LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Ciiap.f_4&SCopyriglit No.. 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
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 -ic ^^^Jyi^c^^i^^ 
 
 y%.^N^?>^-C 
 
HUGH DUNN FISHER. 
 
THE GUN 
 
 AND THK GOSPBL 
 
 EARLY Kf^NSf\S 
 
 AND 
 
 G«flPLf\IN FISHER. 
 
 .^y... 
 
 Rev. H. D. FISHER, D. D. 
 
 Topeka. 
 
 Relation of Kansas to Freedom. John Brown. Jim Lane. 
 
 Days that Tried Men's Souls. Circuit Riding in the 
 
 Fifties. Quantrell's Raid. Army Life in the 
 
 Southwest. Work Among the Contrabands. 
 
 Church Life Among the Mormons. 
 
 Congressional Chaplaincy Canvass. 
 
 # 
 
 Js^Hm-^'^ 
 
 1896. 
 
 THE KENWOOD PRESS. 
 
 Chicago. 
 
G'iS' 
 
 Copyrighted by 
 
 H. D. FISHER, 
 
 1896 
 
To 
 
 the wife of my youth, 
 
 whose counsel 
 
 has made my success in life possible, 
 
 and 
 
 whose wonderful heroism and self-possession 
 
 saved me from death by 
 
 Quantrell's murderous band of guerrillas, 
 
 this volume is 
 
 affectionately dedicated. 
 
PREFATORY. 
 
 ^H^UCH of the history and many of the incidents 
 JLII^ herein narrated are so related to the conflict 
 between Slavery and "Freedom and the defeat and 
 destruction of the former, "the sum of all villainies," 
 as to justify me in interweaving a resume of its 
 introduction and growth into a national disgrace, its 
 insolence and downfall, with the more personal 
 features of my autobiography. The subject is neces- 
 sarily treated imperfectly for the sake of brevity, 
 yet, I believe, with accuracy. This volume is written 
 in response to oft-repeated solicitations of friends 
 of the author to put on record the more eventful 
 incidents of a life devoted to God and Freedom in 
 days that tried men's souls, but not without the hope 
 that it may awaken additional interest in the im- 
 portant part played by Kansas in securing the 
 freedom of a bonded race, and that it may also, by 
 its record of national and individual accomplish- 
 ments, encourage the further bridling and eventual 
 abolition by the people of " God and Home and 
 Native Land " of that greatest crime remaining in 
 the wake of slavery — the rum traffic. 
 
 I have tried, moreover, to portray an occasional 
 thrilling incident with the idea in view of enter- 
 taining and instructing the young people of Kansas 
 and the Church into whose hands the volume may 
 come, and into whose hearts I would instill the 
 patriotism of the heroes whose achievements are 
 herein depicted, and a love for those principles 
 which carry with them a confident hope of Eternal 
 
 Life. 
 
 The Author. 
 
 September y i8g6. 
 
EARLY KANSAS 
 AND CHAPLAIN FISHER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE RELATION OF KANSAS TO FREEDOM. 
 
 The careful reader of history cannot have failed to 
 discover that from the earUest dawn of human society 
 there has been an almost unintermittent struggle be- 
 tween the weak and the strong, the rich and the poor, 
 the good and the bad, for equality — social and re- 
 ligious—before the law. Oppression by the strong 
 was the source of human slavery, which has darkened 
 and bHghted almost every continent and realm, as well 
 as cursed almost every tribe and nation and people. 
 It was the exhibition of this spirit of oppression and 
 the opposing spirit of freedom and religion that led 
 our pilgrim fathers and mothers, in the year of our 
 Lord 1620, on August 5, to leave the comforts and 
 blessings of the civilization of the old world and cross 
 the untried ocean to plant a new civilization on a new 
 continent, amid the savage and untutored tribes of 
 the forests and plains of North America, and which 
 prompted them, when they landed at Plymouth Rock 
 on Monday, December 11, O. S., 1620, before they 
 left the cabin of the Mayflower to consecrate the 
 continent to God and Freedom, to enter into a per- 
 petual covenant "to live in peace and harmony, with 
 equal rights to all, obedient to just laws made for the 
 common good." To this simple but sublime constitu- 
 
10 THE RELATION OF KANSAS TO FREEDOM. 
 
 tion of the oldest New England states all the heads 
 of the famihes (forty-one in number) solemnly set 
 their names. 
 
 The astonishing feature of our history is the fact 
 that very early in colonial days human slavery was in- 
 troduced. In 1617 and 1618 King James had con- 
 ferred upon the council of Plymouth a charter to all 
 that part of America lying between the fortieth and 
 forty-eighth parallels of north latitude, extending from 
 ocean to ocean. The oldest Virginia colonists were 
 idle, improvident and dissolute. They came from 
 Newport in 1607. Of these only twelve were laborers, 
 four carpenters, six or eight masons and blacksmiths, 
 and forty-eight "gentlemen." The first families of 
 Virginia, chronologically speaking, were the result of 
 the sending of women to supply the lack of wives, their 
 transportation being paid by the men in tobacco, die 
 first cargo costing one hundred and twenty pounds 
 and the second one hundred pounds per capita, pas- 
 sage money, which the men cheerfully paid. In 1619 
 negroes were brought to the colony as slaves, as both 
 the English and Germans had held them for a term 
 of service of a few months or years. In the month of 
 August, 161 9, a Dutch man-of-war sailed up the James 
 River and ofifered twenty Africans for sale by auction. 
 They were purchased by the wealthier planters and 
 made slaves for life. Nearly fifty years later Negro 
 slavery became well established in the Enghsh col- 
 onies; so that at the time the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence was adopted declaring that "these truths are self- 
 evident, that all men are created equal; that they are 
 endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights 
 that among these rights are life, liberty and the 
 pursuit of happiness," almost all the signatory colonies 
 were involved in the inconsistency of holding their 
 
THE RELATION OF KANSAS TO FREEDOM. 11 
 
 fellow-men in slavery. The first bloodshed in 
 freedom's holy cause was that of a black man, Crispus 
 Atticus, who died in the streets of Boston, almost un- 
 der the shadow of Faneuil Hall, the birthplace and 
 cradle of American liberty. 
 
 ^ :^ ^ ^ :^ ^ ^ 
 
 During the revolutionary war the colonies were 
 holding slaves, and when the war ended and a na- 
 tional constitution came to be framed the most stub- 
 born difficulty that confronted the patriots who had 
 gained American independence was the problem, 
 What shall be done with American slavery? Six of 
 the thirteen states became absolute slave-holding 
 states. 
 
 It was hoped that slavery would die out of its own 
 inertia, but it was fostered and grew and extended un- 
 til Virginia, "the mother of presidents," became de- 
 based and ruined by becoming a slave-breeding and 
 slave-trading commonwealth. The admission of Ver- 
 mont as a free state and Kentucky and Tennessee as 
 slave states made the number of slave and free states 
 equal, and made the senate half for freedom and half 
 for slavery. In 1818 Illinois was admitted to free 
 statehood and Alabama as a slave state. But when, 
 in 1820, it was proposed to admit Missouri the North 
 became alarmed on account of the encroachment of 
 slavery northward. Maine was proposed as a free 
 state, and a compromise was agreed upon that all that 
 part of the Louisiana purchase lying north of Mason's 
 and Dixon's line, or 36 degrees 30 minutes North 
 latitude, should be forever free. Finally, the abolition 
 of slavery was demanded by the American Anti-Slav- 
 ery Society. The agitation spread. Slavery became 
 arrogant and dictatorial. It controlled the dominant 
 party. It held executive, administrative, judicial and 
 
12 THE RELATION OF KANSAS TO FREEDOM. 
 
 legislative control. The plow-share of discord fur- 
 rowed deep in church and state. In 1844 the Metho- 
 dist Episcopal Church was rent asunder, and other 
 Christian bodies were later divided on this question. 
 In 1845 Texas was annexed that she might counter- 
 balance the possible growth of free states. Michigan 
 balanced Arkansas, Iowa and Wisconsin balanced 
 Florida and Texas. In 1850 California was admitted 
 and the North thus gained an extra state. New 
 Mexico and Utah c^uld not become slave states. 
 Where could the South look? All remaining territory 
 was free under the Missouri Compromise. Part of 
 this must be overwhelmed by slavery, or all would be 
 lost to the slave power. 
 
 Herein lay the importance to civilization of the 
 struggle for supremacy in Kansas. 
 
 ****** Hs 
 
 In 1853 and 1854 Senator Stephen A. Douglas, of 
 Illinois, wished to become president, and launched a 
 new political dogma — that of "Squatter Sovereignty" 
 — which meant that the people of a territory should 
 settle at the ballot box the character of their domestic 
 institutions, and he became the champion of the Kansas 
 and Nebraska bill. This bill repealed, in its passage, 
 the Missouri Compromise, and threw Kansas open to 
 settlement by the slave-ocracy of the South. Mr. 
 Douglas said he did not care whether slavery was 
 voted "up or down, in or out." Kansas thus became 
 the providential battle-ground upon which we believe 
 God intended should be settled the struggle going on 
 for six thousand years — the equality of man before 
 law. Here the minions of the slave power met the 
 representatives of the Christian civilization of the best 
 and brightest pages in the world's history, worthy sons 
 and daughters of the Puritan Pilgrim Fathers, ready 
 
THE RELATION OF KANSAS TO FREEDOM. 13 
 
 to die in Freedom's holy cause. As Christ died to 
 make men happy they were ready to die to make men 
 free. 
 
 South of Mason's and Dixon's line were the rich 
 planters and families, unsuited by all their training, 
 conditons and inclinations to become pioneers to settle 
 a new state. There was a large number of whites (poor 
 people) called by the rich ''white trash," upon whom 
 and their families the burdens of slavery rested with 
 more cruel and crushing weight than upon the blacks. 
 These were helpless, ignorant, and so poor that to 
 emigrate was impossible. Had they found their way 
 to Kansas they would probably have voted to make 
 Kansas free that they might get homes. The negroes 
 were of no use, having no vote, and if they had been 
 brought in numbers it would have required an army 
 to keep them from fleeing to Canada. So the slave 
 power was here represented by border ruffians and 
 refugees from justice, who came in armed bands with 
 whisky, bow^ie-knives and revolvers. Thus they came, 
 a motley crew, fit representatives of the barbarism of 
 slavery, to make Kansas a slave state and then retire 
 and leave the occupancy of the land to the planter. 
 No thrifty towns, beautiful school houses and stately 
 churches would have bedecked and crowned this 
 fairest gem of all God's beautiful world had their ef- 
 forts prevailed. 
 
 North of Mason's and Dixon's line there was a sur- 
 plusage of population, especially in the Northern and 
 Middle States. Here were large families of educated 
 people. These had married and were elbowing their 
 neighbors for room. Many of them were small mer- 
 chants, tradesmen, mechanics — adaptable men; they 
 could make a living almost anywhere. Their wives 
 were like them, and, used to work, able to help their 
 
14 THE RELATION OF KANSAS TO FREEDOM. 
 
 husbands in a new state, and to the new state of Kan- 
 sas they made their way. 
 
 Many instances are recorded exempHfying unusual 
 courage upon the part of these brave people. One 
 Httle woman near Portus, Kansas, whose husband was 
 an invahd, with the aid of her httle boys made a dug- 
 out and afterward dug a well thirty feet deep, securing 
 an abundant supply of pure water. Another west ot 
 Atwood, in Rawlins county, while her husband was 
 working out at an average of 62J cents per day, broke 
 forty acres of prairie ground and raised a crop of sod 
 corn. Next spring she broke twenty acres more, 
 plowed the forty she had formerly broken, and raised 
 a crop on the forty and sod corn on the twenty. I 
 had the pleasure of dedicating a sod church near their 
 home. 
 
 Such people as these came from the North and East 
 in colonies and brought their children and their school 
 books, and in some cases the school teacher and the 
 preacher. They brought their Bibles and hymn-books 
 along, and at even-tide had family prayer in camp or 
 on boat; and on Sabbath they had class meeting or 
 preaching. A Christian movement was this, and they 
 came to make Kansas a free state. No marvel if when 
 this stream of patriotic Christian civilization, involv- 
 ing love for "God and Home and Native Land," met 
 the barbarism of slavery there should be a conflict, 
 resulting in bloodshed and death. And so it was. 
 More than two hundred patriot lives were sacrificed 
 on freedom's holy altar to make Kansas free, and 
 hundreds of other loyal, Hberty loving men lost all 
 they had in the strife. "Bleeding Kansas" was no un- 
 meaning phrase, and but for this sacrifice Kansas, 
 fairest of the fair, would have been blighted and seared 
 and scorched by slavery. 
 
THE RELATION OF KANSAS TO FREEDOM. 15 
 
 Kansas is four hundred and six miles East and 
 West and two hundred and four miles North and 
 South — the central state of the sisterhood — well or- 
 ganized, a veritable sanitarium physically, morally, 
 socially, religiously and educationally. It is composed 
 of one hundred and five counties, with nine thousand, 
 one hundred and seventy-four organized school dis- 
 tricts, and eleven thousand, four hundred and ninety- 
 six school rooms, almost all of which are furnished 
 with modern conveniences for educational advantages 
 for both teacher and pupil. It has the most salubrious 
 climate, fertile and easily-cultivatable soil, the best and 
 highest average (taking seven years as a period) of de- 
 lightful weather, and more clear days and balmy 
 nights than any other state in the Union. 
 
 Taking all constitutional and statuary enactments, 
 the laws that govern this sublime commonwealth are 
 the result of the best minds, based upon experiment 
 and experience, and really need less amendment to 
 constitute a perfect system of civil jurisprudence than 
 the laws of perhaps any other state in the Union. 
 There has been wonderful and satisfactory una- 
 nimity of action considering the heterogeneous 
 character of our citizency, in all these enact- 
 ments except in the prohibitory law; and want 
 of harmony arises here from the very nature 
 of that twin relic of barbarism — always an outlaw — 
 the rum traffic, opposed to the peace and purity of 
 the state. But even in this the great seal of the state 
 is prophetic. 
 
 This seal, without which no public document is of 
 force, was adopted by the first legislature, having been 
 designed by a joint committee of the lower and upper 
 houses, and is at once a history and a prophecy. The 
 
16 THE RELATION OF KANSAS TO FREEDOM. 
 
 original was designed by John J. Ingalls, at that time 
 secretary of the senate. The motto "ad astra per as- 
 pera" "to the stars through difficulties" — was illus- 
 trated in the original design by a lone bright star, rep- 
 resenting Kansas rising above a field of cloud to join 
 a constellation of stars numbering twenty-seven, as 
 many as there were states composing the Union when 
 Kansas was admitted to the sisterhood. 
 
 The clouds of strife were rifted, territorial wars were 
 dissipated. Bleeding but bright with the efifulgence of 
 liberty Kansas attracted the gaze of nations. Another 
 star had arisen to bedeck the brow of liberty. The 
 motto was adopted, but the design was changed so 
 that the sky is murky and bedizened. This, too, may 
 be prophetic for a season. But the clouds will roll 
 away and Kansas will yet appear as the bright and 
 morning star of the American firmament. 
 
JOHN BROWN. 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Every great epoch in history is preceded by wide- 
 spread agitation, is ushered in by action, springing 
 from thought and motive of extreme intensity on the 
 part of the actor, and is ahvays in advance of the men- 
 taHty of the age and ahvays stamped by the idiosyn- 
 crasies of the reformer whose soul is so wrapt in the 
 oncomiing, inevitable event as to be precipitated into 
 action without counting the results to self or fortune. 
 Thus it ever has been and doubtless ever will be in 
 human life and history. 
 
