Saturday, December 24, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: December 24

December 24, 1909 – Dr. Tomasso Jonnesco of Bucharest, Romania, arrived in Rochester this morning and had the opportunity of exploiting the use of his new discovery, stovaine, upon three of the greatest test cases offered him on his tour of this country. The clinic was held this afternoon at St. Mary’s Hospital and was watched by 40 visiting surgeons.

The first case was an 82-year-old woman troubled with a hernia. Her case was such that an operation with the usual anesthetic was impossible because of the weakness of her heart and yet an operation was imperative. The patient submitted to the ordeal with great fortitude considering her age.

Anesthesia was administered between the twelfth dorsal and the first lumbar. Dr. E. Starr Judd of Rochester was the operator. When the new anesthetic was first administered, the pulse of the patient dropped to 40, but within a few minutes, it was up to 53. Six C G of stovaine with a small amount of strychnine was given. Dr. Jonnesco, through his interpreter, explained that ten C G was the usual amount of stovaine, but the patient was similar in strength to a child and a smaller amount was necessary.

At first a slight sigh was heard and that was all. In two and a half minutes Dr. Judd commenced the operation. At times the patient would endeavor to raise her head and see what they were doing, but this was made impossible by a large cloth stretched before her head. It was evident to the surgeons present that the woman was immune from all the pain or from any nervous sensation from the use of the knives or needles.

At the completion of the operation Dr. W. J. Mayo was heard to say, ”It was a success, all right,” and congratulated the Romanian savant. Dr. Mayo then spoke to the members of the medical profession and stated that Dr. Jonnesco had used stovaine in 750 cases since July 1908, and none had shown any ill effects.


Dr. William J. Mayo1

The second patient was a man of 52 years, troubled with inguinal hernia. He, too, groaned slightly at first. Jonnesco, who performed this operation, was cutting around the intestines while the patient conversed with the attendants. In this case, as in the proceeding one, stovaine was put to a great test, other anesthetics being impossible because of the heart action.

Jonnesco’s method of procedure was found to be somewhat different than that employed by the American surgeon, and the second operation required more time as Dr. Judd was unable to sometimes grasp the meaning of the signs of the Romanian. At its completion, Dr. Mayo again said: “It is a good operation, all right; it was very good.”

The third operation was performed on a man who had a bad tubercular arm and amputation was deemed necessary. The stovaine in its case was given between the first and second dorsal vertebrae. The man occasionally groaned as Dr. Judd sawed the arm, but a pin was pricked into his face and it was evident that he was not aware that he had been touched. He was asked if he felt anything when the operation was about half finished, and he replied that the lower part of his anatomy was not affected by the stovaine and that it would have been possible for him to arise and walk.

At the conclusion of the third operation the first patient was called upon and it was found that they recovered from the effects of the stovaine with no ill results and there was no evidence of sickness or vomiting.

Every doctor present at the clinic said it was one of the greatest things they have ever witnessed. In the opinion of Dr. Charles Mayo it was a most successful clinic and fully demonstrated the powers of the use of stovaine as an all anesthetic.

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “40 Surgeons Witness Stovaine Operations. Dr. Jonnesco Demonstrates His New Anaesthetic at Rochester. 3 Patients Conscious as the Knife Is Painlessly Used. Dr. Mayo and Other Medics Pronounce the Work Successful.”; Dec. 25, 1909; pp. 1 & 6.

1https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/William_James_Mayo_2.jpg/220px-William_James_Mayo_2.jpg
___________________________________

Dr. Jonnesco was nominated for, but did not win, the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 1924 for his work with general spinal anesthesia.2




2http://www.revistachirurgia.ro/pdfs/2016-3-222.pdf

               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including: census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records. Both short searches and family history reports available.

Website:  TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at: pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com   



Friday, December 23, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: December 23

December 23, 1914 – Saloons in 19 towns in Northern Minnesota have been closed by agents of the Federal Indian Bureau under the terms of the Chippewa Indian Treaty of 1885, according to F. W. Zollman, attorney for the Minnesota Brewers’ Association. In all 72 saloons out of 304 in the territory covered by the treaty have been closed and the department’s activities have ceased for the present. Zollman said that he does not expect to see any more saloons closed in that region for some time at least.

