Medical Department #42 - Jobs for Disabled Veterans

Below is my "Medical Department" column for the October 2011 issue of Civil War News. It draws on resources from the Civil War years to today as related to the sometimes-bleak employment prospects for the war's disabled veterans, some of whom were reduced to begging.

BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?
By James M. Schmidt
Civil War News – “Medical Department” – October 2011

What do an 1869 patent medicine almanac, an 1890 court affidavit, government labor statistics, a recent veteran’s magazine article, and modern studies of the Civil War veteran experience have in common? More than you might think! They all have a connection to disabled Civil War veterans and they all served to provide inspiration for this month’s column.

As a start, I found that each year the United States Department of Labor reports unemployment statistics for veterans. The most recent report (here) – for 2010 – indicates that the unemployment rate among all U. S. veterans in 2010 was less (8.7%) than for non-veterans (9.4%), but the rate for veterans of “Gulf War II” (defined as all who have served in the military since September 2001) was higher (11.5%), and was especially high (21.9%) among male veterans, aged 18-24.

A report in a recent (June/July 2011) issue of VFW Magazine used the recent government veterans’ unemployment report as a launching point for discussing the employment prospects of Civil War veterans, especially disabled veterans (sometimes referred to as the “left-armed corps” in period literature) on their return to the home front.

In short, it was no easy task for veterans to find gainful employment when they returned home after the Civil War, and it was doubly-hard for disabled soldiers, some of whom did menial work, peddled wares, or simply begged. (The full VFW Magazine article can be found here).

The VFW Magazine article included quotations from period newspapers to illustrate the veterans’ plight. For example, in August 1865, Philadelphia’s Public Ledger noted:

Quite a number of men in soldiers’ clothes have made their appearance in our crowded thoroughfares, who with arms in slings and support on crutches, hold out their hands to the passers for alms.

Likewise, early the following winter, a letter from a Union veteran to the New York Tribune reported:

I notice in passing through the streets of this great metropolis hundreds, aye, I might say thousands, of maimed soldiers, some with a leg or arm off, asking for alms. What attention is paid to them? I answer: none whatever; they are passed by in contempt. I do not mean to say by all, but by the majority.

The article goes on to describe the post-war role of the United States Sanitary Commission, which most Civil War enthusiasts recognize for its wartime efforts, in establishing employment agencies. Indeed, even before the end of the war, the Commission established the “Bureau of Employment for Disabled and Discharged Soldiers” with offices at No. 35 Chambers Street, New York City.

My own additional reading of period newspaper accounts and Sanitary Commission bulletins indicates that some of the businessmen in the city supported the arrangement and pledged to employ “in each of our places of business—as general messenger, or in other light work adapted for the disabled—at least one maimed discharged soldier or sailor.”

In his recent book, Sing Not War: The Lives of Union & Confederate Veterans in Gilded Age America (UNC Press, 2011), author James Marten includes an excellent description of the bleak employment prospects for many veterans, noting that many of the now-disabled soldiers were not suited for their pre-war occupations due to their wounds and were subject to unfortunate (but predictable) prejudice from the public and employers based on class distinction and other factors.

Marten also writes that for those who were not able to gain employment in offices or factories, “at least one town made it easier for disabled soldiers to make livings on the street by passing an ordinance specifying that only disabled soldiers were allowed to peddle without licenses.” In fact, this practice was more widespread than Marten indicates, as states (including Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania) passed acts to the same effect. In fact, New York City still maintains municipal laws that allow for peddling by veterans.

The following handwritten document in my collection, dated April 9, 1890, Bedford, PA, is evidence of this less-known aspect of the experience of disabled veterans of the Civil War (you can see an image and full transcript of the document in an earlier post, here):

The petition of Gordon Hammer respectfully represents that he is an honorably discharged soldier of the United States; served in the war of 1861 for the suppression of the rebellion; that he is a resident of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and a native thereof; that on account of diseases contracted whilst in the service aforesaid he is unable to procure his living by manual labor; that he herewith exhibits a certificate from Dr. C. P. Calhoun an Examining Surgeon of the United States setting forth; that said Hammer is unable to procure his living by manual labor; also his affidavit to be filed in the office of the Prothonotary setting forth that he is the bona fide owner of the goods wares and merchandise in his own right which he proposes to hawk peddle and vend and that he will not engage to sell or peddle the same for any other person or persons whomsoever. He therefore prays that a license may be issued to him to hawk peddle and vend any goods wares and merchandise within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

So, what types of wares did veterans like Gordon Hammer peddle? According to Patrick J. Kelly, in his book, Creating a National Home: Building the Veterans' Welfare State, 1860-1900 (Harvard University Press, 1997):

"Some private businesses attempted to assist war-disabled veterans and turn a profit at the same time. The Soldiers and Sailors Publishing Company printed a number of histories of the war and hired ex-servicemen with missing limbs to peddle these books. Ex-soldiers eager to play on public sympathy and profit from their wartime experience, wrote and published pamphlets entitled The Empty Sleeve and The Great War Relic."

Based on my search of the Library of Congress catalog and other online catalogs (WorldCat, etc.) other titles included The Soldiers' and Sailors' Half-Dime Magazine, The Soldiers' and Sailors' Tales of the War, and Williamsburg, and two interesting almanacs: Soldiers & Sailors Almanac for 1869 and History of the Late Rebellion and a similar volume entitled Veterans of the War, Whom all Should Assist, Offer their Almanac and History of the Late Rebellion (also 1869).

I happen to have both of these almanacs in my collection (the cover of one of them is provided as an illustration for this article). As Patrick Kelly mentioned, the first page of the almanac does contain the following appeal: “Agents Wanted: Disabled Soldiers and Sailors can find permanent and profitable employment in selling and canvassing for this work, as the commissions to such are very liberal.”

