Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1908-01-09
Fresh Air Saves a Doctors Life.


Fresh Air Saves a Doctors Life
The many friends made by DR.
j. f. Hilger and wife during their
short stay in this CITY will be glad
to learn from the follow ing article
taken from the Dubuque, Iowa,
Telegraph Herald, of the doctors
rapid return to health, but all will
feel little pricked at having this
the most fertile agricultural section
under the sun, which is peopled by
the most hospitable, most intelligent
and most sympathetic people on
Gods earth called almost uninhabit-
able and where "dread loneliness
can only exist from a mans own
exclusiveness. His life here son
the great open prairies" was spent
in our cwn ccngenial City of Web
ster or at Pickerel lake, that most
beautiful body of fresh water there
is in the northwest, which is sur
rounded by the most beautiful
woods and where our best people
are found during that season of the
year for rest and recreation where
the air and water are absolutely pure
and make it the most ideal place for
health and rest. Our people will
excuse the doctor for the opinion
formed of US on the ground that he
was too i'll to appreciate the beauh,
tut in nature and in man.
With his life despaired of by all
the medical authorities of the city
and unable because of the dread
loneliness of the Dakota prairies to
remain in the secluded spot whittier
he had gone in quest of health and
strength, DR.. f. j. Hilger returned
to this city some three months ago
returned" his friends said "to die. >
And yet he has cheated the grim
visitor.
Taken with hemorrhages that
threatened his very existence, unable
to greet the friends whom he had
returned to see before his looked fol
passing to the great beyond, the
young physician in the open all
cure has found panacea for his ills
and now, with renewed manhood, in
his little pagoda on Mt. Pleasant
avenue, he greets his friends and
laughs heartily as he tells his
remarkable story.
The history of his case is most
peculiar and the story of his recovery
is remarkable in many ways. Almost
a year ago DIR. Hilger commenced
complaining of an affection of the
throat and unable himself to discover
the cause of his ill health he sum
moned to his aid all the medical
talent he could find. The medical
authorities advised an immediate
change Of climate. Dakota was
chosen and with his wife, trained
nurse, he left for Dakota, hoping that
life on the great open prairies might
bring back to him his former
strength and vigor.
Three months he lived in a
secluded section of the state, but his
condition did not improve, and he
returned to Dubuque to die. He
suffered several hemorrhages and
had given up hopes, but concluded
to try the fresh air cure.
Living in tent, his meals brought
to him from his residence by his
wife, the oxygen began to build the
diseased tissues. The screens were
rarely covered by their storm pro
tecting canvass curtains. At night
with no protection save the canvass
roof above, the doctor slept in his
open air house and gradually the
strange life began to put bloom in
his cheeks that had been foreign to
them for over year. His breath
ing was seldom stopped by hack
ing cough, as it had been prior to
his trial of the open air treatment.
In fact he had become new man.
Plenty of sleep, strict attention to
diet, and the careful nursing of a
devoted wife, together with undi-
luted and uhstinted fresh air is
making DR.. Hilger new man. In
his few months life out of doors he
has gained almost % pounds in
weight. No vestage Of the once
hacking couph now remains.