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Part 4 of 7 - 1906
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Knowledge of a single fact does not reach the meaning of science.
D.D. Palmer, 1910 |
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Daniel David Palmer
Chiropractic's Founder
1845 — 1913 |
Bartlett Joshua Palmer
Chiropractic's Developer
1881 — 1961 |
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Interesting Trial Has Been Begun in the District Court
Law Has Been Raised in Justice Courts But This is First Trial in District Court.
An interesting trial is now in progress in the District Court ??? Judge A.P. Barker of Clinton. It is that of Dr. D.D. Palmer, indicted by the September grand jury for practicing medicine without a license.
This is practically a test case in this vicinity. The law has been brought out in justice courts and before coroners’ juries and in several cases persons have been bound over to the grand jury for the offense. However, this is the first time that a case has come to trial before a jury under this law.
The law is said to apply more widely than the term, practicing medicine without a certificate, would imply. It is believed to cover all cases n which a person cures or professes to cure diseases without a state certificate.
The trial began at 2 o’clock this afternoon in the district court and the attorneys are now busy securing a jury. County Attorney A.W. Hamann and his assistant, C.H. Murphy, are prosecuting while W.A. Foster and Walter Petersen are defending.
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Attorneys Began Arguments the First Thing This Morning
Defense Introduced No Testimony - Case Went to Jury at Noon Today
The trial of Dr. D.D. Palmer on the charge of practicing medicine without a certificate from the state obard of health proved to be a very short one. The case was not taken up until 2 o’clock Monday afternoon. In an hour a jury had been acquired and, before evening adjournment, the state had rested its case.
This morning the defense introduced a motion to instruct the jury to return a verdict against the state but the judge overruled it. Thereupon the defense rested, without examining a single witness and allowed the case to go to the jury upon the state’s evidence.
Assistant County Attorney C.H. Murphy made the opening argument for the state and was followed by Walter Petersen for the defense. W.A. Foster closed for the defense and County Attorney A.W. Hamann for the state. The case went to the jury at noon.
The jury which will decide the case is composed of Dr. Boydston, August Butenschoen, M.W. Butterfield, W. Clemmer, Henry Ljoberenz, F. Rascher, A.N. Rust, A.C. Seaman, I.W. Strathmann, Jr., R.J. Tobin, G. Werthmann, and H.J. Winkler. The first witness for the state was County Recorder Charles Like who testified that Dr. Palmer had never filed a certificate to practice medicine in his office. Then George Backus, a linotype operator, and H.A. Skelley, a printer of the firm of Osborne & Skelley, were put upon the stand to testify in regard to certain printing circulated by the Palmer School and Infirmary of Chiropractic.
The star witness for the state was Miss Avis Fraser, formerly stenographer for the Drs. Palmer. The defense sought to have her testimony stricken out on the grounds that she was a private secretary and her testimony was privileged. The judge, however, allowed it to go in.
The state’s case depends upon the connection of Dr. D.D. Palmer with the publication of “The Chiropractor,” a circular in the form of a magazine. It is alleged that in this Dr. Palmer professes to cure diseases and that, in making this claim, Dr. Palmer violated the law under which he is being tried.
The jury returned a verdict this afternoon of guilty as charged. This is the first conviction in the county court on the charge of practicing medicine without a license. The penalty is a fine of from $300 to $??? to be paid in cash or served out in jail.
Dr. D.D. Palmer, discoverer and developer of Chiropractic, was committed to the county jail at 10 o’clock this morning to serve out his sentence of 105 days imposed upon him...
Will Serve Out Entire Sentence Rather Than to Pay Fine.
Confined to a Cell 9 by 11 Feet in Dimensions and Treated as Ordinary Prisoner.
Dr. D.D. Palmer, who is serving a 105 day sentence in the county jail, was interviewed in his cell Sunday afternoon by a Democrat representative who inquired how jail life was agreeing with him. To this question Dr. Palmer replied:
“It’s not so bad as some people might suppose. The first day naturally was the hardest to bear, the second day was easier and so on until now. I am reconciled to my fate. I am here for a principle which is chiropractic. This is mine. I discovered and developed it. No medical school has ever practiced or used it. In doing so I am not practising surgery, medicine or obstetrics. I am opposed to the practice of medicine in all its branches.”
Will Not Pay Fine.