The almanacs were underwritten by H. T. Helmbold (a New Yorker who manufactured and sold the quack medicine “Helmbold’s Fluid Extract of Buchu”) in support of the goal of “assisting the Disabled Veterans of the War, the Widows and Orphans of those who fell in defense of our country, to earn an independent livelihood,” and (of course!) to allow veterans to “enjoy a long life of health and happiness by the use of the Great Sovereign Remedies prepared by Mr. Helmbold.”

The Department of Labor statistics cited at the beginning of this column indicate that about 1 in 4 veterans (more than 500,000 men and women) of Gulf War II have a service-connected disability. If there is any good news, it is that the unemployment rate of those Gulf War II veterans with a disability was 11.2%, lower even than those with no disability (13.6%, although not statistically different).

Perhaps, then, there has been some improvement in the employment prospects of men and women who have served our country honorably, especially those who became disabled in the process. Surely there is room for more.

[Many thanks to fellow Civil War News columnist Matthew Borowick: after this column appeared in print, he alerted ne to a news items about a new New Jersey program - "Helmets to Hardhats" - that heps veterans find construction jobs. You can read about it here.]

Civil War Pension Ephemera from the "Schmidt Collection" #9 - 1866 Pension Attorney Receipt

Remember - you can see all of my previous "Civil War Pension Ephemera" posts here.

In this post, I share another document from my collection: an 1866 receipt for the services of attorney B. F. Winslow to secure a dependent mother's pension for Abley (?) J. Ricketson. The document has several interesting aspects:

1) It gives an idea of the fees charges by attorneys of the day, especially for the various activities required to secure the pension.

2) The revenue stamp on the document is also interesting. It is is a "Type I" Bank Check revenue stamp. As professor and historian Gary Giroux states in his excellent article, "Revenue Stamps: Financing the Civil War," American Philatelist, July 2002 (PDF of article can be found here):

Most documents were subject to the stamp tax. A listing of the categories taxed offers historians information on legal documents and contracting requirements during the Civil War and post-Civil War era. A collection of these documents presents a slice of business history and everyday life. They are found in collection specialties, and many types of documents are available for analysis because of this.

This is one of those documents!

3) While full biographical details on the attorney, B. F. Winslow, have been hard to find, there is no doubt that he was a leading attorney and citizen in Fall River, Massachusetts; he was Justice of the Peace, a legal guardian of the Troy Indians, argued cases in front of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, and more. A quick look using my fold3 (formerly footnote.com) subscription showed that Winslow had also served as a pension attorney for some other Fall River, Massachusetts families, including widows. Perhaps he also served as the attorney for an ancestor of yours!

As noted in a previous post of mine (here), Civil War pension attorney expert Peter D. Blanck stated that "At that time, attorney specialization was just starting and the organized bar was still young." This explains why Winslow could be doing business in such diverse areas of law.

4) It's not clear yet who the Ricketson soldier was; no less than 17 soldiers with that last name were in the Union ranks (according to the NPS Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System), and - as it turns out - 10 of those 17 were from the mostly likely state of Massachusetts. I haven't looked any more than that, as it's not critical information for me.

I will continue to post more pension ephemera from my collection.

Interview with "Kill-Grief" Author Caroline Rance!

If you like novels about 18th-century England...murders...dark jails...hospitals filled with vomit and sores; gin; brandy; laudanum; addiction; friendship; love; and redemption: then do I have a GREAT book for you!

It's called Kill-Grief (Picnic Publishing, 2009) and it's written by Caroline Rance, who just happens to live almost 5,000 miles from me (as the crow flies from Texas to England) but has become a frequent and faithful correspondent, and friend.

I first became familiar with Caroline's work via her amazing website and blog at The Quack Doctor where she shares stories, illustrations, and information about the history of medicine, especially "panacean powders, pills, potions, procedures and pamphlets," which - as anyone who reads this blog knows - is right up my alley!

Caroline has also written a novel, Kill-Grief, and since I already admired the blogging she was doing, I just knew I had to read it! And I'm so glad I did!

Here is the description of the book from Caroline's personal website (here):

Chester, 1756

The hospital stench. The blood. The lecherous surgeon.

Mary Helsall does not like being a nurse.It’s a job that will have to suffice for now. At least until she has achieved the task she came to the city to do. In the meantime, rotgut gin and a volatile relationship with hospital porter Anthony will help her get through each day.But who is the mysterious patient who claims to know what she’s got to hide? He knows all about her infatuation with a thief-taker, about her connection to the notorious Northgate Gaol, and about the shocking events of her recent past.From the stormy seashore to the screams of the operating theatre, and from a backstreet gin shop to the fetid dungeons of the prison, Mary searches for an independent future.Before she can find it, she must fight the attraction of oblivion and make a choice between duty, money, and a love overshadowed by addiction.

Make sure you check out Caroline's website for excerpts, reviews, interviews, and how to buy the book (I have a signed copy!).

I thought it was terrific book, made all the more impressive in that it is a debut novel but exhibits all the qualities of a book from the pen of an experienced writer. I've rarely read a book where the descriptions give a better sense of place, sound, sight, and well: smell.

Caroline obviously did a lot of research (as you'll read in our interview below) to make the narrative authentic but she avoided the trap into which many historical/period novelists fall by showing off her writing rather than her research.

There is a big difference: I've read a few novels lately, set in the Civil War, that actually had footnotes...don't get me wrong, they were imaginative stories, but their emphasis on pointing to their research distracted from and overshadowed the storytelling...and since these are novels, and not nonfiction, the story should prevail.

In Kill-Grief, Caroline has emphasized the story without sacrificing authenticity.

