The independent-reporter., 1910-06-30
ECCENTRIC DOCTOR
OF 0LDEN Times
Singular Methods Of
DR.. Angler Mann
Patients Stood Up In Rows to Be
Treated.

A copy of a paper which was pub
lished in 1852 by Dr.~-Ang1er Mann,
for number of years resident o.
Skowhegan, is owned by a man In
this town The paper is interesting
and the editor appeared to speak In
various moods. He objected strenu-
ously to having prohibitory law. His
main object seemed to be to disagree
with everybody. The following Incl
dents are told of him:
DR.. Mann moved to Skowhegan
from Coos County, n. H., and rode
over the adjacent section of the
country for over forty years. He
had studied medicine but little, yet
he had an able mind, and excellent
knowledge of the human system and
a profound knowledge of human ma
ture. He was generally summoned
as last resort; and because he was
Or. Mann, he could and would do
things that no regular physician
would dare to do.
One of his favorte remedies was
.strippings and molasses, as he call
ed it. From the frequency with
which he prescribed it, he was often
called the "strippings and molasses
doctor" This medicine was com
bounded of molasses and cream. He
gave it as a tonic to debilitated peo-
pie. Pork and beans and salt pork
and potatoes he recommended quite
as often for bitters. If called to
treat one of that common order OF
down nnnnln hp
would say, Give her plenty OF pork
and beans. Stuff the salt pork and
potatoes right into her. The common
cordials and pills with the use OF
which every druggist is acquainted
he prescribed with the other doctors.
He was a very profane man and had
a brusQueness and yigor which I'M
pressed people. He made such re
putation that his arrival in town was
a signal for a procession OF lnVallds
to his staying place. citizen OF
Somerset County tells me that he re-
members visit of DR., Mann to his
fathers house, when for two days the
patients stood up in rows to be treat
ed by the doctor He would come
home from his trips with great rolls
of bills amounting to hundreds of dol
lars, and then would quickly spend
the money in dissipation. He drank
up fortune In Maine and New
Hampshire, up and down the kenne-
bee and Dead River valleys from Au-
gusta to the Canada line, he toured.
and levied tribute which was cheer
fully paid He was the wonder of his
day. although he never pretended to
be anything but a quack. After hav-
ing made money enough to be rich.
he died penniless.
DR.. Mann undoubtedly performed
many remarkable cures. should
perhaps amend by saying that peo-
pie believed he did. Clerk of Courts
Webb of Somerset was fully CON
yinced that the doctor saved his
mothers life 1t happened when he
was a lad. His mother had very
large and ugly cancer. Eminent ply
sicans had given her up, and in de-
spair DR.. Mann was sent for. Asked
j If he could cure her, with cannon
ade of oaths the doctor said that OF
course he could. But Webb, said he
Il shall tax you a thousand dollars
for doing it." He mixed up -four
quarts of cordial for her, left his in.
structions and said he would send
some more medicine in four weeks
Mr.. Webb said that in two months his
mother was completely cured. His
father expected that the doctors bill
would be very large. When he settled
the doctor said Webb, | told you
I'd charge you a thousand dollars
but you may give me twenty dollars
and pay the rest of it in blowing for
me- like hell!"
The doctor used to tell a story oil
how he cured bed-ridden woman
She lived in Moscow and was one oi
those persons who think they are ter
ribly sick when nothing ails them but
lack of get-up- andget. This wo-
man had lain in bed for ten years
Several doctors had vainly tried to
start her to her feet. One day Dr.
Mann was ushered in. Can you dc
anything for her?' asked the anxious
husband. "You get out OF this, every
one of you" said the doctor savage
ly. He turned all of the woman s
friends out of the room. Nobody
dared disobey him Then he took off
his coat. The bed-ridden woman
WdlCueut WOUucllHS HHdI WOuiu tOllt
next Off came the doctors vest The
woman's eyes began to stick out. The
doctor glared fiendishly at her as he
unfastened his dickey and stock. The
woman raised herself on her elbow
She saw the doctor cody unbutton
his suspenders as If to complete the
disrobing of himself With a scream
she jumped out of bed and bounded
from the room. She was cured
The doctor told of being called to
the bedside of a man who was thought
TO be dying. All the other doctors
had said he could not survive. AS
he stepped to the bed, the doctor was
quick to detect the first signs of &
favorable change. 1t was case
where a few minutes would decide
the fate of life, and it required sud
den action. 81 wanted the credit OF
saving that man the doctor used to
say. Il whipped out of my box the
first bottle my hand touched