Pine Tree Sanitarium Wells Depot, Maine now Country Meadows Apartments 2124 Sanford Road Wells, ME

                                                                                                       Photo by Kathy Cmaylo

Old News York County Coast Star Oct 18 2007

 

Wells Sanitarium was the Pitts by Sharon Cummins

The Pine Tree Sanitarium, now known as Country Meadows Apartments on route 109 in Wells, received worldwide publicity with its first patient in 1909. 

 

New York physician Dr. Frederick A. Cook claimed to have been the first to stand at the axis of Earth's rotation on April 21, 1908. Forced to winter in an underground den at Cape Sparbo, Canada after leaving the Pole, Cook’s declaration was delayed until September 1, 1909.  Five days after Cook announced his accomplishment Mainer Robert Peary reported that he had been the first to reach the geographic North Pole on April 6, 1909.  Peary launched an all out assault on Cook's veracity.  Cook defended himself with allegations that Peary had stolen his notes from an associate.  The controversy was good for newspaper sales.  The New York Herald paid Cook $3000 for a written account of his expedition to be printed it in twelve segments under the headline Conquest of the Pole.   The New York Times supported Peary's claims and printed every disparaging remark he made about his rival.  Dr Cook's proofs were to be examined by scientists at the University of Copenhagen for authenticity during December of 1909.  While he awaited the verdict Dr. Cook wished to avoid the press.  Planting conflicting reports of his whereabouts Cook slipped off to Wells Depot Maine becoming the first patient of the newly opened Pine Tree Sanitarium.

 

Deeds recorded at the York County Court House in Alfred indicate that Eva Pitt of Boston purchased the old George Hatch homestead on Sanford Road, Wells Depot in 1907.  She and her husband Dr. Thomas Smith Pitt opened the Pine Tree Sanitarium for business in November of 1909.  Seeing the name of their new sanitarium appear in newspapers worldwide as the reputed hiding place of elusive explorer Dr. Frederick A. Cook, the new business owners were conflicted.  They certainly intended to protect the privacy of their patients.  All their ads promised they would but when a reporter for the Portsmouth Daily Herald appeared at her door on November 30, 1909 Eva Pitt could not bring herself to discourage him entirely.  "I'm not saying that he hasn't been here" she said "They'll have hard work to find him as we are well fitted here to take care of just such cases."  Sightings of Dr. Cook were also reported in Philadelphia and in New York.  Just as attention to the Wells sanitarium was dying down and other hiding places were being suggested by the press a New York Times reporter tracked Dr. T. S. Pitt down at the train station in Boston on December 9.  "I am tired of this badgering.  Dr. Cook is at the Pine Tree suffering from nervous breakdown, but is steadily on the mend.  I am running a sanitarium at Wells, not a news-distributing bureau and I am tired of being pursued by reporters."  Wells Depot citizens also had their say in the papers.  With a population of about 200 people and one road in and out of the village strangers in town were rarely missed.  Uriah A. Caine, telegraph operator and Boston and Maine Rail Road employee, recognized the explorer when he got off the train at Wells Beach from the pictures in the newspaper.    Dr. Cook hired Earl York to drive him to the sanitarium.   Earl tried to engage him in conversation but the Doctor hid his identity under a large fur overcoat.  Mr. Hilton, the sanitarium’s nearest neighbor, watched the carriage pass his house and discharge its passenger at Pine Tree.  "The patient has a room on the second floor and he went to bed at 9 o'clock" said Caine, who spent the evening of November 29 at the sanitarium. 

 

The news from Copenhagen was not good.  Dr. Frederick A. Cook was discredited and Peary was celebrated as a hero.  Cook fled the country in shame but the controversy about who first set foot at the North Pole rages on to this day. 

 

Dr. Thomas S. Pitt and his wife Eva made national news again in 1919 when they testified at the murder trial of the Reverend Henry Hall.  The minister was accused of pushing his wife off the rail road bridge at Wells Depot and into the Little River.  But that is a story for another column.

 

The Pitts ran the sanitarium until 1932 when another news report put them out of business.  Dr. Pitt was one of only eight physicians in the country reported by the Federal Trade Commission to have treated patients with experimental Radium Water.  The resulting radiation poisoning proved deadly for one unfortunate Pittsburgh man and the careers of seven physicians. 

 

Sharon Cummins is an historical research professional in Southern Maine.  She can be reached by email at sharonlynn@roadrunner.com 

 


 

    

Sanitarium's first patient Dr. Frederick A Cook allegedly at the North Pole April 21, 1908.

Photos Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Peary vs Cook

Who reached the North Pole first?  Frederick A. Cook in 1908 or Robert E. Peary in 1909? 

Most likely neither ever reached the geographic North Pole.  Peary was awarded a Rear Admiral's pension for his efforts while Cook was disgraced eventually going to prison for selling bogus oil stocks. Read the whole story here

The controversy rages on. 

