EXPOSITION.
OF THE
MEDICAL
     OF




S-----HI. WAT
Boston, May 1841. 
 
              AN

EXPOSITION,   &c
   dAN is called upon always to expose knavery and fraud,
t. ..en practised upon himself, or, with  his knowledge, upon
others, by all  the  bonds of social life.   His duty  to  his
fellow-man commands him never to shrink from the under-
taking, but fearlessly to press forward and hold up  to  the
public gaze the trifler with lives and health.
  A certain document, not long since, was issued from the
press, entitled " Testimony in relation to the Death of Mr.
and  Mrs. Gould while under the treatment of Dr. Samuel
M. Watson."   The falsehoods it contains, and the charac-
ter of  individuals  there attacked, demand that its contents
be thoroughly examined, in as public a manner as the state-
ments have  been made.   It cannot be expected that a man
in the last  stages of consumption, perfectly aware of his
situation  and that  the  cold dark  grave already yawns for
its  sacrifice, can  indulge  much  desire of personal re-
venge—far is such  a motive from my mind ;  Truth, the
sacred cause of Truth  and Justice, nerves even my feeble
hand to grasp the pen and show the man up  to others and
himself.
  In your preface, Dr. S. M. Watson, you would  make
yourself  out to be an injured, persecuted man, upon whom
all the collected ire of the medical faculty had fallen j  they
looked with envy to see you curing nine out of ten suppos-
ed incurable cases, and only losing one ' hopeless case that
others  had abandoned as  past remedy.'  The distinction
between a hopeless and an incurable  case is too nice for
me: did  you yourself ever  make  it in actual  practice :
Your promises  were alike to all,—" a  cure within two 
4
weeks."  " I solemnly promise that I can cure you in a few
days," &c.   Ask  your patients—those now living,  forthe
dead tell no tales—they can tell you of many such broken
promises.
  " A diploma is not in itself any evidence of the skill of
the possessor."  Let me tell you, sir, that no one is legally
qualified in this commonwealth to act as an M. D. but un-
der the sanction of the Massachusetts Medical Association.
Your diploma from medical  censors, lawfully  qualified to
give it, (?) was  presented to that body and  refused.   Who
were these censors thus unceremoniously  treated ?   Wa9
the document made out in the same name you now bear?
or was it in  some  other, say  that of your  boyhood when
your parents, in Newport, N. H., called you Simon ?   How
and where  did  you get the diploma?  what date does it
bear ?  If you decline  answering these questions, at least
let us know where  and  by what  authority your name was
changed from Simon to Samuel M. Watson ; otherwise, not
even the public acknowledgement  of one of your  most
prominent friends, that " many a man now walks the streets
who has been in the State Prison, and is none the worse for
it," can save you from suspicion.
  Again, no one ever accused you  as capable even of at-
tempting " any startling innovation in the  science,"—the
articles you use have been used by the medical faculty for
centuries.  A  physician, of whom I enquired, was kind
enough to point me to the following passage, in a work up-
on Blood-letting, by Henry Clutterbuck, M. D.—" It (blood-
letting)  is of great antiquity and was in general use long
before the time of Hippocrates, the earliest writer on medi-
cine, whose  works have reached us, and  who  flourished
considerably more  than 2000 years ago."  Another handed
me this," The first European writer, by whom it (calomel)
was described, was Bequin, in  1608; but the researches of
Mr. Hatchet seem to prove that it was  long known and pre-
pared in Thibet,"—from the United  States Dispensatory,
   Now as  these articles constitute a great part of your
knowledge, not only of medicine but also of disease, (regard-
less of  consequences  you use  them  indiscriminately, ox
rather  alternately, both in  hip-disease  and consumption, 
5
liver complaint and disease of the knee-joint,) you are fully
exculpated from the  charge of  innovation.   It is  unfortu*
nate for yourself and your victims that the experience and
perseverence (your own spelling) of which you so  often
boast, should in the one case prove of so little use, and in
the other be so  blindly obstinate to facts  of daily occur-
rence in your hands.
  The same measure of justice that is given to other phy-
sicians and by which you are so anxious to be tried, would
stamp you and your nefarious practices with infamy;  but
the well informed class in the community are generally un-
willing to have  their weakness, in yielding to your repre-
sentations of certain  cures, made known, and the poorer
have not the ability  to contradict  you ;  depend upon it,
however, that  so far  as my feeble powers will permit, you
shall receive ample justice, and may God prosper the  cause
of Truth.
   The first quotation is from a letter by Mr. R. K. Gould,
 the only brother of Mr. John Gould, Jr., to  Dr. S. M. Wat-
 son, in which the former gentleman  declares the confidence
 entertained by his brother in your practice and  skill as  a
 physician, &c.   Here let us pause and enquire under what
 circumstances Mr.  J. Gould, Jr. wrote to his brother.  He
 was at the house of Dr. Watson, surrounded by the agents
 and representatives of Watson, who constantly filled his
 ears with reports of wonderful cures performed by Dr. W. ;
 and when the Dr. did visit him, was it  not to rehearse, as
 in the case of other patients, some miraculous cure he had
 performed? under  restrictions such as these none but a fa-
 vorable account could possibly have reached his relations ;
 and the unblushing impudence  with  which perfect cures
 were hourly recounted, would in  itself suffice to lull the sus-
 picion of any one,  to whom the opposite picture was never
 presented.
   " Mr. Gould was under my treatment four weeks  before
 he  sent  for his wife, and that, during said four  weeks, my
 treatment made his general health apparently as good  as it
 could be made, with an alarming local affection of his knees,
 of fifteen or twenty years standing, and which was the
            \* 
 cause of his death."  Mr. Gould came under the treatment
 of this  Watson the 5th of June, 1840 ; his wife upon the
 20th of  the same month, but little over two weeks instead
 of four; the account books should have  pointed out the dis-
 crepancy.   The influence of your treatment upon the gener-
 al health of Mr. Gould appears to have been very great, but
 what it was previous to the time when he came under your
 hands, as well as that of Mrs. Gould, the following letters
 from near  neighbors fully show : —

                         New Ipswich, March 22d,  1S41.
     I  have been personally acquainted with Mr. John Gould,
 late  of New Ipswich, for the last twenty-five years previous to
 his death, and Mrs. Gould, his wife, for fifteen  years ; during
 the  above  time they have been able  to attend to their usual
 employments,  although their health has been feeble.   He has
 been disabled  in some measure by a  dropsy of his knee and
 elbow joints for several years past.  I have frequently met
 him  walking in the street previous to his going to Boston for
 medical treatment, and saw nothing  in his  leg like what is
 Ktated by Dr. I. H. Appleton's deposition.   I  believe one of
 his knees was  a little bent. I have frequently seen him walk-
 ing  a half  a mile from his house, with only the assistance of a
 small cane. I have no knowledge of either Mr. or Mrs. Gould
 being  under any medical  treatment for the  last six  or eight
 years previous to their going to Boston.  If the foregoing copy
 of a letter be true, (to be found  on page —,) Dr. Watson thinks
 Mr.  Gould  might have lived one or two years longer, if she had
 not received his treatment.  And I have no hesitancy in saying
 that  it is  my belief that they both  wojld be living and well as
 they had been  for a long time  previous to their death,  if they
 had not been treated  bv Dr. Watson.
                   (Signed)             JAMES  BARR.

                       New  Ipswich, March  22d, 1841.
    I have been intimately acquainted with John Gould, Jr.,
late of New Ipswich, for  about twenty-five years, and have
seen  him very  often,  with the exception of about seven years
from August, 1819,during which seven years I was absent from
 New Ipswich and  saw him o ly occasionally.   I have read the
deposition of Isaac H. Appleton and Emily Appleton, and can-
not agree with  them in  some of their statements, particularl
that  Mr. Gould's knees were bent nearly  at  right angles.
have lived  for  the last ten  years within about a  quarter of a 
I
mile of Mr. and  Mrs. Gould, was not aware that  Mrs. Gould
was not as well as she had been for many years at the time she
went  to  Boston in June, 1840.  Although a feeble woman I
never heard that she had any alarming complaint upon her be-
fore she went to Boston ; I have heard it said that she was bet-
ter than usual the spring of 1840 ; 1 saw her frequently,—never
heard that she was given over by any physician, or  even that
she had any.  Mr. Gould was in  my office a few  days  before
he went to Boston, thought him as well as usual ;  again saw
him a few days after as he was walking towards his house, and
took him into my wagon and carried  him home, he got into the
wagon alone and I did not observe any  increase  of his lame-
ness.  Have frequently  conversed with him  about his lame-
ness,  as 1 felt a sympathy for him being lame myself.  He  al-
ways attributed his lameness  to  the improper use of calomel
and  seemed to have  an antipathy to it.  The death of Mrs.
Gould was so unexpected to most of us th.it there  seemed  to
be a  general desire that Mr. Gould should himself be brought
back  as soon as possible.   And  many thought it  very strange
that his  brother did not go immediately after him.  The im-
pression is prevalent  here (whether that impression is  just or
not) that, if Mr.  and  Mrs, Gould  had not gone to Boston, they
might have been still in the  enjoyment of their usual health.
                  (Signed)          JOHN PRESTON.

