If not the king, Orrin at the least was a prince.
We left Robertson during 1922 in Wichita, Kansas. After six years as a fugitive he had been arrested while operating a "sanitarium" in Williston, North Dakota, and extradited finally to Kansas for trial on three indictments for bankruptcy fraud dating from 1916. Maneuvering by his Kansas City attorney had quashed the indictments, however, and Orrin now was a free man.
Two years later, he appeared on a hilltop in south Chariton, and it's not clear how or why he got there. Harry O. Penick, youngest son of one of early Chariton's most distinguished families, may have had a role, but there's no way to prove that. In later years, however, Harry did recruit an associate to join Robertson's staff.
And then there's the fact that upon arrival in Chariton, Orrin leased as the location for his newest sanitarium the old Penick Homestead, a large house located at the intersection of South Main Street and Woodlawn Avenue --- a site now occupied by a small hilltop home embraced by the "L" formed by the parking lots of the Southgate Apartments.
The photo at the top (courtesy Lucas County Genealogical Society) shows the homestead after it had been outfitted for use as Robertson's Vita-O-Pathic Non-Surgical Sanitarium. Orrin was a great believer in fresh air, so many of his patients were housed year-around in the small cabins scattered across the south lawn. While all of his patients were well cared for by a large staff, living conditions were intentionally spartan.
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The old house at South Main and Woodlawn had been built during the 1860s by William C. and Martha Penick not long after their 1862 move from Eddyville to open in partnership with Edwin Manning, of Keosauqua, first a mercantile establishment under the name Manning & Penick, then --- in 1879 --- what became Chariton National Bank.
The Penicks prospered mightily, but instead of building anew just expanded and remodeled their original home. This postcard view dates from about 1900. The couple had eight children, several of whom became prominent residents of Chariton.
Martha died in the family home during 1909. William C. Penick, who died at the age of 86 on Jan. 22, 1914, was the last family member to live in what was known by this time as the Penick Homestead.
By 1914, several of the Penick children had moved into fine new homes in the Penick-developed Spring Lake Subdivision, but the old homestead wasn't sold. At the time it was leased to Robertson 10 years later, it was owned jointly by Harry O. Penick, the youngest son, and his sister, Ida (Mrs. Frank Q.) Stuart, then living in Chicago.
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There's every indication that Dr. Robertson, age 66 when he arrived in Chariton, operated his Chariton sanitarium by following the model he had established in Kansas, Missouri and North Dakota. His ethics and medical practices never were challenged in the Chariton newspapers, but there are some indications that he was not in any sense endorsed by Chariton's more conventional medical community.
On May 24, 1924, citing aspersions cast upon his character by unnamed Chariton physicians, he published the entire text of his homeopathic doctor of medicine degree from the State University of Iowa in The Herald-Patriot, throwing in for good measure mention of the more than 30 other certificates and diplomas he possessed.
His advertisement addressed to those suffering from cancer, published in The Herald-Patriot of May 29, is classic Orrin Robertson. I can almost see Dr. Albert Lee Yocom Jr., an authentic Iowa pioneer in the treatment of cancer, fuming in his office at the brand new Yocom Hospital, just east of the square.
None-the-less, Dr. Robertson --- known for his flamboyant dress and tall, distinguished figure --- settled in and prospered. Newspaper reports during the next several years are peppered with reports of patients arriving at the sanitarium for treatment --- and with occasional reports of the deaths of patients receiving treatment there.
There's no indication that any of Orrin's therapies, including the Seven Sacred Oils he continued to prescribe for gallstones, actively killed anyone. On the other hand, by discouraging his patients from seeking qualified medical help, he probably did. He advertised, for example, that appendicitis could be cured without surgery. Without surgery, however, appendix rupture and kill. And in an era when sophisticated chemotherapy was unavailable and radiation therapy was in its infancy, surgery in most cases was the only hope cancer patients had.
By November of 1928, Robertson's business had grown to the point where he needed more room than the Penick Homestead's hilltop provided. So he leased the Bates House hotel just west of the square and moved his operation there.
The Bates House had fallen upon hard times after construction of the new Hotel Charitone and, owned by a Kansas City investor, was struggling to keep its old and slightly shabby rooms filled. Built during 1874, the structure was more than 50 years old by now. Roscoe Pedigo, who had been managing the hotel, returned to farming and auctioneering. Mrs. Pedigo remained to operate the hotel kitchen and dining room for sanitarium patients.
The sanitarium continued to flourish in its new location and, during 1930, Harry Penick recruited in Louisiana a "Prof. Howard Holmes" who moved to Chariton to work as Orrin's assistant.
It's not clear why the sanitarium folded during early 1931 --- there seem to have been no newspaper accounts of its demise. We do know that Orrin and an associate, Dr. Amel Nicholson, still were around during February of that year. After that, the newspaper record goes silent.
Almost two years later, during the early morning of Dec. 8, 1932, the old Penick Homestead burst into flames and burned to the ground.
