A Wild West Icon: The Traveling Medicine Show

What did folks do for entertainment in the Wild West? Well, yes. A certain element of society occupied themselves with gambling, drinking, and ladies of easy virtue. What about everyone else? I’m talking about the homesteaders, merchants, and school teachers who forged a life for themselves by honest labor. These townsfolk might meet at religious observances or socialize at occasions like barn dances, weddings, and harvest parties. However, most of the time they stayed home and were content to take care of household chores. That changed whenever the Medicine Show rolled into town.

A Wild West Icon: The Traveling Medicine Show by Janalyn Voigt

From the mid-1800’s to early in 1900, a uniquely American extravaganza promoted intriguing products offered by patent medicine companies. Based on the performances of traveling charlatans who stepped into the gap after circuses and theaters were banned in 14th-century Europe, the Medicine Show featured acts usually found in a circus. Jugglers, muscle men, magicians, singers and dancers, and ventriloquists were among the performers. Wild West and Native American themes abounded, although the shows also appeared in others parts of America. Sometimes the shows took on Indian names due to the Indian-named medicines they offered, a variation called a traveling Indian Medicine Show.

"Indian tonics occupied a special niche in old medicine shows, and the Kickapoo Indian tribe salesmen were extremely successful in selling theirs by putting on an impressive show to draw in customers. “New Nationalism” (drum) was Theodore Roosevelt’s Progressive platform in the 1912 presidential election. This 1910 lithograph depicts an Indian medicine show performer trying his best to sell “Outlook Tonic” to a crowd of skeptics." FDA

Smooth-talking “medicine men” billed as “doctors” or “professors” extolled the virtues of elixers, medicines, linaments and ointments from the back of ornate wagons. The slick salesmen convinced their audiences that their potions could remedy almost any ailment, including veneral disease, tuberculosis, colic, digestive ailments, female complaints, and even cancer. Many of the linaments contained snake oil, which gave rise to the term “snake-oil salesman” to describe the dishonest salesman of an ineffective product.

Many of the supposed miracle cures did not pass muster, but buyers wouldn’t realize this until after the show moved on. A few were laced with alcohol, morphine, opium, or cocaine and marketed for children. Actual doctors and medical scholars objected to patent medicines, complaining that they didn’t work, created drug and alcohol dependencies, and kept sick people from seeking professional treatment, In the late 19th century, temperance adherents objected to the use of alcohol in medicines.

This product contained cocaine. Visual motif: Shows young woman emerging from behind a pillar on which is written Brown's Iron Bitters.

Responding the the prevailing pressures, in 1881 drug manufacturers founded “The Proprietary Association” and fought the calls for regulation. They were aided in the mission by the press, which enjoyed advertizing dollars from medicine makers. Despite their efforts, the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 demanded that ingredients appear on medicine labels. It also cracked down on false advertising.

"This is one of five printed, gummed labels for patent medicines marketed as cures for Cholera Morbus, a historical, obsolete term for a gastrointestinal ailment characterized by fever, diarrhea, and vomiting. Each label includes specific medicine names, such as Cholera Balm and McLaughlin's Magic Relief, as well as dosage instructions." Science History Institute, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Not all medicine-show products were “quack medicine.” Some, like Pepto Bismol, Listerine, Bayer Aspirin, Milk of Magnesia. Ex-Lax, and Richardson’s Croup and Pneumonia Cure Salve (modern-day Vick’s Vaporub) withstood the test of time.

I had fun researching traveling medicine shows for The Promise Tree, part of the Montana Gold western historical romance series. In the story, young Liberty Hayes' search for answers to her identity leads her to an unexpected surprise at a medicine show. 

About Janalyn Voigt

Janalyn Voigt fell in love with literature at an early age when her father read chapters from classics as bedtime stories. When Janalyn grew older, she put herself to sleep with tales "written" in her head. Today Janalyn is a storyteller who writes western historical romance and medieval epic fantasy. Romance, mystery, adventure, history, and whimsy appear in all her novels in proportions dictated by their genre.

Learn more about Janalyn Voigt and her books.

  

Pharmacists in Early 20th Century in America and a Giveaway!

Walking through the Detroit Historical Museum many years ago with my kids I loved the underground timeline of a main street through history, including shop fronts. When you get to the brick-paved area it includes a drug store with two old-fashioned show globes hanging in the window and historical products displayed. Something about it intrigued me. 

When I heard the story about my father-in-law sitting on a pair of scissors and having the corner pharmacist stitch up his wound, I found that interesting as well. Even my visit to Colonial Williamsburg gave fodder to my imagination with its charming apothecary shop. Dried herbs hung around the store and glass jars were filled with ingredients. With those thoughts filed away in my mind and reading other things about the history of apothecary I decided to make my hero in my latest release a turn-of-the century pharmacist. 

