THE KOCH CANCER TREATMENT AND ITS INVESTIGATIONS 1927

By W.F. KOCH, Ph.D, M.D.

THE A.M.A. AND WAYNE COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY’S DECEPTION One of the many flagrant methods used by the F.T.C. and the F.D.A. Bureaucrats to discredit Dr. Koch’s scientific contributions are exemplified in several issues of the Bulletin published by the Wayne County Medical Society (W.C.M.S.), a branch of the A.M.A., who jointly sought to discredit Dr. Koch’s research. This text will show how their purposed clinical trials were fraught with deceit.

“It must be noted that it was not Dr. Koch, but these two organizations, which in 1919 asked for a “group investigation” of the Koch Treatment. Dr. Koch welcomed this challenge. It never entered his mind that this group of strangely gathered cancer patients, diagnosed as terminal cases, and selected by the W.C.M.S., was not to be a bonafide investigation of the merits of Glyoxylide in overcoming the worst types of cancer. This pretended investigation, the truth of it completely perverted, resurfaced 31 years later in the Federal Trade Commission’s Investigation of Dr. Koch.

The A.M.A. and F.D.A. were not deterred by their two failed attempts in the Federal Courts in 1924 and 1926 but turned to the F.T.C. to carry their banner in a third Federal Investigation in 1950. Thirty years had passed, ample time for the W.C.M.S.’s records to have been corrected, if accuracy had been an issue.

In 1950, the FTC Brief states in reference to the 1919 and 1923 W.C.M.S.’s evaluations: “Five cases of undoubted cancer were placed in a Detroit hospital for Treatment and observation, but nothing came of it, Dr. Koch and the “committee” each claiming the other was at fault.”

The Facts Surrounding the 1919 and 1923 Investigations:

A foundation needs to be laid so the full extent of the medical society’s orchestration of the “1919 Clinical Trials” may be appreciated. First of all, “the patients were chosen from considerable distances from Detroit even from out of the state, although Detroit’s county hospital had more than enough suitable patients in dire need of this Treatment. There were several reasons for this strange maneuver. One should recall that these were all far advanced cases of widespread hopeless cancer, — fit subjects for an official test. Anyone can see, including the commission who had all the data in their hands, that the test was a most handicapped affair, with all the odds maneuvered against Dr. Koch at the very outset.” The A.M.A. and its Wayne County Medical Society were antagonistic after being refused “business connections” by Koch, because he feared their desire was to exploit the Treatment. (Dr. Koch had justification for his concerns because of the following letter he received from Dr. A. R. Mitchell, one time President of the Board of Trustees of the A.M.A., as well as, information gained through his patients.)

“Dr. William F. Koch
“Detroit College of Medicine
“Detroit, Michigan

“Dear Dr. Koch:
“I had the pleasure of reading your article in the October issue of Cancer, and it is certainly the most intelligent discussion of this subject I have ever read. For years, I have been convinced of the utter uselessness of surgery in true cancer cases, and have made myself disliked somewhat by my opposition of surgeons by going about the country lecturing upon the subject about which they themselves know nothing. I hope that a little more time will prove that your work is really epoch-making and that you will ultimately secure the full credit and profit to which your services entitle you.
“Most Sincerely,
“A.R. Mitchell”

(Dr. Koch also received a referral (Mr. X) from Dr. Schmid and relates the following as an example of the treatment received by doctors who supported his work.) “During the Wayne County Medical Society’s Investigation, the A.M.A. began an investigation of Prof. Louis Schmid, a renowned Urological surgeon of Chicago, who had sent me a case of cancer of the urinary bladder which he had explored and biopsied. His patient was one of the world’s important merchants. He came with his wife and received the same Treatment, as did the five patients in the “1919 group investigation.” Being a professor of physiology at the medical school with classes during the day, I worked at night until one and two in the morning seeing my cancer cases. While attending to her husband, Mrs. X. gave me many tips on the professional situation, as her son-in-law was prominent in the A.M.A. Her reports of my successes were most alarming to the A.M.A. In March 1920, she warned me, as she knew from intimate knowledge from her relatives, not to deal with this group trying to take over the Treatment, but to shun all association with the group bosses and their cohorts. Eventually, Mr. X returned home cured and remained so. The A.M.A. then started to persecute this eminent surgeon and professor, Dr. Schmid for referring me patients. They did not accuse him of supporting me, but instead accused him of ‘unethical action’, which consisted of the fact that he had instituted a most urgent and necessary free service for those in Chicago with venereal infections who could not afford to pay for medical care. This scourge was as rampant then as it is today. The A.M.A. tried to relieved Dr. Louis Schmid of his professorship and failing in that sought revenge by throwing him out of the A.M.A. and smearing him in the press.)

The “committee” was out for the destruction of the Koch Treatment! Yet Koch had sufficient confidence in his work to accept the challenge. In fact, he welcomed it! However his nature was incapable of imagining the extent to which the A.M.A.’s leadership would go to discredit him, at the expense of the cancer victims. His disillusionment regarding the profession he honored so highly and for which he had made so many sacrifices in the past was equaled only by his disappointment in his Government, when it tried to destroy him.

It must be pointed out that before the “1919 Clinical Trials” could begin, the WCMS “committee” was required to examine each patient and to sign their names to the records of their examinations. However, “this was put off while the patients rapidly got worse, and death could have ensued before the Treatment was given.” These delay tactics could serve only one purpose! “Dr. Koch appealed to the president of the Wayne County Medical Society, Dr. George MacKean, who angrily stated he would allow no crooked work while he was president. He ordered these doctors to appear the next day and do the job assigned them. Unfortunately, only two showed up and recorded their signatures to the examination of Mrs. Fritts, the only patient examined, ‘as the time was too short to examine the others,’ while a third doctor peeked in, then quietly closed the door and sneaked away.”

Fearing that the stall tactics would undoubtedly kill the patients, Dr. Koch in good conscience could wait no longer and so “with everything against him, Dr. Koch then treated the five patients.” He had confidence in his work. It was a challenge, and his duty to the sick was paramount to all else. “Three of the five cases were cured and possibly a fourth. The official “investigation” closed three weeks after the patients were treated and showed real improvement.”

The OFFICIAL 1919 and 1924 REPORTS concluded “NO RESULTS”; the Treatment was denounced as a failure, and later as a fraud. If the A.M.A. and its Wayne County Medical Society branch could have denied even one fact of the cases under “investigation”, they would not have had to resort to the false evaluations and misdiagnoses which were eventually required in order to discredit the results from the Koch Treatment.

At the request of Dr. Koch, a second investigation by the “committee” was held on June 30, 1924. The purpose was to present conclusive, follow-up data on the original patients, which would validate the cures obtained by the Koch Treatment, and introduce additional cases for their review. The significance of the additional cases was that they were all diagnosed through microscopic evaluations as having cancer, but received no other treatment than the Koch Treatment.

In the book, “The Koch Cancer Treatment And Its Investigations,” Dr. Koch explains his reasons for self-publishing a response to the Wayne County Medical Society’s fraud. “The flood of inquiries from members of the profession and others interested in the cancer problem, who are not satisfied with the A.M.A. and Wayne County Medical Societies action and propaganda, has made it necessary to compile the facts.

“The material presented is for the main part of three classes, first the report of the Cancer Committees of the Wayne County Medical Society, second the evidence presented in affidavit form by the patients and relatives, third the check-up of the work of the “investigating committees” of the Wayne County Medical Society, fourth a letter from Dr. W. A. Dewey, a scientist of international fame, who was present and recorded the data, and fifth the ‘Unpublished Report’ by Cash Asher, a reporter for The Detroit Free Press.

In “The Koch Cancer Treatment And Its Investigation,” the Introduction states:

“In 1919, at the request of the W.C.M.S. seven correctly diagnosed cases of cancer, approved by the “special committee” of the W.C.M.S., and all of extremely advanced type were treated for purposes of a report leading toward the dedication of the Treatment. These cases were under investigation some three weeks and as fast as they showed improvement after a Treatment or two, they were sent away by the committee to their distant homes in various parts of the state and other states. A report was issued that no results were obtained. The Treatment was condemned as a result of this report, and the family doctor consequently has not come into the rightful possession of the Treatment. This in spite of the fact that the W.C.M.S. and the A.M.A. have been sufficiently informed that several of even the worst of these very bad cases were cured by the Treatment under that investigation. The following affidavits of cases cured in the “investigations” are submitted:

MRS. CHARLES JAMES:
The Testimony of Mrs. Charles James:
July 2-3, 1924. “I, Mrs. Charles James, of Union City, Michigan, of my own free will and volition, make the following statement concerning the Treatment given me by Dr. William F. Koch of Detroit, Michigan, for cancer.

“Previous to the fall of 1919, I suffered severely with cancer and had had more than one operation. I was steadily getting worse and in the fall of 1919, was brought to the Herman Kiefer Hospital and received a Treatment from Dr. Koch. Previous to my trip there I was vomiting blood. I came back to Union City and was examine by my doctors from time to time. About that time I also became interested in Christian Science, and gradually got well. I am in perfect health today.”
Signed—MRS. CHARLES JAMES.

“Personally appeared before me, Mrs. Chas. James known to me to be the person she represents herself to be, and swears this statement is true to the best of her knowledge and ability and is made of her own free act and will.
Signed—R. M. NEALE, Notary Public.
State of Michigan,
Co. of Branch,
My commission expires July 16th, 1927.

Mr. Charles Marsh, Mrs. James and Mrs. Fritts provided affidavits on behalf of the Koch Treatment in the 1926 Case of Dr. Dugdale vs. the State of Massachusetts. The facts submitted could not be contradicted, and the report thus stands as a “moral crime of the very worst kind.” This pronouncement came from the bench of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts after hearing the following evidence introduced into the court record:

DR. DUGDALE’S ATTORNEY PROVIDES A SUMMATION OF MRS. JAMES AFFIDAVIT:

“Another case of cancer throughout the abdomen giving rise to gastric hemorrhages was that of Mrs. James whose affidavit is also submitted. She was from Union City, Michigan, about 150 miles from Detroit. Her physician, Dr. Hancock, informed Dr. Koch that she had a growth removed from the inside of her thigh which metastasized to the abdomen so as to make it a hopeless case, and one that was fit for the ” investigation.” She had had an abdominal exploration too, which established the spread of the disease to the abdomen and its hopeless status. Her affidavit is given here to show, like in the Case of Mrs. Fritts, that she was in the cured status five years after Treatment.

