Clash of the Physicians
by Tim Campbell · first published 27 October 2017 · his original post
If you are a Gray's Anatomy fan you might like this little yarn from olden BG. The setting for this tale of intrigue is mid 1880s Blooming Grove, when the town was still in the old Gradyville location and had basically two dirt streets, lots of whiskey, and plenty of doctors.
The occupation of physician seems to have been quite a popular choice in the day, as there were numerous doctors within just a few square miles of old Blooming Grove. Apparently there was not much of a screening process, for if you wanted to be a doctor or druggist you just hung out a shingle and started practicing. Generally speaking, doctors were also somewhat of a transient lot. While there were some exceptions who were well respected gents of the trade and well trained in their field, others moved frequently, skipping town when the folks discovered they were not so great at what they did, or that they sold proprietary medicines that were, well, fraudulent to say the least, occasionally deadly.
The main characters in this tale we don't really know much about. The Palmer brothers arrived in Blooming Grove in the early 1880s. One hung out a shingle as a physician, the other a druggist. Dr. Thomas W. Callaway had a farm between Blooming Grove and the Barry area and was a respected farmer. Apparently in the early 1880s he also set up shop in Blooming Grove as a part time doctor.
Dr. Henry B. Ransom (1844-1917), a seasoned Cavalry officer of the CSA, 35th Texas, had been practicing at the Grove since the earliest days of old Gradyville, but sometime during the 1880s he moved away. Next door to Dr. Ransom was the practice of Dr. Leonidas Maddox, also a veteran of the 35th Texas Cavalry. Dr. Maddox moved to nearby Corsicana. Perhaps it was the vacancies left by Ransom and Maddox that the Palmers and Callaway sought to fill.
At any rate, there arose on the crisp fall evening of Saturday, October 17th, 1885, an ill wind on the streets of old Blooming Grove. Dr. Palmer's brother John sold liquor out of his apothecary. Had Callaway and the Palmers been sampling the inventory? Perhaps they were simply drinking in one of the local establishments which carried adult libations. After all, it was indeed Saturday night. History does not record the reason for the disagreement between the two doctors, other than that it was a trivial matter. Was it over a patient? Perhaps a woman. The 43 year old Callaway had a new wife, (his second), Belle Z. Davis , the lovely daughter of .....another local doctor. Did Palmer insult her? Maybe they were playing poker and one accused the other of cheating. Whatever the reason, the two physicians had words, which turned to fisticuffs in the middle of the street, and then an outright brawl, witnessed no doubt by a number of inebriated saloon patrons and other passers by. It is recorded that In the course of the struggle, Callaway bit the middle finger of Palmer nearly in two, at the middle knuckle. It is also recorded that Palmer so twisted and mauled Callaway that he lay paralyzed in his bed after the fight, unable to move.
The Texas Courier, a medical journal, carried news of the fight between the doctors, much to the delight of its readers. A couple of months later, in December, the Texas Courier reported that Dr Palmer had in fact acquired blood poisoning from the bite of Dr. Callaway, and that the finger had been amputated, but he was still not expected to live. As we will see in a few moments, he survived the ordeal.
Less than a month after Palmer's finger was amputated, Dr. Thomas W. Callaway was found dead in his office. It was decided that he had died from an overdose of chloral. Chloral was a popular prescription of 19th century physicians. It was used and abused in great abundance. It was a "hypnotic" drug used to treat insomnia. In other words it will put you to sleep. You've heard of someone passing out when somebody "slipped a mickie" in their drink, well that is chloral.
Officially it was recorded that Dr. Callaway's death was either a suicide or an accident. It would be whispered otherwise for years to come among the townsfolk. Did the Palmer brothers help Callaway on to the great beyond? It is destined to be one of the great unsolved mysteries of all time in Grovian history. Dr. Callaway was laid to rest at White Church Cemetery where you can still see his marker to this day.
Now you might think that is the end of the tale, but lend an ear for a while longer. It was another crisp October evening in Blooming Grove,a Friday night, the 8th to be exact, 1886, nine days shy of the anniversary of the fateful Clash of the Physicians, when Dr. Palmer was closing up his office, for he had indeed survived his bout with blood poisoning, and found himself still able to practice medicine with nine fingers. Next door his brother John, the druggist, was closing up his apothecary, when a transient man named Otto Ainsworth stumbled into the store demanding whiskey, which Palmer did in fact stock among his wares. Ainsworth had traveled to Blooming Grove because of the tremendous crop of cotton ready for picking and had been working in the cotton fields. Being a friday he had probably just gotten paid and perhaps spent it. He was already drunk and was waving a piece of paper which he claimed to be a prescription. John took exception to Ainsworth's belligerence and drunkeness and grabbed him by the back of his shirt and escorted him out the front door. He then struck Ainsworth in the face, who returned a swipe with a knife, cutting a swath through poor John Palmer's midsection about 7 inches deep. The newspapers declared that the wound would be a fatal one. Next door, Dr. Palmer heard the ruckus from his office and hurried to the scene to find his brother fatally stabbed in a pool of blood. He gave chase to catch Ainsworth but he escaped.
As far as I can tell, the brothers Palmer disappear from recorded history after the stabbing. Most likely John Palmer is buried in an unmarked grave in White Church Cemetery. No one seems to know what became of the remaining doctor and I have been unable to find record of him anywhere after 1886.
In the Grove the story of the Clash of the Physicians, Callaway's mysterious demise, and the apothecary stabbing would be told and retold with passion for years. Sometimes a twist would be added of a hinted vengeful connection between Dr. Callaway's friends and Otto Ainsworth's murder of Palmer. Some would spin ghostly yarns about sounds of men fighting in the middle of the night, missing fingers, bloody knives and a variety of hallucinations if you went in certain areas around the Grove which I will not divulge in public forum.