REMARKABLE SCENES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 123, 26 April 1937, Page 7

REMARKABLE SCENES.

FATHER DIVINE. IN COURT. NEGRO DEMONS'!’R AT lONS. NEW YORK. April 24. Scenes rarely seen here occurred at the arraignment and release on 500 dollars bail, of the negro religious leader, Father Divine, on a charge of stabbing a white man in 1 iis “kingdom.” Several hundred police were required to keep order in tlie streets adjoining the Court. Many thousands of negroes crowded the neighbourhood and the authorities feared a riot. Father Divine pleaded not guilty, and said he had no knowledge of the stabbing. Ilis “saint,” Mary Bloom, provided the bail. Great cries of “Peace, God” arose when Father Divine appeared in the street. Harlem itself was swept by paroxysms of joy and religious hysteria at the news. Father Divine made a triumphal procession by ear through the city. Several journalists attempting to enter his “heaven” were mobbed and rescued with difficulty by the police. Anyone seen with notepaper making notes was in danger of his life. Father Divine’s followers screamed, “Don’t write lies.” A 10-course “victory” dinner was served in the “heaven.” Some female followers of Divine spent the night before the Criminal Courts and the doors of the “heaven,” bowing and crying, “Peace. Father Divine is God.”

Later in tlie day Father Divine himself was compelled to caution the crowds of negroes m the Harlem streets against excesses. The police were obliged to confess themselves powerless.

One of Father Divine’s “angels,” Faithful Mary, when 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 may happen to anybody trying to double-cross me. They are only double-crossing their own lives. Anybody sympathising with her will be under the same curse.” Father Divine’s “angels” held a meeting and formally revoked Mary’s “angel” status. * Undaunted by tills 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 me from being killed.”

■ The celebration in Father Divine’s “kingdom of heaven,” which lasted throughout the night, was aided by an orchestra of 20 instruments. Fire in Father Divine’s Ulster County “sub-heaven” razed a twostorey building of 22 rooms, causing many singed “angels” to jump from the windows or descend hv the rain pipes iu their nightclothes. No one was injured.

Rumours that tlie fire was started by enemies were immediately circulated, due to the activity of the Ku Klux Klan in the vicinity several years ago, and to the fact that the establishment of a negro retreat was unpopular with many neighbours. The sheriff and the fire chief, however, discounted the story and expressed tlie belief that the outbreak was accidental, originating near the chimney on the second floor. Father Divine’s.headquarters staff of “angels” were ready to retire after the night’-s celebration when they were notified by radio and sped to the scene in a car.

Tho loss is estimated at 25,000 dollars.