The Frederick A. Cook Society presents evidence on their website supporting Cook's Claims. 

Radium Water

Time Magazine announced to the world in April on 1932 that Dr. Pitt was one of seven physicians who had used the deadly poison on patients.  Dr. Gustave Desy was another.  He was a friend and colleague of Dr. Pitt from his earlier years as a Boston physician.

"Other physicians who, according to Federal Trade Commission information, have used their professional discretion to make use of "Radithor'' include: Thomas S. Pitt of Pine Tree Health Resort, Highpine, Me.; Benjamin Franklin Bowers, St. Benedict, Pa.; Lillian Morgans, Middletown, N. Y.; Gustave Desy, Millbury, Mass.; J. Frank Small, York, Pa.; Mark Manley, Brooklyn. None of their patients is known to have died."

This film clip from Home  describes the ways that radium water was administered.

The Pitt Family of Wells Depot, ME

Thomas Smith Pitt was born in St. Johns New Brunswick, Canada in the Portland District  5 July1859 to Hannah Pitt and  

Thomas Pitt married Sadie Shaw of Woodstock, NB in 1890.  Thomas practiced medicine while he and Sadie lived in Boston.  Sadie died in 1893 at 35 yrs (scroll to Carleton Sentinel Newspaper Feb 18, 1893 In Memoriam The sudden and unexpected death of Mrs. Dr. T. S. Pitt)
 

Thomas married Eva Whiting Winslow in 1899 she was born 22 Feb 1862 in Oxford, MA

Thomas Pitt may have been married before Sadie because in 1901 census in NB a Bertie Pitt is living in the household with Thomas and Eva.   Bertie is called D(aughter).  She was born 25 Apr 1885

Eva purchased the Wells Depot homestead of George Hatch in 1907 with financial assistance from her step-mother Caroline Whiting.  York Co Deeds

   Mr and Mrs. Stover have gone to Wells where Mr. Stover is building a house for Dr. Pitt.  Portsmouth Daily Herald October 22, 1909

Stover was actually hired to renovate the old homestead and fit it up as The Pine Tree Sanitarium later known as Pine Tree Health Resort.  The name of Wells Depot was changed to High Pines in the 1920s per Wells Historian Hope Shelley in her wonderful book, Images of America: Wells.

Thanks in part to early publicity, the sanitarium was a financial success and in April of 1913 Eva purchased a lot from John W. Hatch adjoining the Wells Depot train station.  She started the Pitt Soap & Chemical Co on the lot.  Eva was at her soap factory on June 11, 1918 from where she could see the train tracks crossing the Little River.  She and Dr. Thomas Pitt testified at the murder trial of Rev. Henry H. Hall, accused of pushing his wife off that railroad bridge.

In 1932 the sanitarium was closed.  The Pitts moved to Oxford, MA where Eva grew up.  Thomas practiced medicine there.  Eva was proprietor of the Central Tea House and Gas Station in Oxford, MA. 

The Pine Tree Sanitarium is now Country Meadows Apartments 2124 Sanford Road Wells, ME 04090

Record from Provincial Archives of New Brunswick  http://archives.gnb.ca/Archives/Default.aspx?L=EN

RS315A : Index to Saint John Burial Permits, 1889-1919 Thomas Pitt's mother Hannah

Name

PITT, HANNAH

Age

99

Date

1919-06-30

Birth Place

NB-no county, place

County

--

Volume

28

Number

609

Microfilm

F20764

 RS551A - Index to Marriage Bonds, 1810-1932 Thomas and Eva's marriage in NB

Name

PITT, THOMAS SMITH

Year

1899

Role

GROOM

Origin

MASSACHUSETTS

County

--

Microfilm

F-9115

Reference

1899-4595

Related Records

Name WINSLOW, EVA WHITING
Role BRIDE
Origin MASSACHUSETTS

Name MCDONALD, M.
Role CO-SIGNER
Origin SAINT JOHN COUNTY

LDS 1881 Census Records of Hannah Pitt Household in Portland, St. Johns, New Brunswick  

Household:

 Name 

Marital Status

Gender

Ethnic Origin

Age

Birthplace

Occupation

Religion

 Hannah PITT 

 W 

 Female 

 Irish 

 61 

 N. B. <New Brunswick> 

  

 Presbyterian Canada 

 James PITT 

  

 Male 

 English 

 27 

 N. B. <New Brunswick> 

 Barber 

 Presbyterian Canada 

 Henry Martin PITT 

  

 Male 

 English 

 26 

 N. B. <New Brunswick> 

 Barber 

 Presbyterian Canada 

 Annie Maud PITT 

  

 Female 

 English 

 20 

 N. B. <New Brunswick> 

  

 Presbyterian Canada 

 Lucy Sophia PITT 

  

