Preachers Fall Out

New York, 1895

Evangelist Cressey Says a Brother's Faith Wouldn't Rescue an Ant.

Evangelist E. R. Cressey, who has been conducting the big revival at Babylon for the past ten days, has declared war against the Rev. J. E. Raymond, pastor of the Babylon Baptist church, on account of Mr. Raymond's refusal to take further part in the revival services. An open rupture occurred between the men Friday morning on the street. Evangelist Cressey, the Rev. Mr. Adams, and the Rev. Mr. Long, pastors of the Methodist and Presbyterian churches, saw Pastor Raymond and accosted him. Mr. Cressey demanded to know what Mr. Raymond meant by his continued indifference, and wound up his remarks by asking his Baptist brother: "Have you no faith in God?"

Pastor Raymond is a short, quiet man with a powerful command of language. He replied: "I have faith in God, but I don't think God has much to do with the way in which these services are being conducted."

The dominies looked at each other in silence, but Evangelist Cressey began to berate his brother preacher, and finally said excitedly: "Why, you have not faith enough to pull an ant out of the mud."

Pastor Raymond quietly assured his brother preachers that he had an unlimited quantity of faith, but that it was not of the kind which allowed him to hold services in barrooms or on store stoops.

Evangelist Cressey and Pastors Long and Adams held twelve services on Friday, and will continue the revival for an indefinite time. It was known by many that Pastor Raymond had all along not favored the methods pursued by Evangelist Cressey, and that he had refrained from taking part in the meetings for men only, and would not conduct services in the saloon. Many of the church people are siding with Pastor Raymond, while the crusaders are looking correspondingly gloomy. Evangelist Cressey says the people are too fastidious.


Found a Spring Under the Church

While deepening the cellar under the Methodist church in Oyster Bay workmen struck a spring of water. The water came spouting up at about the rate of a barrel a minute.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, March 1, 1895, p. 2.

They Knew Faith

1900

A teacher, wishing to impress upon the minds of her pupils the full nature of faith, took them one day to the riverside and, seeing a boat in the middle of the stream, said:

"Now, my little dears, if I were to tell you that there was a leg of mutton in that boat, would you believe me?"

"Yes."

"Well, then," she said, "that is faith."

Some time after the same children were going through an examination when the question was asked, "What is faith?" and all the class, as with one voice, shouted out, "A leg of mutton in a boat!"

Help Through Hindrance

1910

Out of the thing that is hardest, we often may get the greatest blessings. Out of the thing in your life by which you are nearly crushed, you are to have your grandest victory. Out of the thing that seems ready to conquer and destroy you, God wants to bring to you a faith that you never had before, and a revelation of his love and power that you never dreamed of. That very thing you thought a stumbling-stone, God means to make a pillow for your head, and a ladder of ascension to his very presence. — A. B. Simpson.


Unfailing Trust

What a serene and quiet life you might lead if you would leave providing to the God of providence! With a little oil in the cruse, and a handful of meal in the barrel, Elijah outlived the famine, and you will do the same. If God cares for you, why need you care too? Can you trust him for your soul, and not for your body? He has never refused to bear your burdens, he has never fainted under their weight. Come, then, soul! have done with fretful care, and leave all thy concerns in the hand of a gracious God. — C. H. Spurgeon.

PURIFICATION BY FAITH.

Acts 15:9.

I. Why Does God Purify the Heart by Faith?

1. Man was ruined by believing the Devil, so God has planned that man shall be saved by believing on Christ.

2. Faith gives God the glory for our salvation through Christ. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son," etc.

II. What Is Faith?

1. Faith is a living conviction not only of the divinity of Jesus Christ, but of His efficiency and mission as our Saviour.

2. Such a conviction is not a mere assent to the truth that He died for our sins.

3. It is a trust from the heart in Jesus to now save me, to now lift me out of this horrible pit.

Faith On Trial (James 1:1-18)

2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

People of faith sometimes think it's strange that they have problems and others perhaps do not. The Bible gives enough evidence that it doesn't need to seem so strange. This questioning comes up often enough in the Psalms (10:1), and then there's the story of Job.

James has some advice that turns it all around: "Count it all joy." How is that possible? For anyone who's been camping, you might have a few stories to tell of various disasters that not only can you laugh about now, but they were also kind of funny at the time! Or in a more serious light, think of Jesus at the Cross (Heb. 12:2), with the "joy" set before Him. For us, pain is pain, but behind every cloud...

