RARE ROLLING THUNDER - KIOWA INDIAN MEDICINE & VAUDEVILLE CO. LOT

Description

Original Vintage Rolling Thunder Patent Medicine Broadside/Business Advertisement.
Kiowa Indian Medicine and Vaudeville Company ~ Headquarters of Rolling Thunder ~ Steamburg, Cattaraugus County, New York.
8 1/2" X 3". Condition: Worn. Breaks in upper & lower right corners. Considerable foxing. Please see photos.
Even with it's condition issues, this is still an awesome piece of history. Unlike other broadsides I've seen, this seems to be more of a business card than an actual broadside, as it is not advertising a particular event.
Also included in this auction is a 3 1/2" X 2 3/8" X 1" box of Rolling Thunder Kiowa Indian Medicine Mus-Ka-Bia - "the Great Indian Blood Purifier, and Liver, Kidney, and Stomach Toner."
Lewis (Louis) Belmont Newell, known to his family as Belmont and to the public as Chief Rolling Thunder, was a self-proclaimed Indian Doctor and entertainer. He was born about 1844. Some records say he was born in Maine while others say North Dakota. Very little is known for certain about his early life, but he very likely traveled extensively with his family selling baskets, medicines, and providing various entertainments to the public.
Newell appears to have married several times. His first daughter Blanche was born to Victoria Tahamont around 1886. It is around this time that Newell is first referred to as "Chief Rolling Thunder" and his company, the Kiowa Medicine Company, begins touring. The show was comprised of "moral entertainment and lectures given on the customs, habits, manners and religion of tribes." Newell would also sell "traditional Kiowa" medicines and give out health guides. It is uncertain when the company was actually formed.
About 1894, we find Belmont married to a young woman named Jeanne Congleton. Jeanne (a/k/a Jennie) served as business manager of the Kiowa Medicine and Vaudeville Company for many years.
Newell died Dec.1, 1933 and is buried in Randolph, NY. At the time of his death he owned a farm on Creeks Run Road in Coldspring Town, "a little hotel at Boomertown", and had money in the bank at Warren, NY. In his will, he left all his property to his current wife, Jeanne.
Check out a portion of Rolling Thunder's Obituary
in this auction's photos. The
obituary was partially reprinted in New York's Billboard Newspaper from the Randolph NY Register.
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