   But how did this alarming local affection of twenty years
standing cause his death ?  We have no account of any in-
crease of trouble, arising  from  the swelling of the knees,
until they were opened by Dr. W.   Every physician whom
he  had previously consulted  had told  Mr. G. that to open
those swellings was  death;  and this Mr. G. told Dr. S. M.
Watson, yet, in defiance  of this  unanimous opinion, they
were opened  and he died.  With reason did Dr. J. B.  S.
Jackson (according  to the  deposition of I. H. Appleton)  at
the post-mortem examination decline any further investiga-
tion, after he had examined the  knees—there ivas  sufficient
cause of death !
   When speaking of Mrs.  Gould, we  are told  by  Ss.  M.
Watson  that  her liver was literally ulcerated,  and must
have been in said state " for months ere she came  to  my
house,11 and yet only two days before the death of this  un-
fortunate lady, he stands by her  bed  side, the bed  side of
a dyir."  woman, and tells her " the disease has now all  left 
8
your  system, and all you require is a little time to regain
strength ;"—in two days she was a corpse.
  In  the  course of her illness he pronounces her disease a
scrofula ;  she dies—it is an ulcerated liver.   Why  did he
not clean  it as he  said he  did  in  the case of  Mrs. Breed,
which we shall soon  relate ?   This certainly could not
have been an  incurable or  a hopeless case, until it fell into
the hands of Dr. W., as the testimony of her neighbors fully
shows.  "I therefore feel no rebuke of conscience, nor do I
regret having made a trial to  save them."   In the  Holy
word we read  of those whose consciences are seared as with
a hot iron, those who never know the rebuke of conscience ;
can it allow any one, will it  allow even you to read your
own letter, after the death of Mrs. Gould, to Mr. R. K.
Gould, without a pang ?

                               Boston, July 20th, 1840.
  Mr. Gould :
    Dear  Sir,—About ten days since I discovered unfavorable
symptoms  in the case of Mrs. Gould, your brother's lady  ; and
notwithstanding all reasonable efforts on the part of myself and
others, she deceased  last  night and is to be entombed to-day.
Upon examination  after death every part was found  healthy
except the Liver, which was above half thereof entirely  ulcer-
taed.
  Her husband was a witness of all the treatment and of the
state of the liver, and is clearly of the opinion that she  could
not have survived long, though she had not received the treat-
ment.
  If I may judge from what I know of such cases, she  might
have lived even one or two years, or, with little exposure, she
might have died at any time.    All was intended for the best,
and the best we could do was done ;  consequently there is no
reasonable cause for complaint or regret, nor can I indulge the
thought that any of her relatives will be  disposed to animad-
vert.
  Your brother is doing well and will probably be able  to re-
turn in 2 or 3 weeks.    Tis the wish of your brother that you
exercise your  own judgement in  making the irreparable loss
known to  his children.  It will probably be best to communi-
cate to Mrs. G.'s relatives.    Any future period the remains
can be carried to Ipswich.    Your Brother's general health is
good.   He eats and drinks like a well man ; but I have  found 
9
it best that he keep the bed and chair until the limbs are well.
He would say to you that  all is reasonable  that is doing for
him, and that there is little reason to fear but the result will be
good.
               Very  respectfully your ob't serv't,
          (Signed)              b. M. WATSON, M. D.

   A trial to save them  ! to save  her who might, by your
own acknowledgement, have lived  for years! a trial to save
—with what result ? death, premature death ! ! !  Would to
God it  might ring  in your ears, stand blazoned ever before
your  eyes, till, by a life  of  agony, you showed conscience
was not forever dead !
   " I  have resorted to the only legal steps which the mat-
ter is worthy  of."   And  what were  they?  a threatened
prosecution ; for which, depositions are taken from one  side
only  before two counsellors of law, one of whom acts  also
as attorney in the case.  With the publication of these de-
positions the prosecution vanishes.
   Dr. Watson dares not  prosecute any one who boldly and
 fearlessly tells him the truth, or throws at once the lie in
 his face, however unpalatable it may be to him.
   But I hear this prosecution was not all; an attempt was
 made by Dr. I. H. Appleton and S. M. Watson to expell a
 worthy woman  from the table  of the Lord,  by means of
false charges, which they could not even connect sufficiently
 to make out a reasonable tale.—the truth  was too much for
 them.
   " I have  lost none, except such as could not be cured by
 any one in consequence  of some organ having been irrepar-
 ably injured before they came under my treatment,  as was
 proven  by  post-mortem examination."  There must be a
 cause to every effect; the  post-mortem appearance  was as
 likely to follow from your treatment as from the  disease, if
 w.e may take your own  words.  Let one example for  the
 present suffice.
   A lady (Mrs  Breed) had for some time been under  the
 care of a regular physician, who pronounced  her  in  a  con-
 sumption, with  an abcess  at the upper  part of the right
 lung.  From the representations of friends you were allow-
 ed to see her; pronounced  her complaint the disease of the 
10
liver, and confidently promised a cure.   You treated her—
she died.  There were present at the post-mortem examina-
tion, Drs. Hayward, Gregerson and--------, yourself, Dr.
I. H. Appleton, the dentist, and a friend or two.   The dis-
ease was of the lungs as  her  physicians  previously pro-
nounced,—the liver was perfectly healthy.  The  cool impu-
dence with which you received  this information, and look-
ing round remarked, " I cleaned that liver," was sufficient to
astonish every one.  More cases well be presented, before I
have done with the investigation, of a similar nature.
  " With a disposition to  regard the opinions of all good
people, and with an unwavering reliance upon Divine Prov-
idence, while truth and propriety are my ruling principles,"
&c.
  " We," said I. H. Appleton, speaking of  S. M.  Watson
and himself, in reply to the request of Mrs. Allen  that  a
minister might officiate at the funeral of Mr. Gould, " have
no more confidence in the clergy than in the  medical men."
Dr. Watson has publicly expressed  his disbelief in  a God.
Profession is not always practice;  and this statement  by  a
patient, may serve to show how much of the above quota-
tion is hypocrisy:—" I will here  give you," writes one that
had been under the charge of Dr. Watson, " a  description
of the man's ungentlemanly behavior.   On entering  the
room, and seeing my weak state  and observing the solici-
tude of my friends who  were present,  he  appeared  very
much  excited and made use of very ungentlemanly and pro-
fane language, wishing to know what G—d d—d priest or
minister had  been here :  D—n them, if I had seen them I
would have insulted them."  In one of his visits  to  Mr.
McAlvin, when about  to bleed him, his  lancet  proved  too
dull, he dashed it from him across the room with violence,
and exclaimed, " G—d d—n the thing to h—11."
  In the examination of the effects of Mr. Gould by Messrs.
Chickering and  Shattuck, they found in his pocket-book,
in his trunk,  $S5 ;  upon  a subsequent examination  the
money had disappeared, and Watson's  receipt for  medical
t "eatment was found in its place ;  a cool way to  say the
.east of settling a bill, and which we sincerely hope was
not done till after that remark, made in my hearing,—" I 
11
have a great mind, as I think I would be doing myself but
justice, to put an attachment upon the dead body, for  I do
not suppose  I  shall get a  cent,"—made shortly after de-
scending the stairs from the  room where the remains of Mr.
Gould were laying.
  Having  now examined somewhat minutely the prefatory
remarks, it next remains for me to take  up that  attack on
my own character, to which are attached the signatures of
John Russel  and Leonard Gilbert.   " The former with  a
hip complaint and the latter apparently in the last stage of
consumption."   Yet both  receiving the same  treatment,
and with  what success?  Why did Russel  resort to the
Thomsonians, after receiving the treatment of Watson ? and
 why was he  discharged from the Thomsonian Infirmary ?
 These questions it may be  unpleasant for him to answer,
 and therefore I pass at once to give an account of the  treat-
 ment I  have received  at Watson's  hands, premising that
 there are in my possession certain documents, not with re-
 gard to the medical practice of Dr. Watson, but with regard
 to certain other practices of his in the state of  New-York
 and  ' elsewhere,' which I keep back merely because my ob-
 ject is not to expose the Man but the Quack.
   The statements  made by Russel and Gilbert, with a few
 exceptions, I admitted to be true in my remarks at the Mal-
 boro chapel.  I stated publicly that I had been during the
 summer enthusiastic in Dr. Watson's mode of practice;  so
 much so as to recommend others to  place themselves under
 his  care.  But  now I  thank my God  an opportunity has
 been given me before I die, to expose in its proper light his
 conduct and his falsely called medical practice, to them as
 well as to the public.
   The  following sentence  I pronounce unqualifiedly false :
 " We are told and have seen proof thereof, that  Dr. W. did
 not demand any pay of said Byrne, either for medicines or
 for his services, but  shows undue kindness  to  all his pa-
 tients who  are very poor."   Probably Mr. J. P.  Russel
 knows this fact from experience, and in defending Dr. Wat-
 son's practice so zealously  no doubt he has his reivard.
   Dr. Watson did  demand $ 5,  which is his usual  fee, in
 advance.   I told  him that I  was  not then in funds, but 
12
 would comply with his requisition in a couple of weeks, at
 which time I called at his office and  paid him $5, telling
 him that I hoped I should be able, at some future time, to
 make him some further compensation.   He  replied " that
 will do :  I will cure you for that, and  if you feel disposed
 you can recommend others to my office."  My friends, who
 know of my extreme suffering in  cold weather caused un-
 questionably by the bleeding and the mercury taken under
 Dr. W.'s treatment, know very well that I am not  cured.
 Those who saw me  at  the  Malboro*  chapel will judge
 whether I had the appearance of a  man cured; and yet Dr.
 W. has blazoned my name forth to the world in his hand
 bills as cured!
  I must now speak of the generosity of Dr. W.;  I spoke
 of it at the chapel,—I may speak of it again.  It  is proper
 to say here that I had always received the kindest and most
 gentlemanly treatment from Dr. W., from the first  day I
 made his  acquaintance until  the  evening that I addressed
 the audience at the  Malboro' chapel, where he  stamped
 upon all I had previously  said of his gentlemanly conduct
 the Lie, by his outrageous behavior.   My attack was  not
 upon the man but upon his practice, and he has not, neither
 can he, disprove  a single statement I then made.
  His generosity I shall now speak of and leave the public
to judge of its disinterestedness.   Having always led an
 active life, I felt desirous to obtain  some situation where I
could write, or be lightly employed  in some way that would
not  be injurious to my  health ; I stated this  to Dr. W., he
replied that I had better go to work at my trade, and said I
would work the pains out of  my shoulders.    I then  told
him I had sold my tools;   he  asked how much tools would
cost; I told him $50.   He then told me  to go to any hard-
ware store and get them, and he would be security for the
payment in six months  from  date.  Accordingly I went to
Mr. Holland's store and purchased  to the amount of $22,
not wishing  to put myself under any greater obligation to
 Dr. W. than I could possibly help.
  I here ask if it is possible that I should purchase a set of
 tools and stock then, simply to work two months ?  I never
 said Dr. W. had prolonged my life two months, as is stated 
K5
in the notice.   I said he had saved it, and then thought so ;
as, when I commenced under his treatment, he said to me,
" In one week I will tell you if I can cure you; if I cannot
I will not shorten your life nor injure you, but prolong it."
After the week had expired he told  me " I will cure you."
   In December last he said " that it would be a blessed thing
for me to drive a bread cart, (at that  time I was so weak I
could but with the greatest  difficulty get up  stairs  after
stopping two or three times for want of breath,) protesting
that my  lungs were not ulcerated, and wished me to be bled
again (he had already bled me eleven  times) and take some
more calomel.   I asked him if he was sure my lungs were
as he stated ?  He replied " he knew they were not any more
affected than his, for, if they were, I would not have been able
to have  stood the treatment he had already given me,"—a
virtual acknowledgement  that he had incurred  the risk of
my life, in the first of his treatment; for had my lungs been
affected, as he did not pretend to know whether they were
or not at the first of  his treatment, I could not have lived
 through the treatment he had already given me ! !
   He promised me a speedy and permanent cure; I looked
 forward to a long life, and felt as though I had been snatch-
 ed from the ruthless hand of death and restored to my wife
 and children,—to  my parent, brothers, and sister,—to  the
enjoyment of the society of many dear  friends, and to  a
happy home; these were the motives of my recommending
the Dr.'s treatment.  Under such circumstances, with these
cheering prospects before me,  the tools were  procured, and
I felt confident that I should  soon  be able to pay for them
with my,earnings, and procure more as they might be  ne-
cessary. But the sequel will show that Dr. Watson  plied
the tools far more successfully  than I did..  When other  pa-
tients came to his office and enquired after my health,  the
reply was  that I was cured, well, gone to work .'   The pub-
lic will judge for whose  benefit the  tools were purchased.
He boasted frequently in reference to me that he had " made
me all over anew ;" and, in reply to the questions put him in
relation  to  my health, he would say  a  " most  polished
cure "!!
   As to  the letter, of which an extract has appeared, I will
           2 
14
say a few words :  At the time  the bill  came due for  the
tools, Dr. W. called on me and wished me to give them up to
him, to send them to his house.   I promised  to do so  and
have sent them to him;  but, before  sending, I  recollected
that I had disposed of one article, and wishing one or  two
more (as I had paid a part of the bill) I sent the letter to
Dr. W.  (wishing to deal  fairly  and  honestly  with him) to
know if he was willing I should take the articles out or not,
and  saying, if he was not, I would return all.  The letter
concluded I  think with the extract given as follows :—"  Sir,
For the many favors you have done me, and your kind  and
gentlemanly offers, as well as the favors  received from your
hands, they  are engraven on the tablets of my  memory in
characters not to be erased  but by the hand of death.   For
them, sir, accept this humble but sincere  acknowledgement;
it  is  all that I ha"ve to offer, and  presuming  on your well
known generosity of heart as Well as hand, I feel that they
are acceptable.   I for the  present take  my leave, and sign
myself            Yours, respectfully,
  To S. M. Watson.                   D. P. BYRNE.

