As the embossing on the above bottle suggests, Capudine was a patent medicine promoted to supposedly cure headaches, colds, la grippe, neuralgia, sick headache, nervous headache, acidity, flatulency and indigestion pains. Manufactured in Raleigh, North Carolina, it was on the market from the mid-1890’s up through the mid-1960”s.
Early on it was marketed to the general public under the name “Hicks Capudine,” while at the same time it was marketed to the medical profession as “Elixir Capu-Hicks.” So, whether you purchased a bottle of it over the counter as Hicks Capudine or obtained a prescription of Elixir Capu-Hicks from your local druggist, you were getting exactly the same formula.
In later years it was advertised and sold as Liquid Capudine.
The medicine’s namesake, Henry T. Hicks, was born in Wake County, North Carolina on March 4, 1866. At the age of 20, Hicks was listed in the 1866 Raleigh city directory (the earliest I have access to) with the occupation “drug clerk.” A feature on Hicks published years later in the August 10, 1915 edition of Raleigh’s local newspaper, “The News and Observer” provided a little more information.
Before making his “rep.” as Capudine millionaire, he was a pill-roller for John S. Pescud and later worked for Mr. James McKinnon.
Both Pescud and McKinnon were listed as druggists with an address of 118 Fayetteville Street in early Raleigh directories; Pescud in both 1886 and 1887 and McKinnon in 1887. So suffice to say, Hicks was certainly working in the drug business by the mid-1880’s and possibly earlier.
On July 3, 1893 Hicks, in partnership with W. N. Snelling, opened his own drug store in Raleigh at 101 Fayetteville Street, on the corner of Morgan Street. An item announcing the store’s opening appeared the day before in the July 2, 1893 edition of “The News and Observer.”
Messrs. Snelling & Hicks will open in the McGee stand, corner of Fayetteville and Morgan Streets, on Monday morning a complete line of drugs, toilet and fancy goods, cigars, etc.
Opening day was followed up with another announcement, this one found in “The Evening Visitor” on July 12 1893.
Less than two months after opening the store Hicks and Snelling were manufacturing medicinal products under the Hicks name, as evidenced by this August 30, 1893 advertisement that mentioned a “delicious, nutritious tonic” called “Hick’s Beef, Wine and Iron.”
Hicks’ partnership with Snelling lasted a little over a year at which time Snelling retired, selling his interest to Berry C. Rogers. The January 25, 1895 edition of “The Evening Visitor” reported the change in ownership.
Messrs. Henry T. Hicks and B. C. Rogers have purchased Mr. W. N. Snelling’s interest in the drug business of Snelling and Hicks and will continue to conduct the business upon the motto of the old firm, viz.- Precision, promptness and politeness.
As far as I can tell, it was under the name of Hicks and Rogers that mention of Hicks Capudine began to appear in local newspaper advertisements. The first one I can find was published in the January 10, 1896 edition of “The News and Observer.”
A year later, the March 14, 1897 edition of “The Raleigh Daily Tribune” announced that Hicks and Rogers had been dissolved, with Hicks taking over the business.
Mr.Henry T. Hicks is now successor to Hicks & Rogers. He has acquired the entire interest in the business. It is now Henry T. Hicks, instead of Hicks & Rogers.
Over the next several years Hicks ran the entire operation out of the Fayetteville Street drug store that not only stocked a variety of drugs, chemicals and toilet articles but according to an April 19, 1900 item in “The Raleigh Times,” also included a soda fountain.
Mr. Henry T. Hicks’ soda fountain is now running full blast and all the most delightful drinks of the season are being served.
At the same time he was manufacturing Hicks Capudine along with other products he sold under the Hicks name, one of which, Hicks’ Almond Lotion, appeared in several September, 1900 advertisements found in “The News and Observer.”
On January 5, 1901 “The News and Observer” reported that Hicks had added a second drug store to his operation. Located several blocks away, at the corner of Fayetteville Street and East Martin Street, it was housed in what was called the Tucker Building.
It was learned on the streets yesterday that Mr. Henry T. Hicks had bought out the McGee Drug Store in the Tucker building
It could not be learned what the terms of the trade were. Mr. Hicks who was seen in regard to the matter stated that the announcement was true, but that the terms had not been agreed upon and it would be impossible to make any further statement in regard to the matter. It was learned however that the drug store in the Tucker building will be kept open and Mr. Hicks will be in charge of it.
This early post card depicts the Martin and Fayetteville intersection with the Tucker building drug store clearly visible on the right-hand side. Dated 1899, the post card depicts the pharmacy a year or so prior to Hicks taking charge.
