A Ghoul, a Ghost and a Grisly Murder: The Legend of Dr. Joseph McDowell

[Music] joseph nash mcdowell was in his day one of the most respected physicians in the western united states having built a reputation in several states he came to saint louis in 1839 and opened his own medical school one of the first west of the mississippi river and established a reputation so strong that an 1894 history of 100 years of missouri medicine described him as one of the most conspicuous and best known men in st louis but his reputation was not just based in his medical skill dr mcdowell was to put it mildly and eccentric whose story included body snatching ghosts demagoguery artillery a brown bear and even an accusation of murder most foul it's hard to separate fact from fiction in the life of joseph nash mcdowell but there's a point where both of those become history history that deserves to be remembered born in kentucky in 1805 somewhat fittingly given his lead reputation on april 1st joseph bedell was the son of john mcdowell a military officer who had fought alongside george washington and then in the war of 1812. but instead of following his father into a military career joseph instead chose to follow in the path of his uncle a pioneering kentucky physician who in 1809 was the first doctor successfully removed an ovarian tumor during the epithet the father of ovariotomy ephrem mcdowell became so famous as a physician that his home office and apothecary are maintained as a museum in danville kentucky where a major regional medical center is named after him joseph studied medicine under his famous uncle whom he apparently idolized but the two had a falling out purportedly according to victoria kosner and lorelei shannon's 2015 book missouri's mad dr mcdowell because ephraim refused to support joseph when he asked to marry ephraim's daughter who would have been of course joseph's first cousin unlike his famous uncle joseph went on to earn a medical degree from transylvania university in lexington kentucky there he made the acquaintance of henry clay then a professor at the university who would eventually become speaker of the us house of representatives and u.s secretary of state of mcdowell's time at the university clay said mcdowell had the greatest mind on earth except for its eccentricities mcdowell married the sister of one of his professors dr daniel drake the couple would have 10 children after graduation mcdowell practiced in the east in 1827 he was appointed as a professor of anatomy at jefferson medical college in philadelphia he served on the faculty of the cincinnati college medical department in ohio he developed a notable reputation before relocating to st louis in 1839 there became affiliated with kemper college established by the episcopal church in 1837 the short-lived college failed finally in 1845 was named after episcopal missionary reverend jackson kemper mcdowell along with four other st louis area physicians created a medical department at kemper college st louis's washington university's website says that the lectures delivered by these physicians were the first medical courses taught west of the mississippi river although that claim is disputed when kemper closed in 1845 the medical school became associated with the university of missouri medical school was different in the 19th century the website of washington university school of medicine notes that they were for-profit institutions that were funded by students paying for lectures professors received fees for the courses they taught and maintained busy private practices they were not expected to produce original research students were admitted to medical schools without rigorous preparation and often without college degrees instruction was based almost entirely on lectures laboratory or bedside learning was rare in those days the success of a medical school could depend upon the reputation of its faculty and the college colloquially known as mcdowell medical school benefited from the doctor's reputation a 2012 article in the magazine the confluence published by lindenwood university of saint charles missouri writes mcdowell gained wide acclaim in an entrepreneurial network of young doctors whose startup medical programs differed from european state-run schools because they were more tightly organized around the personalities of individual professors kosner and shannon write that he was loud and opinionated with an overwhelming personality mcdowell's enthusiasm for his teaching inspired intense loyalty among his students mcdowell was however clearly an eccentric for example he was apparently fascinated with andrew jackson and bearing a passing resemblance to the former president dressed like him and tried to mimic his mannerisms the college started failing financially in 1847 kosner and shannon write that with his characteristic energy and enthusiasm mcdowell took on the reorganization of the college part of the process was to construct a new building at 9th and gratiot streets it was a building that was as eccentric as mcdowell the new college included an octagonal building with wings on either side and on the lowest floor of that building there were niches built into the walls that were intended to house the future remains of mcdowell's family that's right he intended to preserve them and display them in the basement of his medical college moreover the structure had an undeniable military appearance emphasized by the placement of cannons on the roof there are various stories about how mcdowell acquired the cannons one story says he melted down the school's bell to have cannons made he also reportedly acquired various arms including several cannons and fourteen hundred antique muskets bought from the army for two dollars and fifty cents each before coming from kentucky by some accounts with a plan to carry on a filibuster to take northern california one cannon was said to have been used by the famous pirates on the feet because