At the moment, media reports regarding the claims of Christine Gallagher, is very topical, but in Mayo during the 1890’s, we had the famous “Doctor” Sequah. A distinguished looking guy with shoulder length hair & wearing a fancy uniform, he was described by newspaper reports of the time as been a “Buffalo Bill” lookalike.
For a few years, he regularly appeared in Market Square on a wagon drawn by horses accompanied by a brass band, dressed in colourful uniforms. He was selling a secret concoction which could cure miraculously rheumatism as well as other ailments. He always began his performance with inviting a sufferer into his covered wagon, with the patient always been cured and making a huge spectacle of their recovery.
Some regarded him as a charlatan or a quack, blessed with a glib tongue but hundreds turned up each night to hear his speeches and to purchase his medicine which made him a rich man.
When he eventually stopped coming to C/bar ( he was presumed dead at this time ) and the Connaught Telegraph ran a piece on him debating whether he was a fraud or not, a large number of respectable people of C/bar contacted the ‘paper and swore he did cure them and some went public on the matter and gave their names.