The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-03-24


for The Times goes where he pleases,
when he pIeases. in search of odd stories
! about this and that.
HOUSTON, Tex, March 24-Dr.
Il l. John R. Goat Gland) Brink
ley wasn't a bit more surprised to
have us aboard than we were TO be
aboard
1t was Just an accident. A re-
porter for The Houston Press and I
were nosing around the docks. and
we said to a policeman. Who does
that swell yacht belong to?" He
said, DIR. Brinkley." so we just
climbed aboard and introduced our
selves.
He was just here for couple Of
hours. Ran up from Galveston so
his wife could do some shopping.
We stayed on board the whole two
hours. and had a grand time. DR..
Brinklev even delayed the sailing
while we finished what we were
talking about.
THIRST the doctor showed us over
L his boat. He's proud Of 1t, and
he has a right to be. It's $50 feet
long, and so elegant inside it makes
you sick. 1t has eight stateroomS,
and a crew of r. You could cross
the ocean in it, although DR.. Brink
lev never has. It is named Doctor
Brinkley H." because he has an
other one tied up down at Calves
ton.
After seeing the boat, we sat in
deep divans on the glassed-ln quar-
terdeck while the doctor numbered
about himself. You couldn't call
him egotisticsl. He's simply proud
of himself, and frank about it.
They've called me a fake,
quack, a charlatan, crank and
everything else they can think Of"
he said. But I know what I can
do, and do it,
I had been wondering about that.
When went aboard. all I knew
about DR.. Brinkley was treating old
men with goat glands, that his
radio station was run out of the
United States and that he wasn't
on very good terms with the Medi-
cal Association.
He was a quack in my mind-a
quack with long hair and dandruf
and shifty eyes and dirty fingers.
Actually, Dr. Brinkley looks like a
well-fed bank president, plus a
short, stiff, white goatee. He's 81.
He wears about $4,000 worth Of
diamonds-stick pin, tie holder and
ring as big as a quarter.
LIE is rather heavy and slightly
Il l. bald and wears horn-rim
glasses. He affects the yachtsmans
blue coat and white pants, and in
true nautical fashion says glad to
have you aboard, sir" when he lifts
his glass. He's a pleasant talker-
not a palaverer, but plain and in
teresting.
Whether he's a fake or not, I
have no way of knowing. But if
he is, wish he would give me some
lessons in fooling the public.
could do with a yacht or two my
self.
He was born in log cabin in
North Carolina. He shows you a
picture of it, and then likes for you
to look around where you're sit
ting now.
He was orphaned at 10, hadn't a
penny, worked at night while he
studied medicine in Chicago, and
then set up as a country doctor in
Kansas. Since then he has studied
in Europe and operated in China
and India and all over the world.
He performed his first goat gland
operation 10 years ago. He actually
took a gland from goat and put
it in a man, farmer in Kansas.
Everything worked out all right,
he said, so he kept it up.
VOU remember several years ago
Il he had a big radio station in
Kansas, over which he advertised
himself, and the government took
his license away.
So he moved to Del Rio, Tex. on
the Rio Grande, opened a. hospital,
and set up his radio station across
the river in Mexico. He is on the
air 10 minutes of every hour now
by electrical transcription of course.
He does about 40 operations a
week. Gives only local anesthetic,
He does all the operating himself;
patients won't stand for anybody
else.
Just as we were getting ready to
leave, Mrs. Brinkley came back from
her shopping trip. She was bub-
bling. do you know what I've
found?" she demanded 1--WE found
a. man who never heard of DR..
Brinkley!"
She fished his card out of her
pocketbook He works in a store
here. You ought to go interview
him." she said. That's story for
you. A man who never heard Of DR..
Brinkley."