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Roscoe Gorman Milling (28 December 1867 Georgia – 12 April 1925 Dallas, Texas) was an American magnetic healer, based in North, Central, and West Texas, who practiced from about 1910 to his death in 1925. He advertised and became known as "The Magnetic Healer," "The Famous Masseur, "The Drugless Healer," "The Long-Haired Doctor," and, claiming Cherokee heritage, he often referred to himself as "The Indian Adept." Milling was an ardent and influential exponent if drugless healing. His family also practiced magnetic healing in Texas, notably his brother George Raymond Milling, but also his son, Roscoe Gorman Milling, Jr., as well as son-in-laws, and cousins. Collectively, his family and associates built a consortium of Sanitariums that focused on healing the sick and injured without the use of drugs.

Milling's era in drugless healing

By about 1910, modern medicine had taken hold across North American and healthcare practitioners of other ilks — including those in homeopathy, magnetic healing, non-medical supported drugstore cures, Indian practices, and many forms of drugless treatments — waned under Federal and State regulations. Yet, by 1915, in Texas, there was hardly a county that didn't have a drugless health practitioner. R.G. Milling was widely known in Texas, with plenty of praise. Yet also, he was controversial, namely by the mainstream medical community of Texas. As was the case with homeopathy, victims of health problems for which mainstream medicine lacked solutions or for which mainstream treatment seemed to harsh, demand for alternative treatment persisted. To that end, R.G. Milling, and practitioners in his field, found ways to side-step legal restrictions, specifically by operating sanitarium-styled hotels, charging for room and food, but offering services for free.

Because magnetic healing, as a profession, had become illegal and a public stigma, evolution of profession went underground. By comparison, traditional medicine — which had its own history of wrongs — controlled published advancements. To the extent that drugless practitioners advertised and claimed medical successes using false cause and effect analogies, some critics have averred that such treatment was not too dissimilar from selling spiritual healing to those who have given up. In traditional medicine, for example, a hospice attempts to offer comfort — using drugs, various types of therapy, and psychological support — by health practitioners. Some argue that hospices fall short with one-on-one personal support. The Milling brothers, by contrast, were lauded for their support, and, as one historian inferred, their charisma went a long way towards boosting the moral and health of their patients.

Because the Millings practice endured long after being restricted, historian Gene Fowler dubbed the Millings as "Outlaw Healers."

In the age of modern drug cures of 1910 — antibiotics, and the like — claims of the benefits of water were widely ridiculed. On the other side of the argument, as historian Gene Fowler put it, "R.G. Milling 'railed against the operating table with the horrid nightmare of the ether or chloroform,'" anesthetics of the day. Moreover, R.G. Milling claimed that mineral water had medicinal qualities. It is possible that, in his mind, mineral water vs. drugs of his era, held more promise for health improvements. Reflecting on that, health experts have long known that much of a human body's needed minerals come from mineral water — and water that lacks essential minerals is generally considered unhealthy.

Practitioners in chiropractic medicine, physicians educated in osteopathic medicine, physical therapists, nutritionists, and some aspects of physicians educated in traditional medicine might be considered evolved forms of the type of healthcare practiced by the Milling brothers. Medical practices of early Texas pioneers is a chapter in the anthropology of early 19-centurty Texas medicine that might be treated by academics as an aspect of ethnomedicine.

The Hotels and Sanitariums were, in a sense, not only a form of alternative medicine, they were, to many, desirable beneficial retreats for rural medicine. Moreover, the Millings were not always patently opposed to mainstream medicine. In 1925, R.G. Milling, himself, made a fatal attempt to surgically fix his appendicitis.

If there is an argument that the Milling brothers were sometimes driven by economic opportunities, modern traditional medicine is arguably largely driven by the same.

In 1975, in an effort to bolster rural medicine and the many of the osteopathic physicians who practice rural medicine, the State of Texas acquired the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine of Fort Worth — a private non-profit institution that had been struggling financially — and invested into strengthening the institution and modernizing the science behind it. It is now nationally ranked and known as the University of North Texas Health Science Center.

Milling's practice

Notably combining massage with therapeutic mineral water. That is, he believed or claimed that water had medicinal properties. He operated a series of sanitariums; tho' his last, beginning around 1922, was located in Mineral Wells. The Milling brothers were exponents of the therapeutic benefits of the natural springs of Mineral Wells, and possibly may have served as an impetus for the 1929 erection of the Baker Hotel. In 1910, he was also known as "The Long-Haired Doctor" and "The Indian Adept" and "The Drugless Healer" and "The Magnetic Healer."

