Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1904-08-05
MARVELLOUS CURES EFFECTED.
Fome of Scotch Miner Near Glas-
gov the Mecca of Halt and MANNED
His SURGERY Causes Surprlse.

Home of Scotch Miner Near Glas-
gov the Mecca of Halt and Manned
His Surgery Causes Surprise. !
London has been recently flooded
with highly colored reports of mar
velous cures effected by William Rae,
n Scotch miner, living at Blantyre,
little village near Glasgow.
Special correspondents have written
columns telling how the halt were
cured and the deformed made straight
by an old man whose medical know
ledge was limited to few notions of
anatomy obtained by cursory study
OF a handbook. Some of them went
SO far as to suggest that Rae's power
was superhuman. His cottage, 1t Is
said, presented remarkable sight
daily, Crowds of people, some on
crutches, others hobbling along with
walking sticks, but all filed with
hope of being cured, besieged the
former miner, who is devoting 10
hours day to treating his patients.
One instance of Rae's methods was
given by highly veracious CORES
pondent as follows:
"The patient was q little boy who
could not walk here. Said Rae: This
is a case of dislocated hip; the doc
tors call it disease, but it is not He
made the boy lie down; then suddenly
seiZing the limb he gave it a jerk.
There was sharp crack, sharper
cry from the boy, and before the lat
ter's mother, who was present, could
recover from her establishment her
child was walking about the room de-
lightedly waving his discarded weight
ed boot in the air"
Another case termed typical was
described as that of girl who was
a hunchback. In this instance the
mother was not permitted to be with
the child, but a quarter of an hour
later the child came out of the cot
tage straight as a die" and sobbed
out her happiness ON her mothers
shoulder.
There were dozens of stories such
as these detailed at length in the Lon
don newspapers. Photographs of Rae
have been published, showing him to
be a somewhat uncouth- looking man.
with a badly trimmed beard and
heavy features. His fee never varies.
To all alike he charges half a guinea.
From every part of England and
Scotland, if one is to believe the ac-
\ counts one reads, people have travel
ed to seek Rae's assistance and pay
their half-guineas. Still, Rae is not
wealthy, although 1t appears he has
been carrying on his "bloodless sur
gerry" for years.
Raes doctrine appears to be that
bone disease is an invention of the
doctors. To him conclusive proof of
this is that neither he nor anyone
else has ever seen diseased bone in
a living person.
The secret of spinal curvature and
every other condition causing deform-
ity or lameness is contained in the
single word "Blud," for Rae's Scotch
accent is one of his special charms.
"Where that's wrang," says this
pathological oracle, "a the rests
wrang."
The British Medical Journal, com
menting on the affair, says there is
nothing of this wondrous talk of the
collier surgeon that will surprise
those who know how little education
has done to dissipate the clouds of
ignorance and credulity which darken
the public mind. The really interest
ing point to know would be how so
foolish a thing was made a subject OF
a successful boom.