  But I ask if it has any bearing, even  in the slightest de-
gree, as to my opinion of his medical (if I may so call it)
treatment ?   I think not, and am sure  it was not intended
to have any reference to that subject.
  I trust  I shall ever duly  appreciate Dr. W.'s  generosity;
but  as  he has seen fit to brand me with the  appellation  of
ungrateful puppy,—as much as  to say, the favors I had re-
ceived from him should for ever seal my lips and prevent
me from  exposing his barbarous practice,— before a large
concourse of respectable citizens, I am compelled to draw
the conclusion, and the circumstances of the case fully war-
rant it, that the Dr. is far  more skilful in handling " tools "
than he is calomel and the  lancet.   I commend the Dr. for
his shrewdness,—children of this world are  ever wise"r  in
their generation than the children of light:  he will be more
careful  the next time into whose hands  he puts edge-tools.
   The base insinuation contained in the following lines—
"D. L.  Hale, the man who keeps the New-England Thom-
sonian Depot in Blackstone street, near Hanover, said to a
gentleman this day that  Dennis P. Byrne was  in  his shop 
15
yesterday and that he gave him ten dollars."  " There may
be thirty pieces of silver in ten dollars."—demands a pass-
ing notice.  You dared not come out boldly and say that I
was bribed, because you knew  it to be false.   The gentleman
alluded to in the paragraph  is Mr. Putney ; the whole of
the conversation between whom and Mr. Hale it would not
answer your ends to report.  The fact with regard to the
money is simply  this :—three days after the lecture I called
at the store of Messrs. Lawson & Harrington, the latter of
whom handed me a $ 10 bill  wraped in a piece of whito pa-
per, with  the name of Mr. Hale written on it.  I had nev-
er seen or known Mr. Hale in any manner  whatever, direct-
ly or  indirectly, till the day on which I received the money,
three  days subsequent to the lecture.  There  were  more  than
thirty pieces of silver in the $ 20 paid Russel, and this the
Dr. said he could afford to pay, because the bill  of one pa-
tient   introduced  by him was already upwards of <f 60.
Your own practices make you suspicious of others.
      COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
 Suffolk, ss.
   To Zenos Allen of  Boston, in the County of Suffolk, paper
 hanger, greeting.
   Whereas Samuel M. Watson of Boston, in the County of
 Suffolk, Physician, has requested us to take the depositions of
I. H. Appleton, Joseph  Willcutt, Jr., Hosea Marble, Fabius
Whiting and others, in perpetual remembrance, and the office
of one of the Subscribers in No. 20 Court St., Boston, and the
twenty-second day of January  in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and forty-one, at seven o'clock in the
afternoon, are appointed the time and place for said deponents
to testify what they know relating to said  matter.   You are
hereby notified that you may then and there be present, if you
see fit, and put such interrogatories as you may think  fit.
   Given under our hand and  seal at Boston  on the twenty-first
day of January in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and
forty-one.
                   B. F. HALLET,       ( Justices of the
                   W. H. WHEELOCK,)  r   ceu  ,a
                                         ' (  Counsellors.
   I certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the  original
Subpoena.                   B. F. HALLET, Just.  Peace.
Why were  not  Zenos Allen  and wife present ?  It ap- 
)6
 pears  they were duly  notified ;  and  their interest in the
 matter one would think might have drawn  them  out ;  but
 no,—read  their remonstrance and the case becomes clear :

                             Boston, January 22d, 1841.
   To Messrs. Benj. F. Hallett,
                 and
             P. S. Wheelock,
   Gentlemen,
    Zenos  Allen having been  notified to attend the taking of
 certain  depositions in perpetuam this evening, in relation to a
 controversy between him and Samuel M. Watson, to be taken
 before you, this is  to give you  notice  that said Allen will pro-
 test against and object to any such depositions being used  on
 the trial of any case in  court between him and said Watson,
 because said Hallett has hitherto acted as counsel  for said
 Watson in said controversy.  Said Allen requests that this pa-
 per may be attached to any depositions that you may take in
 this matter.
                            S. SEWALL,
                                 Att'y to Zenos Allem.

