Barthlow, Tenney and Gardner. Dr. Winn also practiced in and about Waynesville and should be mentioned, although he lived four miles west of town at Shallow Ford on the banks of Kickapoo. Not much is known of these early practitioners, and I will refer briefly to only two of them, because of contrasting type and illustrating some peculiarities of early practice.

In the autumn of 1843 Rush Medical College of Chicago opened its doors to students. In selecting a faculty, not only the physicians of Chicago were drawn on, but also those of the surrounding towns. Dr. M. L. Knapp of Waynesville was selected as the professor of obstetrics and the diseases of women and children. In recognition of his ability as a practitioner in these branches among the medical men of the central West, he rode horseback to Chicago, delivered his course. of lectures and then returned to resume his practice in Waynesville.

The other man, Dr. Winn, was a man of large and successful practice, but a hard drinking, hard riding man. On occasions he would ride into the country store and bar room on horseback and run things very much to suit himself. His fame was widespread as a healer of almost miraculous powers. Once when Isaac Funk was eighty miles on the road to Chicago with a drove of hogs he became ill and sent for Winn, who traveled by relay horses to his side and gave him relief, so that he proceeded on his way. This was the sort of professional man whom some preferred drunk to other men sober, a phrase that sounds strange at this day, when drunkenness in a professional man would not be tolerated.

When Dr. Gardner located in Waynesville the physicians were Doctors Ross, Hunt, Harrison, Tenney and Stewart. Not long after Dr. Gardner's location there the cholera broke out. Dr. Harrison early succumbed to the disease, dying with his boots on, and the other doctors fled the town, leaving the entire burden on Dr. Gardner, who labored day and night for weeks. Such service and devotion were so well appreciated by the survivors that for years afterwards his practice was so extensive that it took three riding horses to carry him in making his calls. He was at times so exhausted from the great extent of his professional labors that he was trans

ported to see his patients, lying on a feather bed; as, for instance, to see Timothy Hoblit, who suffered from dropsy.

Recurring to the cholera in Waynesville, it started with the death of a Walker, who had driven hogs to St. Louis. Immediate interment was advised, but the advice was unheeded and a wake held, which helped much in spreading the contagion.

This man lived in a log cabin in the main street, and as his wife died soon after him, leaving six or seven children orphans, the doctor endeavored to get another place for them so the cabin could be burned, but as he failed in this, he took them into his own home, one of the many charitable acts performed by this self-sacrificing man. This was a time of great trial, as so many were ill and died and nurses were so few, owing to so many fleeing from the town, that many were unministered to either in life or death. New cemeteries were laid out, so that bodies might not be carried a distance, some becoming permanent, others in fields now neglected or forgotten.

Wishing to broaden and extend the practical knowledge gained in the office of his preceptor and in his own practice, he attended lectures and graduated from the Cincinnati Eclectic Medical Institute May 26, 1860.

Many of the physicians of an early day had no regular training in a medical college, and their right to practice their profession after the organization of a State Board of Health and the establishment of definite requirements were based on years of practice.

After the building of the Chicago & Alton Railroad and laying out of Atlanta, many moved from Waynesville to the railroad, among them being Dr. Gardner, his wife's relatives, the Howsers, and many others. Drs. Rankin and Stewart also moved from Waynesville to Atlanta, the latter serving in the Civil War, retiring with the rank of colonel. Dr. Gardner located in Atlanta in March, 1866, combining a drug store with his medical practice, in both of which he had an unusual measure of success.