The Case of Mrs. Fritts:
Committee Report on Mrs. Fritts:

“Presented as cured of cancer of the uterus by Koch’s Serum. Gross-diagnosis at laparotomy “Thought to be cancer, though not sure.” (Statement by Dr. Smead of Toledo.)” If this case was not a true cancer case, then why was it referred by Dr. Smead and then selected by the W.C.M.S.’s “committee” as terminal and therefore an appropriate test case for the 1919 Clinical Trials?

Again in the 1923 Review: “This 1923 “committee” dismissed the case as ‘apparently in good health diagnosis by laparotomy, “thought to be cancer, but not sure.'”

“It was the Fritts’ Case, where the signatures were obtained from 2 members of the “official committee”, after Dr. Koch requested Dr. MacKean to force the “committee” to do the pre-treatment evaluations required before he was to initiate any treatment. This was the only case on which any members of the “committee” could be cornered for signatures. The rest kept discretely away. On the other obligations, the “committee” defaulted completely.

The following data is taken from one of the exhibits in the hands of the Commission, Toledo, Ohio:

The Testimony of Mr. F. Fritts:
July 16, 1924.

Dear Dr. Koch:
“I have had so many inquiries regarding your Treatment for cancer from people that have heard of the wonderful cure of Mrs. Fritts that I feel it my duty not only to you but to the thousands of sufferers from this disease to publicly state just what the results of your Treatment were in the case of my wife.

“In July 1918, Mrs. Fritts was first taken ill; from then until June, 1919, she was examined and treated by several physicians. She was brought to the Detroit hospital on a stretcher. She had an abdomen full of cancer, was cachectic, emaciated and the neoplasm growth had invaded the stomach and caused the hemorrhages. Her case was diagnosed appendicitis, colitis and other maladies, but she did not respond to any treatment. At the beginning of her illness she weighed 172 lbs. By June 1919, she had lost weight constantly, weighing only 97 lbs. At that time I took her to Dr. George Jones, a very prominent specialist. He and his associate, Dr. A. N. Smith, after three days examination decided to call in Dr. Louis Smead, one of our recognized surgeons. At the conclusion of their examination, Dr. Jones informed me that they were agreed that there was a growth in the abdomen, but could not say whether it was malignant or not; that the only way to determine was by operation. This operation was performed the next morning by Dr. Smead, Dr. Jones, and Smith, both being present. After possibly one-half hour, Dr. Jones came from the operating room to where I was waiting and informed me that they had found the trouble to be cancer, and in such a shape that an attempt to remove it would undoubtedly prove fatal, consequently there was nothing to do but close the wound and keep the patient as comfortable as possible. She had a laparotomy by the best-reputed surgeons of Toledo who made a diagnosis of Adenocarcinoma of the uterus, widely metastasized and infiltrated throughout the whole abdomen and pelvis. Her case was recorded as hopeless. Both Dr. Jones and Dr. Smith told me that nothing further could be done; that it was simply a case of but a few months to live. In about two weeks the wound was healed and we were able to take her home.

“From then until October, 1919, Dr. Smith called frequently but admitted he could do nothing for her. Early in October, I heard of Dr. Koch’s Treatment and that he was conducting an experimental clinic in Herman Kiefer Hospital at Detroit. Accompanied by Dr. Smith, I went to Detroit and saw Dr. Andries, one of the “committee” appointed to watch this experimental work. We arranged to have Mrs. Fritts admitted to Herman Kiefer Hospital. A few days latter we took her to Detroit, Dr. Smith and the nurse going along. Patient was in the hospital three weeks during which time she received Treatment from Dr. Koch. At this time, after some disagreement, it was decided to close the hospital to Dr. Koch’s patients, but as Mrs. Fritts was apparently being benefited by the Treatment, I decided, if possible, to have Dr. Koch continue to treat her. I saw Dr. Koch and he told me he would continue the Treatment if it was possible for her to go to his office. I made arrangements for her and her nurse to go to a hotel. From there they went to Dr. Koch’s office at appointed times for two weeks. At that time, she had so improved that she was able to return to Toledo on an Interurban car. From that time on improvement was apparent and after several visits to Dr. Koch’s office, he pronounced her cured. Today, four years later, she is enjoying splendid health, doing her own housework, besides enjoying all social activities, weighs one hundred and sixty pounds. A feeling of profound gratitude prompts me to make this statement.
Sincerely yours,
Signed— F. F. Fritts.
F. F. Fritts, being personally known to me, swears the foregoing is a true statement to the best of his knowledge and belief.
Signed— John H. Laycock, Notary Public,
My commission expires Aug. 9, 1926

Does this indicate that “nothing came of it” was an accurate assessment presented by the W.C.M.S.’s official evaluation?

THE FOLLOWING TESTIMONY WAS GIVEN BY MRS. FRITTS AND WAS ENTERED INTO EVIDENCE ON BEHALF OF DR. FREDERICK DUGDALE, WHO WAS BEING PROSECUTED IN THE MASSACHUSETTS COURTS IN 1926 FOR USING THE KOCH TREATMENTS:

EDITH MAY FRITTS, Sworn.

Q. (By Mr. Lehr) What is your full name?
A. Edith May Fritts.
Q. Did you have an illness?
A. I did.
Q. Tell us when. When was your first serious illness?
A. My first serious illness was in 1917.
Q. What was the nature of it?
A. Well, I don’t know. At that time it went from one thing to another. I had different doctor; I had different doctors who said different things each time.
Q. Were you operated on?
A. I was.
Q. By whom?
A. By Dr. Louis Smead, Toledo, Ohio.
Q. Do you know what he did?
A. He opened me up and made an exploratory operation but did not remove anything.
Q. Did you go home after that?
A. About two weeks I left the hospital.
Q. Who was Dr. A. W. Smith of Toledo?
A. He referred me to Dr. Smead. Oh, before that I had had about three or four, and after that Dr. Smith.
Q. Dr. Smith was your family physician?
A. Yes.
Q. After you returned from the hospital what did you do?
A. They gave my husband a prognosis of six months, and told him to take me home and make me comfortable.

Q. What did you do after that?
A. I laid there for five months.
Q. In bed?
A. Yes, under the doctor’s constant care.
Q. Then what did you do?
A. They heard of Dr. Koch and his treatment. My husband decided to try it.
Q. They took you to Detroit?
A. Yes.
Q. How did they take you?
A. In an ambulance.
Q. And you were treated by Dr. Koch?
A. I was.
Q. When was that?
A. In 1919, in November, just around Thanksgiving time.
Q. What had Dr. Smith’s diagnosis been at the hospital?
A. He didn’t tell me; he told my husband.
Q. Mrs. Fritts, that is ten years ago?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you remember each of your reactions at that time?
A Yes, I had very severe reactions at that time.
Q. What did they consist of?
A Vomiting, fever, chills, not able to walk, dizziness.
Q. Was your abdomen swollen?
A. Yes.
Q. To a large extent?
A. Yes.
Q. And did you have diarrhea, do you recall?
A. Yes.
Q. Any trouble with your feet?
A. Yes.
Q. How long were you under Dr. Koch’s care?
A. I was under Dr. Koch’s care about two years. .
Q. What was your weight at the time you were treated by Dr. Koch?
A. Between 85 and 90 pounds.
Q. What is it now?
A. 155 pounds.
Q. What is your normal weight?
A. When I got sick I weighed about
Q. And your weight now is 155?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you learn at any time subsequently what your trouble was?
A. I found it to be carcinoma.
Q. What did that involve?
A. Everything.
Q. The uterus?
A. Yes, stomach, and all the lower organs.
(At this point the Court took a recess until 2 o’clock.)

CONCLUDING COMMENTS BY DR. DUGDALE’S ATTORNEY:

“Now I want to call your Honor’s attention to the last case, and I urge this upon your Honor because it was a case which shows that recovery must have been complete on account of the lapse of time. That is the Case of Mrs. Edith M. Fritts. That is the one where she had an extensive cancer of the uterus involving the abdominal organs. It was as bad a case as that of Mrs. Caton’s, (Dr. Dugdale’s patient). She testified she had an operation performed by Dr. Louis Smead, of Toledo, Ohio, upon the request of her attending physician, Dr. A. N. Smith of Toledo, that a cancerous growth was found of such an extensive nature that no attempt whatever was made to remove it; that she was taken from the hospital to her home and later was taken to Detroit in an ambulance and placed in the Herman Kiefer Hospital, having been selected and accepted by the “cancer committee” of the Wayne County Medical Society as one of the nine test cases upon which Dr. Koch was to demonstrate to the society the benefit of his Treatment. Mrs. Fritts Testified that she was first treated in October of 1919 at the Herman Kiefer Hospital. She suffered terribly and had taken morphine constantly. After the Treatment she improved and when the investigation was closed she continued to see Dr. Koch for Treatment. Then after being pronounced as well by Dr. Koch, she returned to Ohio…She said she was perfectly well, and her doctor examined her a number of times and could hardly believe it for every organ was normal. Her terrible bladder trouble was gone and she was normal and without pain or inconvenience in every way, back to full health and strength.”

This case was examined and accepted by the “committee” of 1919 as an advanced case of cancer of the uterus with widespread abdominal involvement. She was also part of the “investigation of 1923.”

The Case of Mrs. Reechko:
The Committee’s 1923 Report on Mrs. Reechko:

“According to the records at Harper Hospital examined by a committee of investigators that were sent by the Lutheran Hospital of St. Louis, Mo., this case was diagnosed as Glioma or more probably Sarcoma of the brain. The representative from the Berwick Hospital of Pennsylvania, who examined the Harper Hospital records, claimed that the diagnosis was satisfactorily made Sarcoma. The “committee” of the W.C.M.S.’s reports the case as “Glioma of Brain, which had decompression plus two deep X-ray treatments.” They dismiss the case thus— “Improvements probably due to above treatments.

The Testimony of Mrs. Reechko:

The Testimony of the patient and husband produce a history that settles both the diagnosis and the credit for the cure, — “Mrs. Tatiana Reechko entered Harper Hospital, Detroit in November 1922, age 35 years, complaining of projectile vomiting, visual disturbance, constant terrific headache, loss of sensation of right side, paralysis of right arm. Dr. Charles Brooks removed a piece of skull from right side of head the size of palm of a man’s hand, gave two X-Ray treatments of two hours and two hours and one-half each. Her husband stopped further X-Ray as apparently it was killing her.

