Salt Lake Herald | 1907-10-27 | Page 8 | Negro Dowie Says Sun Moves; Earth is Square

I Negro Dowie ie Says Sun dun Moves Moyes Earth Is Square T re reBY BY BV WILLIAM T ELLIS Beneath the conventional surface s of or American life Ute exist many strange reli reU religious Ious tous cults which link the twentieth century with the dark ages One of ot the he most curious of ot these and noteworthy for tor its widespread hold upon negroes is the sect created creat d by a titan man ma sometimes called the Negro Dowle Dowie because he heW William W llIam S Crowdy claims tobe be Elijah II and the th prophet pr t of or the Almighty The name r hl lifa follow tollow following following ing In is ls the sweeping ant and nr n ia io mod modest modest modest est est one of ot Church of ot Jod Cort ami nO Saints s shi In ld Christ Less formidable and respectful la is the designation 1 by h ls outside the pale who call the Holy Jumpers because bec i e I of o their frenzied performances at their meetIngs meet meetings meetIngs ings and Feet Washers because of ot th of ot this practice t n at tire In Instead Instead Instead stead of ot being confined to the rural parts of ot the south as might be he expect expected ed this queer body bod flourishes chiefly In metropolitan centers having taber tabernacles the Jewish nomenclature ture Is followed in Boston Joston Washington Phil Philadelphia Philadelphia Philadelphia adelphia Baltimore New York Jersey Jerse City Chicago Cleveland Cleel nd Cincinnati Columbus Columbu Kansas s City Topeka Atlanta At Atlanta Atlanta lanta Jacksonville Richmond Va Newport News Bridgeport Conn and Newport It n I Geography by Revelation As Joseph Smith discovered In establishing lishing Mormonism present day rev laUon is a convenient cloak for tor many teachings and practices Thus Prophet rowdy Crowd says sas with Brother Johp John Jas Jasper Jasper Jasper per that the Sun do move he knows it because the Bible says Jays so and be because cause ause it has been revealed to him Similarly he knows that the earth Is flat fiat and square Also that Adam was wad wada wasa a It black man Did you you ou ever see Ree any white earth God made Adam of ot earth as werE wern also the patriarchs and Jews There is 19 ludicrously fearful and wonderful exegesis of ot scripture in all allot ot mf the addresses Crowdy Crowd and his people are lire Jews he declares for the tn true e Jews are negroes Therefore they the keep the Jewish Sabbath Sab Sabbath Sabbath bath use the Jewish calendar observe imitations of Jewish feasts practice what they the believe to be Jewish rites and decorate themselves In a n regalia that Is la brilliant beyond the Hebrew high priests robes Like Solomon In His Glory The procession and feasts of the with their vivid dress ef et effects effects are a strong card In attracting members Here Her is a glimpse of ot the re recent recent recent cent Assembly In Richmond given by ly a reporter For weird w and dazzling perform performances performances ances the sessions outclass anything of the kind ever seen here before Grouped around the preacher on the stage In Ina Ina ina a semicircle men In evening clothes almost concealed behind rain rainbow rainbow bow bo ribbon streamers shouted and clapped hands laughing frequently But the main accessory of these Holy Jumpers was the choir sitting just be below below below low the footlights and facing the con congregation congregation congregation There were probably Inthe in inthe inthe the body most of whom were women They wore crowns topped off with blood red silk sUk Choristers in white while with white bows In each ach members hair faced the choir The leader of ot the choir cut ct wide circles in the thick air all allot of ot the hall and the dance began The voices changed quickly from an an andante andante andante dante to an allegro and as the women sang they danced not however moving mo moving ing from tho the spot on which they stood Near ear the end of or the row a woman weighing more than 2 00 O pounds could be heard above the rest She required more room for tor she swayed to the right and then to the left keeping time with the baton that was never net neverstill neverstill r still Dancing by b her side was a small negro boy who screamed In falsetto tones and from whose face streams of or perspiration poured as he worked mad madly madly madly ly to keep in line with his heavy heavyweight hea heavyweight weight partner Several Sev ral times he lie dropped out of ot step and once he changed from the scheduled perform performance performance ance and ran to the verge of ot an old I country breakdown The comment of ot the Weekly Week Prophet I upon the Assembly reminds one of Dowies Dowles reports of or his famous New NewYork NewYork NewYork York visit It says The historic city of ot Richmond the hotbed of ot the Bap Baptists Baptists Baptists has received a blow that was so 1 terrific that they can never recover from It U UThe The Prophet and the Shekels With delicious frankness this sect emphasizes the money side The prophet et at does not hesitate to lift lUt up his voice for tor cash or did when he had a voice His organ The Weekly