Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-02
THE FALSE MESS|AHS
A Number of Recent Instances
Where Revelations Have
Been Claimed.
DELUSI0N AND IMP0STURE.
Bright Men and Women as Well as
Ignorant Negroes Duped.
TENNESSEE'S QUEER FANATICS.
A Negro Proclaiming Himself Christ Had
Many Followers.
DELUSION AND IMPOSTURE.
QUEER FANATICS.
A Negro PrOclaiming Himself Christ Had
Many Followers.
SCORES WORSHIPED FALSE CHRISTS

numerous instances are on record where,
within the last two or three years, the more
civilized and better-educated white men and
black men of America have professed to
have received revelations, and, in some eases,
to be the Christ Himself
1t was only in the summer of 1888 that
one Patterson, of Tennessee, went around
preaching that wonderful thing was to
happen; aud when he thought the times
were ripe he declared that the second advent
of Christ had come, in the person of A. j.
Brown, who had served as Patterson's assist
ant These two fanatics secured large
following as they went forth preaching
their new doctrine, promising TO forgive
sins and heal all diseases. 1t was finally
announced that Brown must go up into the
mountains and fast for 40 days and nights in
order that he might be fttinglr prepared for
the mission intrusted to his hands. He
suddenly disappeared, and nothing
was seen of him for many days.
When the prescribed period had passed, ,on a
Sabbath morning in June, his followers
went out toward the hills and suddenly he
appeared be ore them clothed in white, with
his hands uplifted. A great shout went up
and the people rushed toward him, falling
upon their knees and kissing his feet.
Many who were i'll declared themselves
healed by his touch. So great was the
fanatieism of these people that one girl
declared she was ready to die to prove her
faith, and the non-believers around the
town of Soddy, where these things happened,
became SO fearful thrt human life would be
sacrificed that they sent for the Sheriff, at
Chattanooga, and it required all his power
10 compel Patterson and Brown to leave the
M oh he
CoLoRED PEOPLE DUPED.
A..year later, in 1889, occurred that re-
markable series of impositiors upon the
credulity of the colored people, where one
man after another proclaimed himself as
the Christ, promised miracles, drew crowds
OF excited men and women from their labors,
and created CONSERVATION in those portions
of the South where their performances were
carried on. In one case a man nearly white,
who gave his name as Bell, went among the
negroes who lived along the Savannah river
and proclaimed himself as the returned
Christ, crying out that those who hoped to
be saved must give up everything and follow
him.
Hundreds believed him, left the cotton
fields, the sawmills, and the turpentine
stills, and followed Bell, obeying his Iightest
word and ready to fall down at his feet In
the authorities were led to arrest Bell, and
when be was taken his followers would
have torn his captors to pieces and rescued
him had he given the word. He told them
to be patient, declaring that an angel would
come to him and break his prison doors by
night. and that he could not be harmed. As
he had some money in his possession he was
not held for vagrancy, and although
thought not to be in his right mind was soon
discharged from custody. He then con-
tlnued his preaching, followed by even
greater crowds than before; announced that
the world would come to an end on August
16; that all white men would then turn
black and all black men white, and that he
could supply all who wished to ascend on
the last day with wings at S. pair.
When Bell was finally sent to his proper
place-an insane asylum-Edward James, a
colored Justice of the Peace in the same
neighborhood, announced himself as the
Messiah and proceeded TO put forward claims
as extravagant as those of Bell He re-
peated the declaration OF Bell that the end
of the world was coming August 16,
preached that money was no longer of any
use in the world, and prevented the employ
ers of labor in that section from obtaining
needed help. James was finally arrested
aud sent to the State Insane Asylum at
Milledgeville. Yet another negro appeared
in Cherokee county with the same preten-
sions; another in Camden, and woman in
Brunswick attempted the performance of
miracles. In each OF these cases the excite
ment was sbort-lived, but fanatical Igno-
rance was provided in sufficient portions to
make trouble while it lasted.
THE sCHwENFURTH CRAZE.
A very marked example of imposition
upon the one side and blind creduIty upon
the other, the basis being a claim of the
visible Christhood in the flesh, is furnished
in the career Of George J. Sweinurth, at
Rockford, Ill. In the cases above cited the
claimants were obscure and ignorant men,
while the dupes were of the iowliest among
the freedmen, who were guided only by their
emotions and had no help from culture and
education, either in themselves or in the
community around them. Vastly different
was the Rock ord delusion, springing up in
the most intelligent section of the West, at
the behest of the wife of Congregational
minister, who preached that in her own
person were the attributes of the risen Lord.
1t is some l6 years since Mrs. Dora Beck
man advanced this claim, and her followers
were at first few in number, but they were
strong in faith, and they located their church
at Bryan, near Rockford, and went zeal
ously to work. Mr.. Beckman, not believing
in the new doctrine, was torn by conflicting
doctrihes until finally he found relief in in
sanity and an asylum.
Among the converts finally came Schwein-
furth, young Methodist minister of pleas
ing address and appearance and of some
mental power. He was soon installed as
Bishop and sent forth upon mission labor.
After time, as In the case of Ann Lee, the
founder of Shakerism, Mrs. Beekman's
claim of immortal life was disproved by her
death, and the shrewd Bishop stepped into
the breach, declaring that the divine spirit
bad passed from their former leader to him
self The claim was allowed, and today he
is worshiped by hundreds, not merely as the
Christ returned to the flesh, but as the
maker and ruler of the earth as well.
These claims, made in the open light of
the nineteenth century and allowed bv peo-
pie who have the means OF finding the truth
by little investigation, show that men are
about what they always have been, and
furnish an excuse for the wonderful spirit
nal impostors of the past. The various per-
formances of the Faith Curists might also
be cited in illustration of the same point.
MANY SIMILAR INSTANCES.
The impositions and vagaries above men,
TONED have been the performances of class,
and to enumerate all the religious fanati-
cisms and delusions of individuals recorded
In America even in the last two years would
demand an unreasonable expansion of
space. One noted instance was that of Mrs. |
Pauline King, the colored woman of Oak |
ridge Park, ILL.,, who advertised that, as she |
tasted 40 days, she would publicly turn |
water into wine, as had been done at the |
marriage feast at Cana of Galilee. When |
the people had gathered on the appointed /
do eha had ;or la1 L