So what is it that tries your faith? There are many problems we can think of involving children, sickness, finances, various failures. Sometimes just life in general. All are real problems, but our faith can endure and our joy can be real. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28).

James declares in verse 3 that the trial of faith results in patience, which, as we're involved in these real life issues, can indeed "have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing" (1:4). That's a good result, progress on the way. Faith doesn't need to waver (1:6); we can hang on, and become stronger in our faith. That's really the whole point!

God sustains us through prayer (Phil. 4:6), the word (Rom. 10:17), and by His care (1 Pt. 5:7), just to name a few of the many ways. And in this chapter of James (1:5), God offers wisdom to those who ask it of Him.

So, your faith is on trial. Don't despair! Recognize it, look to God, handle things as best as you can in a spiritual way, and let your faith help you endure everything. It's helpful now and it will be stronger next time.

Value of Science on Modern Faith

California, 1922

Miracles are not in keeping with the scientific interpretation of life and the universe. Human ignorance, carelessness, vice and greed are the causes of most disease. The rules of sanitation are not observed and scores of innocent persons die. Supernatural belief, which may bar the use of simple medicine, is responsible for the death of many more. Physicians and surgeons are among the greatest benefactors of mankind.

These statements were made by Rev. Clarence Reed, pastor of the First Unitarian church, in a sermon on "Prayer Cures vs. Medical Cures," delivered yesterday morning.

"It was perfectly natural for primitive man to believe that the different diseases from which he suffered were imparted to him by evil spirits," Rev. Reed said. "He beheld from day to day what seemed to him to be miracles of cure, because he did not understand the laws of the universe.

"If a person accepts the literal interpretation of the Bible, it is natural for him to believe in the possibility of prayer and faith cures. But the person who accepts the scientific interpretation of life and the universe does not believe in miracles. If Christ and His apostles performed miracles there is no reason devout Christians cannot perform them today.

"Auto-suggestion has great value in the treatment of certain diseases. No matter what a person's belief or theory may be in regard to prayer or faith healing, most people have sense enough to send for a physician in case of serious sickness.

"Prayer has been valued in the past as a means to obtain material prosperity and health. The aim of prayer should be to help man develop himself by treasuring the highest ideals in his mind, and seeking the uplift of mankind."

—Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA, Aug. 21, 1922, p. 8.

Religion, Science, and Facts

1911

Science Does Not Stop With What Can Be Demonstrated

"Nothing else has to do with so many facts and so great facts as religion," says the Advance of Chicago, "and to call only those things fact which physical science considers and to ignore the facts which fall within the sphere of religious faith and action is to be blind to the most important thing of life.

"What is more absurd than to see in the wall which houses a hospital a fact and not to see a fact in the spirit which prompted and pervades the institution, or to see a fact in the chemical change produced by an experiment in a laboratory and not to see a fact in the change wrought in a community or an individual life by a revival or other spiritual influences?

"But it is said that Christian faith reaches beyond facts into the unknown. This is not disputed. There is no need to dispute it. Science does the same thing. It never yet discovered a fact great or small which did not carry it over into the unknown. Indeed, notwithstanding all the claims to the contrary, science does not confine itself to facts. 'Any one who is practically acquainted with scientific work,' says Mr. Huxley, 'is aware that those who refuse to go beyond fact rarely ever get so far as fact.'

"Indeed, science brings its followers at last to the borders of the unknown, where hope and fear quiver at the thought of the mystery beyond. But here faith takes the believer up in its arms and bids him look to the everlasting Father, who holds all things in his hands."

Made Well By Christian Science Faith Cure

1901

Christian Science Claims Credit For Smallpox Patient's Recovery In Omaha

Omaha, Jan. 31.—The cure of a case of smallpox through Christian Science is asserted by the Omaha members of the cult and by the patient himself. Walter M. Rouse, when attacked by the disease two weeks ago. placed himself in the hands of Head Reader Chadwick for treatment, refusing to take medicine. Chadwick reported the case to the health officers, as the law requires, and Rouse was taken to the pesthouse.

Christian Scientists all over the city took the case in hand and gave absent treatment from the beginning. In addition the attendants at the pesthouse were very diligent, for the reason that Rouse objected to taking medicine.

Rouse declared yesterday that he had almost recovered, and that he owed his cure to the prayers of those who had for two weeks given him absent treatment. One of the leaders of the society said today that the outcome of this case tended to show that vaccination is unnecessary in the person of a Christian Scientist, but no opposition will be shown to the order of the health board on this point.

