The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-05-19

The strange colored man from Phila-
delphia, who claims to have God-given
| powers of prophecy, and who has been
| preaching for the last two weeks in
this city. delivered his farewell sermon
last night in the Shiloh Baptist church.
and prOphecied dire disaster for this
land three years hence.
| The little room in the basement at
the corner of Adams avenue and Null
berry street was crowded to overflow
ing with mixed gathering. Coloi'ed
| persons, of course. predominated. Many
of the whites seemed to be more than
| idle curiosity seekers. One woman
stood when the prophet asked those
of the unconverted who wished to be
prayed for TO rise.
Not some but all Of the colored peo-
| pie seemed to have a deep and abiding
faith in everything the prophet said.
| They leaned forward in their eager
ness to hear his every word and en-
pressed their approval in frequent out
| bursts of Amen" That's right"
Praise the Lord
The prophet himself is rather diff
| ficult person to form an estimate of.
He processes to have no very large
tense while preaching of knowing more
than he does. He seems sincere and
! succeeds, at any rate. in impressng
countless people with his sincerity. His
| prophetic powers have been given him
by God, he says. and his visions of
| future things generally come to him
as he lies in bed. Accompanying them
is a voice telling him to warn the peo-
l,N1f, - rls sv@s. x1p,,
MATTER-OF-FAC WAY.
AS he stood in the pulpit of the little
church last night and said with Il
naive simplicity, II am u prophet and
you may never hear me again. so lis
ten to my message" Many Of the col
ored people gaZed at him with a sort
of awe. He made the statement with
as much carelessness and lack Of egot-
ism as if he was simply saying 81 am
clergyman" or some other common
place thing.
II am prophet" he continued. "and
God has sent me to warn you of your
danger. Three years from now a fam
inc will sweep this land and the people
who have denied God and who have
needed not His commands will suffer.
The crops will fail and there will be
droughts that shall cause the fields
to burn up and the cattle will die for
want of grass and water.
THE millionaires who have ground
the poor man under their feet and who
have sucked his life blood will no longer
ride in their automobiles and laugh at
the passers-by. They shall wall and
suffer from lack Of food even as the
rest. The poor man, too. shall suffer
and shall perish from hunger, unless
he have faith in God. But Gods elect
shall be saved. He will sustain them
and they will pass through unscathed.
81 go from here to Atlantic City to
warn the people there Of the visitation
Of Gods wrath which is about to fall
on them. God is going to destroy all
those seaside resorts OH the Atlantic
coast just as surely as l am standing
here, because they desecrate His Sab
bath and violate His commands. They
shall be destroyed even as We're Sodom
and GommOrah."
After the service t prophet held an
informal reception and shook hands
with a number of those present. To
a Tribune man he stated that his abil-
ity as prophet has been conclusively
demonstrated on several occasions. He
said he prophecied the Johnstown flood
five years before it occurred and the
Charleston earthquake as well. He's
been making future predictions for over
twenty years, he said.
II warn you personally of this FAM
ine," said he as the Tribune man was
leaving, land trust for your own sake
that you'll be one of Gods elect in
1905. If you are not you shall suffer-"