R.N. Douglass was the owner of the corner Drug Store in Postville for many years. His nickname was Rocky Mountain Reub. Reub lived and breathed politics -- being a life-long democrat.

He sold the very latest of patent medicines in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Reub sold such favorites as Rocky Mountain Tea - it would cure almost anything and I thought it would have cured most people from taking it, as it seems to me that a lot of extra time was spent in the little half-moon buildings outside -- really not a big deal -- especially in the cold, cold wintertime and in the dead of night!

R.N. Douglass was a heavy advertiser in the Postville Review. In the year 1900 the following ads appeared:

Baseball players .... if you want a good laxative, try the one and only Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Purgative Pellets. These pills are no larger than mustard seeds. They will do the job.

Reub sells the Mexican Mustang Linament .... absolutely the very best .... for Man and Beast.

That's the house the doctor built
The biggest house you see;
Thank goodness he don't get our money,
For we take Rocky Mountain Tea.

R.N. Douglas will cheerfully refund your money if you are not completely satisfied after using Rocky Mountain Tea.

Are you stiff and sore from playing baseball? Are you doubled up and bent with pain? Use St. Jacobs Oil and straighten up. See R.N. Douglass.

For everybody who needs a good spring tonic. Get the famous blood medicine Dr. Williams Pink Pills for Pale People.

First a cough carried him off
And then a coffin they carried him off in.
This will not be your epitaph if you use
Dr. Williams Pink Pills for Pale People in time.

The Safety Ink Stand, from which the ink cannot be spilled even if it is knocked upside down, believe it or not. For sale at R.N. Douglass.

Baseball players need clean healthy bowels just as much as pure, wholesome food; without either, you cannot keep well. Hollisters Rocky Mountain Tea, eliminates all impurities. Tea or tablets. Only 35 cents at R.N. Douglass.

For the people who have been left in poor healther by the attack of la grippe, try Dr. Williams Pink Pills for Pale People. For sale by R.N. Douglass.

If you have bowel complaints, go to R.N. douglass and get the one and only Chamberlains Colic, Cholera and diarrhoea Remedy. This medicine is guaranteed to benefit you.

In the early 1900's were the days when the smoking of cigars by male adults was readily accepted as being a normal recreational activity. After a good meal the men would retire to the smoking room where they would light up. It was deemed permissable, unlike the filthy habit of smoking cigarettes (coffin nails) by the young people. Cigarettes sold for 6 cents for 10 coffin nails. It was a big issue in Postville.

Spear Head, Climax, Fragrant Tobacco -- only 35 cents per pound. Battle Ax Tobacco per pound only 15 cents at Luhman & Sanders.

Those were the days when tobacco was grown in the Gunder area by the Norwegian farmers and loads of baled leaf tobacco were taken to Postville every year by wagon to be shipped onward by "ridin" the rails. As high as forty loads of tobacco were hauled into Postville in a single day from that area. The quality of tobacco was good and quantity sufficient to devolop considerable interest toward the erection of a tobacco factory here, in progressive Postville.

Stop Burning your Money
Don't Tobacco Spit and Smoke your Life Away.
Use No-To-Bac guaranteed Habit Cure Smoking - Chewing - Snuff & Cigarette Habits.
Great tobacco trusts absorb millions at the expense of young nerve-force and manhood.
We have great faith in No-To-Bac, and if you try it you will find that No-To-Bac is to you, worth its weight in gold. See R.N. Douglass.

Baseball Players of Postville ...
Instead of chewing tobacco, chew gum.
You can buy 25 sticks of good Gum for only 5 cents.
Now at Luhman & Sanders.

The Public should be warned against the purchase of the many imitations on the market, as the success of No-To-Bac has brought forth a host of counterfiters and imitators. Every tablet has the word No-To-Bac plainly stamped thereon. If faithfully tried the thousands of tobacco-slaves ought to know how easy it is to Get Free. In case of failure we are perfectly willing to refund money.

Thomas A. Edison takes issue with the defenders of the cigarette, saying that the burning paper forms poison which kills and drives insane.

May H. Douglass was the wife of R.N. Douglass, and President of the Postville Civic Club for a number of years. She was a charter member and an ardent supporter of the W.C.T.U. and the Woman Suffrage Movement. She counted Susan B. Anthony and Carrie Nation as her heroines. She was against smoking and the chewing of tobacco, the drinking of beer or any other intoxicating drink. She was against the mingling of the sexes as in dance, fishing, hunting or the playing of baseball on the sacred Sabbath. May, and a goodly number of the ladies of the W.C.T.U., petitioned the city fathers to pass a law against men "expectorating" on the towns street corners. The women objected to the men who gathered to smoke and spit tobacco.

Postville Civic Club
by May H. Douglass

I would like to make a few comments on the story of the lost child. there are children of a larger growth that are being lost all around us. That boy that is learing to smoke and chew tobacco, drink beer or any other intoxicating drinks is being lost to pure manhood. The young man or woman that is commencing to attend the social dance is in danger of losing manhood or womanhood. The promiscuous mingling of the sexes as in the dance is not for the best interests of society. that boy that is learing to desecrate the sacred Sabbath by going hunting or fishing, or by playing baseball is in danger of losing respect for the law of trhe land as well as God's law. I would say to all such, pull yourselves together, look yourselves over carefully and see is there not room to reform and that soon. I would suggest to the parents of children, help them look themselves over, point out the little defects that all possess that need reforming. "The greatest room in the world, is the room for improvement."