“Left Harper Hospital middle of December, 1922, with a soft swelling raised the thickness of a finger above the level of the scalp. This swelling was soft as if containing water. The patient steadily got worse in all symptoms and the swelling on her head became as large as a grape fruit and as hard as wood. Another lump developed in the lower spine, which pained terribly and prevented lying on her back and sitting down.

“The paralysis got worse; both the loss of sensation and the inability to use her muscles had soon involved the whole right side. The headache grew much worse, practically complete blindness set in. The vomiting got worse so that even the slightest quantity of water was ejected even to a distance of 12 feet. Other material was also vomited that had so terrible an odor that the neighbors could not stay in the house because of the odor. She became very thin, weak and bedfast, finally had to be carried like a baby. She lost weight from over two hundred lbs. to weigh so little that she could be carried by her husband like a baby. “She did not improve after leaving Harper Hospital, but got worse nearly unto death when Doctor William F. Koch was called to treat her, with the large hard mass growing out of her head and the new large mass that had developed in her back which did not have any X-Ray treatment, and all the other troubles that had gotten so much worse that she was nearly dead. It was July around the middle of the month that Dr. Koch gave his Treatment, around eight months after she left Harper Hospital.

“Improvement started within twenty-four hours after taking the Koch Treatment. In a few days the vomiting stopped and never returned. Likewise in a few days the headache got better and stopped. Sensation returned each day and within a month vision and muscle control was perfect and is so to this day. The paralysis completely left in a month. The lump on the head and the one in the back went away in the same way. They were soft like water within two days after the Treatment and completely gone in a month. There is no trace of them and the hole in the head where the bone was removed is soft and sunken a very little.

“Mrs. Reechko is in perfect health today, weighs 220 lbs., can work hard all day and the only trace of her sickness is the absence of the piece of bone removed from her skull by the surgeon.
Signed—MRS. TATIANA REECHKO.
PETER REECKHO.

Subscribed to and sworn to before me this 15th day of September 1924.
My commission expires Jan. 31, 1926.
Signed—GERTRUDE WHITESELL, Not. Public.

The Case of Mr. Avery:
Committee Report on Mr. Avery:

W.C.M.S. Committee Report— “Epithelioma of the hand, X-ray therapy at Ann Arbor sufficient to cure condition.” The “committee” dismissed this case with the excuse that the five minutes spent in the X-ray room at Ann Arbor, part time under the picture machine was enough in Dr. Rollin Steven’s “opinion” to cure him, “to destroy the growth.”

Testimony of Mr. Avery:

“I entered the U. of M. Hospital for examination March 20, 1922. I paid one-dollar registration fee; they examined the hand, took some of my blood, a small piece of skin or flesh from the sore, then took an X-ray picture for which they charged one dollar, then sent me home. Said it would be up to my own doctor to care for me after the analysis was made and would send him (Dr. McGarry) word as to what they found this to be. In one week they sent Dr. McGarry a letter saying that they had found Mr. Avery’s trouble to be a basal cell carcinoma and they advised cutting this out and then following this up with X-ray treatment. On the following Monday I took my first Treatment from Dr. Koch and I don’t believe that the cancer ever grew one bit after that first treatment. I never took an X-ray treatment or any other kind of treatment from anyone, only Dr. Koch’s Treatment.”
Signed—SANDFORD E. AVERY.

Sworn to before Hazel S. Smelker, Notary Public,
Genesee Co.
Commission expires Nov. 17, 1926.

I am submitting a case for qualification of Dr. Steven’s surmise that shows that adequate X-ray, Radium, and Cautery treatment according to Dr. Stevens’ own experience and best knowledge does not cure cancer nor destroy the growth, but in the following case, given up to die shortly, can be cured by the Koch Treatment.

The Case of Mr. Elder:
Committee Report on Mr. Elder:

The “committee” failed to file a report on Mr. Elder.

Affidavit of Joseph Erwin Elder:

“My statement regarding the history of the cancer I had in my mouth.

“The trouble started under my tongue in the spring of 1920 as a lump and spot the size of a pea when I first noticed it. It gradually got bigger and hurt more.

“I went to Dr. Campbell at the Ford Plant where I was working and, after examination, he sent me to my family doctor, Dr. Bennett. Dr. Bennett had my blood tested and I went to the Ford Hospital spring of 1922. They examined me and wanted to operate.

“I went to Dr. Suggs of Highland Park May 30th, 1922. He said not to operate but sent me to Dr. Stevens of Detroit. Dr. Stevens gave me two X-Rays and two radium treatments. The first X-Ray kept it still for a while so it did not pain so much or grow fast, but it did not get well and within a year it got worse more rapidly than ever and the more X-Ray and radium he used the worse it got. So finally Dr. Stevens said he would try the cautery. This he did, but told my friend Mr. Hamilton and my wife heard it that I could only live three months or rather that I would be dead in three months. I lost weight from 180 to 140 lbs. Dr. M. W. O’Connor examined me Aug. 1923 and said that I could not live long, that he had no hopes at all.

“I kept on getting worse, the pain increasing as the cancer spread along the floor of my mouth and was destroying my tongue. I got so that I could not talk or eat and was starving to death and became so thin and weak I could hardly walk and had to stop work. Dr. Rollin Stevens’ prediction was coming true. I could not last much longer. Then I heard of Dr. Koch and went to him Aug. 28, 1923 and he treated me with an injection of fluid into my hip. I rapidly got well, gaining at the rate of 11 or 12 lbs. a month until I fully recovered. The painful corroding cancer went away so fast that I could eat within a few days. I went back to work within two weeks. I now weigh 180 lbs. and am perfectly cured and healed. The other treatments I had, the radium X-Ray and cautery, were leading me to the grave and Dr. William F. Koch’s Treatment saved my life after the X-Ray doctor (Dr. Rollin Stevens) said I would soon be dead. Dr. Koch cured me. The diagnosis of cancer was made by the Henry Ford Hospital, Dr. Suggs, Dr. M.W. O’Connor, Dr. Bennett and Dr. Rollin Stevens- a member of the “committee.”
Signed—JOSEPH ERWIN ELDER.

Subscribed and sworn to before me, the 23rd day of August 1924.
Signed—PEARL HICKS, Notary Public
My commission expires March 4th, 1928.

The Case of Mrs. Plumb:
Committee Report on Mrs. Plumb:

Instead of reporting the facts, the “committee” obtained the following false statement from Dr. James Davis. Dr. James Davis evidently did report the case to the “1923 committee”, apparently yielding to pressure and changing his diagnosis. For the “committee” concluded:

Report of “1923 committee” — “Demonstrated as Paget’s Disease — Wrong diagnosis. Was not Paget’s disease, but simple ulceration with associated lymphadenitis — There was a slight irritation of the skin surface with very slight fissuring. A diagnosis of cancer was not made. She presented a normal appearing breast (at the “committee’s” examination) in 1923.”

Why would Dr. James Davis be willing to make himself out as completely incompetent before a committee of the A.M.A. by admitting that he was incapable of making a proper diagnosis of Paget’s disease? In 1919, he was convinced enough to prescribe immediate radical surgery, and followed with this statement when asked about the success rate, “that he could not promise that it would cure,” but 4 years later, with only 2 lines of explanation, Dr. Davis simply states that he had made a mistake.

Affidavits on Mrs. Plumb:

“The sickness first started in the fall of 1918, with tiredness and pain under the shoulder blade. The lump in the right breast behind the nipple, being about the size of a hickory nut was starting to pain. We consulted Dr. James Davis in August 1919. In the presence of witnesses he made an examination, measuring the lumps in the breast, armpit and over the collar bone, in the neck, and recorded the ulcerated, retracted, bleeding condition of the nipple and surrounding area. Also consulted Dr. Davis in October 1919. He examined again. The body weight had dropped from 170 lbs. or over to between 115 and 120 lbs. Before witnesses Dr. James Davis gave a diagnosis of Paget’s disease cancer and upon being asked to explain what Paget’s disease was, he explained to all present that it was the fastest growing cancer on record and had never been known to have been cured, and that Mrs. Plumb must go to Providence Hospital immediately so he could remove her breast and have the whole armpit cleaned out. He stated that it was possible she could not use her arm again as he had to remove the cords from under the arm, and that the longer she waited the worse she would be. Mrs. Plumb asked if that would cure her, and Dr. James Davis answered that he could not promise that it would cure.

“Mrs. Plumb refused the operation and stated that she would go to Dr. Koch for Treatment. Dr. Davis said that it was foolish, that she could get no help from Koch. He requested, however, to watch the progress of the Koch Treatment. Dr. Koch was glad to have Dr. Davis watch the progress of the cure. Dr. Davis watched the progress of recovery under the Koch Treatment to its completion. On Dec. 19, 1919, Dr. Davis examined Mrs. Plumb and said she was no better. This was about two weeks after the first Treatment. On Jan. 25, 1920, Dr. Davis examined her and found her all well and said so. He also noticed much improvement in her general health. On May 15, 1920, Dr. Davis examined Mrs. Plumb again, found her all well and without a trace of cancer. On July 26, 1920, Dr. Davis examined her again and again found her in perfect health, cancer free and healed without a scar. Dr. Davis stated that she was cured, as there was no sign of cancer left.

“Mrs. Plumb and Mr. Plumb asked Dr. Davis to take Mrs. Plumb before the Wayne County Medical Society and demonstrate this case as a cured cancer, as he said she was cured of cancer. But he said he would think about it, He did not question the diagnosis of cancer nor the cure, but he did not take Mrs. Plumb before the medical society.

“Mrs. Charles Plumb is still cured of cancer and weighs 180 lbs., in perfect health, working hard every day without fatigue or any sort of inconvenience, and without any evidence or suspicion of cancer.”
Signed—MRS. CHARLES PLUMB.

MR. CHARLES PLUMB.

Subscribed and sworn to this 8th day, of July 1924.
Signed—MRS. GERTRUDE WHITESELL, Notary Public
My commission expires Jan. 31, 1926

Statement of Mrs. Edgar Britton, witness to Dr. James Davis’ diagnosis of Mrs. Plumb’s case of cancer of the breast:

“On or about Oct. 14, 1919, Dr. James Davis examined Mrs. Charles Plumb before me and said after thorough examination that her disease was Paget’s disease, the most fatal form of cancer on record and never known to have been cured. He said immediate operation was necessary.

