Dr. Fitch and the "lying son of a ...."

Dr. Charles Fitch (1825-1889), the patriarch of Lucas County's medical community, was known for his medical skill, dedication to his patients --- and his irascibility. He remains, so far as I know, the only Chariton physician indicted in federal court for sending something of an alleged obscene nature through the U.S. Mail.

Dr. Fitch arrived in Chariton, founded during the fall of 1849, during 1852 and practiced for 37 years --- until his health failed. By all accounts he was fearless when it came to reaching patients in need of medical care in pioneer cabins scattered across the prairie and woodland of early south central Iowa

He was, according to his obituary, "a positive character, intense in his likes and dislikes, bitter of his hatred of those men and measures he opposed, and ever faithful to his friends. He was a man with a great heart full of sympathy for the suffering of all mankind."

The trouble began in May of 1875. The Chariton Patriot in its edition of  the 19th reported that "Messrs. W.B. Wiley and Theodore Stanton are off to Des Moines, having been subpoenaed as witnesses before the U.S. Court Grand Jury in a case against Dr. Fitch, of this place, for sending an abusive postal card to one Dr. Taylor of Newbern. The doctor has also gone up, and will probably make some kind of a compromise of the case against him, as he admits having sent the objectionable card."

A compromise proved elusive, however, and, instead Dr. Fitch was indicted --- with trial scheduled for the following autumn.

Finally, during late October The Leader was able to report in its edition of the 25th that "Dr. Charles Fitch, who was indicted some time ago in the Federal Court for sending an insulting postal card to Dr. Taylor, went to Des Moines this week for trial."

The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye in its edition of Oct. 21, under an Oct. 19 Chariton dateline, reported that "Several of our citizens left for Des Moines today, having been called there by subpoena, served by a deputy marshal, to testify in the case of the United States against Dr. Charles Fitch, a well-known physician of this city. The doctor is charged with having sent a scurrilous and blasphemous post card through the mail, addressed to a physician in a neighboring town, in violation of the statutes."

The resolution to the case received wide coverage, but Chariton newspapers politely declined to say precisely what Dr. Fitch was accused of writing to his colleague.

So I went to The Logansport (Indiana) Daily Pharos of Oct. 25 for the answer: "The case of the United States against Dr. Fitch, of Chariton,  Iowa, charged with sending an obscene postal card through the mails, was dismissed by the court at Des Moines on Sunday, the judge holding that the language charged to have been used, "lying son of a b---h," if proved, was not a violation of the postal laws."