The Wicked John Goode (Heathen Edition)
Horace Winthrop Scandlin (1880-1948), who claimed to have neither art training nor formal education, was a multi-award-winning photographer, journalist, and editor who took an especial interest in the convicts of New York during the era of reformer Thomas Mott Osborne's "new penology." While working as the associate editor of the Christian Herald, Scandlin met, heard, and serialized the powerful true story of "wicked" John Gordon Goode (1864-1934), whose 40-year career of robbery, rustling, gambling, drinking, and pickpocketing began at age 11 and ended - while employed as a New York City police officer! - with a conviction and sentence to Sing Sing for grand larceny. And then, while John Goode was at his lowest, he heard a calling from the Highest and vowed to become better than his name - evolving into a renowned leader of New York City's legendary Bowery Mission in the process.
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"Every minister in the United States should have a copy of this book." -The Christian Herald
"It is about the most convincing story in the brand-from-the-burning line that has come along." -St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"A narrative, true in every particular, of almost incredible depravity, degradation, and squalor; and of a yet more unbelievable rescue and reformation. The age of miracles is not past. A product of the foul underworld becomes a child of the Light." -Methodist Review
"These are the two chief points in this remarkable story of John Goode's youth and early manhood-the marvel of his fall and rise, and the lesson that his experience holds in its sad commentary upon the institutions and the efforts at 'reform' which touched John Goode's life. Personally and socially, this is a suggestive and challenging book." -The New York Times Book Review
"Here is an astonishing narrative. A plain, unvarnished tale with a glory that demonstrates anew the redemptive and transforming power of Christ. John Goode was everything that was evil-a drunkard, a jail-bird, a thief. Today he is one of the leaders of the famous Bowery Mission. This story of his redemption blazes with the light of the Cross-a final and perfect answer to every doubting Thomas who cries for 'proof.'" -The Book News Monthly
"Here we have a 'vital document' out of the real life of the Bowery Mission in New York. The portrait shows us the face of a genuine man; the tale matches the rugged countenance. The story is told with fine reserve; there is no maudlin sentiment about it but rather the deep sincerities of a true and self-revealing soul. This is an experience that reveals the power of genuine Christianity. We commend this book to everyone who craves a fresh breath of sincerity and conviction and who is ready to have his heart kindled by another chapter of the acts of Christ." -The Biblical World
