The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-23 00:00:00

THE MIRACLE WORKER.

The Dr. Newton who has set up in business as a
miracle-worker in Cambridge Hall, near Oxford-street,
continues to excite great attention. Another gentleman
who has been to see the performance of these superna-
tural operations has detailed his experience in print.
There is, he says, no charge for admission, and neither
introduction nor invitation is necessary. "So far as we
saw there is not even a door-keeper attached to the
place, for the vast crowd assembled in it were al-
lowed to enter without check, and to act as their own
ushers when they were once inside. The vehicles wait-
ing in Newman-street told their own story. Pillows so
arranged at the bottom of a trade-cart, that the rider
could lie at full length and be partly relieved from the
effects of jolting; reclining seats fastened on to the wag-
gon-sides by strong rope ; vehicular arrangements for
adults of the perambulator order; litters, four-whee
cabs, and rude Bath chairs, were all to be seen.
The lame, the halt, the blind, the deaf, the para-
lyzed, the rheumatic, the misshapen ; those afflicted with
sores;
,those who could see imperfectly, and those who
could not see at all ; those who could distinguish a whisper
but could not recognise ordinary talk ; and those upon
whom a report from an Armstrong gun would make no
impression—were all within." The writer then proceeds
to tell us what the doctor himself looked like. " That
his appearance was prepossessing, and his manners well
adapted to the work in hand, were the first impressions.
An open, benevolent, rather credulous face; a fresh and
hale complexion, sparkling hazel eyes, which, though
bright and full of energy, have yet a dreamy look ; a vene-
rable white beard and whiskers, but shaven upper lip ;
white hair, and a head partially bald ; a vivacious expres-
sion ; a kindly smile, hanging constantly over a mouth
which told of weak impulses combined with strong will;
a thick neck, broad shoulders, and a stong, muscular
figure ; feet which are broad in proportion to their length ;
and hands of the shape and with the marks which some
theorists connect with religious enthusiasm, combined
with springiness of step and great general acti-
vity, formed a different set of external attributes to
what might have been looked for in a miracle monger.
Dressed in a suit of blue cloth, with a coat or pea jacket
such as sailors wear ; and with his cravat and collar off,
and his white shirt thrown open at the neck and chest for
coolness ; he looked far more like some hearty ship's
captain than a curer of either bodies or souls." The
mode of operation was simple. Be healed—Pass" was
repeated again and again by the miracle-worker as the
crowd came up, each individual being manipulated about
the eyes and temples by the forefinger and thumb of the
" doctor," who made faces at the ceiling, and uttered the
four words as each came into his hands. The " cures "
did not strike the writer as remarkable. Most of the
patients seemed to have nothing whatever the matter with
them ; and these excited wonderful enthusiasm by the ease
with which they walked after submitting themselves to the
" doctor." Of course no authenticated case of cure was
visible. The writer continues : "An old woman who had
to be led up by men who supported her on each side, and'
who stood with difficulty on her crutches, was commanded
to throw tne latter away, and to `love me' (the Curer)
while he manipulated and made passes over her lamest
knee. She was then told to take the operator's arm, to
put her heels firmly on the ground, and to march with him
across the room, and never to doubt but that she could
accomplish it. That this old woman did so march or
hobble is undeniable. What was the extent of her
physical powers before, and how much of her helplessness
had been due to the feminine accomplishment known as
' giving way,' we had no means of testing; but that she
came in double, and with difficulty, and went out half
straightened, and with comparative ease, is certain. The
men and women in the glalleries clapped their hands and
stamped their feet at this, exactly as if a.clever piece of
legerdemain had been performed for their amusement.
Other paralytic persons were told 'to squat down with
me,' to put their heels to the ground, and in the most
sacred of names 'to run across the room as if nothing
were the matter with you, and to be healed for evermore.
Amen,' In one or two instances it really seemed as if
temporory vitality had been instilled into the half
moribund frames ; and very many of the sick people
pronounced themselves with touching faith to be much
better.' There was a girl partly deaf who' thought her
hearing was improved, and who certainly answered a
whisper addressed to her as -she left the curer's hands,
though she seemed to lose the newly acquired power a
few seconds later : a y oung gentleman who pinched his
ear and had doubts ; and scores of cripples who
were pronounced healed, without acting accord-
ingly. When the poor old woman brought her hus-
band's Sunday waistcoat, that it might be converted
into a charm against rheumatics, the Curer turned
his eyes ceiling-wards, wrestled with the garment as
if he were wringing it out when fresh from the washing
tub, and then told her to ' take it home, and be sure your
husband will never ail anything as long as he wears that.'
So with the crone who brought her lame son's cotton
drawers. There was more mouthing and gesticulation,
more blinking at the ceiling as if in confidence, and an
injunction to put a hot brick inside the blessed drawers
and on the patient for three hours during two days, 'to
love God and the doctor and he would be healed.'
Pouring hot water down the back, bandages steeped
in alum-water, and an avoidance of sitting or sleeping
with the hands behind the head—a habit certain
to lead to heart disease—were recommendations
thrown in, but that it was ' all done by love, and that
every dear person had his or her good angel—sometimes
three or four good angels—always with them and ready to
L do their bidding,' were the terms in which the professed
remedy and the agents by which it was worked were
described. Although we saw, as will be anticipated, no
really authentic case of recovery, or of certain ameliora-
tion, we are not disposed to condemn the proceedings as a
farrago of imposture. We believe that 'Dr.' Newton
himself believes, and that his belief, his ' passes,' and his
prayers have an influence which it is not easy to estimate
in nervous disorders, and upon impressionable na
tures. He insists that those who come to him
shall have faith. He works, so far as we saw,
without fee or reward ; and, as was exultingly stated by
one of his admirers, professes that he would lose his
power if he took money. His physical energy and the
preponderance it gives him over a patient whose nerves
are shattered, and who, after a long and hopeless course
of medical treatment, is brought to Cambridge Hall, to