“Many people are saying on the street that you will soon become tired of jail life and pay your fine in order to be released,” stated the reporter to Dr. Palmer. To this information the doctor replied:
“I will pay no fine and will serve out the entire sentence if required to do so. I feel less and less every day like paying a fine. “A rather interesting incident occurred in connection with my sentence. After I went to jail, several parties phoned to my home and others called, offering to lend me money with which to pay my fine, thinking that I did not have it. I am not in this cell for lack of principal but for an abundance of principle.”
In a Small Cell.
Ever since Dr. Palmer went to jail, the general impression has prevailed over town that he was a prisoner in name only and was given special privileges, etc., while serving his sentence. This is a false impression. When The Democrat representative called at the jail and asked Turnkey Eldridge to see Dr. Palmer, the turnkey picked up his bunch of keys and led the reporter through the jail corridor to the east wing of the jail. At a certain cell, Mr. Eldridge stopped, inserted the key in the steel door and swung it open. Inside this cell, which is 9 by 11 feet in dimensions, was Dr. Palmer. He entered this cell on the morning he began the serving of his sentence and has not stepped out of it since.
In the cell is a cot, two chairs, a small table and a typewriter. The only things the doctor is allwed in his cell that are not found in the cells of the other prisoners, is the extra chair, the table and the typewriter.
Cleans Cell Himself.
A noticable feature about the cell in which Dr. Palmer is confined is its cleanliness. Soon after entering it, Dr. Palmer himself went to work and gave it a thorough scrubbing. Every morning he spends an hour or so in cleaning it and making it as attractive as possible.
Dr. Palmer states he is treated well by all the jail officials and has no complaint to make. “Only one thing I would like to do which they will not allow me,” stated the doctor, and “that is to hang out my sign over the window to my cell.”
Time Passes Quickly. Continuing Dr. Palmer, who by the way is the elder doctor and not the son, as is misunderstood by some, said:
“Time passes very quickly in jail. I spend the time in reading, writing, and studying chiropractc. I am living on the prison food and have requested my family and friends not to send me any delicacies. Prison food is not bad, I can stand it.
As long as my wife and son stands by me, I will be patient and remain contented. You see some friends sent me those beautiful flowers today. Well, I certainly appreciate this kind remembrance, also the visits of my friends who have to the jail to see me.”
HOW TO BE HAPPY IN COUNTY JAIL
Dr. D.D. Palmer Writes a new Line of Valuable Maxims
From the Scott County Jail He Sends Messages of Optimism to the Outside World.
When asked by a Democrat reporter “How to Make a Jail Sentence Easy,” Dr. D.D. Palmer made the following remarks.
Be sure you are in the right.
Keep busy; always have something to do.
Keep your person and room clan and neat.
Don’t worry. Let the fellow who committed the Injustice do that.
If you are in the right you can afford to hold your temper; if in the wrong you can’t afford to lose it.
Be thankful for small favors, hoping to receive larger ones.
Have no regrets. Take your medicine with a smile..
Jails have contained some of the best, as well as the worst men.
Treat the sheriff, turn key and guards with due respect; they have their duties to perform.
Have a clear conscience and a good appetite.
Feel that your cause is just, that you are imprisoned for righteousness. Thus does time pass quickly and pleasantly.
Others have suffered for conscience sake, and the uplifting of their fellow men.
Persecution or prosecution creates sympathy, sympathy generates investigators, investigation produces followers, who become more zealous and persistent in spreading their peculiar
doctrines. Thousands will be benefited by my incarceration. It has already been copied in hundreds of newspapers, and stimulate the growth of our business.
Radical changes cannot be made “on feathery beds of cane;” new thoughts of great importance cannot be born without labor. “Truth crushed to earth will rise again.” DR. D.D. PALMER,
DR. D.D. PALMER PAYS HIS FINE
Discoverer of Chiropractic Released from Jail Saturday
Dr. D.D. Palmer, discoverer of chiropractic and president of the Palmer School of Chiropractic, was released from the county jail Saturday. His fine was paid in full as imposed by the court at
the time he was adjudged guilty of violating the state statute forbidding anybody to practice medicine without a state certificate.
The fine imposed by the court was $350 and the costs were $39.50. This made a total of $389.50. Upon the payment of this sum, the elder Palmer was released.
Dr. Palmer had served out 23 days when released. In spite of thishe was required to pay the entire fine. No reduction was made for the days spent by him in jail at the rate of $2.22 per day,
which is the rate at which fines are served out when prisoners prefer to go to jail and work out the fines imposed.
Much of this information was obtained from Joseph C. Keating, Jr., Ph.D from the Chiropractic History Archives. |
