The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-12-28
Will Open Up In New York City April
1, for Camp Meeting Which
viii Be Warm
Affair.
MAMMOTH TABERNACLE
Chance of Lifetime for Evangelist
When He Gets Busy in Biggest
and Wickedest
City.
10y George Martin, United Press Staff
COrreSnondent |

correspondent.
NEW YORK, Dec. 2S.-Powerful
forces, both sinister and benign, are
lining UP here today for the case of
Billy Sunday versus Broadway, Wall
street, Bohemia. ct al, which goes to
trial April l. What sort of reception
Sunday and his old time shouting
Methodist camp meeting style will get
In the worlds gayest, richest, wicket
est. most material city, is tho Subject
OF much speculation among the resi-
dents. He will be the biggest attrat
ton the old town has seen for years;
and it is predicted that great mobs
will literally fight to get near his giant
tabernacle. It will be battle royal;
and preparations are being made &C.
cordingly. Billy and Broadway have
been snarring for position for several
years: and now at last the evangelist
is coming to fight the devil in his own
home town. Broadway. as Broadway,
seems to have paid little heed to Sun
days plans. But scratch the surface
and you find that what Cyclone Davis
calls The Boys of Booze and Doodle
are not asleep. The belligerent Billy,
though busy, with Boston is watching
carefully every move in his prelim-
mary campaign here Already a small
army of Sundayites are organizing the
big town. On January 14th brigade
of the evangelist's most remarkable
trail hitters from every city he has in
vaded, will march on the metropolis
and take it by storm. This Is one Of
many of the preliminaries calculated
to create atmosphere for Billy's COM
ing.
>"Billy Sunday, Incorporated" with
John D. Rockefeller, Jr., as one Of
the principal stockholders, is officially
in existence in New York City, Plans
for the erection of the mammoth tab
ernacle, the great pine and sawdust
temple for the spiritually unwashed.
are well under way. Soon it will rear
its rough hewn dome above the upper
Manhattan hinterland of that great
and gay white way whose cleaning
searchlights ever heckon the pleas
ureIorn from the far four corners Of
the earth.
Committeeman and women have d.
vided the city into sections and the
population into classes for organiza-
ton on house to house and man to
man basis. Mrs. William Asher, for
instance, has charge Of all work
among New York scrubwomen, do
mestics, factory girls and hospital
nurses.
No one has been neglected. Bible
meetings and song services will De
held daily on the New York curb and
at the portals Of the New York stock
exchange. Wall street will be combed
for the spiritually unwashed. That
work is even now under way.
20 he
chance of a lifetime in New York.
Here will be Broadway, citadel OF
champagne and home Of the sinful
supper.
Wall street, whose hall mark is
Midas shearing lamb.
Bohemia, with its loose leaf ledger
weddings, it's lavendar souls and sun
god cults.
degradation from which uptown re-
spectability distills pure gold
The home Of the gunman with his
regular scale OF murder prices and Of
the painted lady who drives her
limousine and reckons her income in
six figures. All these and more are
here for Sunday to deal with.
Homer Rodeheaver, Sundays choir
director, expects to organize a double
choir of 5000 to 10000 voices.
George G. Dowie will lead the prize
trail hitters from Philadelphia and
elsewhere, some of them having been
converted seven years ago. These
will be used to prove that Sunday
conversions are not Flash in the pan"
work.
Nothing is being left undone to
pave the way for Sundays triumphant
advance upon New York: nor. on the
other hand, is anything left undone
to circumvent his efforts.