Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-09-02
Special Trains Will be Used by
Strange Religious
Sect.
ARE STRICTLY MORAL PEOPLE
Angel" Benjamin, Chief of the Cru.
saders, Hopes to Make Mil
lionaires Converts.

Angel Benjamin, chief of the Holy
Rollers, of Benton Harbor, Mich. is
preparing u crusade against the devil
in several of the big eastern cities.
Philadelphia IS OF the list. The IAN
gel' is now gathering his apostles
about him and has begun preliminary
preparation. No dates have been set.
but the invasion may be expected early
In the fall, says u Benton Harbor dis
patch
The Holy Rollers are one of the fast
growing religious sectS. and what
their campaign will result in is Il mat
ter of conjecture. 1t is estimated by
some persons that Benjamin the
Holy" and his wife. "Beautiful' Mary,
have Sl0000.000 at their command.
Whether or not the estimate is well
founded, the fact remains that Ben
ton Harbor, which until very recently
was only small village, is developing
under the angel into one OF the most
important places in Michigan. Benja-
min has built Il great electric lighting
plant, and his 100000 temple, an eX-
act counterpart of the structure of the
Mormons i'll Salt Lake City, Is almost
COMPLETED
Has Done Other Things
Many other things benjamin has
done with the wealth at his command,
but the latest is the building of scores
of residences intended for the con-
verts whom. he says. he will bring
back with him from the east. For
more than Il year benjamin and Mary
have been planning the eastern cru
SADIE, and more than 100000 has been
spent in gathering together Il musical
organization with which to carry it
on. For months talent has been ar
irving from Germany, Italy, France
and other European countries, and now
he has 100 men and women singers
and players, to whom he is weekly
paying out large sums. \ school OF
music, under the dictatorship of
noted musician, has been established
in the City of David, and for weeks
the musicians have been practicing to-
gether Besides these musicians from
every land, among whom. Benjamin
says, will be numbered men and wo-
men of fame, a juvenile band of fifty
boys and girls will invade the east
with the Holy Rollers apostles.
The most interesting three people of I
those who will make the trip are Ben
jamin, his wife Mary and Mary's pri-
vate secretary. Benjamin himself is
Il fine looking man, and by many Mary
would be called beautiful. She is slen
der, possesses pair OF dark, lustrouS
eyes and nut brown hair that she
wears loose and which falls In natural
waves and ringlets almost to her waist
This trio will lead the work of the
Holy Rollers. 1t is probable that the
work will begin some time in Septem-
Der. Benjamin, who talks only in mil
lions, will take with him II million
dollars, il is said. He announces that
he will hire special trains, which will
transport free OF charge hundreds OF
thousands OF people into the cities he
visits from the surrounding country.
From the people to whom he breaches
the chief angel expects TO get several
million dollars. During the last year
money has been pouring into the City
of David from every quarter OF the
world, the bulk of it having come from
Australia. In fact, Beautiful Mary
and Angel Benjamin confidently ex-
pect to corral few OF Americas
great multimillionaires.
War Among Apostles.
At present there is a little war on
among BenJamin's chief apostles, and
for that reason the angel cannot
state definitely when the campaign
will begin. Some OF these apostles
urge Benjamin to begin with Chicago
as being truly the city of the devil
Others hold that Philadelphia needs
moral cleansing more than any other
place on earth, and 1t is not at all i'm
probable that Philadelphia will be Wis
tied first. Still others OF the Apostles
hold that Michigan should be thor
oughly conquered, as the Mormons
Utah, before outside opera
tions are begun. But Benjamin argues
that Detroit and other Michigan cities
may be invaded by lesser guns while
he attacks the east.
Meanwhile the gigantic building op-
erations in the City of David are still
going on.
Not long ago 100 converts joined
Benjamin from Australia, and with
them they brought half a million dol
lars for the "angel." Arrangements
had been made for the housing OF
these people, but efforts tenfold as
great are now being made I'm order
to accommodate the fasteners who
will be asked to call the City OF David
their home
The Holy Rollers are a strictly
moral people. They believe I'm educat-
ing every child, whether girl or boy. as
they believe that education only will
conquer the world. They believe that
(Continre cd on Page Twelve.I