—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, IA, Feb. 1, 1901, p. 3.

The Healing Art — A Discussion of Faith, Divine Healing

1903

The Occult in the Healing Art:
A Discussion of Faith, or Divine Healing, and Cognate Questions.

The following is a synopsis of a paper read before the Medical Society, convened at Shelby, Ohio, December 22, 1899, by Rev. John V. Potts:

The most complicated of all the sciences is that of The Healing Art. It comprehends all the forces of physical nature, enters the domain of the mind and concerns itself with the spiritual forces of the universe. It has been known in all historic ages and among all peoples, but has made the most marvelous advances among civilized nations in the last century. The deepest research and the most comprehensive, cultured and practical minds have been given to the development of the science of medicine. It has impelled the most earnest study of physical nature in its normal and in its abnormal states. Diseases are being traced to their sources as never before. The laboratory of nature is being assiduously opened and compelled to yield its curative elements for the help of man and beast. The hidden recesses of forest, field, rock, ocean and air are searched with the most scrutinizing care, in order that they may pay tribute to the life, longevity and happiness of man.

But in no historic age has charlatanism, quackery, deceit, fraud and imposition been so rampant as in this century. Empiricism is found in every school of medicine. The pretenders to medical skill are flooding the country with patent nostrums of the most infamous character. Conscienceless greed with the most acute use of chemistry is adulterating food, drink and medicines by wholesale and retail. If any one doubts this let him read the report of the dairy and food commissioner of Ohio. The same conditions prevail all over the United States. But the most dangerous of all these frauds now sweeping over the country is the occult delusion of "Faith Healing," "Divine Healing," healing by prayer, faith and the laying on of the hands, clairvoyance, magnetism, etc. It is the more dangerous because it appeals to the cupidity of man and to the religious element in his nature as well as the overmastering desire in every one to enjoy the blessing of good health. This artful deception has entered the pulpit and men in the garb of the sacred calling boldly and defiantly assert that the practice of medicine is a fraud, a denial of Divine power, that medicines should be thrown to the dogs and that drugs, doctors and devils are not only an alliteration in expression, but that they are equally from the same Satanic source.

The time was when the medical profession and the ministry looked on this movement with indifference, or viewed it with a quizzical eye. But with Mrs. Eddy, Dr. Dowie, Schlatter and a host of minor lights with their literature in the field, it has become too serious a question to be disposed of in that nonchalant manner.

The more serious inquiry is, how to successfully meet the issue? We have in this paper, a review or abstract of a recent work in manuscript, read with approval before the Medical Association of Crawford County, O., over one year ago, and by them thought worthy of publication. It seeks to thoroughly dispose of a whole brood of errors in a new medico-theological way, upon a scientific basis. The central point of attack and amplification are original and the monograph is full of statements, logically argued to a convincing conclusion. The author is a scientific theocrat and seems to have made a wide study of the subject from all points of view.

He states, for illustration, that all healing in its ultimatum is divine in its nature and character, but that the means to the end intervene. He makes concessions, but they only open the way for him to sweep away the foundations of the sophist on the so-called Divine Healing. Take the following paragraph: "There are five things necessary to Faith Healing. These are: 1. Knowledge. 2 Faith. 3. Obedience. 4. Humane remedial agents and agencies. 5. Occult contact, in order to the influx of life." Then he essays to amplify, illustrate and establish these points beyond successful controversy.

Two views of faith exist. One is that faith is the assent of the mind to a dogmatic statement. The other is that faith is the conviction of the mind arising from the presentation of the truth in such manner and in such measure as to gain the rational and willing assent of the human understanding. Our author asserts and demonstrates the latter view.

He disposes of the miracles of Christ after this fashion: "No Christian is disposed to deny the miracles of the Master. But it is manifest that He used remedial agents in every instance. In ignorance He taught the truth; in despair He imparted hope; in hunger He gave food; in paralysis He restored the wasted physical power; in blindness He removed the physical obstruction, and restored the optic nerve, and made the eye physically whole. For the deaf ear He removed the physical defect. The palsied limb was restored whole like as the other. He brought back the physical life to those He raised from the dead. He did not practice a pretense. To some He said, Go wash." This was hydropathy. For another, He made clay of earth and spittle. With this salve He anointed the eyes of the blind man. This was terrapathy. The woman touched the hem of His garment. Virtue or medicine went out of Him. This was magnetism. He had divine powers. All curative elements were at His command. He used them as they were needed. To mental diseases He applied mental remedies, to spiritual ailments He applied spiritual remedies, and to physical disorders He applied physical remedies.