I'm so pleased that Caroline agreed to answer some questions. She has great advice and experiences that can help other writers out there...people interested in history well learn something about hospitals, physicians, surgeons, courts, prisons, and more. Most important, Caroline has something I wish I had more of myself: Imagination!

Enjoy!

Jim Schmidt (JS): To borrow a phrase from Austin Powers: allow yourself to introduce…yourself!

Caroline Rance (CR): I'm Caroline Rance, and I write lots of stuff – including my blog, The Quack Doctor (here), about the strange history of patent medicines. I’m also part of the blogging team at Strictly Writing (here). Kill-Grief is my first novel and is set in a hospital at the end of the 18th-century gin craze. It's about a nurse discovering how her own determination can enable her to survive.I'm originally from the North West of England but now live in the countryside about 30 miles outside London. Because I'm British, I talk about the weather a lot, drink Earl Grey tea, and like wearing hats. I've never met the Queen though.

[By the way, I learned from Caroline that "Kill-Grief" was a nickname/slang for gin; thus inspiring the title of the book]

JS: What inspired you to write this novel?

CR: I was doing some research into the early days of Chester Infirmary, and although the hospital records were mostly rather dry, I occasionally found interesting snippets about the staff and patients. I wondered what their lives had been like and how they ended up there, and I started to imagine what their stories might have been. The porter was briefly mentioned as having been chucked out for drunkenness, and this was the beginning of the gin theme in the book.

JS: How long did to take to write and edit?

CR: I started it while I was supposed to be revising for my university finals... so that's ...erm... quite a few years ago. After I graduated, I felt obliged to get an awful job just to prove that my four years' study hadn't been a waste of time, so my ideas of a writing career fell by the wayside. Some time later, I decided that what I really wanted was to write a novel. Not to 'be a famous writer,' just to finish a book. I went back to the characters I'd started with, and once I got going, Kill-Grief took about 3 years to complete. I finished it the day before I gave birth to my son, and then used the night-time feeds as an opportunity to edit it!

JS: Was it a solitary venture or do you belong to a writer’s guild/critique group

CR: I wrote it on my own, but when it was almost finished, I was looking up agents online and found a writing community called WriteWords (here). I joined and uploaded my first chapter for critique. I was terrified – I'd hardly ever shown my writing to anyone else and thought: 'I won't be able to kid myself any more: they'll tell me I'm rubbish and should just give up.' But the first comment began 'This is terrific...' and it gave me so much confidence.I'm not a member of the site any more, but the community really encouraged me through the challenging process of submitting the book to agents and publishers.

JS: Why Chester (official city website here) and not a locale that readers would (presumably?) be more familiar with, especially American readers who are familiar with London, but think the rest of the country is labeled “Here Be Dragons?

CR: I grew up in Wirral – where Mary comes from in the book – and Chester was the nearest city (though when I was a kid we tended to go to Liverpool a lot more). When I was studying History at university I decided to write about Chester Infirmary, so I could combine the research with trips home.This research inspired various fictional characters, and I wanted to write about them in the setting where they originated. There was also an element of wanting to rebel against London-centric historical fiction – there's a bit of a cliché about protagonists arriving in London and immediately finding themselves amongst the colourful characters of St Giles' Rookeries – but mainly I just wanted to write about the area I knew. At the time, I hadn't been to London much, so it wasn't a setting that would naturally come to mind. It didn't really occur to me that anyone as far away as the U.S. would ever hear about the book, so I'm afraid I didn't consider American readers - sorry!

[Caroline - no apologies! But hopefully, American readers will hear about your book!]

JS: What would Mary and Anthony (the two protagonists in the novel) recognize in Chester today?

CR: The layout of the four central streets is the same and there are many buildings left from Mary and Anthony's time – including the Blue Coat School, where the infirmary started out. The main things they'd find familiar, however, are the Rows and the Walls. The Rows are unusual covered walkways built into the sides of the houses and shops, and they give Chester a unique atmosphere. They've evolved over the centuries but the general principle of them has existed since the Middle Ages. The city walls still form almost a complete circuit of the city and take about half an hour to walk round. I walked round them a lot while working on Kill-Grief.In the 18th century, Dr John Haygarth (later famous for his experiments with Perkins' Metallic Tractors) wrote that the Rows and Walls made the city a healthy place because people could get up to a higher level, out of the dirt. He was also of the opinion that Chester women were particularly beautiful!

JS: The hospital, where a good amount of the story takes place, seemed to be a philanthropic venture; can you explain?

CR: Chester Infirmary was one of a new wave of 'voluntary hospitals' springing up across the UK in the 18th century. They were run by committees of local well-to-do philanthropists, who wanted to provide a service to the working poor but didn't necessarily know what they were doing. At Chester, there was a lot of enthusiasm for the idea of a hospital, and plenty of people pledged money, but the administration fell to the select few and those who promised funds didn't always get round to paying. Although it was a charitable institution, the hospital wasn't just for any random pauper who showed up. It was for the 'respectable poor', and patients had to be recommended by a regular donor – if you needed treatment, you had to have the wherewithal to approach a charity subscriber and grovel for a recommendation. The very most disadvantaged wouldn't stand a chance, except in an emergency. This is why the character William Hartingshall gains a frosty reception from the committee – he's not the kind of person they would normally accept, but they can't go against the influential Mr Barnston, who has his own reasons for admitting him.

JS: The surgeons were addressed as “Mister” and the physicians as “Doctor” and there was a definite “pecking” order…was this a remnant of the barber-surgeon days?

