St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-02-22
THE MODERN FREAKS.

The Christian science and faith cure
departments of effort are alleged to be
quite deStinct. They claim to work
with different material, or lack of mate
rial. There is no technical purpose in
the reference. Among the Sunday no.
tees of this city will usually be OBJ
served that of the Christian Science ele-
ment. No doubt the attendants are inn
pressed with the difference between
their cult ard the faith cure. But the
public rarely finds the line of division.
In different parts of the country there
are in progress manifestations that eX-
cite very intense local feeling. and in
which there is some confusion of the
methods. One at DeS MOineS, To-, is
reported in the papers of that city as
Christian science, but in-s some of the
dispatches is termed faith cure. A man
twenty-fonr years of age is taken with
typhoid fever, and his wife and rela-
tives, being deyout disciples of the
craze, if that is a proper designation,
would not allow any medical attention
or nursing. They had a faith cure
evangelist and strong force of that
sect that prayed fervently by relays.
The pooi fellow died at the end Of sixty
one days. Attempted interference by
the authorities was repealed, but since
the decease there is an investigation
going on, and criminal liability may be
charged. The Register, the leading
paper Of its political party in the state,
is so heated over the matter that it in
yokes tabIeau consisting Of all the
scientists connected with this failure
hung up by their heels, so that their
brains will be uppermost and hung till
dead" 1t further makes this startling
statement:
There have been hundreds of christian
science" murders in Des Moines. but in
nearly all Of the eases the victims have been
murdered and buried without the facts be-
coming known to the public The craze has
been far more deadly i'll its effects than any
disease that has ever made its appearance in
Iowa.
This is evidently not the Christian
science operated in st. Paul. So far as
that is understood it aims to produce
conviction in the mind that the exist
ence of the disease is all illusion, and
the mental pressure watts the obnoxious
intruder into ''innocuouS deSuetude,"
as it were. Perhaps there is trace of
hypnotism in the thing, but unre-
strained retraction will be had if injus-
tice is done There are no iEtimationS
that there has ever been failure to ac
compllsh the full mission claimed for
the local potency. A case reported at
Mt. Pulaski, ILL.,, is clearly more of the
Iowa sort. 1t possesses the town like a
mania, and has run wild with the
churches and schools. In the latter the
scholars sing faith cure hymns at all
hours, and tall into frances. One day
recently seventeen persons were
lying in frances at one time.
The people not affected have held
meetings to devise some way to
put a stop to the thing. The
evangelist claims to have revelations.
and to be under divine guidance. One
who does not understand the philosophy
of the thing would suppose lunatic
asylum was the need there. But what
ever the impulSve element in all these
eruptions, they are noteworthy as show
ing that the age is not perhaps sur
passed by any of the older ones in the
variety and freakishness of its mani
festatlonS.