(Note: The post card is part of the Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards found in the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.) http://ncarchitects.lib.ncsu.edu/B002969
At about the same time he took over the Tucker Building drug store, another story, this one published in the February 1, 1901 edition of “The Morning Post” announced that Hicks had organized the Henry T. Hicks Company to manage both store locations.
Henry T. Hicks Company
Mr. Henry T. Hicks has bought the McGee Pharmacy, corner Martin and Fayetteville Streets, and organized both stores under the company name of the Henry T. Hicks Company, a corporation authorized to conduct a retail, wholesale and manufacturing drug business.
Mr. Hicks who is president of the company, will stay at the up-town store and act as general manager of the business. Mr N. C. Brandon, vice-president of the company, will manage the Tucker Building pharmacy.
The business was listed this way in the 1903 Raleigh city directory.
Later the company would add two more drug stores; the Wake Drug Store (301 Fayetteville) circa 1911 and the College Court Pharmacy (1900 Hillsboro Street) in the mid-teens.
Around this same time that the Henry T. Hicks Company was established, a January 10, 1891 item in “The News and Observer” announced that Hicks had also incorporated another new company, this one called the Hicks Chemical Company.
The Hicks Chemical Company, of this place was chartered yesterday with a capital stock of $2,000. The incorporators are Mr. Henry T. Hicks, Mrs Ida S. Hicks and Mr. W. N. Snelling. The object of the corporation is to manufacture and sell chemicals, drugs and medicines, and has power to copyright its formula and trademarks.
This company owned the rights to Hicks Capudine that at the time was apparently being manufactured at one or possibly both of the Hicks drug stores.
This changed in 1904 when the Capudine Chemical Company was established. The announcement appeared in the February 9, 1904 edition of “The News and Observer.”
The final steps in the organization of the Capudine Chemical Company were taken yesterday at a meeting of the incorporators here… The company has purchased the business of the Hicks Chemical Company, and will push this as fast as possible over the entire country.
“The News and Observer” provided a little more detail in their September 14th edition.
The Capudine Chemical Company is the name of a corporation that has recently been organized to push the manufacture and sale of the headache remedy, “Capudine” with a capital stock already subscribed of $50,000…
The company would have its principal office in Raleigh, N. C., and its Southern depot will be located in Atlanta, Ga., under the charge of Mr. George L. Walker, who is an experienced salesman, and gave up a position with one of the largest drug houses in the South to take charge of this business. From Atlanta Ga., the territory will be gradually extended over the South. It is proposed in a few months to establish a western branch either at St. Louis or Chicago and a northern branch either in New York, or Boston, Mass.
The officers of the company are: Mr. Ashley Horne, president; W. W. Mills, vice-president; and Mr. Henry T. Hicks as secretary-treasurer and business manager… Mr. Hicks is the discoverer of this remedy, and starting without a dollar of capital behind it, save what he put in it himself, with his energy and business sagacity, aided largely by the merits of this remedy, has brought it to its present large output. This remedy is at present sold in the states of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama. The remedy will be manufactured in Raleigh and contracts for advertising and with salesman are now being made…
The new company, now independent of the drug stores and entirely focused on the manufacture of Capudine, was listed with an address of 209 S. Salisbury up through 1909 after which they moved to 122-1/2 East Martin Street. The company remained headquartered in Raleigh and continued to list that address up through at least 1960.
True to their word over the next ten years Capudine’s reach increased to the point where, by 1915, their newspaper advertisements were appearing throughout the entire eastern half of the country; as far north as Maine and extending as far west as Texas and New Mexico.
It was also around this time that Hick’s Capudine was drawing the attention of the American Medical Association who, in their October 17, 1908 Journal, took exception to an ingredient in Capudine called antipyrin.
This puts the nostrum in the dangerous class of “patent medicines,” increasingly common of late, in which a heart depressing drug is present but one, unfortunately, which the Food and Drug Act does not require to be specifically named on the label.
The February, 1920 edition of the “Michigan Food and Drug Monthly” further clarified the issue.
Capudine is a dangerous Nostrum. It contains Antipyrin and Salicylic Acid. The Pure Food and Drug Act requires Patent Medicine Manufacturers to print their formula on the package if the remedy contains Acetanilid, which is a heart depressing drug. Antipyrin belongs to the same family, is a similar drug and depresses the heart; but as yet the law does not require the printing of the latter drug on the label… This drug is also a habit forming drug, which alone should debar it from good society.
The AMA Journal went so far as to reference the following September 15, 1908 item found in the “Atlanta Constitution.”
FUNERAL OF MRS WINBURN
Her Death Was Due to Overdose of Capudine
The sudden death of Mrs. Joe Winburn at Mansfield yesterday, was due to an overdose of capudine for periodic headaches. She was the wife of Rev. Joe Winburn, Baptist pastor at Mansfield, and leaves five small children. the oldest being 9.
