The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-01-23
A RACE SUICIDE COLONY.
Queer, Pesky Sect That is Growing up
 Near Dovie's Zion.

aim Of the newest of freak religions This time it is in Michigan. Directly across the lake from Dowie's Zion City, a younger, weirder, more mystical band of religious zealots has begun building its stronghold. These zeaIots call them selves the Flying Rollers, but the peo- pie of Benton Harbor, which city they have taken as their own, call them the long-haired saints-that. among other things.
 These zealots have actually taken Benton Harbor into their keeping. They swarm it's streets, bareheaded and barefooted. From Indiana. from Texas, from Arkansas, from the four winds. they are coming, laying their worldly goods at the feet of the leaders, Benja- min and Mary. and setting about to make themselves comfortable in homes they declare they shall occupy forever and day.
 The saints began gathering at Benton Harbor last spring. They are there to await the beginning of the millennium. which they believe will come in 1917. The fourteen years they want for prep aration are to be filed with strange de- votion to strange ideas, and when the end shall come only the long-haired saints will be left on the face of the earth. They believe they never will die. They do believe that children born to them before 1917 will die, and therefore, this man Benjamin and his wife have decreed that no children shall be born in the City of Israel before that time.
 The City of Israel shall be childless city
 I It is difficult to tell where, when or how the cult originated. The present leaders claim it is older far than Chris tendon, and that Benjamin is the sew enth and last messenger sent to warn the world.
 Benjamin and Mary are Benjamin F. Purnell and wife, and while they claim to be nothing more than any of the rest of the religionists, they are, in fact, the absolute rulers of all. Benjamin is a shrewd looking fellow. His features mark him as man of unusual intelli- gence He is a quiet, deliberate man, and has none of the buster and loud ness of his rival on the opposite shore Eof the lake.
 Ten years ago Benjamin was a resi- dent of Richmond, Ind. He got the power one day and began to let his hair grow. Those locks now sweep over his shoulders until he looks like reju- venated Rip Van Wrinkle He stands about with his white hands ramned into the pockets of his baggy trousers when he is not toying with the gew- gaws on his watchchain. Of all the saints, Benjamin alone is permitted to wear jewelry. Three rings, one of them set with diamond, grace his long fin- gers, and these make up the total jew elry exhibit in the City of Israel.
 Mary got the power soon after the mantle of leadership fell upon Benia- min's shoulders. Benjamin didn't know his wife was to be co-leader with him until he went home one evening and found her smashing the pictures and bric-a-brac. He was then certain she was among the chosen of the Lord.
 Then began an evangelistic crusade. The pair traveed the length and breadth of the land in wagon. speaking at street fairs. at the races, anywhere they could get a crowd. In California
 
 of followers. In Colorado they found others. In Texas many fiocked to their standard. Then came to Benjamin a message. He was to hie himself to Benton Harbor. call his people around him and begin the watch which should last until the beginning of the millen- nium. That watch began last March
 Before the rise of Benjamin and Mary to the leadership the Flying Rollers were guided by one Michael Mills of Detroit, Mich. He let his hair grow long, stopped eating meat, threw away his worldly goods and began preaching. He called himself Prince Michael, but was better known as Prince Mike. Prince Mikes religious crusade landed him in the Michigan penitentiary after he had stirred Michigan by one of the rottonest social scandals in the history of the state.
 Prince Mike made of his church free-love society and set himself up as a sort of American Abdul Hamid. This brought about his convictionffl a false conviction. his followers claim, and when the penitentiary barber had shorn his head he gave up the leader ship. It is claimed, however, that Prince Mikes hair was sold to a muse um for seven hundred dollars, which to him was some consolation.
 The present Flying Rollers now dis own Prince Mike They say he was not one of them. He was not one of the l elect, and he promulgated only few of the ideas now being religiously fol- lowed at Benton Harhor.
 The life of the long-haired saints is largely a mystery, even to those who live beside them. Within the limits of Benton Harbor they have erected a large hotel and printing establishment. and are now building a nome" Tn another part of the city is school where the children are isolated from the offspring of worldly parents. This school is taught by a saint, who years ago achieved the dignity of a school master. He holds no teachers license, and the authorities do not know what he teaches. These children, long haired like their parents, are not, nor will they ever be, permitted to mingle with other children. They have no toys. They are fed on vegetables and Benjamins brand of the grace of God, and they get their amusement out of chasing each other across the back lots on the outskirts of i Benton Harbor