Roscoe, and his brother George, used the Weltmer method of healing. Roscoe accented his Cherokee heritage by calling himself "The Indian Adept" and by wearing his hair long. George also wore long hair.

R.G. Milling is cited by historians as having used music therapy. Fowler, a historian who wrote a book on the subject described it as R.G.'s own version of magnetic healing, a drugless treatment that combined massage, faith healing, hypnotism, and showmanship. Describing Milling’s pre-World War I sanitarium in a Spanish Mission Revival style hotel in Putnam (near Abilene), Fowler

"An orchestra was kept to furnish background music for all occasions and to help soothe the nerves of the many patients who came to drink the water and take the baths and treatments. Various groups negotiated with them to play for dances, usually held on Saturday nights or on special occasions. The ballroom floor was of maple. It was beautiful and also very slick when a little corn meal was added."

In 1990, one of Milling's granddaughters recalled that

"fiddle bands from Ranger were often employed at the sanitarium. Postcard photographs of the part-Cherokee healer and patients include musicians holding banjos, fiddles, baritone horns, and harp guitars."

Crazy water

Several area cities and communities in Texas were prominently connected to the medicinal water ("crazy water-healing") era — that is, areas with heavily mineralized water beneath the surface — including:

Young County

• Graham
• Eliasville
• Stovall Hot Wells

Stephens County

• Breckenridge
• Gunsight
• Necessity

Palo Pinto County

• Mineral Wells
• Gordon

Jack County

• Wizard Wells

Erath

• Thurber

Eastland

• Cisco

Taylor

• Abilene

The above counties, collectively are contiguous. Non-contiguous towns connected to the era included:

Falls County

• Marlin

Hudspeth

• Indian Hot Springs

Nolan

• Sweetwater

Grogan Mineral Water from Grogan Wells

References to "crazy water."

Career

Roscoe, George, and other healers gained their knowledge from Weltmer Institute of Suggestive Therapeutics in Nevada, Missouri, although these same doctors gained inspiration from Franz Mesmer, the father of magnetic healing.

In 1920, Milling leased his Cisco-based sanitarium to Dr. N.A. Brown and moved to Mineral Wells at 315 Southeast 5th to join in the practice with one of his sons, Dr. Hughley Hartwell Milling (1895–1984). Six years earlier, another brother, George Raymond Milling (1873–1914), well-known as a masseur who operated a sanitarium in in Glen Rose, Texas, died from gun-shot wounds. R.J. McBride, a masseur, took over operations of G. R. Miller's Sanitarium in Glen Rose.

1914 death of G.R. Milling

On September 9, 1914, 18 days after the birth of his second son, George Raymond Milling, Jr., Dr. George Milling, standing in front of Lee Lane's garage on the Glen Rose town square, was shot in the left shoulder and left side by W.D. Newman, of Farris, Hamilton County, a jealous husband, using a double-barrel shotgun with No. 4 shot. Some of the shot had penetrated his lung and a load of shot had entered his face and neck. George Raymond Milling died the next day, September 10, 1914.

Ironically, George's son, died 24 years later (July 19, 1939), in Mineral Wells from a gun shot wound.

Afert a criminal hearing was held in Somervell County Judge John Henry Farr (1876–1961) rendered a 5-year prison sentence to W.D. Newman.

Chronicled views of Milling's alternative medicine

"Dr. Roscoe Gorman Milling, who taught himself hypnotism in the 19th century, would touch a glass of water and convince a patient that it was an effective medicine."

Sanitariums

Mineral Wells

Dr. H.H. Milling was the first of Mineral Wells' massage doctors. In 1917, he opened the Mineral Wells Sanatorium at 315 NW 1st Avenue before building his new sanitarium, completing it in 1929, located in the 2500 block of SE 6th Avenue - the old Millsap Highway. The building was later sold and renamed Irvine Sanitarium, operated by C.W. Irvine. In 1951, Dr. Amos Lee Irvine (1906–1978) sold his Sanitarium in Glen Rose and joined his brother, Claude William Irvine (1904–1974) in Mineral Wells.

