The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-09-01


ganization of number of clubs
among farmers wives and a conse-
quent increase of membership of the
state body. Many of the club wom-
en- Of rural districts depend for sug-
gestions as to their seasons work
on information obtained during their
visit to the state fair.
| The state fair committee of the
| federation includes Mrs. William
Liggett, st. Paul; Mrs. Anna B..
Underwood, Lake City; Mrs. C. A..
Hubbard, Lake City; Dr. Anna Hurd,
Minneapolis; Mrs. ]. w. Andrews,
Mankato; Mrs. Cyrus w. Wells,
Minneapolis; Mrs. Fl. N. McKusick,
Saltwater
ST. Paul, August 28.-Prosecution
of John Till, the Wisconsin healer"
whose plasters are declared by a
st. Paul physician in his official
death certificate, filed Saturday, to
have caused the death of Mrs. An
! ton Boesch in st. Paul, will be
commenced at once if the Wiscon-
sin statutes can be invoked under
the circumstances. District Attorney
Nelson o. Varnum of ST.. Croix
county, Wisconsin, will begin a
rigid investigation and he will be
aided by DR.. Howard Lancaster.
commissioner of health in st. Paul,
and by Mrs. Boesch's relatives.
| Mrs. Boesch died at st. Joseph's
hospital, where she was taken Mon
day after DIR. F. H. Odendahl found
her suffering from boils on her back,
which he said were caused by the
Till plasters. In signing the death
certificate, the physician named the
plasters as the cause of death be-
cause the woman had told him that
month ago she went to Till at
New Richmond, Wis, and that he
had applied the plaster as a cure
| for chronic Bright's disease.
Till Defies the Authorities.
While Mr. Varnum says he will
push the case, Till, at his home on
Saturday, declared after he had
treated eighty persons in the day,
that it was impossible for his plas-
tiers to cause blood poisoning for
they were made to cure that very
disease. He boosted also that the
/ law cannot touch him because he
takes no fee.
The death of Mrs. Bosch after a
month of suffering promises to open
/ the warfare between the state OF
Wisconsin and John Till, which
was begun in 1907 when he lived
at Somerset, eight miles from his
present location. 1t was there that
he became known as the Healer
of Somerset"
I'll
home, as Mrs. Boesch says, charge
! of manslaughter is possible under
the Wisconsin law, according to
Mr.. Vernum.
Mrs. Bosch lived at 442 Aurora
street st. Paul, but Dr. Ohendahl
said she could have lived many
years had she been properly treated.
Has Always Won Out.
Attempts to convict Till have
always failed. County and state
authorities of Wisconsin have met
defeat in their efforts to prevent
John Till from applying his lotion
and plasters. In 1907 after several
persons who had been treated, had
| died, DR.. r. B. Cunningham OF
Chippewa Falls asked for an in.
vestigation and action toward pre-.
venting Till from practicing fur
Their.
At that time patients were com
ing to him, according to report, at
the rate of 100 or more a day. He
charged no fee but had box in the
room and the patient could deposit
whatever he chose.
Till came to Wisconsin ten years
ago from Austria and took work as
farm hand Today people of New
Richmond declare he is a Million
aire, though Till refuses to say
what money he has.
Has a Ten-Acre Farm.
Till has a ten-acre farm about
two miles from New Richmond
dresses like a farmer. but does nc
farm work. He confides nothing to
This neighbors or to the town PEG
pie, and the town people do moi
patronize him.
Seen today at his home, where
he was dressed in his farmer
clothes and was treating patients
with his soiled hands, he boosted
of having treated eighty patients
that day, and of treating as many
or more every other day.
Till also boasted of having beaten
out the state of Wisconsin in its
four previous attempts to stop his
practice" and said the law could
not touch him. He couldn't remem
Der anything about Mrs. Boesch
but did not deny she had beer
there. He said physicians were
Jealous of him and when anyone
died after they had been at his
place they always declared it was
his plasters He said with smile
that he was not surprised when tolt
that physician had said his plas
tiers had caused a death.
j Will Not Discuss Money Matters.
j Money, however, is not subject
I to be discussed by Till. He says
he gets no money, though in &
; peculiarly self-satisfied way he ad
mits people may give him wha
they choose.
In New Richmond he is looked
, upon as one of the established lnstl
| tutions of the city. He does not IN
/ terfere with the business of loca
Z physicians nor drugstores. There
is the usual number of both which
might be expected in a town O.
( $500 inhabitants. Till at least i:
: tolerated if not admired, but thu
people of New Richmond, although