   The first deposition  recorded, is that of Jane Murphy, a
nurse in the house of S. M. Watson.   I will not stop to in-
quire whether Jane ever received the  $ 10 (" Thirty pieces
of silver ")  the Dr. said he should give her, but proceed at
once to consider  the statement of  deponent,  that " Major
Whiting and his wife were in the house as patients.   They
complained very much of the smell, and  were  anxious  to
have it removed.   Mrs. Whiting complained that she could
not come out of her room,  nor open her door."
   In another  place  the witness testifies " the smell was
dreadful from Mr. Gould while he lived."   Now I ask how
it  was possible to distinguish, under these circumstances,
from which the stench arose ?   Dr. W.  complained of it
when obliged to bandage the  knees  of  Mr. Gould, and also
that his bed was  ruined  by the matter  that flowed from
them.   It would  then  have  been perfectly  natural for Mr.
and Mrs. Whiting  to  have complained of  the intolerable
odor, and yet the  body of Mrs. G. not have been the cause;
 it  might, and in all probability it did,  proceed from Mr.  G.
then living.
   The second deposition is by Hosea Marble, in the course 
17
of which he says, " The coffin was then carried down stairs
the most convenient way, and we put it into my covered
wagon that I use for such  purposes."  This I do not hesi-
tate to pronounce a downright falsehood,  and shall prove it
such.   From the entry of the second story a flight of stairs
(the  front) descend, with a  slight curvature  at the top,
straight to the lower entry  into which the front door opetiS
immediately from  Washington street,  (the  number is 276
opposite Amory Hall,) down these the coffin was not taken,
but down the back stairs, in which there  are three square
corners, through a yard, out of a gate, into an alley leading
to Avon Place, into which alley the back-gates of the houses
upon  the right hand side of Avon Place open,  and also the
other houses of the  block  in which  Dr.  W. resides.   Let
any one visit the premises and  then say whether conven-
ience  or secrecy was most consulted in the removal.
   But how is the coffin " tied up in blankets to keep it from
jaming " disposed of? It is placed in a covered wagon, no
hearse with its  mournful color or its solemn pace, to tell the
sad burden going to its lone home,—no friends standing by
to mourn  her departure,—no clergyman  even to pray  for
the departed or for a husband stretched upon  the  bed of
death,—none of these are  allowed, but the body is hurried
away.   Truly there was reason why it should be tied  up
in a  blanket, it might strike  in turning the  corners of the
stair-case, it might hit the gate posts as it was borne thro',
or be injured by coming in contact with  either side of the
narrow alley through which  it was  carried.   There were
no  such  impediments upon the front  side, but  there were
eyes  that would see upon  that  side ; and, Doctor, as you
said of this very event, "if one coffin had been seen going out
of my front door,  by to-morrow  report  would have said
there had been  an  hundred."   Removed as it  was, no  one
could tell from what house  it  came,  and, " tied  up in a
blanket," it might pass the casual observer without suspi-
cion.
  Was  there no secrecy observed ?  Why,  I  was at  this
very time a daily inmate of your house, and yet knew not
of Mrs. Gould's death till after that of  her husband's, a pe-
riod of ten days ; and you, in the presence of witnesses, as-
           2* 
18
serted that you instructed Emily Appleton to deny the fact
of Mrs. Gould's death to Mrs. Allen and others :  was there
no  attempt at secrecy in this ?   How often is the covered
wagon used for such purposes ?
  The depositions of Barrington  and Willcutt contain noth-
ing further of material importance, being simply depositions
that the corpse was taken from  the house of Dr. Watson,
late in the  afternoon of  Sunday  July 19th, in a wagon, de-
posited in a carriage house over night, and put into a grave
the next day.
  The next and most important deposition is that of Isaac
H.  Appleton of Boston, surgeon  dentist.   Deponent,  in
speaking of the condition of Mr. Gould, says, " His  knees
were very much enlarged ; elbow-joints stiff, his right hand
could not be raised to his head ; and in attempting to walk
his legs were bent at right angles, nearly at the knees;  his
body very much depressed, and his frame greatly emaciat-
ed."  Contrast with  this the statement of those who had
for years been  his neighbors and  friends.  Mr. G. told me
himself that, previously to coming under Watson's care, he
could with his left hand  raise a pail of water from the well
and lift it over the casing, and that he could raise his right
hand with ease as high  as his head.   The letters already
published, contradict in  most of the  essential points this
part of the deposition, and  therefore I  will not now dwell
upon it longer.
  "He frequently expressed himself to me and to others in
my hearing, well satisfied with the treatment he was re-
ceiving;  his expression  was, he  was  very much delighted
with it."
  Far  from pleasure were those shrill shrieks,  even now
ringing in my  ears, with which he was borne to  and from
the shower bath, even  while under the influence of mer-
cury; was it delight to him, pale, emaciated, the very phan-
tom of a man  as he had become  under Dr. W.'s treatment,
even in that condition, to be bled and take calomel, to use
his own expression to Mr. Gould, like  " spoon victuals ?"  I
have already shown, from the situation of Mr. Gould, that
it was impossible for him to express himself otherwise than
contented with the treatment of  Dr. W. and  shall not now
dwell on this  point. 
19
  u I had  no thought of secrecy or anything improper in
the proceeding, and they were  such as, under such  circum-
stances, I should have been satisfied with,  if in my own
family."
   What can be the feelings of  a man, when in cold blood,
he can calmly say that he would consent to have the body
of his wife taken out the back way ? to consent that the
wife of his  bosom, the  partner of his  joys and  his sor-
rows, should be taken from his back gate a clay cold corpse
in a wagon?  and deposit  the same in a  barn!  can the
feelings of manhood dwell in  such a breast ? let us turn
from the fact of her burial without a shroud  as too painful
to dwell upon !
   " I introduced  Mr. Shattuck to Dr. Watson.   In the
course of the conversation, Dr. W remarked  that he had
in the course of the treatment  drawn three or four quarts of
blood  from Mr. Gould  and ten gallons of  puss from his
knees," &c.   " I was present all the time Mr. Shattuck was
in Dr. W.'s office and am confident nothing was said of any
 greater quantity of blood being drawn from Mr. Gould, than '
 I have before stated."
   Mr. Shattuck I understand is of opinion that Dr. I. H. Ap-
 pleton was  not present at the  time of that part of the con-
 versation, or, if he was, does not think it such  as represent-
ed by him.   He states  that Dr. W. said he had drawn five
gallons of blood and five  of pus from Mr. Gould ;  and, dur-
ing his practice in Boston, he had  drawn  100  Barrels of
blood from different individuals in this city.

              INTEROGATORY BY S.  M.  WATSON.
   " Have you any pecuniary connexions with said  Watson,
or any interest of a pecuniary nature  in any patients he
may receive through your recommendation or  otherwise ?"