 The first act of JNIoses, Deliverer and Law-Giver, 
 in slaying the Egyptian oppressor, prefigured the de- 
 liverance of Israel, voiced the universal desire for 
 freedom, lost him the throne of Egypt, drove him per- 
 sonally into banishment, inaugurated a new epoch in 
 the destruction of Egypt, the then mightiest nation on 
 earth, and quickened into birth a nation whose per- 
 petuation without home or country or king, prince or 
 ruler, is the standing miracle of the ages even until this 
 day. So it was with John the Baptist. At the time of 
 his appearance the world was full of desire and expec- 
 tation for a new form of worship and spiritual service. 
 Suddenly, without plan or forethought for personal 
 safety or emolument, he burst upon the expectant 
 world with the startling declaration "The Kingdom of 
 Heaven is At Hand," and inaugurated a new era and 
 
 a new salvation, even at the loss of his own head. The 
 2 
 
18 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 greatest character in human history, one whose every 
 act was a sermon and whose every word v-'as a revela- 
 tion, perfected the era introduced by John the Bap- 
 tist and crowned the ages with immortality by dying 
 that most ignominious of all deaths, crucifixion, and 
 so demonstrated his infinite love for sufifering humani- 
 ty, as well as the most exalted plan and purpose for 
 estabhshing the universal brotherhood of mankind. 
 
 We need not multiply examples. Bridging from 
 the fairest ensample of devotion to a cause the world 
 has ever known, turning from the greater to the less, 
 from the pattern to the follower, we have in the case 
 of John Brown, of Osawatomie, the subject of these 
 paragraphs, one in whom all that we have predicated 
 of era-makers had full scope and concentration. He 
 appeared in the arena of action when the public mind 
 was surcharged with the electric impetus of coming 
 events, when the dawn of a new age of broader free- 
 dom trembled upon the horizon, when the watchers 
 looked intently for the full rising of that sun which 
 should warm the half-born thought to sturdy life and 
 set reform in motion. 
 
 ^,' * ;!: ;|j ^ ;|: ;j; 
 
 John Brown was born at Forrington, Connecticut, 
 May 9th, 1800, and died on the scaffold at Charleston, 
 West Virginia, December 2nd, 1859. He was sixth 
 in descent from that Peter Brown who came to New 
 England in the Mayflower in 1620, and was a grand- 
 son of Captain John Brown, a revolutionary officer 
 who died in the American revolution. He was honor- 
 ably and well connected, numbering among his im- 
 mediate kinsfolk conspicuous Puritans, revolutionists, 
 soldiers, lawyers, professors, doctors of divinity, ora- 
 tors, physicians and farmers. His father and family 
 moved to Hudson, Ohio, when John was five years 
 
JOHN BROWN. 19 
 
 old. Here in the Ohio wilderness he grew, a stal- 
 wart youth. At the age of sixteen he joined the Con- 
 gregational church and began studying for the min- 
 istry. Ohio, especially Hudson, was at this time thor- 
 oughly imbued with anti-slavery doctrine, and young 
 Brown imbibed the sentiment freely as he grew toward 
 manhood. Tall, athletic, studious, having the bear- 
 ing of a theologue, he had, like the immortal Simon 
 and Grant, been a tanner, and when from excessive 
 application to study his eyes failed him he returned 
 to his early vocation in Hudson. Here he married 
 and partially reared his family of six children. He 
 was farmer, tanner and land-surveyor while living at 
 Hudson. In 1826 he moved to Richmond, Pennsyl- 
 vania, near Meadville, where he remained until 1835, 
 when he located at Franklin Miles, Portage County, 
 Ohio. His life being one of change, his business 
 while in this locality was one of speculative adventure 
 in land and sheep until he finally moved to Boston 
 and became a wool merchant. Here he made the ac- 
 quaintance of such men as Caleb Cushing, Rufus 
 Choate, Gerritt, and that greatest of all ex-slaves, 
 Frederick Douglass. 
 
 In 1848-49 he visited England to open a wool mar- 
 ket and also to visit noted battle-fields. The world 
 was one day to know why ! 
 
 On his return he went at once to live among the 
 colored farmers of North Elba, in the Adirondack 
 woods, for the purpose of drilling a company of liber- 
 ators from among them. The life of the people at 
 North Elba was strictly pioneer, but though there 
 were few roads, churches or school-houses the people 
 were inclined to religion, education and thrift. Mrs. 
 Brown's dwelling had but two rooms and in this house 
 two families lived. In these humble surroundings, 
 
20 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 sowing what seeds they might toward a future reap- 
 ing, they hved for several years. 
 
 In the winter of 1854-55, after Kansas had been 
 opened for settlement, the Browns prepared to settle 
 there. The brothers — John Brown, Jr., Jason, Owen, 
 Frederick and a half-brother, Salmon — established 
 themselves in Miama County, near Osawatomie. To 
 supplement their anti-slavery struggles in the new 
 land they wrote to their father for aid. Through his 
 efforts a mass-meeting was held in Utica and an anti- 
 slavery society was formed to help settle Kansas. At 
 this meeting the father pleaded eloquently for the cause 
 for which his sons were doing valiant battle on the 
 Western fields. "Without shedding of blood," he 
 cried, "there is no remission of sins!" He asked for 
 arms, dwelt upon the violent spirit of the pro-slavery 
 people and pledged himself to join his sons and make 
 good report of their doings. Arms were provided and 
 funds were furnished and the father was sent to his 
 sons in Kansas. Such were the material results from 
 Kansas meetings on both sides of Mason's and Dixon'^' 
 line! 
 
 The Brown contingent already in Kansas had select- 
 ed claims and were serving in the free-state conven- 
 tions. John Jr., had been elected to the free-state 
 legislature at Topeka. They were all radical free-state 
 men. When John Brown, Sr., had joined his sons at 
 Osawotamie he found his sphere, and from and after 
 October of 1855 he became a colossal figure in tl:e 
 nation's history, a bold picture down time's perspec- 
 tive. His wife was ever his counsellor and ally, his 
 sons, like the sons of the patriarchs of old, were his 
 trusted lieutenants, and even his sons-in-law became 
 part of his invincible cohort. So early as 1839 John. 
 
JOHN BROWN. 21 
 
 Brown had declared that by blood atonement 
 alone could the chattel slavery of human beings be 
 destroyed, and virtually from that date he had become 
 bound with them in bonds to stay with them and be 
 of them until the bitter end. His forecast was un- 
 erring — events proved it. He took his wife and three 
 eldest sons and a colored preacher into his plans and 
 purposes and bound them all to secrecy as to the 
 place of the inauguration of the epoch of liberty. His 
 eldest son records that the first time he saw his 
 father kneel to pray — he was a Presbyterian — was 
 when he first vowed himself then and there to attack 
 slavery by force. 
 
 Hinton says John Brown equipped his brain as 
 well as his conscience. He made himself familiar 
 with military tactics and guerrilla methods, for he was 
 a thinker as well as a believer in destiny. Kansas was 
 to him a splendid opportunity for a demonstration of 
 himself. It was here that he began to think and 
 write, and none can measure the depths of his desire 
 and doing. He resolved to make the Declaration of 
 American Independence a verity and the constitution 
 an instrument whereby to liberate and elevate a race. 
 His matured plan was to form, by means of picked 
 men, a line penetrating to the very heart of the South- 
 land, to be held by adroit and persuasive men who 
 should receive, protect and pass on to safety all 
 slave-fugitives, and thus create a mobilized force. 
 The specifications of the plan are too great to be given 
 in detail here. 
 
 This plan, though miscarrying at Harper's Ferry, 
 showed consummate skill and remarkable geographi- 
 cal knowledge of the Southern states and the fast- 
 nesses thereof, covering the whole land like a vast 
 net-work. And if once those meshes had been drawn, 
 
22 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 the hundreds of thousands of Hves lost and the hun- 
 dreds of milhons of dollars spent in civil war would 
 have been saved and John Brown's soul in it's ''march- 
 ing on" would have lead the brothers in black from 
 slavery to freedom through a bloodless victory. There 
 would then have been no confederacy nor a semblance 
 of war against the Union. His chain of mountain 
 forts and defiles and draws, as a means of communica- 
 tion along the great divides and slopes of southern 
 mountains, would have done honor to Napoleon's 
 best civil engineer corps. He has been pronounced 
 insane by men whose conception could never by any 
 chance rise to the compass of such a scheme as was 
 his. No general of the age showed such thorough- 
 ness of topographical knowledge of his territory as 
 did John Brown, and few have showed engineering 
 skill of such scope and ability. He sincerely believed 
 that the slave power was designed to cripple and de- 
 stroy the Republic, and he as sincerely hoped to abol- 
 ish that power, root and branch, by aiding the slaves 
 to secure their freedom. He lived under this pro- 
 found conviction as under a guiding star and acted 
 under the light of it. There was nothing in his Puri- 
 tan nature that could by any possibility compromise 
 with what he intelligently conceived to be an evil op- 
 pressive to humanity. To him that crime against lib- 
 erty, as enacted in the over-riding of eight hundred 
 legally cast votes by four thousand invading Mis- 
 sourians, whereby a citizen of Texas was elected as a 
 delegate to Congress to represent Kansas, could not 
 be condonsd or palliated. 
 
 Robbery, murder and arson had marked the march 
 of Buford, Titus and other commanders of the border 
 ruffians who had invaded Kansas, while free-state men 
 
JOHN BROWN. 23 
 
 had come as came the Pilgrims from across the ocean, 
 with wives and children, Bibles and hymn-books, 
 school books and teachers — to establish a type of 
 Christian civilization superior to any yet developed on 
 the American continent. It was with this last named 
 band that John Brown had become identified with all 
 the zeal and enthusiasm of his rugged and devout 
 nature. Struggling against mighty odds, this purpose- 
 ful people had wTitten on high their legend, "Resist- 
 ance to Tyranny is Obedience to God." They resist- 
 ed — and to what end the* Pottawotamie Creek disaster 
 to the pro-slavery men bore testimony of supremest 
 force. This — always to be lamented — sanguinary en- 
 counter by no means lessened the asperities between 
 the pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces. The results 
 of it have been censured and they have been com- 
 mended, but they fixed upon this hero the significant 
 sobriquet, "Osawotamie" Brown — he whose soul in 
 poetry, history and song goes forever "marching on." 
 From that time he was an aggressive figure in free- 
 state movements for the rescue of Kansas from the 
 desires of the slave power. 
 
 John Brown was conspicuously connected with the 
 obtaining and colportcurage of the noted "Sharp's 
 Rifles," known as "Beecher's Bibles," and in his visits 
 to Chicago, Buffalo and elsewhere he aided greatly in 
 kindling a public sentiment in favor of free Kansas 
 and the integrity of the Union. Anticipating the de- 
 termined purpose of state's right?, mer to dissolve the 
 Union to make way for the extension of African slav- 
 ery he fought zealously in the van-guard. 
 
 Among his various supporters he counted upon the 
 full confidence of that non-combative, peace-loving 
 people, the Quakers, as the following incident will 
 show: On one of his visits East he stopped in the 
 
24 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Springdale Settlement in Iowa. A friend named 
 Townsend kept a house significantly called "Travel- 
 er's Rest." Riding up to the door of this unpreten- 
 tious hostelry on a very gaunt mule the spare, dust- 
 begrimed, sun-burned traveler dismounted. "Have 
 you ever heard of John Brown, of Kansas?" was his 
 question to the landlord. With no word of welcome, 
 recognition or introduction, the landlord calmly took 
 from his pocket a piece of chalk and lifting Brown's 
 hat from a head covered with grizzled hair he drew 
 a broad "X" on the hat and then turned him about 
 to make two "X's" on his back. "Walk right in and 
 make yourself at home," said the landlord then. And 
 for the sake of the cause the faithful mule, as well as 
 his owner, were gratuitously entertained. The Uni- 
 tarians of New England, and the Congregationalists 
 and Presbyterians, as well as all philanthropic people, 
 w^ere deeply interested in 'he mission in which John 
 Brown was engaged and bade him a hearty "God 
 Speed" from day to day. 
 
 Finally, concentrating his attention upon Virginia 
 as a starting point. Brown began assembling his 
 chosen lieutenants at Harper's Ferry. On the i6th of 
 October, 1859, they took possession of the United 
 States arsenal. They then set about destroying tele- 
 graph communications, captured a railroad train, and 
 at last got into imperfect fortifications in the Erskine 
 House. The grounds, the bridge and the entire town 
 passed into their possession, their declaration being 
 that they wanted only liberty. The stopping of the 
 train was the one fatal blunder in the well-conceived 
 plan, for its detention gave the passengers and train- 
 men an opportunity to learn the situation and to 
 spread the news to telegraph stations. All hope of 
 
JOHN BROWN. 25 
 
 secrecy was lost at once. On the morning of the 17th 
 of October, 1859, ^^e country from ocean to ocean 
 was ablaze with flaming bulletins like these: 
 "Fearful and Exciting Intelligence!" 
 "Negro Insurrection at Harper's Ferry!" 
 "Hundreds of Insurrectionists in Arms!" 
 "Arsenal and Works Seized!' 
 "The Leader, 'Osawatomie Brown,' of Kansas!" 
 "Several Killed. Troops on the Way!" 
 Such were the startling echoes which filled the air, 
 were to be heard on the streets, discussed on the cars, 
 in the papers and whizzed from every telegraph wire. 
 The smouldering public sentiment, already kindled 
 by dread and excitement, burst into flame at the name 
 of "Osawatomie Brown" and Kansas. It was to the 
 American people as the war cry of old, "The sword of 
 the Lord and Gideon!" It was as the breaking of 
 pitchers and the glowing of lamps and the clarion 
 notes of bugles on the hill-tops in the midnight still- 
 ness. "Negro insurrection;" "Led by Osawatomie 
 Brown of Kansas." The words became a slogan of 
 horror. I was in Baltimore that day — and such a day! 
 When many of the great cutlasses provided by Brown 
 were captured and brought to Baltimore the people 
 went wild. Men's hearts failed them for fear. It was 
 the beginning of the end, and the air was thick with 
 direful prophecy. 
 
 While the enormity of the crime of human slavery 
 justified an expiation by blood it is but just to say 
 of John Brown that his was not intended to be a 
 bloody insurrection. He hoped for a vast uprising 
 and a peaceable manumission. His methods proved 
 unwise, inefficient and disastrous. He and his men 
 were captured, though not without an efifort at de- 
 fence; some were killed in the struggle, among them 
 
26 JOHN BROWN. 
 
 Oliver Brown, one of the sons of the leader. "Osa- 
 watomie Brown" had undeniably committed an of- 
 fence against the United States government by having 
 taken forcible possession of the arsenal, and against 
 the dignity of Virginia by occupying her soil with an 
 armed force. What was to be the penalty? On the 
 night of the i6th some of Brown's men had captured 
 Colonel Washington. The Virginian had surrender- 
 ed the "sword of Frederick the Great" and "the pistol 
 of Lafayette" and he and his sons had then been 
 marched to the ferry. Here the slain of the party 
 had already aggregated ten. Brown, wounded and 
 bleeding, was taken shortly afterward by United States 
 marines and turned over to the state authorities. 
 Tried by a Virginia court, he was found guilty of 
 treason against the state and condemned to death by 
 hanging. 
 
 On the 2nd of December, 1859, the execution took 
 place at Charleston in the presence of thousands of 
 people who had gathered to witness this first and last 
 execution for "treason" on such grounds. Just be- 
 fore his execution Brown wrote in a clear hand: "I, 
 John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes 
 of this guilty land will never be purged away but with 
 blood. I had, as I now think vainly, flattered myself 
 that without much bloodshed it might be done." 
 
 ij; ;i; ;|j * * * ^ 
 
 When the body was laid to rest at North Elba, Wen- 
 dell PhilHps said of him, "Marvellous old man! His- 
 tory will date Virginia's emancipation from Harper's 
 Ferry. Jonh Brown has loosened the roots of the slave 
 system. He sleeps in the blessings of the crushed and 
 the poor, and men believe more firmly in virtue now 
 that such a man has lived." 
 
