The Blind Doctor and the $24,000 Cure
William and Matilda Linton sued Dr. W. T. Campbell, a blind Olympia physician, claiming his Thompsonian remedies killed their daughter Clara—and asking for $24,200 in damages.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Attorneys Byron Millette and J. C. Rathbun, for William and Matilda Linton, parents of the late Clara Linton, filed papers in the superior court today in a suit for damages to the extent of $24,200 against Dr. W. T. Campbell, the blind physician, charged with the death of Clara Linton by the administration of Thompsonian remedies.
The complaint charges that the doctor did not use due and sufficient skill in endeavoring to cure the deceased, and that death was caused by negligent, wrongful, inhuman and cruel conduct of the drugs administered. The plaintiffs ask damages as follows: $4,000 for funeral expenses, $200 for other expenses, $5,000 for intense mental and physical suffering of the parents, $5,000 for pain, injury and agony suffered by the deceased, $5,000 for exemplary damages, and $5,000 for general and other damages, making a total of $24,200 in addition to costs. The Lintons returned to Tacoma on Saturday. The action for damages will not come up until the May term of court.
“The complaint charges that the doctor did not use due and sufficient skill … and that death was caused by negligent, wrongful, inhuman and cruel conduct of the drugs administered.”
The Lintons' suit against a blind physician using Thompsonian botanical remedies was a fight over medical accountability in an era when licensing was weak and “cures” were advertised freely. The same tension—between hope, alternative treatment, and proving negligence—still shapes modern malpractice and consumer-protection debates.
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