March 19, 2024 • 23 mins
Clark Stanley was a silver-tongued Texas cowboy who called himself the ‘Rattlesnake King’. Back in the late 19th century, he wasn’t the first charlatan going from town to town in the American West, hawking quack products -- during this time when patent medicines were gaining popularity, American consumers could buy all sorts of fraudulent snake oil products like his. But Clark had a certain flair. A certain charisma and showmanship others didn't. And, for a few years, he really was the Rattlesnake King -- and king of the snake oil salesmen.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Clark Stanley was a silver tungued Texan who called himself
the Rattlesnake King back in the late nineteenth century. He
wasn't the first Charlatan going from town to town in
the American West hawking quack products. During this time when
patent medicines were gaining popularity, American consumers could buy all
sorts of fraudulent snake oil products like his, including Tex
(00:38):
Bailey's Rattlesnake Oil. But don't let the text fool you,
it was made in Truroy, New York. Then there was
tex Allen's Rattlesnake Essential Oil Compound, Rattlesnake Bill's Liniment, Great
Yackey's Snake Oil Liniment, Monster Brand Snake Oil, and MacMahon
the Rattlesnake Oil King's Liniment for Rheumatism, and Katah. We
(01:01):
chose to kick this new season off with Clark and
not those other guys because Clark had a certain charisma
and showmanship, and for a few years he really was
the Rattlesnake King and King of the snake oil salesman,
so let's meet him. Welcome to Criminalia.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I'm Maria Tremarky and I'm Holly Frye. By his own account,
Clark Stanley traveled the West and southwestern United States selling
his snake oil remedy quote with unbounded success. In eighteen
ninety seven, he published an autobiography titled The Life and
Adventures of the American Cowboy True Life in the Far West.
(01:41):
This was part advertisement for his snake oil liniment, part
telling his life story or more accurately, his self mythology,
and there was even a little cowboy poetry.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Clark spent the first twenty five pages of that self
published fifty page autobiography basically talking about the life of
cowboys before focusing on the miracle that was snake oil.
The story of his life, he wrote, began in Abilene, Texas,
around the beginning of the Civil War. For eleven years
between age fourteen and twenty five, he lived the life
(02:17):
of a cowboy. In the spring of eighteen seventy nine,
though his life changed after he followed some of his
father's friends to Walpy, Arizona to see the snake Dance
of the Hopie. Wrote Clark quote. There I became acquainted
with the medicine man of the Hope tribe, and as
he liked the looks of my cult revolver and asked
me to show him how it would shoot. I gave
(02:39):
him an exhibition of my fancy shooting, which pleased him
very much. He then asked me how I would like
to stay there and live with him. I told him
I would stay until the snake dance, but after witnessing
the dance, he stayed for two years and five months.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Clark lived with the Hopie, though westernmost group of Pueblo Indians,
and wrote of his time with them, saying, quote, I
learned their language and dances, and the secret of making
their medicines. The medicine that interested me most was their
snake oil medicine, as they called it. It is used
for rheumatism, contracted chords, and all aches and pains. As
(03:20):
I was thought a great deal of by the medicine man,
he gave me the secret of making the snake oil medicine,
which is now named Clark Stanley's snake Oil liniment. Snake
oil is not a new discovery. It has been used
by the tribe and other Indian tribes for many generations,
and I have made an improvement on the original formula.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Maybe so, But there are no historic documents verifying how much,
if any, of his life story in that book is
actually true. But those who have tried to match things
up have found that yes, he did seem to know
a great deal about cowboy life, and also yes, it
is accurate that the Hope he held snake dances in Walpy, Arizona.
(04:04):
The rest totally unverified.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
What we do know is that he did somewhere and
somehow come up with a formula for his own snake
oil product. We're going to take a break for a
word from our sponsors, and when we're back we will
talk about the real snake oil liniments and how none
of the American knockoffs passed muster.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about snake oil, the
real deal versus the American knockoffs and all the empty
promises on the label of Clark Stanley's snake oil linament.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Though Clark advertised it as a painkiller passed to him
from Hope, Healer's snake oil remedies were not known to
be part of Hope Medicine, but there really was a
snake oil remedy that worked. Snake oil as a remedy
for joint pain and inflammation, such as with arthritis and versitis,
is not a far fetched idea when it's carried out correctly.