Signed—MRS. EDGAR BRITTON.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 8th day of July 1924.

Signed—MRS. GERTRUDE WHITESELL, Notary Public

My commission expires Jan. 31, 1926

Mrs. Celia Alpert:
Committee report on Mrs. Celia Alpert:

“Demonstrated as a cure of recurrence of breast carcinoma. Never had recurrence.” (Statement Dr. B. E. Friedlander who operated upon her and has observed her since.)

“Mrs. Celia Alpert. The history presented to us was that Dr. Friedlander removed the breast for carcinoma in 1920 that six months later there was recurrence and discharge from it, a specimen was taken and the patient referred to Dr. Koch. This Treatment had removed the recurrence. She presented a well-healed scar and was in good health. Dr. Friedlander stated to us that the breast had been removed for carcinoma, but that there never had been a recurrence. He had seen the patient every month or two since operation.”

“History of case (Woman’s Hospital) and statement of patient and husband made to Dr, Lynch of Fairbury, Nebraska:
“Dr. S. Friedlander (history by Dr. Heiksen)
“Diagnosis, Medullary carcinoma of left mammary gland.
“C.C. core at nipple.
“H.P.I. 3 months ago she felt a little lump in the breast, which she said, felt like a stone. It has not grown in size since then as far as she knows but last week it began to bleed. Appetite good, no epigastric pain or discomfort. No eructation, pain or discomfort; bowels regular. Lungs, heart and urine negative.
“P.M.R. measles, diphtheria, no operations or injuries.
“M. 142.8-4-5, no pain last period July 25, 1924.
“E.R. No children, married 8 years, no miscarriages.
“P.E. 5—120 lbs. T. 98, P. 84, B. P. 110-65. R. 20.

“Nutrition very good, has lost no weight; complexion dusky.
“The left nipple is red, otherwise the breast appears healthy.
“No blood could be expressed. Small mass on right of nipple palpable. Mass hard, freely movable and about the size of a bean. Nipple not retracted, ducts at nipple hard and felt like small shot. Axillary glands not palpable. Right breast normal.
“Operation, 7-9-20.
“Diagnosis, Adenofibroma, chronic mastitis, Paget’s disease of breast, left nipple.
“Dr. S. Friedlander, operation—dissection and excision of left breast. Small, indurated nodules around left nipple, several masses in breast, bleeding from nipple.
“Laboratory report—left breast—duration of condition 4 mos.—chief symptom, bleeding from nipple—eczematous condition of nipple. (Paget’s disease).
“Macroscopic—nipple appears somewhat retracted and fissured and extending down from the nipple towards the aponeurosis there is considerable fibrous change. Two sections taken.
“Microscopic—the stroma exhibits hyalinization and fatty infiltration. There is new growth infiltration (epithelial type), The new growth tissue does not stain well and the
nuclear material is breaking down.
“Diagnosis—Medullary carcinoma of mammary gland. J. N. Davis, Pathologist.
“Admitted 7-8-20. Discharged 8-6-20. Result good.”

Statement of Mrs. Alpert:

“Statement of patient and husband given to Dr. Lynch of Fairbury, Nebraska. Same statement was given by patient to an investigating committee from the Lutheran Hospital of St. Louis, Mo.

“June 20, 1924. When patient left hospital, she says the wound was not healed and Dr. Friedlander came to dress the wound for several months after. Ten days after leaving the hospital, she went to Dr. Koch. At this time she says wound was raised on edges and indurated. After first Treatment by Dr. Koch, wound began to heal better. Immediately after patient went to Dr. Koch, Dr. Friedlander cut out one of nodules and made a diagnosis of recurrent carcinoma. After Dr. Koch’s Treatment nodules began to soften and disappear. General condition was good when she went to Dr. Koch and it remained good. At present wound is healed, there are no nodules or enlarged glands and general condition is good.”

Signed—CELIA ALPERT

Mr. John Ackley:
Committee Report on Mr. Ackley:

“Demonstrated as cured rectal carcinoma. Probably perirectal abscess, which ruptured spontaneously.” (Statement Dr. Clarence Sayres).

“Dr. Koch told us there were lumps squamous carcinoma to the edge of the anus. The history we obtained was— pain in the rectum, which cut like a knife, one hemorrhage. No diarrhea, no constipation, the entire duration one month, relieved two days after Treatment.

“Dr. Clarence Sayres saw the case just before the man went to Koch. His data follows—Rapid onset of acute knife-like pain in rectum July 1922. No constipation, no diarrhea, no persistent bleeding. Twenty-five pounds loss in weight. After two to three weeks, the patient saw Dr. Sayres. No growth or other abnormality was noted externally; digital or proctoscopic examination impossible because of exquisite tenderness. After this one visit the patient went to Dr. Koch who says a lumpy growth was found extending to the edge of the anal orifice. He instituted his special Treatment by injections and shortly afterward, while at stool, patient had a tremendous gush of bloody material from the rectum. This brought immediate relief and was followed by a rapid subsidence of all symptoms.

“Dr. Sayres’ impression was that the man had a peri-rectal abscess with spontaneous rupture into the lumen of the bowel.”

Testimony of Mr. Ackley:

Statement of Mr. John Ackley of 1411 Lawndale Ave.,

Detroit, Mich.

July 24, 1924.

“My rectal trouble started gradually over a period of ten years, off and on. During this period piles were the chief complaint until Feb., 1922, when relief could not be obtained by former methods. Pain was knife-like at times and I gradually got worse, until in July it was unbearable and lasted 24 hours out of the day. Loss weight of 25 pounds in two months.

“My rectum started to close up in June and by July 4th, feces were slender like a straw. Stools had to be kept thin in order to have a movement at all, so painful that I sweat with pain at stool.

“Hemorrhage occurred in latter part of June, 1922. This occurred at stool and was so severe that it left me very weak and in a cold sweat. This hemorrhage took place with such force that the amount that splashed out of the toilet and ran down the side of the bowl was enough to scare the family. This hemorrhage took place some time before I consulted Dr. Koch as I testified to the “committee” of the Wayne County Medical Society and not after I took Dr. Koch’s Treatment as was stated in the Bulletin of the Wayne County Medical Society of June 30, 1924.

“After Dr. Koch’s Treatment there was no discharge of material that relieved the pain all of a sudden as the Wayne County Medical Society Bulletin stated. The drainage from the rectum let up, instead of increasing as the falsifications of the “committee” of the Wayne County Medical Society states, I gave them the exact history and they misstated the evidence. I requested them to examine me and they declined to do so.

“The diseased condition of my rectum was distributed all around. It was hard and rough, and Dr. Sayres did not try to make a digital examination. He tried to force a tube into my rectum, which I immediately stopped on account of the pain. I could not sit down like in health, but had to sit on either cheek. It made no difference which hip I sat on the pain was equally bad. I was cured by Dr. Koch and am in perfect health today.”
Signed—JOHN S. ACKLEY

Signed and sworn to before me this 24th day of July 1924.
Signed—MARK C. TAYLOR, Notary Public,
Wayne County, Mich.
My commission expires Feb. 19, 1928

The Case of Mr. Charles F. Marsh:

Committee Report on Mr. Marsh:

“Carcinoma of Rectum. Had severe radium and X-Ray therapy, sufficient to cause fistula and to arrest growth.”

“Seen by the “committee” Nov. 5, 1923, he appeared fairly well, though sallow. He weighed 135, being nearly up to par. Recto vesical fistula still present but no urine passed per rectum except at time of defecation.

“Pathological report of tissue removed at operation 4-12-21 neoplasm of rectum, epithelial in character with atypical (sic) glands and inflammatory supporting tissue.

“Diagnosis—Adenocarcinoma of rectum, signed, James E. Davis.

“Impression—Adenocarcinoma of rectum destroyed locally and possibly totally by intensive and extensive treatment with radium and X-Ray prior to Treatment by Dr. Koch, with a slough following final radiation resulting in a recto vesical fistula.” (Since Dr. Stevens is the radiological expert of this “committee”, it is well to remember this case in comparison to the Case of Mr. Elder who also had X-ray, radium, and cautery, in sufficient amount according to Dr. Stevens’ experience to effect a cure, but was not helped according to Dr. Stevens’ own statement. Yet, Dr. Stevens states in the Marsh Case, that the X-ray and radium were effective. His committee’ statement is not consistent with his own experience.)

Affidavit of Mr. Charles Marsh:

“I, Charles F. Marsh, 1919 West Grand Blvd., Detroit, Mich., make the following sworn statement regarding the operation performed, the radium and X-Ray treatments used on me during the years 1921 and most of 1922 by Drs. Andries and Husband, Chene and Weaver, for cancer of the rectum and showing my condition at the end of their treatment, and a history of the Treatment given me by Dr. William F. Koch for the same trouble and a brief statement showing my present condition.

“Just when my trouble started I cannot state as I had a growth there for a long time and bled badly each time at stool, but the first I knew it to be a cancer was in March, 1921. A specimen was taken from me and examined by the Stafford laboratories here in Detroit and the report signed by A. S. Warthin, c/o C. M. S. and another specimen was examined by Dr. James Davis, pathologist at Providence Hospital, Detroit and I have their reports pronouncing it Adenocarcinoma—active.

“In April, 1921 I was operated on at the Providence Hospital. The operation so I was told, being the burning off of this growth down to the walls of the rectum an radium needles were buried in the base of the growth and left there for about ten hours. In June 1921, the needles were again buried in the flesh around the spot and left there for ten or twelve hours. In August 1921, radium in a sort of rubber capsule was applied for about a 4-hour period. Late in the fall of 1921, I was told by Dr. Husband that the sore had healed over. Nothing further was done until March 1922. The sore had evidently opened. So I went to the hospital again and the doctors cauterized the sore without any anesthetic being given and radium needles were again sunk into the flesh and left there nearly 24 hours. I was burned so badly this time that it affected my sciatic nerve in the left leg, and I spent several weeks in severe pain. They also began at this time to give me X-Ray treatments each week about one-half hour at a time. Still I continued to get worse and could hardly sit in a chair and spent most of the time lying down and was in much pain. Was taken to the hospital again in May 1922. At this time Dr. Angus McLean at the request of Dr. Raymond Andries examined me at the hospital and said to me that everything was being done that was possible. Dr. Andries told Mrs. Marsh later that Dr. McLean said my case was hopeless but to continue. At this time, May 1922, my rectum was dilated and radium again applied for almost 24 hours, I came home nearly dead. The doctors insisted that I take X-Ray treatment after this, which I did for three successive weeks, until I could stand it no longer. Was losing so fast that no one expected me to live over a few weeks. Stopped taking X-Ray treatments until I got a trifle stronger, then continued them not quite so often and for a period of only 15 or 20 minutes each. My doctors led me to believe I was improving some but told Mrs. Marsh different. My bladder began to trouble me right after this last radium treatment. I also had some hemorrhages from the rectum in August and September 1922. Early in September, 1922, I was examined by another and very able physician and was told that my condition was not improving as I had been led to believe but that the walls of the rectum had become firm and stiff and the trouble had spread from the original spot and that many other organs were affected.

