Henderson, MN Forums History Remember when... What Happened to Emily Rose???

I'm confused. Who's Emily Rose again?

I can only say that I loved Emily Rose so much...doesn't anyone in the City know what's going on here? Where's the city administrator when you need him or did he go to New Orleans?

You lost me at "hello".

Regarding the Emily Rose story and the possible Henderson connection, I may be able to shed some light on this though time may have dimmed certain recollections. I have no first-hand knowledge of the story, rather it is second- even third-hand. Let me also say that the story is long and twisted so by necessity I must break this down into bite-size episodes lest it overload this website and tax the patience of web vistors. The timeline reaches back and the main players in it are Dr. Jacques Duclos, a turn-of-the-last century physician in Henderson, and Win Working, a reporter for the Independent during the same years. Both characters are referenced frequently in the Henderson Blue Book and are anything but fictional. My connection to their story is through a now-deceased Hendersonian who, as a young boy, knew both Duclos and Working. Discretion requires that I not disclose this persons identity. Story length has overtaken me and so this ends episode #1. I will try and log on future episodes daily, time permiting. Next: An midnight encounter at Duclos' Rush River Camp.

I should have known that the legendary Doc Duclos would be involved.

I know Tex Teigs talks about how when he was a kid that there was this lady (lady might be stretching it, let's say female) who use to spend the summer by Devil's Jumpoff in a little cabin and winter in Minneapolis. I betting she must be related to Duclos family as Devil's Jumpoff is on the Rush River. (Not to be confused with Vampire Valley, which is at the convergence of the Buffalo and High Island Creeks.)

Episode #2...continuing: Dr. Joseph Duclos came to Henderson in 1899. A Canadian, he was trained in the reknowned Laval School of Medicine in Montreal. Duclos was a brilliant if somewhat eccentric individual. For many years his office was in the Masonic building on Main Street. He also had a cabin--Doc's Camp it was called--on the Minnesota River where the Rush River enters. On hot summer days Doc's habit was to wade out into the river buck-naked and fish for whatever was hitting. In the summer of 1920 Duclos was spending the night at his camp and as he was preparing to retire there was a load bang on the door. In the light of the kerosene lamp Duclos could make out a tall, bearded man, a stranger to him. "You must come to my house, doctor, quick," he announced in a heavy German accent. "My Rose, she is sick, very sick." In the conversation that followed Duclos learned that the man lived west on the Rush River maybe a half hour by horseback. By the time he was dressed and saddled his horse--he normally hitched it to a wagon but not for this ride--it was past midnight. In the dim moonlight he followed the man along the north bank of the Rush. No words were spoken. At length they came to a small shack set on a bluff above the river. "My Rose she is here, Doctor. I will light a lamp. Inside a frail girl lay on a cot. "She is my daughter, you must help her." Duclos quickly determined she was burning with a fever and he feared it might be the Spanish influenza that had recently spread in the Henderson area. For the next hours he applied cool compresses in an attempt to break the fever.
"Are you a religious man?" Duclos asked the man. "She isn't responding. If I were you I would get a minister or a priest." The father responded: "I know a man...of the cloth...he is nearby...I will get him." Duclos thought: "Who in tarnation...I know all the preachers in these parts...there's no one close to here." As dawn broke over the Rush River hills the man returned with a stranger. Duclos was mystified by the man's identity. "No one from these parts," he mumbled to himself. End of episode #2. Continues next: Incantations and strange languages.

this is a very interesting story i just might have to see the movie

Good Job Don, Can't wait for Episode 3.

Episode #3...continued: The Henderson physician watched intently as the just-arrived stranger knelt beside the girl and began chanting softly. Words Duclos, who was fluent in four languages, did not understand. Half speaking, half chanting, the man had paid no attention to the Henderson doctor. Shortly, a calm seemed to fall over the young girl; her breathing became easier. Ten, perhaps 15 minutes passed and presently the girl opened her eyes and responded in...again...words Duclos did not comprehend. "I'm hellucinating," he said under his breath, "Been up too long." Finally he turned to the father, "She seems out of danger, how? I'm not sure. I'll be on my way. If you need me you know where I am." He rode back to the Camp trying to make some sort of sense out of the events of the past evening. Back at Camp he disrobed, walked in the cool river water and tried to clear his brain. It seemed to work. Dressed, he hitched his horse to the buggy he customarily used to make his rounds, and headed into town...and into the midst of the influenza cases that where multiplying daily. He was so busy he had little time to think about the bearded man with with the German accent, the frail sick girl, or the man--was he a minister? priest?--who had materialized from...where? Through the rest of the summer and into fall Duclos spent 12-14 hour days seeing patients. A dozen, perhaps more, died from the flu; he'd lost count and that, too, bothered him. Frequently he slept in his buggy as his horse sensed the route and made her way to the next stop. By early November the worst of the epidemic seemed to be over. He had not been to his Rush River Camp since that strange evening and so after he closed his office, he packed a small bag, jumped into his carriage and made straight to the Camp. "River water's too cold for a dip," he said to no one around except his horse. So he dismounted, tied the horse to the nearby hitching rail, and set out a bucket of oats for her; oats that his good neighbor, Fritz Kelm, had thoughtfully placed in his carriage earlier that afternoon. With that he entered the cabin, laid down on the bed, and promptly fell asleep, still fully dressed. End of Episode #3. Next: A trip back up the Rush to the stranger's shack. Continued...