God is consistent with Himself. He made nothing to ignore it. Everything in its own order and after its kind. James says, "Anoint with oil and pray." Both are enjoined. "Oil" is a synonym for "the proper remedy" in any given case. "Oil" here means medicine. Timothy was to take "a little wine for the stomach's sake." Luke was a physician and his calling was never interdicted.

Beyond the Pentecost and Paul, no evidence exists that miraculous powers were even perpetuated. He who would speak with tongues must study the languages. Those gifted in this direction become proficient in the mastery of language. Those who would understand theology must "study to show themselves approved of God," must "give attendance to reading," must "search the scriptures." Those who would have abundance of food must sow and cultivate and reap and garner, and not depend upon miraculous dispensations for food. Those who would have water must smite the earth with the spade, mattock and drill, or put the vessels in the rain to catch the falling showers, or find the rivers or the springs.

Those who would avoid disease must obey the mental, moral and physical laws; and the sick who would recover must use the means, the medicines, the appliances, the elements, be they mental, physical or spiritual, lying in the line of true faith healing.

The miracles simply foretoken the wonderful developments of scientific discovery and the unobstructed contact and intercommunion with the occult sphere. What Christ did by His mandate we must do by mastering and conforming to the forces of nature. What He did by His fiat in calling the curative elements from earth, air, water, animal, chemical and vegetable nature we must do in the laboratory and in true medical practice.

The object of the brochure is to carry conviction to the masses and save them from all these delusions; and to show that agriculture, commerce, law, medicine, pedagogics and theology are alike divine callings. These all have their commercial side, which should be subordinated, not to selfishness and greed of gain, but to the promotion of the best interests of the human races. The work is in short chapters, forcible and epigrammatic in style.

[The author is soliciting funds in this county to assist in the publication of this work. Prices: $1.50 and $1.00.]

—Bedford Gazette, Bedford, Pennsylvania, Feb. 6, 1903, p. 2.

Can Human Nature Be Changed?

1910

Curiously enough, in every generation since Christ was born there have been large numbers of men, often followers of this very Christ, who have held as a sort of fundamental postulate their philosophy that you cannot change human nature. One who reads the literature of the ages carefully will see that often the great stumbling block in the way of human progress and emancipation has been this obsession of good people. So deep-rooted has it been that it has passed into proverbs: "Whatever has been must always be," "Whatever is, is right," "As is a boy so is the man," and, quoting an older cynic, "Can a leopard change his spots," "Temperament is a fixed quantity," "Human nature is the same in every age." These proverbs are generally coined by good people. It has been in the church that this philosophy has been prevalent, as well as among the scoffers.

And yet the fact of transformation of human nature is the very center and core of Christ's Gospel, and how his disciples could ever doubt it, and remain his disciples, is one of the mysteries and paradoxes of history. It is simply another of those strange misunderstandings of the Gospels that one witnessed among those Christians who could not see that slavery and Christianity had no part together. But this is not the strangest thing. Far stranger is the fact that fully half of the Christians of today are still under the spell of this delusion. Not long ago a great writer called the attention of the world to the fact that if reformers would only take human nature as it is, they would stop reforming. To his mind reforms originate in an idealizing of human nature it cannot stand. Many Christians share that view. On our way home from church one Sunday a good Christian mother, worried by some tendencies of her young boy, remarked that she supposed there was no hope of changing him because he was born so. You cannot change human nature, half of our Christians believe.

Now, the Christians of the early ages, and even of the middle ages, had only the promise of the Gospel to convict them of error — and, to be sure, that ought to have been enough — but the Christians of today have that and this fact, too, that history and most literature is nothing but the record of a gradual transformation of human nature. And not only in individuals, but in whole nations and communities. For civilization is nothing but the collective expression of the human nature of the time.