                  ANSWER BY DEPONENT.
   " No :  There is no understanding of the  kind verbal or
written, and never has been.   I have recommended patients
to Dr. W. because, from my own experience and close  ob-
servation of his practice, I believe he could cure in  cases
where others failed." 
20
  Is there not consciousness of guilt in putting  the ques-
tion ?  It is absurd to suppose that any man, however high
an  opinion he might entertain of another, and with no per-
sonal interest, would  be  constantly endeavoring to secure
patients  to the second.  It is,  to say the least, highly im-
probable  that a dentist, with no interest  in  the matter,
would say to a patient, your gums are in a horrid state, you
had better put yourself under the care of Dr. Watson ;  yet
this  Dr.  I.  H. Appleton has said  more than  once.   But
what displays more plainly his disinterestedness in the whole
matter, is the fact  that he has selected passages  from my
former expressions in  favor of Dr. W.'s treatment, and en-
deavored  to procure the signatures of individuals to be at-
tached thereto,—not always however with success ;—'• The
labourer  is worthy of his hire-"   There are other modes
which he has resorted to for  the purpose of securing pa-
tients to  Dr. Watson, and such as will be more thoroughly
exposed in a future page.
  The next and final deposition is that of Emily Appleton,
most of the material  points of which have already  been
controverted.  In  the  course of her testimony she asserts,
" I know of no secrecy as regards the death of Mrs. Gould."
If this were so, why,  upon the Sunday evening when she
returned  home, did she put off Mrs. I. H.  Appleton  with
an evasive reply, to the question " is Mrs. Gould dead ? do
pray tell me all about it," as I am credibly informed she did ;
or why, if there was no secrecy in  the  case, no attempt at
concealment, why was she so much overcome, on meeting
Mrs. I. H. Appleton at Mrs. Aliens after the death of Mr.
Gould, that she could with difficulty be kept from fainting ?
Her conscience was not wholly seared : it  reproached her
with guilt—the guilt of conniving  at  guilt  ! its  voice  was
too strong to be thus put down,—it  would not obey her
bidding.
  It would seem almost impossible for  any  person, in their
sober senses, to have  given the turn to a social conversa-
tion with another, which is  given by the deponent, her
own words are,—" The Monday after Mrs. Gould's death
I saw  Mrs. Allen,—she  enquired of me  how  does  Mrs.
Gould ? I answered, she is doing well,—meaning her im-
mortal part.  She enquired, who takes care of Mrs. Gould ? 
n
and I told her the same that takes care of you and me.  She
replied the  Lord ?  and I then said the Lord takes care of
Mrs. Gould too, he has taken  her to himself.  A short time
Hfter this, in the same conversation, I  told her that  Mrs.
Gould was dead, and the circumstances of her death."
  Was ever such perversion of language, such twisting of a
sentence to meet a particular  end ?  Who that ever enquir-
ed after a friend  in sickness and received for answer  " do-
ing well,"but would presume the  invalid to be even on the
recovery ?   What mortal of every day life would  imagine
the reply to refer to  the immortal part ?  The knowledge
of that lies only  with the immortal.
  The circumstances under which the conversation  between
Emily Appleton  and Mrs. Allen took place,  were these :
Emily Appleton called upon Mrs. Allen the Monday  after
the death of Mrs. Gould, at 9 o'clock, A. M., or  there about;
Mrs. Allen was  at  the  time engaged with her house work,
and a third  person (a lady) was in the room, in general the
conversation was as given in the deposition.   But not in
the course  of this conversation,  nor yet till three hours after,
did Emily  Appleton inform Mrs. Allen that Mrs. Gould was
dead.  She then followed Mrs.  Allen out into the yard and
there told her that Mrs. Gould was dead.   But why did you
not tell me  of this before, Emily ? was the very natural en«
quiry put to her;  " Because I did not know whether that
person (referring to the lady in the house) was a friend to
Dr. Watson or not," was the  answer.
   Dr. Watson in his own preface, refers to " the exagerated
stories, by persons who knew nothing of the facts  and had
no means of knowing, that have been circulated by letters
and otherwise, and particularly  among the friends and rela-
tives of the deceased, in New  Ipswich and elsewhere."
   What suddenly exploding French Gun-Machine this other'
wise may refer to, or where in Christendom this elsev-here is
situated,  I think Watson himself would be puzzled to tell.
Dr. Watson here refers to two letters written by Mrs. '/enos
Allen to her friends in New Ipswich, giving some  account
of the  circumstances connected with the  death of  Mr. and
Mrs. Gould.  Mr. and Mrs. Allen are both members of the
Pine Street  church.   The  first letter, written by Mrs. Allen
to Mrs. Benjamin Davis of  New Ipswich after the  death of 
22
Mrs. Gould, and which is one of those referred to, contains
the following exaggerated story (1): " Watson is a detestable
quack  in  the  opinion of other  physicians;"  the sentence
would  have read much better, and  the opinion been more
strictly correct, if the word " other " had not been inserted,
■—at any rate, it cannot be called an exaggeration except,
perhaps, by the Dr. himself.
  The second letter from the same to the  same, speaks of
Watson's  treatment to Mr. Gould as she then understood
it; the conversation between Emily Appleton and Mrs. Al-
len after the death of Mrs. Gould (already given,) and the
advice  to  certain friends not to place themselves  under
Watson's care.  No very great  exaggeration in this either,
and the closing advice might indeed be required ; it certain-
ly could not  be deemed  amiss, out of place, ill-judged, or
over stated in  such a case—that of life  and death.  These
were the letters referred to, and such were their contents ;
and for these  they were threatened with excommunication
from the church and prosecution before a criminal and judi-
cial tribunal.
  It is not without reluctance that I approach this portion
of my reply;  the intrusion of  a stranger upon the private
grief of friends is not to be attempted unhesitatingly; the
ties of domestic  life, ever  held  sacred, are not to be torn
away with a rash hand.  But  Watson says,  " I  only ask
the same  measure of justice that is given to other  physi-
cians," and by this rule he shall be  judged ;  the  shades of
the departed call aloud for justice! and well  may the dream
of Clarence haunt his midnight hours, who sent them there
before their time.
  Where is the man who is not  excited when he thinks of
the sister he has lost ?  the sister mourns in  vain her broth-
er ! the children lament the parent! the mother bewails her
offspring, and, like Rachel of old,  refuses to be comforted
because they are not!  .
  In  a  boasting  tone  the demand is made  for cases ; and
cases will be given of those now in  the grave,—cases never
pronounced ' hopeless or incurable,'—never attended by any
other quack, and some  of  them never by a  regular  physi-
cian. 
23
  The first case demanding our attention is that of Mrs.
Breed,—it has already been given in sufficient detail  upon
another page.
  I shall  merely allude to  the case of Mrs. Luke,  for I
would spare you all possible compunction, the wife of Capt.
Luke,  whose life you guaranteed to her husband,  on a
Wednesday when he left the city, and the very next Friday
she was a corpse.  Upon  the day of her death  you,  Wat-
son, called after dinner and  directed a portion of medicine.
brought by you,  to  be given her.  Its consequences  were
violent  retching and  vomiting, with horrid  agony,  from
which she for a moment seemed to rally and sat  up ; but it
was for a moment merely,—she sunk back and expired up-
on the sofa.   Your exclamation, in the presence  of the fam-
ily, on  seeing the  cold  clay corpse, "My God  this  is as
unexpected to me as it is to you," does not quite harmonize
with  your language to others, for you had  the effrontery
after  her  death, to  assert  that she lived six weeks longer
than you  expected.
   Comment is unnecessary upon your conduct towards the
child, whom  you said you  could cure, of Mr. Hogan, who
may be found at the store of Ballard and Prince.  Did you
not go out from the room, leaving the child with the  blood
streaming from its arm, telling the mother to tie  it up when
she thought it bled  enough ?  Did you ever call  again ?  In
one week the child  died!
   A  gentleman, by name  Jones, was promised by you a
perfect cure  in two weeks, at the expiration of which time
he was much worse, and objected  to undergo your  treat-
ment any longer,—whereupon you-became very much  ex-
cited  both in manner and  in language, saying no other Dr.
can  take  you out of my  hands and cure you.  Under the
care of a regular physician, he informs me he is  now rapid-
ly regaining his health.
  In  a large hand-bill  issued by Watson, is  inserted  the
name of a gentleman of Methuen as cured,—in consump-
tion.   The gentlemen died in  thirty hours after his return
home, and yet he was able to bear the journey  of twenty-
five iniles very well, for the purpose of  coming  under  his
treatment.
  Mr. Barron of Lowell, put himself under  your care;  in 
24
two weeks you declared the disease had left him, and that
he might return  home ;  he concluded, however, to remain
one week longer under your treatment, at the expiration of
which time he did return home—to die in a couple of weeks.
  Would it be called a regard for truth and propriety that
regulated your conduct towards Miss Gammel, whose arm
you would have left as you  did Mr. Hogan's child,  if the
two sisters had  not refused to allow you to leave the house ?
What language did you use when  she  objected  to  taking
any more of your medicine ?
  Although language like this and conduct to correspond
may be  allowed in the university from which you received
your diploma, (pray where was this university, Doctor, was
it at some university in the state of Georgia, not  mentioned
in the catalogues ?)  it is not tolerated in this part  of the
country, no physician would dare say of his patients  as
you did of Mr. Morgan, when you  heard that he had  warn-
ed others against your practice,—these were your words,
deny them if you dare? " G—d d—m him ! I wish I could
get him once more in my office and give him one more dose
of medicine, and I would then defy him to injure me or to
warn any one against  my  practice."
  But not only these good qualities, even  your  " unwaver-
ing reliance upon Divine  providence," have been styled hy-
vocrisy.   The following document  will no doubt aid  you in
throwing off the cloak, and standing before the world strip-
ped of your borrowed feathers :—

                              Boston, April 17th,  1941.
    I will swear  under oath  when called  upon,  that Simon
Watson, of 276 Washington street, whose name  was  so  for-
merly, and who now styles himself Dr. Samuel  M. Watson,
who originated in New-Hampshire,  that he told me that he did
not believe in a God of reward for good deeds,—nor in a God
of punishment for evil deeds,—nor did not believe in  immor-
tality,—nor did  he believe in a Devil or^any other evil spirit.
That he offered me half of his fees on all patients that  I would
recommend to him whose Bills amounted to thirty dollars, and
twenty dollars on all Bills that amounted to fifty dollars.  And
that he  had caused abortion in New-Orleans, in the course of
 one year, to amount to three thousand dollars, and he meant to 
25
do the same in Boston.  The above I will swear to when call-
ed upon.*