“In October, 1922 a small opening between the bladder and rectum developed. My rectum was very congested and sore. I had to sit on an air cushion or pillow all the time the doctors who had been treating me admitted that they were not getting anywhere and thought I might get some help by taking X-Ray treatment from the big machines. I consulted Dr. Evans who had charge of the machines at Harper Hospital but got very little encouragement although he said he would give me the treatment. I made arrangements with him to do so but later cancelled the same.

“At this time I learned of Dr. William F, Koch from several different sources about the same time, and from inquiry I made and had made, I felt certain he could help me and I was not mistaken. I took the first Treatment of Dr. Koch Nov. 5, 1922 and began to feel easier within a very few days. By the end of the month I was much improved. Took second Treatment Dec. 1, 1922, and during the second month found there was a marked change. The congestion in the rectum had reduced greatly and I was able to sit fairly comfortable on any seat. I took the third Treatment Jan. 20, 1923. Kept on improving and my general health was much better. Gained in weight and my color was much better. By June 1923, was able to go out to the Lake and help rebuild a summer cottage. Started to ride in an automobile again in July 1923, and in August started back to drive my car again. Started back in business in Sept. 1923, after being away one and one-half years and have been able to stand it fine.

“My average weight for years has been around 120 pounds or a little less. I now weigh 140 pounds. My physical improvement is very marked. So much so that my acquaintances and clients cannot help but mention it when I meet them. My age at present is 47 years. I have had no Treatment since Jan. 1923. I have had no hemorrhages since treating with Dr. Koch. My bowels move freely every day without medicine. The congestion and soreness have been gone a long time. The rectal walls are soft and natural. I sit with ease in any position on any seat. I am certainly thankful and appreciate all that has been done for me by Dr. Koch with the great help of the good Father over us all. Would that everyone suffering from cancer could have the benefits of his Treatment. Much pain and untold suffering could be averted and thousands of lives saved.

Signed—CHARLES F. MARSH

Signed and sworn to before me, a Notary Public, this 28th day of August 1924.
Signed—MARK HELEOMAN, Notary Public,
Wayne Co., Mich.
My commission expires Nov. 29, 1930.

Thus the Testimony of the Mr. Marsh evidently gives no foundation for the impression claimed by the “committee” in their report!

IN 1928, MR. C. F. MARSH APPEARED AS A WITNESS FOR THE KOCH TREATMENT DURING DR. DUGDALE VS STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

CHARLES F. MARSH, Sworn.

Q. (By Mr. Lehr) What is your full name?
A. Charles F. Marsh.
Q. Where do you live?
A. Detroit, Michigan.
Q. Have you had an illness?
A. I did.
Q. When did it start?
A. In 1921.
Q. What was your condition in 1921?
A. Mine was a rectal trouble. I had had that trouble before that. I thought it was piles.
Q. Did you consult a doctor for piles?
A. I did.
Q. What doctor did you consult?
A. Dr. Mowry.
Q. What did he do to you?
A. Dr. Mowry examined me and took a specimen from me and had me take it down to The Stafford Laboratories in Detroit. Later I went back to Dr. Mowry and he gave me a report and refused to treat me, telling me that the report was cancer. I consulted Dr. Husband in Detroit.
Q. What did you do?
A. I didn’t state to him anything in regard to the circumstances of how Dr. Mowry had treated me. Dr. Husband had treated me before for piles. I had him examine me—give me a good examination— and he took a specimen. His specimen was sent to the hospital, to a pathologist. I think his name was Dr. Davis. His report was identical with the Stafford Laboratories Report.
Q. Then what treatment was given you, Mr. Marsh?
A. I was advised to go into the hospital for an operation. I went to the Providence Hospital and was operated on for a cancerous growth in the rectum.
Q. And after that?
A. After that, right after the operation I was given radium treatments by a radium needle—radium needles, implanted in the flesh —buried in the flesh.
Q. Then what happened, Mr. Marsh?
A. Well, after I got up from that, I was taken back to the hospital and again radium needles were put in the flesh.
Q. What time was that?
A. The first time—the first operation and the first radium needle was in April 1921. The next was in June 1921.
Q. Then what was done, after that?
A. Then, in August of 1921, I was given another radium treatment. The radium was put in rubber capsules

Q. What was done after that?
A. Apparently the sore healed over; that is, the doctors told me it did. But in January, 1922, I started to bleed again. I went there, and they advised me that more radium was needed and it was done in March of 1922.
Q. What was your condition at that time?
A. Well, my condition after this operation and all these radium treatments in March, 1922, was very bad.
Q. You were confined to your bed after the treatment?
A. I was confined to the bed.
Q. For how long?
A. Well, for a short time, but I had another radium treatment later which confined me to the bed for some time.
Q. Then what did you do after that, Mr. Marsh?
A. They gave me an X-ray treatment.
Q. X-ray and not radium?
A. One X-ray treatment.
Q. Go on.
A. I was in such bad shape I couldn’t stand it any more. I waited until I began to get a little stronger. I wasn’t getting any better. I had a couple of hemorrhages in the summer of 1922 and in the early fall, and I think it was August and September.
Q. Then what did you do?
A. I consulted another doctor to find out how I was getting on.
Q. What was that doctor’s name?
A. Dr. Richie.
Q. What did he tell, you?
A. He made an examination and told me I wasn’t making any gain, in fact I was growing worse all the time; that the cancer had spread to
other organs.
Q. Then what did you do, Mr. Marsh?
A. Well, I considered going to the hospital for X-ray treatment with the big machine, to Dr. Evans, who has charge of the machine for the Harper Hospital in Detroit. He didn’t give me much encouragement. He didn’t say that he could do anything for me whatever but he agreed to treat me. About that time I heard of Dr. Koch and his Treatment from three or four different sources.
Q. Then did you take the treatment with Dr. Koch?
A. I went over and consulted him. He finally agreed to give me the Treatment.
Q. When were you treated?
A. The first part of November 1922, was my first Treatment.
Q. How many did you have, Mr. Marsh?
A. Three.
Q. Do you recall about when you had the other two?
A. December— after the first Treatment the second was in about a month and the third in about six weeks.
Q. How did you get along after the Treatments were given?
A. Began to feel better right away.

Q. Now then, did you have any of these reactions you have heard these patients testify to?
A. I did.
Q. Will you explain what you had?
A. I felt so miserable I don’t know as I can explain. But as I remember it what bothered me most was the bloating of the abdomen and the pains in the groin and in the legs; trouble with the bowels. At intervals the bowels would get loose and I passed quite a lot of blood.
Q. What was your weight at the time you were treated, Mr. Marsh? Do you recall that?
A. When I first started my normal weight was around 118 to 120.
Q. What is your weight now?
A. My weight now is around 140.
Q. You had both reports from both pathologists?
A. I had.
Mr. LEHR: I think that is all.

CROSS-EXAMINATION.
Q. (By Mr. Lovejoy) What is your business?
A. Real estate and insurance.
Q. Who asked you to come on here to testify?
A. To testify?
Q. Yes.
A. I came on to testify for Dr. Koch.
Q. Dr. Koch asked you to come on?
A. Yes.

Mr. LOVEJOY: That is all.

CONCLUDING COMMENTS BY DR. DUGDALE’S ATTORNEY:

“I want to call your Honor’s attention to the case of Charles F. Marsh because of the length of time that elapsed before the completion of the reactions and the consequent recovery. This was a case of cancer of the rectum, involving the pelvic organs in which the diagnosis was confirmed by specimens removed upon two different occasions and microscopically examined and reported on by Dr. Alfred Warthin, Professor of Pathology at the University of Michigan and Dr. James E. Davis, Pathologist at the Providence Hospital, Detroit. Mr. Marsh testified that he received three Treatments respectively on November 5th, 1922, December 1st, 1922, and January 20th, 1923. The reactions to the Treatment were extreme distension of the abdomen; in his own words he said he felt as though the abdomen would burst. Pains through the hips and legs, which he had not felt before Treatment, and a feeling of general misery that continued for a year and a half after treatment accompanied by continued pain in the abdomen and legs…He testified that from the time of his Treatment by Dr. Koch, he had no morphine or medication of any kind.

The Case of Mrs. Siegle:

Committee Report on Mrs. Siegle:

“Carcinoma of sigmoid-clinical diagnosis. No laparotomy; no section.”

“Described to us as having had a mass the size of a grapefruit in the left and mid-abdomen with pain unrelieved by morphine. The booklet describes this case as cancer of the sigmoid with the usual symptoms of obstruction, bleeding, loss of weight, etc. After one Treatment by Koch she had no further symptoms.

“Since there was no laparotomy, no section of tissue, we were unable to judge anything about this case. She had been referred to Dr. Koch by Dr. Tom Robertson.”

Data furnished by Dr. Koch.

Dr. Koch Reviews Her Case:

“Mrs. Siegel, 68 years old, referred by Dr. Tom Robertson, for cancer of the large intestine, (sigmoid flexure of the colon) which caused the usual symptoms of such a condition, obstruction of the bowel, bleeding, putrid discharge, pain, loss of weight and strength, etc. Physical examination showed a cancer mass some five inches in diameter extending from deep in the left pelvis to a few inches below the umbilicus. The mass could also he palpated through the rectum.

“She was given a Treatment on October 7, 1922, with improvement following within a few days and continuing until Dec. 21, when she appeared practically cured, only a trace of the growth being palpable. The bowels had long since been working normally, bleeding had stopped and the general condition of the patient had greatly improved. A second Treatment was then given, resulting in complete cure of the patient. She has no more cancer as revealed by careful examination as well as by the fact that her bowel functionates normally, and by her return to excellent health.