The passing of civilization from barbarism to the semi-Christian civilization of the middle ages is the history of the transformation of human nature. The passage from the cruelty and feudalism and vice of the middle ages to our more Christian civilization of today is further story of the alchemistic change in the human heart by the deeper and larger application and understanding of the Gospel. The promise of Christianity is the transformation of human nature into divine nature, the subduing of the animal in man by the rising, conquering, spiritual. This needs no proof. It is the whole asservation of the Gospel. If it fail, then Christianity is a failure. But perhaps it might be helpful to us, and deepen our faith in the power of Christianity to accomplish what it purposes to do. If we find that history, as we said, is the record of the fulfillment of this promise we think we can show it is by looking at two or three great spheres of human conduct where the change has been manifested.

There is a passage in Sienkiewicz's "Quo Vadis," where a wretch named Chilo, who has been plotting against the Christians — it is the time of the first Christians in Rome — falls into the hands of the Christians, and one of them, the giant slave Ursus, is ready to crush him to death, when the Apostle Peter rises from the table and speaks these words: "The Saviour said this to us: 'If thy brother has sinned against thee, chastise him; but if he is repentant, forgive him.' " Then Glaucus, against whose life Chilo had been especially plotting, turns to Chilo and says: "May God forgive thy offenses, as I forgive them in the name of Christ." The point is that Chilo cannot believe his own ears and eyes. When at last he finds himself free and tells the Romans they will not believe it.

In every century, even within the church, men keep on saying that forgiveness of the enemy is impossible; revenge is the natural law of life, of man as well as of the animal; an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, is all humanity is capable of. Even today one meets Christians who cannot believe in this possibility of forgiveness as a law of life. And yet we find that every age in history has been full of exquisite instances of it. We find many a soul, like St. Francis, practicing it. Today there are millions of Christians practicing it, and thousands, from Tolstoy to the humblest apostle, preaching it. The church enjoins it upon every new member. We have seen thousands of unforgiving natures since Christ's day so transformed by the divine alchemy of Christ's Gospel that they have begun to practice it with ease. It has become the universal law of thousands, yet good men have said, and still say, you cannot change human nature.

As you go up and down Europe you find everywhere dungeons where slaves were kept. When Christ was born slavery was as common an institution and as much accepted as in the order of society as marriage. As the divine leaven of Christianity began to beget in men the worth and dignity of the human soul and the doctrine of brotherhood and human rights, the prophets began to see the evil of slavery and its inherent contradiction to the spirit of the new religion. But as they spoke they heard the same old story: Slavery has always been. It seems to have been a sort of divine institution. One cannot make over the human race. We did make over the human race and no one is now left, since 1860, to lift his voice for its existence. The owning of man by man is gone, and soon other indirect forms of industrial slavery will go with it.

Some time ago we were in Nuremberg. We climbed the hill to the old castle, and there we were shown through the great tower where all the torture machines are preserved. We saw the roasting pans, the racks for stretching and crushing bones, the other instruments too horrible to mention, along with the iron virgin, who once embraced hundreds of miserable creatures in her spiked arms. And the awful thing was not that men practiced this torture, but that they enjoyed it and flocked to see it. But one day a prophet arose in Nuremberg and said: "This torture is horrible, utterly inhuman, against all the sweet mercy and pity of Jesus Christ, unworthy of our civilization. It must stop." When he had spoken it was the good people who discouraged him. They said: "Yes, it is inhuman and un-Christian, but you cannot stop it. People have always tortured, therefore they always will. It is part of the order of civilization, because it has always been. You cannot change." Needless to say, it was stopped in all civilized countries in 100 years, and where once the whole city loved it, not one but who would shudder at it now. You can change human nature completely.

One of the last great barbarities, most inhuman of all, a pagan institution to linger on in our Christian civilization, is war. The prophetic souls know that it is doomed and must go, because it is an anachronism in Christianity, and because the forces are now at work before which it needs must fall. But the one thing that prevents its going in a generation is this obsession of good people, that you cannot change human nature. The church alone could stop wars tomorrow did it believe its own Gospel had power to do what it claims to do, and did it dare believe that human nature could be so changed as to see the reasonableness of Christian settlement of national disputes as already it settles individual differences. It has been changed to do that. Once all men settled personal disputes with fists. That passed, and the duel came. That has gone, and we have the courts. More and more private quarrels are now adjudicated before they even reach the courts, by diplomacy. This evolution has gone on side by side with all this absurd talk of not being able to change human nature. And the change from wars as the method of adjudication between groups of people to international courts is in this inevitable evolution; but it limps and halts because good people cling to this outgrown obsession: You cannot change human nature. Wars have always been, therefore they must always be.