(05:14):
The black banded sea create, also known as the Chinese
water snake, is very high in Omega three, fatty acids,
which we know today have anti inflammatory benefits. It's the
same reason that experts recommend that we eat salmon in
our modern diet. Chinese immigrants who worked on the Transcontinental
Railroad in the eighteen sixties brought their own local medicines
(05:36):
and remedies with them and introduced snake oil liniments linaments
that were made with legit formulas thick with omega threes
from Chinese water snakes to the American West, and then
men like Clark, Stanley and all those others that we
named earlier took it from there.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
But Chinese water snakes aren't native to the United States,
and Clark had to choose a stand in being in
the American West, he picked the rattlesnake, which is problematic actually,
because rattlesnakes don't have the same properties as Chinese water snakes,
their fatty acid content is too low to even bother comparing.
(06:18):
Fast forward to nineteen eighty nine, a letter to the
Western Journal of Medicine from researcher Richard Khan revealed that
the legitimate Chinese snake oil contained almost triple the amount
of Omega three fatty acids as did rattlesnake oil. But
people of the time didn't know that, and Clark's liniment
wasn't going to really have any health benefits anyway. Who
(06:38):
are we kidding?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Clark sold his snake oil mainly at medicine shows, that is,
until federal authorities put him out of business. We're going
to talk about that in a minute. But before that,
Clark was so successful selling his product in the American
West that he started to think beyond carnivals and medicine shows.
Medicine shows, by the way, were popular. These were these
(07:02):
traveling shows that used entertainers to attract a crowd, and
then among that crowd, patent medicines were sold. Patent medicines
were proprietary medicines produced by anybody really, from actual doctors
to complete hucksters. In the late nineteenth century, they were
unregulated and many were created from a mixture of vegetable
(07:23):
compound with alcohol, morphine, opium, or cocaine.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
On the road selling his product, Clark met druggists from
across the United States who encouraged him to expand his business.
In fact, one pharmacist from Boston persuaded him to move
there and open a manufacturing plant. He established production facilities
in Beverly, Massachusetts first, then moved into a larger plant
in Providence, Rhode Island. He claimed to have killed three
(07:51):
thousand snakes for his snake oil in the previous year,
plus two thousand more at his so called snake farm
in Texas. If Clark and his bold statements, one reporter wrote,
quote in covered pens may be seen thousands of snakes fattened,
ready to be killed for their oil. Clark Stanley says
that the world is just beginning to realize the actual
(08:13):
value of snake oil, and that there are hundreds of
uses to which it might be applied that are not
yet recognized. During this period, Clark was also giving lectures
on snakes and their habits and kept several as pets
in his Massachusetts home.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
The labeling for his bottles, as well as the accompanying
pamphlet promised to cure those hundreds of problems and named
some in its promotional copy, touting quote rheumatism, neuralgia sciatica,
lame back, contracted muscles, sprains, swellings, frost, bites, chillblaines, bruises,
sore throat, bites of animals, insects and reptiles. Good for
(08:50):
man and beast. A liniment that penetrates muscle, membrane and
tissue to the very bone itself and banishing pain with
a power that has a stunish the medical profession. That
very vehement marketing copy continued that quote for the bites
of animals, insects or reptiles, Clark Stanley's snake oil liniment
(09:11):
was to be applied as soon as possible. It kills
the poison, relieves the pain, reduces the swelling, and heals
the wounds. And then two drawn figures illustrated the quote
best method for curing partial paralysis of the arms. Another
figure on the label illustrated quote the way to bathe
the head for neuralgia headache, tick do LaRue.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
So we're going to stop here for a break forward
from our sponsors and When we return, we'll be talking
about Clark's natural showmanship abilities and his performance at the
World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Clark Stanley was king of the
snake oil salesman when he showed his product at the
World's Fair in Chicago. But let's talk about how as
the United States government caught up with patent medicine and
its peddlers, his success turned to ruin.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Clark Stanley was a cowboy. Yes, he looked like a
stereotypical cowboy from the American West. He sported a handlebar, mustache, goatee,
broad brimmed hat, boots, kerchief, and jeans. But Clark was
a natural born showman, a performer who orchestrated shows that
brought in crowds who bought his goods. He was known
(10:41):
to make his snake oil product right on stage at
medicine shows, and the choreography went a bit like this.
At the eighteen ninety three World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago,
the largest public event in the history of the United
States at that time, Clark, dressed in his most colorful
(11:01):
cowboy attire became a snake oil star. He pulled a
live rattlesnake out of a sack on stage, and to
the crowd's cheers, dangled it before slitting it from end
to end and then dropping it into a pot of
boiling water. Clark ladled off everything that rose to the
top and poured it into glass bottles. That was his
(11:22):
live action snake oil Cure production. His audience couldn't get
enough of the product, even at fifty cents a bottle,
which today that's roughly between ten to twenty dollars a bottle.
