HYSTERICAL NEGROES

Evening Star, Issue 22632, 26 April 1937, Page 9

HYSTERICAL NEGROES

Arrest of father divine "SAINT" MARY BLOOM PROVIDES BAIL PREACHER’S TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION THROUGH HARLEM Press Association— By Telegraph—Copyright NEW YORK, April 23. Scenes rarely viewed in New York occurred at Father Divine’s arraignment. The coloured preacher was released on bail of 500dol. Several hundred police were required to keep order in the streets adjoining the court. Many thousands of negroes assembled and the authorities feared a not. Father Divine pleaded not guilty, stating that he had no knowledge of the stabbing. “ Saint ” Mary Bloom provided bail. Great cries of “ Peace God ” arose when Father Divine appeared in the street. Harlem itself was swept with paroxysms of joy and religious hysteria. Father Divine made a triumphal procession in a Rolls Royce car through the city. Several journalists who attempted to enter the “ Kingdom of Heaven ” were mobbed, and they were rescued with difficulty by.the police. Anyone seen with notepaper or making notes was in danger of his life. Followers of Father Divine screamed: “ Don’t write lies.” A victory dinner of 10 courses was Served in the “ Kingdom of Heaven.” Some female followers spent the night before - the criminal court and the doors of the “Kingdom of Heaven,” bowing and crying out; “ Peace! Father Divine is God.” Later in the day Father Divine himself appealed for caution against excesses on the part of the crowds of negroes in the streets of Harlem. The police were compelled to confess that they were powerless.

"SUB-HEAVEN" BURNED “ ANGELS ” MAKE HURRIED ESCAPE, NEW YORK, April 24. Fire razed Father’s Divine’s “ Subheaven ” iu Ulster County. The building, of two storys, contained 22 rooms. The fire caused many singed “ angels ” to jump from the windows and descend rain pipes in their night clothes. None was injuried. ' Rumours that the fire was started by enemies were immediately circulated, because of the activity of the Ku Klus Klan in the vicinity several years ago and the fact that the establishment of a negro retreat was unpopular with many neighbours. The sheriff and the fire chief discounted the story and expressed the belief that the outbreak was accidental, originating near a chimney on the second floor. Father Divine and his headquarters staff of “ angels ” were ready to retire after the night’s celebration when they were notified by radio. They sped to the scene in a Rolls Royce car. The loss is estimated at 25,000d01. / - “ FAITHFUL MARY ” IN MOTOR COLLISION NEW YORK, April 24. “ Faithful Mary,” en route to New York, was bruised in a motor collision. When informed of the accident Father Divine said: “ That is just a sample of what will happen to anybody trying to double-cross me. They will only be double-crossing their own lives. Anybody sympathising with her will be under the same curse.” ‘

The “ angels ” held a meeting and formally revoked “ Faithful Mary’s ” angel status. Undaunted by this, she spoke over the radio, saying: “Father Divine is not God. He had nothing to do with the motor accident. God in heaven above prevented 1 me from beiiig killed.”

The celebration in the “ Kingdom of Heaven ” throughout the night was aided by an orchestra of 20 instruments. ‘

, [Father Divine, a negro religious revivalist, was sought by the police on March 31 on a charge of transporting a Denver schoolgirl, aged 17, to make her the new “ Virgin Mary,” He was born in the United States in 1899 and started a new cult known as “ Divinism,” which by 1933 had spread like wildfire in the Harlem quarter of New York and in other negro communities. Ho had hosts of white as well as black disciples. These he convinced that he was a new Messiah. His real name is George\Baker. Later a general alarm was circulated to the police for the arrest of Father Divine, the leader of a negro sect, on a charge of assault. He disappeared shortly after a white man, who is, alleged to bo a process server, was stabbed and beaten in Father Divine’s “ kingdom.” He was arrested while hiding in the basement of a residence in Milford, Connecticut. It was reported tjiat he faced new trouble in an investigation, concerning coal stolen from Pennsylvania fields and allegedly used by his followers.]