 His body rests at North Elba, New York, 'neath 
 
JOHN BROWN. 27 
 
 the shadow of a great rock which is made his monu- 
 ment, but his record is on high. As Christ died to 
 make men happy he died to make men free. His 
 short-Hved movement crystalHzed and projected into 
 tangible form the spirit of the age. Even from the 
 time the first innocent blood baptized the fair soil of 
 freedom's chosen battle-field, Kansas, the die was cast, 
 the time chosen and the methods fixed by which the 
 crime of crimes must be undone. And from that time 
 until now the name of John Brown, Christian, patriot, 
 liberator, has stood out broadly in the chronicles of 
 our country's struggle for freedom. Brown's name, 
 like that of James H. Lane of Lawrence, is so inter- 
 woven with Kansas history and that history is so in- 
 terwoven with the larger history of universal Ameri- 
 can freedom that no discussion of either would be 
 complete or just without giving to him the large meed 
 of credit which rightfully is his for the part he played 
 in starting the nation upon a vaster conception of its 
 obligations to liberty and the individual.* 
 
 *The summer of 1896 has seen the realization of a hope dear to the 
 heart of the late Kate Field, its instigator, and to all those who take 
 pleasure in the rendering unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's. 
 The John Brown Association, organized by Miss Field, and number- 
 ing among its members some prominent New Yorkers, has purchased 
 the John Brown farm and homestead and formally presented this 
 historic property to the state with the agreement that the Common- 
 wealth of New York shall defray the expenses of taking proper care 
 of it. Upon the occasion of the presentation an appropriate monument 
 was unveiled, situated near the old headstone marking John Brown's 
 grave. 
 
28 JIM LANE. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 JIM LANE. 
 
 The fact of the existence of human slavery under 
 the eyes of American freedom is so monstrous an idea 
 that if it were not history it would be unbelievable. 
 But the fact admitted, with it was carried all the 
 atrocities of this barbarism and from it developed all 
 the theories of the Northern abolitionists, as well as 
 the direct and stubborn antagonism of the earnest, 
 unconquerable West. 
 
 Every great epoch develops men of action, follow- 
 ing close upon the sentimental and educational stages 
 of reform. Thus we find Mr. Wesley declaring human 
 slavery "The sum of all villainies," and Garretson and. 
 Phillips thundering their anathemas and arousing the 
 slumbering conscience of the American people, and 
 the New England Emigrant Aid Society, with the 
 Methodist itinerant force in the field, to help families 
 obtain homes and keep the moral tone of society firm, 
 and John Brown, of immortal fame, and Jim Lane, 
 the brave Kansas defender and liberator, as leading 
 actors in freedom's cause. 
 
 James H. Lane was born at Lawrenceburgh, 
 Indiana, June 22d, 1814. His environments were 
 those of patriotic enthusiasm. The war of 1812, Jack- 
 son's great exploits at New Orleans, and the exciting 
 political campaigns which soon followed all afforded 
 for the boy, the youth, the young man, intellectual and 
 sentimental food which incorporated itself into the 
 
GENERAL JAMES H. LANE. 
 
^ 
 
JIM LANE. 29 
 
 warp and woof of his life. He was a child of the 
 frontier. 
 
 He was of Scotch-Irish and Puritanic extraction, 
 his father and mother, both of patriotic connection, 
 numbering among their immediate relatives judges, 
 lawyers, statesmen, patriots and honorable politicians. 
 His father was the first speaker of the house in 
 Indiana and afterwards a judge and member of con- 
 gress. His mother was regarded one of the m^ost de- 
 vout and intelligent Christian women in Lawrence- 
 burgh, an ornament to the ranks of Methodism in ' 
 great Methodist state. -'^^^ 
 
 The son imbibed from the mother's teaching^- ai 
 example the highest reverence for religion and true 
 Christian character. We have no doubt that in the 
 development of character the co-mingling of influ- 
 ences so sacred in home life with the attrition of po- 
 litical surroundings, had large influence in forming 
 the idiosyncracies of the man, which made Jim Lane 
 the enigma he was and the historic character he is. 
 His Hke cannot be found until another necessity like 
 Kansas' border-ruffian warfare shall call him forth to 
 lead in the contest for the right. I knew him inti- 
 mately and long and well, and never knew a man who, 
 when with good men and in refined surroundings, was 
 so wholly and powerfully under the influence of 
 mother's teachings. Her memory was a veritable 
 presence; her example a perpetual admonition. In the 
 company of politicians his Scotch-Irish pater-master 
 politician's example led him, and he often fell into 
 censurable mirthfulness and conversation; but his 
 mother's name and life was ever before him in 
 thoughtful mood, like a benediction. 
 
 He was in partisan politics a democrat. When the 
 war occurred between Mexico and the United States 
 
30 JIM LANE. 
 
 he enlisted as a private, but was early made colonel of 
 the regiment. He gallantly led his men through all 
 the engagements up to the battle of Buena Vista, and 
 here rallied the scattered regimicnt of Col. Bowles, and 
 honorably commanded until the close of the war. He 
 became lieutenant-governor of Indiana and elector at 
 large, voting for Franklin Pierce- for president, and 
 was also a member of congress and voted with Doug- 
 las for the Kansas-Nebraska bill. 
 
 With such experience and honors he came to Kan- 
 sas, arriving one bright April morning in 1855, and 
 with jug in hand (not for liquor, for he was an abstain- 
 er, but to get water), he walked into the free-state ham- 
 let, now the historic city of Lawrence. Here he took 
 up his abode, and wrought and fought, and was buried. 
 He came a born, developed, firm son of democracy, 
 but his high chivalric nature could not and would not 
 approve the methods introduced by the vice-president 
 of the United States, David Atchison, and his border- 
 rufftans, to foist slavery upon the soil of Kansas, and 
 also to fetter free-thought, suppress free-speech, and 
 drive out of the territory the free-state men of the 
 United States, who came from almost every state and 
 territory in the Union, bonafide settlers, to secure 
 homes for themselves and families. 
 
 The first trial of the forces by count at the ballot- 
 box occurred on November 29, 1854, and resulted as 
 follows: Democrats 305, Anti-slavery 248, and Pro- 
 slavery 2,258, for delegate to congress. On this day 
 occurred the first homicide, when Davis, a pro-slavery 
 man, assaulted unprovoked, Kibby, a free-state man. 
 Davis was killed by Kibby in self defense. On March 
 30, 1855, a regular invasion of ballot-box stuf¥ers and 
 repeaters from Missouri and other Southern states 
 
JIM LANE. 31 
 
 took place, when at Lawrence, Leavenworth, Kicka- 
 poo, Atchison and elsewhere a pro-slavery legislature 
 was chosen by the boldest and most wicked assault 
 ever made on the ballot-box in the name of popular 
 suffrage. Loyal men were disfranchised, border- 
 ruffians were triumphant. They passed a code blacker 
 than barbarity itself. 
 
 In such an emergency free - state men needed 
 a leader, and in Jim Lane they found one 
 whose name was worth a thousand men, and whose 
 bugle-blast became a terrifying tocsin to the enemies 
 of freedom. L^p to this date he had simply tried to 
 organize the democracy, but now his lion-heart re- 
 volted from the unprecedented crimes of the slave 
 oligarchy. With such aggravations it were marvelous 
 if the free-state citizens had felt no resentment. They 
 were not freebooters, nor were they nor their neigh- 
 bors thieves or adventurers, but a body of honorable 
 men and women and children, home-seekers, who 
 came to make the prairies bloom as the rose. To such 
 the field of battle was the field of honor. They came 
 to build churches, school-houses, mills, manufactories 
 and cities. It is safe to say that there never was a 
 better, more industrious, more law-abiding people in 
 all respects than were the emigrants who came to Kan- 
 sas from the non-slaveholding states. Their purpose, 
 as the sequel shows, as the present demonstrates, was 
 to establish a commonwealth in which education, re- 
 ligion, patriotism and righteousness could have their 
 best opportunity and their highest development. 
 
 The '*Grim Chieftain" combined in himself all the 
 elements of fiery oratory and magnetism, being pos- 
 sessed of a ready flow of forceful language, a vocabu- 
 lary redundant in expressive adjectives. He charmed 
 his admirers, terrified his opponents, comforted the 
 
32 JIM LANE. 
 
 discouraged, fired with zeal those whose impulsive na- 
 tures flamed with freedom's fires, so that every assem- 
 bly he addressed was thrilled and swayed by a master 
 hand, and even his avowed foes became his admiring 
 friends. In his first alignment with the free-state 
 men, which was looked upon by some New England- 
 ers as rather dubious, he gave utterance to words that 
 would honor the head and heart of a solon. In the 
 "Herald of Freedom," for August i8th, 1885, he is 
 quoted as follows: "If I believed a prayer from me 
 for you would do any good it would be that you might 
 be endowed with the wisdom of Solomon, the caution 
 of Washington and the justice of Franklin. It requires 
 wisdom, it requires manhood, to restrain passion. I 
 say, as a citizen of Kansas, I wish we had wisdom 
 to-day. There is the existence of a nation hanging 
 upon the action of the citizens of Kansas. Alodera- 
 tion. Moderation, Moderation, Gentlemen! ! I am 
 here, as anxious as any of you, to secure a free con- 
 stitution to Kansas." 
 
 There was no small contention on the question of 
 excluding all black people from the state, both slaves 
 and free. Some declared that if blacks settled in Kan- 
 sas they would prefer that they should be slaves. Some 
 Western states had these exclusive laws. Lane was at 
 first a black-law man. This gave him prestige with 
 Western free-state men. 
 
 But he discovered very early that such a clause in 
 the proposed constitution would lose all the sympathy 
 and influence of such men as Giddings, Sumner, 
 Wade, Wilson, Stevens, Seward, Grow, and Chase. 
 He gave up his exclusive views, and became a giant, 
 armed cap-a-pie in freedom's camp for all men, with- 
 out reference to color, race, or previous condition. He 
 
JIM LANE. 33 
 
 became a member of the constitutional convention, 
 and was sent to Washington with the. constitution. 
 
 Senator Douglass accused him of forgery, in having 
 struck out the black-law clause. Lane promptly chal- 
 lenged him to deadly combat, but Douglass declined 
 the challenge because Lane was not his peer, not 
 being a senator. 
 
 He used to say, "Douglass has carefully put away 
 a challenge which he declined because I was not a 
 senator. You owe it alike to yourselves and me to put 
 me where I can make him fish up that paper." Later 
 Lane was elected senator and he and Douglass became 
 fast friends, and perhaps no senator felt more keenly 
 the loss of a great actor in the national crisis which 
 resulted in making Kansas free, precipitating an al- 
 ready determined rebellion and determining the eman- 
 cipation of the slave, than Lane felt at the death of 
 Douglass. The war had made them friends to be 
 separated only by death. 
 
 >;; ;|j ^ ^ ^ 4: H^ 
 
 The murder of Charles W. Dow by F. M. Coleman 
 was followed by the pro-slavery invaders' arresting 
 Dow's neighbor, one Branson, to prevent him from 
 being a witness against Coleman, who thus went free. 
 This deplorable event was quickly followed by the 
 Wakarusa war. Invasion, murder, arson, and out- 
 rages called for resistance and defense. Here was a 
 new chance for the appearance of conflicting jealous- 
 ies, even among free-state men. The New England 
 men had their preferences, and the Western men were 
 suspected of lack of radicalism. Especially were 
 Southern anti-slavery men distrusted as not sufBcient- 
 ly Puritanical. 
 
 Dr. Charles Robinson, afterward Governor, was 
 commander-in-chief of the anti-slavery men dur- 
 
34 JIM LANE. 
 
 ing this war and Jim Lane, who was the best equipped 
 by experience, drill, courage and skill in military af- 
 fairs was second in command. Like a true soldier he 
 did his duty well and faithfully. He accepted his sub- 
 ordinate rank as other great souls have done and at 
 once began drilling and organizing the troops. 
 
 His energy was unflagging, his presence an inspira- 
 tion everywhere. The free-state forces were less than 
 half the number of the invading enemy. Breastworks 
 and rifle-pits were speedily constructed in regular 
 military style under Lane's supervision, so that the 
 fortifications and earthworks could have resisted an 
 invading force four times the strength mustered by 
 the invading border-ruffians. Every man did his part 
 well, and the name of Jim Lane was now, as ever after- 
 ward, a terror to his enemies. As he reviewed the 
 troops and works nearly completed he commended 
 them, at the same time cautioning against rashness, 
 alarm or surprise. His were magical words; they 
 nerved every arm, and fired every breast with courage. 
 He was not alone in words of encouragement during 
 the siege. Jimmie McGee, an old Irishman, came and 
 said, "Work away, boys, be-dad; there's 2,000 bushels 
 of corn in McGee's crib, and you shan't starve as long 
 as there is a kernel left!" To indicate the spirit of 
 the times, two brave boys brought a howitzer to 
 Lane's camp and two loyal women brought kegs of 
 powder under a buggy seat to aid in defense of their 
 homes. 
 
 On the 29th of December, 1855, Gov. Shannon pro- 
 claimed internecine war. Lane hastened to Lawrence 
 and wrote to friends to hurry up the "baggage," mean- 
 ing munitions of war, and the conflict thus and then 
 commenced did not cease until the slaves were eman- 
 
JIM LANE. 35 
 
 cipated and Lee had surrendered to the "Silent Man 
 of Destiny." 
 
 Lane's management of local affairs won the ap- 
 proval of all the free-state men, and the invading ruf- 
 fians were compelled to leave the territory, while the 
 Wakarusa war was the initiation of a victory for free- 
 dom. Even Shannon, though backed by United 
 States authority, was compelled to admit that the men 
 whom he had called into action were an invading force. 
 All this while Lane scrupulously avoided conflict with 
 United States laws, and the governor issued an order 
 that Lane's men should defend the town, the people 
 and their lives and property. Very soon after receiv- 
 ing such order Lane called his force into line and ad- 
 dressing the motley company as ''United States 
 dragoons," ordered them to hold themselves in readi- 
 ness for action. The invaders made a mad rush for 
 the Missouri line, and thus the Wakarusa war was 
 ended, with Lane as the idol of the free-state 
 dragoons. 
 
 Lane's utterances on disbanding the brave defend- 
 ers of home and freedom were words of wisdom and 
 patriotism which still ring down the aisles of freedom's 
 history. His greatest speech was afterwards delivered 
 in Chicago, and struck a popular chord which pro- 
 duced a national crisis. It was only realized when in the 
 national republican convention in which Mr. Lincoln 
 was renominated; it was then seen that a master-hand 
 had planned that result. There was great dissatisfac- 
 tion and unrest throughout the country, and a contest 
 which boded no good for the Union cause was immi- 
 nent. But in the grand council of the Union League 
 the evening before the convention, after many able 
 speeches favoring other candidates had been made. 
 
36 JIM LANE. 
 
 Mr. Lane arose and made the political speech of his 
 life, carrying the League with him almost to a man. 
 In the closing of his speech he said: "We shall to- 
 gether be watched in breathless listening by all this 
 country — by all the civilized world — and if we seem 
 to waver as to our set purpose we destroy hope, and 
 if we permit private feeling to break forth into dis- 
 cussion we discuss defeat, and if we nominate any 
 other man than Abraham Lincoln we nominate ruin. 
 Gentlemen of the Union League, I have done." The 
 next day Mr. Lincoln was nominated on the first bal- 
 lot. The grim chieftain had won his cause and ruin 
 was averted. 
 
