Brother Isaiah Cudney, a charismatic faith healer from Canada who made his reputation in the Deep South, blew into Los Angeles in the early 1920s, setting up his shop of miracles in Venice. In 1921 he was arrested after a woman he cured of rheumatism died the next day. A trial was inevitable, at which Idella Young, pictured here sitting with Brother Isaiah, testified that he had healed her of some unknown complaint. After Brother Isaiah's acquittal, Time magazine reported that “he marched from the courtroom on a path of flowers.”

Photo: L.A. Times/UCLA Collection

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