Adams County news. [volume] (Ritzville, Wash.) 1898-1906, 1903-10-28
DOW|E CONFESSES IDENTIFY
BEFORE AUDIENCE OF 10000 HE
ACKNOWLEDGES TRUE BIRTH.
10 Son Of British Army officer-Name
ls Not Dowie-He Heaped Abuse on
papers a Roast-Telis of Letters
SWays Audience to Tears.

New York, Oct. 27.-In a broken
voice, with tears streaming down his
face, and his body shaking with emo
tion, John Alexander DowIe stood on
the platform in Madison Square Gar
den before an audience Of 10000 per-
sons, and announced that, in truth,
he was not the son of John Murray
Dowie OF Essex, Iowa, from whom he
takes his patronymic, but of a British
army officer of high family, by a
Scotch marriage" He heaped villifi-
cation and denunciation upon John
Murray Dowie, who, he declared, had
made his mother believe her marriage
to Dowie's father was shameful, and
the army officer. having been taken
away by his relatives, his mother, in
the first flush Of ner shame. had
sought to give her son name by mar
rying John Murray Dowie.
The revelation was made at the end
Of an hours TRADE against the press
of this city, its treatment of his work
and himself being styled conspiracy
Of falsehood,' the reporters denounced
as yellow dogs, poisonous reptiles,
who have wrecked thousands of homes
and broken thousands of hearts,"
He led up to the publication Of ex-
tracts of letters passing between him
self and John Murray Dowie, indicat-
ing Dowie's remuneration of the lat
ter as a parent, and which were re-
sponsible for the general overseer's
partial exposition Of the great secret
Of his life. Shouting one moment in
a fit Of violent rage at the newspapers,
DOwie would the next moment speak
in the most gentle voice of his mother
and his wife. The great audience was
moved by his emotion. Women wept,
and at times bursts Of applause greet
ed his declarations.
Dowie announced that just one year
ago he had addressed a meeting in
Chicago, in which he had told Of an
attempt at blackmail by man writ
ing from Boston. who claimed to have
certain letters which had passed be-
tween himself and John Murray Dowie.
THAT man wrote" said Mr.. Dowie,
that the letters. II published, might
cause me annoyance, and in the gene
rosity OF his heart said that for $1,000
he would turn them over to me instead
Of a Chicago newspaper. Garbled ex-
tracts from these letters were publish
ed in a paper in this city this morn.
ing. l challenge that paper to pro-
duce the original letters which, as
printed, are only misrepresented ex-
tracts, distortions and largely concoc.
tions. They were obtained either from
the man who tried to blackmail me q
year ago, gotten from John Murray
Dowie by him Al Essex, Iowa, or else
John Murray Dowie. poor. wicked
man. was SO far lost to shame as to
sell the letters of him who he said
was his son. These letters have be.
come public either by robbery or In
a much more wicked way"
Mr.. Dowie was becoming greatly ex.
cited, and tramped the platform with
nervous steps, his frame quivering
with the intensity Of his emotion.
"The best proof that John Murray
Dowie was not my father" he shouted,
"is that he has given up my letters to
him. rebuking him for the most ter.
rible sin man could ever commit, in
my judgment"