NOTABLE ARKANSANS

He was born in 1867 in Jersey City, N.J., and graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York in 1890. He and his wife, Jannette Halford, had two children. After a two-year medical practice, he signed on as a surgeon with the U.S. Army in 1892. While in the Army, he suffered from undisclosed medical problems. He was discharged in 1908 for failure to meet President Theodore Roosevelt’s requirement for all military officers to pass a horsemanship test.

He soon made his way to Hot Springs, having been appointed by the Department of the Interior to the position of medical director for Hot Springs Reservation. Hot Springs had been designated as the first Federal Reserve in 1832, but it wouldn’t become a national park until 1921. Indigent as well as wealthy invalids were flocking to the city by the trainloads, seeking miraculous hydrotherapy, spa and spring-water cures for whatever ailed them, while unscrupulous opportunists eagerly waited to take advantage. The dozen or so bathhouses were unregulated, with quack — as well as certified — doctors splitting fees with “drummers” who rode the trains, hawking dubious health claims. The town itself was riddled with unlawful gambling, drug and alcohol use and other “immoral” behavior from which local government and law enforcement officials profited. In 1910, a federal inspection disclosed serious problems with corruption, mismanagement and substandard medical care in Hot Springs and therefore the new position was created.

One of the first actions he took as medical director was to abruptly and unceremoniously fire a third of the bathhouse attendants for poor hygiene and alcoholism, as well as theft and other bad behaviors. He advocated for an end to corrupt business practices and the updating of medical equipment. He instituted strict requirements for licensing of bathhouse attendants and registration of certified and personally approved doctors who prescribed the use of the waters, either internally or for bathing, and ended the practice of fee splitting with drummers. He had several bathhouses demolished and replaced because of safely and hygiene problems. His reports to Washington of the reforms were received with high praise, but angered powerful local officials and businessmen, leading to calls for his dismissal and even outcries about his “outrageous salary” of $4,400 per year.

His health problems persisted and required several surgeries, leading to his medical discharge. On May 19, 1913, his staff found a note on his desk reading, “Have been fighting melancholia for weeks, and can no longer resist [the] impulse to destroy my family and myself.” His body was found in the woods near Whittington Park. He was dressed in his military uniform and had fired a single gunshot to his head. Who was this man, greatly responsible for the development of Hot Springs National Park, whose reforms are still the basis for regulations today?

Who was this man, greatly responsible for the development of Hot Springs National Park, whose reforms are still the basis for regulations today? Maj. Harry M. Hallock