The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1910-07-13
Y STONE KIT DIES A PAUpER
PRINCE OF MEDICINE FAKlRs
,ruC WAS WIDELY KNOWN.
al With Diamonds and Dressed
~ :, Rroadcloth He Scattered Mon
-, nv Handful in Streets.


av bv Handful in Streets.
,1onv Georgia people who remem-
yellowstone Kit will read the
~ from the Montgomery Ad-
-4isor with interest. 1t appears as
EDITORIAL in the Advertiser under
a. oon+ion. "a Picturesque Charla-
tam , 900 on obscure ora
-.a-+,--stricken old man died in
PUntad room on Cont street in New
LeI Ioons The burial certificate gave
O VI 1one as George Edwin Grant.
~, nowspaper reporter discovered that
dead man was no other than
ttTTo11owstone Kit the prince of med
.i,.o fakirs, and the picturesque fig
w. en- widely known a score of years
"ao throughout the south. Alaba-
@2o of even less than middle age
lii recall the excitement which at
tonded Yellowstone Kits appear
onon in the larger towns of the state.
T TI will recall his tent, the really
.l,-nri+orious vaudeville show which
lnccomDanied him, although the term
,,srdeyille had not then come into
,.oone They will recall his fam
toTant methods, his newspaper adj
,,ortising, his own striking appear
oncp. loaded with diamonds, dressed
IL broadcloth, his curly hair, his
visited imperial and mustache and
MIS- exaggerated courtliness. The
Jaebing pair of horses which he
drove about the towns, and his loud,
os+entatious charity were but feat
mos Of his we'll chosen method of
orousing popular interest in him and
his wares.
Yellowstone Kits appearance
in an Alabama town was the signal
for the negroes to enter state of
bvsteria. They left their work, hung
around his tent, followed him |
through the streets, and spent every
niece of silver they could rake and |
scrape in buying his wares. Nor was
the excitement which Yellowstone |
Kit knew so we'll how to raise con-
fined to the negroes alone" In every |
town he visited he aroused the inter- |
est of many of the white people. A |
prince vi Cudl lJCIllos llC loO OuIlh IuO |
plumb line deep in human nature. |
He knew how to play on a crowd, |
gradually working it up to a state |
of enthusiastic interest, when at the |
psychological moment he would offer |
his wares for sale for just two min |
utes. An observant travelling man |
said of him: 'Fakir that he is, he |
is the most irresistible salesman | |
ever saw.
at one time he travelled in a pri- |
yate car with a retinue or servants. |
At one time he had fifty performers
in the show which accompanied him. |
In this stage of his career no mil
lionaire lived better than the chief |
of charlatans.
AT one time Yellowstone Kits |.
accumulations were estimated at |
$3.50, 1000. He himself said that he
had made hundreds and hundreds |
of thousands of dollars. While he |
lived extravagantly, gambling was |
the cause of his final downfall. 1t |
is told of him that after a success
full tour in which he had accumulated |
thousands of dollars he would go to |
New Orleans or some other racing |
city and bet it with sure thing |
bookmakers, or drop it in a gambling
game in which nobody but the dealer |
had chance. When completely |
broke he would set out with little |
hand satchel with his nostrums, and |
make new start in life at the first |
street corner where he could collect |
crowd. And after a time he would |
have his own show and the dollars
would be rolling in from the credu-
ious. When another fortune had |
oeen accumulated he went back with |
II to the gamblers and the book |
makers
The physicians of the various
states finally took notice of Kit and |