Apparently there is a disagreement as to whether the first drug store in America was in New Orleans, because of having the first registered pharmacist running it, or one in Fredericksburg, Virginia purported to be the one where Martha Washington once shopped. 

Around the time of the Civil War, scientific methods started being considered more important in the pharmaceutical arts. Several years before that, the first textbook of pharmacy of American origin, Practical Pharmacy by Mohr, Redwood, and Procter, was written. Throughout the century schools of pharmacy popped up around the country, such as the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy in 1823 and the New York School of Pharmacy in 1829. This brought about a more consistent study of pharmacy than apprenticeship alone though druggists still weren’t required to be licensed.

If you thought enteric-coated tablets or gelatin capsules were a more recent development of the 20th century, Parke, Davis, and Company of Detroit began mass producing them around 1875!

The drugstore soda fountain first appeared in the 1880s. They might have served up a refreshing cherry Coke, or perhaps a root beer. I have to wonder if they served the original Coke with its energizing but addictive ingredient of cocaine. The drug store soda fountain became an important Main Street destination in many a small town in America. 

{PD} The Old Design Shop

One of the first things a turn-of-the-century customer might notice in the front window of a local drugstore was a large jar or glass container hanging by a chain or sitting in a stand and filled with colored liquid. This colorful attention getter is called a show globe. Despite the legends of different colors signaling epidemics in the town, this is highly unlikely. Show globes originated back in the time of the alchemist. Like the alchemist, the pharmacist would show off his prowess in mixing chemicals by coming up with different colors. If mixtures of different densities were layered, they could even produce a striped effect!

Inside the drugstore the prospective customer might find any number of tooth powders, cosmetics, and patent medicines on the shelf. They could peruse corked bottles, tins, and jars, to see what was available. Lining the walls were apothecary cabinets. Behind the clear glass doors lurked tinctures and tonics while the herbs they were extracted from were stored in the drawers below. Perhaps you would see a mortar and pestle which the pharmacist would use to ground the dried herbs. 

{PD} 1881

You could ask the pharmacist for help with finding a suitable medicine for your teething baby. He might recommend the patent medicine, Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup, which with its opiate content would most likely put your baby to sleep in a jiffy, while also addicting her and endangering her life. And if you had “female complaints” you might be introduced to Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound. This remedy contained several herbs thought to help women, including black cohosh, but the original also contained a fair amount of drinking alcohol to calm the nerves. Today there is still a version of her remedy on the market called Lydia Pinkham’s Herbal Compound.

You might be given cough medicine which contained horehound, a strong licorice-like flavored herb. Several expectorants were used. Only guaifenesin is still used in drugstore cough medicines today for that purpose. 

Poisonous plants, such as foxglove and deadly nightshade, were discovered to have healing power in small doses. The local pharmacist could use foxglove to create the heart medicine, digitalis, and nightshade could be used to produce the sedative, belladonna. Today you would find belladonna as an ingredient in any number of prescription drugs such as Donnatol. Valerian root with its sedative properties could be used to help gain a good night’s rest. It’s still taken for those properties today. 

And let’s not forget the soda fountain. A pharmacist of the late 1800s and early 1900s would use flavored syrups or find carbonation helpful to drown out the bitter taste of their preparations. This made it logical for the corner drugstore to open a soda fountain. Through the years these became not only a place to meet for a soft drink, but also have ice cream or eat at the lunch counter.  

The role of the pharmacist has changed somewhat. As larger companies have taken over the market, promising savings, the family-owned drugstore is becoming a thing of the past. Gone are the beautifully polished marble counters where customers could hop on a stool and order a treat. The pharmacist works in an enclosed area, dispensing already prepared medications (unless they work in a compounding pharmacy). While drugstore chains have brought savings, they have also taken away the charm of the historic corner drugstore. 

Kathleen Rouser is the award-winning author of Rumors and Promises, her first novel about the people of fictional Stone Creek, Michigan. She is a longtime member of American Christian Fiction Writers. Kathleen longs to create characters who resonate with readers and realize the need for a transforming Savior in their everyday lives. She lives in Michigan with her hero and husband, and the sassy tail-less cat who found a home in their empty nest. Connect with Kathleen on her website at kathleenrouser.com, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/kathleenerouser/, and on Twitter @KathleenRouser

I'm giving away the copy of my newest release, Secrets and Wishes. Please leave a comment to enter the drawing for one randomly chosen commenter to receive a copy of Secrets and Wishes. Ending date is Oct. 21.

