Clark Stanley, a.k.a. "the Rattlesnake King", always knew how to put on a good show.
According to one news account describing his appearance in Hartford, Connecticut's city hall square on July 1, 1902, members of the audience got to watch as Stanley beheaded and skinned one of the rattlesnakes he had on display. Dressed in a "combination cowboy and Indian suit with a novelty in the shape of a four-in-hand tie made of snake skins", the Rattlesnake King showed off his skill in dealing with snakes, as well as how he used the freshly skinned snake to extract the oil that he offered on sale to willing customers. For, yes, Clark Stanley was indeed the original "snake oil" salesman and his rattlesnake oil was billed as a sure-fire remedy for chronic pain and inflammation resulting from lumbago, arthritis, animal bites, and scratches. Quite a bargain for 50 cents a bottle, really.
The process of extracting rattlesnake oil, which Stanley claimed to have learned from Hopi medicine men, was straightforward enough. After decapitating the snake, Stanley then cut the snake open and plunged the body into a pot of boiling water. This supposedly released snake fat that rose to the surface of the water and which he then scooped up and poured into bottles which he then offered up for sale as "Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment." At least, this was what he did during his frequent "medicine shows" on his travel circuit across much of the United States. Not only did countless potential customers line up whenever he came to town, but his graphic killing and dismembering of a rattlesnake was one of the highlights of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago (and a little more family friendly than what H.H. Holmes was doing nearby in his Murder Castle). That the thousands of bottles which he sold through his traveling shows and mail order business rarely had any real snake ingredients was something that wouldn't come out until much later.
We know very little about Clark Stanley's aside from his (mostly fictional) autobiography published in 1897 titled, The Life and Adventures of the American Cowboy: Life in the Far West. Whether or not Stanley actually had the, er, colourful life he descried in his book and his numerous shows, he certainly played the role to perfection. Oh, and the snakes? They were real too. Whenever he did his show, he brought a few rattlers with him to act as props to entice audiences to buy his miracle liniment. As he told reporters, his Texas snake farm boasted hundreds of rattlers though, thanks to the demand for his product, he often had to buy more from animal farms across the country when he ran out. Aside from his liniment, he sold a variety of other rattlesnake-based products and even boasted of his fondness for rattlesnake stew (presumably with the venom sacs removed). Business was so good, in fact, that he had other showmen go on the road as well to sell his products.
Though he was far from the first huckster to sell snake oil remedies, he was definitely the most well known. And there was some basis to the belief in his liniment's effectiveness thanks to Chinese traditional medicine. The Chinese labourers working the railroads often purchased oil made from Chinese water snakes to relieve pain from arthritis and bursitis. While the medical value of this kind of snake oil seems legitimate enough, Clark Stanley and his competitors seemed disinclined to buy snakes from China to sell in the U.S. Instead, he decided to find a local substitute in the form of rattlesnakes which, due to their lethal reputation, had a mystique that he hoped to entice buyers.
Unfortunately, rattlesnakes aren't Chinese water snakes. Not only don't their bodies contain as much of the valuable oils that their Eastern counterparts do but they're also much more venomous. And, as Clark Stanley was soon to find out, supply didn't even come close to meeting demand for his miracle product. Which is apparently what made him decide to, um, tinker with his original formula. Unfortunately for him however, the world was already changing for medical hucksters of all stripes.
By 1906, the Pure Food and Drug Act had been passed and tough new standards were put in place to prevent the sale of adulterated food and medication. The Department of Agriculture established a "poison squad" headed up by Chief Chemist Harvey Washington Wiley conducted stringent testing of a wide range of different products being sold to the public. Still, given the various public battles over better health standards for various food industries, Wiley and his squad had their hands full. Which was why it wasn't until 1917 when government inspectors finally seized a shipment of Stanley's snake liniment and conducted a thorough analysis of its contents.
What they discovered was that Clark Stanley's Snake Oil Liniment didn't contain any snake products whatsoever. According to the official report, the bottles contained a rather bizarre mixture of mineral oil, camphor, cayenne pepper, animal fat, and turpentine. While Stanley was charged under the Pure Food and Drug Act for "misbranding" his product, all that amounted to was a measly $20 fine. Still, the government report helped kill the demand for his product and Stanley soon found himself out of business. Even though his scam had likely made him a wealthy man, he never really recovered and quickly faded into obscurity.
Though there have been other medical hucksters since Clark Stanley, his snake oil is still famous enough to lend its name to the myriad other products of dubious medical validity being sold today. So spare a though to Stanley and his hucksterism the next time you see some new miracle remedy for sale. Snake oil doesn't just come from snakes any more.
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