The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-12-03
THE COLLAPSE OF DowIEIsM.

THE COLLAPSE OF DOwIEISM.
The innate sense Of justice which happily
belongs to a vast majority Of people will
cause them to rejoice at the indications
that Dowieism has about run it's course.
All honest men despise hypocrite and i'm
poster who makes use of his power over
weak-minded and credulous persons to de-
ceive, delude and swindle them, and that is
what all honest men believe Alexander
Dowie has been doing for some years past.
That he possessed certain amount of
worldly wisdom, executive ability and Ca
pacity for leadership in connection with
his other qualities is undeniable, and from
all accounts he possessed also kind Of
personal magnetism and forcefulness that
enabled him to command a following
among credulous people.
There can be no question but Dowie Is a
man of brains and great force OF character,
but II is equally certain that he has played
the part of a conscious impostor and DELHI
crate swindler and has prostituted his pow
ers by extorting large sums of money from
amazing that in the twentieth century and
in a country of colleges and public schools
any man should dare to assume the part
and title of Elijah III and pose as the pos
SCISSOR Of supernatural power. 1t was this
brazen effrontery Of Dowie and his using
his alleged gift Of healing and Of prophecy
to promote his business operations that
made honest men indignant II he had SIM
ply posed as a Napoleon of finance people
would have classed him with other specula-
tors and let it go at that, but his impudent
claim that he was Gods vicegerent on
earth makes people glad that he has come
to grief.
1t Is possible Dowie may weather the
present storm, but il he does he will never
be able to put Zion on paying basis again.
1t is probable the assets of Zion exceed its
debts. but it requires ready cash to pay the
latter. and that means that property must
be sacrificed. The three claims on which
receivers were appointed amounted to only
about $1.100, but there are other suits pend
ing to the amount of &c., AS and outstanding
1t is now said that most of the land on
which Zion is built Is mortgaged and the
holders of the mortgages have been threat
ening for some time to foreclose Dowie
and his chief heutenants insist that they
can easily raise money to pay all outstand-
ing debts, but the fact that more than
forty suits have been filed for sums rang
ing from $3.50 to 5000. a large number OF
them for less than $1,000. shows that Dowie
is very short Of cash. His urgent, almost
frantic appeal to the Zionites few days
ago to dig down in your pockets and de.
posit their money in his bank showed he
| was in great straits. 1t will probably bt
| found there Is little or nothing in the bank
| and the time has passed when Dowie car
raise money by an appeal to his followers.
Yet this remarkable man has not lost his
| nerve. Following closely after his disas
| trous failure in New York. and with a see
| Of troubles rolling in on him he denounced
the action Of the court in appointing re
ceivers as an outrage, the suits brough
against him as wicked, malicious ant
4
as "a midnight marauding party" A maj
| who insists that his heavenly prerogative'
/ should make him immune from the ordi
| nary processes Of the law is no common
| impostor.
| AS already intimated. there is a possibilit.
that Dowie may weather the present storm
| and resume operations on a narrower scale
But there is also possibility that a search
ing investigation may show that he has Sc
questered funds that should be in the bank
that he has foreseen the storm and pre-
pared for it. The public will recall tn
story of the mysterious heavy box whic
Dowie's wife and son took with them t
Australia few weeks ago, when Dowi
was throwing dust in the eyes of his fol
lowers by inaugurating his pretended pla
of evangelizing New York. That box ma
have contained the funds he was providin
for an emergency, and its shipment ma
have caused an empty bank. II investiga
ton should prove this to be the case. Eliza
III may have to exchange his white robe fo
striped clothes.