Die Once Live Twice (15 page)

“Yes,” she said in answer to a question from Arthur. “Yes, I want two seats on the board of any company that acquires us. I want my two sons to have some oversight on the fate of their grandfathers’ legacies.” Jonathan’s attention returned to the room and he smiled absently. Jeffrey frowned.

“Katherine,” Arthur turned to her, “do you have any questions or comments for these gentlemen?”

“No. I believe we have given you a full accounting of our organization and our businesses. I can tell you our Board does not want a sale, but this is a private company with three-quarters of the stock in the hands of our family members. If you present an acceptable plan for purchase, we will sell. We await your offers.”

Arthur gave them all one last opportunity to query, and when none was forthcoming, he adjourned the meeting. He advised both parties that Katherine would be traveling for the next two weeks and would respond to their bids at the end of that time. If there were any questions they could telegraph them to this office and Arthur would respond.

A week later, Katherine and Jeffrey were traveling from Philadelphia to Baltimore in a railroad car as comfortable as a parlor in a well-appointed home. Connected to a separate sleeper and dining car, it belonged to Mary Garrett, the unmarried thirty-four-year-old daughter of John W. Garrett, founder of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Having met because of their passionate interest in medical philanthropy, the elfin Mary and Katherine became fast friends. The fourth traveler was Katherine’s old friend Doctor William Welch, a bald, thin man with a pleasant face, full mustache, and piercing eyes behind pince-nez glasses. Like Mary, he had never married, having dedicated his life to medicine. Now he wanted to build a medical school model at Johns Hopkins University.

A wealthy businessman and financier, Johns Hopkins had been one of the early investors in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, but was best known for his generous and careful philanthropic work. When he died on Christmas Eve, 1873, he bequeathed seven million dollars to establish a university and the hospital in his name, the largest gift ever made to an American educational institution. Katherine and Mary diligently raised additional money for the “teaching hospital” he had envisioned. Welch was now recruiting them for $500,000 to begin construction of the medical school, but he was frustrated with the conversation.

“William, I know your dilemma,” Mary said, “and you know mine. That university president, Daniel Coit Gilman, has been in touch with me.”

“A Yale man,” Jeffrey pointed out. Katherine shushed him.

“Your board wants my money,” Mary continued, “but not my stipulations. I will give you $400,000 to build the Johns Hopkins Medical School, and I know Katherine will donate whatever else you need, but the school must admit women as medical students.”

“Mary, I appreciate your stance,” Welch huffed, “but can’t you relent on this issue until we get the school opened? The board is against this. They strongly believe that admitting women sacrifices a place for a male student who will spend his life dedicated to his career. A woman will get married, have children, and at best work part-time. Her primary focus will be her family.”

“There is no reason a woman can’t be as dedicated to her profession as a man. If I had dedicated my life to a family, you wouldn’t be talking to me here right now. There is no reason a woman can’t continue to practice once she has children. How many of your doctors actually know how a woman’s anatomy works? If you want my money, you must take my principles. Tell your board I will not compromise.”

With the conversation at a pause, Jeffrey leaned forward. “Why do you want to build a four-year medical school?” he asked. “Doctors can do nothing to cure disease, so the time of study need only be short.”

Welch turned to him. “We can only cure disease by studying it, Jeffrey. We must train students in laboratory science to fill research institutions where the cures for disease will be found. In four-year schools the students can treat patients and learn clinical medicine, how disease manifests itself. By requiring a college education we will have smart students who have developed disciplined study habits.”

“Doctor Welch, I am an academician. What place would I have in your new medical paradigm?” Jeffrey asked.

“Why Jeffrey, I’m like that myself. Men like you and me are needed to build the educational program. Gregarious men make better clinical doctors. Men like William Osler, who will lead the Department of Internal Medicine, and William Halsted, who is the genius of surgery. Come see me when we are in Baltimore, and I will show you our facilities. I think you’ll find they are as good as anything at Yale. And newer.” He turned back to Mary Garrett and Katherine. “I will speak privately to some of the board members who may be sympathetic to your ideas, but I can’t promise anything. But affirm to me that admitting women is the only stipulation you have.”

“I do.” Katherine seconded her.

“I’ll see what can be done. Well, I certainly look forward to seeing you all at the dedication of the hospital tomorrow night. But Jeffrey, I’m quite serious that you need to come see me. Let’s make it three o’clock tomorrow afternoon, shall we?”

Jeffrey, taken aback at Welch’s insistence, looked at his mother. Katherine nodded and Jeffrey looked back at Welch. “Yes, all right. Three o’clock tomorrow.”

The next day, Katherine was in her hotel suite in Baltimore, awaiting Jonathan’s arrival from Harvard and Jeffrey’s return from his meeting with Doctor Welch. There was a knock at the door, and she said, “Come in.”

Jeffrey strolled in, looking pensive, and closed the door behind him. “Well,” Katherine said expectantly. “How did it go?”

“I can’t say anything definite at this time,” Jeffrey said a little pompously. “But I must say your Doctor Welch is quite eloquent. A real visionary.”

Katherine smiled. “I have to agree with you there. And he’s brought in a number of quite brilliant colleagues. I wouldn’t be surprised if Johns Hopkins becomes the most outstanding medical research center in the country.”