well don't all good stories involve pirates and the cannons on the roof are not purely ornamental a 1970 edition of the registry of the kentucky historical society writes many days and nights dr mcdowell and a few of his students were busy engaging in overhauling his arsenal loading and cleaning the guns putting them in place replacing the flints in the musket locks and maintaining the collection the fortress-like design of the mcdowell medical college was intentional the registry of pines joseph mcdowell constructed a thick-walled fortress designed to guard the ideals of his school guard from whom exactly well the outspoken and opinionated doctor might have had more than a few enemies but the building was most likely designed to protect him from catholics the registry continues the late 1840s was the period of widespread anti-catholic feeling in the united states a particular importance for st louis for a large catholic population that built a university that was run by jesuits st louis university began planning for its own medical college in 1841 and shortly thereafter mcdowell school started to struggle financially the registry contends that somehow dr mcdowell came to the conclusion that the jesuits were conspiring to ruin him the always opinionated and never apparently circumspect doctor started making inflammatory anti-catholic speeches this engendered so much excitement and enmity that he carried pistols with him and wore a brass breastplate to protect him from assaults the octagonal fortress-like structure was the registry contends built to enable him to resist any assault that is he had cannons on the roof in order to resist assaults from st louis jesuits and assaults actually did eventually come but for a different reason by most accounts mcdowell was an excellent teacher the registry notes that joseph mcdowell was worshipped by the students in his class where he not only instructed them but amused and entertained them simultaneously one student wrote that he made even the dry bones talk and he was also known as a fine physician as the confluence notes mcdowell's college epitomized the emergent professionalization of medical education this contrasted with the untrained pill vendors that were still common among medical practitioners at the time and one of the hallmarks of this new professionalization that distinguished it from the purveyors of patent medicines was a knowledge of anatomy based on dissection teaching anatomy to these new professional doctors therefore required a steady supply of cadavers to be dissected in fact dissecting a human corpse was a requirement for graduation from a dallas medical school but a 2015 article in the st louis post-dispatch notes early missouri law allowed for hanged criminals to be used for dissection but by 1835 the state outlawed removing bodies from graves for sale or dissection terming the act a misdemeanor the only bodies that could be legally acquired for dissection were criminals who have been executed and whose families did not claim the body that supply was simply insufficient to serve the needs of medical schools and so the post-dispatch writes like a horror tale akin to frankenstein graves were rifled not just for jewelry and other shiny goods but for something far more gruesome fresh corpses to be clear this type of practice wasn't limited to mcdowell or st louis or even the united states or even the 19th century it was a worldwide phenomenon people who professionally stole corpses to be sold to medical schools were called resurrectionists and usually preferred corpses of people who were poor or enslaved or otherwise unlikely to have family with the power to do anything when a relative's body went missing 1788 there was a riot in new york city called the doctor's riot over corpses mostly of african americans disappearing from the city's cemeteries to the city's medical schools it was not always the case that only the graves of the poor were robbed in 1878 the body of congressman john scott harrison some of former president william henry harrison and father of future president benjamin harrison was stolen and later discovered at the medical college of ohio the subject of another episode of the history guy had mcdowell or students been caught in the act of body snatching it would have been both a crime and a scandal but medical schools at the time were adept at keeping their practice hidden mcdowell himself was never officially charged with the crime of body snatching and reportedly admonished students to treat the cadavers with respect was careful not to waste any tissue that could be used for teaching and refused any corpses that appear to have been murdered for the purpose of sale but he almost certainly did engage in the practice kosner and shannon write that mcdowell was known regularly to go on grave robbing expeditions with his students in fact one example was recounted by the doctor himself as told by his cousin in a biography of his uncle published in 1894. when a young german girl that he was treating died apparently he had the body recovered in order to determine the cause but the family caught wind that the body had been stolen and a mob came to the school mcdowell was able to both hide the stolen body and himself pulling a sheet over himself so that he would appear to be a cadaver mcdowell was able to escape discovery because he told his cousin he was warned by the ghost of his dead mother in any case mcdowell and his colleagues developed a reputation for body snatching kosner and shannon noted that they had such a reputation that people of color and catholics would cross the road in order to avoid walking near the college fairly or not mcdowell was even suspected of participating in murder to acquire corpses when the wife of a prominent german immigrant named malter disappeared in september 1849 a rumor spread that her handkerchief had been found behind the college quickly a mob formed intent on searching the college for