Based on information from a February 1909 issue of The Andes Recorder
100 Years Ago
With commentary by Jim Andrews

A lengthy article in the February 1909 issue of The Andes Recorder reports the death of prominent Andes citizen and businessman, Henry A. Hotchkiss. Mr. Hotchkiss was 57 years old and had come to Andes some 34 years earlier. He began his business career clerking for David Ballantine in his store and later for A.S. Dowie. In 1880 he started a business in the north side of the “Big Store” (the building which until last month housed the Cantina restaurant) and then took into partnership M. A. Marx, subsequently purchasing the adjacent store building of A. S. Dowie (most recently occupied by Andes Antiques and Art), operating under the firm name of Hotchkiss & Marx. The article goes on to mention Mr. Hotchkiss’ service to the community: he was an official in the Methodist Church, member of the Board of Education of the Andes Union Free School, served on the village board and had been Andes Town Clerk. The interment was in the lower cemetery and the I.O.O.F. (International Order of Odd Fellows), of which there was a lodge in Andes, took charge of the services at the cemetery. “The flowers were in profusion and were beautiful.”

This may seem like an ordinary obituary seen in every newspaper today. However, the obituaries of the turn of the century, at least in rural areas, contained much, much more. The events surrounding the poor man’s demise were vividly spelled out: “Saturday afternoon, while at the store, he was taken with a hemorrhage of the kidneys and immediately went to his home and Dr. Wakeman was called. On Sabbath Drs. Gladstone and Goodrich were called as counsel. In the opinion of the doctors the hemorrhage was caused by the pressure of a growth of some nature. He had not been a well man for twenty years and sixteen years ago was told by a noted doctor, who has since watched the case, that he was liable to die at any time and he might live fifteen years. The case was not understood and had been a puzzle.”

In the “gossip column” of the same newspaper issue a very matter-of-fact item was printed: “Wednesday afternoon Dr. James A. Gladstone and Dr. C. L. Wakeman performed an autopsy on H. A. Hotchkiss to ascertain the nature of abdominal growth which caused his death. They found a tumor weighing from 12 to 15 pounds, covering the entire front of the abdomen and free from the intestines, except for a short distance on the left, and this had probably not been connected until within a few years. The tumor was divided by a thick walled partition into two distinct compartments. The apron of the bowels was incorporated in the wall of the tumor.”

Although reporting publicly the results of an autopsy may seem maudlin and in extremely poor taste by today’s standards, it was a common practice then, both in rural and more metropolitan areas. The late Victorian and early Edwardian era saw advances in medicine not seen by earlier generations. Even these rural Andes doctors were knowledgeable and were truly curious about this death and wanted to learn what killed this man. The good citizens of Andes shared that curiosity, and surely the unexpected death of a prominent businessman was the subject of many a conversation that week. The Andes Recorder was doing its job of educating its readers and factually filling in the details that would have otherwise only been surmised. ~