Medicine in the Old West

If you overindulged during the holidays and suffered from an upset stomach, perhaps you chewed some mint leaves or drank some mint tea to feel better. If so, you were practicing a health cure that was common in the 19th century. This folk custom, according to Medicine in the Old West: A History, 1850 – 1900, by Jeremy Agnew, was the origin of having an after-dinner mint.

This 252-page book, published in 2010 (ISBN 978-0-7864-4623-0) by McFarland, is both an excellent resource about medical care in the latter half of the nineteenth century and a fascinating look at how people in various walks of life managed to survive during that time period. Considering the general lack of knowledge about pathogens, sanitation, hygiene, and diet, it’s a wonder that so many people lived to adulthood. Of course, they didn’t live nearly as long as we do now—in 1880, life expectancy for men and women was around 40 years old.

There are twelve chapters in Medicine in the Old West. After providing a general introduction to medical beliefs, the training of physicians, and general living conditions experienced by various groups of people living on the American frontier in the first three chapters, the author then spends the next two chapters describing numerous “Common Diseases” such as cholera, dysentery, malaria, smallpox, tuberculosis, and others, and “Unmentionable Diseases,” which were sexually-transmitted diseases. Information about each disease is presented clearly and includes how they were treated. One chapter at the end of the book describes dentistry and ophthalmology in the Old West.

Perhaps the most interesting chapter in Medicine in the Old West is Chapter 6, entitled “Healing with Drugs.” Purging the bowels was a common treatment as doing so was thought to purify the body. As Agnew writes, “…neglect of the bowels was thought to send a person down the pathway to appalling disease.” (p. 98). Plummer’s pills, a mixture of jalop, antimony, and colomel, was one very powerful laxative. Exit from Wickenburg takes on a whole new meaning when I think of Jim Plummer now!

Later chapters in the book include information on folk remedies, patent medicines, and Native American healing practices. The heyday of medicine shows was from 1870 - 1920, and Dr. Snively and his daughter Cybele in Witness to a Lynching are archetypes of the pitchman, who was "...a distinguished older-looking man dressed in a frock coat and top hat..." who sometimes "...conferred the title of 'Doctor' on himself..." (p. 193), and the entertainer who sang and danced and then sold the show's product.

Chapter 8, "From Sawbones to Surgeons," deals with common injuries and how they were treated. According to Medicine in the Old West, infection almost always occurred after surgery, due to the fact that surgical tools were not sterilized before use and because doctors did not understand how infection could be prevented until the 1870s and 1880s and even then, many did not take preventive measures when they operated on patients. One section in this chapter describes the use of anesthetics. Four and a half pages are devoted to describing how gunshots and arrow wounds were treated. As in other parts of this book, Agnew intersperses medical information with historical accounts of people who were shot and the doctors who treated them, often quoting from primary sources; these eyewitness descriptions offer readers a sense of how difficult life really was at that time. After reading this part of the book, it is obvious that Heyes was exceptionally lucky in The Fifth Victim.

Another chapter in Medicine in the Old West describes several different job occupations and the hazards that arose from that work. Working in a mine, in a mill, and on the railroad are extensively covered. The section on dynamite (pgs. 160 – 165) is very revealing: Kyle Murtree had to be very brave and not nearly as, well, stupid, as he is often made out to be; otherwise, there is no way he would have survived so long using such a dangerous explosive.

A glossary; two appendices: a list of drugs commonly used between 1850 - 1900, and a description of what a doctor's bag typically contained; along with endnotes, an extensive bibliography, and an index round out Medicine in the Old West.

Contributing a beneficial counterpoint to how gunfights and illness are portrayed in movie Westerns and TV shows, and as an essential reference for writers of Western fiction, Medicine in the Old West: A History, 1850 – 1900 is a must-read for anyone interested in the reality of medical care during this time period.

Publisher's website for the book:
https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/medicine-in-the-old-west/

Blue

An outlaw with a gun, a gringo raised by Mexican bandits--caught between two worlds, the title-named character in Blue has to choose which way of life he wants when he is wounded after a raid on the American side of the Rio Grande and is nursed back to health by a doctor and his daughter.

Terence Stamp plays Azul, later known as Blue; Joanna Pettet is the woman who loves him; and Karl Malden is her doctor father in this 1968 movie. Wally Westmore, the brother of Bud Westmore (the makeup artist for The Pilot), is the makeup supervisor.

Starting off like a spaghetti Western, with very little dialog but lots of action and violence, Blue explores the consequences of a life-altering decision. The outlaw is blond and blue-eyed, taciturn; sometimes he needs no excuse to shoot his gun and other times, he only reluctantly shoots, saying, "Don't prod me." But when he does resort to firing his gun, it is clear he knows how to use it well. Superficially, he resembles Kid Curry but his personality is much darker, more violent.

