Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1907-03-09

90
lie maaased 80 raise saaay y9ao. and
had all Bankruptcy proceedings can
celea.
Last Cctober he MS ssEieken wlsh
paralysis ~hGae On his way 10 Mexi.
c., ~here Ae contemplated tho found.
lng - an0sAs- Zloa City. HIS eonai.
ton improved somewhat aaa be 70
turned 10 the united States. but II
was only for a short time. He soan
toand himself obliged again 10 seek
q warmer climate Before Departing
for Mexico . second time he appoint.
ID che II his followers. volIya. who
had been his principal agent In Aus,
tFalla. as general ovegseeE. But thc
crisis VAS fast approaching. 4 eon-
siderable element of Dowie's fallow.
eFs had begun TO lose faith In the
so-caslsd prophet. Scandal became
rife. The man who had declared be
could Do no wrung was said to have
urged polygamy on hi followers and
hts name was coupled unhappily with
thase of ceFtain women of his colony.
Finally an open revolt broke forth
In Zion City and voliya proclaimed
Dowie dethFoned. and theatened the
soealled prophet with arrest for the
misuse Of funds n he returned. Dow.
lie. however. was not 10 be deferred.
Rallying his fastfailing strength he
left Mexico and hurried back to Chi.
eago. Zion City refused 60 receive
him and he appealed 10 the courts for
assistance. yollva fought him II
every step ane had tho support of
most Of the Influential members Of
Zion. Dowie was permitted 10 return
TO Shiloh house and 10 hold services
at intervals In the tabernacle. but he
failed 10 secure n restoration Of his
former power.
The career of Dowie was one OF
strange contrasts. lie showed. IN the
building Of Zion City. the assembling
OF factories and business interests,
the organization Of large enterprises
like that OF tae New York crusade.
executive genius OF high order. But
In religious matters he was either q
hysteric or q knaye.
He was said to possess n strong veil
of Scotch mysticism-fruitfui soil for
the self.snggestion that resulted In
his boast that he was the prophet
foretold by the prophet Malachi. On
The other hand. however. stood his
ayefTecurront demand for money.
poured Into his hands. vet he
asked for more. The widest spend.
thrift could not match Dowie for
schemes to rid himself OF money. II
New York by the Zion army cost |
Dowie s35o,00 and the trip was q |
iat failure.
While his people were starving and
Ihe city under the shadow Of a 70. |
ceiver. Dowie spent $4,000 I'm a
Mexican irrigation colonization |
scheme. He paid for options which |
ne could not take up and then made a |
rip around the world, which cost q
'ortune.
The sumptuous furnishings Of his |
library and offices In the administra. |
Ion building at Zion City cost $50. |
100. He had 10000 volumes Of the |
arrest editions Of English and French |
which cost easily another |
$4,000. Shiloh house, where Dowie
lived. Is the largest house In Zion |
md was furnished luxuriously. His |
,ountry home In Michigan cost $780, |
100.
Dowie never explained where the |
money came from which paid for all
hese luxuries. The concensus OF
opinion, however. was that he bled
Ills followers. which gave him his |
'tart, and by good business ability
Ind real estate speculation managed
O amass a fortune which was estl.
mated at one time to amount to sew
'ral millions.
The extravagances and disasters OF
he last few years, however, swept
lway the entire fabric.