It was Dec. 9, 1886, and the news from Bowlan Township in Shannon County in southern Missouri, as reported in the Current Wave county newspaper, was simple and straightforward: "Plenty of snow. Hunters plenty and game scarce."
And then came this word: "James W. Russell, son of J. N. Russell, is very low with typhoid-pneumonia. He has been prostrated for 22 days. That worthy and skillful doctor, W.A. Allen, has been in close attendance on the young man night and day for about two weeks...
