94(> THE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION [eth.ahn.H 



but being unable to convince his wife of her folly he was finally driven 

 to insanity. In the meantime the female Christ found an able disciple 

 In the Reverend George Schweinfurth, a young Methodist minister of 

 considerable cultivation and ability, who was installed as bishop and 

 apostle of the new sect. Mrs Beekman dying soon after, in spite of 

 her claim to immortality, Schweinfurth at once stepped into her place, 

 declaring that the Christly essence had passed from her into himself. 

 His claim was accepted, and when last heard from, about three years 

 ago, he was worshiped by hundreds of followers drawn from the most 

 prominent denominations of the vicinity as the risen Christ, the lord 

 of heaven and the immortal maker and ruler of the earth. (J. F. L., 6, 

 and current newspapers.) 



PATTERSON AND BROWN'S MISSION 



In 1S88 a man named Patterson, in Soddy, a small town in eastern 

 Tennessee, began preaching that a wonderful thing was about to hap- 

 pen, and after the matter had been talked about sufficiently for his 

 purpose, he announced that Christ had come in the person of A. J. 

 Brown, who had served as Patterson's assistant. Later on Brown dis- 

 appeared, and it was announced that he had gone up into the mountain 

 to fast for forty days and nights in order to be fittingly prepared for 

 his mission. At the end of this period, on a Sunday morning in June, 

 his followers went out toward the hills, where he suddenly appeared 

 before them, clothed in white, with his hands uplifted. A great shout 

 went up, and the people rushed toward him, falling upon their knees 

 and kissing his feet. Many who were ill declared themselves healed by 

 his touch. So great was the fanaticism of these people that one girl 

 declared she was ready to die to prove her faith, and the nonbelievers 

 became so fearful that human life would be sacrificed that they sent 

 for the sheriff at Chattanooga, and it required all his power to compel 

 Patterson and Brown to leave the neighborhood that quiet might be 

 restored. (-/. F. I... G.) 



WILDERNESS WORSHIPERS 



In 1889 and 1890 a remarkable messianic excitement developed 

 among the negroes along Savannah river in Georgia and South Caro- 

 lina, where one man after another proclaimed himself as Christ, prom- 

 ised miracles, drew crowds of excited men and women from their work, 

 and created a general alarm among the white population of the whole 

 section. The most prominent of these Christ s was a mulatto named 

 Bell, who went about preaching his divinity and exhorting all who 

 would be saved to give up everything and follow him. Hundreds of 

 negroes abandoned the cotton fields, the sawmills, ami the turpentine 

 woods to follow him. obeying his every word and ready to fall down and 

 worship him. They assumed the name of "Wilderness Worshipers," 



