Page:American Medical Biographies - Kelly, Burrage.djvu/1267

NAME WILSON 1245 WILSON Baltimore, who with five children survived him, the elder son, Robert Taylor, becoming a pliysician. Wilson was a founder and president of the American Gynecological Society ; the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland; mem- ber of the British Medical Association ; vice- president of the British Gynecological Society and honorary fellow of the Edinburgh Ob- stetrical Society and the Washington Obstetri- cal and Gynecological Society; surgeon to the Hospital for Women of Marj'land and consult- ing surgeon to the 'Johns Hopkins Hospital. His chief papers were : "Ovariotomy Dur- ing Pregnancy ;" "Division of the Cervix Backward in Some Forms of Anteflexion of the Uterus, with Dysmenorrhea and Sterility;" "Hysterectomy with a New Clamp for Re- moval of large Uterine Fibroid Tumors ;" "Twin Pregnancy, one Child in the Uterus, Another in the Abdomen ;" "Retro-Displace- ments of the Uterus." Trans. Amer. Gyn. Soc, B. B. Browne, 1S98, vol. xxiii. Portrait. Cordell's Med. Annals of Md.. 1903. Wilson, John (1784-1847) The early history of "Captain Thunderbolt" is wrapped in mystery. It is supposed he came from Scotland and had studied medicine at Edinburgh. He appeared in Brokline and Dummerston, Vermont, about 1820. In these towns he taught school, and studied medicine at the "Academy of Medicine," at Castleton, afterwards practising very successfully, but in 1836 going to Brattleboro, where he spent the rest of his life. Dr. Wilson was associated with one Arnold, at Brattleboro, in building a steam saw mill on the site of the present railroad station. This was an unprofitable ven- ture, hut the doctor continued to live at this point. Hence he made professional visits to the rural districts "in a rather inferior car- riage, accompanied by a little boy." In his prime, he was a gentleman in appearance and bearing, and apparently well educated. He was reputed a skilful practitioner. During his last years, however, he fell "into intemperate habits and his practice dwindled. A certain air of mystery and romance seems to have followed him during his life. Two years after Dr. Wilson's appearance in the Connecticut Valley, a certain highwayman, Michael Alartin, popularly known as "Light- foot," was hung at Cambridgeport, Massachu- setts, for highway robbery. While awaiting execution, "Lightfoot" made a "Confession," which found its way into print. In this, he described his career as a robber ond desperado, and showed himself to have possessed unusual talent in this role. He had operated with great daring and no mean suc- cess in Scotland, England, and Canada, until he was finally brought to justice in this country. In this "Confession," Martin frequently mentions a companion and leader, whom he designates as "Captain Thunderbolt." Together they had pursued an eventful career in Great Britain, and later in America. He describes (certain wounds received by "Thunderbolt," among which were a cut from a saber thrust on the neck, and a shortened and wounded leg, from the effects of a musket ball. It is related that "Thunderbolt" once held up a stage coach on its way to London, and holding a pistol to a man's head, said, "Give me your money, or I'll blow your brains out," to which the man replied, "Blow away, I'd as soon, go to London without brains as without money." "Thunder- bolt" seems to have appreciated the joke or the man's nerve, for it is said he left him with a laugh. There is little doubt that the bold highwayman, "Captain Thunderbolt," and the Brattleboro doctor, John Wilson, were the same man. There are many facts corroborative of this supposition. Dr. Wilson led a secluded life, with few acquaintances and no intimates. His necessar- errands to grocerj- and other stores seem to have furnished about the only opportunities for his neighbors to get ac- quainted with him. He is said to have become greatly excited, whenever. "Lightfoot's Confes- sion" was mentioned, and once, when he saw a copy at a patient's house, he threw it into the fire. Summer and winter, he always wore a large muffler about his neck, and it was hinted, that during the delirium preceding his death, those who were present, heard events described very similar to those mentioned in "Lightfoot's Confession." Dr. Wilson married a Brattleboro lady, the daughter of Seleh Chamberlain, who se- cured a divorce from him on the ground of cruelty, and she is reported to have said she would not live with a robber. The last of his life was passed in seclusion with a young son, on the banks of the Connecticut River. A marble slab marks his grave in the Brattle- boro Cemetery. Charles S. Caverly. WiUon, Thomas Bellerby (1807-1865) He was born in Philadelphia, January 17, 1807, and educated there, afterwards settling in the city of Brotherly Love and acquiring a practice which became one of the most exten-