The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1915-05-14
. kI|II|lS, CO..,
DIVINE" PREACHER
AND HEALER Of Ills

A brief notice in Thursdays Daily
News stated that . negro named Cur
It's Atkins, colored. had been re-
manded by Justice NJ G. Rowe to the
criminal court of volusia uconty for
trial on the charge of having OBJ +
tanned money In q manner not re-
garded by the state Of Florida as law
full or in keeping with the ethical
methods of acquiring wealth.
That is not all of the .story-not by |
half column or so.
| II all or even a considerable part |
of the allegations against Curtis At |
kins are true, he is entitled to a con-
| spicuous place in the ranks OF the
/ countrys frenzied fnanciers. Not
/ only that, but Curtis has apparently
earned recognition as the elaborator,
II not the originator. of a system of
money-getting that should commend
/ itself to the thoughtful consideration
Of all ambitious persons buirng with
the "get-rich-quick' fever.
: Curtis acquired the habit of waking
up early in the morning with his eyes
wide open for opportunities. If there
were no detached opportunities lying
around in plain sight. Curtis dived
down in the convolutions of his think
tank and presently came up smiling
with an opportunity that made the
common garden variety look like unto
scrub palmetto in cypress swamp.
One of the witnesses at the trial
before Justice Rowe testified that one
of Curtis's methods of extracting the
root of evil from his fellow colored
citizens was through the introduction
of an instrument that partook of the
properties of "divining rod" This
"divining'' thing always made won
derful impression when Curtis went
: through the solemn ceremony of re
ia moving it's inner wrapping of sill
and its outer covering of sheepskir
b. tanned and made into the likeness o
20 a Master Mason's apron. With thi:
NJ instrument Curtis could locate gol.
and silver treasure; likewise h,
80 could trace to its secret hiding plac,
> the source of trouble and other thing
10 given to disturbing the equanimit
=, of human beings. All the beneficiar
40 had to do was to separate himself o
be herself from cash fee of a size con
i, mensurate with the magnitude of tn
re service to be rendered. The m,
chine possessed superhuman INTEL
gence; it knew its business; one {
the prerequisites to it's divination a
tivities was the payment of the stipl
lated fee. But Curtis invariably mad
the mistake, so his professed victim
allege, of failing to divine" anythin
=, except fresh crops of suckers"
is true his machine, the business Ell
of which hung at the end of vel
sensitive spiral spring, would answ,
- yes" to questions by bobbing up al
u down, or mo" by remaining still; b
this conversational power, unb,
tressed as it was by anything mo
valuable. did not seem to satisfy an
j, body save Curtis. Whence part
his trouble with the courts.
sed ''So po'eO 90 a"
FOUNDER of the Gospel and a healer
ills-physical. mental and spiritu
He preferred to treat the ailments
10, females-always, of course, membe
~ OF his own race. One of his favor
prescriptions for all morbid con
~, tons of the human body ran son
~ thing like this: Anoint the feet, [
a. hands, the face and the hair thu
times daily with olive oil until f
NJ Their instructed; in addition to tt
oo read the 91st psalm of David, betwe
tho shutdown and dark, each day for sey
and "e'e uea'iiiei
or were not given without pay, and il
not recorded that any of Curtis D
tients showed marked permanent
provement. Some days they felt |
ter and some days they felt "wus
=, Atkins operated in the negro S
With tons of the city for several mont
and Chief of Police Milton was on
trail for some time before evide
on which to base an accusat
was secured. The prisoners allie
ush. offense is punishable by term in
for penitentiary not longer than
reed years.
the