Discovery: 1866
On Saturday, February 3, 1866, the Lynn Reporter carried a short item:
Mrs. Mary M. Patterson, of Swampscott, fell upon the ice near the corner of Market and Oxford streets, on Thursday evening, and was severely injured. She was taken up in an insensible condition and carried to the residence of S. M. Bubier, Esq., near by, where she was kindly cared for during the night. Dr. Cushing, who was called, found her injuries to be internal, and of a very serious nature, inducing spasms and intense suffering. She was removed to her home in Swampscott yesterday afternoon, though in a very critical condition.1
The accident had occurred when Mrs. Patterson, together with a group of friends, was on her way to a meeting of the Good Templars. As soon as it was realized that she was badly injured she was carried into the nearest house. Dr. Alvin M. Cushing, a popular homeopathic physician and surgeon, was immediately called. He found her, according to his account almost forty years later, “partially unconscious, semi-hysterical, complaining by word and action of severe pain in the back ● ● ●