THE DOWNFALL OF DOWIE.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 87, 11 April 1906, Page 3

THE DOWNFALL OF DOWIE.

JBy Root.. H. Bakewelt MJD.J

I have before mc -a photograph of ' Dowie and Mrs. Dowie, taken in the ; year 1887, when "they were visiting • Ghristchurch. Dowie then appears; as a j man of middle age, bald on the forehead ; and. top of the head, but otherwise full ; of strength and vigour. His beard is : beginning to be tinged with grey. His ] face indicates shrewdness, firmness, and ' perfect self-complacency 'and self-con- . fi'dence. When he was visiting Christeliurcli, where he lectured, preached and , practised faith-healing for three weeks, I was on the staff' of the '•'Lyttelton ; Times," and was employed by. the editor , to examine into and report upon the , alleged cures performed by or throng* ; the intercession of Dowie. I applied to, him for some information as to the rest-" ' dence of his patients, and asked permis- , sion to sit on the platform while he ; was operating on hi 3 dupes. This he re- ; fused in the rudest possible manner, • and ordered mc out of the room in the > most peremptory way. This was rather injudicious on his part, as it put mc on my mettle to obtain the information ; I required. I went up into the gallery of the hall lie had engaged, where he could not see. Then I. heard him. denounce mc as a Papist, and an "emissary of the Jesuits." This amused mc, as there was not a Jesuit in New Zealand at that time. With some difficulty I found out the ' residence of a ease which Was a crae»eJ one. If Dowie's statements were true, a miracle had been performed. He said that a little girl of seven (or thereabouts) who had for some years been . a sufferer from angular curvature of the spine—hump-back—and was so paralysed in the lower limbs as to be.unable,to walk, had been cured on the platform, and had walked out of the hall without assistance. I went to the house where the child lived, and saw both the child and her mother. The child was unquestionably suffering from angular curvature of the spine to such a degree as to produce pressure on the spinal cord, and partial paralysis of the lower limbs. But, her mother told mc that she had always been able to walk about a little, if she could hold on to tables or chairs, or to the hand of another person. The mother said that after Dowie had operated on her he took one hand and the mother the other, and thus assisted . the child walked down the hall. But the mother said most emphatically that the child could always have walked thus assisted, and that her condition was not in the least improved since Dowie had operated on her. I thus arrived at the conclusion that the Reverend Alexander Dowie, as he called himself, was a liar and an impostor. ■ ■*• . Another case was that of a girl aged about 12, who had come up from Dun■edin (if I remember- aright) to be treated. Thi3 child was suffering from an enormous encysted tumour, as far as I could judge from the history and appearance of the case, of tbe abdomen, r saw the girl on the platform ~ three times, and though Dowie claimed that he had greatly improved her condition, I could see no change that could not he effected by a little alteration of the clothes. He absolutely refused to allow mc to touch her. Many of the cures were just those nervous -diseases or, rheumatic "pains that can he removed, for a time at least, by any powerful mental emotion, just as toothache disappears When we get into the dentist's operating room, and catch a glimpse of the forceps. The only personal interview I bad with Dowie was in the room behind the stage, where on his last public night there were i assembled some 30 of his alleged cures. I. went in and waited for about half an hour before he came. I saw the girl with the tumour there. He came in, after three weeks' hard work, during which he had :baeu giving a public lecture twice every day, Sundays included, and had had crowds of patients, with whom he was at work. I was told, frequently until two or three the very picture of health, singing in a loud and cheerful voice, a hymn. As soon as I spoke to him and asked permission to examine some of the patients, and _to be present on the platform, he replied" in a loud voice: "Xo, certainly not; you have no business here; leave the room instantly." Of course, I was obliged to leave, as he had hired the hall, and was in legal possession. So I went, and slipped up into the gallery. This was the last time I saw him, as he left Christchurch a day or two afterwards. The conclusion I arrived at was that he was a powerful hypnotist, and that any genuine cures he effected were by his hypnotic powers. I find in a note 1 wrote dated May Ist, I8S", and pasted in the back of the photo., that Dowie said that he did not work miracles himself, "that miracles were worked by his intercession." His doctrine, as.l understood it, was that "disease is the consequence of sin, and that to be perfectly healthy you have* only to be perfectly holy." He required as a condition of cure, not only that the patient should j have a firm faith that he might be. cured, I but also that he should firmly believe I that he would be cured- Thus, if a paI tient were not benefited, Dowie could alj way 3 say that it was for lack of faith. 1 He forbade pork, tobacco, aud alcoholic drinks. He was dead against Freemasonry—why, I cannot remember. He. also bitterly reviled the medical profession individusHly and collectively. It was easy to understand why he did this —they did not believe in him or his cures. He struck mc as a very different man from Mr Stephens, whose brother was Chief Justice of one of the Australian States, and who visited,Christchurch qtl the same mission—faith-healing. No doubt that both these men believed in their own power, but Stephens was, I think, much more sincere in his convictions than Dowie. Stephens allowed mc every facility for examining his, cases, both before and after operating on them. He made use .of magnetized water besides hypnotism. He charged a fee of two guineas for each ease he treated privately, and I believe he had hundreds of cases. Crowds were waiting for their turn outside the hotel he stopped at. "Both men had their wives with them, and in both, cases the ladies were evidently fervent believers in their husbands. I think the presence of these ladies, who were both typically respectable English matrons, had more to do»' , with ■■■ the success of- their husbands than the latter would have been willing- to ; acknowledge. Whatever the husbands might be, no one could doubt the sincerity of their.wives., ~ -~ . . Dowie professed to be coHectingmoney i for-building a church-in Adelaide; he (called himself then a Presbyterian! ■ clergyman, but the Presbyterian ministers .in New Zealanad did : not recognise him. " : * -.'. He left behind him in J*Jew Zealand ' several bands of zealous disciples and . [believers, and went over to Chicago, j [where be'was yerjr I remem-

