Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1900-01-16
!, IL 49, ~ y'..st fl tr III ~ gsss
GREAT RELIGIOUS ClTY:
John A. Dowie to Build a Modern.
Zion Near Waukegan, Ills
NO w1oKEDNEss TO BE WITHIN n

-. -
rhere WIN He q Temple and T,wv6
Factories. ab.l the Ill VIII Re Hear
ed There, Says the Promoter az
the Future City-site Already PuF-
chased. ..,. g. = @s%
John Alexander Dowie Is the leader,
of a peculiar sect which holds belief
that Chicago has been so wicked that
destruction will overtake the city and
not far away on the lake shore there
will arise q great religious city. So
drm are they in the conviction that
they are to be founders Of a new Zion
that they have chosen it's site. es@p
They have bought or have an option
upon 6.OOO acres Of land near Wauke-
gan, Benton township. Ills. and there
the future city is to arise where all
men are to be pure and good. says the
New York Herald. 1t Is asserted they
have paid an extravagant price. but
with the exception Of the farmers WHO
have sold their lands or received mon
ey to bind q sale there is great disap-
pointment In the neighborhood. The
people had hoped that some great man
ufacturing city was to be started. prob
ably the Observation-Disclosures Steel works.
Though they are. as rule, religious
and churchgoing community. there is
the feeling that there might be moro
substantially in the treasures laid up
on earth by the multlmillionaires than
n the promised wealth of Dowie's
city Of Zion. ~
Dowie Is q man Of great personal
magnetism, a dreamer, who believes
that. though the purchase of land be at
even a great price, the site having
been divinely revealed there Is to grow
a. city so good and great that it will
shame all the world into Righteousness.
Ground Is to be broken for a temple
early in May with most impressive
ceremonies. The i'll are to be healed.
Dowie declares. and the world is to
receive it's first revelation of what
the modern Zion is to be. Later. build
ing of two factories, the industrial be-
ginnings of the city, is to begin. One
Is to be for the making of shoes and
the other is to be a lace factory, which
Dowie says he will bring to the
golden city" from England.
Next on the programme will be the
laying of the cornerstone for the tenn
pie Of Zion. and then there are to be
portents in the heavens, which may be
read by nll men, except those inclosed
In the Chicago streets with their tall
buildings, and even they are to hear
of these things and go into the fields
to see. s4%#H}
Dowie is then to follow the example
Of the German emperor and 60 on q.
triumphal tour Of the Holy Land. He
hopes to enter the gates of Jerusalem
on an ass and, in SO far as he can. act
as the Master did. In the meantime
Dowie goes about with a bodyguard
Of well armed believers in the coming
community. where there Is to be no sin
and no illness, and there are perhaps
1000 enthusiasts who entertain plans
that put in the shade the hopes Of the
Mormons.
Dowie, who calls himself general
oyerseer of the Christian Catholic
church, was born in Scotland about 66
years ago. He was educated tor the
ministry in the EdiEburgh seminary.
He appeared in Australia about IL
years ago and started grocery store.
He was elected to the common council
of Melbourne and then opened taber-
nacle, preaching the gospel and taking
occasion to condemn the council. His
grocery store soon became church.
He says a mob of 5000 men dragged
him out of his church and threatened
to lynch him.
He was given 80 days to leave and
says that upon bis arrival In San Fran
cisco he had seven purses of gold pre-
scented to him by his followers in Aus
tralia. He organized r church In San
Francisco and adopted the theory Of
healing by prayer. He convinced many
that spectacles were useless and ef-
fected some alleged cures.
Coming to Chicago the year before
the Worlds fair, he started tent sery-
ice on what later became the Midway
plaisance. At Sixty-second street and
Madison avenue he constructed frame
Zion tabernacle and ran hospital In
connection with it. He became engag-
ed In costly legal war with the state
of Illinois on the charge of conducting
a hospital without license. but won
in the courts.
He Is now the lessee of the old St.
Paurs Episcopal church in Chicago.
with a seating capacity of $500. His
home Is in the seven story hotel at
Twelfth street and Michigan avenue
known as Zion home, having accom-
modotions for 300 persons. He Is also
lessee Of hall at Thirteenth street and
Michigan avenue. where he has print
ing establishment, with perfecting
press, three duplex presses and many
Job presses. 118 stands and chapel Of
60 union printers. The building Is also
the home OF the Zion bank. wealthy
institution. and the Zion City Land and
Investment association.
Siam Offers q Present to America.
srho r7ni<od S%otoo minister tn Sin n,