The origins of scalping during warfare seem to originate hundreds, if not thousands of years ago in Europe and may have been practiced on this...
A Hair-Raising Tale
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Frontier Doc
An Awful Time for Children
“My poor boy....God has called him home....It is hard, hard to have him die!” President Abraham Lincoln spoke these words shortly after he lost his...
The Misery of Mining in the Old West
For many miners, the report of 34-year-old Dr. Anthony J. Lanza came a “day late and a dollar short.” Near the beginning of the last century, this...
The Death of Chief Crazy Horse
“He has killed me now,” were the reported words of Crazy Horse, one of the greatest chiefs of the Sioux Nations, just after he was bayoneted at...
Watch Those Splinters!
The old rancher carefully studied the index finger of his left hand where he had sustained a deep splinter four days earlier. He knew that his...
Survival in the Cold Old West
A combination of history and legend tells us that near midnight, on the eve of Christmas day 1866, a man appeared on horseback outside the...
The Fastest Killer in the Old West
In August 1873, Dr. J.B. Van Velson, city physician for Yankton, capital of Dakota Territory, reported upon the arrival of some Russian emigrants...
Serpents – Lethal Enemies?
“The first thing...should be to draw a cord tightly around the leg or arm...a short distance above the place bitten....Internally, give the patient...
Hope In a Bottle
“Step right up and git yur bottle of Dr. Jim’s Miracle Tonic. It’s only 50 cents, folks, and will change your life forever!” Suddenly, a stooped...
Medical Desperation
Who knows the number of times that pioneers, cowboys, military men and others in the Old West suffered from afflictions of one sort or another that...
That Cowboy Stench
Having worked in the emergency room as a young physician throughout the 1970s, I learned the difference between human “sweat” and “stench,” as these...
What’s in the Bag?
Colorado Territory, February 1874. Fictional frontier doctor Elijah Baines sat quietly at the bedside of his 64-year-old female patient Sarah, who...