CR: Yes, it was – surgeons were still trained by apprenticeship while physicians had a university degree and were entitled to be called 'Doctor' (though these degrees could be a bit dodgy – certain universities in Scotland were known for awarding them on receipt of cash). By the time in which Kill-Grief is set, surgeons had gained better social standing, but there's still a clear distinction between them and the physicians. Dr Tylston, for example, is a good guy but wouldn't dream of attending a gruesome operation. The operating theatre heroics fall to Mr Racketta – he's an unpleasant character, but he has the steeliness to keep calm during surgery... and afterwards just to carry on being as unpleasant as ever.

JS: I was surprised at how long it took for one of the characters to get to trial…I had always assumed that as we went back in time, justice – for better or worse – was more swift…the prison conditions were dreadful…where did you learn about them?

CR: Circuit courts would travel round designated areas of England and Wales to hear trials – usually landing in each town four times a year at Assizes and Quarter Sessions – so if you were lucky (or unlucky) enough to be arrested just before the judges arrived, you wouldn't have to spend so long in gaol. Prison reformer John Howard visited Chester's Northgate Gaol in 1787 and described the horrendous conditions. Some aspects were far worse than anything that appears in Kill-Grief – there was a dungeon called 'Little Ease', carved out of rock and only 17 inches at its widest point. It also had moveable boards to make it even smaller. It didn't fit in to my plot, however, so I had to leave it out.

JS: Three things (at least!) really struck me as I read the novel: 1) contrasts between cleanliness and dirtiness; 2) claustrophobia…people (esp. women) couldn’t even walk up stairs without their dresses rubbing up against walls, etc; 3) love vs. friendship, and the struggle of friendships, esp. – it seems, anyway - for women…am I on to something?

CR: Great question – this could be a whole blog post by itself! Cleaning is one of Mary’s duties as a nurse, but she finds it impossible to keep the dirt at bay – mud, dust, bodily fluids and bugs always return to the hospital's clean surfaces. It's a battle that also rages inside her when she tries to give up the 'dirt' of gin – addiction is always waiting to creep back in.The contrasts of literal dirt and cleanliness mirror other contrasts too – for example, the way Mr Barnston's impeccable attire masks his moral ambiguity.

Claustrophobia isn't a theme I set out to explore – but it kept appearing. Everything closes in on Mary – sometimes it's the walls of the prison; sometimes it's the demands of the hospital patients. Even Chester's Rows add to the feeling of being enclosed. She wants to escape – not only from these physical boundaries, but also from the confining expectations of marriage; from a patriarchal society that leeringly accepts her being a nurse but laughs at the idea of her becoming a surgeon; even from the strange experience of living in a rich man's house. Gin gives her a temporary sense of escape – but she realises that determination is the only thing that will really help her break free.

Love versus friendship is a difficult theme to explore because there's now a cultural notion that friendship is more lasting and worthwhile. A modern woman’s female friends are supposed to be there for her when some loser guy is messing her around. But Mary has never experienced anything like that – the women in her home village have treated her with contempt and she feels alienated by the idea of close female friendships. Her best childhood friend was a boy, but the relationship was ruined by their community's assumption that they will marry. Mary starts out with an immature and obsessive interpretation of romantic love, but such strong feelings are easier for her to understand than the confusing minefield of friendship.

JS: Did I hear you are going back to school?

CR: You heard right! I'm going to Birkbeck College, which is part of the University of London, to study 'Medicine, Science and Society: Historical and Theoretical Perspectives'. If anyone asks, though, I usually just say 'History of Medicine', as that's pretty much what it is.

JS: What are you working on now? I can’t wait to read it!

CR: It's provisionally called 'The Love of Freaks' and is about a girl who tries to make a living by exhibiting a fake 'mermaid' on the street corners of Liverpool. Through various peculiar circumstances she ends up travelling to London, where she gets involved in a freak show run by a charismatic American impresario. (I've come round to the idea of featuring London in a novel!)Meanwhile, a charlatan is trying to persuade an overweight baronet to sponsor his research into a 'Fat-Reducing Operation'. He plans to run away with the money, until the baronet's young wife makes it clear that she wants the operation to go ahead – and to go drastically wrong.The two narratives collide and involve death, sex, kidnapping, elopement, visits to the zoo... all the usual stuff.To be more soppy, though, the book is really about the elusiveness of unconditional love.

JS: Is it hard to have a foot in the fiction world with your writing and in the nonfiction world with your terrific Quack Doctor blog and your other reading, or do they compliment each other?

CR: It can be a challenge, but a good one. I think I'm a non-fiction writer at heart and would like to write books on the history of medicine one day. But when I blog at The Quack Doctor, I have to resist the temptation to imagine what the practitioners and their patients were thinking and feeling – I can't assume anything beyond the evidence.

JS: Gin or Brandy?

CR: If they were the only choices – gin. But I much prefer Scotch whisky, or a nice cup of tea.

Thank You, Caroline!

Best wishes for success in your studies and in your writing!

A GREAT NEW Civil War Magazine!

I wrote six short articles for North & South magazine from 2001-2008 and in doing so met and corresponded with two great people: Al Nofi, editor of the "Knapsack" section in which my articles appeared, and Terry Johnston, Assistant Editor of the magazine.

Al became a good friend and mentor and even wrote a very kind Foreword for my first book, Lincoln's Labels: America's Best Known Brands and the Civil War (Edinborough Press, 2008).

Likewise, Terry became a friend and faithful correspondent. About a year ago, Terry contacted me about an exciting new Civil War magazine project he was spearheading, solicited what (little) advice I might have, and kindly invited me to become a contributor to the magazine but especially to the digital component that would be part of the venture.

It's been a hard secret to keep and I was delighted that he gave me updates as his team got closer to launching the print magazine and the web content.

Well, it's a secret no longer! Here's a HEARTY WELCOME TO:

THE CIVIL WAR MONITOR

A New Look at the Nation's Greatest Conflict

The first issue of the magazine will be on newsstands within a week and the website (here) was launched today!