   But you yourself, Dr. Watson, asserted that when at the
South your practice was similar to that of other members
of the Medical Faculty, by prescriptions; if this be so, how
comes it  that they deny the acquaintance ?   The  leading
men of New Orleans deny they ever knew you.
   Not contented with " the results of experience and perse-
verance "  in  the practice of  medicine, you must turn your
attention  to surgery and dabble in that  branch, for which
you are even less qualified than the other, if it be possible
to know less than nothing.   You attempted to tap a lady
(Mrs. Gulliver) residing in Dorchester for dropsy, you fail-
ed and tapped the bladder, rendering the  remainder of her
short existence a burden to herself and painful to her friends.
After a short period of extreme agony and suffering, such
as no tongue can describe, she  expired.  All physicians  it
 is needless to  add  disapproved of the  operation, but  it
 must be  added that you operated without the consent of
 her husband or  family.
    In the  case of Mr, Roup of this city, who died under your
 treatment, your conduct was about the same as in the rest.
 You promised a cure  and the man died ; your visits were
 mostly occupied with  reports of your own marvellous cures,
 and  slander of  the Medical Faculty,  not unfrequently run-
 ning into profanity.   The first dose of medicine you gave
 him you  promised it would cure him.   But  did  not that
 very dose cause a painful and premature death?  Will you
 deny that, if he had [not fallen into your hands, he might
 have lived a much longer time ?  What  are we to conclude
 from such facts as  these ?  a man is well enough to be up
 about his house,—quite comfortable,—supposed  to be in a
consumption,—you  are called,—pronounce  his  lungs not
 affected, and promise  a cure  in fifteen days ;  in one week
after you begin  your visits the man dies.  Your last visit
was on Thursday, at which you ordered ice to be applied  to

   * The signer's name  I will not for the present make public,
yet I have his permission to use it at any time when called
upon.
          3 
26
the head; the next day you did not call to see whether the
patient survived, but Dr. I. H. Appleton, surgeon dentist, did.
  There was one, high in literature, beloved by his friends,
esteemed for his works,
          " He was a man, take him for all in all,
          We shall not look  upon his like again."
Yet this one was induced to place himself under your care
in hopes of obtaining relief from the malady which was  fast
consuming him,—that  relief he found in heaven.   In forty-
one hours after coming under your charge he was no more.
  Enough, full enough, of  these short reports have  been
given you ;  sick at heart and faint  in my undertaking I
falter at the daily developments of your conduct towards
your patients.  My feeble bodily health precludes me  from
the opportunity of collecting  such  a mass of cases as an-
other person might.  The following letters from the friends
of those who have been under your  treatment, require  no
comment of mine  to display your true value, but  tell the
plain unvarnished tale, too often a tale of suffering and woe.

                         Charlestown, April 3d, 1841.
  Mr. Byrne :
    Sir,—Agreeable to your request, I  send you this commu-
nication.  You ask me if I am acquainted with Doctor Samuel
M.  Watson's systewi of medical practice, and if  so my  opinion
of it.  I must say yes, to my sorrow,  I am acquainted with it;
and I  think it one of the most  distressing, prostrating, deadly
systems,  (if so it may be called,) that ever disgraced the name
of medical practice-  And I would warn the community against
it, as a pestilence that wasteth at noon day.   You  may  think
my  language harsh, but I feel that I have some reason to justi-
fy the use of such.
  I will give you my reasons  for the above opinion.   My hus-
band, Mr. William  McAlvin, became a subject of  this perni-
cious practice in the spring of 1838 ;  his health had been fail-
ing for some time from  some, then unknown  cause, but not so
much so but that he attended to his business and did his day's
work everyday : he did not feel himself sick enough to require
a physician, and he had  never,  up to the time of Dr. Weston's
introducing himself at our house, taken much of any medicine ;
I say introducing himself, for he came entirely unsolicited,
either by my husband or myself; his coming was entirely un-
known to U9 until he entered  the house.  But he came, and by
fair and solemn promi-es persuaded him to put himself  under 
27
his treatment ;  he warranted him a perfect cure in two weeks
and not to be taken from his work a day ; and he, like a drown-
ing man catching at a straw, believed him, and he commenced
his work of destruction by administering a large tea-spoon, half
full of calomel ;  the  next  day he ordered and left for him an
emetic composed of tarter emetic, in quantity nearly a half of
a  tea-spoon full, which he  ordered to be put to  half a tea-cup
full of warm water, one tea-spoon full of this to be taken every
half hour until  he had taken the whole ; but three doses had
the most powerful effect I ever witnessed.   The third day he
bled him and continued this course with  some trifling variations
for the space of two weeks, during which  time he bled him
seven times and took, as he Concluded and  I should think it
correct, eight quarts of blood from him.  The second day after
the last bleeding he was attacked with  a strong convulsion fit,
which prostrated him upon his bed, from which he never again
arose for  more than one hour in the course of the day.   His
eye sight, which was  not good before, now failed him very fast;
while  thus prostrated, and suffering under a heavy salivation,
he ordered him to have a pailful of cold water thrown over him
every  night and morning.
   Thus at the expiration  of the time promised foi  a perfect
cure, he was reduced to the most distressing situation imagin-
able,—prostrated in body and mind  ; the action  of his stomach
and bowels entirely destroyed ; rendered totally  blind ; in a
word  he became an  entire wreck of suffering  humanity, and
thus  remained until  Death closed  his sufferings.
   In view of all this, I feel it to be a duty I owe to his memory,
to my God, and  to humanity, to warn every one that conies
within my influence, both  against  Dr. Watson and his  prac-
tices ; for I do hold  the man excusable who will walk deliber-
ately up to his fellow-man and, by assasinating, end his suffer-
ings on the spot,  to what I do the one that will, under the garb
of a  physician, insinuate himself into the  confidence of, and
play upon the feelings of the sick, and then treat with scoffs,
jeers, and profanity,  the anxious solicitude of friends.
   Permit me here to  mention some of the language made use of
by him upon one occasion in the presence of a number of my
friends.  I am aware  the language is not proper to repeat, but
I can give you no idea of it unless I do.   He came in one day,
and  observing  a number of our friends in the room, he said,
what is the matter here ?   I told him I thought Mr. McAlvin
very sick ; he says, "You are frightened,—it is always so ; you
collect around you a host of friends and d—d old women, and
then,  ' Oh ! he'll die, he'll  die !'  G—d d—m it I defy him to
die,—he can't die."   A person present, who was shocked  at
beholding the violence of his passion and the profanity of  his 
28
 language, says, " Why, Dr., you must allow that he is in  the
 hands of the Almighty !"  No, says the Dr., " I allow no such
 a thing ; the Almighty has no more business with him than  the
 Devil has."  This scene made an impression upon my care-
 worn feelings, never to be erased but by the hand of Death.
   Many  will say,  oh ! you are not obliged to employ such an
 one ;—we might as well siy of the unsuspecting bird, that it
 was  not obliged to be overpowered by the deadly serpent •  but
 the serpent is  none the less dangerous for possessing the pow-
 er to assume at times a fascinating manner, and make a  great
 display of a quick motioned and artful tongue.
   Sir, you are at liberty  to use this  as you please.
             (Signed)         MRS. LUCIA McALVIN.

   P.  S.   It will hardly be credited,—Dr. Watson, after you
 had thns promised a cure, you came down stairs one morning,
 from the bed-side of your patient, and requesting a private  in-
 terview with his wife, asked permission, in case of his death,
 to make  a post-mortem examination.  This was the first infor-
 mation you ever gave her of the probable fatality of the case.

