They were often called upon to save life, give life, and at times to pronounce the end of life. Their medical missions usually occurred over a wide area, at times covering a hundred miles or more.
One such ‘sawbones’ was Dr. Samuel Crumbine, who described his medical practice in the cow town of Dodge City in a book called Frontier Doctor. Arriving from Pennsylvania in the 1880’s, Dr. Crumbine administered to the sick in Ford County, and became one of the nation’s leaders in the field of public health. In 1904, he agreed to serve as secretary of the Kansas State Board of Health, a position he held for 20 years.
His public health campaigns were directed at practices and conditions that led to the spread of communicable diseases, in an era that saw major epidemics of influenza and tuberculosis. In a time when a common public drinking cup and an exposed roller towel were used on trains and in public areas, Dr. Crumbine initiated the use of disposable paper cups and towels. He waged war on houseflies and rats, urging screening of windows and doors, and introducing the slogans “Swat the Fly” and “Bat the Rat”.
One of his campaign slogans came to have a ‘disdainful connotation’ in polite company, when he coined the phrase “Don’t Spit on Sidewalk”. Many preferred the word ‘expectoration’ to ‘spit’, but the good Doctor felt the shorter word drove the idea home. He successfully lobbyed brickmakers in eastern Kansas to stamp the phrase on every fourth brick in their production lines, and soon the sidewalks themselves were carrying Dr. Crumbine’s medical message. These bricks can occasionally be found in the few brick sidewalks still remaining in the state.
His activities brought the country doctor an international reputation in the field of public health, and Dr. Crumbine went on to develop public health crusades which argued for pure food and drugs and warned against misleading labeling practices. After a long and useful career serving the public, Dr. Samuel J. Crumbine, M.D., died in New York City in 1954.
Thanks to the Kansas State Historical Society and the Ford County Historical Society for contributing to this story. For High Plains Public Radio, I’m Debra Bolton, in Manhattan, Kansas.
High Plains History is a production of High Plains Public Radio.