Terry was kind enough to send me an advance copy of the first issue and if the contents of the premier edition are any indication, this is going to be a GREAT publication!

The feature articles were well-written, interesting, and annotated and the artwork and maps are wonderful (the premier issue included previously unpublished period photographs as well as some that I had never seen before). Most important, the articles were not re-hashes of familiar topics based on secondary sources - they were serious (but readable articles!) - about important subjects that are generally ignored, at least in the Civil War popular press. Other shorter sections on Civil War travel, book reviews, and more will make it a magazine to appeal to a wide variety of audiences.

I am so pleased for and proud of Terry - Editor-in-Chief of the Monitor - and wish him and his team every success!

Terry is also very keen on establishing a presence in social media, so you will find links to follow the Monitor on Facebook, Twitter, and more.

As part of their online presence, the Monitor has a community blog they've named "The Front Line" (here).

I'm humbled (but also very happy!) that Terry has kindly invited me to join that community so I'll be posting there on subjects near and dear to me and (hopefully!) interesting to you!

The present stable of bloggers are all people that I admire greatly and also am proud to claim as friends: Craig Swain from To The Sound of the Guns, Andy Hall (my favorite blogger!) from Dead Confederates, Eric Wittenberg from Rantings of a Civil War Historian, Robert Moore from Cenantua's Blog, Harry Smeltzer from Bull Runnings, Kevin Levin from Civil War Memory, and Keith Harris from Cosmic America [oh, and me (!) here at Civil War Medicine (and Writing).]

Now that's good company!

Good luck to the MONITOR! You're off to a GREAT start!

A "Sure Cure" for Epilepsy - Part III - "From the Time of Hippocrates..."

In Parts I (here) and II (here) of this three-part series on the Converse Treatment for epilepsy I shared vintage (1902 and 1929) letters from the firm to prospective customers as well as details on the various schemes and scams they employed to solicit testimonials and entice new "patients."

In this third and final part of the series, I share a photo of a Converse bottle in my collection and share information on the "cure" from the classic book Nostrums and Quackery, a compilation of articles from the Journal of the American Medical Association in the 1910s and 1920s on the dangers of patent/quack/proprietary medicines.

The Converse bottles do not seem to be common...the bottle in my collection (right) is an unlabeled bottle of what was likely the company's final form - "The Converse Treatment Co., Columbus, OH"...I have seen a bottle from its previous incarnation - "The Converse Treatment Institute, Mt. Vernon, OH" [indeed, I had bought one online but it broke during shipping to me :( ]...even rarer is the first bottles - "Mrs. M. E. Converse's Sure Cure for Epilepsy" (you can see one at Matt Knapp's excellent "Antique Medicine Nexus" here).

So, what's in that stuff anyway? See below the article from Nostrums and Quackery, including the introductory portion on quack epilepsy cures in general, and a list at the bottom of some of the other quack epilepsy cures they exposed.

EPILEPSY CURES

Many of these quack remedies so glowingly set forth in the public prints possess the power of suppressing the attack for a time, but it is suppression only, not cure, and the patients are always worse afterward. If pushed too far, death may Intervene from acute bromid poisoning."

Those who have followed the trend of events in the "patent medicine" world have noticed that since the passage of the Food and Drugs Act there has been a great increase in the number of remedies sold as cures for epilepsy. Possibly it would be more correct to say that the increase has been in the advertising appropriations made for this class of nostrums. The reason is not far to seek. The bromids are powerful drugs and produce well-marked physiologic effects. Taken in quantities that no physician who respected his patient's welfare—or his own reputation—would dare to prescribe, they produce effects that impress the layman with their potency. The purchaser mistakes a temporary suppression of the attacks of epilepsy, produced by large quantities of bromids, for a cure. The presence of this powerful drug does not have to be declared on the label, which doubtless accounts for its widespread use under the present law.

The enormous harm that may be done by such indiscriminate use of bromids was well described by Dr. W. T. Spratling when testifying before a United States court. Dr. Spratling, an authority on epilepsy, was for many years Superintendent of the Craig Colony for Epileptics at Sonyea, N. Y. Here is what he said:

"The colony has ascertained through the analysis of nearly thirty of the more widely advertised patent nostrums for the 'sure cure' of epilepsy that the bromid is the base of them all. Many of these quack remedies so glowingly set forth in the public prints, possess the power of suppressing the attack for a time, but it is suppression only, not cure, and the patients are always worse afterward. If pushed too far, death may intervene from acute bromid poisoning. This happened in the case of a boy 12 years, whom I knew, whose parents gave him too frequent doses of a patent nostrum, the essential ingredient of which as with the bulk of patent epileptic cures, was bromid of potassium. It is a frequent experience to see patients brutalized by bromid. go months without fits, but with a loss of mental and physical activity."

It is evident that the number of drugs in "patent medicines" whose presence should be declared on the label should be increased. In fact, properly to safeguard the public health all constituents in "patent medicines" for which therapeutic action is claimed, should be declared on the label, both as to kind and amount. At present there are but eleven drugs and their derivatives, of whose presence the public must be told! Such powerful poisons as arsenic, strychnin, prussic acid, carbolic acid and ergot may be used in "patent medicines" in any quantity that the manufacturer sees fit and the public is entirely in the dark regarding their presence. The same is true of the depressing bromids. It is high time that the list of "declared" drugs be extended. When this is done, the number of epilepsy "cures" will be decreased and the safety of the public increased.

