The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-09-23


Donated His Wealth to the Cause.
Special to The Journal.
Waukesha, Wis, Sept. 2o-Is Wauke-
sha, the famed city of springs, losing
its drawing power as the Saratoga Of
the west? That is the question which
confronts the people Of this city, ct
the end of the dullest season ever
known, since the great Waukcsha hotels
longer to he known as a summer resort,
the home during the hot months of the
elite of the central west and south. it
is due, say the citizens. to the invasion
Of the Holy Jumpers, who have taken
possession of the greatest Of the sum-
mer hotels.
Duke NJ Farson. brother of the Chi
cago millionaire banker and anton,o..
bilist, is the head of the Holy Jumpers
colony here, and it was with his money
that the Fountain Spring house, famed
as summer hotel for quarter OF a
century, was purchased for nearly
| quarter of a million dollars, and trans
formed into communistic colony Of
noisy religious devotees, white and
black alike, rich and poor together.
How It Happened.
It was not until an effort was made
to collect an income tax on the prop
erty from the Chicago owners that this
| great hotel, with 500 rooms, was sold
to the Holy Jumpers. For more than
a score of years. the Fountain Spring
house has been the scene Of the gayest
gatherings in the western summer re-
sort region. Chicago millionaires may
have their palatial cottages on Geneva
and Delavan lakes, but when the peo-
pie of Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi,
Louisiana, Texas and other southern
states wished to come to a northern
summer hotel, it was to Fountain
| Spring house, or one of the other big
! ,Waukesha hotels. that they came. z
Then came the transfer of the hotel
property to the religious devotees, and
the southerners lost their summer home.
The great ballroom and diningha]l was
converted into an auditorium for the
holding of services. The bathhouse be.
| came the printing office for the week
ly publication of this strange chlrch.r
Short-Lived Sport.
At first, the people of Waukesha
thought it great sport to attend the
meetings of the Holy Jumpers and hear
them yell and shout, and pray for the
baptism Of fire. But the loss of the
trade of the summer resorters was soon
felt, and the town which had subsisted
resort visitors, felt a severe money
stringency. Livery stables which had
been making fortunes for their owners
thru the lavish expenditures of the
southern guests, were unable to earn
the feed of the horses. And then the
resentment of the city began to be
shown.
Early in their crusade to convert
Waukesha, the home of the sect, the
| al oe
ing meetings on the streets Of the city.
First they were stoned by boys, then
rotten-egged, then the meetings were
broken up in disorder. The mayor was
all but impeached for allowing the
Jumpers to use the streets. The city
attorney declared that it WAS the may
or's duty to prevent the noisy demon
STATIONS Of the Jumpers, if the people
of the city. were offended thereby.
.. Can1pmeeting Egged.
1 Then came a campmeeting, in a great
tent in the Fountain Springs ground.
Things became worse. One night mob
of $50 men and boys raided the camp
meeting. Cutting thru the canvas walls.
they began fusilade of decavcd eggs.
Southern women of fashion were sprin-
killed. with the odoriferous contents of
the shells. There were 400 ct the ser
|
a sick party of southern bellies that
streamed out of the tent when the mob
made it's attack. Brickbats followed
the eggs and there were fights innum-
cradle, until the lights were put out,
and the tent SO torn that further. SER
vices were abandoned.
That the Jumpers have determined to
weed, out all evidence of the: former
worldliness of the Fountain Spring
house, Is shown by the manner in which
the golf course has been turned into a
pasture, and it will be planted with
cabbages next year, tho in the heart Of
the residence section Of the town.
@3. List to C:ll of the Wild.
The southerners, meanwhile, having
lost their old summer home, have sought
new vacation homes, and the result
has been a general exodus to the wilds
of northern Wisconsin. to the places
where, instead Of muslin, lace, and ruf-
fes, the women summer resorters don
boomers and cruise in canoes, never
seeing an evening gown from the time
they leave home until they return
again.