The Case of Mr. Simon Grace:

Committee’s Report on Mr. Simon Grace:

“Described to us as a massive carcinoma of the liver and stomach who had been under continuous morphine treatment because of the pain. After a few serum Treatments, he gradually and soon went back to work. There was no operation, no section.”

Affidavit of Mr. Simon Grace:

“I, Mr. Simon Grace, of my own free will make the following statement regarding the cure of my case of cancer accomplished by Dr. Wm, F. Koch’s Treatment.

“During the spring of 1922, I began to fail, and had attacks of stomach trouble, necessitating stopping work at times. My stomach pained, and I vomited blood and corrupt matter. I had several bad hemorrhages from the stomach. A large mass developed in my abdomen and filled the space between the ribs and navel. This mass stood out plainly so that my wife saw it plainly. It was hard and painful.

“Finally I had great difficulty in swallowing, and for three weeks or so before Dr. Koch treated me I could scarcely swallow water or saliva. It would go part way down but not enter the stomach and then be returned. As I became too weak to walk I had to stay in bed and rapidly got as thin as a skeleton. I was under hypodermics of morphine for pain. I rapidly got worse. Was examined by Dr. Lefevre who made the diagnosis and offered to treat me for cancer and by Dr. Caughey who also made the diagnosis of cancer of stomach and liver. Dr. Morey had Dr. Koch Treatment.

“At the time Dr. Koch treated me, he found me scarcely conscious, for I do not remember his injecting me and I could barely move my legs in bed from weakness. Dr. Koch made the diagnosis of cancer of the stomach and liver, and told my wife that I had very little chance, if any chances for recovery.

“After his Treatment, I recovered rather rapidly, and could swallow my food in about ten days. After that I gained in strength rapidly, and the mass in my abdomen went away in a month or so. My weight came back from something like fifty or sixty pounds at the time of Treatment, July 25, 1922, to l39 pounds on September 17, 1922, and I returned to my work at the Ford Tractor Plant shortly after. I kept on gaining and before the first year was over I was healthy again, as good as ever in my life, I am now in perfect health. I was examined by the Ford Hospital surgeon in October, 1922, and they found my abdomen perfectly normal. My stomach works as well as ever in my life and I am cured.”
Signed—SIMON GRACE

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 13th day of September 1924.
Signed—EMMETT E. SCRIMSUI RE, Notary Public.
My commission expires Mar. 20, 1928.

Wayne County Medical Society Committee Reports:

“Two members of the “committee”, Dr. Kelly and Dr. Owen, spent considerable time going over cases of Dr. Koch’s. (Furnished by Dr. Koch – These additional cases were shown to them not as cured cases but that the two members of the “committee” could watch at intervals to see how the Treatment worked.) These cases were as follows:

The Case of Father Joniatis:

Committee Report on Fr. Joniatis:

“Myxosarcoma with no results from Koch’s Treatment.”

“Father Joniatis, 8300 Longworth Ave., Detroit. Was operated upon in Chicago by Dr. T. J. O’Donoghue for tumor on the right forearm, which was diagnosed after removal Myxosarcoma. This tumor recurred and in September 1923, the patient visited Dr. Koch and was given Treatment. Several Treatments followed with no improvement, the patient visited Dr. Angus MacLean, who advised amputation of the forearm. He then visited Dr. Jose Andries who removed the mass with knife and cautery.

Data by Dr. Koch,

Dr. Koch Reviews His Case:

“Rev. Joniatis left me shortly after the inspection of the “committee” and was improving under Treatment until after his departure.”

The Case of Mr. Homer Tayler:

Committee’s Report on Homer Tayler:

“Hypernephroma, with no results from Koch’s Treatment.”

“Homer Tayler, living at 721 Distel St., was operated on at Mayo Clinic, April, 1923, for Hypernephroma of the left kidney. He had also been operated upon in Milwaukee in Oct. 1923. While at Mayo’s he was given two sets of deep X-Ray therapy, one set in June 1923, and one in September 1923. Was treated by Dr. Koch in October 1923. Upon examination of the patient, numerous tumor masses were found throughout the abdomen, especially one large mass in lower abdomen, six by five inches.”

Data by Dr. Koch.

Dr. Koch Reviews His Case:

“Mr. Tayler left me shortly after the examination by the “committee.” This case was improving up that time.”

The Case of Mrs. Schonscheck:

Committee Report on Mrs. Schonscheck:

“Non-malignant tumor of ovary. Treated by Dr. Koch for cancer.”

“Lena Schonscheck, living at 14 Forest Street, River Rouge, Mich., 38 years of age, had been operated upon at Delray Industrial Hospital by Dr. Edwin Durocher. Visited Dr. Koch and was informed that she had carcinoma, Dr. Koch did not remember whether it was of the stomach or the uterus, Patient generally well, weighing 200 pounds. Dr. Durocher was consulted, as also was the Delray Industrial Hospital. We were unable to find any record of examination of tissue. An abdominal operation had been performed with the removal of ovary which was clinically non malignant.”

Affidavit of Mrs. Schonscheck:

“Age 38, operated at Delray Hospital June 30, 1923, by Dr. Durocher. He said he removed a decayed ovary and blood clots. This operation followed an illness of some 14 years. After the operation health did not return, so Dr. Durocher wanted to remove the tonsils and gall bladder. Mrs. Schonscheck grew worse and in four months was very sick, vomiting, having terrible pains in the abdomen and back and with the abdomen getting large and hard, Dr—-a Detroit specialist, was called by Dr.—-. They examined her and said she was pregnant. They did not help her. The vomiting persisted and got worse, so that even a teaspoonful of water was ejected. The pains also got worse and the abdomen increased in size and hardness. By November 1923 she was vomiting blood and was very thin and weak. The pains through the abdomen to the back became terrible. She had become very thin, weak and bedfast. She took practically no nourishment.

“For the three months following she became worse in every way and Rev. Ebendick said she was dying. Her husband knew she was dying when Dr. Koch was called as by this time everyone decided she had cancer. She was not able to take any nourishment and even the medicine was vomited as fast as it was taken.

“Dr. Koch was called in January and said she would not live two days, but was requested to treat her. This he did. She gradually recovered. The hard masses in her abdomen went away in three months, however; no baby came. Her weight gradually gained to 177 pounds, from the thinness of almost a skeleton. The vomiting stopped within a month and her strength returned. She is now perfectly well and does all her household duties, taking care of her 7 children. During her recovery it took two months to learn to walk.

“Dr. Koch’s cancer Treatment cured her of a disease in a dying condition which, even in its early stages, operation and all the other doctors did could not even prevent the disease from rapidly getting worse and nearly killing her. She was examined by Dr. Frank Kelly and he found her abdomen normal.”

Signed—MRS. LENA SCHONSCHECK.

Signed—MR. LOUIS SCHONSCHECK

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 8th day of July 1924.

Signed—MRS. GERTRUDE WHITESELL, Notary Public

My commission expires Jan. 31, 1926.

Dr. Koch Reviews Her Case:

“If anything this case presents a history of malignant disease, cured by the Treatment. Why did they ignore the facts? When first seen by me the primary focus could not be determined. The whole abdomen was involved.”

The Case of W. Thayer:

Committee Report on Mr. W. Thayer:

“Hopeless metastatic treatment of testis. Died soon after Koch’s Treatment.”

“Was operated upon in the spring of 1923 by Dr. Andries. He had a tumor of the testicle, which upon microscopical examination, proved to be a teratoma. A few weeks later, the tumor having recurred, he was again operated upon and several weeks after that he was seen by Drs. R. H. Stevens, Frank A. Kelly, and Clarence Owen. The tumor had then extended up into the abdomen and an X-Ray examination revealed metastases in the lungs. The case was pronounced hopeless and was permitted to go to Dr. Koch for Treatment. The progress of the case was followed during the Treatment, X-Ray examinations being made of chest at intervals and the disease was found to increase. The patient died in the early part of 1924.”

Data furnished by Dr. Koch.

Dr. Koch Reviews His Case:

“This case is correctly reported except that no mention is made of another infection.”

The Case of Mr. Clarence H. France:

Committee Report on Mr. France:

“Committee” failed to file a report on this case.

Dr. Koch Reviews His Case:

“This case was shown to representatives of the “committee” but was not reported in the Bulletin with the others. Mr. France had a specimen of the growth of the larynx removed, which was examined at the Harper Hospital, Detroit, and diagnosed cancer. Clinical diagnoses by Dr. Canfield at Ann Arbor and Dr. Simpson of Detroit as cancer.”

Signed—W. F. KOCH, M. D.

Affidavit of Mr. France:

State of Indiana

Steuben County, S. S.

“I, Charles H. France, of Huntington, Ind., upon oath say that I was suffering from a cancer of the larynx as I was informed by two specialists.

“I was unable for several months to speak above a whisper and when I did talk, I suffered intense pain. Upon advice of some friends I consulted Dr. William F. Koch, Detroit, Mich. After examination by Dr. Koch and assurance from him that his Treatment could cure me of my trouble, I then took a Treatment from him on Nov. 27, 1923, and thereafter began to improve, my voice gradually got stronger and the soreness in my throat disappeared.

“In about three months after having taken Dr. Koch’s Treatment my health was restored and I gained 20 pounds in weight and returned to my work as a salesman and have worked steadily ever since. I feel confident that I have been entirely cured of my cancer and I take pleasure in recommending Dr. Koch as a capable, careful, competent physician with a successful Remedy for the dread disease of cancer.”

Signed—CHARLES H. FRANCE

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 8th day of August 1924.

MILO THOMPSON, Notary Public

My commission expires Jan. 1st, 1927.

The Case of Mrs. Jenny Wagenlander:

Committee Report on Mrs. Wagenlander:

“Committee” failed to make a report.

Dr. Koch Reviews Her Case:

“Was shown to representatives of the “committee,” but was not reported in their Bulletin of June 30th, 1924.”

Signed—W. F. KOCH, M. D.

Affidavit of Mrs. Jenny Wagenlander

“I, Mrs. Jenny Wagenlander, make the following statement regarding the history of the sarcoma of which I was cured by Dr. William F, Koch of Detroit.

“My age is 43 years. For the 12 or 15 years prior to 1920, I was not quite well and in 1920 my abdomen started to enlarge and attacks like intestinal obstruction set in. I could feel the pressure in my abdomen and my legs started to swell. The attacks of pain that doubled me up terribly became more frequent. The mass that filled my abdomen was as large as a man’s head and hard as stone.