The Mineral Wells sanitarium now [2010] belongs to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, is located at 1400 SE VFW Highway (a branch of SE 6th Avenue), and houses VFW Post 2399. Dr. Milling also owned 60 acres on Pollard Creek in north Mineral Wells that were donated to the state of Texas for use as a State Park, which was designated as SP-8. During the Great Depression, the WPA and the CCC made several additions to that park to improve its recreational value: bridges, a small dam, steps up the mountain, restrooms, etc., all using native sandstone. When Milling Park was determined by the state to be surplus property, it was deeded to the city and later renamed North City Park. It is currently called Pollard Creek Park, and as of 1993, the site of the Texas Frontier Trails productions.

In 1922, "Dr. Milling" purchased the John L. Jackson pasture (several sections), north of Peaster, in Parker County, and, according to a Granbury newspaper, he had planned to fence several hundred acres for buffalo.

photos

Glen Rose

• Sanitarium in Glen Rose

303 NE Barnard Street ???

Corner of Barnard & Cottonwood

Opened in 1911 by George Raymond Milling (1873–1914), R.G. Milling's brother

1. Two years after George Milling's death, Lee Alexander Lane (1875-1959), owner of the Ford agency in Glen Rose, bought the sanitarium plot from the Milling heirs — George's widow, Mollie Milling (née Yarbrough; 1886–1978), and his two sons, White ("Little") Fox Milling (later known as Jack Milling; 1912–1988) and George Raymond Milling, Jr. (1914–1939); Lane converted the sanitarium building into the Hotel Carlsbad, named after the Carlsbad, Austria, waters and spas.
2. In the 1930s, Lee Lane's son, Linnie Roy Lane (1903–1962), bought the hotel from his father's heirs and called it the Lane Hotel.
3. John J Hanna, M.D. (born 1876), set up practice in this building in 1941 when he moved here from Quanah, Texas, leasing the property for a hospital.
4. In 1945, Dr. Roscoe G. Milling, Jr. (1908–1962) purchased the sanitarium property and re-established magnetic healing there. His brother-in-law James Eugene Lett (1927–2006), a chiropractor, shared the patient load with him and continued to practice after Dr. Milling's death.
5. Not long after Dr. Lett moved to Cleburne, Silas L. Mann (1909–1980) and his wife, Bonnie Bird Mann (née Swaim; 1911–1998) opened a rooming house at the sanitarium building. Sy's brother, Thomas Kelly Mann (1921–2002) worked there as a magnetic masseur, plus offered whirlpool therapy. Tom renamed the complex Shady Inn, which was appropriate with several pecan trees in the yard
6. In 1971, present owners James Dennis ("Johnny") Martin (born 1943) and his wife for 58 years, Marvilene Martin (née Stewart; born 1944), purchased the property keeping it a rooming house at first, then operated an antique mall a while. They refurbished the two small houses and called them Barnard St. Cottages, bed-and-breakfast style.

Cisco

• Brown Sanitarium

Cisco, Texas

Built 1927 (operated it until his death)

Norman Austin Brown (1887–1973), husband of Marry Emma Milling (1891–1973), Roscoe Gorman Milling's daughter

Brown was a 1910 graduate of the

Palmer-Gregory Chiropractic College, Oklahoma City, Alva Adam E. Gregory, M.D., D.C. (1861-1938) (president)

Previously known as the Oklahoma Chiropractic University (founded in 1907 by John A. Kent D.C.)

Dr. Daniel David Palmer

Putnam

191?–1914

• Hotel Milling Sanitarium

60 rooms

Formerly the Carter & Holland Hotel, which opened March 20, 1910, with 50 rooms near the two mineral wells with bubbling water that promised to be "Dame Nature's own prescription for suffering humanity."

R.G. Milling, Sr., sold this hotel in 1914 and moved to Sherman, Texas, where he purchased the Smith Hotel, near the Union Depot

In 1916, Prof. J.H. Surles took over the Milling Sanitarium in Putnam; as early as 1910, Surles ran ads for real estate, citing opportunities to takes advantage of the Great West Texas health resort boom in Putnam; In 1910, Surles was a shareholder of the Putnam Land & Development Company and also General Manager and shareholder of Putnam Mineral Water Company The hotel was built by the Putnam Mineral Water Company — William Davis Carter (1849–1936) was president; a Weatherford bank president, Gustavus Adolphus Holland (1859–1946), was secretary-treasurer; J.H. Surles was general manager; Texas & Pacific Railroad was a shareholder.

Sherman

December 25, 1914–191?