    Mr.  Byrne :—Sir,—We have, as you requested, written a
 statement of Mrs. Shipley's sickness and death, while under
 the treatment of Dr.  Watson,—you can use it as you [dense.
 We,  her family, do not hesitate to say, it is our firm  opinion
 her life was shortened by Dr. Watson's treatment ;  she was
'much emaciated, and lost more flesh the six weeks Dr. W.  at-
 tended than  the whole  preceeding year.   Shortly  after her
 death we received a letter from Dr. W., showing  that he felt
 rather uneasy about the remaks made by our friends relative to
 her premature death ; in  it he says, " I am slendered ; 'tis said
 " I caused her death, and every thing else that is calculated to
 " injure me in the estimation of strangers, while those who  at-
 " tended her previously  to  myself, and through ignorance of
 " the wants of nature neglected the cause, escape any censure.
 " Yea, and they will doubtless be again  patronized  in a like
 "case in  preference  to  myself" !  !  His conversation at the
 bed-side of the patient was continually of himself,—of his ex-
 traordinary cures,—of his great experience,—of his extengive
 practice,—and the ignorance $5 the  *• sworn band," rendering
 himself extremely disgusting to  all around.   We feel it our
 duty  to warn all who are of consamptive habit against Dr.
 Watson's mode of treatment, as be  holds out hopes which ara
 never realised, and warrants cures  which he cannot perform,
 and of which we believe  he is entirely ignorant.
  Boston, April 1st, 1841.
                  89 Myrtle St.                 F. G. S. 
29
    The health of Mrs. Shipley first began to fail in Oct. 1338.
At which time one of the most eminent physicians of our city
was called upon  to  attend her, and continued his attendance
until the following July ;  during which time  she had been able
to sit up a  part of every  day, and  in  pleasant weather  could
walk out a short distance.  About the middle of July her phy-
sician advised her removal to the country for a short time ; she
accordingly went a distance of 30 miles and remained till the
first of  Sept.  Immediately after her  return she expressed a
wish to her family that Dr. Watson should attend her. on ac-
count of one cure (which has however since proved fatal)
which she heard had  been effected  by his treatment, and also
being somewhat discouraged herself in regard to her health, as
she was not to appearance any better than she had been the
preceding autumn.   He  was  sent for and came the first week
in Sept.    During his first call, after examining her pulse,
asking her some questions in relation to her sickness. &c, she
told  him unless he was confident that he could cure her, she
should not commence his mode of practice, as she was eniirely
satisfied with  her first  physician.   He  instantly answered,
" Mrs.  Shipley in four weeks you will be a well woman ;"  upon
which she consented to  place herself under his medical treat-
ment : he told her that her lungs were not " irreparably injur-
ed," which however  proved to be false at a post-mortem exam-
ination ;  he then gave  her a portion of medicine ; the next
morning he called and  took from her 3 pints of blood, which
caused  at the time much  weakness.
   At the  expiration  of a week from his first call she was con-
fined to her bed, suffering more pain and  being apparently
worse than at  any previous time ; she was completely salivated
and Dr. W. again assured  her that  a cure  would be shortly
effected.  She was bled four times and failed daily in strength ;
the fifth time  he was not able to obtain any blood. She then
expressed her  fears  to  him that she should not recover ; but
his reply  was  this, " With such a pulse as this you could not
die if you  were to try, it is not as feeble as one patient whom I
cured ;  it is not so  weak as a Mr.----, or Mrs.----; and
here the suffering patient would be annoyed with long stories
of his most wonderful cures ; at the same time stating the bene-
ficial effects resulting from the free use of calomel,—its preser-
vation of the human system and particularly of the  teeth, which
latter failed in  this case as Mrs. S. took with her  fingers two
double  teeth from her head, which four weeks previous were
perfectly sound.
  On the  evening preceding her decease, Oct. 20th, 1839, Dr.
W. called as usual about nine o'clock, the hand of death was
         3* 
30
 then upon her,—her face was icy cold,—he said to her, " Mrs,
 Shipley, I do not think you try to get well, or that you wish to,
 —you must eat more, and to-morrow morning for your break-
 fast you must have some beef-steak and a good cup of  coffee,"
 —but the next morning, at half past  four  o'clock, her spirit
 took its flight to God who gave it.
                     (Signed)           I. W. SHIPLEY.

     Agreeable to Mr. Byrne's request the peculiarities of the
 enclosed case  have been arranged on paper, with strict adher-
 ance to truth ; had it been requested earlier, it would have been
 more striking  as  much  that  occurred is now forgotten ; al-
 though it would have been difficult, at any time, to  have done
 justice  to the misery of  that  being, whose condition was the
 most pitiable that can be imagened.  The writer confers this fa-
 vor with pleasure, and regrets not giving a more faithful  im-
 pression.
   Mr. Byrne has  the good wishes of all benevolent minds for
 his success, with full permission to  use this document for the
 public good.
   Dorchester, April 2d, 1841.

    In the autumn of '39, a person,  who  for many years  had
 been  the  object of extreme  solicitude, both  on account of a
 slight affection and weakness of the  lungs, and debilitated sys-
 tem and sensitive temperament, was so deeply impressed with
 Dr. Samuel M. Watson's unequivocal promise to restore  per-
 fect health to all, that this person, contrary to the intreaties of
 friends and to  their great sorrow, became his patient and for a
 few weeks was a resident of his house.
   While undergoing his treatment the mind, although deeply
 imbued from childhood with a religious sense of responsibility,
 dependence, and  trust, forgot its Maker  in  its admiration of
 Dr. Watson.  So  constantly  and so confidently did he dwell
 on the beauty of his  mercurial and  blood-letting theory,—his
 unexceptionable cures,—so much does he dazzle the mind with
 long epithets descriptive of man's organic system,—bewilder-
 ing the understanding with a dissertation upon natural  and un-
 natural matter which he discovers,—pretending to such infalli-
 ble knowledge of man's  manifold diseases by the appearance
 of blood,—so eloquent is he too upon the ma!-practice  and in-
justice of physicians, whose every step of life is known, whose
 literary attainments and  devotion  to the  study of  human dis-
 eases, and the nature and effect of remedies,—that this  patient,
 like most others who consulted him, infatuated by this specious
 hope, beheld Dr. Watson as  an  injured benefactor, divinely
 inspired with a power to heal, which was only second to Christ. 
31
  This patient was attended by him ten weeks.  Being appriz-
ed that nothing but the most solicitous care could for many
years have  prolonged  that life, and urged to use the greatest
caution in his treatment,  (the  worst consequence being appre-
hended of it,) as repeated afflictive dispensations had produc-
ed an  extreme debility,  and had for many years  robbed this
world of all its charms.  Dr. Watson, it  may Ire  presumed,
had some compunction in administering calomel ;  at one time
when feeling the pulse, he declared it necessary to bleed, " that
Kcrofula was floating on the surface, he could perceive it :" he
yielded to  the  urgent  entreaties of a  friend, not to bleed the
patient again, by defering the  act to another day ; and he  bled
the patient nine times.
 .  When extreme suffering  and prostration of strength resulted
from his treatment, the  most confident  assurances were  held
out " that it was the breaking up of all the old diseases," " that
the result was just what he desired, and the more flattering as
this suffering spoke plainly that they were yielding and in actu-
al motion,—that he should remove them altogether."  When
a little blood was perceptible in the expectorations, which oc-
casioned great  personal alarm and some doubt as to his skill,
 it was another cause of  encouragement to him,—" had it been
 a pint it would not have occasioned him the least anxiety ;"
 " that this frequent bleeding at the arm would heal the  tuber-
 cles of the lungs, and that perfect health without disease would
 follow the  return of new  blood, when the old was all drawn
 off."
   When at length  the  friends removed  the patient from his
care they beheld a sufferer indeed  :—such a degree  of nervous
excitement, that memory  was faithless  in  rendering the ten
thousand thoughts that claimed utterence ; despatching all busi-
ness affairs with  a celerity that  indicated a presentiment of
some undefinable evil.  There was no sleep and no cessation
of talking  night or day  ; every attempt  at composure, perfect
quiet and gentle opiates, were tried without the desired  effect.
 The morphine Dr.  Watson prescribed had  calomel in it.
 An  unconscious faintness  followed this excitement, and life
seemed wholly extinct; restoratives brought consciousness, but
the  faintness  remained  many hours.  Four persons attended
the patient through the day and two during the night.
   A friend, favorable  to Dr.  Watson, saw this sufferer in an
apparently dying state, (which faintness continued from three
to five hours,)  and, with no hope of the patient's life, reported
the case to him.  He sent a vial of oil of annise and antimony,
(as he said,) to be shaken and  taken as daily medicine.  There
was a large quantity of  white sediment  at  the bottom, which
was supposed to be calomel.  He also  sent a powder with posi- 
32
tire injunctions for the patient to take it if alive, he said it was
rhubarb and  magnesia ; it was annalysed  by a chemist and
found to be rhubarb and calomel.  Neither  of these  prescrib-
ed remedies were given to  the patient.   Oysters, when practi-
cable, where  given, restoratives, and arrowroot, which seemed
to give a short lease of life.
  Abberrations  of mind were perceptible in the innumerable
alterations that were now at short intervals  required ; closing
and opening  the  door,—alternately (Dr. Watson had strictly
enjoined upon the patient that there  must be no fire in the
room and the door left open, although the  thermometer was
from 12 to 20 degrees above zero) fanning on account of faint-
ness  and suspending it  the same moment,—no talking, but a
low murmer or motion  to direct^—the friends  being devoted
there was an incessant change in some  way.   An extreme sen-
sitiveness to light and sound, succeeded the faintness.   Memo-
ry tottered, presenting the  most distressing spectacle  that can
be imagined,—enduring  the  most unutterable torments, and
struggling unsuccessfully to understand why death did not re-
lease the agonized spirit  ;  next came a perfect  indifference to
subjects and sounds.                          .
  At length the patient's memory brightened with the keenest
reproaches  for the weakness and the temerity which gave Dr.
Watson that charge, (whose name no one dared to mention for
fear of its effects,) repeating in the most heart rending manner,
" that life was sacrificed by the act.  Oh ! why could  not some
friend have prevented it?  "   The new bones, which  had been
promised with new health, was a vision which produced the
keenest anguish—such as no person can describe.
  Fearing to  check that  hope which was raised  so high, there
was never a depressing word uttered—all was encouragement.
Quinine and  myrrh mixture were tried with no salutary effect.
Every faculty of the mind disappeared except  perception ;
friends were  recognized without realization,—it awakened no
sensation.  When nourishment was offered  it was rejected, be-
cause it was thought to  be hot lead, supposing the  body was
already on  the fire burning, and screeching  for a quarter of an
hour at a time,—at times beating the  head against the head-
board.  There seemed a fixed purpose for self-destruction ; but
as there was  no power left to plan  nor conceal the purpose,
expressions could be heard, " If I had  a knife I would rip open
my bowels,"  or " I would cut my throat," or " do give a knife,'
rebeatin<* in a low tone, " I would end  my life in an instant."
 "Do kill me,—do  beat my brains out,"—" Do  bleed  me to
 death " were constant  expressions for weeks.  That feeling
 nassed and then came the dread of being carried to  the poor
 house  or  some terrible judgment to be inflicted, which the 
ss
kindest assurances to the contrary could not  remove.  In the
meantime persuasion  and delicacies failed to make nourish-
ment acceptable.   There was an impression that there was no
digestion, and that there was no power to move the limbs, and
they were moved to misprove the assertion.
  The mind was reduced to a state of painful derangement ;
on some subjects there was an entire idiocy.  The patient lived
a year from the time of consulting Dr. Watson.  The last six
months, to  prevent starvation, nourishment was forced by ty-
ing the hands, holding the head down on a level with the body,
pressing  open the  mouth and closing it tight, until the nutri-
ment  had passed the throat without any doubt.
  It may be  asked how came this  total change, this terrible
wreck of body and mind ?  The  purest thoughts changed to
indelicacy and profanity ?  using the hand to strike with a force
to annihilate the object that approached ? the most affectionate,
conscious,  religious mind  changed to a hatred of all  that  was
lovely f
  Witnessing such a sickness, the most undeniable conviction
was strengthened, that, with the  same care heretofore  bestow-
ed, the patient  would have enjoyed comfortable health, as long
 as it pleased Heaven to bestow it, if such violent and inhuman
 treatment  had not been used.
   Dr. W atson  expressed  the  sentiment that his glory or hia
 ignominy depended upon  the result  of this case,—So be  it.

