Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-15
EC0N0MY'S BIG DAY.
Arrangements for the Celebration of
the Annual Feast.
A MYSTERIOUS MANSION BUILT,
Which 1t Is Charged Was Intended for the
Followers of iced.
POSSIBLE CONTEST ON NEW MEMBERS

the day that the faithful followers OF Father
Rapp surrendered their property to COM
mon ownership, will take place to-day.
For 81 years this feast day has been one OF
love, good fellowship and renewed ex-
pressions of confidence in the society and
it's peculiar religion. 1t has been the Gus
tom to receive bread from the accepted
leader of the sect and by SO doing give
pledge of obedience for another year. Yes
terday it was rumored that Father Henricl
would not be able to be present and that
Trustee Duss would give out the bread.
The report deepened the gloom OF the older
members, who look with suspicion on their
young leader and are waiting the election
of members with the greatest fear.
The test of the power of Teed, the Koresh-
an prophet, is the question at issue and
on its decision hinges the future OF Har-
mony The candidates for admission as
members are Samuel Seiber and wife, H. ID.
Silverfriend and wife, Mr.. Turner and wife,
and Mrs Kress and son. Mr.. Seiber has
been constable for the Economics and
will not be opposed. The others are sup
posed to be members of DR.. Teed's peculiar
faith and will be fought as bitterly as would
Teed himself The election will be by the
Council of Nine, two-thirds vote being
necessary for approval.
The Most Objectionable Applicant.
The applicant most undesirable to the
| older and more conservative members OF the
society is Silverfriend. They look upon
him as an intruder, whose only aim ismoney.
| Silverfriend, it is claimed, has shown cool
| IL; Io4b ond ohn yiouQ
His first effort to establish himself in the
good graces of the members was to run
night school without charge He circulated
| freely among the men many years his
senior, but received nothing but snubs He
| caused sketch of his life to be published
| in Beaver paper, which was distributed
freely, but still he was looked upon with
disfavor.
AS last resort, it is claimed that yester-
| day report was circulated to the effect
that the brilliant aurora borealis of Sat
| urday night was the eve of Teed, the mod
ern God, watching the action of the Econo-
mites, willing to approve if the koreshan
| faith should be accepted, but ready for an
| outbreak of fearful wrath if the society per-
sisted in its refusal to receive Teed and his
gospel. Superstition, as child of isolation,
has always had a lodging place among
these strange people who are in
the world, but not of the world,
and when the story of Teed's appearance
as an aurora was told and retold
in whispered conversation among the men,
bers of the creed there were a few who
almost believed, few who hesitated in ex-
pressing an opinion and others who openly
condemned.
There was scarcely an individual IN the
town who had not seen the Northern Lights
the night previous 1t was q strange, a
beautiful sight in Pittsburg, and still more
strange and beautiful from the little
plateau just above the Ohio; reaching back
to receding hills on the north and extending
lengthwise as far as the eye can see In
daytime nothing can be heard but passing
rain or putting steamboat. AT night the
Hence Is oppressive.
Sensation in tho Valley.
The watchman patrols his beat from |
in the evening and on Saturday night was |
the first to discover the aurora. He told |
passerby, the passerby told a neighbor, |
and in few minutes every resident, old |
and young, was looking at the strange phe- |
nomenon that puzzles more scientific
minds and is looked upon by far
more people than they as something con-
nected with divinity. The darting flashes |
of light. springing from semi-circle and |
forming what seemed like a segment of |
Son of Man to the ultra religious minds of the |
Harmonites and prepared their thoughts for ]
the reception as truth that in the aurora
there was something divine.
Teed claims to be the second Christ To- |
day his doctrine will be indirectly passed |
upon by the counsel of Economics. The
star of Bethlehem guided the wise men
once before and was it not possible that the
Northern Lights had appeared at Teed's
- ,,,J, |
not that something that Silverfriend should
be elected, was the argument Of some of
Teed's followers Little else was talked of
during the day, but there was enough nine
teenth century good sense to prevent o
general acceptance of the theory.
That Teed is making every possible effort
to gain foothold in the Economic Society
has been made evident by a letter sent by
him to one of the Councilmen in which he
makes the claim that he was given promise
that some of the members of the Koreshan
Society would be given employment by the
Economic Society. The letter was an
swered bluntly and to the point. 1t indi-
Gated that Koreshans would be unceremo-
niously kicked out and that Teed's wiser
course would be to keep them housed in his
Chicago home.
A secret hitherto untold at Economy is
the general belief that large house Just be-
low Gue tOWu, WHICH was DullG 1dSL summer
at the suggestion of Trustee Duss, was in
tended as home for Teed. 1t is a mansion
in design and finish. The new house is
three stories in height, contains % rooms,
and is adorned with cupola. Its arrange
ment inside is modern and convenient
Its Construction Secret.
No one but Duss knows why it was built.
and many openly assert that it was intended
for "a home for Teed when, as the second
Christ, he should be admitted into the fold
of the Economics. The feeling is intense
against Duss, but there is no move to force
him from the throne. His youthful activity
is a safeguard for him, but at the same time
is looked upon as an intrusion by
the older persons, who usually believe
a man youth until he has rounded the
half century. They dislike to take instruc-
tion from Duss at the religious services and
view with holy horror any diversion from
the old-time religious faith. Duss is moth
ing if not modern, however, and week ago
last Sunday he even carried his progressive
ideas into an alleged Improvement of the
Lords Prayer. He was leading the con-
gregation, and either purposely or by mis-
take demonstrated an editorial instinct by
running the blue pencil through 'deliyer
us from evil" The boiling down process
wasn't success, however, and has been the
subject of continual discussion since then.
The exercises to-day will commence with
a sermon by Father Henrici. At 1890 the
feast will be served in the town hail. 1t
will not be banquet as asprepared by French
chefs, but as a meal of the most TEMPTING | .