The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1960-11-24

teen years.
Another patient asked How can
l repay you for your kindness"
BY check, postal money order, or
cash, the doctor said
Asked if any particular class Of
people lived longest he said, Yes
-Centenarians.'
In a serious mood the Old Doc
tor once observed that his profess
sion was the only one that strove
constantly to obliterate the rea-
son for its existence.
After 1872 the patronage Of the
mountain summer resort hotels was
large, and the medical knowledge
and skills of DR.. McComas contrib
uted in great measure to the pop
ularity of the Oakland-Deer Park
areas as health resorts Many dis
tinquished men and women came
each season. Some were patients of
DR.. McComas, among them Jeffer-
son Davis, who had been Secretary
of War in the cabinet of President
Pierce.
In April of 1859 Mrs. Davis had
borne their third child, Joseph EV-
ans, named for an elder brother OF
the future Confederacy head Of
state Her health was delicate, and
that of Mr. Davis not robust. They
came to Oakland with their chill
dren that summer partly to regain
their health. With them came a
close friend, Montgomery Blair
with members of his family Blair
had become internationally famous
as counsel for DR.. Emerson, a Mis-
souri, slave owner, in the bred
Scott case of 1857, winning a SUI
preme Court decision favorable to
his client. Both Davis and Blair
owned summer cottages in New
Hampshire, but during the sum
mer Of 1859 they wished to be
within convenient travelling dis
lance of the nations capital. Omi-
nous and threatening events were
developing, eventually to plunge
the country into a blood bath that
would cost nearly a half million
lives and ten billions in treasure
exclusive of colossal destruction
of property values.
The question Of slavery was at
boiling point and that Of secession
rapidly approaching it. Impassioned
orators, North and South, inflamed
with their eloquence the prejudices
Of their hearers. Those Of the
South still vigorously defended the
institution Of slavery Later they
were to soft-pedal this theme, sub
limatin2 it into the nobler and
loftier ideals of states rights, con-
stitutional immunities. and others
expressed in sonorous and high
sounding phrases
During the pre-war stormy de-
bates Senator Davis. although a
jealous ard ardent defender Of
slavery and a forceful partisan Of
states rights. had been less inflam-
matory and belligerent in his pub
lie utterances than many other
Southern leaders. However he was
no less grimly determined During
a visit to his home state in late
1853 he had urged that cannon
foundries and small arms factories
be erected there in anticipation of
the secession and civil war he be
lieved was to come.
Within two years Jefferson Davis
was to be President of the Con-
federate States. and Montgomery
Blair Postmaster General in the
cabinet Of President Abraham Lin
coin.
About 1909 Dr.. J. Lee McComas
was interviewed by a reporter of
the Baltimore American. The inter
view follows:
Old Days in Maryland
I am not an octogenarian quite,
but I can tell you enough interest
ing stories Of things that happened
in Maryland over so years ago to
fill a volume" said that noted med
ical practitioner, DR.. j. Lee Nc
Comas. of Oakland, Md, at the Eu-
taW House.
Oakland, when l looted there
in 1858 although it then had some
reputation as a health resort, had
only ten houses. l had gone there
from Baltimore, my native place,
to practice medicine, having re-
ceived my degree at the UNIVERSE
ty of Maryland. My fondness was
for surgery, which I performed I'M
der that grand old operator, DR.
I'M MrNa0nIhns