Brooklyn Daily Eagle
New York, USA
10 May 1865
The Indian Herb Doctor.
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MORE ABOUT HIM.
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Full Particulars of his Arrest at St Louis.
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The arrest of Dr. Tumblety, whose intimate and confidential
relations with Harold, the conspirator, were first published in the
EAGLE, is thus fully set forth by a St. Louis paper:
The following paragraph from a telegraphic dispatch, was published
in all the papers yesterday morning:
It appears Harold turns out to have been the agent and confident of
the notorious Dr. Tumblety, who lately suddenly disappeared from
Brooklyn.
The "notorious Dr. Tumblety" spoken of, who has for some time past
been massing a fortune in this city, under the nome de plume of the
Indian Herb Doctor, and who had previously assumed the name of Dr.
J. H. Blackburn, was yesterday arrested by a United States
detective, on a charge of complicity with the assassination of
President Lincoln. Dr. Tumblety will be summoned to Washington to
undergo examination. Harold and the Herb Doctor are said to have
been partners in Brooklyn, and this bare fact may have given rise
to the report which is now circulated through the telegraph. The
Doctor maintains that the charge is utterly without foundation, and
it is rumored that he will demand of the Provost Marshal full
restitution or exoneration.
Tumblety is a character of national or international reputation.
His eccentricities and oddities are the subject of general comment
here, and have awakened curiosity in all the principal cities of
the country. He originally started in his career, we believe, in
Rochester, N.Y., where, when quite a boy, he was employed at first
as servant or errand boy in the office of Dr. Lispenard, on
Exchange place, a celebrated special practioner. He afterwards
studied medicine with Lispenard, and graduated in a short time, and
it is stated left Rochester unceremoniously. In 1857 he appeared
in Toronto, Canada, and opened an office on King street, where
crowds of people daily flocked to his rooms to test his wonderful
vegetable cures.
In front of his office was displayed as a sign, a large pair of
buck horns, which he claimed were presented to him by an Indian
chief named "Sundown," a savage of the plains, with whom he was
intimately acquainted. In Toronto he was periodically assailed and
denounced by the resident physicians for practicing without license
and invading upon their rights. Be that the case or not, he
certainly reaped large grains from his eccentric pretensions, and
produced numerous witnesses to attest the skill with which he cured
human ailments. He next visited Montreal, Canada East, and went
through the same programme, being assailed by the regular
profession. The public prints at the time in that city berated the
Doctor extensively, and it is stated that he was compelled to leave
the city on account of cases instituted against him in the courts.
Whether such prosecutions were but part of the persecution he was
subjected to or not, we leave the public to judge.
In '62 the Doctor turned up in Washington City and located his
office on Pennsylvania avenue. He was the general feature of
curiosity in the city, drawing attent[i]on from the distinguished
men of the nation and exciting general remark on account of his
peculiarities of dress. It is said that he would appear in two or
three different outfits upon the street in as many hours, being
always known by his tall form and dignified step, his curly hair
and mammoth moustache.
Often would he be seen down the prominent thoroughfare, mounted
upon a spotted circus horse, richly accoutred, and displaying fine
horsemanship, or at other times would appear upon the promenade
followed by a fine looking mulatto and a mouse-colored hound, which
he still retain[s]. Since that time he has visited New Orleans and
nearly all the principal cities of the United States, meeting
everywhere with ast[o]unding success--the lion among the bloods,
and the gayest of the gay. It is said that he never returns to a
place after once leaving it, but bears with him always, great
pecuniary consolation.
It is stated that several years ago, the Doctor visited Buffalo, N
.Y., and announced to the public, through the columns of the press,
that he would, the day following, meet any merchant of that city on
the steps of the Merchants' Exchange, and there distribute fifty
sacks of flour to the poor. The proprietors of one of the papers,
desiring to know more about the Doctor, telegraphed to Toronto,
inquiring who he was, when the answer came back from the Bank of
Toronto, "His check ir good for $60,000 in this bank." At the
appointed time the Doctor distributed to the poor his fifty bags of
flour, and the next day published advertisements and issued hand
bills, announcing to the too credulous public that he was cure "all
the ills that flesh is heir to." Of course, his charity was more
than repaid.
In this city his history is one of unprecedented success and great
notoriety. His eccentricities of dress and business ingenuity have
been subjects of comment for some time. His offices have been
crowded with applicants for medical relief, and the daily papers
have been filled with notices of his "wonderful cures." It is said
that when he first opened his office on Olive street, he hired a
newsboy to perambulate the streets, with his face painted red like
an Indian boy, and his head adorned with long feathers. This boy
would stand at the foot of the stairs, and deal out to passers
programmes and "dodgers." Most of our readers will doubtless
remember the arrest of the doctor some time ago by the Provost
Guard for appearing in the street in military clothing.