Let's say. He had multiple shows day and evening, and
an assistant was on hand selling previously filled bottles to
the crowd. More than twenty five million people attended the
(11:45):
exposition during its six month run, and today historians note
that this was the peak of the public's interest in
so called snake oil and Clark he rose to the top.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
In a surviving interview with Clark Stanley, he described his
show routine in this way quote. The audience sees me
kill the snakes, draw out the oil and put it
into a glass dish. Then I walk down among them
and show it to them. Then I go back and
here is a big glass jar like you make orangeade
in first, I put the snake oil in, and then
(12:19):
I put nine other oils in which have previously been
mixed in a can. So they don't see all of
what my formula is. I pour that on top of
the snake oil, turn the mixture around, and if it
doesn't mix thoroughly looks a little cloudy, I stir it again.
Then I let it set for just a moment, and
it becomes clear that freshly prepared snake oil liniment was
(12:42):
sold to those in the audience. It wasn't his only formula, though.
Hold on to that thought for a moment, and we're
going to come back to that particular detail.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
In nineteen oh five, Collier's magazine published a piece accusing
patent medicine pushers like Clark Stanley as being no more
than fraudsters who sold poisonous products. In reply, an outraged
public who bought a lot of these products demanded something
be done about it, and in nineteen oh six, Congress
passed the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Act laid
(13:15):
the foundation for what would be the nation's first consumer
protection agency, the Food and Drug Administration, which formed in
nineteen thirty. Though it would take a few years. This
was the beginning of the end for Clark's business.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Here's the thing about Clark's snake oil remedy. The only
customers who received any real rattlesnake oil from him, it
turned out, were the people who bought bottles that had
been filled on stage at one of his medicine shows
or at the World's Fair. In nineteen sixteen, a shipment
of Clark's snake oil liniment was seized by the United
(13:49):
States government. They were on to him and other Charlatans
like him, and had begun to analyze patent medicines for
public safety. That analysis revealed four ingredients in his tincture
mineral oil, a fatty compound thought to be from cattle,
capsaicin from chili peppers, and traces of turpentine or in
(14:11):
some samples, camphor. The turpentine or camphor was added allegedly
to make it smell vaguely medicinal. The label on the
cork amber bottles noted that it contained no opium, morphine, chloroform,
ammonia ether, or alcohol, and the chemists who analyzed the
product found that to be true, But they found it
(14:32):
also did not contain rattlesnake oil, or in fact any
product from snakes at all, nor did it have any
medicinal properties. Unlike many patent medicines at the time, it
had one thing going for it, and we're really looking
for a silver lining and saying this. At least it
didn't contain any dangerous or lethal ingredients.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Before Congress and the States began passing that provided oversight
and protection for consumer products and services, salesmen like Clark
Stanley were free to promote and sell whatever people would
buy from them, and some of the health claims were ambitious,
some were ambiguous. Many post health dangers, not health benefits.
(15:20):
Missus Winslow's soothing syrup contained morphine and alcohol and was
recommended in high and sometimes lethal doses to calm babies
who were teething. To remedy a nagging cough, your pharmacist
could give you Smith Glco heroin. Every bottle contained a
half a grain of yes heroin mixed with a sugary syrup.
(15:42):
Takes instructed, and you probably would forget you were at
all bothered by a cough.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
The origins of the free snake oil as a derogatory
term is in direct alignment with the dramatic rise in
the popularity of false and dangerous patent medicines in the
late nineteenth century, and of course with Clark Stanley. After
a federal investigation found no benefit from and no snake
in his product, he was charged under the Pure Food
(16:11):
and Drug Act for quote misbranding his product and for
quote falsely and fraudulently representing it as a remedy for
all pain. He was fined twenty dollars that would be
roughly equivalent of between four hundred and five hundred dollars today.
So not that bad, and Clark did not dispute the charges.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
The government's evidence based analysis of his product ultimately killed
the demand for his snake oil remedy and ruined his
business and the livelihood of a lot of other snake
oil salesmen as well. Yet you don't have to look
too far today to find ingredients from Clark Stanley's recipe
for snake oil linament used similarly in the production of
some muscle rubs at your local store. Mineral oil and
(16:55):
kepsasin remained too popular ingredients. The turpentine no.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Thankfully, the Pure Food and Drug Act certainly was not
the end of people selling questionable products under false medical
pretenses and often with exaggerated sales tactics like a medicine show.
The legacy of those snake oil salesmen in nineteenth century
America lives on in products like those mail enhancement drugs
(17:23):
sold at gas stations, or any product meant for fast
weight loss. And not long ago, the Federal Trade Commission
cracked down on a two hundred dollars wellness product being
marketed as an ionized bracelet. They find the manufacturer eighty
seven million dollars for making deceptive advertising claims about the
bracelet's medical benefits such as relieving back pain. And that
(17:46):
was after testing by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in an
electron microscopy lab found that it wasn't ionized at all,
even if being ionized meant something, which it turned out
it didn't. As a consumer, please stay safe out there.
