How a Fake Doctor Ran Carnival Sideshows, Saved Thousands of Infants, and Changed Medical History

On this episode of Our American Stories, Dr. Martin Couney carried a secret with him, but the results are unimpeachable. It was Coney Island in the early 1900’s. Beyond the Four-Legged Woman, the sword swallowers, and “Lionel the Lion-Faced Man,” was an entirely different exhibit: rows of tiny, premature human babies living in glass incubators. Here to tell the story is Dawn Raffel, author of The Strange Case of Dr. Couney.  Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.