• Smith Hotel

Sherman, Texas

Formerly at 219 East Mulberry Street, near the Union Depot, Sherman, Texas

R.G. Milling declares this hotel as "the largest drugless institute in Texas."

Prof. J.H. Surles (John Henry Surles; 1861–1928) had been practicing as a masseur at the Smith Hotel since at least 1913; he also was a real estate agent

Grand Prairie

19??–19??

• H.H. Milling Sanitarium

Grand Prairie, Texas

Dr. Ted Lee Adamson (1900–1953) was on the staff from 1950 to 1953

photo

Belton

Belton Sanitarium

1004 North Main Street

In 1914, Dr. A. Hefner, "the famous masseur," opened the Belton Sanitarium

In 1910, Andrew Hefner (1880–1932) married Myrtle Lee Milling (1893–1974), one of Roscoe Gorman Milling's daughters

Sweetwater

1917

Hefner's Drugless Sanitarium

In 1917, became known as the Clark Hotel

Drs. Hefner, Brown, and Milling, Masseurs

Spinnoff sanitariums

Lubbock

• Abell Sanitarium, established in 1940

Dr. Ruel Zedock Abell, Sr. (1895–1967), an osteopathic physician, worked 15 years for Milling Sanitarium in Glen Rose

He established his Lubbock facility in 1940, originally as a Sanitarium, then as a chiropractic hospital, which became known as the Abell Clinic; in 1947, Dr. Abell's son, R.Z. Abell, Jr., an Osteopath, joined him in his practice and in 1954 the two men constructed a $100,000 building on the Idalou Highway. The new facility kept the same name and had thirty-two patient rooms, an x-ray room, a surgery room, and a delivery room.

Prosecutions against the practice of medicine without a license

The R.G. and G.R. Milling had been prosecuted and convicted under the Texas Medical Practice Act, enacted in 1907, under counsel of the Texas Medical Board, which, after debate, included osteopath physicians. Osteopaths had organized a lobby group, headed by Sherman politician Cecil Howard Smith (1860–1926), former State Senator from Sherman, to fight the Wilson Bill, then pending in the Texas Legislature, which threatened the osteopathic profession, along with occult or unorthodox practitioners. Osteopathic physicians used massage techniques practiced by the Milling brothers

The State of Texas vs.

• 1913: R.G. Milling was found guilty of practicing medicine without a license in Stephens County, fined $50, the statutory minimum, and sentenced to twenty minutes in jail.
• 1915: R.G. Milling was found guilty of practicing medicine without a license in Eastland County, fined $50, the statutory minimum, and sentenced to one day in jail
• 1913: G.R. Milling, tried in Somervell County for unlawfully practicing medicine (outcome not known)
• 1912: Four cases in Eastland County, Texas against R.G. Milling for unlawfully practicing medicine, tried in 2 and found not guilty, the other 2 were dismissed

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In 1900, legislation was drawn up proposing to create three separate boards: (i) the Board of Medical Examiners, (ii) the Board of Homeopathic Medical Examiners, and (iii) the Board of Eclectic Medical Examiners. Known as the "Wilson Bill" it sought to eliminate practitioners of the occult and the unorthodox, and specifically sought to exclude the osteopathic school of practice. In 1907, these three boards were supplanted by the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners, established by the 30th Texas Legislature (Senate Bill 26). To outsiders like the Milling brothers, these boards might have seemed like cartels engaged in professional protectionism.

External links

• Star Well, Mineral Wells (date unknown)
• baby LaNelle Hefner in 1914
• Read this:

"Healer and Quack," by Gay Schlittler Storms (née Elizabeth Gay Schlittler; born 1951), Graham Leader, Vol. 134, No. 29, November 22, 2009, pg. 4A

Abstract: The article focuses on the life and magnetic healing services by R.G. Milling in Texas. The author highlights that Milling had able to open a 100-room sanitorium and became a civic-minded businessman. She narrates that due to the regulation imposed by the medical community for healers and quacks, Milling had left Cisco for Eliasville, Eliasville and then to Gunsight, where he offered free healing. Ironically, he died after an unsuccessful operation for a kidney ailment in Dallas Baylor Hospital. (EBSCO Accession No. 45462383)

• 666 "The Milling Papers, 1853–1955" (archives), Handbook of North Louisiana Online, site registered to Laura McLemore of Shreveport

References

Notes

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General inline citations

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Inline citations by Gene Fowler

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References to prosecutions