The scenes between Malden and Pettit are especially good, as they try to make sense of what Blue is going through and help him adjust to life as an honest man. Their neighbors are suspicious, however, and when the Mexicans return, they have good reason to worry. English-born Stamp plays the role well, though his American accent is shaky at best. The end of Blue reverts back to a spaghetti Western, with its action scenes, stirring music, and conflict between Blue and his Mexican "father."

Purportedly set on the border between Mexico and the United States, Blue was actually filmed in the Moab area of Utah and the Colorado River substitutes for the Rio Grande. At 113 minutes, the movie sometimes drags, especially in the beginning, but then it picks up and becomes interesting as a character study of a man who has to decide on which side of the law, and on which side of the border, his loyalties lie.

The Comancheros

Ina Balin reprises her role of Margaret Carruthers in The Comancheros, a 1961 color film that runs 107 minutes. No, wait, it’s the other way around: Miracle at Santa Marta was broadcast ten years after this movie.

But as the female lead in The Comancheros, Balin’s appearance, voice, and mannerisms are all the same as her character on ASJ. In Miracle, she plays the girlfriend of the leader of an outlaw gang; in The Comancheros, she plays Pilar Graile, the daughter of the outlaw gang leader. Early in the movie, Pilar says, “It is unusual to be honest,” a theme Balin’s characters seem to have wholeheartedly embraced!

The story starts off clearly enough, with a duel taking place in 1843 New Orleans. The victor, Monsieur Paul Regret, played by Stuart Whitman, who speaks without a French accent (unlike fellow New Orleans native Michelle Monet in Journey from San Juan), flees to Texas, by way of a riverboat where he meets not only Pilar, with whom he falls in love, but also Captain Jake Cutter, a Texas Ranger played by John Wayne, who arrests Regret by handcuffing him to the bed in which he is sleeping.

A series of adventures ensues as Cutter is determined to bring Regret in to face justice, which would be the gallows in Louisiana. Eventually, Regret escapes and Cutter returns to his Texas Ranger station empty-handed. There, a second plot involving rifles being sold to Comanches, who are attacking white homesteads in the region, takes precedence over capturing the fugitive.

Halfway through The Comancheros, Cutter, now impersonating a gunrunner, encounters Regret again and in a somewhat implausible plotline, they end up as partners trying to find out who is buying the rifles so they can put a stop to the Indian attacks. The rest of the movie deals with what happens when they discover what is really going on.

Jon Lormer has a small role in The Comancheros. While his name may not be instantly recognizable, his appearance is. Lormer is the man with unruly white hair and a distinctive-looking face who played minor characters in five episodes of ASJ (perhaps most noticeably the telegrapher in Jailbreak at Junction City, as well as Wrong Train to Brimstone, Return to Devil’s Hole, The Biggest Game in the West, and The Long Chase). In this movie, he plays an elderly gentleman who would like to dance with Pilar as the riverboat on which they are travelling makes its way to Galveston. However, Pilar spurns him for Regret.

Directed by Michael Curtiz, The Comancheros, like ASJ, has loads of witty banter, especially between Cutter and Regret. Another connection to ASJ is that the movie was partly filmed in the Moab area and views of Castle Valley can be seen at about the one hour and twenty-second minute mark. Also, John Wayne sings "Red Wing" (which is anachronstic because the song wasn't copyrighted until 1907) and he sounds as good as Kid Curry singing in Jailbreak at Junction City.

Despite a somewhat disjointed plotline, The Comancheros has enough action and suspense, as well as a strong female lead, to make it a film worth seeing.

Description of the real Comancheros from the Texas State Historical Association:
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dfc02

Sergeant Rutledge

At its core, Sergeant Rutledge is a murder mystery with social and racial overtones. Sergeant Braxton Rutledge, played by Woody Strode, is a former slave who joined the Army and is serving in the 9th Cavalry, one of the Buffalo Soldier regiments.

In just one of many connections to ASJ, this movie can be seen as a counterpoint to The Bounty Hunter, where Joe Sims, also a freed slave, chooses to make his way as a bounty hunter. Shot in color in 1960 in Monument Valley (and elsewhere), it is directed by John Ford and runs 111 minutes.

Sergeant Rutledge begins as a military court martial in August 1881 and then is told through alternating flashbacks and courtroom scenes, with very nice camera work to indicate when a flashback is beginning. Miss Beecher, played by Constance Towers, relates how she was trying to get from Junction City (another episode tie-in), Arizona, to Spanish Wells where her father, whom she hasn’t seen in twelve years, lives on a ranch. She meets Lieutenant Cantrell, played by Jeffrey Hunter, on the train.

When she disembarks at Spindle Station, where her father is supposed to meet her, the station master is nowhere to be found and after searching without success, the lieutenant and the train conductor must run and hop the train in order not to be left behind. It’s a little strange to see law-abiding citizens doing something Hannibal Heyes and Kid Curry do so routinely! Alone at the isolated station, Miss Beecher encounters Sergeant Rutledge and then the action really begins.