 Hon. John Speer lias truly said of Lane: "To the 
 experience, skill and perseverance of the gallant Gen. 
 James H. Lane all credit is due for the thorough dis- 
 cipHne of our forces, and the complete and extensive 
 preparations for defense. His services cannot be over- 
 estimated. Kansas can never forget them." 
 
 ;)c ^ ^ >f: i}c ^ H: 
 
 In 1861 I was stationed in Lawrence. Gen. Lane 
 had recently professed conversion at a camp-meeting 
 near Palmyra. He and Col. H. P. Johnston, a local 
 preacher, and Capt. McLean attended church one 
 evening in Lawrence. Lane related his recent ex- 
 perience, and Johnston spoke after Lane. All three 
 had served in the Mexican war, and both referred to 
 their army life. McLean, who was evidently under 
 the influence of liquor, arose and said: "Yes — hie! — 
 Lane and Johnston — hie! — were good — hie! — soldiers, 
 and fought — hie! — and bled and died — hie! — and I 
 was there too — hie! — and I fought — hie! — and bled — 
 and died, nary a time — hie! — and this — hie! — is the 
 first — hie! — time I've — hie! — said anything about it— 
 hie!" With this Johnston helped him to a seat, and 
 
JIM LANE. 37 
 
 we sang a verse or two of "Come, ye sinners," to avoid 
 a scene. 
 
 Soon after this the rebels fired on Fort Sumter 
 and invested Washington. Lane and the Kansas men 
 who were in Washington offered their services to Mr. 
 Lincohi, and were bivouacked one hundred and eighty 
 strong in the East Room, by concurrence of Gen. 
 Hunter and the Secretary of War. At midnight Mr. 
 Stanton and President Lincohi, arm in arm, walked 
 into the camp in the Wliite House, guarded by Lane 
 and his Kansas heroes, who thus thwarted a well de- 
 vised plan to kidnap the president and secretary. 
 
 * * * ^ ;.k ;}; ;{; 
 
 President Buchanan, in 1857, had in his message to 
 congress said, "The people of Kansas are in rebellion 
 against the government with a military leader of most 
 turbulent and dangerous character at their head." In 
 reply Gen. Lane said: "I venture the assertion that 
 the message stands without a parallel in its falsifica- 
 iton of history. Never have the people of Kansas been 
 in arms, except to resist invasion from other states. 
 When the territory was occupied by four distinct 
 armies from foreign states, laying waste the coun- 
 try and avowing to exterminate the people of Kansas, 
 before resisting them we called upon the territorial au- 
 thorities and the commandant of the United States 
 troops for protection. Let Buchanan howl and con- 
 gress enact! Kansas is free, and all the powers of the 
 earth cannot enslave her! To-day the people of Kan- 
 sas are a unit, and so long as that unity is preserved, 
 nothing can prevail against her." War existed. Civil 
 rights were secured at the cost of precious lives, and 
 equality before the law was made a verity for the first 
 time in history of Kansas, long before the first gun 
 was fired on Fort Sumter. And the "Grim Chieftain" 
 
38 JIM LANE. 
 
 had much to do in thus immortaUzing Kansas. The 
 Avar thus inaugurated closed only with Sherman's 
 march to the sea and Grant's acceptance of Lee's sur- 
 render at Appomattox. 
 
 Lane was authorized in 1861, by the President and 
 Secretary Stanton, though then a United States sena- 
 tor, to raise troops on the frontier to protect Kansas 
 from invasion. The company remained on duty until 
 the danger of kidnaping the President was over. 
 Senator Lane sent a squad to capture Robert E. Lee, 
 but he had left for Richmond before Hon. Charles H. 
 Holmes and his squad reached Arlington. What un- 
 told slaughter of human life would have been averted 
 had his plan not miscarried no human pen can de- 
 scribe or tongue proclaim. 
 
 In accordance with instructions referred to Senator 
 Lane came home through Missouri incognito, and 
 immediately organized the Third, Fourth and Fifth 
 Kansas Volunteers, appointing Col. Montgomery to 
 the command of the Third, Col. Wear to the Fourth, 
 and Col. H. P. Johnston to command the Fifth, a cav- 
 alry regiment. I was made chaplain of the tifth regi- 
 ment, and we were immediately ordered on forced 
 march to Fort Scott to protect valuable quartermaster 
 stores and ammunition, stored for the army of the 
 frontier. The militia were called to concentrate at 
 Ft. Scott. When we arrived there were about 4,000 
 men, all told, poorly armed, and very poorly mounted, 
 with no cannon, only one howitzer, and a small Rod- 
 man gun. Lane sent two women over the line to re- 
 port to the rebel army approaching, 18,000 strong, un- 
 der command of Gens. Price, Raines and Slack, that 
 there were 40,000 Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas troops, 
 armed and equipped, in and around Fort Scott, under 
 
JIM LANE. 39 
 
 command of Gen. Jim Lane, awaiting their arrival and 
 ready to receive them. The rebel army came to the 
 line at Dry Wood and formed in battle array. Lane 
 sent Montgomery, Wear and Johnston, with 380 men, 
 and Capt. Moonlight with the howitzer, to meet the 
 enemy's main force of 13,000 men, flushed with the 
 victory they had won at Wilson Creek over Gens. 
 Lyon and Siegel. They were to be reinforced by 
 Gen. Slack. MoonHght planted his howitzer on a 
 commanding Kansas knob. The Kansas boys dis- 
 mounted and with Sharp's rifles in hand crept up 
 through the tall prairie-grass and hazel-brush within 
 convenient reach of the rebel force. Moonlight opened 
 fire, and his first shell burst in the midst of Capt. Bled- 
 soe's splendid battery of field guns, wounding the cap- 
 tain, killing three gunners, upsetting two of his guns, 
 and wounding several others of his men. Lane's men 
 turned loose their Sharp's rifles, and in a few minutes 
 seventy-two rebels lay dead and many others wounded. 
 The rebels overshot Lane's troops and they had but 
 one wounded. The presence of less than 400 men in 
 action soon became to the enemy the mysterious 
 40,000 — and Jim Lane in command! Gen. Slack was 
 hastily brought up with his splendid force to sustain 
 Price and Raines, but found them in full retreat. In 
 his official report to Caleb Jackson, governor of Mis- 
 souri, he says that when he came upon the field to 
 reinforce Price and Raines he found them and their 
 very efficient army under rapid retreat on the verge of 
 a general stampede, in the presence of a greatly su- 
 perior force under command of Gen. Jas. H. Lane. 
 
 Lane's name was worth a thousand men, his multi- 
 plication table answered instead of numbers; and 380 
 Kansans, inspired by patriotism and their intrepid 
 leader's presence, put 18,000 men to flight, saved Kan- 
 
40 JIM LANE. 
 
 sas from invasion, and hundreds of thousands of dol- 
 lars worth worth of army stores. 
 
 ^ >|j H< * * :!: 5i: 
 
 Gen. Lane moved his command to Kansas City to 
 prevent Gens. Price, Raines and Slack from advanc- 
 ing on Fort Leavenworth. They attacked Lexington, 
 Mo., captured Col. Mulligan and his command, and 
 then started to retreat and attack Gen. Fremont at 
 Springfield. Lane ordered an advance to support 
 Freemont. When we reached Osceola the enemy had 
 burned the town and destroyed the ferry boat on the 
 Osage River. The water was up, and nothing was 
 left but an old abandoned scow, within 40 miles, on 
 which to cross. Not an officer in the command would 
 undertake to cross the command on that old boat. 
 Lane called upon me to help him out of his dilemna. 
 By my request he detailed six men from each com- 
 pany, and with these we beached the old boat, calked 
 her seams with old clothes, nailed fence boards on the 
 cracks to keep the calking in place, and put six men 
 to work with "batty" buckets, to bail the water out. 
 With hearty good will the men obeyed my directions 
 and followed my example while the other chaplains 
 and officers sat on the bank and watched us ferry the 
 command safely over the river. 
 
 In due time we reached Springfield, and went into 
 camp to await orders to march and meet the rebel 
 forces under McCullough, Gen. Fremont was in com- 
 mand when we arrived, but was soon superseded by 
 Gen. Hunter. Here transpired under my own ob- 
 servation two of the most trying ordeals of nerve I 
 ever witnessed. Several trained and experienced 
 French soldiers, fine looking fellows, came to 
 America with Fremont. Some of them were attached 
 
JIM LANE. 41 
 
 to Lane's staff. It was Sabbath morning. Gen. Lane 
 had sent for me. I reported at headquarters, and the 
 general said he wished me to preach to the brigade 
 and visitors, as many would be over to camp by ii 
 o'clock. While v/e were talking, in came the French 
 officers, in a high state of excitement. Gen. Fremont 
 had been removed and their anger was unbounded. 
 They laid down their arms on the table and said they 
 were going to leave the camp and return to Paris at 
 once. They stood pale with rage. Lane sprang to 
 his feet like a lion. He seemed taller than ever before. 
 Seizing a revolver in each hand, he said: "You shan't 
 resign. It is the order of the Secretary of War. We 
 must obey. You will disgrace yourselves, dishonor 
 France, and disgust the army." And fairly foaming 
 with rage he stalked up to the men, and with upHfted 
 revolvers, said, hissing it out: ''By the eternal, V\\ 
 kill you both before you shall disgrace yourselves. Go 
 back to your tents and remain until Gen. Fremont 
 goes east, and like true soldiers remain with your su- 
 perior." 
 
 >;; * ^ ^ 5k 5;: >jf 
 
 In the afternoon review took place, and Gen. Fre- 
 mont's staff came over. Gen. Lane reviewed the 
 troops and put them through the manual of arms. 
 One regiment was cavalry, another was mounted in- 
 fantry, the rest infantry, so that the troops were not 
 supposed to be well-drilled. But when Lane's com- 
 mand rang along the line every man seemed to be elec- 
 trified. When they heard his voice, ''Ground arms!" 
 every gun dropped as if by magic, and they awaited in 
 breathlGi^ expectancy his next word of command. He 
 glanced up and down the long line, and then called, 
 ''Shoulder arms!" Every gun leaped to its place so 
 simultaneouslv that the visitors were filled with sur- 
 
42 JIM LANE. 
 
 prise, and though out of place, suppressed applause 
 passed from lip to lip. I never saw automatic move- 
 ment more perfect than that "Shoulder arms" under 
 Jim Lane's inspiring command. 
 
 Gen. Hunter assumed command, and immediately 
 ordered the main army to St. Louis, while Lane's 
 command, which never retreated, countermarched by 
 way of Lamar to Kansas. The whole negro popula- 
 tion of Missouri which had followed Fremont's march 
 and Lane's brigade were shaken ofif by Gen. Hunter's 
 army and took up their march with the Kansas troops, 
 bound for Kansas and freedom. We, in turn, were 
 followed by McCullough's army, beset on either hand 
 by CofYee's and other noted guerrilla bands, and liable 
 to be attacked at any hour. The second day out Lane 
 sent for me on the march, and explaining our immi- 
 nent danger of attack and the helpless condition of 
 the great multitude of blacks, said: "What shall I do 
 with them?" I replied that all the men were in the 
 army, and the women and children in Kansas needed 
 help to save the crop and provide fuel for winter, and 
 I advised to send the negroes to Kansas to help the 
 women and children. His laconic reply was, "Lll do 
 it." When we went into camp he issued an order that 
 all the refugees and blacks should meet on the parade 
 ground next morning at 8 o'clock, ready to go to Kan- 
 sas; and his first order was, "Chaplains Fisher, Moore 
 and Fish will take charge of these people, escort them 
 to Kansas, divide their property among them as best 
 they can, find homes for them, and report to head- 
 quarters. 
 
 ^ * ^ * :}: ^ ^ 
 
 Jim Lane was a striking character. Without him 
 Kansas would not likely have become what she is. 
 He was a leader of men. His long strain of excitement. 
 
JIM LANE. 43 
 
 with perhaps inherited suicidal tendency, and his ex- 
 treme sensitiveness to criticism on defeat, at last broke 
 his indomitable energy and will, and in an unfortunate 
 desire to control presidential patronage he found him- 
 self as United States Senator supporting the president, 
 Andrew Johnson, in his opposition to Mr. Sumner's 
 civil rights bill, thus antagonising the very sentiment 
 which in Kansas gave him such victories and honors. 
 
 When he awoke to see the fatal blunder he had 
 committed he became despondent, a spell of illness 
 ensued, his mind gave way, and while out driving at 
 Fort Leavenworth, where he had sought rest and 
 tieatment, he stepped behind the ambulance and plac- 
 ing a pistol in his mouth sent a bullet crashing 
 through his brain. Though fatally wounded he re- 
 gained consciousness and at times was able to recog- 
 nize his particular friends and members of his family. 
 I was called by telegram to his dying bed and as he 
 took my hand in his and placed it upon the site of his 
 vv-ound he said plaintively, "Bad, Bad," and soon after- 
 ward died. The spirit of a leader, a man who had 
 never known defeat at the hands of others, had been 
 ushered before his maker by his own hand while smart- 
 ing under the sting of political defeat wrought by an 
 error in judgment. In times of war and strife a giant, 
 in times of peace and politics he was but mortal. 
 
 The most trying ordeal of my ministerial life was 
 thrown upon me by his death. I was called upon to 
 preach the funeral sermon in Lawrence on the Sunday 
 following his demise. There were present men who had 
 carried a rope to hang him on account of the eariy 
 tragedy which had resulted in the death of Jenkins, 
 and there were present men who had stood watch the 
 livelong night to prevent his mobbing; there were men 
 who were with him during the border-ruffian war aad 
 
44 JJM LANE. 
 
 during the war of the rebelHon and who had become 
 a part of him, and there were men who were against 
 him in spirit during those trying times and who had 
 often secretly wished for his removal. There were 
 present neighbors, friends, family, foes political and 
 foes personal — all testifying to the greatness of the 
 man and to the wonderful works he had done for Kan- 
 sas and the Union. Many of those present knew his 
 virtues, which were many, and others knew his faults, 
 which were pronounced though few. 
 
 How to preach the truth and yet vindicate the gos- 
 pel was a question. The text chosen was **God is 
 love." I believed then and believe now that in his 
 partially conscious moments, after he had accom- 
 plished what all the demons of hell composing the 
 guerrilla army of the border had failed to accomplish 
 though often tried, before he breathed his last expir- 
 ing breath the teachings of his sainted mother and her 
 prayers, which had exampled him unto her Savior and 
 the Savior of sinners, took hold upon him and, repent- 
 ing of his sins, he died believing in the Savior of all 
 mankind. I have always had hope that through the 
 saving grace of the Master Jim Lane is saved, saved 
 for the good he has done for the cause of freedom 
 and humanity. 
 
 His life was a life of ambitions, successes, triumphs 
 — and one grave failure. 
 
EARLY EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. 45 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 EARLY EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. i 
 
 The colonial families and their immediate descend- 
 ants felt the need of and beHeved in common school 
 education, and early provided for the schooling of all 
 children. They not only planted Yale, Cambridge, 
 WilHams, Brown, Johns Hopkins and other great uni- 
 versities, but planned a common school system which 
 to-day meets the exigencies of the present advanced 
 state of education and civilization. 
 
