Charles Welch

Norman G. Baker (November 27, 1882 – September 10, 1958) was a con man who secured fame as well as state and federal prison terms by promoting a false cure for cancer in the 1930s. He operated radio stations KTNT in Muscatine, Iowa and the border blaster XENT in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. Baker was also the creator of the Tangley calliaphone (an air blown musical instrument similar to a calliope).

Early life

Baker was born to a wealthy family in the small Mississippi River town of Muscatine, Iowa. He was the tenth and last child of locally prominent parents. His father, John Baker, had reportedly patented 126 inventions, and his mother, Frances Mary (née Anshulz), was a writer before she married.

As inventor

Although Baker is usually described as having begun his career as a vaudeville performer, he showed early promise as an inventor and a machinist. Norman Baker invented and, through his Tangley Company, successfully manufactured and sold the Tangley Automatic Air Calliope or calliaphone, a variation of the then-common steam organ. This mobile, stentorian contrivance was much in demand for fairgrounds and circuses. Baker also formed numerous local businesses under the Tangley or Baker name. By 1904, Baker had become intrigued by travelling shows presenting "mentalists" and other vaudeville performers to the public. He set up his own troupe and, as "Charles Welch," travelled the country with it. A person of the show, regardless of his actual identity, remained the "mind-reader Pearl Tangley."

Along with various Tangley stores and a drawing school, Baker also published TNT magazine and later was the president of the Progressive Publishing Co., publisher of the daily Midwest Free Press. It was meant to undercut other newspapers which Baker asserted were part of the conspiracy against him. Baker also operated a traveling campaign bus equipped with a calliope, and he was in demand as a speaker for populist causes in the region. For example, he denounced mandated cattle TB tests, water fluoridation, vaccinations and also aluminum cookware, which he claimed caused half of all cancers.