September 8, 1958

Norman Baker died. Baker is best known in Arkansas as a promoter of alternative medicine who settled in Eureka Springs (Carroll County) in 1936 and was convicted of mail fraud in 1940. He was also a radio pioneer and a candidate for a U.S. Senate seat and for governor of Iowa. Unlike his cohort John Brinkley, Baker did not claim to be a doctor. Instead, this showman, with his white suits and lavender ties, hawked a form of populism that distrusted science, education, Jews, and Catholics. Paranoia ran throughout his life, and in Eureka Springs he had his office sealed off in bulletproof glass and kept two submachine guns within easy reach.

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