“Only seven of the towns were actually in Indian country,” Zollman said. “They are Walker, Cass Lake, Bemidji, Federal Dam, Bena, Ball Club and Boy River. The department has authority under the treaty to establish a zone outside the actual Indian country in which saloons must close, but not to extend the closing order all over the treaty territory regardless of whether it is Indian country.”

The Princeton Union; “Nineteen Towns Are Dry. Result of Federal Liquor Crusade in Northern Minnesota.”; Dec. 24, 1914; p. 4.




http://lessbeatenpaths.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/DSC_6421-1024x680.jpg

               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records. Both short searches and family history reports available.

Website: 
TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com 

 


Thursday, December 22, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: December 22

December 22, 1912 – Today’s Minneapolis Morning Tribune’s issue told a heartwarming story about railroad magnate James J. Hill and a young man who had lost his legs.



James J. Hill1

Walter De Barrow, 17 years old, whose legs were recently amputated in a Great Northern Railroad accident, will soon leave Spokane, Wash., to be a Christmas guest of the Hill family in St. Paul.

Hill was interested in the case through the boy’s own initiative. While recuperating at the Spokane poor farm, young De Barrow wrote Hill, shouldering all the blame for the loss of his legs and asking if there was not some railroad work he could do for the Great Northern.


Great Northern Railway2

The St. Paul financier replied at once, offering the youth artificial limbs, an education if he desires it, and the promise of a life job on the railroad. In spite of his age, it is said that the boy has been a wanderer for years and lost his legs while “beating his way” through the West. He has no knowledge of his parents, and when injured, was without friends.

1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:James_J._Hill_at_35.jpg
2Chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063381/issues/1920/
               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records. Both short searches and family history reports available.

Website: 
TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com 

 

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: December 21

December 21, 1916 - Three auto bandits and two policemen engaged in a revolver battle in Crowell’s Drug Store, Lyndale and Western Avenues, Minneapolis, at 10:30 this evening. Patrolman Adolph Hanson was shot above the left temple, but only slightly wounded. Both he and his partner, Patrolman G. E. Patrick, emptied their weapons at the robbers. The highwaymen escaped unhurt in a stolen automobile.

Hanson and Patrick were sitting behind the prescription counter in the rear of the store. Clerk Lester Safro was up front behind the counter talking to his fiancée Lucille Murray. There was $800 in the store, primarily because it was pay day for Northwestern Knitting Mills (later known as Munsingwear Corp., today as International Market Square) and the drug store cashed checks for employees. Evidently the robbers were aware of this.




Munsingwear Ad 1915

Three well-dressed men with white handkerchiefs hiding their faces dashed in and leveled pistols at Safro and Murray. Safro had arranged a signal with the officers in case he was held up. He shouted his signal: “Help yourself!”

The officers heard it and made a jump for the door. Hanson was first. As he poked his head through the doorway into the store, there was the crack of a revolver and he fell through the door behind the counter.

When they entered the bandits took positions evidently by prearrangement. One, with tortoise shell glasses, forced Safro behind the soda fountain and started down behind the counter to the cash register, which is toward the center of the store. Another ran to the other end of the counter and stood beside the door Nelson emerged from. The third stood in the middle of the store beside Miss Murray holding two revolvers, one pointed toward each end of the building.

Which bandit shot Hanson is unknown. As he fell, the officer grabbed the bandit beside the door, but was too stunned to hold his grip.

Patrick stepped through the doorway when he heard the shot and began firing at the bandit behind the counter. The two exchanged shots, firing almost methodically, but neither sent a shot home. The show cases were smashed with half a dozen bullets. The windows were also pierced.

Safro was standing between the two men when they started firing. He dropped to the floor. One bullet whizzed through his trouser leg just below the knee, tearing his underwear, but not even scratching the flesh.