Through flashbacks, the audience learns that Apaches have broken out of the reservation they’ve been forced onto (as in Six Strangers at Apache Springs); that just as the court martial is about to end, a new witness appears on behalf of the defense (like Kid in The Posse That Wouldn’t Quit and Harry Briscoe in The Men that Corrupted Hadleyburg); and like many ASJ episodes, especially those in the third season, there is a character in Sergeant Rutledge who may be based on historical fact, the sutler named Hubble. Despite the different spelling, perhaps he is a relative of the family that ran the Hubbell Trading Post located in northern Arizona, since that family operated numerous trading posts in the region.

Unlike Joe Simms, however, Braxton Rutledge not only understands gratitude, he demonstrates kindness and trust as well. Woody Strode’s portrayal is excellent, as is that of Jeffrey Hunter as his commanding officer and defense lawyer. Sergeant Rutledge is a film not to be missed.

Website for the Hubbell Trading Post:
http://www.nps.gov/hutr/index.htm

Lust for Gold

What is a Western? Is it determined by geography? If so, where are the boundaries—west of the Mississippi to the Pacific Coast of the United States? Then why is The Man from Snowy River, which is located in Australia, considered a Western? Maybe it’s a movie that takes place in the latter half of the nineteenth century? But if so, what about Brokeback Mountain, which is set in the mid-twentieth century?

These questions were going through my mind as I watched Lust for Gold, a 1949 black and white movie starring Ida Lupino (Mia in What’s In It for Mia?) and Glenn Ford and co-starring Will Geer (Seth in Smiler With a Gun). The film starts off in the 1940s but then flashes back to a scene in the mid-1800s involving Mexicans and Apaches before reverting to the present. Soon, though, Lust for Gold flashes back to the late 1800s and most of the movie takes place during this time period, with the final part of the movie occurring in the present time again.

Set in the area around Phoenix, Arizona, and the Superstition Mountains nearby, the parts of the move that take place in the twentieth century are narrated, in a somewhat overwrought style, by the grandson of Jacob Walz, a Dutchman who supposedly found a gold mine worth twenty million dollars. The grandson is searching for the lost mine and becomes caught up in a murder, which a sheriff and his deputy, the character played by Will Geer, try to solve.

The section of Lust for Gold that is set in the late 1800s is much more compelling than the other parts of the movie. Jacob Walz is played by Glenn Ford in a decidedly non-heroic role, and Ida Lupino plays his love interest, Julia Thomas, although she is already married; in reality she is after his gold. It’s very enjoyable to see a much younger Lupino in this movie, which is based on the book Thunder Gods Gold, by Barry Storm.

Lust for Gold reminded me of What’s In It for Mia? in an odd sort of way: Lupino’s character finds a drunken man in front of her shop and brings him inside, who wakes up disoriented in her bed; this is just what Charlotte did in the ASJ episode, when she found Kid and Heyes unconscious by the side of the road (as a result of Mia's machinations). However, the same disdain Mia had when she wasn’t happy with people's behavior is evident in Lupino’s face in Lust for Gold, and she is condescending towards others and also not above resorting to blackmail to get what she wants. Julia Thomas is a nasty person and when, in one of the climaxes, she finds herself between a rock and a hard place, literally, it is a testament to Lupino’s acting ability that one can actually feel slightly sorry for her.

Walz in some ways resembles Danny Bilson and in fact, other aspects of Lust for Gold remind me of Smiler With a Gun and not just because Will Geer is in this movie. It is not revealing too much to say that Walz kills for the gold, just like Danny. There’s also a scene involving Julia and her husband caught in the hot sun without water, while Walz watches them suffer. Walz buys up much of the town where Julia lives and someone makes a comment about “getting as excited as a poker player filling an inside straight flush,” which also reminded me of Danny’s poker skills and ownership of a gambling establishment.

Will Geer, who is so much younger in this film that he is unrecognizable except for his voice, also plays against type in Lust for Gold; in a way, his character is the opposite of Seth because he is definitely not a kindly man. There is not one but two scenes with rattlesnakes, but the outcomes are quite different from what happens in Smiler.

I suppose, since about two-thirds of the 90-minute Lust for Gold occurs in the nineteenth century and all of it takes place in the southwestern part of the U.S., it can be classified as a Western, but it takes almost half an hour before the characters Jacob Walz and Julia Thomas make their appearances. It is only then that the pace of the film quickens and the action, betrayals, and cliffhangers make Lust for Gold a fun movie to watch.

Website for Lost Dutchman State Park (watch the Introductory Park Video to see what the Superstition Mountains look like now and to hear about the search for the mine):
http://azstateparks.com/Parks/LODU/index.html