Lakeland Evening Telegram Newspaper, November 14, 1911, Page 6

PAGE 8IX Conference Will Seek Relief From the Vagrancy Evil Jacksonville, Fla., Nov. 13.—Flor- ida has become so thoroughly arous- ed over the vagrancy question that many municipalities will have offi- cial representatives in Jacksonville o November 16, 17 and 18 to hear a discussion of the “hobo” feature of A Doctor’s Story How o Trained Nurse Dominated One of His Patients By EDWIN T. MARTIN Copyright by American Press Ass- clation, 1811, 7] the main issue before the Florida|geeeeeeeeeeescseecscsssee # Conference on Charities and Correc- w1y that you, doctor?” 3 h - Ao “Yes, What is 1t?" - There seems to be a d'etormlnallon “My nurse is killing me.” ;‘ on the part of the authorities every-| «who are you?” 1 where to rid the state of its idle| raere was a click, followed by si- hordes whether they be plain tramps, | jance, | waited for some time, but, unworthy beggars or negroes who in-| getting no response, hung up the re- fest all cities and towns while re-| cqiver, turned over and tried to go to tusing to do a week's honest work.|gleep, The effort was unsuccesstul, I it is the latter feature, however, | pocommended the ‘ralned uurses for which is most concerning the author- | all my patients and felt responsible for ities. This is the one which also|thenr And i{’ there had been no re- most concerns the large industries of | sponsibility ‘shatever the fact that a A the state which are actually suffer- ::::.c:i‘l‘:dko:::htlo‘ ;:':“‘:': t;:dmln :",::: A ! ing for labor when there is plenty was qulte enough to keep me awake, at their back doors. The next morning it occurred to The question has become so serious | me that the woman who bad called me that trade organizations are taking|must bave been interrupted at the it up with splendid results. In | ¢elephone. Whoever interrupted her A Jacksonville and Tampa a little in- mhgk:::'h::‘;’fl::: mfi; ':lt:: vestigation showed that the shipping dave been called up by the person who interests of the ports were losing|goq stopped ber and the matter ex- b z thousands of dollars monthly through | piained or the fact would be men- shortage of labor at the docks,| tioned to me during the day while I while the ‘‘quarters” and the very| was making my round of visits. 1 docks where they were so much |Statted out after my morning office needed there were hundreds of ne-|bour had expired expecting a solution groes loafing in idleness. The same .f!‘:‘:“:"m s i s condition has prevailed on a relative| g S Ga ' en o -f"m' o enou: hmm scale In the smaller towns of the|pooo o srained nurse. There was not state. ome of the women, so far as 1 could It has become a matter of common | discover, who was not perfectly satis- knowledge that the labor shortage|@ed with her nurse. There was not s 8 reducing the output of the saw|one Wh: was dollrlo'us or had been de- g ’ Hriou: ring the night. After having AFQ mills and turpentine industries by 8 du \ 4 o . ¢ direct | made the last call on my list | trled to : \‘}[, :u"y :,’“'“,‘_m;::m" 1’:1'“:::9“ t6 r“y think of sowe one 1 might have omit- €y Ll L e : ted. But this was but a momentary nothing of its final computation in thought, for it was impossible, even if dollars and cents when the loss of|J had made no memoranda, that 1 new industries which the prevalence | ghould have forgotten any seriously of this condition will discourage is|eick person I was treating, taken into consideration. I went to bed that uight troubled. The county and city authorities There was a mystery that I did not are showing no mercy to vagrants in | Bk I regarded it as possible that a : . nurse might so dominate a sick person, Jacksonville and Tampa. The au- epecially a woman, that the fnvalid thorities of the smaller towns, Spur-| wouiq not dare to complain of ber to ved on by the activities of their local| ¢the attendant physiclan. 1 had once newspapers, are solving the labor|been treating a woman who when 1 shortage by going at the root of the|sent the nurse out of the room for i ' trouble. © They are making those|something said to me in a burried ) who have lived and fattened in idle- mfi;‘mf.‘rxflml%flh ;l.:: ness heretofore show that they are 5 9 honestly earning a living by six days :..‘l:':m ‘::wfl“me:n?:m of honest toil each week, and not| g might be WIIIN'O for a patient to working just cnough to secure them | guffer under a nurse's care or want ot i the advantage of doubt which the| eare or dominating will power and not E law has heretofore presumed in their| be accorded an opportunity to inform \ favor. the doctor without the mnurse belng The opening of the fruit packing | @Ware of the complaint. season has created a still more active| When making professional visits 1 i demand for labor and has further cut :mu:‘: m’:.::;ot‘:: ::;‘: :‘: °::: down the supply of reliable men who “’“d “l:, by my assistant, who l:ld: p g are attracted away from tne indus-| wy very singular message came about tries which operate the year around. | half an hour ago. A woman tele. Great railroad officials and in- | phoned: ‘Doctor, oh, doctor, do get rid dustrial leaders have declared that|of this nurse! She is’— The messago the shortage of labor is a question :’:&‘;‘:;‘ ‘s' that point, and | heard 4 the states of the south must grapple ore. with and solve in the best possible Wl:: l::':.::lo;dl;:“ :‘;:I::I."l’l‘lo:ed. manner right now. The south is :.