Los Angeles herald., 1907-03-10

/.
would not be the ruler of the city
today.
Dowie Was Wise
In building his "theocracy" which
now is in danger of falling with it's
founder, Dowie combined with his
natural qualifications for leadership of
the people to whom he appealed, a
shrewd and extremely worldly knowl-
edge, gained by long experience, of the
psychology of the religionists' mind.
He knew the power of suggestion, of
summation of stimuli, he knew the
secrets Of hypnosis, he knew the
psychology Of the crowd.
When the pudgy little man, with the
| handy legs, shrilled at his people in
| his high thin voice, at first it was not
the voice of prophet; but his handy
I legs were hidden under magnificent
robe; his white beard and penetrating
eyes, burning in the deep recesses
under his brows, were all you saw of
his face. His voice, searching, vibrant,
tense, reached every ear, and his de-
nunciations and anathemas, at first
| quarrelSome and shrewish, with their
constant repetition became scathing
and accusing and brought his great
audiences, mystics most of them, unre-
sisting under his spell.
Foundation of His Church
It was in this way that Dowie began
the foundation of the Christian Cath
olic church In Zion in the early nine
ties The robes and the other stage
accessories were not present at this
time and much of the prophets hold
on the following which he later de-
veloped in Chicago was through his
"divine healing"
xr,oc 2fE L. l.. \
tracted a host of supporters led to him
by his supposed miracles of healing,
that he founded his church. He had
been an evangelist in Australia and had
founded sect there, but in Chicago
he discovered an ideal field for the
founding of the new Zion" which he
planned. Dowie had a mysterious
faculty of being able to get financial
support for his ventures. He secured
building for church at Sixteenth
street and Michigan avenue, and there
Sunday by Sunday his crowds in
creased.
His new religion began to assume
more definite form and in 1896 the ar
ticles of faith which became the guide
of the new sect were drawn up. With
this the church was formally estab-
lished, its organization decided upon
and its deacons, elders and other Of
ficials appointed.
Zion City Founded
Four years later the interval having
been filled with unceasing activity on
Dowies part, 5000 acres of land on the
shore of Lake Michigan, forty miles
north of Chicago, were purchased for
the founding of Zion City. A mort
gage was given and the sale of lots to
the religious colonists began. The first
building was erected in the spring of
1900 and the same year work on the
tabernacle was begun. The tabernacle,
which Is of wood, like the other build
ings, seats 10000 persons.
The walls are covered with the
trophies Of the apostles healing
crutches, arranged in fan designs and
other figures, hot water bags and de-
formity apparatus, literally covering
the walls in a grotesque and oddly re-
pulsive display. Making a half circle
above the platform are the 500 seats of
the surpliced choir, another institution
which greatly aided Dowie in his
theatrical effects.
Elijah hospice the big hotel, was
built in the second year of the city's
history. 1t contains 800 rooms and is
adequately though cheaply FURNISHED.
The administration building is situated
across the street from the hospice. In
it are all the public offices Of the city.
A block away are the company stores,
a long row, connected by continuous
passageway.
Building of the City
The work Of building the city had
not gone ahead smoothly Dowie was
constantly harassed by attacks In the
Chicago newspapers and was ridiculed
after his declaration before a large
audience in the Auditorium that he was
Elijah the Restorer. With 1t all his
creditors were pressing him. Time and
again the word went out that he was
bankrupt and always he showed evil
dences of being able to discharge all
his Indebtedness. He was arrested
more than one hundred times In Chi
cago, accused Of violation OF the laws
regulating care of the sick.
1t was at a meeting In the Miehiagn
avenue church that Dowie first met
Wilbur Glenn Voliva, the man whom
he afterward trusted and by whom he
was oYerthroWn. VoliVa had been an
itinerant preacher in lndiana and had