The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-11-04
cnAzY oe woRsE.

It Is hardly possible to imagine prom tnent man making more disreputable spectacle of himself than MT. Dowie did fin New York when, before thousandso of hearers, he virtually branded his own mother as shameless harlot. That there may be no doubt of his doing this we copy his own language:
 My mother was noble woman. She was greatly beloved by the privates and officers of one of the Foremost regiments the post of the regiment. My people had been connected with the army for centu- ries. I supposed was the son of John Murray Dowie, wno lives in Essex Ia. and I never ceased to wonder how he could have been my father. He was mean and hypocritical, and as the years rolled on he grew worse. had no sym pathy for him. For many years I did not see John Murray Dowie. Then evil times came upon him and al my own expense brought him from Australia and gave him home in my own house. One day later he gave me some papers which ex- plained everything.
 T knew that had beeen robbed of my birthright by thak william sitting in front of me; knew that was not his son, knew that he had married my mother In March and that I had been born in May. And with the knowledge that had come so strangely to me, I saw at once that my good. noble mother had been tricked Into Scotch marriage with British army officer of high standing. whose relatives had hurried him out of the way and that my dear mother. to hide her shame, had married that vile scoundrel who sat there before me. and had done that which, had known of 1t twenty wears before, would have given me my right place in the world. What that place might have been is not for me to say. shall never seek it for if 1t carried with 1t the finest ducal coronet in the United Kingdom I would not want to change 1t for the office I hold and the ministry minister to God.''
 We may set aside the fact that this mans father-or reputed father-positive- ly asserts that this statement of the younger man is false and that the latter is his son, born in lawful wedlock, if we will. It is but fair to say that the father certainly has as much right to be sure of the truth of his statements as the son has. Leaving this out. however. upon what other hypothesis than that the so- called Elijah is crazy can we account for his proclaiming himself iHegitimate7 If his story is true, there was no call for him to proclaim it to the world. In one breath l6 SpedhE Ol HIS LIOtucT dS d HODlC WO- man and in the next tells the public that he Is a child of shame and that his moth CT has all these years been living a lie and palming off an illegitimate child as the son. of her husband,
 We repeat that we can only account for his course on the ground that he is de- mented. Whether he is crazed by relig- ion or by the greed of avariee, or both, is hard to say, but certainly we cannot look on him as a thoroughly sane man. His methods in New York. especially, are those Of a man whose mind is unbalanced. On rare occasions he has acted and spok- en with calmness and quietness that has surprised his hearers, but in most cases he uses the language of the slums and the manners of the Bowery bully. His denunciations of the press is not to be wondered at, for a decent newspaper is always reproach to such a man, and to such manners as he displays in public
 But what sort of opinion must he have he is pursuing the course to secure their good will? Does he hope to win the re- spect of decent people by proclaiming himself a bastard and by violating all the rules of decency? Or, does he not desire any support except from those who ap- plaud and endorse the methods of the barroom bully? The two things that he most desires are notoriety and money. The first he gets by his methods and those must have been lucrative or he could not have accumulated such a large fortune in few years. Referring to this The New York Commercial says he is pursu- ing the same course there that he did in Chicago, adding:
 At no time did he expect or desire to make a favorable impression upon the sane and right-minded people of Chicago. | When he was abused he denounced 1t all aS religious persecution; and when the | novelty of his performances wore off and | the crowds deserted him because he was no longer interesting, he found remain ing just what he expected and deslred- residuum of the most miscellaneous cranks and social freaks ever brought to- gether. He knew how to manage and utilize such material, as his subsequent success at Zion shows.
 This doubtless sizes him up about right That he is clever and capable in certain ways is not to be denied, but they are not ways which attract to him good men and women. unless they are overcome with re- ligious zeal. To make proselytes, obtain notoriety and accumulate money are ap- parently his chief desires and in these he succeeds admirably. All the same his | ls hoI