LOOKING BACK 1891: Show me the money!

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Frank Laffin, a shoemaker, walked along the tracks of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad near Cumberland on November 14, 1891, with two friends.  The night was dark, making it hard to see where they were walking. The young shoemaker slipped as he stepped between cross ties and he fell through a cattle stop. His leg caught on something in the fall slicing Laffin’s thigh just above his kneecap.

His friends pulled him up and off of the railroad tracks, but they couldn’t do much for deep cut. The trio bound up the wound, but they knew by the amount of blood pumping out that Laffin needed to see a doctor and probably get stitches.

Laffin’s friends helped him to a nearby home owned by C.H. Somerkamp. Somerkamp tried to bandage the wound, but he advised Laffin to get to a doctor for proper treatment. The problem was, Laffin explained, was that none of the men had any money to pay for a doctor. Somerkamp told them to go to Dr. William Craigen, who was the county physician. Since Craigen was in the county’s employ and a doctor, he would take care of the injury whether or not Laffin had the ability to pay.

Dr. Craigen’s office was at 19 S. Centre Street in Cumberland, according to a city directory. However, because it was in the middle of the night, the office was closed. Craigen’s home was also in the same building so the men had woke the doctor.

Dr. Craigen looked at the wound, washed it, put two stitches in to close the wound and then bandaged the leg. Finished, Dr. Craigen told Laffin that the cost of the treatment was two dollars and that he expected to be paid. The men explained that they had no money and couldn’t pay the doctor.

Dr. Craigen said that unless he was paid, he would undo his work. Again, the men told him that they were penniless. “The doctor then leaned over the wounded leg, and with a pair of scissors, cut the stitches. Laffin’s friends bandaged his leg as best they could and left the doctor’s house,” Herman Miller wrote in Cumberland, Maryland through the eyes of Herman J. Miller.

By the time the group reached South Centre and Williams streets, Laffin was in such pain that they had to stop at Ed Stanley’s house. When another person at the home, A.H. Dowden heard what had happened, he fetched Dr. John Twigg, who came and replaced the stitches in Laffin’s leg. Twigg then had Laffin taken to Protestant Home and Infirmary where the wound received more attention.

When news got out about Dr. Craigen’s actions, the community was outraged. Even newspapers outside of Allegany County reported unfavorably on his actions.

“Dr. Craigen said the men were well dressed, and he thought they were well able to pay for his service, and he felt he sometimes had to stop impositions on the county,” according to Miller.

The incident was investigated and Craigen managed to hold onto his position as county physician. However, he was discharged as a member of the Allegany County Board of Pension Examiners.

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