“m 1 could not bglle\'e lh:llylm' 1.1°70% entering on a period of remarkable| one of my patients could be out of her 4 é development, and to be hampered by | head without my being informed of the shortage of labor or unreliable la-|fact. The nurse was likely to be aware borers would work irreparable dam-|of it and would surely report the mat- age to hundreds of communitics that | tof to me, There was the uncomforta- ble alternative that some nurse was obnoxious to the invalid of whom she PSS stand to gain hundreds of thousands g SO In AW SENIVTINR. was in charge and the patient had tele- | 13 e phoned me and been stopped by the 3 o WAILES CLAIM UP AGAIN. nurse. There was another horrible “q RS view of the case—that a mysterious, The famous Wailes claim, in which | slow murder was being practiced on Col. Sidney 1. Wailes has for years|one of my patients, who was trylng to sought to secure payment from the ;::"b'“‘i";‘“‘ "‘:h me and was stop- State of a commission of 15 per cent o for the collection from the :mional The next day I started on my round " s R of visits determined to mnote every government of Indian War claims, case of an invalid woman with a view amounting to $1.089,000, and which to determining her relations with her Legislatures of the Jennings, Brow-| purse, Though I was a young prac- ard and Gilehrist administrations | titioner, 1 had fallen into a large prac- have refused to pay in full, will|tice and bad a long list. 1 Soon learned again come iuto the limelight this|that with the multiplicity of responsi- Su- | bilities resting upon me it would not re . Sa be a dificult matter for a nurse to e lezislature, as is generally | yyep ;g it the former were disposed to known, appropriated $25.000 for the do s0. It was impossible for me to at- payment of the commission, which|tend to my patients and make an in- amounts to something like $165.000. | vestigation at every house I called. but demanded that this sum be equal-| As soon as I had fiunished my day’s Iy divided between Col. Wailes, and un: l':;:l‘hond to a d:"&;l:“'lm' ) 3 . | - = o me a young a! dress- the Beard estate. Col. Wailes re z man whe would pass for & week, being considered by the g H wamise. The last Legislature ap- &:l.“:\'e:h( Inw Ill?f:; 1 ropriated an equal sum, but gave| gygterious calls and asked him to 5 ° whole amount to Col. Wailes,| make my round of visits with me the ey Vibating the Beard estate entire- pext day in the guise of my assistant v. Col. Wailes steadfastly refuses| With & view to discovering which one thig Sompromise, also, and declares :.:’.:m ':.‘:-"‘ m I fight for his rights to the day %14 geath y > » ' he o - s THE EVENING TELEGRAM LAKELAND, FLA, NOV. 14, 1911. morning hé reported, a beard he had worn shaved off with the exception of a pair of mutton chop whiskers, a pair of glasses on his nose and a hand bag for surgical instruments. We doc- tors have a peculiarly unmistakable walk when we carry our satchels, and as Jernegan preceded me down to my automobile I noticed that he had got ft to perfection. Indeed, I think be looked more like a medical man than I. 1 took Jernegan into every house where there was a woman patient sick enough to require a traised nurse, "him 1o some casés a8 my peactitioner or speclalist whose views I desired to obtain. While driving ’| from one house to the next I intended to visit I gave him a bhint as to what 1 should require of bim, that be might be prepared to speak with an ap- parent show of knowledge of the sub- Joct, especially when there was a nurse who bad some knowledge of it berself. Though some of my cases were causes of anxiety to me, I could not but be amused at the serious, thoughtful manner he esRered upon sach case I asked him to consider. He even knew enough of a consulting physiclan’s relations with the doctor who calls bim into the case to defer to the other’s judgment while giving an opinlon. And I was surprised at how adroitly he concealed the fact that he didn't know what he was talk- ing about. We entored one house where the nurse, Mrs. Webster, a woman rather older than the averago, was a very mothe v person and evidently devoted to her charge, Miss Edwards, dowp with typhold fever. Or, rather, the pa- tient was In that weak state which follows imm3diately after vae disease. Jernegan put on more professional {m- portance than usual, rerainding me of certain doctors [ have known who conceal their want of knowledge of a case under an appeirance of great wisdom. Presently he said to me: “Please excuse me, doctor; there are certain features of the case that I should like to inquire about from the nurse.” Then, turnfag to her, he add- ed, “Mrs. Webster, [ desire to confer with you in another room.” I glanced at the nurse, and her ex- pression spoke volumes. She could pot refuse to go with him, yet her face told me thut she dreaded to do #0. 