He was a leading spirit in the social life of his community, a patron of higher education in his support of the early academy at Waynesville, and although not affiliated with

any church, a firm believer in the value and paramount importance of moral and ethical training. He was one of the organizers of the Republican party at both Waynesville and Atlanta and stumped DeWitt and Logan Counties during Lincoln's campaigns for President. He was in frequent conference with Governor Richard Yates in the secret service for the Union forces, being a member of the "Union League," and he was a delegate to the Bloomington convention appointed by Abraham Lincoln. He was a warm personal friend of Lincoln and related that "one spring day we were walking along the streets of Springfield and came upon some boys playing marbles. Lincoln joined them in their play, and admonished them that, as they were playing for keeps, that they should play honestly." Even in a game of chance he was always "Honest Abe." This was not the only emancipator that gave Dr. Gardner his friendship. During the first years of his residence in Atlanta he became the friend of Robert G. Ingersoll, that emancipator of free thought in regard to religion, a believer in a better future life, as expressed in the oration at his brother's grave, but a scoffer at the narrow dogma of the last century. Another friend was Barney Wood, a local artist who painted the portrait which has been donated to the historical collection at the Normal University.

Dr. Gardner was 87 years old at the time of his death, June 21, 1905. His activities in the latter years of his life were confined to his drug store, from which he was seldom absent. His wife, son Frank, a physician, and daughter Belle preceded him in death, leaving the following daughters to mourn his loss: Mrs. Carrie Beath and Mrs. Myrtle Safford of Chicago, Mrs. Emma Onstott, Mrs. Warnie Osborn and Mrs. Kate Goulding of St. Joseph, Michigan, and Mrs. Nettie Gill of Michiwauqua, Indiana.

Much of the material for this article was obtained from the obituary notice as prepared by his daughter, Mrs. Onstott, for publication in the Atlanta Argus. In the same issue his old friend, Ben Curry, says: "He was a brilliant and genial man, who rounded out a useful life. We knew him in the long ago, away back in the fifties, when as a doctor he had more to do than any physician we ever knew. His home in

those days was almost a sanitarium, and day and night, year in and out, the doctor knew no rest. Now the great rest that comes to us all has overtaken him, and we trust that he is happily mingling with his loved ones who had gone before."

He was a tall, handsome man, with a lofty brow, a flowing beard and eyes that were mellow with kindness and sympathy, yet piercing with the insight of a keen intellect guiding all that he thought or did. His favorite author was Burns-sage, yet sparkling with wit; like himself, of and for the common people and for their best interests.

He was of the best of the early physicians. He was not only physician, but friend and counsellor as well, and his friends cherish his memory as a precious thing.

"But gittin' back to docterin'—all the sick and in distress, And old and pore, and weak and small, and lone and motherless

I jes' tell you I 'preciate the man 'at's got the love

To 'go ye forth and ministrate!' as Scriptur' tells us of."

A RUNAWAY METEOR.

WILLIAM EPLER.

In the Journal we have read an account of the deep snow, which fell in the winter of 1830 and 1831, and the sudden change, which occurred December 20, 1836.

The writer read a newspaper account of the "Shooting Stars," which occurred November 13, 1833; besides, he has heard the story often told by old pioneers, which to them was a strange mystery.

In the late fall or early winter of 1876 or '77—I wish I could be more definite as to the date-about 8 o'clock in the evening a meteor of unusual proportions passed over Virginia, Cass County, Illinois.

The writer was reading in his home, the window shades were drawn. He observed a flash of light pass the window. He paid but little or no attention to it, thinking it was a neighbor passing on the street with his lantern. A few moments later a loud explosive noise was heard, so much so as to jar the windows. Realizing at once what it might be, he hurried out, only to find everything tranquil and in repose, except for a sound which grew fainter and fainter until it ceased in the far distant west. The course of the sound was sufficiently plain to distinctly indicate the direction from whence the meteor came. Its course was from a few degrees south of west to a few degrees north of east.

John H. Wood, an intelligent, educated gentleman, cashier of the Centennial National Bank, was going from his home down to the business part of town. When at the street corner where the First Presbyterian Church now is he observed a brilliant flash of light in the heavens and a number of flaming meteors, seemingly coming from a common center, instantly disappearing eastward.

Resuming his steps toward town, when crossing the bridge at the village brook on South Main Street, he heard