The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-28
1 MORThLS BUILD 4 HEAVEN. FIJI
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TAMPA, Fla, Sept. 24.-Cyrus r.
Teed. renowned as "Koresh," the man
who claims to be Christ reincarnated.
Is now a resident of Lee county, in the
southwestern part of Florida, near the
Florida Keys. There he has started
heaven" in what is an almost UNI
broken wilderness, and there his faith
full band of followers are laboring to
create a modern Garden of Eden.
Teed is a remarkable man. He was
first heard of in Chicago ten years ago,
when he rented building on Cottage
Grove avenue. near Thirty-second.
and began preaching his "Koreshan-
ity." Koresh is Greek for Cyrus, the
first name of this man Teed, who gain
ed more notoriety in Chicago than he
wanted His place on Cottage Grove
avenue becoming too small, as well as
too expensive, he moved into a select
neighborhood on Wright street, near
Sixty ninth, IN Englewood.
There the neighbors proposed to do
him and his bodily harm if he did not
move, so he went to Washington
Heights, where he stayed until two
years ago. when he journeyed to Flor
Ida. Teed's trouble in Chicago was due
to the fact that his teachings broke
up families. While he breaches celibacy
and will not let a man and wife who
join his colony live under the same
Roof the neighbors refused to believe
in his sanctity and called his place
-Teed's harem." When he located in
Florida iced went into a Florida
wilderness, where he secured about one
thousand acres of land, and so far he
has had no trouble with his neighbors.
TEED'S FLORIDA HEAVEN"
Here iced has founded a city It is
almost entirely surrounded by the
Everglades, and a part of his project
is to drain this great swamp at some
future time and thus reclaim valuable
land.
The city at present consists of
about thirty buildings, constructed of
rough pine logs and rooted with the
long leaves of the saw-palmetto.
There are four large dwellings, two
for the men and like number for the
women. Among members of the Go
operative Exchange" which is used as
a stepping stone to the attainment of
a higher state, marriage is permitted.
iced calls himself by various titles, but
by the inmates of his institution, who
are known as angels" he is referred
he has absolute control, and they obey
him unquestioningly. New converts
must turn over all their property to
Teed on joining the heaven" and in
this way Teed secures the necessary
funds for his schemes.
AT present there are about three hun
dred people in the heaven" including
perhaps forty children. Among the
converts is Oscar F. L. Amoreaux,
formerly professor of Latin and Greek
in the Wheaton College. at Wheaton,
Ill. He Joined two years ago and is
Convinced that iced is the Messiah
promised SO long ago.
ANGELS" AT FARM WORK.
The angels" are engaged in bee
keeping, poultry raising, planting CO.
cCanut palms, orange trees, pineapples
and other fruits that can be grown in
this latitude. Their diet consists large
ly of fish, the fresh water streams as
well as the Gulf of Mexico Astounding
with various edible kinds
DR.. iced makes no claim to a per-
sonal resemblance to Christ, as does
Schweinfurth, the Rockford, Ill.,, Mes
siah; neither does he affect the long
hair and meek demeanor of Schlatter,
the Colorado healer" On the con-
trary his manner is bold and aggres-
slve. He was born in Utica, N. Y,
In 1888 He is of medium height, and
his rotund form looks as if he were
somewhat overfed. He is slightly bald.
wears wears glasses and is smooth-shaven.
Unlike his faithful angels" the Mes
siah' wears costly clothing, a gold
watch, with heavy gold chain. A large
diamond sparkles in his shirt
and his linen is Immaculate.
He seems to be firmly convinced that
he Is the reincarnated Savior. the
chosen instrument of divinity. He is
at home on the rostrum, and speaks
with the grace and ease of a trained
orator He breaches celibacy, COM
mUnism and abstinence from liquors
ana tobacco. He teaches his followers
that If they remain celibate, obey the
laws of nature and accept him as the
Savior they will become holy, their
flesh become immortal and they will
never die -z
He has also new theory regarding
the shape of the universe, which. he
calls "KOreshan Cosmogony." This
theory is that the surface of the earth
Is not convex, but concave. and that
humanity is not living on the outside
OF the earth. but that the earth is a.
hollow sphere and we are living on
the inside of it. He has succeeded In
1mpressing this upon his angels for
all of them profess to believe that he
or she is living on the interior of the
earth.
TEED'S EMPRESS"
Second in Importance to the Messiah
himself is the ''Pre-eminent. or EN-
press" Previous to her installation as
Queen of Heaven" she was a Mrs
Annie Ordway, of Chicago. and her
husband is a commission merchant do
Ing business there now. She has com
plete control of all the temporal af-
fairs of the heaven, but she Invariably
consults the wishes of Teed on all sub
5ects of Importance. Her orders are
strictly obeyed by the angels.
She Is the recipient of almost the
same alteration as is Teed himself
She has as retinue the virgins" or
younger female angels" and the
sons of thunder" or more youthful
males. She is not permitted to perform
any physical labor, and all jewelry be-
longing to the angels" is to be used
to make a crown for her, symbolizing
her temporal authority.
A BLASPHEMOUS SERVICE
On the first day of each month the
Messiah" and the Empress" hold a
reception and receive the homage of
the angels. Those not of the faithful
are usually excluded from these recep