Frazier's Distemper

David Binkley purchased the drug store from Will F. Peddycord in 1885. Mr. Peddycord was his brother-in-law. The Binkley family moved to Nappanee in 1876 from Vermillion County, Illinois. Mr. Binkley was a druggist and established the Binkley Medical Company.

Charles and Frank had a few encounters with the Food and Drugs Act for the Distemper Cure. It was said that it didn't comply with the Act and that the distemper was misbranded.

The Frazier Family planned to patent and manufacture the distemper. They applied for a patent using the name Sulpho-Tri-Terpenes and arranged for bottling and labeling of it. They discovered the recipe was stolen by the Binkley's and was being sold as Frazier's Distemper Cure.

The Binkley Medical Company created Frazier's Distemper Cure. It was a safe and sure cure for distemper, pinkeye, coughs, colds, influenza, and all forms of contagious diseases to which horses are subject. They started making it in 1885 with a small kettle. The remedy retailed at fifty cents and one dollar per bottle. All druggists and turf good dealers throughout the U.S. sold it, or it could have been obtained from manufacturers at Nappanee, IN.

From 1885 to 1889, David Binkley conducted the business. His sons, Frank and Charles, continued after his death. In 1894, there was a report that Spohn Medical Company in Elkhart purchased the distemper cure from Mrs. Binkley, but her sons claimed that was false.