CONVERSE TREATMENT

The "Converse Treatment" for epilepsy is sold by the Converse Treatment Company of Columbus, Ohio. As is the case with most mail-order medical concerns none of the individuals controlling the business seem to be physicians. The "medical referee" of the company is given as Edgar J. Martin, M.D. In those free and easy days when "patent medicine" makers could let their imagination run untrammeled by any considerations for truthfulness this product was known as the "Converse Cure" and was put out as "the only positive cure known, adopted and recommended by the leading physicians of the country." The epileptic was told:

"From the time of Hippocrates until the Wonderful Cure discovered by the Converse Institute, this fearful disease has been treated by the medical profession in vain."

The usual warnings against all other "cures for fits," were part of the advertising claptrap and competitors' products were condemned under the statement that they contained "zinc, silver or bromid, all of which but tend to aggravate the trouble in the long run." In those days the Converse nostrum emanated from Mount Vernon, Ohio. Later the name of the concern was changed from the "Converse Treatment Institute" to the "Converse Treatment Company" and the concern moved from Mt. Vernon to Columbus, Ohio.

When the company is written to it notifies the prospective victim that the "treatment" is put up in "packages of six bottles for $5.00." In addition there are two side-line nostrums, "Tonicine Tablets" for "restoring nerve vitality" and "enriching the blood," and "Sanderson's Six-Herbs," a laxative pill. According to the advertising matter, the Converse Treatment is "used in hospitals, sanitariums and by leading physicians." On the interesting question, Who are the leading physicians that use this nostrum, the Converse Treatment Company is silent.

Some of their circulars give alleged testimonials from physicians but the names and addresses of these physicians are not given. In 1912 The Journal published the result of an analysis of the Converse Treatment made by Prof. E. F. Ladd, the aggressive Pure Food Commissioner of North Dakota. Professor Ladd's report showed the essential drugs in the Converse Treatment, as in practically all other treatments for epilepsy, were the bromids. More recently, in connection with the investigation of a number of "epilepsy cures," the Association's laboratory has analyzed the "Celebrated Converse Treatment." The laboratory report follows:

LABORATORY REPORT

Original bottles of "Converse Treatment," manufactured by the Converse Treatment Co., Columbus, Ohio, were submitted to the Chemical Laboratory for examination. Each bottle contained 165 c.c. (5Va fluidounces) of a brown liquid, having suspended extractive matter present, and with a strong odor of cinnamon. The specific gravity of the liquid at 15.6 C. was 1.1426. Qualitative tests demonstrated the presence of ammonium, calcium, sodium, potassium, chlorid and bromid. Saccharine also seemed to be present. From spectroscopic tests, lithium was not present in quantities greater than minute traces. Essentially each 100 c.c. of the solution contains about 7.3 gm. ammonium bromid, 5 gm. calcium bromid and 8.7 gm. potassium bromid. Calculating from the bromid determination, each dose 1 teaspoonful (1 fluidram) contains the equivalent of 14.5 grains of potassium bromid. or each daily dose (4 teaspoonfuls) corresponds to 58.0 gr. potassium bromid.

As might have been expected from the investigation of various nostrums of the same type, the "Converse Treatment" is but one more of the bromid mixtures. This, too, in spite of the fact that, in the past, the exploiters of the stuff stated that epilepsy cures containing bromids "tend to aggravate the trouble in the long run." The statement that the Converse Treatment will cure epilepsyis as false as the other statement that the nostrum is used "by leading physicians." The stuff has all the limitations and dangers of a bromid mixture. It will never cure a case of epilepsy, but, indiscriminately used by those who must be ignorant of the fact that it contains bromids, may easily result in adding to the epileptic victim's already serious condition the dangers of bromism.

Other epilepsy "cures" exposed in the book and previous JAMA articles include:

Croney's Specific for Epilepsy
Grant's Epilepsy Cure
Guertin's Nerve Syrup
Kline's Nerve Remedy
Koenig's Nerve Tonic
May's Formula
Miles' Restorative Nervine
Peebles' Institute of Health
Towns' Epilepsy Treatment
Waterman's Tonic Restorative
and others

A "Sure Cure" For Epilepsy - Part II - The "Sucker List"

In the first (here) of this three-part "series" on the quack "Converse Treatment" for epilepsy, I presented a 1929 letter from my collection in which the proprietor of Converse extolled the virtues of the treatment to a potential victim, er....customer. I also included a report from a 1911 newspaper article showing how that letter fit into the company's longtime marketing scheme.

In tomorrow's final post, I'll include photos of a Converse bottle in my collection as well as information on what was actually in the medicine, drawn from the pages of the classic book, Nostrums and Quackery.

This second post of the series includes the images and text of another letter from the company, this one written by the namesake of the firm herself: Mrs. C. E. Converse.

The letter, written in 1902, is from the collection of Dan Cowman, M.D., who - knowing my interest in this subject - kindly provided me a copy of the letter to post in this series.

Dan, who I first met at the Houston Bottle Show in late July 2011, is one of the premiere antique American medicine collectors around...more important he has quickly proven to be a good friend and generous with advice and information. We have collaborated on this blog previously - sharing images and objects from our collections - and you can look forward to more of the same!

The letter is interesting in itself, but here are a few additional notes:

1) Note that the earlier name of the firm is the "Converae Treatment Institute" and that it is in Mt. vernon, OH, rather than Columbus, OH. The "Institute" implies that they also have a bricks-and-mortar "hospital" where they saw patients, which is illustrated on the letterhead.

2) Note the list of names on the last page and the assurance that the pateient could write and leading businessman, clergy, or politician in the city...as you will see below, this was yet another part of the Converse marketing scheme!

