Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-04-04
.CH|R0PRAC1OR LOSES
TEST CASE OVER RIGHT TO PRAc-
TIcE TRIED IN MoNrEzuMA
COURT.
ENTIRE cHIRoPRAcTIc SCHOOL
IN SPECIAL CAR TO TRIAL
Jury Finds Brooklyn Practitioner
Guilty Of illegal Treatment Of Pa
tients and Court Assesses Fine Of
$500 State Fails to Again Convict
Adkins.

Special to Times
Montezuma, April 4.-Hon. Henry
Bank, Jr., of Keokuk, adjourned court
on Friday and left for his home. af-
ter holding ten days session Of the
district court.
L. Crawford was indicted on the
charge of assault with intent to commit
great bodily injury. tn plead guilty
and was fined 800 and costs.
NJ. Wells, of Brooklyn, stood trial up
on a silimar charge. The assault had
been made upon his wife and it was
claimed that he had treated her very
roughly at different times and at a
particular time covered by the indict-
ment had beaten her head against the
wall The wife had relented and
sought to help her husband n the trial
but the court and the jury adjudged
him to be guilty and he was given one
year r.. jail. The charge against him
of Living tmistreated his child was not
Included in this indictment and no evi-
dence was received upon his acts to-
wards his child.
The balance of the time of the court
was spent in the trial of two cases
which involved a similar charge, viz:
the right of person to treat others by
the chiropractic method or by the vital
science method. The first case tried
was that of George Corwin, of Brook
Ign, so-called chiropratcitc.
The second case was that Of L. M.
Adkins, Of Grinnell, a vital science
healer. Both indictments charged the
defendants with practicing medicines
or offering to cure or heal without first
having obtained the necessary license
from the state board Of medical exam
iners.
In the Gown case it appeared that
he had been student of the Palmer
school Of chiropractics at Davenport.
Palmer himself with thirty-hve or
forty Of the. students Of the school
came here in a special Pullman to at
tend the trial. The contention Of Cor
win was that the law was contraven-
ton Of the Federal statute; that it
barred the defendant from engaging in
a proper business. In the course of
the trial 1t developed that those who
use this method are particular in the
phraseology used. What they do for a
patient is not a treatment" but an
"adjustn ent." The defendant in this
case had written numerous articles for
the papers setting out the nature of the
treatment and while he did not in so
many words invite people to come in
and be treated or adjusted the jury
found that the advertisements really
contained such an invitation. Copies
OF about thirty-tfiv different papers
were introduced in evidence.
The defense was conducted in chief
by q constitutional lawyer from Wis
consin who was brought here by the
chiropractics to defend their cause It
appeared, that this case was to be made
a test case by them. The constitutional
questions were argued at length but to
no avail. Judge Bank sent the case to
the jury who found the defendant
guilty and the court fined him $500 and
costs. The state relied upon a recent
decision Of the Iowa supreme court up
holding the validity of the statute re-
quiring all persans who practice med
icine or offering to cure or heal
diseases to have a license issued by the
state board Of medical examiners, after
a. prescribed examination has been
passed.
The Adkins case resulted in an ac-
quittal. He had been convicted once
upon similar charge and the supreme
court sustained the decision of the low
er courts. In the present case the state
was unable to prove that he has adj
vertised or offered to cure or heal, all
tho 1t was shown by the evidence that
he had given treatments which he de-
scribed as laying his hands upon the
afflicted parts and offering up a silent