 Within the last fifty years there has been a revival 
 of popular education, beginning with the labors of 
 Horace Mann, in every Northern state. Improved 
 methods and an enormous growth of moral, intellec- 
 tual and industrial agencies have marked a new era 
 in both hemispheres. The Year of Our Lord 1896 
 has beholden in Kansas fourteen thousand children 
 and youths daily responding to the chime of the 
 school-house bell, with joyous step, bright and cheer- 
 ful countenance and an ever increasing thirst for in- 
 struction from her thousands of well qualified teach- 
 ers. For the accomplishment of this great work will- 
 ing taxpayers (except an occasional, grumbling old 
 bachelor "without pride of ancestry or hope of pos- 
 terity") and whole-souled philanthropists have invest- 
 ed three hundred and fifty millions of dollars in school 
 property, and pay annually one hundred and fifty 
 millions of dollars for the maintenance of these 
 schools. The southern states, since Kansas repelled 
 
46 EARLY EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. 
 
 invasion and set the mark of equality before the law 
 and made common education the inheritance of all, 
 have kindly and enthusiastically taken to the common 
 school system, and in this good year of their opening 
 prosperity have expended two millions of dollars for 
 the children and youths of all races in her borders, 
 that they, too, may enjoy the advantages of the com- 
 mon school. Her eight millions of colored popula- 
 tion, who by law were debarred from education when 
 Kansas cast her determining influence for freedom, 
 now enjoy with their white brothers the opportunities 
 of an education. 
 
 The matters of deepest concern to the free-state 
 families coming to Kansas in her early history were 
 school and church facilities. These were of paramount 
 importance, and from the beginning the greatest in- 
 terest was taken in schools, academies and universi- 
 ties. Many of these ventures had precarious lives; 
 others struggled through weary years of poverty and 
 discouragement, and while many noble young men 
 and women were consumed by the desire for an edu- 
 cation, yet because of reverses incident to settling a 
 new state under such disadvantages and the poverty 
 entailed by a long and expensive removal from older 
 communities, they were unable to attend unendowed 
 schools, many of which were literally starving their 
 agents and professors because of inadequate salaries. 
 
 It is a serious question whether later-comers can 
 have adequate conception of the struggle through 
 which we passed to plant the standard of free and 
 higher education. Mercenary men have censured the 
 early efforts to build and maintain our schools because 
 it cost something, and others have censured the noble 
 men who early planned so wisely because they did not 
 wait until the state became rich. But even in terri- 
 
EARLY EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. 47 
 
 torial times, while the sky was lurid with war and 
 famine was staring them in the face the people pro- 
 vided for the intellectual and moral culture of their 
 children, wiUing, if need be, to stint their bodies rather 
 than dwarf the minds and souls of the coming genera- 
 tion. School houses were erected to accommodate 
 the church of the neighborhood as well as the school. 
 The chapels of some of the best colleges in the state 
 were made to answer a double purpose, and became 
 citadels of scientific, moral and religious truth, while 
 every pulpit was a rock of defense for the liberties and 
 education of the people. When the constitution was 
 adopted Kansas incorporated the best educational sys- 
 tem known to Europe and America, and from small 
 beginnings her school interests have grown until they 
 now stand at the head of the column. 
 
 Among the earliest educational institutions of the 
 territory was Blue Mount College, located at Manhat- 
 tan and built by Methodist money and enterprise. 
 This became a successful school under the presidency 
 of Joseph Denison, D. D., and the agency of Prof. 
 Isaac T. Goodenough. Finally Congress gave to 
 Kansas a large grant of the public domain for agricul- 
 tural educational purposes, conditionally; the state 
 being unable to comply with the conditions, and rath- 
 er than that the grant should revert from the state, 
 the Methodists magnanimously donated their college 
 buildings, apparatus, furniture, students, president, 
 etc., to the state, thus securing the land grant, with the 
 result that our agricultural college stands second to 
 none in the nation. 
 
 From those grass roots of Kansas, now thirty-five 
 years old, there has grown and developed a state 
 school system which numbers nine thousand three 
 
48 EARLY EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. 
 
 hundred and thirty-four school-houses with eleven 
 thousand four hundred and ninety-six school-rooms, 
 employing eleven thousand nine hundred and three 
 well qualified teachers, with an enrollment of three 
 hundred and ninety-three thousand eight hundred and 
 forty pupils between five and twenty-one years of age. 
 The average salary of teachers per month is $43.91, 
 with an average term of twenty-five weeks. The esti- 
 mated value of school property, buildings and grounds 
 is $11,193,396. There are one state superintendent 
 and one hundred and five county superintendents who 
 make nine thousand five hundred and fifteen visits to 
 the schools during the year. There are eight thousand 
 seven hundred and ninety-nine districts that sustain 
 school at least three months in the year, and but three 
 hundred and seventy-five that do not sustain them 
 that long. The school system is a very satisfactory 
 one, and the results are in almost every district ex- 
 ceedingly gratifying. 
 
 The qualification of our young people for public 
 service is seen in the fact that every department of 
 business activity is being well supplied therefrom. In 
 December of last year while I was in the capital of the 
 nation I was requested by Rev. A. B. Leonard, Sec- 
 retary of the Missionary Society of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, to make a missionary address to a 
 large audience in Waugh Methodist Church, on Home 
 Mission Work. I complied, and in the course of my 
 remarks referred to the fact that the greatest solicitude 
 I had felt in moving to Kansas was the apparent priva- 
 tion my boys would experience in getting an educa- 
 tion. After describing what the Church had accom- 
 plished in extending the Kingdom of Christ by the 
 aid of the Home Missionary Society I referred to the 
 planting of schools, their growth and development, 
 
EARLY EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. 49 
 
 especially as exhibited in the educational department 
 of the Columbian Exposition at Chicago, where, on a 
 great map, with lines like those on a field chart, were 
 shown the rise and progress of common education. 
 Beginning in Massachusetts, crossing westward with 
 varied depressions and upward inflections of the lines, 
 the rise was so perceptible that when the stream of 
 educational influence touched Kansas it almost 
 reached the highest line on the map, showing that 
 Kansas stood at the head of the procession. When I 
 saw this I called my wife, who is sharer of all my toils, 
 privations and joys and said to her, ''Kansas leads the 
 Nation ! If I were not afraid of being arrested I would 
 shout." At the close of the meeting a large number 
 of persons came forward and congratulated me on the 
 growth of Kansas, among them the chairman of the 
 sub-committee on civil service examination, who, in 
 the presence of a number of gentlemen, thanked me, 
 saying my remarks about educational matters had 
 given him the key to an explanation which had long 
 been lacking in his committee room; for it had been 
 observable for four or five years past that the best 
 prepared papers presented for examination by appli- 
 cants for positions in the various departments were al- 
 most invariably from Kansas. So marked was this 
 that whenever a paper showing thoroughness of prep- 
 aration came before them they were disposed to say, 
 "Here is another application from a Kansan." "Now," 
 said he, "I understand the matter perfectly, and your 
 people are to be congratulated upon their successful 
 educational advantages." 
 
 ^ ^ ;|{ . Hi * 5i; * 
 
 Seventeen church denominations have organized 
 seminaries, colleges or universities, some of these more 
 than one of such school of higher grade, and there is 
 
 4 
 
50 EARLY EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. 
 
 one, "Campbell University," undenominational. The 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, always and everywhere 
 the friend of education, founded the first schools for 
 the higher instruction in the territory. Baker Univer- 
 sity was chartered in 1858 and opened her halls for 
 the reception of students the same year; since which 
 time through border strife, drought, grasshopper 
 raids, poverty and civil war, class recitations in regular 
 terms have never been suspended for a single school 
 day. From the first president, Rev. Dr. W. R. Davis,and 
 his devoted faculty to the present Baker University 
 has been blessed with as competent and self-sacrificing 
 a class of professors and instructors as ever attempted 
 the developing and upbuilding of an educational in- 
 stitution in America, and since she graduated her first 
 class in the state has maintained a front rank among 
 the institutions of Kansas. She has had a hard strug- 
 gle, but has passed the crucial period and won the 
 right to live — as well as having demonstrated her prov- 
 idential mission. Her work has been well and suc- 
 cessfully begun and must not fail for want of funds or 
 students. The church and state can well afiford to 
 cherish and maintain this first and high-grade univer- 
 sity. From the beginning the scholarship and curric- 
 ulum of this school were on a par with the older 
 schools of the East; so that students who went East to 
 complete their courses of studies matriculated ahead 
 of their home classes. The moral and religious in- 
 fluences of Baker have always been of the highest or- 
 der and are among her greatest agencies and causes 
 of commendation. 
 
 Blue Mount College (referred to as the State Agri- 
 cultural College) was the next in order of the Metho- 
 dist Colleges, and as such aid noble work until trans- 
 ferred, when it took a wider sweep in scientific 
 
EARLY EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. 51 
 
 studies of climate, soil, seeds, trees, animals and all 
 husbandry and agriculture, with but a limited range 
 in the classics. 
 
 A school under the cjuasi-patronage of the Metho- 
 dist Church was started at Circleville, Jackson County, 
 but had a precarious life and finally succumbed to the 
 pressure of poverty and died an honorable death, her 
 memory still living because of the good she did. 
 
 Southwest Kansas College was founded at Winfield 
 in 1885, opened for the reception of students in 1886, 
 and has associated with its curriculum a Y'oung Men's 
 Christian Association and other Christian agencies, 
 which make it not only a center of classical attain- 
 ments but also of broad, philanthropic culture and 
 equipment. The Kansas Wesleyan University, located 
 at Salina, was founded in 1886, and is in all respects 
 a counterpart of the Southwest College, with very 
 nearly identical purposes, courses of study and addenda. 
 The work these are doing is being well and faithfully 
 done. These two properties are valued at $172,000, 
 thus making an aggregate value of the three college 
 properties under Methodist control of $270,000, be- 
 sides their endowments. These are large and encour- 
 aging, but not enough. A Central enterprise at To- 
 peka suddenly suspended (with a foundation worth 
 $30,000) when the cyclone of contraction took place 
 because of the ''bursting of the boom." 
 
 Critics have severely deprecated the multiplying of 
 schools; I never have. I believe there should be ten 
 thousand young Methodist people crowding the halls 
 of learning, preparing for more active and useful lives 
 in the cause of humanity. I never did and do not now 
 believe in an aristocracy, either in the commercial or 
 monetary world, much less in the educational field. 
 It should be the ambition of every parent to help his 
 
52 EARLY EDUCATIONAL HISTORY. 
 
 posterity to the best equipment for a life of usefulness, 
 and the church does well to provide liberally for the 
 education of her children under her own thoroughly 
 equipped faculties and Christian agencies. 
 
THE PLANTING OF THE CHURCH. 63 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE PLANTING OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church, always a pioneer 
 of evangelism, was first to enter the door of occupancy 
 of the sacred territory of Kansas. Among the ad- 
 vance guards were such men as Abraham Still, W. H. 
 Good, J. S. Griffin, L. B. Dennis and B. F. Bowman. 
 The Kansas and Nebraska Conference was organized 
 in a large tent in Lawrence, the historic city, by 
 Bishop Osman C. Baker, on Thursday, October 23, 
 A. D., 1856, the session closing on Saturday, the 25th, 
 showing a ministerial force of tw^enty members and 
 two probationers. These, with five supplies, "were ex- 
 pected to occupy Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and 
 New Mexico, with the Indian Territory. Within 
 these vast bounds there were nine hundred and ninety- 
 six (996) members and one hundred and eight (108) 
 probationers, with twenty (20) Sunday Schools, hav- 
 ing one thousand five hundred and eighty-two (1,582) 
 teachers, officers and scholars, with but five (5) meet- 
 ing houses in all that empire, and these but shanties. 
 These ministers and their wives were the advance 
 guard of God's chosen servants, who endured hard- 
 ships as good soldiers of the cross, as seeing Him 
 who is invisible and His victories. The history of the 
 struggle of church building and organizing would 
 make a volume, and in all this work the preachers and 
 their families bore the heaviest part of the burden. 
 
 The growth in church membership and Sunday 
 
54 THE PLANTING OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 School, church property and accommodations, fol- 
 lowing within forty years on such territory and under 
 such conditions, including two great upheavals, re- 
 sulting in bloody strife lasting nearly as long as the 
 revolutionary war, coupled with wild speculation and 
 gold panics, is truly phenomenal. The results are les- 
 son-fraught with lasting interest, showing a self-deny- 
 ing spirit, a heroism unexcelled by any aggressive 
 army of itinerants — like the angel of the Apocalypse 
 flying through the air, having the everlasting gospel 
 to preach to the inhabitants of the earth — and a won- 
 derful responsiveness of the people in answering to 
 the call to organize and establish the opportunities of 
 church association for themselves, their families, and 
 their neighbors. For the churches of the state are the 
 bulwarks of the civil, religious, moral and educational 
 liberties of the people, and wonderfully promotive of 
 civil peace, financial success, intellectual culture and the 
 highest and best of religious life and joy. 
 
 Mc ;|. >ic ;k >f= =!: :!: 
 
 The number of those early churchmen who have 
 come and gone is by far the larger list. Only two of 
 the charter members of the conference remain in the 
 Kansas conference, Rev. Joseph Denison, D. D., and 
 B. F. Bowman. Now Kansas alone has four (4) an- 
 nual conferences, which have just stationed nearly four 
 hundred and seventy (470) preachers and thirty (30) 
 probationers, with over one thousand (1,000) stations 
 and circuits to be supplied by them. She has ninety- 
 five thousand, eight hundred (95,800) full members 
 and one thousand, five hundred (1,500) probationers. 
 Her Sunday School army under the loyal banner of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church alone numbers 
 eighteen thousand (18,000) officers and teachers with 
 over one hundred thousand (100,000) pupils. In 
 
THE PLANTING OF THE CHURCH. 55 
 
 Nebraska there are four (4) annual confer- 
 ences and forty-five thousand (45,000) communi- 
 cants; in Colorado one conference and twelve 
 thousand (12,000) members; in Oklahoma one 
 conference and fifteen thousand (15,000) mem- 
 bers, and in New Mexico a mission with two 
 hundred and fifty (250) members. In these, at 
 a reasonable estimate, are eight hundred and 
 fifty (850) preachers with one hundred thou- 
 sand and forty-five (100,045) rnembers loyal to 
 the flag that made us free, to the American 
 Sabbath, the Bible and common school edu- 
 cation for all the people. The valuation of church 
 property within our organic lines amounts to the 
 enormous sum of $5,170,000, and our churches have a 
 seating capacity for one hundred thousand people. 
 
 It is a question of gravest importance whether the 
 multiplication of distinct denominations has not se- 
 riously and censurably hindered the spread and in- 
 fluence of Christianity in Kansas; and it appears rea- 
 sonable that all those denominations of Hke religious 
 faith and church discipline and pi^^ty should at the 
 earliest possible date so unite as to make all the avail- 
 able influences and conveniences for church work and 
 evangelical success more potent for good, as well as 
 less burdensome. There are seventy-nine of these 
 varying denominations, and yet these may be traced in 
 first analysis to four or five great cardinal doctrines. 
 These denominations are reported as numbering three 
 hundred and fifty thousand communicants, and a great 
 army of pastors. 
 
 If all these were united in a spirit of broad, univer- 
 sal evangelism what a mighty host it would be | 
 
56 I AM BORN. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 " I AM BORN. ' 
 
 I, Hugh Dunn Fisher, was born in Steubenville, 
 Jefferson county, Ohio, March 14, 1824. My father 
 was WilHam Fisher, the son of John Christopher and 
 Elizabeth Bratton Fisher. These grandparents were 
 German, by a long line of Teutonic extraction. Both 
 were born in the land of Huss, were Lutheran prot- 
 estants ''from principle," and members of the Prot- 
 estant Episcopal Church "of choice." Their children 
 were all baptized according to the beautiful ritual of 
 that church. The family was a large one, most of the 
 children living to a good old age. William, my father, 
 was the third son and favorite brother, always regarded 
 with that peculiar respect and courtesy that is the pride 
 of a well-ordered German family in recognizing a be- 
 loved parent or brother. He was born in Staunton, a 
 beautiful little town on the South branch of the famous 
 "Potomac" River in "East Virginia," on the 26th of 
 March, 1793. 
 
