History of the Comstock Patent Medicine Business and Dr. Morses Indian Root Pills | Page 9

Root Pills, under a
close facsimile of the label already being used by the A.J.
White-Comstock firm.
These events left the Comstocks in an embarrassing position. For over
three years they had been promoting the A.J. White trade name, but
now they could hardly keep a competitor from operating under his own
name. Their official attitude was that the old firm of A.J. White & Co.
was still in existence and controlled by the Comstocks. But shortly they
conceded this point tacitly when they introduced new labels for the
Indian Root Pills, under the name and signature of B. Lake Judson, and
advised that any accounts or correspondence with A.J. White & Co.
still outstanding should be directed to the new firm of Judson.
Obviously, this state of affairs was extremely confusing to all of the
customers. Judson traveled widely through the Canadian maritime
provinces and prevailed upon many merchants to disavow orders
previously given to the new A.J. White firm at 10 Courtlandt Street. On
April 28, 1859, White and Moore, for their part, appointed one James
Blakely of Napanee, Canada West, to represent them in the territory
between Kingston and Hamilton "including all the back settlements,"
where he should engage in the collection of all notes and receipts for
the Indian Root Pills and distribute new supplies to the merchants. On
all collections he was to receive 25 percent; new medicines were to be
given out without charge except for freight. In his letter accepting the
appointment, Blakely advised that:
I think the pills should be entered here so as to avoid part of the
enormous duty. 30% is too much to pay. I think there might be an
understanding so that it might be done with safety. Goods coming to
me should come by Oswego and from thence by Steamer to Millport.
By this route they would save the delay they would be subject to

coming by Kingston and avoid the scrutiny they would give them there
at the customhouse.
[Footnote 5: Moore claimed later (his affidavit of November 22, 1859)
that he thought he was hired only by White personally, and did not
realize that A.J. White & Co. was controlled by the Comstocks.]
[Illustration: FIGURE 9.--"To Purchasers of Dr. Morse's Indian Root
Pills"--a warning by James Blakely, Canadian agent for A.J. White,
against the "counterfeit" pills manufactured by the Comstock firm.]
The great bulk of the notes and accounts which were assigned to
Blakely for collection were undoubtedly accounts originally established
with the old A.J. White & Co. and therefore in dispute with the
Comstocks. But in any case, Blakely went vigorously up and down his
territory, frequently crossing the paths of agents of the Comstocks,
pushing the pills and attempting to collect outstanding bills owed to A.J.
White & Co. by persuasion and threats. On July 2, 1860, he wrote that:
My sales have been pretty good. Comstock Pills are put in almost every
place, generally on commission at a low figure, but I get them put aside
in most cases and make actual sales so they will be likely to get them
back.
Meanwhile, back in New York City, the fight between the erstwhile
partners went on, mostly in the legal arena. On April 14, 1859, the
sheriff, at the instigation of the Comstocks, raided White's premises at
10 Courtlandt Street and seized the books, accounts, and
correspondence carried away by White and Moore on January 1.
Simultaneously, the Comstocks succeeded in having White and Moore
arrested on a charge of larceny "for stealing on last New Year's Day a
large number of notes and receipts," and in September White was
arrested on a charge of forgery. Since the alleged offense took place in
Pennsylvania, he was extradited back to that state. Neither the
circumstances nor the disposition of this case is known, but since White
claimed the right to collect notes issued by the old A.J. White & Co., it
is probable that the charge arose merely out of his endorsement of some
disputed note. On this occasion the Comstocks printed and distributed
circulars which were headed: "Andrew J. White, the pill man indicted
for forgery," and thereunder they printed the requisition of the governor
of New York in response to the request for extradition from
Pennsylvania, in such a way as to suggest that their side of the dispute

had official sanction.
The Comstocks must also have discovered White's and Blakely's
arrangement for avoiding "scrutiny" of their goods shipped into Canada,
for on July 29 there was an acknowledgment by the Collector of
Customs of the Port of Queenston of certain information supplied by
George Wells Comstock, William Henry Comstock, and Baldwin L.
Judson on goods being "smuggled into this province."
While the principal case between the Comstocks and White and Moore
was