8he looked a sort of appeal to me, as though to communicate without speaking that there was a reason why she should not leave the patient. But Jernegan’s face indicated that the in- terview in another room must take place, and the woman led him out. He shut the door behind them and left me with the patient. ; The moment we were alone together an agonized expression came over the fovalid's face. “Have you called me by telephone?* I asked. ‘ 5 “Twice.” “Tell me in a few words what s the trouble.” “She's trring to poison me.” The expression on her face was so full of horror that 1 stopped her. 1 went to the telephone and called for another nurse, then back to the pa- || tient, told her what 1 had done and that I would remain until the arrival of the substitute. This done, I went about the room collecting what medi- clues 1 could find. Meanwhile Jernegan remained in the other room with the nurse. In ten minutes the one 1 had called for ar- rived, and, placing my patient under her care, I went to the room where Jernegan and Mrs. Webster were. Jernegan was looking at a book. Mrs. Webster was standing looking out of a window. She appeared very much troubled. “There's your quarry,” sald Jerne gan, for the first time dropping all as- sumption of being a doctor. “I know it,” I replied. *“The patient bas told me all. Mrs. Webster, will you please come downstairs? We all went to the floor below, where we would not disturd the pa- tient with a scene, and I told Mrs. ‘Webster to prepare to leave the house. She sald she must go to the patient’s room, but I did not permit this, of course, 1 did not like simply to turn the wo- man off because 1 suspected she had some malign intention toward ber pa- tient, and 1 did not like to bave her arrested, for I hardly knew what to charge her with. Notwithstanding the favalid’s condition, 1 went to her, lear- ing Mrs. Webster in charge of Jerne- gan, and asked her if she felt strong enough to tell me what had occurred between her and her nurse. Miss Ed. wards told me that she had seen Mrs. Webster on one occasion dropping a powder in some fluld medicine before giving it. After that Miss Edwards beld in her mouth all the wedicine giv- en her till her nurse’s back was turn- ed, then got rid of it. A sick person Is so liable to see what does not actually occur that | would not act upon this Information without the discovery of some poison on the premises. This could not be done with- out an analysis, #nd 1 feit obliged to discharge Mrs. Webster, though 1 told Jernegan to have her shadowed for a few days. Nooe of the drugs found turned out to be poison. This did not prove that the hurse did not have seme poisca which we could sot flad. 1 of the patient and was forced®fo be- lieve that her fears were the result of her physical condition. 1 therefore paid no further attention to the mat- ter so far as concerned the nurse. After Miss Edwards' recovery, tak- Tl T O ‘ ing up a newspaper one day, 1 noticed The Jackson & Wilson o for attempting to poison Miss Ed- ; wards while the latter was il and un- der ber care. It was charged that the purse's name was not Webster, but Coates; that she was a distant relative of her patient, Miss Edwards had fall- en belr to a large estate, and Mrs. Coates was next o kin and in case of Miss Edwards’ death would Inberit the property. It was charged that the purse had purposely secured the case to get rid of her patient. The case was tried, and everything 1 had seen stated in the newspaper was proved except the poisoning. I think it probable that it was the nurse's intention to get her charge out of the way either by poison or mall- clous domination. But since no polson was found the nurse was acquitted. AT ALL TIMES Strong in supplying the needs and wants of customers. But their LONG suit is in Orange Picking Ladders and Orange Clippers of IMPOUNDING NOTICE State of Florida, Polk County, City of Lakeland. To UNKNOWN: You are hereby notified that your Sow, was on the 11th day of Nov., 1911, found running at large within the limits ia which the running at large of such animals is prohibited, and was impounded, and you are hereby notified and required to claim said animal, pay charges as pre- scribed in Section 155 of the Revised Ordinances and take said animal out within twenty-four hours after the receipt of this notice, and upon you failing to so, sald animal will be sold to cover such penalty and cost as pro- vided. Marks: Crop in one ear and under bit in the other. Color, white and black spotted. This 11th day of Nov., A. D. 1911, W. H. TILLIS, Marshal. the kind that pleases the user. 4 ARMOUR’S FERTILIZER FOR STRAWBERRIES 4 Shot guns and shot gun shells for the sportsman And not last or least, 4 The Celebrated THORNHILL WAGONS All Sizgs 11-15. 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