 Female 

 English 

 18 

 N. B. <New Brunswick> 

 Milliner 

  

 Source Information:

 

Census Place

Ward No. 2, Portland, Saint John, New Brunswick

 

Family History Library Film  

1375815

 

NA Film Number  

C-13179

 

District  

25

 

Sub-district  

D

 

Page Number  

66

 

Household Number  

328

 Hannah's son Thomas S. Pitt was already in Boston.  1920 US Census records indicate he immigrated from Canada in 1880

 


Sources for Pine Tree Sanitarium story

Proquest Historical Newspapers - Ask your librarian if your Library offers free access to full articles

1.Article 1 -- No Title

Special to The New York Times..
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Dec 10, 1909. p.3
Special to The New York Times..
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Dec 10, 1909. p.3
WELLS DEPOT, Me., Dec. 9. -- If Dr. Frederick A. Cook, the arctic explorer is here, nobody can be found in the town who will admit it. At the Pine Tree Sanitarium to-day, the utmost mystery was made over reports that have gone around that the doctor is a patient there.
Special to The New York Times..
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Dec 9, 1909. p.1
BOSTON, Dec. 8. -- The Traveller publishes the following:
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Dec 9, 1909. p.1
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 8. -- There is no doubt that Dr. Cook, the arctic explorer, is in the satitarium at Wells, Me. This is based on the statement of Dr. T.S. Pitt, who visited in Boston last week and stopped for two days at the home of George Whitefield D'Vys, the writer.
Special to The New York Times..
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Dec 1, 1909. p.20
BOSTON, Nov. 30. -- The Boston American to-day prints the following dispatch dated Wells Depot, Me.:

Frederick A. Cook VS Robert Peary

1.UNIVERSITY FINDS THAT COOK'S PAPERS CONTAIN NO PROOF THAT HE REACHED THE NORTH POLE.; DOCUMENTS SUBMMITTED BY DR. COOK. FINDINGS REPORTED BY THE EXAMINING COMMISSION. VERDICT OF COPENHAGEN UNIVERSITY CONSISTORY.

New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Dec 22, 1909. p.1
First, a typewritten report prepared by Dr. Cook's secretary, Walter Lounsdale, and covering sixty-one pages of foolscap.
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Dec 11, 1909. p.10
Only three theories are possible as to Dr. COOK: (1) that he went to the north pole at the time and in the way he asserts: (2) that he made the journey he describes, but, from errors in his calculations, did not reach the goal he thought he had reached: (3) that he is an impostor.
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Dec 10, 1909. p.3
Dr. Cook was seen in Brooklyn, he was recovering from a nervous breakdown at a remote sanitarium in Maine, he was in Copenhagen, he was in Philadelphia, and it was oven rumored that after all he was at Muldoon's, near White Plains, all at the same time yesterday. Never in the history of arctic, antarctic.
 

4.FRAUDULENT OBSERVATIONS MADE FOR DR. COOK BEFORE HIS RECORDS WENT TO COPENHAGEN; SWORN TESTIMONY OF THE MEN WHO MADE THEM; Capt. A.W. Loose and George H. Dunkle Tell an Amazing Story of Their Work for the Professed Discoverer of the North Pole. HE NEEDED HELP; THEY GAVE IT Dunkle, Introduced by Bradley, Cook's Backer, Tells How He Delicately Led Up to the Bargain. COOK WAS TO PAY $4,000 Supplies of Books and Charts Bought, Capt. Loose Went to Work -- Thinks He Did a Good Job, Too. SCORNED COOK'S IGNORANCE Next to Nothing to Work on, and Had to Fabricate Observations from Anoratok All the Way to the Pole. DID THESE GO TO COPENHAGEN? The University There Notified of Loose and Dunkle's Charges, and the Documents They Have Left with The Times Are at the University's Disposal.

