Clark Stanley

Clark Stanley was known as the "Rattlesnake King" for popularizing snake oil. He was born in about 1854 in Abilene, Texas.

In 1879, after 11 years as a cowboy, he studied for more than two years with a Moki medicine man at Walpi, Arizona. This included learning the secrets of snake oil. With the help of a Boston druggist he began marketting his product at western medicine shows. In 1893 with his rattlesnakes he became a hit attraction at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. His act included the killing of rattlesnakes to begin the production of his medicine. Later he went on to establish production facilities in Beverly, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island.

In 1915, susequent to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, Stanley's concoction was examined and found to be of no value. For this he was fined $20.00.

References

• from Google cache of the eBay sale of Stanley's booklet Something Interesting to Read, Worcester, MA, Messenger Printing Co. ca.1905 http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:UTVYH7xdAb4J:cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll%3FViewItem%26item%3D200099763436+%22

retrieved 2007-05-31

• http://www.ereader.com/product/book/excerpt/25045?book=unSpun:_Finding_Facts_in_a_World_of_Disinformation
• http://www.enotalone.com/article/11597.html mentions an interview with Stanley that appeared in the Boston Transcript.