 In 1805 the family emigrated to what was then re- 
 garded as the "Great Wilderness," as all that region 
 west of the Alleghenies, and especially the Ohio Val- 
 ley, was called. So rude and barbarous were the 
 methods of emigration at that early day that they 
 crossed the mountains on pack-saddles in company 
 with a "salt train," no wagon roads being yet opened. 
 The trail was so steep and rough and narrow in places 
 that many times were they compelled to unburden 
 
I AM BORN. 57 
 
 their laboring horses and assist them in the ascent of 
 the mountains with ropes, carrying the goods and 
 children to a place of rest where they could remount 
 in safety to pursue their difficult and dangerous jour- 
 ney. They were compelled to kindle fires at night to 
 protect themselves from the wild beasts inhabiting the 
 mountains. Not infrequently did they startle the bear, 
 deer and wolf from the dense thickets of flowering 
 laurel and underbrush which skirted their crooked and 
 rugged trail to the gateway of the West. When the 
 famii}- at last descended from the mountain the first 
 settlement they came upon was a point near the pres- 
 ent site of West Newton, Pennsylvania, where there 
 w^as a village called Plump Sauk, then a miserable 
 apology for a town, but a real frontier village, full of 
 drunken and debauched men. After reaching the 
 banks of the Yougheogheny River the family stopped 
 and estabhshed the first pottery West of the Allegheny 
 mountains. 
 
 The following spring they descended the Yougheo- 
 gheny River in a small family boat to its confluence 
 with the Monongahela at the point now occupied by 
 McKeesport, a few miles above the noted place of 
 Braddock's defeat, still called "Braddock's Field." The 
 history of Braddock's fall and Washington's bravery 
 was fresh in the minds of the emigrant family and they 
 felt no little anxiety in passing down the river in so 
 unprotected a manner. They were compelled to row 
 the boat with oarsmen hidden from view to keep the 
 men from being picked off by the Indians, who ap- 
 peared on the banks at several points and by signs and 
 various devices sought to induce the emigrants to 
 come near enough to be captured. But the men kept 
 her w'ell out into the stream and by careful watching 
 
58 I AM BORN. 
 
 and earnest rowing landed the family in safety after 
 several days and nights at the site of Steubenville. 
 
 ^ ;!: ;[; ;K ;|; jJj ;); 
 
 There were but eight or ten houses in the village in 
 that day, and these were principally built of logs. 
 Among the rest there was a "block house," or kind 
 of ancient citadel of defense, into which the settlers 
 might gather in times of alarm and danger from the 
 Indians. These alarms were frequent and the danger 
 so great that much of the daily labor was performed 
 with gun in hand, ready for an emergency. Several 
 years later the Indians came into this settlement and 
 carried away captive Daniel Pursley, a lad in his teens, 
 and his playmate, Seth BickerstafT, about his own age. 
 The latter escaped through the superstition of the sav- 
 ages, by the interposition of the Great Spirit, as they 
 supposed. Young Pursley was retained in the tribe 
 until he became a young man. The writer has often 
 heard "Father Pursley," as he was later called, narrate 
 the most thrilling incidents of his Indian slavery, his 
 escape and conversion to God. As he would stand in 
 the class room to relate his strange, wild experience, 
 with uplifted hand and pointed finger he would shout 
 in Indian style, "The Victory! The Victory!!" crying 
 "Who-o-o, Who-o-o, Who-o-o, Who-o-o-pe!" until 
 the class room would ring. He was indeed a shout- 
 ing Methodist." 
 
 Grandfather Fisher established a pottery in Steub- 
 enville, but there being little demand for his wares it 
 did not prove a success. Here he died, but the rest of 
 the family remained together until death called a dear 
 son named Joseph. The other sons and daughters be- 
 came so permanently located as ever to remain within 
 easy reach of each other, the last one dying in 1890. 
 
 My father went to live with Barnard Lucas, a typical 
 
I AM BORN. 59 
 
 Baltimorean Methodist. There were at this time eight 
 or nine persons in Steubenville who had brought^ cer- 
 tificates of membership in the Methodist church to 
 their Western home. These organized a class of which 
 Mr. Lucas became leader. The Sabbath after the or- 
 ganization my father, then a mere boy, gave his name 
 as a probationer in the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 thus identifying himself for life with this then hated 
 people. This step greatly exposed him to the perse- 
 cution and hatred of wicked boys and men. He was 
 often followed and stoned as he returned from evening 
 prayer and other Christian meetings, but this in no 
 wise daunted or discouraged him in his life of devotion 
 to his Master's service. He became a class leader in 
 the church, which relation he held for more than 
 thirty-five consecutive years. He was a remarkably 
 useful leader, sometimes having charge of three classes 
 at once, always leading with skill and acceptability and 
 being almost a second Corvoso. At times as many as 
 thirty persons who belonged to his class would pray 
 in public, and many useful leaders w^ere trained under 
 his care. 
 
 Father was happy in his choice of a helpmeet, in 
 the person of Isabella Dunn, daughter of Hugh and 
 Rebecca Dunn, of Scotch descent. From early girl- 
 hood she had been a devoted Christian and became a 
 great help to my father in his Christian life, her pa- 
 tient, quiet spirit toning down his impulsive and some- 
 what hasty temperament. My parents were poor, like 
 most of the citizens in that early day, but by diligence 
 and frugality were enabled to rear their family in rea- 
 sonable comfort. 
 
 ^ ^ H« * 5JJ ^ JJS 
 
 My mother was an invalid for years, so greatly 
 afflicted that for long periods she was deprived of the 
 
60 I AM BORN. 
 
 privilege of attending public religious services with 
 those she loved. My recollections of her are associ- 
 ated with my earliest religious impressions, made by 
 her example and teachings. The Bible was her daily 
 companion and she early inclined me to read and rev- 
 erence the Word of God. I remember a most impres- 
 sive lesson given me under these circumstances. A 
 little girl by the name of Carroll, whose sister was a 
 very dear friend of my sister, died. My sister took me 
 to Mr. Carroll's the morning of the funeral to see the 
 corpse. This was the first time I had ever stood be- 
 side a coffin looking upon the lifeless form of a human 
 being. My heart was deeply touched. In the after- 
 noon when the bell was tolling slowly and solemnly 
 my mother drew me near her side as she sat in her 
 chair and talked to me of God and heaven, and told 
 me with much tenderness that if I would be pious and 
 serve God in life when I should die my spirit would 
 go to heaven. I remember I believed that the soul 
 of that little girl was with the angels, singing the 
 praises of God. That lesson has not lost its effect 
 upon my mind to this hour. Soon after this occur- 
 rence mother took me to her bedroom and caused me 
 to kneel by her side and there prayed for her little son 
 while the warm tears ran down her cheeks and fell on 
 my upturned face. I wondered why my mother wept. 
 I know now why she wept and prayed! 
 
 It was the established custom of my father to have 
 family prayers. Often did father and mother become 
 so wonderfully blessed on such occasions that they 
 shouted the praises of God, rejoicing with exceeding 
 joy. Very frequently class leaders and others would 
 come and spend the evening at our home, when a 
 
I AM BORN. 61 
 
 season of song and prayer would end in a grand shout 
 of praise to Christ the Redeemer. 
 
 In 1829 my father rented and took charge of a 
 ferry at the foot of Market street in Steubenville. We 
 Hved near the river where we had a neighbor, Mr. 
 Robert Hering, who was a warm friend of Sabbath 
 schools, and a kind man to little boys. On the day 
 that I was eight years old he presented me with a little 
 book called "The Pilgrims." I prized that book very 
 highly and read it with great delight and profit. I had 
 a playhouse in the yard into which I used to go to 
 read and pray. On that day I took my new book 
 and went there to read. While there I know my 
 heart was renewed. I was exceedingly happy, and I 
 felt as distinctly as I ever have since that I was in- 
 wardly moved by the Holy Ghost to be a preacher of 
 the gospel. From that day all my reading was with 
 a view to a preparation for that great work, and I did 
 not pass a week without the conviction that I was to 
 be a minister of the gospel of Christ. 
 
 During our residence here my father engaged in 
 keeping a store. This, with the ferry, was helping 
 him to recover losses sustained by going security for a 
 brother who had failed in business. But a band of 
 desperadoes, some of whom were afterward hanged 
 in Wheeling for murder, broke into his store and rob- 
 bed it of a large quantity of valuable goods, money 
 and papers, which so embarrassed him that he never 
 fully recovered from the loss sustained. Thus embar- 
 rassed in business and having sickness to contend with 
 he had ever after a hard struggle to support his fam- 
 ily, and could give his children only a limited educa- 
 tion. We were all of a studious turn, however, and 
 made reasonable progress for our opportunities. By 
 my sister's side I took my first lesson in a little Sunday 
 
62 I AM BORN. 
 
 school primer. Both my sisters were early in life con- 
 verted and became active in the service of God. Two 
 other sisters had died in infancy. My older brother, 
 who was named for Grandfather Fisher — John Chris- 
 topher — was happily converted while our mother still 
 lived. He became a useful class leader, an efHcient 
 steward and trustee in the church, and lived and died 
 an exemplary member of the church of our father. 
 
 After the death of mother, on September 7, 1837, 
 we were left in the care of our second sister, who took 
 charge of the home and family, the older sister having 
 married just one week before mother died. Father, 
 sister and three brothers were now left without a moth- 
 er's counsel to guide them in domestic cares or the 
 afifairs of life. Our home was gloomy; but tlie 
 triumph of mother was so complete that heaven 
 seemed nearer and the Savior dearer than ever before. 
 
 Her last words were "Jesus is mine, and I am His." 
 
 ^c =1: ^ A' ;;= :|' -i: 
 
 Father's second wife was Miss Elizabeth Permar, a 
 maiden lady of considerable experience in domestic 
 affairs, having in girlhood been charged with the care 
 of her father's family upon the death of her own moth- 
 er. She was also a devout Christian woman and 
 proved to be a good mother and a great blessing to 
 our home. I was asked when father brought her to 
 us: "What are you going to call her?" I answered: 
 'T am going to call her mother, and if I do my duty 
 she will do hers," and so it proved. She was always as 
 a mother to me. 
 
MY CONVERSION AND CALL. 63 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MY CONVERSION AND CALL. 
 
 In 1838 Rev. George S. Holmes was the pastor of 
 the church of which my father and family were mem- 
 bers. During the winter there was a remarkable re- 
 vival, taking in its range the old and young of both 
 sexes. Among the converts was the pastor's son, 
 Charles Avery. He and I were nearly of an age and 
 very intimate friends. On the evening of Monday, 
 February 15, 1838, Charles was converted. Next 
 morning our Sunday school superintendent, Mr. 
 Francis Bates, came to the shop where I was working 
 and said to me, **Hugh, you should have been at the 
 meeting last night to have seen how happy Charles 
 Holmes was. He was converted." I could not reply. 
 I went out of the shop and passed around the large 
 chimney used by the shop (we were coopers) and wept 
 like a child. My young friend had obtained salvation 
 and I was without a satisfying assurance of mine, for 
 though my childhood's conversion had never lost its 
 influence upon me, the years had brought increasing 
 heed of a larger grace. That evening I went to church 
 and during the sermon my heart was broken. When 
 the invitation for mourners was given I went and knelt 
 as a seeker of conscious salvation. That night I found 
 no clear evidence of peace. On the next afternoon I 
 attended a private prayer meeting led by my father 
 and again presented myself at the altar of prayer. I 
 felt some relief of mind from the fact that I kn-ew I w^as 
 in the line of duty. At night I again presented myself 
 
64 MY CONVERSION AND CALL. 
 
 as a seeker, resolved that I would not leave the place 
 until consciously saved. My case grew desperate. I 
 felt that it was all dark, that I was sinking into despair. 
 The floor on which I was kneeling seemed to be sink- 
 ing beneath me and I appeared hopelessly lost. Sud- 
 denly and to my great astonishment my tears ceased 
 to flow. Just then my kind Sabbath school teacher, 
 Mr. John Taylor, came to my side and laying his arm 
 tenderly around my neck with deep sympathy, said to 
 me earnestly, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and 
 thou shalt be saved." 
 
 That was exactly what I was trying to do, but just 
 what I did not know how to do. His w^ords sank deep 
 into my ear and seemed to possess a wonderful charm, 
 especially when he spoke the name of "Jesus." This 
 strengthened my heart. I raised erect upon my knees 
 and stretching my hands to heaven cried out in an- 
 guish, "Lord, save or I perish." I lost sight of myself 
 and my surroundings. The ceiling seemed to vanish 
 as I gazed upward, the roof to part asunder, and by 
 faith I beheld Christ standing at the right hand of the 
 Father looking tenderly down upon me. I ventured 
 out of myself and sins, being helped by the Holy 
 Ghost, into the arms of Jesus, and as quick as a spark 
 from smitten steel light fell upon me and filled the 
 house with glory. My sins were pardoned! My soul 
 was free! I rejoiced in the clearest possible evidence 
 that I w^as born again and adopted into the family of 
 God. I bounded over the mourners' bench and across 
 the altar into the arms of my young friend and we 
 shouted together the praises of God in the presence of 
 the vast congregation, most of whom had known me 
 from childhood and many of whom deeply sym- 
 pathized with me in my new found joy, and praised 
 God in my behalf. When my joy had subsided a little 
 
MY CONVERSION AND CALL. 65 
 
 I wondered why I had not beUeved earlier — it now ap- 
 peared so pleasant and easy. The evidence of my ac- 
 ceptance was so clear that I have never for a single 
 moment since that night been tempted to doubt it. 
 
 Immediately my impressions of duty grew clearer 
 and I felt with new force that I was called to preach 
 Jesus and the resurrection. As I walked home with 
 my brother and sister it appeared to me that the moon 
 and stars shone with greater brilliancy than ever be- 
 fore. All nature seemed changed into one vast scene 
 of delight and praise. My soul was exceedingly peace- 
 ful and happy. 
 
 >ic ;|j ^; 5jj ^ :{; ;{c 
 
 With renewed assiduity I began to study everything 
 that I thought would fit me for a useful ministerial 
 life. I found great difficulties to be overcome. My 
 education was of necessity very limited. Schools were 
 not accessible. My father was getting old and had to 
 struggle to provide for his family. His previous losses 
 had so reduced him financially that all his children 
 found it necessary to do what they could to help him. 
 Therefore we were raised to very active habits, which, 
 however, are perhaps as great a fortune as land or 
 money. My opportunities for obtaining an education 
 were greater than any of the family, as I was acquiring 
 a trade which enabled me to study. But another diffi- 
 culty confronted me. Our church was always clam- 
 oring for "educated preachers," and at this time there 
 was much talk about higher education for ministers 
 of the gospel, though not so much as to how those 
 called to this work were to obtain education. I knew 
 little, indeed almost nothing, about circuit work, ex- 
 cept as my ideas had been formed from what I knew 
 of full grown and able preachers, such as Waterman, 
 Bascom, Holmes, Babcock, Swazey, Kinney, Cook, 
 
66 MY CONVERSION AND CALL. 
 
 Battell and their class of expounders of the truth. 1 
 could not expect to preach as they did, but how my 
 heart panted for the knowledge that would fit me for 
 the ministry! My soul thirsted for the learning that 
 lay beyond my reach. 
 
