the massage work
for the institution, Of which not a little is
done.
Attractive. indeed. and varied Is the lit
erature that the Professor has Issued.
In 1t are included many testimonials, some
Of which nave been repudiated since they
were written. the disclaimers being now
In the hands of the Professor"
H is a genius, said DR." Whitehouse,
In speaking of the Professor" HE
doesn't know how he does It; he just does
It," But neither the Professor" nor the
Doctor" seemed willing to talk Of the
secret preparation which, by inference,
YOU are led to believe contributes so great
ly to the magic Of the shoes.
The Professor" tries to parry every
question which has to do with this sub
iect and attempts to contine the conversa-
ton to the shoes proper, which are built,
he declares, on wonde working principles.
But when forced to make reply Hilgert
stoutly maintains that the composition Is
his own great secret and he does not wish
to talk of II. Apparently he fears that this
is his vulnerable point. and indeed It Is on
this score that much OF the present attack
is being based.
Just how far the preparation has TO do
with his cures the Professor hest
tates to say. He admits. however, that
when his boots leave the workshop they
are by no means complete: they reach that
only after they have been treated"
by him In his private laboratory" and
charged with the wonder working
preparation.
A prominent surgeon, who specializes In
~orthopedics and whose practice has
brought him knowledge of the Profess
sor's" methods, said 10 a reporter for the
Herald t.,ere was no denying that Hiigert
was able % construct a good boot. But, he
asked. IS :. reasonable to suppose that at