undergo she scarce knows what, are Undeniable.
The prespiration rolled from him exactly as if he
had come up dripping from a bath ; and when at
the end of the morning, and in compliance with repeated
requests, he allowed some favoured bystanders to
touch his hand in friendship, it was easy to see he
was tired out. To those who are accustomed to experi-
ments in mesmerism and electro-biology, the jargon of
spiritualism will be the chief new thing. There are the
passe, the subjugation of the will, and the assumption of
superior and occult power. But to us the strangest expe-
riences of the morning was the immense number of
well-dressed respectable people, who either stood or
sat in the crow or presented themselves as patients.
The majority of these took every cry of 'Healed—
Pass on !" as a proof of cure, and regarded the
operator with loving veneration. A Quaker family, hus-
band, wife, and two daughters, were especially enthu-
siastic, as were a row of ladies sitting on, the platform
side of the enclosure. It is scarohly necessary to add,
however, that what we saw was absolutely worthless
as evidence. There was no proof as to the condition of
the people before they were pronounced cured, and
scarcely an opportunity presented itself of ques-
tioning them afterwards. Some of the ' healed'
to whom we spoke:, declared they could neither
see nor hear any better,.- than before ; several more
were too dazed to answer--4 circumstance triumphantly
quoted by a believer as proof positive that they were
cured • for 'how would a man who'd been blind know
whether he saw or not, you know?' 'and several ' thought
they were a little better, they really did.' What was
really remarkable was the faith or superstition which
made hundreds of sick people, drawn from various ranks
of society, present themselves before a fellow creature in
the belief that he was endowed with mysterious powers
for the assuagement of their pain."

ANOTHER CHANCE.—Wyoming need not be the
last resort of the aggrieved sisterhood. Great Britain is
suddenly become a favourable field for their demonstra-
tions, and in view of what the Commons have done we
expect (we will not say wp hope), to see our more noisy
agitators turn their attention to these pastures new, as
they laOly did to others away out West. But we tremble
for the result of their appearance there. Will it na be
as disastrous as in Missouri and Wisconsin, where the
fair chances of the gentle sisterhood were completelY
ruined by the advocacy of their tingentle leaders ?—.37`eto
York, Tribune.

CAUGHT AT LAST.—It has seemed to the proprie-
tors of the Sanborn Steam Safe almost as if it had power
to prevent fire in buildings as well as to save from it, they
having' waited three years for a severe exposure of one
of their safes in an accidental fire ; but in the store of
Messrs. Barr & Co., in the great fire in Nashua, on the
16th inst., one of them was mast severely tested, the
heat being intensified by burning oils and varnish. As
was predicted, the fusible caps melted off from the sealed
water cans, the steam came out and surrounded the book-
case, and the books were preserved as perfect as they
were before the fire—practically illustrating the value of
the principles upon which this safe is constructed, and
fully vindicating the claims of the inventor.—Boston
Traveller, April 30.