her remains the confluence writes by friday morning september 14th hundreds of germans in the city's south side were convinced someone had seen a whole bundle of clothing in front of the college mr malter demanded satisfaction and at noon two to four hundred persons collected in the vicinity of the college when they arrived mcdowell according to the confluence looking just like pictures of general jackson his favorite hero stood valiantly by his guns with a fuse in one hand and some locofoco matches in the other the registry describes what happened next most everyone bearing arms within the medical college expected to hear old lafitte cannon open the battle with a thunderous roar but much to their surprise a strong squad of policemen rapidly moved to the scene of the conflict while mcdowell pretended to be infuriated that the police had intervened in fact he had asked the police for protection in a compromise mr malter was allowed to search the grounds of the school for any sign of his wife and he found none the confluence explains why two months later mrs malter was found in alton missouri in the company of a handsomer man to make the story even stranger the doctor apparently included in his collection of medical oddities in the college a collection of live animals including a cinnamon-colored brown bear at least one report says that during the standoff he released the bear on the mob but kosner and shannon wright the bear merely ambled out yawning and did not attempt to eat or maul anyone in fact it seemed rather confused by the whole affair further evidence of mcdowell's grave robbery came during the civil war a kentuckian mcdowell sided with the confederacy and served as the surgeon general for the confederate army in the west several of his sons also served with confederacy his school was taken over by the union and used as a prison when the army took over the building large amounts of body parts were discovered in the basement the post dispatch writes joseph mcdowell was nuts enough bones were found in his basement to fill three wagons perhaps the oddest story among many with joseph mcdowell was his idea of what to do with the remains of his own family several of his children died in infancy and he had each sealed in a glass coffin filled with alcohol apparently an attempt to preserve the remains and placed in a mausoleum behind the school his cousin would later write that he believed that traditional burial stifled the soul and his means of preserving his family would facilitate communication between the living and the dead the most famous story is how he treated the remains of his daughter amanda who died of pneumonia in 1857 at the age of 13. in 1847 mcdowell purchased a cave in the northern missouri town of hannibal the limestone cave kept a constant temperature of 52 degrees mcdowell was reported to store some of his collection of guns and cannons in the cave but also suspended amanda's coffin placed in a copper tube filled with alcohol in the cave and then sealed the entrance with an iron door he only removed the remains apparently when he discovered that locals were breaking into the cave just to view the coffin tour guides that what today is called mark twain cave insist that the cave is haunted by amanda's ghost a ghoul is a creature that digs up the bodies of the dead and as to that dr mcdowell is apparently as close to a real-life ghoul as you can get well it's difficult to prove the stories of ghosts mcdowell claimed that he spoke to ghosts in their persistent rumors of haunting both in the cave near hannibal now called mark twain cave and in the former medical school but the accusation of murder most foul appears to have been merely a misunderstanding based on his fearsome reputation a reputation that certainly led to plenty of enduring legends some claim that dr mcdowell is the model for dr robinson a notorious body snatcher in mark twain's tom sawyer a story that also famously includes a cave near hannibal called mcdougall's cave kosner and shannon conclude that in a span of less than 40 years mcdowell and his strange building created enough horror to last several lifetimes mcdowell medical college was nearly destroyed in the war but he returned and rebuilt it the college eventually merged as part of the history of the washington university school of medicine the remains of the mcdowell family were removed from the mausoleum behind the medical school and are today interned in st louis's famous belle fountain cemetery and as to that point where fact meets legend despite all the macabre stories of the reason that dr mcdowell is generally remembered today when he passed away suddenly of a congestive chill in 1868 he was remembered in local papers rather fondly the st louis daily republican said of him that he was a physician of eminent ability who as a surgeon had few equals in the country instead of lurid tales of body snatching they described him as a man with kind impulses and charitable disposition lamenting dr joseph nash mcdowell with his strongly marked character will retain a place in the historic record of st louis i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guide short snippets of forgotten history and if you did enjoy feed the algorithm by making a comment or clicking that like button if you have suggestions for future episodes please send those to our suggestions email box check out our webpage at thehistoryguy.net and of course we're on facebook instagram and twitter you can book a special message from the history guy on cameo and check out our merchandise teespring.com and if you'd like more episodes of forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe [Music] you

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 100,376

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, st louis, halloween, body snatching, dr Joseph nash mcdowell

Id: UA-I1TfZgaM

Length: 16min 26sec (986 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 29 2021