Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-09
.CORNERING CELIBATES
DR.. iced May Be a Dreamer o1
Dreams, but He Is
AFTER DOLLARS JUST THE SAME.
He Has New Scheme for Calendar All
His Own.
DUPES THAT ARE BLINDED BY FAITH

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 8-"A. X. 53''
may look odd as substitute for A. D. 1892,
but that is the way the queer people who
! live in the Koreshan Home out on Noe
street date their correspondence.
"a X" being translated, reads, Gin
! the year of Koresh," and the name by
which Koresh is known in every day life
! is Cyrus W. Teed Though his followers
accept without question every new idea
| that the somewhat erratic Teed chooses to
promulgate, they are not entirely able to
keep pace with him when his mental ma
chinery is going full clip. The Koreshan-
ties read in yesterday mornings dispatches
that their messiah had unbosomed himself
to Chicago reporter about his plan for
reforming the Gregorian calendar, or rather
for substituting for it system all
his own. They had heard him
talk vaguely about this innovation before
his departure for the East, and had al
ready adopted the suggestion and began
to write 'tAnno Koreshi'' for Ammo
Domini, so it was not exactly a
new one on them. Still they could
not make any surmises as to how
DIR. Teed would name the months. The dis
patches said be proposed to divide time into
calendar, and to split up these Koreshan
years into II months each. The disciples
were likewise unable to figure out how Dr.
iced proposed to make things come out
even.
Don't Understand but Believe.
Mrs. Knight, pleasant-mannered, sad
faced little woman, who assists in the man
agement of the Noe street Home, and who
IS Koreshanized to the lips, said yesterday:
I'VE don't quite understand all Koresh
says. He is very scientific and learned,
and has wonderful intellect. All the time
he is evolving new ideas, and this
plan for a new calendar is probably
another illumination of the spirit he has
received. He is our messiah, and 50 it is
natural that we should date all events from
his birth just as Christians do from the
birth of him whom they call Christ DIR.
Teed's birthday is on October 1S. He
is now in the SD year of his age, so that,
according to our calendar, it is now A.
X. 53, and that is the way we write it..
The faithful believe that the new names
of the months will be significant of some-
thing peculiar to their faith That is one
of the peculiarities of the Koreshanism.
There is not name or a circumstance
about it to which the many-gifted Teed has
not tackled some deep and hidden meaning.
informed as to his inventions.
When it was suggested to the Koreshan-
ties that DR.. Teed's new calendar might be
as inconvenient and short-lived as that
which d'Eglantine and Romme invented for
the French Republic they were not alto
gether pleased.
Nothing Too Big for Teed.
"Anything Koresh undertakes he will ac-
complish,' said a particularly devout
Koreshanite. ga little matter like making
a new calendar is only pastime for him.
"Wheezy,' "Sneezy" and "Freezy," or
their equivalents in French denoted the
winter months in the calendar of the repub-
lie. 1t may be that DR.. Teed will rub up
his Hebrew and find some equally
suggestive month names for his new cal
endar. 1t is said that DIR. Teed has not yet
made up his mind whether he will
invent a new language for his people to
learn and use. If he has any regard for the
health OF his followers he will decide in the |
negative. Those Koreshanites who live ON |
Noe Street have an anxioes look, as though |
they were afraid they might forget some |
of the new and strange things provided for |
their mental and spiritual ediication.
Between times Koresh is working large |
scheme, and doing it pretty shrewdly at |
that. He tolls not, neither does he spin;
and vet he lives like retired capitalist. |
But if he does not work with his hands the
doctors festive brain is full of notions for
making other people contribute to his
needs. Ever since he left San Francisco a
month or so ago Teed has been pushing a
gigantic scheme, his purpose being to unite
all the leading communistic societies of the |
country, with himself as the king pin.
Cornering the Ceiibates.
He is in Chicago now, having spent the
holidays in his "college of life" Already
he has to all intents and purposes mort
gage on the Economic community, with its
broad lands and millions of money.
Since this brilliant stroke he has
been proselytizing among the Omitted
Society of Believers in Christ's
Second Appearing" or Shakers. They be-
lieve in celibacy. So does DIR. Teed. They
want messiah, and Dr. Teed thinks he can
fill the position acceptably. From his ad-
vices to the home in this city it is believed
that he will soon have the Shakers in their
fold, and will take care of their long
boarded wealth for them.
There are 1000 or 5000 Shakers and
Shakeresses in the United States, with col
Dnies at Watarvliet, N. Y, where they have
over $4,000 acres of highly improved land,
and at New Lebanon, In the same State.
These are the parent communities,
and there are branches in Massachu-
sets, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecti-
,ut, Kentucky and Ohio. DR.. Teed has
ust completed a tour of these settlements,
having proceeded direct to Chicago from
hose at Union Village, Watervliet, White
water and North Union, o.
Koresh NAV be dreamer of dreams
bout some things, but when it comes to
,etting up corner in celibate societies and
athering in the good hard dollars of his
onyerts he is intensely practical.