of energy
and money to little avail, injuring each other's business in the process
and tarnishing the reputation of the Indian Root Pills regardless of
ownership. In any case, a final settlement of this protracted
controversy was announced on March 26, 1861, when White and Moore
relinquished all claims and demands arising out of the sale of Dr.
Morse's Indian Root Pills prior to January 1, 1859.

[Illustration: FIGURE 10.--As one episode in the contest between the
Comstocks and White and Moore for control of the Indian Root Pills, the
Comstocks succeeded in having White indicted for forgery and briefly
lodged in jail.]

Since no copy of this agreement was found, we do not know what
inducement was offered to Moore and White. However, hundreds of
announcements of the settlement, directed "To the debtors of the late
firm of A.J. WHITE & CO." were printed, advising that

The controversy and the difficulties between the members of the old
firm of A.J. White & Co. of No. 50 Leonard Street, New York, being
ended, we hereby notify all parties to whom MORSE'S INDIAN ROOT
PILLS were sent or delivered prior to January 1, 1859, and all
parties holding for collection or otherwise, any of said claims or
demands for said Pills, that we the undersigned have forever
relinquished, and have now no claim, right, title or interest in
said debts or claims, and authorize the use of the names of said
firm whenever necessary in recovering, collecting and settling such
debts and claims.

The announcement was signed by Andrew J. White and Andrew B. Moore.

This should have been the end of this wearisome affair, but it was not.
It soon appeared that Moore had violated this agreement by concealing a
number of accounts, together with a quantity of pills, circulars,
labels, and a set of plates, and, in the words of Comstock's complaint,
transferred them "to James Blakely, an irresponsible person in Canada
West." And Blakely evidently continued to collect such accounts for the
benefit of himself and Moore. However, the Comstocks also entered the
scene of strife, and sometime during the summer of 1862 William Henry
Comstock, then traveling in Ontario, collected a note in the amount of
$7.50 in favor of A.J. White & Co., as he had every right to do, but
endorsed it "James Blakely for A.J. White & Co." Blakely, when he
learned of this, charged Comstock with forgery; Comstock in turn charged
Blakely