In the meantime, we have a new cocktail segment for
(18:07):
this season. We're calling it Cures What Ails You? Are
you ready for what might be a kookie kickoff to
this one?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I am ready for the snake oil.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Okay, I don't know. You might want to podcast divorce
me after this, we'll see what happened. Well, see how
we'll see. You may be like, girl, no, thank you.
But there's a way that I think it should be made,
And there is a way for people that don't find
my concept palatable, they can make it a little a
little more drinkable for them. In thinking about this liniment,
(18:49):
I thought about the things that jumped out at me
were things like the camphor and the cap sasan, which
of course we love putting using chili liqueur. We use
it a lot. We're going to use it here. And
in thinking about all of this and how how I
could make something that incorporated some of the elements but
in a way that was hopefully delightful, I came up
with what I'm calling the snake fake mohedo. So it
(19:11):
starts like a mohedo. You're gonna muddle some mint leaves,
six to ten mint leaves, and then you'll muddle those
with like a quarter ounce of simple syrup. You don't
need a lot of syrup for this one, because we
are using two different liqueurs in the mix that have
a sweetness to them. So just a little simple syrup
with your mint leaves. Once you have those muddled you
(19:33):
are gonna add three quarters of an ounce of lime juice,
one quarter ounce of chili liqueur, an ounce and a
half of rum, and then here is the magic ingredient.
There is a half ounce of menthol mint liqueur. I
(19:54):
know this sounds weird.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
That's interesting.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
This is a thing that I only recently found. I
don't think it's terribly hard to get a hold of.
It seems like it's new. But in visiting three different
liquor stores, all of them had the little sample sized
bottles pretty prominent, So I think there's a big push
and it shouldn't be too hard to find. And then
you're gonna shake this up and strain it into like
(20:20):
a Collins glass and top it with one to two
ounces of club soda. So it's a little like a mohito,
but it's not really it is, but it smells medicinal.
It's just medicinal. Here's the thing that's really interesting that happens.
There is a little bit of like a vaguely medicinal
or mouthwashy thing going on. But because we have a
good bit of lime juice in it and that little
(20:41):
kick of chili liquor, you're not like mouthwash you're like,
this is fascinating and kind of oddly refreshing.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Ray I imagine that your mouth goes, wait, what are
all these things that are in here together?
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Right? Is this alcohol? Like?
Speaker 2 (20:56):
I didn't? Right? You know?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
And yes, because there's a bit now Here's that's the thing.
If the idea of something menthol just sounds gross to you,
I know that's not for everybody. You could just use
a creme de menth liqueur here and just have it
be more like a spearminty flavor with your chili liqueur
and your lime, and that's gonna be fine. But I
do highly recommend this odd and wonderful, very simpable menthol
(21:22):
liqueur because I tried some before I put it in anything,
just on its own, and I was like, oh bad.
I would just drink this. I mean, I envision people
doing foolish things, like doing shots of them, because it
does taste a little mouth washy, which some people love
and some people don't like that flavor. I like it
just fine, but I feel like it's one of those
things you want to be judicious with because it can
(21:44):
really overpower everything else. It's like a flavor bully a
little bit, which is why you need so much lime
in the mix and something else with a little heat,
it does something very interesting. The mocktail for this one
is very easy. Instead of rum, you're gonna do white
grape juice diluted with water, so a one to one
(22:04):
dilution there a half and half, but you'll still use
an ounce and a half. And then your lime juice
is the same. You're gonna use mint syrup instead of
mint liqueur, simple syrup obviously the same, and chili syrup
instead of chili liqueur. You may find if you taste
this that you want to dial back and drop out
the simple syrup because at that point there are a
couple of different syrups already going on in there. But
(22:27):
that is the snake fake mohito, which you can garnish
with a mint leaf if you wish, and if you
don't wish, also fine. But I really was shocked at
how much I liked it, because I really it's one
of those things where I'm like, I think this is
gonna work, but it could be like a block what
have I done kind of moment right right, And instead
it was like, what this is good? So that is
(22:51):
the snake fake Mohedo because there's no not really a
Mahido in there anymore, just like there weren't really any
snakes in any of his stuff, not for real. Like listen,
I feel bad for the snakes. That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
We have a thousands of snakes.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
We feel bad for the snakes. But I feel very
excited because I'm very into the snake oil season, so
I hope everyone else is too. I hope you like
this kickoff for it, because we will be back next
week with another episode about another snake oil salesman and
something else to drinking while you're listening. We hope to
see you there. Criminalia is a production of Shondaland Audio
(23:38):
in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio,
please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows,
Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Clark Stanley was a silver tungued Texan who called himself
the Rattlesnake King back in the late nineteenth century. He
wasn't the first Charlatan going from town to town in
the American West hawking quack products. During this time when
patent medicines were gaining popularity, American consumers could buy all
sorts of fraudulent snake oil products like his, including Tex
(00:38):
Bailey's Rattlesnake Oil. But don't let the text fool you,
it was made in Truroy, New York. Then there was
tex Allen's Rattlesnake Essential Oil Compound, Rattlesnake Bill's Liniment, Great
Yackey's Snake Oil Liniment, Monster Brand Snake Oil, and MacMahon
the Rattlesnake Oil King's Liniment for Rheumatism, and Katah. We
(01:01):
chose to kick this new season off with Clark and
not those other guys because Clark had a certain charisma
and showmanship, and for a few years he really was
the Rattlesnake King and King of the snake oil salesman,
so let's meet him. Welcome to Criminalia.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I'm Maria Tremarky and I'm Holly Frye. By his own account,
Clark Stanley traveled the West and southwestern United States selling
his snake oil remedy quote with unbounded success. In eighteen
ninety seven, he published an autobiography titled The Life and
Adventures of the American Cowboy True Life in the Far West.
