The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-06-04 00:00:00

TEE AMERICAN" HEALER."

Several of the London papers (observes the Noncon-
f ormat) have given some account of the appearance
and performances of Dr. Newton, the American
spiritualist. This gentleman professes to possess the
power of healing diseases by the influence of love. He
arrived in I,ondon on Sunday, May 14, and from that day
until Siturday last was engaged at the Cambridge
Hall, Newman-street, in publicly and without charge
healioz, or professing to heal, the lick who came to
him. It is difficult to obtain an impartial account of
so extraordinary a proceeding, and our readers ratty
perhaps consider rtioonn swi tern us
we too
e!ititgelitt,
no f
,tortira. jouudrgom e nr,t of
don extends, neither is be an impostor, nor have his
efforts at healing been in all cases without instantaneous
' beaeticialreenita From casee whichsame withineur own

range of vision, it appeared to us that the success of Dr.
Newton was most palpable where the patients who
presented themselves to him suffered from weakness
~f the limbs or general debility. Partial deafness,
hoarseness, stiffness of the j, bats, lameness, partial
Ninths s 4, all these disorders were removed, or appeared
to be removed, in our presence in numerous instant!, s.
There was no conspiracy to defraud on the part of the
patients; that there was unusual excitement, and a
great straining to realise an improvement, tea 8 equally
evident. Certain it is that the prevailing mental
atmosphere of the crowded room was one of faith in
Dr. Newton's power to heal certain diseases, and that
this faith was strengthened by the testitnony of
many who had undergone a cure. One woman
was so overcome with gratitude to the " healer "
f..r straighrenlng her little tiug-r and re storing
eight to her eye, which she weeded was doted
when she entered the roam, and she said to some-
one who was expressing doahts as to the genuine-
ness of the cures, "Perhaps you think nie an imposter
too; I should like to kiss him that's all." Another
instance of affection called forth by the use of his heal-
ing power was that of a poor old Mal], who suddenly
interrupted the flow of his discourse about love by
throwing himself into his Arnie and weeping tears ref
joy over his shoulder, an expression of affection which
the doctor seemed quite accustomed to, and returned
by an nit ally warn! embrace. We do not, of course,
assio a. y of the cures, supposing them to be guanine
as for as they go, to a supernatural agency, but it is
more reasonable to suppose that a ma,guctic Milder:co
is thrown out of the body of the so-called "healing
medium" than that the whole affair is a farce from
beginning to end.

JOKES OF THE PERIOD.
(From Will-o•-the-WiNp.)
llThy h an M.P. about to address the house like a toll-
evident propositiout—bee^.we he stands to reason
Why is tho Derby never u.w t—lheause it's a three-year-
old affair. . . . . . .

A tact—All the horses that run in the Darby will be backed
by jockeys.
What reason would induce certain people not to go to the
Derby 7—The fact of its being a coarse affair.
Why Is the winner of the Derby like a compounding
chemist after his da3's work?—hecauae he's come hi from
his gallop hot tgallipot).
Why Is the horse on which you bet sure not to win ?
Because you back It.