We are writing this editorial to call the attention of these good people to the effect that this obsession will prove false here as it has everywhere. You can do away with war soon because you can change human nature. The earth is full of the signs that human nature is changing very fast in this regard. The calendar of 1909 printed in our last two issues is only a slight indication of what is going on in the mind of the world. Read it carefully, and remember that 50 years ago one could not have written one. World unity, international peace, world federation, Hague courts, arbitration treaties, brotherhood of man — these are the growing words everywhere. They betoken a change coming over human nature. Link yourself up to it and hasten the transformation with your Christian faith. The change of human nature is easy to a Christianity really believed. — The Christian Work and Evangelist.

--Reprinted in The Daily Press, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Feb. 21, 1910, p. 7.

Note: OK, here, this has to be the classic article, if there ever was one, on the progress of humanity, the changing of human nature, because of religion. We've probably all heard it, that there was this sense before World War I, then great disillusionment for such a point of view, made much worse by the next war. And add to that the various things of psychiatry, Freud, Jung, and things were never so optimistic again, although of course their aim was reconciliation and adjustment for at least good coping.

Christian Scientist Confident of Cure, Dies

March 11, 1903

Was a Christian Scientist

New York Young Woman Was Confident That It Would Cure Her, and Died

New York, March 11. — Coroner Williams of Brooklyn is investigating the case of Miss Lillian DeForest Chase, daughter of John H. Chase, an importer, who died of hasty consumption on her 21st birthday at the home at 1373 Pacific street.

Three years ago, while a student of Adelphi college, Miss Chase became a convert to Christian Science, and attended the Second Church of Christian Science, near her home.

Some months ago she suffered a severe attack of pneumonia, and it was only with difficulty that her parents got her to take medicine. When she recovered she declared that it was her belief in Christian Science and not medicine which had effected her cure. Her last illness extended over nearly a month. She refused to see a doctor, declaring her confidence that Christian Science would again restore her to health.

While her relatives were congratulating her on her birthday, she became suddenly faint and died.

The Power of Faith - Phillips Brooks

1905

The man who accomplishes anything in this world is and must be a man of faith. Strong men, forcible men, virile men are men of faith. It may be a low type of faith — faith in self — but it is faith. Beaxendale says: "Weak faith makes weak men." How much stronger should be the man who has faith in God, the faith that says: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me." This is faith of the highest type.

Be done with saying what you don't believe, and find in your soul the divinest, truest thing in which you do believe, and work that out. Be the noblest man that your present faith, poor and weak and imperfect as it is can make you to be. So, and so only as you take the next step forward, as you stand where you are now, so only as you think the curtain will draw back, there will be revealed to you what lies beyond. — Phillips Brooks.

—The Ada Evening News, Ada, Oklahoma, January 21, 1905, page 2.

All Seven Devils Cast Out of Bertha, Declares Preacher

1913

OMAHA, Neb., Nov. 13. — The Rev. Charles W. Savidge, a local free lance preacher, claims to have cast out seven devils from Bertha Liebke, known to the criminal authorities of the central west as "Fainting Bertha," notorious shoplifter, robber and petty larceny thief.

Bertha recently was released from an asylum for the criminal insane and was about to be re-committed on account of having stolen a quantity of jewelry at a local hotel when the preacher offered to take charge of her and cure her of her criminal tendencies. She was turned over to him by the state authorities who are not over anxious to house Bertha in any of the state institutions, as she always makes a great deal of trouble and has several times assaulted her keepers and guards.

The minister and a half dozen of his parishioners fasted all day, spending the time praying in the church. Bertha was with them and prayed and fasted too.

"It'll starve the devils out of you," declared the minister. "Fainting Bertha" consented. After twelve hours of continuing fasting and praying, the Rev. Mr. Savidge announced that the devils had been put to rout, and that the notorious shoplifter would steal no more. She is now preparing for evangelistic work.

Once before, several years ago, Mr. Savidge attempted to cast the devils from Bertha, but she escaped from her benefactor and was arrested several hours later for "lifting" a watch.

—Lincoln Daily News, Lincoln, Nebraska, November 13, 1913, page 8.


"Fainting Bertha" Confesses Theft

Famous Woman Convict Admits Taking Property From Stores

Omaha, Neb., Nov. 19.—Conscience stricken because of thefts committed since her release from Ingleside hospital of the Hastings insane asylum, "Fainting Bertha" Liebke, famous female convict, spent the hours of Monday and far into the night on her knees pleading for forgiveness and praying for strength to become a better woman. By her side was the Rev. Charles W. Savidge and members of his little congregation, who added their prayers to those of the repentant woman.