    Mrs. S., the wife of one of our most respectable merchants,
called on I. H. Appleton, dentist, in 1837, to have some opera-
tion performed,—was very polite, " I hope your  family are all
welt, madam ? " said the disinterested doctor. On  hearing that a
little  grand-child of Mrs. S.'s was sick, and that its disease had
been  pronounced  a fatal  one by the family physician, he very
disinterestedly asked  Mrs. S. if she had seen or heard  of the
distinguished Dr.  Watson, who  had lately come from  New-
Orleans, and was then boarding with him.   On being answered
in the negative, the dentist said,  I wish Dr. Watson could see
your  grand-child ;  I don't think her heart is diseased, and  I
think he could cure  her.  He has performed some wonderful
cures, many have been cured by him who have been given over
as incurable by Drs.  Jackson, Warren, and other physicians.
As is natural Mrs. S. was not unwilling to have this distinguish-
ed Dr. Watson see her darling grand-child, if its parents  and
the attending physician would consent.
  But soon after Mrs. S. returned home, and before she  had
an opportunity  to consult her husband, the  mother of the child,
or the physician, in  popped the dentist acompanied by  Dr.
Watson, whom  Mrs. S. had never seen.  After the  ceremony 
34
 of an introduction was over the sick child became the subject
 of remarks;  and Dr. W.,  after lauding his own wonderful
 powers, expressed a wish to see the child.   Knowing that the
 husband abhored quackery, and was opposed to calling in  an-
 other physician without consulting his family's medical attend-
 ant, Mrs. S. was averse to  having Dr. W. prescribe for  the
 child,—coming in as he did unasked and unexpectedly.
   Dr. W. however was urgent in his request to see the  child ;
 and, influenced by the dentist's recommendations of his friend,
 Mrs.  S. reluctantly consented to let the Dr.  see the child.   He
 promised not to prescribe unless he was confident he could help
 the patient.  Mrs. S. then began  to relate the circumstances of
 the case, when Dr. W. interrupted her and said, he did  not
 wish to hear them ; all he wanted was to see the child, and he
 would be candid and say whether he could  cure her or not;—
 "at the first sight I can tell you whether I can cure her or not,
—all I want is to look at her ;" this was the language of Wat-
 son.
  He then went up stairs, saw the child and said,  " her heart
is no more affected than my own, and Dr. F. knew better,—the
child's liver is diseased, and in three weeks, by following my
treatment, she will be well and running about."  This an-
nouncement gave great encouragement to the fond friends of
the child, and induced Mrs.  S. to say, that " if you are sure,
Dr. Watson, that you can cure the child, I  will  give  my con-
Bent for you to prescribe, but you must wait my husband's re-
turn home,—he will be home in a few moments."   But the doc-
tor, fearing probablj' that Mr. S. would object to his taking the
patient, said he was in a great hurry,—that it was absolutely
necessary  that medicine should  be administered  at once or it
might be too late, and the child  might die.  Whereupon he
prepared a powder and gave it to  the  child, saying  it  would
operate as a gentle cathartic.
  At this  time the child was as well as it  had been  for some
time, and as comfortable as it could be under a fatal disease of
the heart.  It was much opressed in its breathing, and present-
ed the purple lips, the swollen  countenance and limbs, and
anxious expression which accompany the disease she was la-
boring under.   The powder was given, and instead of acting
as a mild cathartic  it operated as a violent  emetic, and came
near killing the child.  The child  did however live through tha
operation and passed a comfortable night.   The next morning
Dr. W. called early and said the child was much better and
was almost cured and that it would be well in less than  two
weeks.  This was on Tuesday ; he gave more medecine on the
next day, Wednesday ; the child  not so well, although Dr. W.
represented it to  be much better :  in the evening while the lit- 
35
tie sufferer was asleep in its bed, having recently taken the
prescribed dose, Dr. W. came in and aroused it, for the pur-
pose of administering additional medicine.  Mr. S. objected to
this proposal, stating that the child had taken too much medi-
cine already and was too weak to take more, and required ease
and rest.   A sharp retort from Dr. W- put an end to the con-
versation, and the medicine was given.
  Thursday came and you, Dr. Watson, "carne also;" the
child was very feeble,  laying in its grand-mother's lap gasping
for breath.  Still you  said the child was no worse and would
get well, and ordered it a warm bath and then to be placed in
bed, this was not done, for at that moment the child was in its
death-struggle.  Your ignorance of symptoms precluded you
from distinguishing this from a state of faintness, and you or-
dered something which you said would revive it,—the dose
was given which seemed to choke it.  You saw all this ; the
mother attempted to raise her darling daughter ;  you still said
it was faint and that it would soon come to and would get bet-
ter.  You took the child at the time you made this remark ;—
it was indeed faint ! it was the faintness of death—it expired
 in your arms !  Yes  ; it expired in your arms, and at the mo-
 ment when the words passed from your lips, that  it would get
 well ! !   And it died prematurely,—the victim of ignorance.
   A post mortem  examination, at  the request of its friends,
 was made by Drs. Fisher and Ware ; the result of which prov-
 ed the  opinion of the family physician  to have  been  strictly
 correct : the disease  was that of the Heart, and your assetion
 that the liver was the seat of the disease was erroneous—that
 organ was healthy.

   These are some of those from whom you  have been en-
 abled to put forward that statement,—" I have drawn in the
 course of my treatment in Boston, one Hundred Barrels of
 blood and given 49 pounds  of calomel  ! !   Where  are  the
 other victims of  this treatment ?  the grave is secret and
 silent!

   A few allusions, Dr. Watson, to your  list  of refrrnces
 last published and I have done with you and yo.; treatment.
 You say you have been in practice elsewhere: where are
 your lists of reference, where  your papers of  recommenda-
 ion from those places ?  The  last one published in this city
 presents indeed a formidable array of names ; but how many
 of them, think you, will say they do not know enough of you
 to recommend any one to you, or you to any one.   On that 
                         36

list there stands the name of one whose  spirit has passed
the narrow gate and walked through the valley of the shad-
ow of death ! him you promised never to take a single day
from his business; may God be with him.   There was a
lady whom no physician had previously attended, who was
never given over by any one, and yet died under your treat-
ment;—without his authority the name of  her husband,
Mr. Snow of Fitchburg, Mass., is there  recorded.   By what
authority have you placed the name of Mr. Luther Parks
upon  the list ? he denies ever having  given you such per-
mission.  Mr. Enos Clapp of Dorchester, was  not aware
that his name was upon your list, it is  there without his
consent.   Mr. Nathaniel Rogers of  the Malboro' Hotel
says the same.  And thus I might, go on  from one name to
another, did not time and my strength fail me, thus to enu-
merate them ;  it will hardly be credited that upon  that
same document stands my own name.  The  publication of
the present will show how far you may thrust my name for-
ward as " a most polished cure," and perhaps be the means
of awarding to you, at the bar of public opinion, that justice
vou so richly deserve.
y                        D.  P.  BYRNE,
  Boston, April 27th, 1841.          22  Williams Street.