The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1906-06-28
CLAIMS DOWIE AS SON.
Father Once Repudiated Arrives
to Face Apostle.

With two handbags bulging
with documents, a volllminous
umbrella and a we'll furnished
silk hat of the parochial pattern,
John Murray Dowie arrived from
Essex, Iowa, to establish his iden-
tity in court and prove that he is
the father of John Alexander
Dowie, FIRST apostle" His APP
pearance tends to support his de-
claration, for John Murray and
John Alexander are as like as two
coins from single mint.
Look at him." cried the father
last night. HE is the very image
of me. | am willing to leave it to
any jury in the land if am not
the father of John Alexander"
But Dowie the elder, like Dow
lie the younger, is skeptical of
juries. He has not left it to the
testimony of sight alone. He has
brought documents. He referred
to them last night in that vague
way with portentous emphasis
But the documents are supposed
to be birth certificates, and these
he will produce in court to under
mine Dowie's faith in his noble
parentage.
John Murray Dowie carries his
eighty years lightly as feather.
He. admitted that the rupture
with his son has occasioned him
pain, but "a man turns many cor
ners in eighty years. he said,
land if he lives on good beef and
apple dumping and cold water it
helps quite a bit" While John
Alexander Dowie sat in his suite
at the Virginia hotel John Muir
ray Dowie occupied room at
the great Northern. Neither made
an effort to communicate with
the other.
why did my son deny me"
John Murray Dowie was pensive.
1t is inexplicable. There is to
my mind but one explanation.
John Alexander has overworked
himself and his mind is unbal-
anced. | firmly believe it. Many
a night he has worked the whole
time over his desk and gone out
the next morning 20 his meetings
and his healings. He is not right
in his mind"
SO far as that, British army
officer is concerned | can easily
disprove my sons claims. That
British colonel died in Edinburg
two years before Dowie was
born. was apprenticed to the
widow of an Edinburgh draper
with three children who was thir-'
teen years older than l. John
Alexander was born six weeks
after my marriage to this widow,
but there has never been any
doubt as to his parentage."
Whether John Murray Dowie
has any interest in proving the
insanity of his son does not APP
ear, nor is the relevancy OF his
testimony in the present hearing
apparent. But he came to Chi
cago at the request OF the defense
not of his own violition.
Dowie the elder and Dowie the
Younger might pass for brothers.
They have the same height and
bulk and carry themselves with
the same swelling port. Both are
addicted to frock coats of priestly
cut and silk hats of flar'ing out
line. Both wear full boards and
talk with an English accent modi-
fed by the years in America.
Dowie senior looks not ten years
older than Dowie Junior but John
Murray attributes his persistent
youth to the diet of apple dump
lings and plain water.
According to John Murray
Dowie, he was born at Alloa,
Scotland. April 13, 1926. John
Alexander was born in Edinburgh
fifty-nine years ago. Dowie senior
sailed for Australia in June, 1860,
taking his family with him. There
he served as a justice of the peace
under the British government
under a life term. The extraor-
dinry success achieved by his son
led him to come to America in
1896. He told then of coming
to Chicago and being entertained
by his son at his Michigan avenue
home. Later he visited Zion City
and WAS Drecent at the dedication.