Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1906-04-26

rated as being worth 325. 900. 900. Shat
is. property worth easily that was
held in his name. All the property OF
Zion. the organization. Is held In IN
name OF and at the disposal OF Dowle.
its high priest.
Success Turned His Head.
But in all this. even In the height Of
his success. were arising the clouds OF
failure: in the heyday of triumph there
was gradually enveloping the man the
gloom OF defeat. OF the discretion
which Is the better Dart of valor. powie
knew nothing. Success turned his head.
He became daily more domineering,
more dictatorial. He arrogated to HIM
self first the powers of the prophets OF
ole. He declared himself as Elijah.
the Restorer, third OF the name-Ei5ah
reincarnated. Some of his people o
his word for it: others must have had
their doubts. though the habit of faith
In the man held them silent. He de-
clared himself empowered to cure all
disease by forgiving sin. But an cpl
demic OF d%iphtheria broke out I'm a
little Zion colony a hundred miles or
so south Of Chicago. and the children
and some of the grown people died.
like flies. They had no doctors; Dowie
would cure them. But Dowie wouldn't
and an awful suspicion that Dowie
couldn't assailed the faithful.
His continual demands for money
WouIu nave mace no particular trouDIe.
for after all the money was evidently
we'll invested. The colony fourished:
Zion City grew and prospered: its in
dustries were ~splendidly managed; its
credit was good: 1t WIS Il law-abiding
and, in the main. "A model community.
No II could in fairness deny that.
Its citizens for the most part were bet
ter OFF than they ever had been In their
lives. They lie not grudge Dowie lux
uries that they would aot have dreamed
Of for themselves. He had fairly earned
them-and they themselves were living
lives OF self respecting comfort and de-
cency hitherto unknown to their exper-
ience. AT least. most Of them We're.
More Financier Than Preacher.
AS a nnancier he was a great sue
cess. even II the more critical might
feel forced to admit to themselves that
as an evangelist he was something of
a failure. As a preacher at home he
was certainly a glorious success. The
great Shiloh tabernacle opened Its doors
Sunday after Sunday to congregations
running up into h thousands. while
orthodox preachers were well pleased
with a few measly hundreds. On spe-
| cial occasions 1t In estimated that there
were not far from 10000 people gath
cred to hear him. Ana apart from his
doctrines of curing disease there was
nothing in his prea ching 10 offend any
n OF the Christian denominations
beyond the fact that he had no use for
them. At least. at first there wasn't.
BY degrees he a~rrOgated to himself
more and more OF divine powers. First
he was merely Elijah reincarnated.
Then. Elijah ~recincarnate became the
Restorer" empowered to heal disease
by forgiving sin. Then Elijah the Re
storer declared hat he would eve
die. Then in 1904. after a trip round
the world during which he paid 5000
above the regular fare for the pick of
the staterooms from San Francisco to
Australia). he fled for his life from a
Sydney mob which didn't like the
things he said about King Edward;
mandy in Paris. hiring a body guard
OF thirty detectives to keep reporters
from bothering him; found London no
tells closed to him. and was chased by a
mob after being elected from the
Hotel Cecil: returned to New York and
tried his hand once more at reforming
1t. but when his collection boxes only
netted him 35 cents decided 1t was too
wicked for him. After his trip around
the world, enlivened by incidents Of
this sort. he retired to Zion and an
nOunced himself as the first apostle"
the high priest of the Catholic Apos-
tolic church-the pope i'm fact, hence
forth to be known merely as John
Alexander. and the name Dowie to be
forgotten. Some of the people swallow
GU tIliS. NoIlIe vi tIcIH clOkeu over IL,
But the genius of the man, his mag
nettsfn. the emo of the things he
had done. forced 1t down their throats.
And yet Ioowie is a failure. His
: ion City is going To pieces. his church
- i~isintegratins he himself is a quer-
ulous. nervous invalid. Il physical
wreck. practically marooned i'm he
West dies almost afraid to go home.
because he knows that he has lost his
grip. And why?
Bad Case of Sw.lied Head.
Because, In the language of the
street. he suffered badly from a swell
cd head. In mere temporal matters
he sought to control his people too alb
solutely. He threatened to arrest any
member OF the colony found awake
after 10 o'clock at night. He placed
his ban on fairy tales. on Santa Claus
and on Mother Goose. He would not
allow a copy of Mother Goose in the
colony. He ordered prayers to be
said for the English lace orker who
defed him and stuck to their pipes. He
publicly chastised his full grown SON.
Gladstone. later famous as the un-
kissed" for getting excited at a ball
game. He manifested d growing de-
sire to interfere with his people In
matters which they regarded as purely
personal.
Moreover. as prophet and priest. as
ALitJsLii liz dtd JOIlIl Alex
ander the Apostle. he distinctly didn't
make good. Claiming that he could
cure disease and communicating the
faithless who preferred physicians. he
failed To cure his own sister. and
called in a physician for his daughter
He tried to emulate Elijah by call
ing down fire from heaven to consume
his enemies-ccrtai good folk OF
Evanston. who turned the hose on his
followers. The fire failed to material.
ize. Dowie made himself ridiculous
which is fatal to one OF his prcten-
sionS.
Last Blow to Faithful.
The final shock to the faith OF ths
faithful came when Dowie was prepar-
ing to go to Mexico to close a contract
for 5000, 900 acres. where he proposed
to build IL second and greater Zion City
1t was Sunday and a great congrega.
ton had assembled to hear his las
words. The service was about nver
the %truInpets had blared their last
Zion vas on its knees awaiting tn,
benediction of the apostle. of Elijah
the Restorer. h would never die. I
came in halting broken whispers. Ant
scarcely had ii been pronounced wllei
Dowie reeled from the pulpit and Eel
unconscious into the arms OF some o