 A third difficulty stood in the way to hinder me. 
 Several young men had felt "called" and were per- 
 suaded that they should preach. The church encour- 
 aged them and for a season they did well, but before 
 getting into conference they broke down and utterly 
 failed. The fear of a like failure became the greatest 
 barrier in my way. Looking back upon those early 
 needs and fears I am led to think that it is much easier 
 for a young man to start in the ministry from a rural 
 district or country charge than from a city station. 
 With these difficulties in my way on one hand and 
 my convictions of duty on the other I had a terrible 
 warfare running through all the years of my young 
 life and manhood. Sometimes I was almost driven to 
 despair, when I would conclude to give up the idea oi 
 becoming a preacher. But in this conclusion I found 
 no rest. Then I would resolve to go forward. If God 
 had called me he was responsible and would clear the 
 path before me as I advanced. I had adopted as my 
 motto that quaint saying of Davy Crockett's, "Be sure 
 you are right and then go ahead;" and again and again 
 under its quickening influence my courage would 
 arouse and I would press on through the darkness 
 until light would come upon my soul. 
 
 All this time I was reading, studying and praying 
 while I continued to help my father maintain his fam- 
 ily and pay my way through school. For months I 
 worked from early in the morning until nine o'clock, 
 then met my classes in the academy and recited with 
 them, returning immediately to my work, where I 
 
MY CONVERSION AND CALL. 67 
 
 would continue until 4 p. m., again returning to recite, 
 then working until dark and studying until midnight. 
 My lessons in the languages, higher mathematics and 
 astronomy were studied with my books lying or 
 standing open on my bench held in position by a 
 block of wood. I would catch a sentence and while 
 champering a head or setting a hoop would repeat it 
 over and over until I could catch another and settle 
 it in my mind. Very many nights when the town bell 
 in the old tower would toll out the noon of night I 
 was on my knees with the open Bible spread on the 
 shop chair praying to the Giver of Wisdom, who up- 
 braideth not, that he would guide my path aright. 
 
 =1= * 5i: * ^ ^ j|; 
 
 I continued thus to study and work until our family 
 physician enjoined my father to no longer allow me to 
 do so lest I should ruin my health, which, greatly to 
 my sorrow, was already impaired. So I was com- 
 pelled to change my habits of study and devote less 
 time to my books. Still my soul thirsted for knowl- 
 edge that I might be qualified for usefulness as a 
 preacher of salvation. Often I went under the river 
 bank into coves washed by the eddying waters of the 
 beautiful Ohio, and imagining the stream a congreo-a- 
 tion of sinners I would preach repentance, faith and 
 salvation, weeping at the story of the cross while my 
 soul was moved with a desire to do good. There were 
 times when the sense of responsibility upon me was 
 so great that I prayed in agony of soul to be released 
 and have another called in my stead. 
 
 Just opposite where we lived there was a deep de- 
 file between the towering Virginia hills which skirt the 
 Ohio opposite Steubenville. This formed a dark, ro- 
 miantic canon, bowered with stately pines and graceful 
 birch. Vast clif¥s of rocks stood bare on either side, 
 
68 MY CONVERSION AND CALL. 
 
 and away up the winding canon was an old moss-cov- 
 ered rock sheltered by a beautiful birch, so dense in its 
 foliage and so interlacing, its comrades that the sun- 
 light scarce ever fell upon the secluded spot. I some- 
 times went there to pray, and more than once did I 
 think I would go, like Elijah in the wilderness, and 
 hide behind that rock and fast and pray until God 
 would either relieve me from the call to the ministry 
 or by audible voice tell me in unmistakable words what 
 he would have me do and how he would have me do 
 it. Then the Holy Spirit would ask "What more or 
 greater evidence would a voice give tha:i that thou hast 
 in the inward call of the Holy Ghost?" The conflict 
 was continuous and consuming, notwithstanding I 
 doubted neither my conversion nor call. Not a day 
 or hour has passed without that deep, constant urgent 
 voice as clear as the hour I first heard it. 
 
 Some years later I formed the acquaintance of John 
 R. Shearer, a young man who afterward became a 
 member of the Pittsburg conference. One beautiful 
 Sabbath afternoon as we walked together I revealed to 
 him what I had kept locked up in my heart so long — 
 my convictions of duty and the severity of my strug- 
 gle. He entered into full sympathy with me, gave me 
 excellent advice, and soon after wrote me a letter 
 containing good and profitable direction. Following 
 upon this, I conferred with the presiding elder con- 
 cerning the subject of my desire and hope, but was 
 sadly disappointed in receiving from him whose duty 
 it was to help me little of encouragement and no valu- 
 able advice. 
 
 I was at this time a member of the Young Men's 
 prayer meeting, and, as tne discipline recommended 
 and required, several young men about my age had 
 organized a "Band Meeting." We met in band in an 
 
MY CONVERSION AND CALL. 69 
 
 upper rcom, with closed doors, for the purpose of 
 scrutinizing our hearts and conduct. This was the 
 best means of grace I ever attended. Here we laid 
 our souis open before God and each other and prayed 
 with and for each other. The Lord heard and answer- 
 ed us. I was also greatly aided in preparation by a 
 "Youth's Lyceum" in wdiich we debated questions of 
 a strictly moral character. On a memorable occasion 
 w^e had the question "Has Man the Power of Voli- 
 tion?" For once and only once I turned Calvanist, 
 and taking the "Westminster Confession of Faith" and 
 "Buck's Theological Dictionary" for text books, made 
 a pretty fair defense of the negative. Indeed, it was 
 placed to my credit that I won a decided victory — it 
 was unfortunate, however, that it should have been on 
 the wrong side! 
 
 These opportunities wath regular attendance upon 
 Sabbath schools, Bible classes, and teachers' meetings, 
 became as schooling to me. In fact I graduated from 
 the Sabbath school into the ministry. It was my theo- 
 logical Alma Mater. My Sunday school commence- 
 ment was the beginning of my itinerancy. Few^ in the 
 church or Sabbath school knew that I was preparing 
 for the ministry, only as they surmised it from my 
 close application to study, though the church seemed 
 to have a conviction tliat I would preach. Meantime 
 the lessons I had taken in vocal music were proving 
 of great use in my work, and I was early elected 
 chorister to the Sabbath school and subsequently to 
 the church. 
 
70 BETROTHAL AND FIRST WORK. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 BETROTHAL AND FIRST WORK. 
 
 Our Sabbath school was a model school. We had 
 forty-four regular teachers besides a full corps of offi- 
 cers. Most of these were deeply devoted to the school 
 and church. It was here that I became acquainted 
 with Miss Elizabeth M. Acheson, who subsequently 
 became my wife. She was the oldest daughter of John 
 and Ann Jane Acheson, who were Scotch Presby- 
 terians and of Scotch-Irish extraction. Elizabeth be- 
 ing warmly enwrapped in the Sabbath school, a con- 
 geniality of interests ensued. Acquaintance became 
 intimacy. This became a matter of prayer; for I was 
 not free to marry, as that would efifectually prevent 
 my becoming an itinerant. Yet, believing as I did, that 
 this young woman, who is by my side at the age of 
 seventy years as I write these lines, would make me 
 a helpmeet indeed, I proposed to her and in due time 
 was accepted, and the time agreed upon for marrying 
 was put five years in the future — unless the Lord 
 should open my way earlier into the itnerancy. 
 
 This was a fortunate contract for me, for not in- 
 frequently when, discouraged on account of the diffi- 
 culties in my way, I would say, "I have a notion to 
 give vip the idea of being a preacher, get married and 
 settle down in life; the church needs devoted laymen, 
 as well as preachers," my betrothed would reply: "You 
 believe you are called of God to be a preacher; if you 
 disobey Him you cannot prosper; I don't want to 
 
BETROTHAL AND FIRST WORK. 71 
 
 marry a failure; do you remember Jonah? I don't 
 want a whale to swallow my husband. He might 
 not escape as well as Jonah did; we will wait God's 
 own time." Thus, at the time I most needed help God 
 gave me a counsellor whose advice has always been 
 in the line of duty. My brother-in-law, Joseph Lan- 
 ing, though not a professed Christian, also gave me 
 advice which wonderfully strengthened me in the 
 overcoming of obstacles which appeared to me almost 
 insurmountable. 
 
 ^ 5k 5|; * * * * 
 
 Thus helped I pressed onward. My early efiforts 
 at pubHc leadership and speaking were trying ordeals, 
 almost crucifixions, but usually resulted in victory, 
 increase of strength and high resolve. My sermons to 
 imaginary congregations were prophecies, many of 
 them already fulfilled. The scenes of my youthful 
 vision became realities in fact and form. My first at- 
 tempt at leading was in a young men's prayer meeting. 
 Clark Hufif and William Richards were the responsible 
 leaders. It was their duty to see that the meeting was 
 properly conducted. I had been appointed to open 
 the devotions with reading, singing and prayer. I had 
 learned my scripture lesson almost by heart. My 
 hymn was number seven hundred and one. When 
 the hour came for commencing the service I was so 
 seized with fear that I could not stand up to read. 
 Brother Huff seeing my embarrassment sang a verse 
 or two and then said: "Take up the cross. Brother 
 Hugh, there is a blessing under it." With great 
 trembling and fear I arose, read my scripture lesson 
 and knelt and prayed. This meeting proved a great 
 benefit to my soul, lessening my timidity and increas- 
 ing my spiritual strength. 
 
 My first public speech was a missionarv address 
 
72 BETROTHAL AND FIRST WORK. 
 
 before the Sabbath school of nearly eight hundred. 
 I was then but a lad. God gave me help and the re- 
 sult of that effort lives yet, though the majority who 
 heard it have fallen asleep in Jesus. 
 
 Soon after this, upon my motion in teachers' mec*- 
 ing, we planned a Sabbath school in the district in 
 the north part of the city. I was its first secretary 
 and commissioned to secure the use of the house. The 
 school developed very rapidly and grew into a good 
 appointment, finally becoming a self-sustaining sta- 
 tion. It was in this house that several years later 1 
 preached my first and trial sermon, and it was in this 
 house that I was afterwards regularly licensed to 
 preach on Christmas Day, 1847, and it was in this 
 house that I was, in December, 1895, introduced oy 
 the pastor of the now prosperous church as the 
 founder and planter of it. 
 
 About the time we organized this Sabbath school 
 I was appointed, class leader. With much fear and 
 trembling I attempted to lead. Good results foFowcd 
 from my efforts, and the class, though almost broken 
 up at the time I took charge, soon recovered a good 
 attendance. 
 
 ^ ^ ^ ^ >i; * :{: 
 
 My leadership here ended only to give place to more 
 active duties as an exhorter. The first meeting I held 
 in this latter relation was in Sycamore school-house 
 on Florence Circuit, of which Rev. Israel Dallas was 
 pastor. He was called home on account of the sick- 
 ness of his father in the fall of 1837, just after the 
 presidential election in which Polk and Dallas were 
 made president and vice-president. I had been ab- 
 sent from home when Brother Dallas called to secure 
 my services to fill appointments during his absence. 
 When I returned my father told me Mr. Dallas had 
 
BETROTHAL AND FIRST WORK. 73 
 
 called to see me. I wondered why the vice-president 
 of the United States should call up on me, especially 
 as all my political feelings were on the other side. 
 Seeing my (juandary and misconception, father hu- 
 mored the joke a little until I became thoroughly in- 
 terested to know what the vice-president wished with 
 me, when I was gravely informed that it was the Rev. 
 Mr. Dallas who had called and who wanted me to 
 preach, or hold a meeting at Sycamore school-house, 
 in Virginia. 
 
 At the appointed time I went to the place of meet- 
 ing and found it full of people anxious to hear the 
 gospel. I spoke to them from the language of John 
 the Baptist. "He must increase but I decrease," and 
 we had what was to me a glorious meeting. This, 
 almost the beginning of my ministerial work, was in- 
 dicative of the larger duties soon to overtake me, in 
 whose struggles and conflicts encouragement and vic- 
 tories were often to mingle. 
 
 Hill's school-house in Ohio, and Beatie's school- 
 house in Virginia w^ere points where occasional visits 
 afforded me the opportunity of holding religious services 
 for exhortation and prayer. Sometimes, also, I ac- 
 companied Mr. Frederic Risher, a local preacher of 
 some repute, to appointments in Annapolis, called Old 
 Blue Salem. These journeys afforded me opportunity 
 to converse with one who had larger experience than 
 I and proved very profitable, yielding to me the 
 treasures of a knowledge T could not hope for by read- 
 ing alone, though I was all the while applying myself 
 to study with the greatest possible diligence. I read, 
 visited, exhorted, and attended all the meetings I could 
 reach with a single view of qualifying myself for the 
 work to which I felt called. 
 
 Finally I commenced the study of "Systematic Di- 
 
74 BETROTHAL AXD FIRST WORK. 
 
 vinity" under the direction of Rev. Geo. S. Holmes, of 
 the Pittsburg conference, a clear thinker and a sound 
 gospel preacher, who said to me encouragingly, "My 
 boy, if you master Watson's Theological Institutes 
 you will be able to preach anywhere." 
 
 About this time I made the acquaintance of Rev. 
 Mr. Hoagland, pastor of the Methodist Protestant 
 Church in Steubenville. Together we studied that 
 most beautiful science, astronomy. I found him to be 
 a clever and spiritual gentleman. My advantages soon 
 almost equalled those able to attend theological 
 schools; for I had the acquaintance of Rev. C. C. 
 Beatty, D. D., president and proprietor of Steuben- 
 ville's celebrated female seminary, over which Dr. 
 Read, a friend of later years, now presides, and also of 
 Rev. Intripit Moss, D. D., of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Church. Both were able ministers of the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, whose lives and advices to me were rich in 
 blessing. 
 
 iji ^ ^ 5f< 5;< 5JC iji 
 
 My first knowledge of Sabbath school celebrations 
 dates back to the very initiation of them — a union 
 celebration on the Fourth of July, 1832, consisting in 
 singing and appropriate addresses delivered in the First 
 Presbyterian Church, after which we formed a pro- 
 cession and marched to Dr. Beatty's seminary where 
 we were refreshed in body as w^ell as in soul. The 
 singing was very unlike our present Sabbath school 
 songs, but it was the beginning of that wonderful 
 change which has come over society by which the 
 Sabbath school has sanctified our national holidays 
 to the remembrance of patriotism and the promotion 
 of religion, thus doing aw^ay with the general or militia 
 musters which used to be attended with drunkenness 
 and rioting. 'Tis a happy and blessed change! 
 
BETROTHAL AND FIRST WORK. 75 
 
 In after years it was my privilege to visit all the 
 Protestant Sabbath schools in Steubenville by invita- 
 tion of a union teachers' meeting to teach new tunes 
 and songs to be used on similar but grander scale. 
 Such was the progress of Sabbath school influence that 
 the Ep'scopalians, and even the Seceders, not only al- 
 lowed me to teach their schools the songs, but were 
 zealous to have me do so. This beautiful exhibition 
 of Christian union influenced my after life; early I 
 learned "How good and pleasant it is for brethren to 
 dwell together in unity!" 
 
 The years rolled b\ while my soul was being thus 
 enriched and my mind stored with valuable material 
 for use in the saving work of the Christian ministry, 
 and almost imperceptibly I was learnmg the great 
 benefit of pastoral visitation and pleasant intercourse 
 with Christian workers. 
 