Can unexpected love flourish amid the ashes of grief? 

Stone Creek, Michigan - April, 1901: Maggie Galloway and Thomas Harper clash after their sons collide in a fistfight. Both widowed, they're each doing their best as a parent to their children. Outgoing Maggie has dreams for a home of her own and a business to provide for her son as she searches for God's path for her life as a widow. Reserved Thomas struggles to establish his new pharmacy and take care of his four rambunctious children, while wondering how a loving God could take his beloved wife.

When Thomas becomes deathly ill, Maggie is recruited to nurse him back to health. Taking the children in hand, as well, is more than she bargained for, but she is drawn to help the grieving family. Both nurse and patient find themselves drawn to each other but promptly deny their feelings.

A baking contest sponsored by the Silver Leaf Flour Company brings former beau, Giles Prescott, back into Maggie's life. When Giles offers Maggie a position at their test kitchen in Chicago, he hints that, along with assuring her a good job, it will allow them to possibly rekindle their relationship.

But then a charlatan comes to town, and tragedy soon follows. Maggie and Thomas discover the miracle potions he hawks aren't so harmless when an epidemic hits Stone Creek. Thomas and Maggie realize they must work together to save lives.

Maggie finds herself caught up in battles within and without the battle to help the townsfolk in the midst of illness and chicanery, and the battle to know which man Thomas or Giles deserves to win her heart.

Soothing or Deadly? -- A Patent Medicine Tragedy

In the 1800s and well into the early 20^th century, tired mothers in the United States and Great Britain, just like today, longed for their teething babies and toddlers to sleep through the night and for needed rest for themselves. What they didn’t bargain for was that the available remedies could be deadly.

Clear glass bottle once containing Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup. [cc]

What today is considered a Schedule II narcotic by the FDA, which means it’s a controlled substance with great potential to become addictive, was a common ingredient in “patent” medicines. These concoctions weren’t patented by the U.S. Patent Office, but were often trademarked. The deadly, hidden ingredient I’m talking about: morphine.

Without the modern conveniences of electrical appliances and lighting, dishwashers or microwaves, to quickly heat up prepared foods, they were at a greater disadvantage than today’s average mom. Unfortunately, without full disclosure on the ingredients in many prepared remedies, they most often didn’t understand what they were dealing with.

Attractive ad. [cc]

During the late 1840s, Jeremiah Curtis and business partner, Benjamin Perkins, of Maine, began manufacturing and marketing a formula purported to be concocted by Curtis’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Charlotte Winslow. She had been a nurse caring for babies for many years. Her syrup was created to relieve the symptoms of teething.

Advertisements touted that the syrup would relieve teething pain, “soften the gums,” help the child to sleep peacefully, stop diarrhea, and as one ad said, the “cherub” would “awake as bright as a button.” Morphine, indeed, is prescribed to relieve pain, would certainly make a child sleepy, and cause constipation. Mrs.Winslow’s Soothing Syrup also contained alcohol. The attractive ads and testimonies of happy parents spread the popularity of the patent medicine. 

Sadly, an infant or small child could be easily overdosed, dangerously slowing their hearts and causing accidental death. Such a strong narcotic was also likely to cause an addiction early in a child’s life. By 1911, the American Medical Association exposed the syrup as potentially dangerous, labeling it a “baby killer.” Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup was sold until 1930.  

Another ad showing happy mother with content baby. [cc]

Today’s mothers have the opportunity to search out the truth and correct information, assisted by the fact that ingredients must now be listed on the label. While there will always be the potential for human error, reading labels and opportunities to ask questions of your local pharmacist gives a level of protection they didn’t have more than a century ago.

About Kathleen: Kathleen Rouser has loved making up stories since she was a little girl and wanted to be a writer before she could even read. She desires to create characters who resonate with readers and realize the need for a transforming Savior in their everyday lives. She is a long time member in good standing of ACFW and a former board member of its Great Lakes Chapter. Kathleen has been published in anthologies, including the Amazon bestseller, Christmas Treasures, as well as in both print and online magazines. Her debut full-length novel, Rumors and Promises, was recently published by Heritage Beacon Fiction in April, 2016.

Previously a home-school mom of three, she has more recently been a college student and a mild-mannered dental assistant. Along with her sassy tail-less cat, she lives in Michigan with her hero and husband of 34 years, who not only listens to her stories, but also cooks for her.  

Links:

Website: kathleenrouser.com

Facebook: facebook.com/kathleenrouser/

Twitter: @KathleenRouser

Rumors & Promises - Will the scandals of her past destroy his hope for their future?