The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-11

years ago he landed in Chicago a pen
niless preacher. without church.
Two years ago a lawsuit brought
| against Dowie by his English brother
inlaw, Samuel Stevenson, attracted
wide attention. Stevenson married
Dowie's sister. At that time. five years
| ago, he was a wealthy lace manu-
facturer of Nottingham, England.
Dowie was charged with having per-
formed the office of shatchen, and all
the details of the match were ing his
hands. Among other things Stevenson
was induced to give his bride check
for $4,000. This she invested in
Dowie's schemes, without ever having
| really possessed the money, it was
claimed by Stevenson in the subse-
quent suit. Stevenson said Dowie at
first advised, then coaxed and finally
orImanded him to remove his lace
business to Chicago and eventually the
whole plant was placed in Dowie's
name. J In payment Stevenson was
given stock in the Zion lace industries,
and in the organizations of the deal
claimed to have become a pauper. de-
pendent upon Dowie's charity.
Every point in the chancery suit that
followed was bitterly contested. DoWie
and Stevenson each gave the other the
direct lie. Dowie claimed that the
newspapers fagrantly misrepresented
the proceedings, and at great expense
printed and circulated verbatim reports
of the testimony and arguments.
+ DoWie himself took the stand. When
telling of the death of his sister at sea
Dowie wept violently. He accused Ste
venson of being a murderer, because
he called doctor to attend the suffer-
ing woman. Mrs. Stevenson died sud-
denly at sea on the return voyage on
the historic pilgrimage to England. ~
inc Ia fr~i.a tnf4
in the corridors of the court building
hours before the time set for trial.
Each day the court room was packed
by followers Of the gray-haired chief
of Zion. During court recesses the
Dowieites prayed and sang for the sue
cess of their leader. Dowie himself
made a spectacular entry into court
surrounded by giant guards, who con-
Stantly watched his person. Another
idiosyncracy of unusual interest was
the black silk skull cap which Dowie
wore on his bald dome. A valet also.
appeared in court and busted himself
with the prophets wraps.
Every point at issue went against
Dowie. Judge Tuley, the Nestor of the
Chicago bench, was reluctant to give a
decision against Dowie, fearing that a.
collapse of his various enterprises
would entail much suffering among his
followers. After the trial closed Dowie
was called into the judges private
chambers and advised to settle. DoWie
refused Thereupon Judge Tuley ap
pointed a receiver for the lace plant.
Dowie then settled on the terms i'm
posed by his brother law. Steven
son refused to be lenient, and it was
unders TODD that Dowie was forced to
pay $4,000 to the man whom he had
sworn under oath he did not owe.
Serious as this setback would seem,
it never noticeably affected the growth
of Zion. His followers stuck closer
than ever to the man who insisted that
he was Elijah the Restorer."
In personal appearance Dowie is
more like a department store Santa
Claus than like Elijah or John the
Baptist as these prophets are regarded
in the popular impression. He is of
Scotch parentage and much of his life
was spent in Australia, where he had
made but little impression up to his
forty third year. Once he was ar
rested for street preaching in Mel
bourne, and rather than pay a fine he
remained in Jail.
When he came to Chicago, shortly be-
fore the Worlds fair, Dowie was above
middle age, and had tremendous
paunch. The years have been kind to
him. During the dozen years since his
arrival in this country Dowie has done
enough work to wreck the constitution
of dozen men. His vitality is