Now, for the letter:

September 24, 1902

Mt. Vernon, OH

Ottamar R. Eckert,

My dear friend,

Yours received and I am very much interested in what it contains and will write you a personal letter. I am glad to send you any information in regards to the Converse Treatment that you may desire. For the Home Treatment six bottles of the medicine are sent for $5.00. The Tonicene tablets, which are the best things ever discovered for the nervousness that always attends Epilepsy, are 50 (cents) a box. This is about ten weeks treatment and includes, free, full directions, consultation, and advice. Enclosed find a list of questions, the answers to be carefully filled out and returned by those wishing to take the Treatment. It has been the experience of nearly all that the ordinary physician knows little or nothing about curing this disease and that the many advertised remedies are merely preventatives which only give relief for a short time to be followed by a worse consition than ever. The remedy is not and never has been advertised in newspapers, its reputation coming entirely from the many cures it has effected.

I have carefully noted all you say of the symptoms and condition and from the extended knowledge and experience we have had with this disease and the great success of our Treatment I can give you the utmost assurance that a cure can be effected. There should beno delay, however, as every attack strenghthens the disease andmakes recovery more difficult and while I feel confident of being able to effect a cure now, should you delay, there may come a time when no human skill can help.

Sincerely Yours,

Converse Treatment Inst.

Mrs. C. E. Converse

P. S.

If there is the least doubt in your mind what is being accomplished by this great discovery write a letter and ask about it to: [list of names]

And, from the pages of the Journal of the American Medical Association (December 2, 1922) comes a report on how the Converse Treatment Company got its list of "suckers" as they call it:

GETTING A "SUCKER LIST" OF EPILEPTICS

How the Converse Treatment Company Gets in Touch with Its Victims

The fact that some physicians, in addition to practicing medicine, also hold some civic office, is probably responsible for bringing to the attention of The Journal one of the crude tricks of a "patent medicine" concern. The Converse Treatment Company, Columbus, Ohio, sell, on the mailorder plan, an alleged cure for epilepsy. The "company," according to the letterhead, has the following men connected with it:

Herbert E. Sanderson, Frank J. Dawson, Nathan Dawson, Edgar J. Martin, M.D.

Sanderson is, apparently, the head of the outfit and, it is said, has been in the "patent medicine" business for forty years. Nathan Dawson appears to be a lawyer, while FrankJ. Dawson, it is said, is, or was, in the fire insurance business. Edgar J. Martin, M.D., is described on the Converse letterhead as "Medical Referee." According to our records, Martin was born in 1868; was graduated by the Medical College of Ohio, Cincinnati, in 1889 and specializes in gynecology. Martin is a member of the Columbus Academy of Medicine,1 and, by virtue of that membership, has qualified as a Fellow of the American Medical Association.

The Converse Treatment has already been dealt with in The Journal. The product was analyzed in 1915 by the A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory. The matter has been reprinted in easily available form in the pamphlet, "Epilepsy Cures and Treatments" (I5 cents), issued by the Propaganda Department. It is not necessary at this time to go into this phase of the subject in greater detail than to quote the conclusions of the A. M. A. Chemical Laboratory in its report on the product.

(Note: there will be more on this in tomorrow's blog post)

These conclusions were:

"Essentially each 100 c.c. of the ["Converse Treatment"] solution contains about 7.3 gm. ammonium bromid, 5 gm. calcium bromid and 8.7 gm. potassium bromid. Calculating from the bromid determination, each dose, 1 teaspoonful
(1 fluidram), contains the equivalent of 14.5 grains of potassium bromid, or each daily dose (4 teaspoonfuls) corresponds to 58.0 gr. potassium bromid."

[After this matter was in type, it was brought to the attention of the Ohio State Medical Association, which, in turn, took up the matter with the Columbus Academy of Medicine. A communication from the executive secretary of the Ohio State Medical Association, just received, states that, at a meeting of the Council of the Columbus Academy of Medicine on November 23, the resignation from membership of Dr. Edgar J. Martin was submitted and accepted. On November 25 a letter was received from Dr. Martin addressed to the American Medical Association and stating that he could not "consent to any interference" with his "private practice" and tendering his resignation.]

The phase of the business to be dealt with in this article is the method employed by the Converse Treatment Company for getting its list of prospective victims. A two-page leaflet (reproduced in miniature with this article; note: see end of the post) is mailed to individuals holding civic office in small towns. The "President of the City Council," the "Justice of the Peace" and the "Mayor" are some of the persons addressed. The matter is mailed in an envelope bearing the return address "30 Smith Place Ave., Columbus, Ohio." The advertising leaflet is signed, as will be noticed, "H. E. Sanderson." Enclosed with the leaflet is a postal card addressed "Mr. H. E. Sanderson, 30 Smith Place Ave., Columbus, Ohio." On the reverse side of the card is a serial number and statement "The number on the postal indicates your name. You need not sign." Then there is space for the names and addresses of the victims of epilepsy or their guardians.

Sanderson offers certain premiums for the names of prospective victims: For four names he will send a dictionary; for three names, a fountain pen; for two names, a cook book, and for one name, a song book!

From the same Journal article comes this image and caption:

"Photographic reproduction (greatly reduced) of a two-page leaflet sent out by Sanderson of the Converse Treatment Co., in an effort to obtain a "sucker list" of epileptics. The "mayor," "president of the city council" or "justice nf the peace" to whom these leaflets are sent is offered trivial bribes for the names of sufferers from epilepsy."

A "Sure Cure" for Epilepsy - Part I - "Plausible, Ingenious, and Despicable"

This post begins the first of three posts on the "Converse Treatment" for epilepsy (named for its "inventor," Mrs. C. E. Converse).

In Part I, below, you will see a 1929 letter (my collection) from the "Converse Treatment Co." to a potential customer, extolling the virtues of the medicine.

In Part II, you will see a similar letter from 1902 (!) from Mrs. C. E. Converse herself (!), kindly shared by my friend (and oft-collaborator!) Dan Cowman, M.D. (one of the country's premiere antique medicine collectors) from his collection.

