“BROTHERHOOD OF SILENCE”
COLOURED MAN CHARGED LONDON, May 8. A certificate from the “Brotherhood of Silence,” stating that the holder was a “divine healer,- was mentioned at Liverpool yesterday. Charles Bunyan Clarke, 30, a coloured man, described as a teacher, of no fixed address, was before the Court. He was alleged to have posed as a doctor of great wealth and to have forced his attentions on unsuspecting white women. He appeared on eight charges of obtaining food and lodging by false pretences and two of assaulting a woman and a girl. Mr. T. A. omith. prosecuting, said the man had preyed not only on women’s pockets, but on their affections. He was alleged on one occasion to have induced a married woman to leave her. husband and live with him. “Clarke told the different people the same story—that he had a practice, on the Gold . Coast and owned a hospital near Accra,” continued Mr. Smith. “One witness win say that Clarke told him three things brought him to this country —his health, his desire to equip a hospital and that he wanted a white wife.”
Mr. Smith said that while Clarke was lodging in Mulgrave-street Liverpool, he got to know that the landlady’s seven-year-old granddaughter had been in hospital with a septic throat. “Clarke told the parents what the girl was suffering from,” declared Mr. Smith, “but he was only relating what the grandmother had told him. Later. Clarke again examined the girl and supplied medicine and a gargle. “For that treatment, Clarke obtained £l/16/6 from the parents.” Mr. Smith also said that Clarke examined a woman who had a small lump on her back, and when she told Clarke what her doctor’s opinion was, Clarke said, “The doctor who told you that is a disgrace to the profession.” In that case Clarke obtained £l. When Clarke was interviewed by the police, he told them, it was stated, that he was not a doctor of medicine, but a teacher of botany.
In his possession were found the “Brotherhood of Silence” certificate and a diploma of the “Church of Light.” The case was adjourned.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/GEST19370624.2.21
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Greymouth Evening Star, 24 June 1937, Page 6
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354“BROTHERHOOD OF SILENCE” Greymouth Evening Star, 24 June 1937, Page 6
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