END OF THE WORLD

Southland Times, Issue 19502, 17 March 1925, Page 11

END OF THE WORLD

AMERICANS DISAPPOINTED AWAITING THE FINISH CARROTS AND WATER. The greatest excitement was causeu throughout the United States at the prediction that the end of -the world would occur on Friday night, February 6, and many who anticipated the millenium actually sold their property and ascended hills preparing for the end of all things, writes a ’Frisco correspondent. San Francisco newspapers, featuring the extraordinary event on the day previous to the expected end of the world, carried the following report, captioned “144,000 Await ‘End of World.’ ” “A sequestered wood near the city of San Diego was to-day definitely set forth by the ‘apostles of doom’ as the gathering place shortly after midnight to-morrow of the 144,000 souls they expect to be ‘saved’ following the scheduled ‘end of the world.’ “Adhering to their publicly proclaimed beliefs and therefore hastening in their preparations for the ‘grand finale/ the followers of Mrs Margaret E. Rowen, former Mountain View woman, clung to their undeviating course to-day.

“From New York to San Francisco and from Seattle to Los Angeles they continued their prayers, their fasting, their singing and their outright sale of worldly goods as a matter Qf ‘setting themselves right’ for the millennium.

“G. H. Wilson, the weather man who holds forth in his tower on top of the Merchants’ Exchange Building, is a cynic when it comes to discussing the world’s end.

“He took one glance at the rain that was pouring down this afternoon, and then remarked:

“ ‘Well, those folks who think the world is coming to and end to-night had better get a rain-check with their ticket.’

“On Long Island. New York, Associated Press dispatches revealed, a group of 13 men, women and children, including a family of four negroes, is subsisting on carrots and water while awaiting ‘the finish.’ ‘To-morrow, it is announced, they will go to a hill-top near East Patchogue whence they expect to be transferred in a cloud chariot to the woods near San Diego. The group is headed by .Robert Reidt, who recently closed a deal with a second-hand furniture dealer and wired the proceeds West.

“Reidt sets the maximum number to be ‘saved’ at 144,000, which isn’t so cheerful. SELL WORLDLY GOODS.

“From Lincoln, Nebraska, it is reported that 12 persons, followers of Mrs Rowen, are joining in the plans for the dawning of the millennium. Joseph Gammel and his family of six are leading the group. They have rid themselves of everything except extreme essentials for temporary living. “In the meantime, down in Hollywood, Mrs Rowen and Dr. B. E. Fullmer, her chief emissary, announced to-day that the movie concerns anticipating pictures to-morrow night are to be disappointed. “ They wouldn’t do them any good in the first place,” Mrs Rowen is quoted as saying, ‘and in the second place, we intend to remain quietly in our homes, which is the proper place. We do not plan to gather on a hill-top here.’ “Dr. Fullmer revealed to-day that he has not sold his home, nor does he intend to. His decision was based on the theory that he should not ‘swindle anybody by selling to them something of which they would never get the benefit.’ BAY BELIEVERS BUSY. “And here in the Bay district the preparations of the ‘Reformed Adventists’ continue unabated, with Berkeley as the centre of activities. Rev. W. P. Province, head of the little church there, reaffirmed to-day the determination of his followers to prepare for the end in the full conviction that it is scheduled for to-morrow night. “Another blast aimed at the prognostications of Mrs Rowen was hurled from Washington, D.C., to-day by officials of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, who reiterate that their Church does not believe in the prediction. It was pointed out that the visits of the ‘seven plagues’ and the mighty ‘battle of Armegeddon’ must come to pass before the time for the millennium is here.” * LEADER VANISHES.

On the fateful Friday, February 6, when the world end was supposed to occur, the following dispatch came from Los Angeles:— “From the standpoint of attendance, religious fervour and advance thrills, the end of the world, scheduled for mid-night tonight by Mrs Margaret Rowen, Los Angeles, high priestess and prophetess of a new cult calling themselves ‘Reformed Adventists/ to-day developed eleventh-hour signs of being a dud. Attendance forecasts of thousands of faithful have been revised to a couple of dozen. Furthermore, the scanty handful who are awaiting the propohesied end ate getting decidedly nervous. ’They may have to face their expected millennium without the moral and spiritual presence of their ‘prophetess.’ Mrs Rowen, it developed Thursday night, has disappeared. She still was among the missing to-day. Her trusting followers, most of whom have disposed of their worldly goods and have contributed the proceeds to the spreading of her supposedly divine ‘message’ of world destruction, do not know where to look for her. It is also reported that the little hall on Moneta Avenue here, where the prophetess for many months has presided over the meetings of her cult, has been closed, and that there will be no more meetings there. Evidencing the faith of the cult followers, however, are page advertisements announcing the end of the world appearing in Los Angeles newspapers to-day.” * Isolated little groups of reformed Seventh Day Adventists in other parts of the United States waited to-day for the end of the world, due some time around midnight. Cleveland believers, under Mrs E. H. Frei, number 100. Robert Reidt has 13 followers at East Patchogue, Long Island, while Reformed Adventists in varying numbers are preparing for the end in Lincoln, Neb., Berweley, and Washington, D.C., and other cities.

Philadelphia, February 6.—Mrs Mathilde Wright, mother of Mrs Margaret W. Rowen, who told her followers the world would come to an end to-night, went about her housework as usual to-day.

“It isn’t my fault she is acting this way,” she said, and added her daughter started to have visions after she had attended some meetings in a tent on a vacant lot.