“An exploratory operation was performed at Harper Hospital by Dr. Angus McLean and Dr. Francis Duffield, August 7th, 1922. They removed a small piece from the growth and it was proven by examination to be a small cell sarcoma. The growth was found to be so large and to involve so much of the abdomen that the doctors could do nothing but sew me up and sent me home to die in, they thought, about ten days.

“I rapidly got worse, could not feed myself from weakness when Dr. William F. Koch was called and treated me a few days before I was to die. I gradually recovered, the swelling left my legs. I got stronger. The mass in my abdomen that stood away out and extended to all extremities of the abdomen gradually melted away and I regained my health.

“I now feel that I am cured, but Dr. Koch says that on deep examination he finds a small-calcified scar, which should be expected as the sarcoma originated in a bone and therefore had a special predilection toward calcification, and that heavily calcified tissue dissolves slowly. At any rate, it does not interfere with my good health and it is steadily disappearing. I am as active as ever in my life and I believe I am cured and am in fine health, thanks to Dr. Koch’s Treatment.”

August 25th, 1924.

Signed—MRS. JENNY WAGENLANDER

State of Mich.

County of Wayne S. S.

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 25th day of August 1924.

Signed—GILBERT DICKSON, Notary Public,

Wayne Co., Mich.

My commission expires Sept. 15, 1926.

Summary of W.C.M.S.’s Investigations

By Dr. William F. Koch, Ph.D. M.D.

“These cases presented to the “committee,” as a preliminary step, comprised a few of several classes. All had sufficient and satisfactory diagnosis; some had other forms of treatment that failed; some had no other treatment. All were cured to the satisfaction of the patient, their families, and quite to my own satisfaction. The evidence proves that the cures resulted from the Koch Treatment, in several cases even after X-ray and radium treatments not only had greatly depleted the patients, but had also increased the disease to near fatality. Thus, the ” committee’s” fraudulent report is exposed!

“Why did the committee not report on the last two cured cases, instead of spending so much time and space on two cases shown them as under Treatment, which were weaned away before cure could be established? It seems that the cases of Mr. France and Mrs. Wagenlander should have carried weight both from a diagnostic and a cure standpoint. They were omitted in the “committee’s” report. They were the type of cases the “committee” wanted most, —with specimen diagnosis, and no other form of Treatment. This evidence could not be denied. That the findings in these two cases were withheld demonstrates the perfidy and the intentions of the “committee.” However, in the daily press the secretary of the “committee” stated, ‘we have not been able to find one case of cancer helped, much less cured by the Treatment.'”

“Had the Treatment been correctly reported more cured cases would have been shown, and by this time the family doctor would have the Treatment and been instructed in its use. He could cure his cancer cases as fast as they came to him, and the surgical X-ray and radium business, as applied to cancer, would be a thing of the past. I wonder if this had any influence on the stand of the manipulators of the medical profession?

“The following letter from the Propaganda Department of the A.M.A. may also have decided the course of the “committee” of the W.C.M.S. and further unrevealed pressure might have been forced on the “committee.” ‘Therefore the A.M.A. policy must not be overlooked. The two chances the A.M.A. refers to below must be the offers made me or rather the attempts made by Dr. Simmons and the Michel Reese Hospital, on different occasions, to get control of the Treatment. Note the dates of the communications showing that the A.M.A. answered the W.C.M.S. inquiry before it was made. The quotation is taken from the “committee’s” report in the W.C.M.S. Bulletin of June, 1924.’

“A meeting of the “cancer committee” was held on Nov. 1st, 1923, to discuss this matter. Those present were, Drs. Kelly, Stevens, Saltzstein and Spalding. The bureau of investigation of the Journal of the American Medical Association was consulted regarding the advisability of further investigation. Their reply follows:

October 29, 1923.

Dr. Harry C. Saltzstein,

306 Kresge Bldg.,

Detroit, Mich.

Dear Mr. Saltzstein:

“There appears to be no reason or warrant for a further examination of the “Koch Cancer cure.” This man had his opportunity; in fact, two opportunities, with the results that are a matter of record.

“In spite of the unfavorable resort of the Wayne County Medical Society and the publicity that was given to this report, both through the society’s official Bulletin and also through the Journal of The American Medical Association, Koch has continued to commercialize his alleged cure.

“To take any further official action in this case would, in our opinion, simply serve to advertise Koch and give his “cure” a dignity which is not in the public interest.

“Very sincerely yours,

“THE JOURNAL A.M.A.

“Propaganda Dept.”

Articles on Dr. Koch also appeared in the “Propaganda for Reform” column of the Journal of the A.M.A., February 12, and 19, 1921.

“So here the A.M.A. would stop an investigation of a cancer cure that is offered to the medical profession for the sake of the sufferers that have no other chance for cure. Is this the service the A.M.A. owes the profession? Is it because the A.M.A. has defrauded the public out of the truth for so long already, that they are afraid of being shown up. Or is it a matter of ‘ethical’ business that must destroy everything that does not lend itself to exploitation by this octopus?”

Letter from Dr. W. A. Dewey, expressing his evaluation of the W.C.M.S.’s Investigations.

“Dear Dr. Koch:

“I have received what is termed the latest report on your Treatment.

“This claims to be an account of the séance held on November 5th, 1923, at which I was present and took notes of each case.

“For a studied intent to falsify, a premeditated determination to condemn everything, and an unscientific, un-American assumption to be judge, jury and prosecuting witnesses, the report of this so-called committee outstrips in bias, unfairness and mendacity anything that has ever been my lot to observe in a medical practice of forty-four years.

“The frankness with which you presented these cases, giving the committee all the details and referring them to original records and to the family physicians, showed your honest desire to have an honest investigation of your method.

“The composition of the committee being for the most part surgeons and Radium or X-ray “experts,” a class that assumes cancer to be curable only by these methods, was unfortunate in the first place, and in the second place, no member of the committee was in my opinion, qualified to sit in judgment on your Treatment, by education, experience or by right.

“The greatest American authority on cancer is doubtless L. Duncan Bulkley, senior surgeon of the New York Skin and Cancer Hospital. (Italics are mine). He has probably seen and treated more cases ten times over than has been seen or treated by the combined membership of this ‘”official” committee.

“Dr. Bulkley declares first that cancer is not a surgical disease, and that neither surgery, X-ray, nor Radium have changed in any way whatever the ultimate mortality of cancer in forty years. It was 90% in 1884. It is 92% in 1924. This is the result of surgery, X-ray and Radium treatment.

“I can corroborate Dr. Bulkley’s declaration, for in a practice of nearly forty-five years I have yet to see a single case of cancer, save a few semi-malignant epitheliomata, that have been cured by these measures, and my experience has been in hospitals of both this country and Europe.

“However, to return to this really grotesque report— anyone who reads it will be impressed by its “‘scientific” deductions.

“I hope that some day your Treatment will have an investigation before a body of seekers after the truth. These you will not find in American official medicine, which is a trust to keep all progress not coming from its own, out of the field.

“Should the Pasteur Institute investigate it, I am quite sure you will not suffer from false and trumped up reports upon it, and moreover, the investigation will be thorough, with a foremost desire to find out the truth, and not to get control of your procedure.

“Best wishes,

“W. A. DEWEY,

“Middlebury, Vermont,

“October 25, 1924.”

In “The Koch Cancer Treatment And Its Investigations,” Dr. Koch concludes his evaluation of the medical community’s attitude surrounding the 1919 and 1923 Investigations:

“Recently the Board of Health asked for material to be used by someone, I do not know who it might be, for purposes of trial and report, but as the Board of Health was a party to the action in the “1919 Investigation” and has not shown itself any more honorable than the manipulators of the medical profession, I had to deny them another opportunity to put one over against the Treatment. I consider their proposal the sneakiest one that could be made, inasmuch as they have not come to the rescue of the truth, for the sake of humanity they pretend to serve. They still owe it to the world to report on the cures obtained in the “1919 Investigation.”

“Results of investigations made by other institutions and physicians are universally favorable.

“For example, The Radium Institute of New York, the second oldest radium institute in America, after some twenty years experience with cancer, reports its investigation of October, 1923, through its director, Dr. C. Everett Field, of thirty-four cases seen in one day, ‘The exhibit without doubt formed the most remarkable experience of my medical career.’ (Dr. C. E. Field’s book, “Is a Cure For Cancer Possible By Antitoxin And Serum Treatment: Eighteen Months With The Koch Cancer Antitoxin,” is available on this Web Site)

“The Lutheran Hospital of St. Louis, Mo., if not the oldest, at least one of the oldest and most conservative hospitals in Missouri, reports after its investigation of February, 1924, through its trustee, Theo. Lange: ‘Feb. 6th, 1924—Ever since my return I have been so overwhelmed with enthusiasm, that I can not refrain from speaking and proclaiming your wonderful cure to everybody I come in contact with. You certainly are a Godsend and I wish you continued success in spite of all humiliation; they will eventually crawl on their knees to get your support.'”

“The Fairbury Hospital, of Fairbury, Nebraska, through its surgical director, Dr. Albert Lynch, reports on its investigation made in February, 1924, ‘You have thrown a monkey-wrench in my machinery; if I had not seen these results myself I could scarcely believe them.'”

“The same type of report was made by many clearheaded and eminent medical practitioners and professors from various parts of the country. These men have also adopted the Treatment, and are reporting cures in from forty to ninety percent of their cases.”

“An equal privilege has been, and is being, denied the family doctor, the first line of defense against this advancing plague, by the obstructionism detailed and exposed in this report, until the profession is purged of its perfidious exploiters.”

What Cancer Really Is:

“The general misconception of the process of immunity production taught in our schools, and principally following the Ehrlich Theory, is largely responsible for the failure to understand what cancer is and the function it attempts.

“Immunity is taught to depend upon the production of antibodies, elaborations of the body cells that combine and neutralize the toxin of a particular infection. My own researches have shown that immunity is rather the process of conversion of the toxin of the infecting agent into a substance harmless to the host, but destructive to the infecting agent. Thus the toxin is the material from which the antitoxin is made. And the process of conversion is a shifting of certain essential groupings in the toxin, an isorropesis change. The changed toxin still can combine its source, the infecting agent, and induce further chemical change leading to death of the same. Moreover the changed toxin can induce further isorropesis change in the molecules of the toxin already liberated from the infecting agent, producing therefore more antitoxin. That is why toxin-antitoxin mixtures are better therapeutic agents than the antitoxin alone.

