New-York tribune., 1919-06-06
Aisle of Trinity Chapel Is
Like Pathway to Shrine
as Scores Pay Visit to
James Moore Hickson
Ritual Read at Service
Unpretentious Layman Uses
Only Hands and Prayer
to Alleviate Suffering

Ii was within sight and sound of
Broadway, but the only parallel the
onlooker could think of for the scene
in Trinity Chapel yesterday morning
as people filed in for the ministrations
of James Moore Hickson, was the long
string of sick, halt and MANNED that
annually winds with hopeful steps
toward the shrine of Our Lady of
Lourdes in France, to Ste. Anne de
Beaupre in Quebec, or to similar
shrines where faith cures are reputed
to be effected.
The patients did not have to exer.
else faith. The cure was to come from
without, not within. 1t was to be eff
fected by the laying on of hands and
by the power of prayer.
How efficacious the treatment was
is still a matter of surmise 1t is
only in its initial stages here. Nearly
hundred persons-mostly feeble
women-went down the aisle between
1890 and 1890 o'clock yesterday They
came in hesitatingly. Some of them
were heavily yelled. There were a few
young girls in the strange procession
and earnest-eyed youths, who stayed
behind and talked to the healer.
Ritual Opens Service
Mr.. Hickson stood in the chancel
and opened the service by repeating
some of the Anglican ritual. Then he
went from one to another of his as
serted congregation and talked sympa-
thetically to them, asking about their
ailments and what treatment they had
had, while his secretary took notes
on the different cases
The ceremony that followed was very
simple. The patients knelt and Mr.
Hlckson prayed spontaneously, some
times audibly, sometimes inaudibly
His hands were laid on their heads, on
their shoulders, on their arms or on
their hips. He advised them to pray
and to read the Scriptures regularly.
1t was noticeable that they walked
out of the church with hrmer gait than
they had as they came in. Their eyes
had the dazed look of people who have
gone through a trying emotional ex-
perience. There was a detached air
about them that might have meant ex-
altation or simply extreme concentra-
ton.
Unpretentious Man
Mr.. Hickson was tired when it was
all over. In addition to his public
healings, he is giving private treat
ments and is occupied every hour of
the day. A Tribune reporter found him
at the Murray Hill Hotel yesterday
afternoon, where he was having a brief
rest after his ministrations.
At close range, he is the most un-
pretentious type of healer it would be
possible to imagine. There is none of
the fervor of the preacher about him.
nor is there any Billy Sundayism. He
cannot even be called magnetic He is
essentially matter-of fact and is reti-
cent about his work. His experiences
have to be dragged out of him and
then they come with an annoying pau
city of detail. He has a determined
looking jaw.
There is nothing in the glance Of his
eye to indicate either idealism or mys-
ticism.
The only hint of his mission in life
is his insistence. even in desultory
conversation. on the necessity for
prayer and Scriptural reading in every
day human relationships.
de does not try to make out that he
is some latter-day prophet. He sin
cere!y believes he has an extraordinary
gift, given him for the specific pur-
pose OF doing good in the world. His
mother discovered it when he was