(01:41):
This was part advertisement for his snake oil liniment, part
telling his life story or more accurately, his self mythology,
and there was even a little cowboy poetry.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Clark spent the first twenty five pages of that self
published fifty page autobiography basically talking about the life of
cowboys before focusing on the miracle that was snake oil.
The story of his life, he wrote, began in Abilene, Texas,
around the beginning of the Civil War. For eleven years
between age fourteen and twenty five, he lived the life
(02:17):
of a cowboy. In the spring of eighteen seventy nine,
though his life changed after he followed some of his
father's friends to Walpy, Arizona to see the snake Dance
of the Hopie. Wrote Clark quote. There I became acquainted
with the medicine man of the Hope tribe, and as
he liked the looks of my cult revolver and asked
me to show him how it would shoot. I gave
(02:39):
him an exhibition of my fancy shooting, which pleased him
very much. He then asked me how I would like
to stay there and live with him. I told him
I would stay until the snake dance, but after witnessing
the dance, he stayed for two years and five months.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Clark lived with the Hopie, though westernmost group of Pueblo Indians,
and wrote of his time with them, saying, quote, I
learned their language and dances, and the secret of making
their medicines. The medicine that interested me most was their
snake oil medicine, as they called it. It is used
for rheumatism, contracted chords, and all aches and pains. As
(03:20):
I was thought a great deal of by the medicine man,
he gave me the secret of making the snake oil medicine,
which is now named Clark Stanley's snake Oil liniment. Snake
oil is not a new discovery. It has been used
by the tribe and other Indian tribes for many generations,
and I have made an improvement on the original formula.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Maybe so, But there are no historic documents verifying how much,
if any, of his life story in that book is
actually true. But those who have tried to match things
up have found that yes, he did seem to know
a great deal about cowboy life, and also yes, it
is accurate that the Hope he held snake dances in Walpy, Arizona.
(04:04):
The rest totally unverified.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
What we do know is that he did somewhere and
somehow come up with a formula for his own snake
oil product. We're going to take a break for a
word from our sponsors, and when we're back we will
talk about the real snake oil liniments and how none
of the American knockoffs passed muster.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about snake oil, the
real deal versus the American knockoffs and all the empty
promises on the label of Clark Stanley's snake oil linament.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Though Clark advertised it as a painkiller passed to him
from Hope, Healer's snake oil remedies were not known to
be part of Hope Medicine, but there really was a
snake oil remedy that worked. Snake oil as a remedy
for joint pain and inflammation, such as with arthritis and versitis,
is not a far fetched idea when it's carried out correctly.
(05:14):
The black banded sea create, also known as the Chinese
water snake, is very high in Omega three, fatty acids,
which we know today have anti inflammatory benefits. It's the
same reason that experts recommend that we eat salmon in
our modern diet. Chinese immigrants who worked on the Transcontinental
Railroad in the eighteen sixties brought their own local medicines
(05:36):
and remedies with them and introduced snake oil liniments linaments
that were made with legit formulas thick with omega threes
from Chinese water snakes to the American West, and then
men like Clark, Stanley and all those others that we
named earlier took it from there.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
But Chinese water snakes aren't native to the United States,
and Clark had to choose a stand in being in
the American West, he picked the rattlesnake, which is problematic actually,
because rattlesnakes don't have the same properties as Chinese water snakes,
their fatty acid content is too low to even bother comparing.
