The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1909-01-13
Followers Keep Watch Over Body
Held for Self Resurrection.
SOME LOSING FAITH IN CULT

Victoria Gratia, the Wife of iced,
Ascends to Throne of the Queer
Religious Cult. Which Has Planned
City of 100000 Near Tampa,
Florida. Was One of ChicagO's
Eccentric Religious Leaders.
TAMPA, FIa.-For several days
devoted followers of the Koresh lead
er. DR.. Cyrus Teed, have kept a close
watch upon the body of their fan
cied Messiah, expecting a miracle
but he has not yet arisen from the
dead. In Estero, a little town in
Lee county which was built and is
peopled by Koreshans all customary
vocations have been suspended since
the death of Teed Tuesday
His death was in itself a blow to
their beliefs, for they imagined that
their leader would live forever, and
Teed himself proclaimed this belief
in his public utterances and writings.
That he succumbed to the ordinary
fate Of human beings led KoTeshans
to believe that his divine character
would be manifested in resurrection.
Now some of the b0lder members
of the colony are openly expressing
doubt and advocating immediate
burial but Victoria Gratia, successor
to the headship" as the chief Office
of the sect is called. insisted upon
longer delay, confident that iced will
rise from the dead and walk again
among his people.
Since Teed's death no stranger has
been admitted to the limits of the
colony iced leaves a comfortable
estate, which, according to the law
of the Koreshans, will be divided
among all his followers. At Estero
KOreshans operate numerous indus
tries, including a large printing es-
Enlistment, from which is issued a
weekly eriodical-American Eagle.
Owing to some practices of Ko-
reshans they are in disfavor with peO-
pie of Lee county, and the county
commissioners refused to place on
the official ballot in the elections of
November Bird names Of their can
didates for county offices, alleging d
technical defect in their petition.
The Koreshans appealed to the
courts, but lost the case.
Cyrus r. iced, known as Koresh
l., founder and head of the Ko-
reshan Unity corporation of Western
people, who bought large tract of
land in Lee county, Florida, several
years ago and sought to establish
their peculiar beliefs in this section
of the country, died this week
The fact of his death was not dis
closed until today, and when invest
cation was made his devout follow.
ers said they were awaiting a resur-
rectiOn. While the body OF the lead
er lay unattended Victoria Gratia,
the supposed wife of Teed. assumed
the throne with much solemnity and
declared that the body should not be
buried until there was a manifesto
ton of the divine VIII.
The basis of the KOresnan cosmog-
Ony is that all life is cellular, orig
mating in cells, all living structures
being composed Of cells and propagat- /
ing cells; whence the conclusion that
the universe, the great aggregation
of all cells, must itself be a cell. the
material walls of which are com
prised of the shell of the earth.
Teed was one of Chicagos compa-
ny of eccentric religious leaders up
to about six years ago, when he re-
moved his headquarters to Florida.
1t was in Chicago that he developed !
his cult of KOreshanity and gained /
the nucleus of a following that event |
ually numbered from 1000 to 90
600 believers.
Teed came from New York in the |
eighties and appeared in Illinois as
an advocate of mind cure ideas. |
Then he had what he called an ill |
Elimination" revealing himself as |
Messiah under the scriptural prophecy |
that Cyrus shall be thy shepherd. " |
Cyrus in Hebrew is Koresh, and Teed |
thereupon assumed this form of his |
name and founded Koreshanity.
He came to Chicago in the early |
nineties and founded a cooperative |
colony at Cottage Grove avenue and
Thirty-fifth street, removing after
ward to Chicago Heights. While |
here he began eXpOunding his the
DRY that the surface of the earth is
concave instead of convex. This. he
said, explained the biblical phrase