And finally, in Part III, I'll share photos of an unlabeled Converse bottle in my collection as well as information about this Ohio company that was featured in the classic Nostrums and Quackery as one of the worst offenders among those firms peddling quack epilepsy cures.

You can find links to all of my my previous "patent/quack/proprietary" medicine posts here.

Enjoy!

Columbus, Ohio
March 20, 1929

Mr. S. E. Henry
Malvern, Ark.

Dear Sir: I think you received a letter from Mrs. G. F. Sickinger of Lexington, Ohio, regarding the Converse Treatment in Epilepsy and am glad to send you our book on the subject.

The treatment is a combination of a certain herb with other valuable ingredients. This herb is especially gathered for us at the proper season each year and prepared for use in our Laboratory. Our treatment has been responsible for some remarkable results during the past fifty years and now probably has a wider usage in this disease than any other preparation made. It contains no opiates or other habit-forming drugs.

Purchasing from us by mail is veryconvenient, customers at a distance receiving as careful attention as those who come here personally. For prices, see order blank enclosed.

Yours truly,
Herbert E. Sanderson

As it turns out, the letter from Mrs. G. F. Sickinger to Mr. Henry was probably as much a hoax as the medicine itself: an article in the New York Tribune, January 11, 1911, outlined the scheme used by the Converse Company to attract customers...a scheme it was apparently still using almost twenty years later:

Do you have fits? Or fainting spells? Or sudden losses of memory?

Then perhaps you may receive a personal long-hand note from Miss Ella M. Hussey of Kendallville, Ind. Or if not from Miss Hussey, possibly from Mrs. T. J. Ford, of Hastings, Mich. They both have a friendly word of advice to give you. It is very friendly. And disinterested.
The Tribune is fortunate enough to have in its possession these original notes from the ladies, one to us direct from a reader, the other submitted to The Tribune by the American Medical Association:

A friend told me about your trouble, and I thought yoo might appreciate hearing from me. I never like to talk about this, but, since my relief from that terrible sickness, I always try to help others whenever I can.

To tell you in a few words. At ten years old I was taken with fainting spells. My father, who was a minister of the Gospel, got the best physicians at home and from a distance, but I received only slight temporary relief, and the spells kept getting worse until I had them from a few hours apart to a week apart, and going from bad to worse. Finally we heard that a medicine called Converse Treatment had cured several people. My father had no faith, but sent for it, anyhow, and it helped me from the first.

We feel we can never repay the Converse Treatment Company for what it has done for our family, and I would earnestly advise you to write them about your trouble. They were fair and honest with me.

Hoping you may be benefited as I was, believe me truly a friend.

ELLA M. HUSSEY
Kendallville, Ind.

P. S. You may address your letter just "Converse Company, Columbus, Ohio."


A friend, Mrs. Frank Dawson, spoke of you and asked me to write you. I don't like to talk of this, but my husband's recovery from a terrible malady makes me want to help others

For more than eleven years he suffered with epileptic spells and was treated by four doctor?, besides several kinds of medicine, but to no avail. By accident we learned of the Converse Treatment, and we decided to give it a trial.

I am so glad to say for more than five years he has had no attacks, and is now in the most robust health. He can now do any kind of work.

I am so thankful for such a remedy and would advise yo to write them. You can rely on anything they tell you.

Believe me to be a friend,

Mrs. T. J. Ford

Mrs. Ford, however, let the cat partially out of the bag by the reference to Mrs. Frank Dawson in the opening sentence. Presumably this friend is the wife of Mr Frank Dawson, and Mr. Frank Dawson is secretary and treasurer of the Converse Treatment Company, of Columbus, Ohio. And, among other things, The Tribune is also fortunate enough to possess a copy of the pamphlet, "Epilepsy Cure Frauds," issued by the American Medical Association in 1915. The Converse Treatment Company leads the list of the sixteen quack cures therein described. Perhaps Mr. Dawson was too modest to talk about his own virtues.

To one of the officials of the propaganda department of the American Medical Association we are indebted for this report:

"An interview with Miss Hussey today regarding the Converse Treatment brought out the fact that, in her own words, 'she was only benefited, but not cured.' Though her testimonials as published in the Converse pamphlets and her letters convey the impression of a complete recovery. She has been taking the treatment for ten years, and still has two or three seizures weekly. As might be expected, she has the appearance of suffering from chronic bromism. As to the 'personal' letters sne writes, they are copied by her from a form sent on by 'Dr.' Herbert Sanderson, president of the Converse Treatment Company, who supplies the list of names as well."

How many people have been taken in by this scheme during the year in which it has been worked we have no means of knowing. Probably a great number, for it is very plausible, very ingenious - and thoroughly despicable your ability. Much of the company's direct correspondence seems also to be written with a view to instilling confidence .by appearing to be personal. Such a letter, written in long-hand, is the following, turned over to the Tribune by a man who was luckily more amused than convinced:

[Note Though the names and dates have changed, you will immediately see similarities below with the letter above from my collection!]

I received a letter today from Mrs. Ella Hussey, Kendalville, Ind., asking that I send you my book on Epilepsy.

The strong drugs known as opiates frequently given for this trouble should be avoided.Our treatment relies largely on a valuable herb gathered for us at a distance and especially prepared for use in our laboratory, and has been responsible for some remarkable results. Its success in both old and new cases can be judged by reading the many voluntary letters in the booklet. Some probably describe cases similar to your own.

If you will faithfully observe our directions, we shall be pleased to serve you to the best of our ability.

H. E. Sanderson

Quite so Mr. Sanderson. Perhaps you will be pleased to serve to the best of your ability, if by your ability you mean the power of getting money out of those who trustingly look for a cure and receive only an over-priced drug. Yet if you can find real pleasure in your task, we are sorrier for you than we are for your victims.