In response, the Capudine Chemical Company dug in, running advertisements promoting the fact that Capudine did not contain Acetanilid with no mention of the fact that it did contain its cousin and equally dangerous heart depressant, antopyrin. One such advertisement appeared in the December, 1919 edition of “The American Druggist.”
it wasn’t until the early 1940’s that the antipyrin issue caught up with them when, in 1942 the company agreed to a “Cease and Desist Agreement” with the Federal Trade Commission that read in part:
The Capudine Company…will forthwith cease and desist from disseminating any advertisements which fail to reveal that the said preparation should not be used in excess of the dosage recommended; that its frequent or long continued use may be dangerous, causing skin eruptions or mental derangement; and that it should not be taken by or administered to children; Provided however, that such advertisements need only contain the statement: “CAUTION, USE ONLY AS DIRECTED,” if and when the directions for use, wherever they appear on the label, in the labeling, or in both label and labeling, contain a warning or caution to the same effect.
The Capudine Chemical Company further agrees not to publish or cause to be published any testimonial containing any representation contrary to the foregoing agreement.
The now almost universal phrase “Use Only as Directed” began appearing in Capudine ads shortly afterwards as evidenced by this typical 1945 advertisement.
As the above advertisement demonstrates by this time the company had pretty much dropped the “Hicks Capudine” name in favor of “Liquid Capudine” or sometimes “Capudine Liquid.” This began in earnest in the early 1930’s when the company began stressing the point that it’s liquid form made it faster acting. This advertisement found in the September 19, 1932 edition of the “Nashville (N.C.) Times” was typical.
Another advertisement from the 1930’s, made it clear that quicker was better, especially when you’ve got a hangover.
This ultimately led to another complaint by the Federal Trade Commission, this one for false and misleading advertising. The complaint was ultimately dropped in 1950 when, according to an October 5th story in “The Winston-Salem Sentinel,”
The Capudine Company promised not to represent Hicks Liquid Capudine as a pepper-upper for hangovers, or that it acts quicker than other compounds because it is in liquid form.
Henry T. Hicks served as president of the firm until he passed away in 1940 after which two other long term members of the firm served as president; Edwin Yates from 1940 to 1954 and Walter S. Fleming from 1954 to 1960.
The company was ultimately sold to a Florida based firm in 1960. The sale was reported in the April 21, 1960 edition of “The News and Observer.”
One of North Carolina’s oldest businesses, the Capudine Chemical Company, has been sold to Pearson Pharmacal Company of Miami, it was announced here Wednesday.
The transaction, arranged by Raleigh broker John A. Park, Jr., adds “Capudine Liquid Headache Reliever” to a number of pharmaceutical products now being manufactured and marketed by the Florida firm.
The story went on to confirm that the Hicks family remained active in the company right up until the sale.
Mrs. Harry T. Hicks, wife of one of the founder’s sons, is vice president of the Raleigh concern. Henry T. Hicks, III, grandson of the founder, is a director. W. S. Fleming, who has been with the firm for 47 years, is president.
On a final note, a story found in the November 21, 1959 edition of the “Greensboro (N.C.) Record” suggests the Capudine Chemical Company was still quite active at the time of sale. The story, that ends on a humorous note, follows.
The Capudine Chemical Company, manufacturers of headache medicine throughout the world, got an initial order from Hawaii the other day. The Hawaii buyer mentioned in his ordering letter that the youngest state in the American Union was happy to do business with an established firm in one of the original 13 states. Mrs. Harry Hicks, manager of the Capudine firm, personally acknowledged the order with a letter welcoming the new customer- and marked the invoice “paid in full,” in appreciation of this and expectation of many more orders.
A friend, to whom Mrs. Hicks related the Hawaiian deal, suggested it might have significance other than mere trade expansion. Hawaii has been there as long as the North American continent. Apparently its people did not need headache medicine until it changed status from a territory and assumed responsibilities as a sovereign state.
Capudine was included in sporadic drug store advertisements and price lists as late as 1966. When it completely disappeared from the drug store shelves is not clear.
The bottle I found was blown in a mold and exhibits a tooled lip. It’s 5-3/4 inches tall, with a 2 inch x 3/4 inch cross section and contains approximately 2 ounces.
In matches the bottle pictured in a series of 1914 advertisements published in the “Atlanta Journal,” though blown in a mold it likely dates closer to the turn of the century.
At the time capudine was being sold to the public in 3 different size bottles; small (10c), medium (25c) and large (50c). I have to believe that at 2 ounces, the subject bottle is the small size.
An October 18, 1950 advertisement suggests that other than transitioning to a screw top, the bottle design itself changed little over time. The ad also continued to mention three different sizes. Even the costs. 15c/30c/60c didn’t change all that much.