“Now the first indications that I had that such a process took place, came from the study of the parathyroid glands, which led me to observe that certain guanidine- related poisons produced by flora in the intestinal tract, were changed into nontoxic ureas through the parathyroid activity. Thus a grade of immunity persists so long as the parathyroids are present to metabolize the guanidine-related toxins. Also the nascent inter-products are able to induce the same change in the guanidine precursors. In this sense the altered toxins are truly antitoxins. This is why parathyroid gland material is clinically helpful together with lime salts in the healing of many types of ulceration, even tubercular lesions, should the guanidine-related toxins be present.”

Cancer Is An Attempt At Immunity:

“The histological characteristics of cancer identify it with similar attempts at gland production to those represented in the evolution of other glands of internal secretion.

“The clinical observation that toxic symptoms precede the development of cancer for a period of years, and then let up partly or completely when the growth is well on its way of development, points to a detoxicating function for the growth. Yet since the growth persists in its development, its effort cannot be adequate. Moreover during the growth period a set of cachexia symptoms are in evidence, which we refer to the insufficient alteration of the toxin, calling forth the growth response. Were the growth effort adequate, complete conversion of the toxin would be accomplished and true immunity obtained. Instead, the growth only makes a more toxic product out of the stimulus-toxin.

“Chemical study of both the stimulus-toxin and the toxic growth product has led to the structural identification of their active groupings, and has also indicated the type of change required for successful antitoxin structure. The synthetic manufacture of an antitoxin for this disease was thereby made possible. Our clinical results prove the accuracy of this outline.

“The synthetic antitoxin is harmless to the body. Even where injected in concentrated solution, it produces no injury or soreness. After the causal infection and its toxin have been destroyed (the function of the growth having been accomplished for it) the growth becomes obsolete and undergoes digestion for removal like any other excess tissue in the body. The first stage of digestion is a calcification, coagulation as takes place in milk digestion, digestion of the inside of developing bone preparatory to its removal, or of the disintegration of blood. We recognize calcification to be the first step in the digestion of the body proteins. The rest of the process of removal of the calcified cancer tissue is accomplished by the in-growth of angioblastic tissue, just as takes place in the organization of a blood clot or in the clearing out of the inside of developing bone. This in-growth of angioblastic tissue also serves to heal destroyed tissues and replace structural deficiencies consequent to the ravages of the growth.

“The material obtained from the digesting cancer tissue is again used in the nutrition of the body, for the food elements thus obtained are the same units from which the cancer tissue was built up. The gain in strength shown by patients during the process of absorption of the cancer material, though still not able to take food, has in many instances proven this nutritional value of the cancer material.

“Thus, through physiological processes a cancer growth disappears, after the function of immunity it attempts, is performed for it.”

WM. F. KOCH, Ph.D. M.D.

THE UNPUBLISHED REPORT:

By Cash Asher
Reporter for the Detroit Free Press.

The following is an unpublished report, by Cash Asher of the Detroit Free Press, written at the request of the Wayne County Medical Society’s Committee on Cancer:

” I first heard of Dr. William Fredrick Koch in 1929, when I was a reporter for the Detroit Free Press. In the summer of that year, I was assigned by the city editor to investigate five medical clinics operating in the downtown section. With the assistance of the State Police, I learned that they were directed by quacks, poising as licensed physicians. They were connected with a national chain with headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. Their methods were weird. They treated cancer, arthritis and syphilis under electric lamps with the bulbs painted red and blue. Patients were told that the lamps gave out ultraviolet and infrared rays that would cure their maladies. Clever-tongued salesmen were employed to frighten all callers into believing they were afflicted with dangerous diseases, and that they could be cured in the clinic. The clinic, the salesmen said, had worked out its methods and had procedures not available elsewhere. We raided the five one night, arrested the operators and brought them to trial. They were closed and about one hundred similar clinics scattered about the country were put out of business.

“The success of this effort pleased the American Medical Association, and I was asked by the Wayne County Branch in Detroit to serve as publicity director of a drive to enlighten citizens about the danger of cancer and the importance of an early examination. After this was over, the chairman of the Cancer Committee told me, facetiously perhaps, that virtually ‘every woman in Detroit with a pain or a pimple had been into his office.’ He asked me then if I would investigate Dr. William F. Koch, who had a clinic on Jefferson Avenue. He said that Koch was a clever quack, and I agreed to undertake the assignment.

“I picked up his trail at the University of Michigan, read his writings, sought to find some ‘crime’ that the medical profession could bring against him.

“Almost everyone I talked to believed that Koch was a quack. He was not orthodox. He was outside the established, accepted channels. I learned through hospital records of cases of cancer that had been pronounced incurable, and then had been given the Koch Treatment.

“I went to see several of these and I found men and women who had been restored to health after all other therapies had failed, and hope was gone. They were well and happy, and enthusiastic over what had been achieved. “One woman with a bulging cancer of the brain had been cured six years previously by the Koch Remedy. Cancer specialists had given her up to die, and she went to see Dr. Koch in a final despairing effort to get well. It took four months and two injections of Glyoxylide to cure her. Another case was a woman with an abdominal cancer so large that surgeons dared not operate. When the abdomen was opened, they found a mass of cancerous tissue that had metastasized into the stomach and liver. She got well after receiving three Treatments from Dr. Koch. Hospital records of biopsies and microscopic verified the diagnosis in these and other cases I investigated. I found these people scattered throughout Detroit and vicinity…men and women lifted out of the deep valley of impending death and vigor by the startling efficacy of the Koch Remedy. All of this was contradictory to the purpose of my inquiry.

“Curious as a reporter rather than a detective, I went to see Koch. I found a man of solid dimensions, physically and mentally; a likable, kindly character, with a large head, a strong jaw, a ruddy complexion, and, most pronounced of all, blue eyes into which the alchemy of heredity and environment had never poured a strain of dishonesty or charlatanry. It was a relief just to look at him after dealing with the suave, almost slimy imposters who had operated the downtown clinics.

“I talked with him at great length. He answered my every question fully and freely.

“‘The Free Press will never publish anything favorable about me,'” he said. “‘In fact, I am regarded as a medical outlaw.'”

“‘But it seems that you have cured cancer,'” I replied.

“‘Yes, many, many cases; but The American Medical Association is trying to put me in jail. They want me to surrender everything I have learned to them, and I could get a million dollars by selling out. I have been approached by a group that wants to commercialize my products. But I have not finished my research, and I am afraid of what would happen if they got hold of my formulas. I will give them to the world when they are ready, and you can say, if you write anything, that I will surrender them for investigation to any commission or committee that approaches the subject sympathetically and its qualified to do clinical and field research.'”

“‘Have you ever tried to have the Surgeon General’s Office or the Food and Drug Department test it?'” I asked.

“‘Many times. They have been disinterested. First, they want my formulas. I have refused. I must be sure that they are properly prepared. After they are adequately tested, I will gladly surrender them to the profession.'”

“I noticed a Lutheran church publication on his desk, and a picture of ‘The Last Supper’ on the wall behind him. He noticed my wandering gaze.

“‘You are wondering about my religion,'” he said. “‘My parents were devout Lutherans, and I have not departed from that faith. It is a sustaining thing. All one has to do in order to realize the feebleness of human intelligence is to look at a flower. It makes colors and dyes. I have studied color chemistry with interest, and realize that no one could ever duplicate what the flower does so easily and naturally. We could consult all of the libraries and use the most intricate apparatus and the most powerful chemicals and never succeed. The flower takes CO(2) out of the air with some moisture and some salts out of the earth and makes the color and then makes seeds to perpetuate itself. The flower follows the laws of wisdom. But where is man’s wisdom?'”

“I had no response to this. I lighted a cigarette and he pushed a tray toward me.

“‘I don’t use tobacco,'” he said, “‘but most of my callers do. It may be a factor in cancer. The coal tar in it is an irritant, and can be used for inducing cancer in mice.'”

“I asked him about his family, and his eyes reflected loneliness as he talked about his wife and children. He said he had been too preoccupied for years with his research to ‘see much of them.’

“He rose from his desk then, and asked me to accompany him into another office. It contained several filing cabinets. He opened a drawer and showed me some records.

“‘These are doctors,'” he explained. “‘They had cancer and recovered through my help.'”

“He showed me other records of members of doctor’ families, who got well after receiving Glyoxylide injections.

“Physicians are my best patients,'” he said.

“He gave me a glimpse into his laboratory, and took me upstairs, where he had a half dozen cancer patients. The place was scrupulously clean. When we returned downstairs, I noticed that several people were waiting in his reception room, and, telling him that I would return soon, I bade him good-bye and left. There was a quizzical expression in his eyes as I turned away, and I felt that he was communicating in me that what I had learned would never reach the light of day or night on the printed page.

“But I was tremendously impressed and convinced. This was an amazing reportorial find…had the curse of cancer been lifted at last?

“When I, the detective-reporter, made my report to the chairman of the Cancer Committee of the Wayne County Medical Society, I presented in writing the evidence I had found. The chairman read my report with growing irritation. His face reddened. He had wanted me to obtain the evidence against Koch. Finishing the report in some degree of apoplexy, the chairman proceeded to tear it into fine pieces, which he threw into a wastepaper basket.

“‘I hired you to do a job, and you came in with a lot of hog-wash,'” he said.

“‘I came in with the facts, as I found them,'” I countered angrily.

“‘Hell!'” he exploded. “‘Every scientist in medicine knows that this man is a charlatan. He has been investigated by cancer specialists.'”

“‘And I am only a newspaper reporter?'”

“‘Yes—and completely wrong.'”

“‘What about Mrs. G., who recovered when your specialists opened her up and found too much cancer tissue to dare to operate on her”‘

“He wrote out a check and handed it to me. It was for seventy-five dollars. I thanked him and left, glad to get back into the sunlight.

“I then submitted a copy to the managing editor of the Free Press. He read it with interest, but advised me that the newspaper could not use it because Koch was under fire from the American Medical Association, and doctors in general.

“‘We have to accept the truth of authority, and sometimes overlook the authority of Truth,'” he said, quoting from something he had read as a journalist.”

The following resources were used to compile the case histories in this report:

Original W.C.M.S. 1919 Investigation,

1924 W.C.M.S. Review,

1926 Massachusetts Court Trial of Dr. F. Dugdale,

Cash Asher, The Unpublished Report,

“The Koch Cancer Treatment And Its Investigation”