(06:18):
Fast forward to nineteen eighty nine, a letter to the
Western Journal of Medicine from researcher Richard Khan revealed that
the legitimate Chinese snake oil contained almost triple the amount
of Omega three fatty acids as did rattlesnake oil. But
people of the time didn't know that, and Clark's liniment
wasn't going to really have any health benefits anyway. Who
(06:38):
are we kidding?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Clark sold his snake oil mainly at medicine shows, that is,
until federal authorities put him out of business. We're going
to talk about that in a minute. But before that,
Clark was so successful selling his product in the American
West that he started to think beyond carnivals and medicine shows.
Medicine shows, by the way, were popular. These were these
(07:02):
traveling shows that used entertainers to attract a crowd, and
then among that crowd, patent medicines were sold. Patent medicines
were proprietary medicines produced by anybody really, from actual doctors
to complete hucksters. In the late nineteenth century, they were
unregulated and many were created from a mixture of vegetable
(07:23):
compound with alcohol, morphine, opium, or cocaine.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
On the road selling his product, Clark met druggists from
across the United States who encouraged him to expand his business.
In fact, one pharmacist from Boston persuaded him to move
there and open a manufacturing plant. He established production facilities
in Beverly, Massachusetts first, then moved into a larger plant
in Providence, Rhode Island. He claimed to have killed three
(07:51):
thousand snakes for his snake oil in the previous year,
plus two thousand more at his so called snake farm
in Texas. If Clark and his bold statements, one reporter wrote,
quote in covered pens may be seen thousands of snakes fattened,
ready to be killed for their oil. Clark Stanley says
that the world is just beginning to realize the actual
(08:13):
value of snake oil, and that there are hundreds of
uses to which it might be applied that are not
yet recognized. During this period, Clark was also giving lectures
on snakes and their habits and kept several as pets
in his Massachusetts home.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
The labeling for his bottles, as well as the accompanying
pamphlet promised to cure those hundreds of problems and named
some in its promotional copy, touting quote rheumatism, neuralgia sciatica,
lame back, contracted muscles, sprains, swellings, frost, bites, chillblaines, bruises,
sore throat, bites of animals, insects and reptiles. Good for
(08:50):
man and beast. A liniment that penetrates muscle, membrane and
tissue to the very bone itself and banishing pain with
a power that has a stunish the medical profession. That
very vehement marketing copy continued that quote for the bites
of animals, insects or reptiles, Clark Stanley's snake oil liniment
(09:11):
was to be applied as soon as possible. It kills
the poison, relieves the pain, reduces the swelling, and heals
the wounds. And then two drawn figures illustrated the quote
best method for curing partial paralysis of the arms. Another
figure on the label illustrated quote the way to bathe
the head for neuralgia headache, tick do LaRue.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
So we're going to stop here for a break forward
from our sponsors and When we return, we'll be talking
about Clark's natural showmanship abilities and his performance at the
World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Welcome back to Criminalia. Clark Stanley was king of the
snake oil salesman when he showed his product at the
World's Fair in Chicago. But let's talk about how as
the United States government caught up with patent medicine and
its peddlers, his success turned to ruin.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Clark Stanley was a cowboy. Yes, he looked like a
stereotypical cowboy from the American West. He sported a handlebar, mustache, goatee,
broad brimmed hat, boots, kerchief, and jeans. But Clark was
a natural born showman, a performer who orchestrated shows that
brought in crowds who bought his goods. He was known
(10:41):
to make his snake oil product right on stage at
medicine shows, and the choreography went a bit like this.
At the eighteen ninety three World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago,
the largest public event in the history of the United
States at that time, Clark, dressed in his most colorful
(11:01):
cowboy attire became a snake oil star. He pulled a
live rattlesnake out of a sack on stage, and to
the crowd's cheers, dangled it before slitting it from end
to end and then dropping it into a pot of
boiling water. Clark ladled off everything that rose to the
top and poured it into glass bottles. That was his
(11:22):
live action snake oil Cure production. His audience couldn't get
enough of the product, even at fifty cents a bottle,
which today that's roughly between ten to twenty dollars a bottle.
Let's say. He had multiple shows day and evening, and
an assistant was on hand selling previously filled bottles to
the crowd. More than twenty five million people attended the
(11:45):
exposition during its six month run, and today historians note
that this was the peak of the public's interest in
so called snake oil and Clark he rose to the top.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
In a surviving interview with Clark Stanley, he described his
show routine in this way quote. The audience sees me
kill the snakes, draw out the oil and put it
into a glass dish. Then I walk down among them
and show it to them. Then I go back and
here is a big glass jar like you make orangeade
in first, I put the snake oil in, and then
(12:19):
I put nine other oils in which have previously been
mixed in a can. So they don't see all of
what my formula is. I pour that on top of
the snake oil, turn the mixture around, and if it
doesn't mix thoroughly looks a little cloudy, I stir it again.