Jeffrey raised an eyebrow. “Are you lobbying me, Mother?”

“I know such an effort would only be counterproductive, dear. But I can’t say that I would be unhappy if you were to work at Johns Hopkins.”

“Are you going to give him the money? I’m not sure I should be working in a place that my mother has supported so heavily. People might feel that I had bought my way in.”

Katherine frowned. “Then you had better accept Doctor Welch’s offer quickly, so that you can say you were hired before I gave any money to the medical school.”

Jeffrey threw up his hands, knowing he would get no further. “If anything comes of it, you’ll be the first to know. Any word on the sale of the company?”

“We have offers of 100 million dollars. Two offers. We’ll choose between them, and then it’s just a matter of drawing up the contracts.”

“That shouldn’t take more than a year, with all those lawyers involved.”

The heavy thud of the hotel suite door commanded their attention. They turned to see that Jonathan had come in and was leaning back against its wood. “Good heavens, Jonathan!” Katherine gasped. “Whatever happened to your face? Were you in a fight?” The right side of Jonathan’s face was black and purple and there was a small cut across the bridge of his nose. Laughing and shaking his head, he leaned over and kissed his mother.

“Did you at least score?” Jeffrey sniffed.

“Football,” Katherine groaned. “How do you plan to be a surgeon with a disfigured face and an injured brain?”

“Mother, please. It was an elbow to the face, not a bayonet. I could be hurt much worse walking around the Donovan & Sullivan’s shipyards on any given night. I love to play the game and the exercise is great.” He patted his flat stomach.

“Oh all right, but you look a mess. I suppose I will have to make excuses for you all night. Jeffrey, at least you look like a successful student. Please tell those you meet that your brother is not a hooligan.” Katherine smiled. “Now let us get ready and go.”

Eleven long years after breaking ground in 1877, the world was now celebrating the historic completion of Hopkins’ dream. The lobby of the new Johns Hopkins Hospital was already crowded with perhaps a hundred of the founding donors and community supporters when the Sullivans arrived. Everyone attending would be given a tour of the hospital by Colonel John Shaw Billings, the architect and Chairman of the Board. Doctor Welch was greeting guests at the door, though Katherine knew this social occasion was painful for him.

“Jeffrey, a word with you. Katherine, we have an appointment tomorrow?” Katherine nodded yes. Welch took Jeffrey by the arm and the two walked to a corner.

Katherine stayed to chat with Billings while Jonathan disappeared into the crowd of people in search of refreshment. “When this first crush of people has passed,” Billings said to her after a few minutes, “I’ll take you around the place. Now I’ve got to be the host.” Katherine nodded and began to work her way through the crowded lobby, but was stopped abruptly by a sea of men pooled around Jonathan, who stood nearly a head above most of them. Once it was known that her son’s bruises were a result of playing football for Harvard he became the center of attention and the recipient of hearty handshakes and admiration. Her heart caught in her throat because he seemed so much like Patrick at the Ball where they had met, shining with youth and confidence. Jonathan caught his mother’s eye and gave her a triumphant smile. She wrinkled her nose and grinned.
He likes it! His father’s son.

Billings caught up with Katherine and took her on a tour of one of the wards. His experience was evident in every detail. Having witnessed thousands of soldiers die from diseases during the war, Billings applied stringent antiseptic principles to the architecture. Each room contained its own ventilation system that pulled warm air through it from heating coils in the cellar. There was no direct passage from one room to the other, which helped to quarantine diseases. Square corners were replaced by curves—even the junction of the floor and the wall was curved—to prevent dust or insects from collecting in corners. “John, your creation will be a model for all future hospitals,” Katherine said. “You must feel great satisfaction at seeing this structure completed.”

“Katherine, a compliment from you means a great deal. Now I hope we can get medical students roaming the hallways. A Johns Hopkins Medical School would be the culmination of our efforts.”

Katherine wouldn’t take the bait. “I think you can expect that to happen if you’ll just let women become medical students.”

“How about we promise to take your boys, Katherine?” Billings riposted.

“They can get in on their own merit.”

Katherine gathered her sons and they returned to the hotel for dinner.

The conversation buzzed about the genius of the new hospital structure and the potential for a medical school. Even Jonathan, a rabid Harvard man already accepted into the two-year Harvard medical school class beginning in 1889, mused, “Maybe I’ll come work in this hospital after medical school.”

“Well, I’ve decided what career I am going to pursue,” Jeffrey said. Katherine and Jonathan looked at him in surprise. He continued, “I am going to be a medical educator. I am going to build this new educational system with Welch.”

“But I thought you hated medicine because it’s so impotent,” Jonathan protested.

“That’s the point, dear brother. Doctor Welch convinced me I can help change that. I will finish the academic year at Yale, then I will come back to work in the labs here at Hopkins until the medical school opens. If becoming a doctor gives me the knowledge to improve programs, that’s what I’ll do. I think I’ll start with Harvard!” Jeffrey poked Jonathan on the arm.

“We’ll see. After we clobber Yale in football this fall I’ll make you bow three times toward Boston,” Jonathan answered.

The next morning Katherine arrived to see Welch at ten a.m. and was immediately ushered into his private office. “It’s very unusual for me to see you under these circumstances, Katherine. What is our topic today?” Welch asked with evident curiosity.