The revelation of the robberies came as a surprise to the police and to the stores that were victims of the woman's operations. "Fainting Bertha" has confessed to taking a large assortment of combs, jackets, grips and other articles from many Omaha stores. Rev. Savidge, who has acted as sponsor for Miss Liebke, declares that the thefts must have occurred between the time that the woman arrived in Omaha and when he took charge of her, for, he says, she has had no opportunity to ply her old trade since going to the home of Mr. and Mrs. J. Allen Davis, where she is staying.

Not to be Prosecuted.

Rev. Savidge will request the managers of the stores victimized by "Fainting Bertha" to refrain from prosecution and Superintendent Redmond, of the Brandeis firm, one of the losers, sent word yesterday that his company would take no action in the matter.

"I am convinced that Miss Liebke really wants to be a good woman and I think that her confession of the thefts is an evidence of good faith, because no one knew of them," said the Rev. Mr. Savidge. "She was confined to her bed all day yesterday as a result of her emotions Monday, but as soon as she is strong enough we will accompany her to the stores from where the goods were taken and every article will be returned."

—The Lincoln Daily Star, Lincoln, Nebraska, November 19, 1913, page 8.


Fainting Bertha Takes Out License to Sell Life Story

Fainting Bertha was brought to the city hall late Saturday afternoon by a policeman and there she took out a license to peddle the history of her life. She had been found selling the history on the street without license. She took out a license for one week.

Fainting Bertha did not know Chief Malone. Turning to city officers about her she inquired if Chief Malone would arrest her. Just then the chief stepped up. Someone told her of his presence. She extended her hand to Mr. Malone.

"I have quit my old life," she assured the chief. "I have left it for good. If you people will just help me by buying this history. It is real interesting." One of the city commissioners passed her out a dollar bill and took a copy of the story

—The Lincoln Daily Star, Lincoln, Nebraska, December 28, 1913, page 2.


"Fainting Bertha" Played Mean Joke on Omaha Police

(Special to The Star.)

Omaha, Neb., Feb. 2 — "Fainting Bertha" Liebecke took no poison. So the police learned Monday after using a stomach pump and administering antidotes. She was faking again, at which business she is famous the country over. Police, detectives and sheriffs have been fooled time and time again by her, and this was another time. Desk Captain W. K. Marshall laughed when he heard what the city physician had to say, declaring he always thought she was faking. He explained that she had some strychnine when he brought her to jail, but he had taken it away from her. Her pitiful farewell note fooled the doctors, and they gave the sympathy she was after. She is suffering from the attempt to set her clothes on fire, but otherwise is all right.

—The Lincoln Daily Star, Lincoln, Nebraska, February 2, 1915, page 8.



Prisoner Scales the Fire Escape

1918

"Fainting Bertha" Makes Getaway From Asylum But Is Soon Captured

"Fainting Bertha" Liebbecke escaped for the 'steenth time early Wednesday morning from the Lincoln asylum but was picked up about 11 o'clock by the police and again returned to the institution.

This noted woman prisoner lived up to her nation-wide reputation as an accomplished pick-pocket by gaining possession of a fire escape key which enabled to make her getaway, Superintendent Pillsbury reported.

The prisoner had secretly stolen the key from a nurse, it was said, and while the nurse in charge of Fainting Bertha's ward was at breakfast, the inmate went to another ward, tore away a window screen and crawled down the fire escape.

She came to the city on a street car and got off at Ninth and P streets. This was about 7:30 a.m.

After a few hour's search the police picked her up near Ninth and T streets. She had a dollar in dimes and nickels and officers believed the woman had been making a house to house canvass begging.

She was in jovial spirits when Officer Snyder escorted her to police headquarters. She chided with the officers and seemed very happy.

Fainting Bertha was brought back to the Lincoln institution a few months ago for violating her parole from the penitentiary. She is under an indeterminate sentence for an offense committed in Lincoln. She was brought back from Omaha where she had played the "fainting" game and robbed guests at a hotel.

She escaped from the asylum about two weeks ago and was found in Lincoln and returned.

—The Lincoln Daily Star, Lincoln, Nebraska, January 23, 1918, page 15.

Note: I left the various spellings of Fainting Bertha's last name. At this link there's lots more about Rev. Savidge, looks like a book he wrote.