Arizona republican., 1903-10-25
"Elltah'' Dowie.

"Elijah IT. to make any serious i'm pression in New York emphasizes the difference between the metropolis and country community like Chicago. Ir New York. Dowie and his three thou sand followers from Chicago have met merely ridicule The leader has been the sensation of a week. but within another week New York will have for gotten him and will be paying atten- ton to some other freak. But in Chi cago Dowie has become a tremendous force. The hold which he has upon a multitude of people is remarkable.
 The vast amount of news printed during the past week concerning DOwie's efforts to convert the people of New York has aroused the curiosity of the whole country as to the person ality of the man himself. A timely article in the November number O. Everybody's Magazine throws some in teresting sidelights on the second Elijah" According to MT. l. K. Fried man, the author of the article, those who have approa oached John Alexander Dowie in anything but a prejudiced and antipathetic spirit bear testi- Inony to his remarkable personal magnetism-the extraordinary gift he has of impressing his individuality on all who come in contact with it. His appearance. despite his shortness oi frame. his tendency to fatness. his bow Il traetive. He really wears the aspect of benevolence and looks the patriarch Today he is fifty-six years old; his shoulders are straight and ample. his white and flowing. Of his appearance he is extremely vain, showing that he is just as human as those who would cure by methods less divine. and he keeps the official photographer of Zion busy by his constant posing--now in this position. now in that-before the untiring eye of the camera. It may be matter of business entirely-you will see how beth of his eyes are open for bargains: and he may be counting on inspiring confidence in those whom his voice cannot reach. albeit the photograph and the telephone. carry his prayers from Zion City to the ends of America and the earth.
 Mir Friedman tells us that Eff the prosperity of Dowie owed much to any one thing 1t would seem to be TO ora tory-the appeal of eloquent argu- ments to vast audiences, yet in any dignifled or adequate consideration of the word the prophet is no orator at all He has no delivery worthy of con- sideration, and his voice from the platform Is far from pleasing or thrill ing. His diction and his style are characterized by coarseness and vul- garity, rather than by elegance or a fine rhetorical sense" Mir Friedman says he heard him declare from the stage Of the Auditorium that he. was the spiritual Elijah the Second. when his prosperity was at high tide. and when if he were sincere he should have been solemn; and his address was the most veritable hodge-podga of biblical text. rank nonsense, horseplay, abuse, commands for Hallelujahs and amens from his audience, silly and senile side remarks to his wife--the vulgar odds and the tawdry ends of everything-havingn no more to do with Elijah than Fila. Ut was the per formance of the mountebank through and thYnuOh pd ic httf Fo oIr t1 clude that those of his followers who found enjoyment and instruction in 1t are such among whom the mountebank seeks patronage" IL appears that there Is probably no business house in the states quicker 10 adopt modern time-and- money say ing inventions than Dowie's Christian Catholic" church. The things rendered unto Elijah the Second are shrewdly invested by Elijah the Restorer for the benefit of John Alexander Dowie The man is shockingly human for a proph- ct. His house in Zion City, built in the English style of architecture is lavish ly furnished; there is a stable full of costly equipages; a summer house l
 
 across the lake Is maintained in great | luxury. Indeed, the mans vanity and love of ostentation find an outlet fn | innumerable forms of gaudy and ex- pensive display. By way of justifica- tion he is said to have once remarked | that the pope of the Roman church | is surrounded by the best that earth i affords. and that there is no reason | why inc overseer of the Christian | Catholic church should be left whit behind"
 An interesting account of how Dowle the prophet, found his vocation is given:
 "one night, in Melbourne, there