Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-01-26

PRIEST WHO CONTROLS
STRIKERS IN RUSSIA
FEARED BY MOBILES.
POPULARITY HIS SH!EfI

mon People and the Influence He
Yields He Has Never Been .ExiIed
"A Prodigy From Childhood.
New York, Jan. 24.-Christian Brin-
ton, the art critic. who spent many
years in Russia as a student and as an
observer OF the social conditions gives
q graphic picture of Father Gopon. He
rs quoted in an interview as follows:
Though Father George Gopon has
Just come before the public eye in the
world Of Russia his personality has
been felt as an ever increasing force
for many years. Ishave. seen him and
heard him speak many times, and 1
a say truly l never felt a personal
influence more %singularly magnetic
than his in all my life,
The early career of this priest Is
shrouded more or less in mystery. He
was born in Poltava in 1899 and is the
son of a poor peasant family. When
he was able to toddle about he was
assigned to the care of pigs and
geese. AS a boy he went much among
the peasant people of his home coun-
try, and before he reached his teens
his phenomenal mental ability began
to show itself. / have heard, and 1
believe 1t, that when he was a boy Of
B he began to discourse on the mater
ial condition Of the ~peasantry, and
this lad soon vas looked upon by his
elders with a feeling of awe and
reverence. ! Somehow his relatives
roa~o~nJ - - ~ q 1i~. 1H - %Lo 1,Aof
schools in Poltava.
Had Radical Views As Youth.
"As a youth he exhibited such prom.
ise that friends determined to send
him into the priesthood. All the
while he was studying socialism and
continually. discussing the. social con.
ditions Of his country. While he was
studying for the priesthood at a sem
mary he gave voice to such radical
views that he was expelled before be-
Ing graduated. He finally managed,
however, to be admitted to the priest.
hood under the general limitations,
which did not permit him to have q
general %pastorate.
when l first saw Father Gopon he
was q man Of about so years Of age,
He had the face Of d mystic-one Of
those classic molds of. feature we are
led to expect as characteristic of pro.
phets and great leaders Of men. Every
feature had a distinct line Of force, and
the heavy, overhanging eyebrows give
him a ferocity Of c~ountenance: that
otherwise suggests extreme modera.
ton and ~gentleness.s Though he never
had a passionate he always has worn
the orthodox beard of a Russian priest.
@Once you have looked upon a face
such as Father "OPENS it can never
leave your memory. The features are
general, neither sharp nor blunt. They
are large, however, but large in pro-
portion, with the high, bulky forehead
of the great thinker. When 1 first
saw him he was addressing a meeting
Of workingmen. He began in a low,
mumbling voice, vibrant with power
and force. Before he had completed
his first phrase you could feel the
magnetic spark entering your soul
that would hold you until the last
syllable fell from his lips. Those
workingmen whose III he has made
his life's effort sat and listened to him
with glowing eyes and beating pulses,
and their passions rose with his. In
many ways he is a born agitator. He
allows his feelings to attain complete
mastery of him, not matter how violent
they may be.
Power Over His Audience.
Though he is not unusually tall, he
has a commanding figure and great,
broad shoulders-the most expressive
shoulders l have ever seer on an ora
tors body. When worked up to a
violent pitch these shoulders would
roll and shake with the emotions, and
by some strange influence the should
ers Of his hearers would work like
wise.
Ills eyes also are the eyes of the
mystic-large, dreamy, and rolling
when he is excited. When he fixes
them upon you you can feel them go
right through you. Though there can
be no doubt of his sincerity of pur
pose, ] believe he has been greedy of
his popularity since he has begun to
urge himself forward as a friend and
champion of the artisan and working
man
Mobiles Long Have Feared Him.
His hold over them long has been
q source of fear and alarm to the no
Dies, for his hand stretches out over
the entire empire. l have heard him
talk in Moscow and st. Petersburg,
and In both places he is followed and
Worshlped blindly. So great an infu-
ence las he obtained owe the Russian
people that none of those in power
nave dared to harm him. And their
zeal OF him has increased from year to
year. Were he not a man of such
dominant will and such mighty inlu-
ence over the minds of his followers,
ne would have been a member of the
Siberian chain gang many years ago
But they have feared him and always
will fear him.
Why He Escaped Death.
1T Is not at all strange he escaped
in Sundays frightful massacre. No
soldier would Willingly fire upon a
priest or upon one who held in his
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