Postville W.C.T.U.
by May H. Douglass

Base ball on Sunday is a desecration of the sacred Sabbath. It adds to the undermining of the church. It keeps the young boys from attending Sunday School and the men from attending church services. Sunday should be a day of rest and of prayer, not a day for yelling and howling and the playing of baseball. Our ministers of the different churches in Postville should concentrate on the discontinuing of Sunday baseball in Postville and put the people of Postville back into the pews in our churches.

The W.C.T.U. will meet with May H. Douglass at 3:00 o'clock p.m. next Friday. All members are urged to attend, and other friends of temperance are cordially invited. Important matters are to be considered along with discussions on the temperance drink, Coca Cola.

Husband -- The doctor says I must quit smoking. One lung is nearly gone.
Wife -- O dear, John. Can't you hold out until we get enough coupons for that dining room rug?

R.N. Douglass' Cow

On Tuesday Rocky Mountain Reub Douglass' certified cow committed suicide in the home barn. It seems taht hay got clogged in the chute that empties into the manger, and the bashful bossy stuck her head up in the hay hold to see what was up, and in so doing the stump of her horn caught fast in the short chute, from which she was unable to extricate her head, and as her neck was weighted down across the front of the manger, she choked to death, being found as above stated that evening at milking time. Tough luck, Reub!!!

... this next story was written by editor Burt Tuttle of the Postville Review:

Wolf Hunting Good in Postville

Thats got a wild west flavor, hasn't it? Early risers in Postville Monday morning thought that the mighty Mexican forces had slipped past Uncle Sam's soldiers and that Huerta, Villana dn Carranza had begun the bombardment of Postville. Or else Rabbit Plass was shoooting the Three-I umpire full of holes for his horrible decision in Sunday's game at Dubuque. Three "horrible explosions" tore throught the atmosphere of a beautiful May morning and then all was still. An eye witness tells us the following story of the terrible tragedy.

About five o'clock Monday morning Mr. and Mrs. R.N. Douglass of this city were awakened from their slumbers by the morning serenade of the busy birds. Mrs. Doughlass happened to look out of the window and saw an animal skulking about the yard, which she allowed resembled a wolf. Reub thinking it highly improbable, and not wishing to take anything for granted or to exert himself sufficiently to investigate, of course had to take an opposite view of the situation and declare it was a dog-gone dog. And with the question thus disposed of both dropped off to sleep again.

Near six o'clock Mrs. Douglass awoke and arose, and with the wolf still in mind went to the window. And lo, and behold, there was the wolf in her chicken yeard. Rousing Reub she called him to the window to see, and one quick glance convinced him that for the first time in his life he was mistaken; his usual prolific flow of argurment had fled; he was face to face with a fact; there was the tough timber wolf.

Not desiring to have anything on earth he could not disprove, Reb at once decreed the wayward wolf must die. Having no firearms of his own, Reub jumped into his slippers and grabbing with a firm hold, the front of his pajamas he hurried out of the house and across the alley after Paul Sonnkalb and his shotgun. As soon as the army had assembled they marched forward bravely to the fray. Father Clune was also awakened and feeling death was near and the services of a clergyman might be needed, followed closely in the rear.

As the army arrived in full view of the enemy, Reub called a halt while he picked up a double-bitted ax. "Ready! Aim! Fire!" came the order. "Bang!" answered the army, as the leaden messenger of death sped on its awful mission and tore away part of the wild wolf's jaw, and the dazed animal began turning sumersaults. Three times was the order repeated and each time a portion of the animals features departed, and at the third shot it fell to the gound and was dispatched with the ax. At this juncture Private Sonnkalb advised his superior officer that his uniform was out of line, Reub having in the heat of the big battle let loose of his pajamas and picked up the ax. He beat a hasty retreat and returned in full dress and admonished Paul to keep the pajama incident under his belt and the bounty was all his and yesterday morning he received a check for $20 from the Cuonty Auditor. Hurrah for our hero, Rocky Mountain Reub!!

---

Have you got the Grip? If so take quinine and whisky, Rocky Mountain Tea, Dr. Williams Pink Pills for Pale People, chamberlains Colic, cholera and Diarrhoea Remedy, Dr. Pierce's Pleasant Purgative Pettets, heave powder, pain killer, corn cure, dehorning fluid and Rough on Rats -- 13 times a day for 13 days -- and we'll publish your testimonial (obituary) FREE OF CHARGE in the Postville Review.

Holy Smoke.
How many cigars are smoked in the United States in one year? There was withdrawn from the warehouses for consumption last year of 1903, a total of almost 7 billion cigars, or an average of over 90, for every man, woman, child and baby in this country. Besides this there was smoked in the country a little over 3 billion cigarettes, an increase over the preceding year.

Great Woman's Remedy.
Postville People try Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound. Its the Great Woman's Remedy for all Woman's Ills. No other medicine has such a record of cures of female troubles or such hosts of grateful friends. At R.N. Douglass.

The sorry world is sighing now;
La Grippe is at the door
And many folks are dying now --
Who never died before.

- published on the Allamakee co. IAGenWeb with the generous permission of Stan Schroeder
- original transcripts provided by Stan Schroeder & transcribed by Sharyl Ferrall

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