Harry O. Penick, between wives after a divorce from his affluent Louisiana-born spouse, reportedly had been living in the house that fall with two other men. His permanent home for a number of years had been Seattle, where he was affiliated with a bank in which his former wife had been a major shareholder. All three men reportedly had moved out before the old home burned.
This was the fourth Lucas County property in which Harry had a stake that had burned under largely unexplained circumstances during the previous 30 years. The fine home he built at the east end of Auburn Avenue for his first wife had burned during August of 1902, just after her unexpected death. The elaborate cottage he built as a replacement in the Spring Lake subdivision and as a home for his second wife, burned to the ground during May of 1905. The "homeless" couple then pulled up stakes and returned to Dixie Plantation, her home in Louisiana. Slab Castle, his rural retreat along the Chariton River in Benton Township, burned during 1924, just after Harry had sold it (he later repurchased the property, then the site of a more modest dwelling). And now the Penick Homestead.
Fire had plagued him in Washington, too. During 1928, he and his second wife had purchased the River Bend Ranch near Kent and built upon it a home that was described as the "show place of the Kent Valley." It burned to the ground for unexplained reasons during November of that year while Harry was alone in the house.
Orrin Robertson reportedly moved back to Wichita after leaving Chariton during 1931 and died there two years later at the age of 75. The Leader of Oct. 31, 1933, carried this brief report: "Dr. Orrin Robertson, former Chariton physician, died last week in Wichita, Kans. Dr. Robertson a few years ago conducted a sanitarium at the Bates House here and at a home in south Chariton. He went from her to Wichita where he was in charge of a sanitarium at the time of his death."
Dr. Robertson's remains were returned to Texas and buried near those of his parents in Fairview Cemetery at Gainesville, Cooke County.
There's no indication that any of Orrin's therapies, including the Seven Sacred Oils he continued to prescribe for gallstones, actively killed anyone. On the other hand, by discouraging his patients from seeking qualified medical help, he probably did. He advertised, for example, that appendicitis could be cured without surgery. Without surgery, however, appendix rupture and kill. And in an era when sophisticated chemotherapy was unavailable and radiation therapy was in its infancy, surgery in most cases was the only hope cancer patients had.
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By November of 1928, Robertson's business had grown to the point where he needed more room than the Penick Homestead's hilltop provided. So he leased the Bates House hotel just west of the square and moved his operation there.
The Bates House had fallen upon hard times after construction of the new Hotel Charitone and, owned by a Kansas City investor, was struggling to keep its old and slightly shabby rooms filled. Built during 1874, the structure was more than 50 years old by now. Roscoe Pedigo, who had been managing the hotel, returned to farming and auctioneering. Mrs. Pedigo remained to operate the hotel kitchen and dining room for sanitarium patients.
The sanitarium continued to flourish in its new location and, during 1930, Harry Penick recruited in Louisiana a "Prof. Howard Holmes" who moved to Chariton to work as Orrin's assistant.
It's not clear why the sanitarium folded during early 1931 --- there seem to have been no newspaper accounts of its demise. We do know that Orrin and an associate, Dr. Amel Nicholson, still were around during February of that year. After that, the newspaper record goes silent.
Almost two years later, during the early morning of Dec. 8, 1932, the old Penick Homestead burst into flames and burned to the ground.
Harry O. Penick, between wives after a divorce from his affluent Louisiana-born spouse, reportedly had been living in the house that fall with two other men. His permanent home for a number of years had been Seattle, where he was affiliated with a bank in which his former wife had been a major shareholder. All three men reportedly had moved out before the old home burned.
This was the fourth Lucas County property in which Harry had a stake that had burned under largely unexplained circumstances during the previous 30 years. The fine home he built at the east end of Auburn Avenue for his first wife had burned during August of 1902, just after her unexpected death. The elaborate cottage he built as a replacement in the Spring Lake subdivision and as a home for his second wife, burned to the ground during May of 1905. The "homeless" couple then pulled up stakes and returned to Dixie Plantation, her home in Louisiana. Slab Castle, his rural retreat along the Chariton River in Benton Township, burned during 1924, just after Harry had sold it (he later repurchased the property, then the site of a more modest dwelling). And now the Penick Homestead.
Fire had plagued him in Washington, too. During 1928, he and his second wife had purchased the River Bend Ranch near Kent and built upon it a home that was described as the "show place of the Kent Valley." It burned to the ground for unexplained reasons during November of that year while Harry was alone in the house.
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Orrin Robertson reportedly moved back to Wichita after leaving Chariton during 1931 and died there two years later at the age of 75. The Leader of Oct. 31, 1933, carried this brief report: "Dr. Orrin Robertson, former Chariton physician, died last week in Wichita, Kans. Dr. Robertson a few years ago conducted a sanitarium at the Bates House here and at a home in south Chariton. He went from her to Wichita where he was in charge of a sanitarium at the time of his death."
Dr. Robertson's remains were returned to Texas and buried near those of his parents in Fairview Cemetery at Gainesville, Cooke County.
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