Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1903-12-04
RECEIVER FOR ZION.
DOWIE AND HIS MUNICIPALITY
CALLED BANKRUPT.
Federal Court Puts Custodians in
Charge of All the Property of Eli
iah the Restorer''-Town Is Seized
Defendant Alleges lie Is Solvent.

What looked to the outside world like
the end of the economic experiment OF
John Alexander Dowie at Zion City, ILL.,
but what Dowie himself declared to be
only the CHANGING blow of malicious enc
mics came Tuesday afternoon when
Judge G. G. Kohlsaat of the United
States District Court in Chicago ordered
him to appear before him on Dec. ii and
show cause why he should not be adj
Judged a bankrupt.
Receivers were appointed Immediately
and at 10 o'clock Tuesday night they
took Zion City and all its industrial en-
terprises into custody.
The order of the court was read to
Dowe himself. a custodian was placed
at Shiloh cottage, and the surrender both
of his own papers and those ut the bank
was insisted upon.
Frederick NJ Blount, cashier of the
Chicago National Bank and AlbertlDea
Currier of the law firm of Bouteil, Cur
rier & Freeman, were named as the re-
ceivcrs. The court action took place at
5 o'clock. BY 8 o'clock they had quail
fed by filing their bonds for S100,OO0
and were on their way to Zion City with
n heavy escort of United States mar
shals, constables and lawyers
Small Debts Cause Crisis.
Three creditors, with total of claims
amounting to only 81, 169, forced Dowie
into the hands of a receiver They were
the H. b. Smith Machine Company, of
Smithville, n. j., with a claim of S401;
Elizabeth McCrimmon, of Batavia Illt
with claim of 5000; and Meyer y
Wenthe, of Chicago, with a claim of
500.
The attorneys for these three creditors
were obliged to appear twice before
Judge Kohlsaat before he would grant
their petition Early i'll the afternoon he
held that Dowie should be notified before
such action was taken. At the second
hearing, however, the argument was
made that such notice would act
against the rights of the creditors, Civ
ing Dowie a chance to conceal assets.
The appointment, accordingly was
made.
Dowie knew that the receivers and
their aids were coming however an hour
before they arrived. He talked over the
long distance telephone to Chicago, say
ing he would take no step in opposition
to the officers of the law, though he con
sidered the court action an outrage.
This is not law" he said. This is
a midnight marauding party"
He declared that Zion City was thor
oughly solvent. that all claims presented
would be paid, and that his attorneys
would appear in court to get relief from
tho receivership.
1--WE will take action the first thing in
the morning." he said, yitriolically, ito
rid ourselves of these bandits
The lawsuits of the last month against
him--the joint causes of the present
disaster-he characterized as wicked
and malicious. and shameful actions
brought to produce a ruinous condition
The debts of Zion, he asserted did not
reach one-ffteenth OF its assets.
Has He Reached His Waterloo?
"rhe public, however, without uues-
tioning the assumption that the assets
Of Zion far unbalanced it's debts, will
believe that Dowie and Dowieism have
reached the field of their Waterloo"
said one of the attorneys in the case
"The lack of cash is the insurmountable
obstacle to the restoration of the COM
munity to sound financial standing. The
property itself. however valuable, cannot
be turned profitably into money. Only
money can pay Dowie's debts to the sat
isfaction of his shrong of creditors That
the city of Zion can be kept intact under
the powers of receivership is impossible"
Overseer Jane Dowie is abroad and
thus one source of advice and comfort is
lacking to Dowie. Rumors have been
current for q month that most of the
tangible assets of Zion. outside of real
estate, went along with her, and are now
outside the jurisdiction of American
courts. Attorney Jacob Newman, for
the plaintiffs in the present case, init
mated that this might be true. Dowie
intends to go abroad the first Of the year.
The New York trip of the restoration
host looms UP as the Moscow III the ca
reer of this Napoleon of religion. The
defeat there was not only religious but
financial. The failure aroused the dis
trust of Dowie's creditors. Within a
month after his return nearly forty suits
were filed against him.