One glancing lead pellet struck Patrick in the breast, but did not pierce his overcoat. He took even more deliberate aim after that and pulled the trigger. His opponent staged and fell against the soda counter, then recovered and crawled over the fountain. Again the bandit fell, but jumped up and ran out the door.

The other two bandits had fled with the first shot, emptying their revolvers as they went. The one with the tortoise shell glasses appeared in the door again a second later and fired twice without effect.

Hanson lay stunned behind the counter, while the shooting went on over him. As the last bandit fled, he managed to crawl to his feet, ran to the door and sent six shots at the automobile into which the robbers were piling.

Detectives were at once dispatched from headquarters when the holdup was reported. The license number of the auto was signaled to every patrolman. It was located half an hour later at Plymouth and Irving Avenues, six blocks from where the bandits answering the descriptions of two of these men, held up the Forest Heights Drug Store last Friday night.

There was no blood in the car and police think the men escaped without injury. The car had been stolen this evening from in front of a store at Third and Hennepin.

That the robbery was foiled was largely luck. Since the special detail of plain clothes patrolmen was put out with orders to “kill holdups,” officers have been watching in all outlying drug stores and other places of business. Hanson and Patrick had three stores to watch and happened to be Crower’s at the right time.

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Police Drive Off Bandit Trio With Shower of Lead. Foil Night Attack on Cash in Lyndale Avenue Drug Store. Officer Wounded; Robbers Get Away. Pretty Girl in Hail of Bullets Thinks Only of Fiance.”; Dec. 22, 1916; pp.1 & 2
               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records. Both short searches and family history reports available.

Website: 
TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com 

 


Tuesday, December 20, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: December 20

December 20, 1803 – “The province of Louisiana, embracing that portion of Minnesota west of the Mississippi, was ceded to the United States by France, who on the first of the month had received it from Spain; the latter objected to the transfer but withdrew her opposition in 1804.”

Hewitt, Girart;
Minnesota: its advantages to settlers. 1868; page 5; http://name.umdl.umich.edu/ABA0393.0001.001




https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/LouisianaPurchase.png

               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records. Both short searches and family history reports available.

Website: 
TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com 

 


Monday, December 19, 2016

On this Date in Minnesota History: December 19

December 19, 1957 – Professional basketball player and coach Kevin McHale was born on this date in Hibbing, Minn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_McHale




Kevin McHale
http://www.timberwolvestickets.com/main/players/Kevin+McHale

               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records. Both short searches and family history reports available.

Website: 
TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com 

 


Sunday, December 18, 2016

On This Date in Minnesota History: December 18

December 18, 1912 – George Swain, 74 years old, living on a farm near Mendota, Minn., tramped through mud and slush of country roads to St. Paul today while suffering from smallpox in an advanced stage. The old man walked so he would not pass the disease to passengers on a train.

He walked into the office of the St. Paul city physician, creating a small panic, as it was obvious that he had smallpox. Swain was taken to the Dale Street infirmary after his walk of several hours.

St. Paul health department officials highly praised the man’s conduct in refusing to expose others to the disease. Furthermore, they expect him to recover, as his physical condition, despite his age, was very good.

Large-scale vaccination finally eliminated smallpox from the United States in 1949, but the disease spread freely in other parts of the world for three more decades.1



Smallpox infection is typically identified by the raised lesions that form on a patient’s face and body.1

The Minneapolis Morning Tribune; “Old Man, Ill, Saves Others. Farmer With Smallpox Walks to City to Prevent Spread of Contagion.”; Dec. 19, 1912; p. 1.

1http://www.amnh.org/explore/science-topics/disease-and-eradication/countdown-to-zero/smallpox

               __________________________________________________________

If you are interested in finding out more about your family history in Minnesota, I specialize in researching  genealogical and historical records in Minn. and western Wis., including:
census records,  birth records,  death certificates, obits, grave site photos, ship passenger lists, marriage records and declarations of intent/naturalization records.  I will visit locations to research local history and county records, as well as take photos. Quick turnaround on MNHS records. Both short searches and family history reports available.

Website: 
TheMemoryQuilt.com > click on Family History

Contact me at:
pjefamilyresearch@gmail.com