Prophet outdoes Dowies Dowles best efforts In first Its laudation of ot the prophet and second secondly s Cond Condly ly In Its appeals for tor PIe fire tithes Un Under Under Under der the caption Special Notices from the Man of ot God there are in one is issue issue sue lIue six notices of ot this sort Dear Brethren You are hereby no notified titled tiled to send in half halt of all tithes and also half halt of all freewill offerings to the Prophet of God at his address U street Northwest Washington D C Conce Conce Conce once every two months Please do this at once Mat Mal 38 Peace be unto thee Done by order of the Prophet of ot God William S Crowdy Every body must pay a tenth of ot his income Still another column on the first page of ot this particular issue of ot the organ Is la designated Our Rates from the Prophet It tells the tax that every individual and enterprise connected with the church must for tor forward forward ward of or the prophet Secretaries are required to furnish reports to the pa par payer nero yer r and then to pay for tor having them published In this respect The Weekly Prophet has reached a goal often otten coveted by despairing editors Contributors have to furnish hard cash for tor having their pieces appear and there Is I a fixed rate for tor the tho publication publication publication tion of ot photographs 2 for tor three months successive publication which Is surely cheap enough Here Is an Important notice from the late Issue of ot The Weekly prophet Unto the Elders of ot the Church of God and Saints of Christ everywhere I now write unto thee to send the money for the tho Minutes as ye all vowed to do at the Assembly I want ye e all to send It in by the of or Elul and not later than the Done by b order of Chief Evangelist Joseph W Crowds Crowdy Crowd Chairman of ot Presbytery Board Imitation of ot Dowie sticks out all allover allover allover over m A master stroke of the lattera for Illustration was the establishment of business enterprises t by the faithful In the name of ot the church Thus I find a record of ot Church of ot God Cash Grocery Grocer Stores in Sn n Washington Boston Richmond Philadelphia Newark and several oth other other er cities There are also The Church of ot God Shaving Parlors The Daugh Daughters Daughters Daughters of Jerusalem 1 Noahs Ark Store The Church of ot God Cafe The Church of or God Express Wagon etc etcA etcA etcA A Paralyzed Prophet At present the dusky prophet Is not ssu any proclamations as ns former 1 ly Iy I although frequent communications appear In his name The reason is probably not known to all the But this Elijah who claims powers over oer heaven and earth the he was waR run out of ot Philadelphia by bythe bythe bythe the authorities because he ho harbored a nest of smallpox which he was treating by b faith is at present 1 less and helpless from paralysis I discovered this when I called at atthe atthe atthe the little house at U street Wash Washington WashIngton ash ashIngton ington which Is the home of ot these th se dignitaries and officers There were three or four Cour in hi evidence The front door of the house contains along with some cheap parlor furniture a roll top desk and a safe sate There were a few books espe esp dally a big ledger but not a Bible was to be seen One of the young oung women nomen told me that I could not understand the prophet when I met him Why People say he is paralyzed What hat do you say For Fop Ol my part I belIeve the scrip scriptures scripture scriptures tures ture You know the Bible says a I prophet shall be dumb Zacharias was I dumb Christ was dumb I could not recall the exact t passage passa I 1 confessed humbly l Why j you ou know the Bible say says a h one of the sisters Is 13 it an ecclesiastical ecclesias ecclesiastical office or Is it merely a subtle compliment to a personality Evidently the prophets strong right bower Is The Daughters of Jerusalem and the Sisters of Mercy They are more In evidence than the men The Soliciting Sisters are an important channel of revenue Most of ot the no notices notices notices tices concern the female saints Thus one news item reads leads Saint Sa Sophie Brown who has been absent from Zion from frum several months has returned to Zion from Jerusalem and the saints are welcoming her with much joy Which being interpreted means that Sophie Brown has removed the light of her countenance from some Washington kitchen and has tempo temporarily temporarily temporarily at least solved the servant senant problem for Cor some seine S Philadelphia house household household hold For Zion you know Is i one none other than Philadelphia and Jerusalem te is fI as one paragraph naively remarks better known as us Washington D C CI CI CI I studied my geog geography g geography og raphy thoroughly thorough but I 1 know that Plainfield ld N J is Gilgal I hope hop the of Ht Chicago and New York are sufficiently exalted to make amends for some ornE of the tilt names which the white whitt Dowie applied 1 to these cities clUes Muck Much Is made of the race questing j iI i ii I I II II II II i I II I II x i I I I I b I st stAy Ay 4 I I 1 I n x xI xI I f I I I I I I Ii i