Then I let it set for just a moment, and
it becomes clear that freshly prepared snake oil liniment was
(12:42):
sold to those in the audience. It wasn't his only formula, though.
Hold on to that thought for a moment, and we're
going to come back to that particular detail.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
In nineteen oh five, Collier's magazine published a piece accusing
patent medicine pushers like Clark Stanley as being no more
than fraudsters who sold poisonous products. In reply, an outraged
public who bought a lot of these products demanded something
be done about it, and in nineteen oh six, Congress
passed the Pure Food and Drug Act. The Act laid
(13:15):
the foundation for what would be the nation's first consumer
protection agency, the Food and Drug Administration, which formed in
nineteen thirty. Though it would take a few years. This
was the beginning of the end for Clark's business.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Here's the thing about Clark's snake oil remedy. The only
customers who received any real rattlesnake oil from him, it
turned out, were the people who bought bottles that had
been filled on stage at one of his medicine shows
or at the World's Fair. In nineteen sixteen, a shipment
of Clark's snake oil liniment was seized by the United
(13:49):
States government. They were on to him and other Charlatans
like him, and had begun to analyze patent medicines for
public safety. That analysis revealed four ingredients in his tincture
mineral oil, a fatty compound thought to be from cattle,
capsaicin from chili peppers, and traces of turpentine or in
(14:11):
some samples, camphor. The turpentine or camphor was added allegedly
to make it smell vaguely medicinal. The label on the
cork amber bottles noted that it contained no opium, morphine, chloroform,
ammonia ether, or alcohol, and the chemists who analyzed the
product found that to be true, But they found it
(14:32):
also did not contain rattlesnake oil, or in fact any
product from snakes at all, nor did it have any
medicinal properties. Unlike many patent medicines at the time, it
had one thing going for it, and we're really looking
for a silver lining and saying this. At least it
didn't contain any dangerous or lethal ingredients.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Before Congress and the States began passing that provided oversight
and protection for consumer products and services, salesmen like Clark
Stanley were free to promote and sell whatever people would
buy from them, and some of the health claims were ambitious,
some were ambiguous. Many post health dangers, not health benefits.
(15:20):
Missus Winslow's soothing syrup contained morphine and alcohol and was
recommended in high and sometimes lethal doses to calm babies
who were teething. To remedy a nagging cough, your pharmacist
could give you Smith Glco heroin. Every bottle contained a
half a grain of yes heroin mixed with a sugary syrup.
(15:42):
Takes instructed, and you probably would forget you were at
all bothered by a cough.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
The origins of the free snake oil as a derogatory
term is in direct alignment with the dramatic rise in
the popularity of false and dangerous patent medicines in the
late nineteenth century, and of course with Clark Stanley. After
a federal investigation found no benefit from and no snake
in his product, he was charged under the Pure Food
(16:11):
and Drug Act for quote misbranding his product and for
quote falsely and fraudulently representing it as a remedy for
all pain. He was fined twenty dollars that would be
roughly equivalent of between four hundred and five hundred dollars today.
So not that bad, and Clark did not dispute the charges.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
The government's evidence based analysis of his product ultimately killed
the demand for his snake oil remedy and ruined his
business and the livelihood of a lot of other snake
oil salesmen as well. Yet you don't have to look
too far today to find ingredients from Clark Stanley's recipe
for snake oil linament used similarly in the production of
some muscle rubs at your local store. Mineral oil and
(16:55):
kepsasin remained too popular ingredients. The turpentine no.
Speaker 1 (17:01):
Thankfully, the Pure Food and Drug Act certainly was not
the end of people selling questionable products under false medical
pretenses and often with exaggerated sales tactics like a medicine show.
The legacy of those snake oil salesmen in nineteenth century
America lives on in products like those mail enhancement drugs
(17:23):
sold at gas stations, or any product meant for fast
weight loss. And not long ago, the Federal Trade Commission
cracked down on a two hundred dollars wellness product being
marketed as an ionized bracelet. They find the manufacturer eighty
seven million dollars for making deceptive advertising claims about the
bracelet's medical benefits such as relieving back pain. And that
(17:46):
was after testing by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in an
electron microscopy lab found that it wasn't ionized at all,
even if being ionized meant something, which it turned out
it didn't. As a consumer, please stay safe out there.