r "-:^1:—;;:■—-."". "-■ :.—_V/ r' — :: ■■- her seeing: a photo, of the immense hall he used as a churchy and be himself appeared clothed in the vestments of an Anglican bishop. "He did not call himself Bishop,: however,' but chief, overseer, which -means the same thing. Then.he advanced bis claims, and declared that he was a modern-Elisha or Elijah, and fduuded Zion City. Then he was teported to have become a millionaire. Now,-at last, his people are" beginning tofind him out, and he has committed the fatal mistake of offending-Mrs_ Dowie. It appears by a--cablegram in ;tßis':morning's paper, that he has been talking to other ladies, in favour of polygamy- Now, when a married man, who must be oyer , sixty, land whose: wife would be nearly the same age, begins to advocate polygamy, he may expect domestic troubles of a" very acute kind. The most devoted of wives will not stand that. Dowie's excessive self-conceit and self-confidence have led. him astray. I dare say he thought that Mrs Dowie would believe him inspired about polygamy, as she evidently did about faith-healing- _ But Mrs Dowie is a woman and a wife, and although I have met with Mormon wives who earnestly, and apparently with, sineeritv. advocated polygamy, I should tliihk, for the average British wife, nothing could be so repulsive/ In fact, the strongest argument against the Divine origin of the Jewish religion is, that it permits polygamy, which is a direct violation of one of the fundamental laws of nature. In every nation in which statistics have been taken, it is found that there are more male than female births. This difference is on account of the greater mortality among males than among females. ■ - - . . ■ Every right-thinking person must rejoice in the downfall of a system founded tea large extent on lying and imposture and sheer impudence. Yet the people who believed in Dowie will, many of them,-> continue to believe in him, and consider him a holy martyr. It is, I think, greatly to be regretted that the medical profession in England, America, and the English-speaking colonies so greatly neglect the study of hypnotism. The French, Germans, and Italians have studied and written about ft largely. Probably for one serious discussion of the subject in English, there are twenty in French and German. The marvels that, can be worked by hypnotic suggestion would not be believed by the ordinary reader, although they are vouched for by men of distinction in the profession whose bona fides are unquestionable. Arthur-street, Onehunga, April. P.S.—The memorandum about Mr and Mrs. Dowie is dated May" Ist, 1887, but it may have been affixed" after they left Christchurch.