I j 3 j je I l e I II r rv v I r rj I II j Ii v to w I 1 I IIi i ito i I 1 83 i I y i i I i ie j i I I e kw ry r I I Iti I I ti I I William S Crowdy the colored Elijah I was dumb arid and opened not his Ills mouth There was no answering ering this t is scrip scriptural scriptural tural interpretation although I have heard more pretentious authorities than an unlettered negro cloak equally absurd propositions under the vague statement The scripture says I pressed the point of seeing the prophet et the chance to meet the latest re revealer revealer vealer of ot hidden things was not to be allowed to pass easily In a few minutes he Ite came tottering In borne by two young oung women and supporting him himself himself self by the wall His left eye is pro protruding protruding protruding and staring his features show shaw the genial vacuity of ot an ordinary plan plantation tation negro n gro A mumbling sound came from between his lips It was as the tI young woman said The prophet could not be b understood Nor could those nearest him Interpret for me The prophet will no more fulminate against the faithless and unbelieving His nephew John W V Crowdy Crowd of ot philadelphia Philadelphia Philadel Philadelphia phia Is no now the real power in Un the church Promiscuous Osculation All the saluting with the holy kiss that goes on among the is bound to make moke m ke trouble The prophet I himself was divorced from his wife a couple of ot years ago Serious charges have repeatedly been made against the morals of the sect and utter utterances utterances utterances ances were alternately exhortations to love one another and to quit their too loose loving Thus i iLet Let brotherly love continue from one oneto oneto j to the other and I want you to send in all the tenth part of the tithes and andI I will come to see you when hen I can Now sisters be good to the brothers and brothers be good to you ou Again In exact reproduction of ot the text Hear to the general order hereafter er no one can growel against the prophet et what Is good for tor one is good for tor all I All brothers and sisters Inthe In the tho I Church of ot God and Saints of or Christ inus I get their first wives and husbands husband at once or get their consent to go in writing You must have a certificate to show that you are clear I dont care if It you ou have got children Forty years ears old you ou must go back and get them t em first wives and husbands In days from the time Ume the that you jou receive or eleven days at the long longest longest longest est The husbands and wives must be bt together or lose iose within thirty days day now If It you all are good children and want ant to go to heaven you will do what I say a Now may the first love cleave ave I unto you OU says sa Jesus Christ the right righteous righteous righteous this Includes Evangelists Elders and dy Jude 24 21 I 25 A Whig Bishop of a Black black Church Among titles are as a thick as flies fifes In a Church of God Cash Grocery Grocer That the prophet himself Is Elijah and also king and high priest etc is quite plain Young Joe Crowdy who Is now the real boss of or the time enterprise is a prince as well weIl as chief evangelist But nut Just how many Grandfather Abrahams there are and their relationship to United States Grandmother Sarah I T cannot fathom Whether the United States exhorting elder is a great greatman greatman greatman man or a small man I cannot tell And I am at a n loss as to what Crowdy meant by the title Chief Singer of ot tho the World which he bo conferred upon U by the Yet they never neverfail neverfail fail tail to print In An in every issue of their or organ organ gan the portrait of their ono one white member Bishop Bl hop J M JI 1 Grove Groe of Em Emporia Emporia Emperia poria peria Kan and they exalt over Ocr his relationship to their body Here is what The Weekly Prophet says oos of ot him Although a member of the white while or Caucasian race he does not in il any anyway an anwa anyway way wa feel teel out of place among the gathering of th time the black race as ac It was many years ago gO In the far west nest that his eyes were opened by Prophet Wil ViI liam Ham S Crowdy Cro y teaching him the tru true gospel as he had never heard It before betor This faithful son has never wavered to the right or left having one of or the finest and most businesslike grocery grocer stores in Emporia which cater to the tho th best trade that this western town af at f but as the sun sinks In the western horizon on the beginning of the seventh day his doors close clo anI an his business cares cease until th the sun Bun sets on the beginning of or another r first day da lIe He also possesses a fine home and enjoys all the comforts of ot life In z a t modest and unassuming way He will tell you that Prophet William WilliamS S Crowdy made him the man that he heis heis heis is today and to him he ho owes his great prosperity v Despite their white bishop and their other grounds for boasting there are not lacking signs that the Crowdy ites tes are going the way of the Dowie Dowle ilea ites and unnumbered other fantastic religious sects Copyright 1907 by Joseph B Bowles