The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-03-18
MONTANA PIONEER
KNEW ELDER MAYO
FATHER OF FAMOUS SURGEONS
DRESSED HIS WOUNDS AFTER
INDIAN BATTLE
Henry ScoviIIe of Cascade County
Undergoes Difficult Operation at
Hospital Founded by His Old
Friend of the Sioux Indian Fight
ing Days of the COS.

Henry Scoyille, a pioneer Montan
an whose home is IL miles south o
Great Falls, has just returned from
Rochester, Mimi, where he under
went, at the age of SO years, one o
the most complicated operations TO
stomach trouble that has been per
formed at the famous Mayo Brothers
Institute, and now that he has {
practically new stomach, he declares
that he is good for another 20 years
of active life. In fact, he says he il
not at all sure that he will not live
to be hundred.
Scoville is a great admirer of the
two famous surgeons, Charles and
William Mayo, whom he has known
since they were boys, but he says
their father, William Worral Mayo,
was quite as remarkable a man as
either of his IONS. 81 ought to know"
says Scoville, "for it was Doctor
Mayo, father of the Mayo brothers,
who saved my life So years ago when
1 was a youngster of IL and was
wounded in the battle with the Sioux
Indians at New Ulm, Minnesota, dur
ing the Sioux massacre of 1862. 1
h1ICW bAiC O1Q QONlOl WClAy " hO OOh
care of me for nearly a year after
that fight in which 1 was one of the
youngest civilian combatants."
Scoville, according to his story,
was with his parents on their new
farm in the Minnesota wilderness
when the Sioux attacked the place.
The elder Scoville sent his wife and
the boy, Henry, to the nearest settle
ment, and with three other men re-
manned to try to defend his home
against the savages. The Indians
were too strong for them, however,
and after a desperate fight, all the
white men were killed.
Boy Badly Wounded
Then, says Scoville, the little set
Element where he and his mother
had fled was attacked by the blood
thirsty Sioux, and every man and
boy who could fire a rifle was press
ed into service. Many of the women
also fought, while the others made
bandages and nursed the wounded
who had been brought into the clus-
ter of houses that formed the village.
Early in the fight young ScoviIle,
who, in spite of his IL years, was a
fair shot with a rifle, was shot three
times with bullets and also had a
nasty arrow wound in his breast. He
was carried back of the line that the
whites were defending and taken in
10 a cabin that had been set apart
Tor a hospital. There a kindly little
man dressed his wounds and praised
his courage. 1t was the elder Doctor
Mayo, who was known to the from
tier population as Little Doctor
For many years after that, until
came to Montana, the little doctor
was my friend, and l knew his two
sons when they were knee
The old doctor came to Amer
ca from England in the early 40's,
Ind he first made a name for himself
when he cured a lot of passengers
the boat up the Mississippi on the
way to st. Paul of cholera. After
I'll the way to Duluth with a heavy
back on his back and took up a claim
here that is now part of the city.
The little doctor soon made himself
owed by the frontiersmen because
Ie never refused to answer a call, no
natter where it took him, to relieve
differing or attend the sick. In 1859
le left Duluth and settled at LIE Seur,
linn. When the Indian troubles
anne later, DR.. Mayo and his brave
wife helped organize the whites for
esistance to the Sioux.
Attends College at So
After the danger was over, DR..
layo was retained by the govern
lent at Rochester, which was then
railroad terminus. At the age of
5, when many men would be think
lg of retiring, DR.. Mayo went to
Medical college, New York,
further fit himself for his profess
on, and after he returned to Roch-
Ster began to acquire a reputation
: one of The most skilled surgeons
the United States, his speciality be-
lg abdominal surgery. He sent his
)ns, Charles and Will, to the best
ledical colleges in this country and
urope that they might be trained
} carry on his work.
In 1883 Rochester was nearly
lown away by a cyclone. The need
a hospital was badly felt, and DR..
ago and his close friend, Father
Gordon, worked together to have
hospital built. AS a consequence,
;. Mary's was opened in 1889 and
llarged four times in the next 80
'ars. Patients began to come from
| over the world for treatment
ere.
Helped His Sons
The "Old Doctor" as he was res
called to distinguish him
ON his brilliant son, continued to
the guide and counsellor of his
US even after he could NO longer
tend to actual practice. That they
ere grateful for his influence In
cir tremendous success is proved
the magnificent building of The
ayo Clinic erected in 1912 In MEM
of the good man who devoted
nself to relieving human misery.
i'd his son, William, in defeating
$ structure to the scientific study
medicine and surgery:
The object of this building is to
'nish a permanent house wherein
entific Investigation can be made
o the causes of the diseases that
lict mankind, and wherein every
ort shall be made to cure the sick
i