The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-04-06
FALL or A pELusIoN.

following among the Eastern Jews or Europe, but so far as we have any ac- count of his career, he was not also 2 greedy worshipper of Mammon.
 With Dowie, the lust of power and the greed of gain have been always the dominating influences. From the time he set foot in America, an escaped or pardoned convict from Australia, as one authority has it, but at any rate, penniless and friendless, he has been lon the make" to use common ex- pression. He set out to build up great following and a great fortune. Proclaiming himself a divinely-inspired apostle, he was soon able to make him. self a power by playing on the feel ings of those who could be influenced by appeals to religious zeal or preju- dice. It was not merely that he wanted to be the prophet of a new faith and the founder of a new church, for that was not the underlying motive of his character. He wanted earthly power, to have men and women bow before him, to obey him and virtually to wor- ship him But above and beyond this he wanted to accumulate millions which should be under his control and which he could use absolutely as he wished.
 And he succeedede to an extent that may well cause calm-minded people to wonder at the credulity of mankind. He gathered together and absolutely con- trofied thousands of intelligent men and women. sensible in all other respects. hut easily played upon by man like Dowie. We may admit that the great mass of these dupes of his were honest and sincere in their belief, and that their faith had no hypocrisy in it. They believed his claim that he was Elijah | II. sent from God and imbued with | power and a divinity not of the earth. They had the faith in the man and the zeal in his service that would cause them to follow him, to obey him and to lay their substance at his feet. They abandoned home and family, impover- ished themselves and. suffered hard ship and privation that he might suc- ceed in his imposture and lay up riches for himself.
 The whole affair has been both re- markable and humiliating. That man. unknown. without money, with no strong influences behind him. should succeed as he did is actually wonderful Just how far, if at all, he believed in himself may not be known. Whether he was to some extend deluded zealot and really believed that he could do good in the world, or whether he was at heart nothing but an adventurer without principle or conscience, with no object in view but his own advance ment to power and gold, may be ques- tions not to be settled. It is sufficient that many sheep followed him and that he sheared most of them to the skin. Of him. we might apply the words of the poet Dryden:
 Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen,
 Fallen from his high estate,
 | And weltering in his blood;
 | Deserted at his utmost need,
 By those his former bounty fed.
 If not actually ''weltering in his
 blood, he Is treading the valley of defeat, of degradation and contempt. despised and dethroned by those who
 lately worshipped him. deprived of power and wealth, an object of con
 tempt and objurgation. not only on the part of his late followers, but of his wife and son, he Is about as low as man can get. The old fable of Acteon devoured by his own hounds applies to Dowie, for he has been set on and torn down and cast aside by those who were lately most faithful to him. Whether he can rightfuliy claim that his fol- lowers and dupes were mgrateful is doubtful for they owed him no grati- tude whatever. He may, with more propriety, reflect that they have only avenged the many wrongs suffered at his hands, and that he has but received what was due him. And yet he may when he sees that those who were late ly his most jealous disciples were foremost in casting him out, and that his wife and child were loudest in de- nouncing him. True, 1t is that 'the way of the transgressor Is hard
 A variety of reasons might be ad
 vanced to explain the downfall of the noted charlatan and imposter. Per haps the real starting point was his
 visit to New York in 1903, we. believe it was. With a band of his disciples and workers he invaded that city, be- lieving, or causing his followers to be- lieve, that ne would convert it to Zion ism and do a lot of shearing among the lambs of that great city. If the people would not open their gates to him. he expected the walls, like those l of Jericho, to fall when he sounded his trumpet and let his hosts walk in and take possession.
 But there was just where Elijah slipped up. Instead of falling over each other to welcome him, they laughed at him. Instead of falling down at his feet, they ridiculed him and his pretensions. He was merely good joke for the New Workers. who are so accustomed. to fakes that even a new prophet failed to awe or impress them. Abuse and persecution might have strengthened him, but no fraud can stand to be laughed at. Moreover, his reception there did something to open the eyes of his followers. They saw that instead of being a powerful