In the meantime, we have a new cocktail segment for
(18:07):
this season. We're calling it Cures What Ails You? Are
you ready for what might be a kookie kickoff to
this one?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I am ready for the snake oil.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Okay, I don't know. You might want to podcast divorce
me after this, we'll see what happened. Well, see how
we'll see. You may be like, girl, no, thank you.
But there's a way that I think it should be made,
And there is a way for people that don't find
my concept palatable, they can make it a little a
little more drinkable for them. In thinking about this liniment,
(18:49):
I thought about the things that jumped out at me
were things like the camphor and the cap sasan, which
of course we love putting using chili liqueur. We use
it a lot. We're going to use it here. And
in thinking about all of this and how how I
could make something that incorporated some of the elements but
in a way that was hopefully delightful, I came up
with what I'm calling the snake fake mohedo. So it
(19:11):
starts like a mohedo. You're gonna muddle some mint leaves,
six to ten mint leaves, and then you'll muddle those
with like a quarter ounce of simple syrup. You don't
need a lot of syrup for this one, because we
are using two different liqueurs in the mix that have
a sweetness to them. So just a little simple syrup
with your mint leaves. Once you have those muddled you
(19:33):
are gonna add three quarters of an ounce of lime juice,
one quarter ounce of chili liqueur, an ounce and a
half of rum, and then here is the magic ingredient.
There is a half ounce of menthol mint liqueur. I
(19:54):
know this sounds weird.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
That's interesting.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
This is a thing that I only recently found. I
don't think it's terribly hard to get a hold of.
It seems like it's new. But in visiting three different
liquor stores, all of them had the little sample sized
bottles pretty prominent, So I think there's a big push
and it shouldn't be too hard to find. And then
you're gonna shake this up and strain it into like
(20:20):
a Collins glass and top it with one to two
ounces of club soda. So it's a little like a mohito,
but it's not really it is, but it smells medicinal.
It's just medicinal. Here's the thing that's really interesting that happens.
There is a little bit of like a vaguely medicinal
or mouthwashy thing going on. But because we have a
good bit of lime juice in it and that little
(20:41):
kick of chili liquor, you're not like mouthwash you're like,
this is fascinating and kind of oddly refreshing.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Ray I imagine that your mouth goes, wait, what are
all these things that are in here together?
Speaker 1 (20:54):
Right? Is this alcohol? Like?
Speaker 2 (20:56):
I didn't? Right? You know?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
And yes, because there's a bit now Here's that's the thing.
If the idea of something menthol just sounds gross to you,
I know that's not for everybody. You could just use
a creme de menth liqueur here and just have it
be more like a spearminty flavor with your chili liqueur
and your lime, and that's gonna be fine. But I
do highly recommend this odd and wonderful, very simpable menthol
(21:22):
liqueur because I tried some before I put it in anything,
just on its own, and I was like, oh bad.
I would just drink this. I mean, I envision people
doing foolish things, like doing shots of them, because it
does taste a little mouth washy, which some people love
and some people don't like that flavor. I like it
just fine, but I feel like it's one of those
things you want to be judicious with because it can
(21:44):
really overpower everything else. It's like a flavor bully a
little bit, which is why you need so much lime
in the mix and something else with a little heat,
it does something very interesting. The mocktail for this one
is very easy. Instead of rum, you're gonna do white
grape juice diluted with water, so a one to one
(22:04):
dilution there a half and half, but you'll still use
an ounce and a half. And then your lime juice
is the same. You're gonna use mint syrup instead of
mint liqueur, simple syrup obviously the same, and chili syrup
instead of chili liqueur. You may find if you taste
this that you want to dial back and drop out
the simple syrup because at that point there are a
couple of different syrups already going on in there. But
(22:27):
that is the snake fake mohito, which you can garnish
with a mint leaf if you wish, and if you
don't wish, also fine. But I really was shocked at
how much I liked it, because I really it's one
of those things where I'm like, I think this is
gonna work, but it could be like a block what
have I done kind of moment right right, And instead
it was like, what this is good? So that is
(22:51):
the snake fake Mohedo because there's no not really a
Mahido in there anymore, just like there weren't really any
snakes in any of his stuff, not for real. Like listen,
I feel bad for the snakes. That's all I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
We have a thousands of snakes.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
We feel bad for the snakes. But I feel very
excited because I'm very into the snake oil season, so
I hope everyone else is too. I hope you like
this kickoff for it, because we will be back next
week with another episode about another snake oil salesman and
something else to drinking while you're listening. We hope to
see you there. Criminalia is a production of Shondaland Audio
(23:38):
in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio,
please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows,
Hosts And Creators
Holly Frey
Maria Trimarchi
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