New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Dec 9, 1909. p.1
THE NEW YORK TIMES presents herewith the remarkable narratives of two men, made under oath, declaring that they were employed by Dr. Frederick A. Cook to fabricate astronomical and other observations for submission to the University of Copenhagen, which is about to pass upon Dr. Cook's assertion that he discovered the north pole on April 21, 1908.
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Nov 22, 1909. p.1
Under a strong guard, the voluminous report prepared by Dr. Frederick A. Cook for the University of Copenhagen, setting forth in detail the explorer's claim to having reached the north pole, will be taken on board of the Scandinavian-American liner United States on Thanksgiving Day and started on its way to Copenhagen.
Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES..
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Nov 5, 1909. p.1
COPENHAGEN, Nov. 4. -- Although the Danes continue to profess confidence in Dr. Frederick A. Cook, it is evident that they are growing uneasy, particularly since Dr. Cook's unsatisfactory reply to Prof. Torp's query as to when his observations would be ready for inspection has been received here.
Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES..
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Oct 26, 1909. p.18
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Sep 22, 1909. p.1
Amid shrieking whistles and tumultuous cheers, Dr. Frederick A. Cook returned home yesterday on the Oscar II, from his two years' absence in the arctic. From the moment the explorer in the morning stepped from the steamer to the small tug in which his wife had gone down the bay to meet him until long after nightfall Dr. Cook was hailed by his admirers as the discoverer of the north pole, and a homecoming welcome was accorded to him the sincerity of which could not be doubted.
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Sep 6, 1909. p.1
Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922); Boston, Mass.
Sep 9, 1909. p.7
NEW YORK, Sept 8--"It is with great reluctance that I can only say that Dr Frederick A. Cook has not made a satisfactory explanation or submitted corroborative evidence that he has made the ascent of Mt McKinley."
Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922); Boston, Mass.
Sep 8, 1909. p.2
COPENHAGEN, Sept 7--"By going much farther to the east than I did, Commander Peary has cut out of the unknown an enormous space which, of course, will be vastly useful and scientifically interesting."
 
Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922); Boston, Mass.
Sep 7, 1909. p.1
LONDON, Sept 7--The Reuter telegram company publishes a dispatch from St Johns, N F, in which it is said that Commander Peary claims that he was the first man to reach the north pole.
Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922); Boston, Mass.
Sep 7, 1909. p.1
COPENHAGEN, Sept 7--"By going much farther to the east than I did, Commander Peary has cut out of the unknown an enormous space which, of course, will be vastly useful and scientifically interesting."
Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922); Boston, Mass.
Sep 6, 1909. p.1
COPENHAGEN, Sept--Dr Frederick A. Cook dined this evening with King Frederick at the summer palace, a few miles outside of Copenhagen.
 
Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922); Boston, Mass.
Sep 5, 1909. p.1
 
 
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Sep 5, 1909. p.1
COPENHAGEN, Sept. 4. -- Dr. Frederick A. Cook stepped from the steamer Hans Egede in Copenhagen Harbor on the arm of the Crown Prince of Denmark at 10 o'clock this morning unshorn and looking like a sailor before the mast. He sat down to dinner at 8 o'clock this evening in the City Hall, the guest of a brilliant company of the capital's most distinguished men and women, arrayed in evening dress provided by the King's tailor.

 

New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Sep 4, 1909. p.2
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3. -- Plans were formulated to-day to secure the attendance at the National banquet of the National Geographic Society in this city next December of the two famous explorers of the polar regions, Dr. Cook and Lieut. Shackleton.
Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMESDispatch to The London Daily Mail..
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Sep 4, 1909. p.1
COPENHAGEN, Sept. 3. -- Dr. Frederick A. Cook adheres resolutely to his assertion that he discovered the north pole on April 21, 1908. To a party of Copenhagen journalists who went to the Skaw, the northernmost point of Denmark, last night for the purpose of intercepting the steamer Hans Egede, Dr. Cook declined to elaborate his tale of his adventures, hardships, and discovery.
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Sep 4, 1909. p.2
SKAGEN, Denmark, Sept. 3. -- Newspaper correspondents who went on board the Hans Egede to-day from the pilot steamer off here were able to obtain a few words with Dr. Frederick A. Cook.
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Sep 4, 1909. p.BR527
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Sep 4, 1909. p.2
That there was real value to science in Dr. Frederick A. Cook's dash for the north pole was declared yesterday by scientific men. The reported discovery of the pole was still the most widely discussed topic in the city, but the trend of speculation took a new line -- no longer whether the report was true or not, but what good the discovery would do to mankind.
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Sep 4, 1909. p.2
 
 
Special to The New York Times..
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Sep 4, 1909. p.2
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3. -- Dr. R.S. Woodward, President of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, thinks the chief interest attaching to the discovery of the north pole by Dr. Cook is of the sporting sort.
 
New York Times (1857-Current file); New York, N.Y. (0362-4331)
Sep 3, 1909. p.2
ROME, Sept. 2. -- The Duke of the Abruzzi, since his own arctic expedition in 1900, has been keenly interested in polar exploration, and before he left for the Himalaya mountains he expressed the opinion that Dr. Frederick A. Cook was "perhaps the man destined to accomplish this great feat, which may be the greatest achievement of the twentieth century."
 
Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922); Boston, Mass.
Sep 3, 1909. p.6
SOUTH HARSWELL, Me, Sept 2-Modest to a marked degree and shunning the publicity which has been so suddenly thrust upon her by the remarkable achievement of her husband, Mrs Frederick A. Cook, wife of the...
Boston Daily Globe (1872-1922); Boston, Mass.
Sep 3, 1909. p.10
DR FREDERICK A COOK'S announcement that he has discovered the north pole has set the world agog. According to the cable, the date of the discovery was April 21, 1908. The world has done a...

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