 Ih addition to the above cited means of Christian 
 culture and experience I occasionally attended a field 
 or out-door meeting for religious service on the hill- 
 side under the shade of the stately oak and poplar. 
 These meetings were usually led by a band of zealous 
 English people called "Primitive Methodists." Chief 
 among them were Air. and Mrs. Riley. She, espe- 
 cially, was mighty in w^ord and prayer and her labors 
 were acknowledged by the spirit in the salvation of 
 precious souls. These out-door meetings w^ere schools 
 whose lessons have been of great service to me in 
 many similar public services, religious, patriotic and 
 reformatory. While I felt intensely difilident, by such 
 example and in varied ways it was being impressed 
 upon me that duty and success demand promptness of 
 action, and my aim w^as growing more directly to- 
 ward results. Having frequent opporunity of hearing 
 class leaders converse in my father's family, especially 
 
76 BETROTHAL AND FIRST WORK. 
 
 on the subject of pastoral visitation and its absolute 
 necessity to a successful ministry, I early resolved I 
 would try to become a faithful pastor. In subsequent 
 years I have found great pleasure and profit in pas- 
 toral work, and deeply regret that this important de- 
 partment of church work should be so largely neglect- 
 ed at the present day. 
 
 To-day I look back upon those years of varied and 
 trying experiences to see that they were only prepar- 
 atory — that I had yet to realize that there are mort 
 and greater trials to follow. I was truly in the fur- 
 nace which was to be heated seven times hotter than 
 it was used to be heated. But the fire has not con- 
 sumed, only refined, and given me such an estimate of 
 the world, its poverty-stricken riches and its unmiti- 
 gated and miserably pleasurable munificence, that the 
 hardships of an itinerant life have become luxurious 
 and its privations have no discouragements, the se- 
 verest conflicts no terror. 
 
DOUBT NO MORE. 77 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 " DOUBT NO MORE." 
 
 But while these young years were wearing away 
 I often almost gave up the thought of pressing on to 
 the ministry. Waves of darkness, mountain high, 
 would roll over my despairing soul and out of the 
 darkness I would cry unto the Lord as out of the 
 depths of hell and He would hear my cry and deliver 
 me. Then up I would rise again to the determination 
 of duty or death ! 
 
 The time came at last when the path opened before 
 me bright and clear. I had most solemnly promised 
 God on my knees that if he would open the way I 
 would go even to the ends of the earth, claiming the 
 promise, "Lo, I am with thee to the ends of the world." 
 In the fall of 1847 "^y father and I were engaged at 
 coopering. We had laid in a stock for the winter and 
 had made all calculations for success in the business, 
 when early in November Rev. David S. Welling of the 
 Pittsburg conference, an able and eloquent preacher 
 stationed on the Jefiferson circuit, came to Steuben- 
 ville to get help in holding a series of meetings on his 
 circuit. He was directed to call on me with the infor- 
 mation that I was studying for the ministry and would 
 be of service if he could persuade me to go. My way 
 was open. After consulting with father I consented to 
 help him. We traveled in a ''hack" to a little town 
 where we took supper, thence proceeded to Annapolis 
 on horseback, and from this point to Hopewell 
 
78 DOUBT NO MORE. 
 
 Church. Here we had a glorious meeting, resuhing 
 in the conversion of about forty precious souls, among 
 the number a Quakeress and her husband by the name 
 of Scott. I never before witnessed such a wonderful 
 change in the expression of a human countenance as 
 was shown in the face of this woman. The divine pow- 
 er of saving faith had a truly wonderful illustration in 
 her conversion. 
 
 One Sabbath night there occurred in this church a 
 scene which deserves description. The house was a 
 good-sized, old-fashioned log church, rudely seated 
 and generally well filled with attentive hearers. It was 
 warmed by the use of a large wood-burning stove, 
 the chimney passing out through the center of the loft 
 and roof. On the occasion referred to there was an 
 unusually large congregation in attendance. I had 
 preached in the church in Annapolis in the morning, 
 and at night was preaching at a full church from the 
 words, "Behold He cometh and every eye shall see 
 Him, and they also that pierced Him and all flesh 
 shall wail because of Him. Even so. Amen!" Just 
 as I reached the climax on the last part of the text 
 and the people were listening with rapt attention there 
 came the sound of a mighty crash, an apparent tremb- 
 ling of the whole house, a flickering oi the lights, fol- 
 lowed by a slow and confused rumbling lasting for a 
 few seconds — then silence as of death. Men and wo- 
 men turned pale, glanced at each other terror-stricken, 
 looked at the preacher as he stood with uplifted hands 
 and streaming eyes, and as if by one common impulse 
 of terror uttered a wail of anguish as if the judgment 
 was set and the judge descending had heralded his 
 coming. For a moment all was mystery. Then it 
 flashed upon me that the chimney had fallen, which 
 proved correct. While taking advantage of the so- 
 
DOUBT NO MORE. 79 
 
 lemnity of the ocasion I applied the truth to the 
 awakened and interested congregation. Several were 
 converted that evening. I remained at a neighbor's 
 over night and the next day joined his sons in rebuild- 
 ing the chimney, whose fall had aided me in the ap- 
 plication of the doctrine of the judgment to come. 
 
 ;|; ^ ^ ^ :|; ^ ^ 
 
 A little later we held another meeting at a point 
 where there was a large log church, floored, and seated 
 with puncheons — benches of split logs hewn smoothly 
 on the upper side with legs made of short, stifif sticks 
 stuck in augur holes in the under side of the slabs. 
 The people came from a considerable distance in wag- 
 ons, in the winter in sledges, bringing all the members 
 of the family. The high old pulpit was of ample di- 
 mensions, utterly destitute of pretension to architec- 
 tural design or finish. It was a compact box entered 
 by several steps through a door which wdien closed 
 and buttoned so completely sheltered the preacher 
 that the congregation could not see him nor he them 
 until he arose to preach, and even then only part of his 
 body was visible above the *'book board." It was a 
 "bust view" only. This proved to be an admirable 
 device for preachers wdio stood in all manner of wrig- 
 gling attitudes or whose brogans were strangers to 
 brush and blacking. Imagine a spare, pale-faced, un- 
 initiated youth from the midst of a fastidious city con- 
 gregation taking his place in such a pulpit and facing 
 such a congregation alone! The opening services 
 were gone through with without perceptible embar- 
 rassment. I had just read my text and begun to speak 
 when my attention was attracted by an unusual noise. 
 It was as regular and dehberate as the ticking of the 
 old wall-sweeping clock that hung in my grandfather's 
 house, sounding out a solemn "thump," "thump," 
 
80 DOUBT NO MORE. 
 
 **thump," "thump." Wondering, as wonder I would, 
 and preaching on as best I could, I at last caught the 
 direction of the sound and determined to discover the 
 cause. I moved in the large pulpit in the direction 
 from whence it came until I could look over and down 
 into the "amen corner." Out of compassion for their 
 wives and children and with an evident view to rock 
 the children in the cradle of Methodism, the men had 
 extemporized what would now be called a crib, an 
 old-fashioned cradle of mammoth proj>ortions, and 
 had placed it in the right hand amen corner of the 
 church near the pulpit. Into this omnibus crib went 
 the babies when their mothers had wearied of holding 
 them. Greatly to my discomfiture my eyes now rested 
 on the rude cradle which was gently but regularly 
 moved by the foot of a devoted grandmother and 
 which contained four or five sleeping babies. When 
 one little fellow would begin to squirm its mother 
 would pick him out and thus make room soon to be 
 filled by another mother's darling. The grandmothers 
 — God bless our grandmothers — were devout in wor- 
 shipping God and building up Methodism by training 
 the children to love the Church and attend His wor- 
 ship. For a time that day both my sermon and gravity 
 were upset by the picture, but I got away from that 
 side of the pulpit, shut my eyes and drove right on. 
 
 ;|i >i; ;;< ^ * * 
 
 While we were holding these meetings I occasion- 
 ally visited a sick man in Salem whose name was Car- 
 ter. He was a profane and violent infidel and would 
 take his little son on his knee and teach him to swear, 
 giving him money to induce him to excel in profanity. 
 During this man's illness and on his death-bed neigh- 
 bors who watched with him would sometimes become 
 so terrified that they would flee the room. One morn- 
 
DOUBT NO MORE. 81 
 
 ing I called to see the dying man. I was requested to 
 read and pray, but my prayer was unavailing — the 
 Ditying heavens seemed to be closed. There was a 
 fearful gloom over all ; the room was filled with neigh- 
 bors, many of them strong men, who had come to 
 witness his death. The dying man struggled agoniz- 
 ingly, determined not to die, but at last gasped con- 
 vulsively and was dead. His heart-broken wife stood 
 beside the bedside transfixed with horror. Presently 
 she threw her arms about the lifeless form of her hus- 
 band and shrieked, "Oh, Carter! Carter! I could give 
 you up, but where is your immortal soul?" A wail 
 of woe went up from that company as from a lost ves- 
 sel in the storm, heart-rending but ineffectual. May 
 God in His mercy forbid that I should witness another 
 such a death-bed scene ! 
 
 In contrast with the death of Carter there occurred 
 another a few miles distant from this place, the case 
 of a young woman named Harriett Watson. Her 
 mother was a widow, the family was in very moderate 
 circumstances and Harriett was dying of consumption. 
 I occasionally visited her and read, sang and prayed 
 with the family at her bedside. She was confident in 
 the prospect of immortality and joyous in the hope of 
 heaven. When taking my last leave of her I asked, 
 ''Harriett, how is it with your soul?" 
 
 She replied, ''All is well. I'll soon be at home. 
 Hallelujah! Jesus saves me!" 
 
 "Have you any message to those to whom I 
 preach?" I asked. 
 
 "Yes," said she, "tell every one, especially the young 
 women and young men, to seek salvation and prepare 
 for heaven." 
 
 Soon after this the angels carried her redeemed 
 spirit to the Paradise of God. The chamber in which 
 
82 DOUBT NO MORE. 
 
 this good young woman died was privileged above the 
 common walks of virtuous life, quite on the verge of 
 heaven. Harriett rests from her labors but her works 
 do follow her. I have delivered her message to thou- 
 sands upon thousands and will repeat it and carry it 
 onward through my remaining years until thousands 
 more shall hear and obey. 
 
 Will you not hear her message too? 
 
 There were several converted in Anapoiis who 
 were in advanced life and could not pray in public 
 for want of ready utterance. I advised that they should 
 learn a prayer or repeat the Lord's prayer. A Brother 
 Hutton got hold of a Sunday school book that had a 
 very good prayer in it. This he learned by heart. At 
 the next meeting he commenced his prayer, re- 
 peated a part of it, but, forgetting the rest, broke 
 off into an extempore prayer which pleased and prof- 
 ited those who he*rd it. From that evening lie had no 
 need of books or formulas but became mighty in pray- 
 er, giving glory to God in his own good way. 
 
 After spending six weeks on this circuit, assisting 
 in meetings, I returned to Steubenville to ask a license 
 to preach. The official board on the circuit said if the 
 quarterly conference at Steubenville did not grant the 
 license they would. But I preferred a license from a 
 board who had always known me. I returned, there- 
 fore, and made my request known. After due course 
 of recommendation and thorough examination, on 
 Christmas Day, 1847, I was licensed in regular form. 
 The examination was very critical, led by Revs. 
 Hiram Gilmore and George S. Holmes. I had tried 
 in the few days after my return to review and be pre- 
 pared, but the very anxiety of mind I was under ren- 
 dered review next to impossible. But the Lord helped 
 
DOUBT NO MORE. 83 
 
 me and I was licensed and fully committed to the life 
 of a preacher. 
 
 In ten days I was on my way as an itinerant. A 
 good old brother gave me a pair of saddlebags, into 
 which I put my scanty wardrobe and library and 
 started on my life work on foot and alone. My father 
 followed me to the gate and with tearful eyes, after 
 giving me good advice, said to me: "]^Iy son, what- 
 ever you do, be yourself. Copy no man. Put your 
 trust in God and always do well whatever you under- 
 take. Never forsake Him, and He will not forsake 
 you. God bless you! Goodbye!" 
 
 I walked part of the way and was conveyed part 
 of the way by a countryman in a sled, through slush 
 and mud and snow. On my return to the circuit I 
 met a warm reception and entered at once on the work. 
 Here I spent six months of unremitting toil, witness- 
 ing marvelous displays of saving grace and counting it 
 all joy to preach Jesus Christ my Lord. 
 
84 TO THE WORK. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 "to the work!" 
 
 During the latter part of the year I became intense- 
 ly interested in the cause of temperance. One place 
 in the circuit, Annapolis, had become notorious as 
 a resort of wicked men and drunkards. Dram-drink- 
 ing and drunkenness were on the increase. One Sab- 
 bath afternoon at church I was wonderfully led by the 
 spirit of God to pray for the destruction of this great 
 and growing evil. I prayed that the LOrd would 
 convert or remove the occupants or destroy the place 
 where this traffic was carried on. There was at the 
 time of prayer a black cloud overspreading the 
 heavens, and before the prayer was ended there came 
 a flash of lightning from the inky bosom of the cloud, 
 followed by a clanking crash, as if a hissing bolt from 
 the hand of Jehovah would rend the very earth. Evi- 
 dently the lightning had spent the force of its quick 
 stroke i]ot far from the place where we were assembled 
 to worship. My hearers were startled and deep se- 
 riousness fell upon us all. When we were dismissed 
 the report came that the house where the liquor was 
 sold had been struck with lightning, the inmates se- 
 verely shocked, and that it was with difficulty they 
 had saved the house from burning. The proprietor 
 was greatly alarmed, and after hearing of the prayer 
 and reflecting upon the coincidence resolved to give 
 up the business and remove to another place, fearing 
 
TO THE WORK. 85 
 
 another stroke from heaven, and thus we were freed 
 from the evil. 
 
 The people and preacher desired that I should re- 
 main on the circuit, but the people were poor and 
 the preacher's family dependent, so that for six 
 months' work I had received but fifty cents in money 
 and about thirteen dollars worth of clothing and pres- 
 ents. Though I'd been happy as a king, I gave up 
 the circuit and by the advice of the presiding elder 
 was recommended for admission into the Pittsburg an- 
 nual conference at its session in Wheeling, Virginia, 
 on the 5th of July, 1848. At this session the West 
 Virginia conference was set off from the Pittsburg 
 conference. I was appointed to Paris circuit in Stark 
 county, Ohio, with Dyas Neal as preacher in charge 
 and Zarah Coston presiding elder. 
 
 ^ H^ jjc ♦ Hi * * 
 
 Immediately on receiving my appointment I started 
 on horseback to my new work. I had been ill during 
 the session of conference and when I arrived at 
 Waynesburgh, a town in the bounds of my circuit, I 
 was very weary and weak. After resting a little I 
 left an appointment for preaching in town at 3 p. m. on 
 Sunday, and having met some of the brethren from 
 Wesley Chapel sent an appointment there for 1 1 a. m. 
 next day. Rest, medicine and kindly treatment soon 
 set me right, so that on Sabbath I was able to preach 
 three times. My friends v/ere surprised by my early 
 arrival from conference and pleased with my prompt- 
 ness. 
 
 Sabbath morning came. It was a charming day. 
 The news of my arrival spread with rapidity and there 
 was a large crowd to welcome the new preacher. When 
 I reached the church the house was well filled with a 
 number in the churchyard eager to see the young 
 
86 TO THE WORK. 
 
 pastor. I reached the pulpit with no Httle trepidation 
 and knelt, devoutly asking for the helpful influence 
 of the Holy Spirit in preaching the gospel of salva- 
 tion. When I took my seat in the pulpit an eager, 
 anxious look met my eyes from every part of the large 
 congregation. The concentrated gaze of the people 
 was upon the trembling, inexperienced youth who for- 
 tunately, however, detected in the look of many of 
 those before him more of real sympathy and anxiety 
 than of censurably cold curiosity. Almost involun- 
 tarily, at least without intention or calculation of pos- 
 sible failure or reaction, I struck up in easy ringing 
 cadences: 
 
 ''Come thou fount of every blessing, 
 "Tune my heart to sing thy praise." 
 
 As I sang I surveyed my audience to see the effect; 
 here and there I detected a pleased glance, sufTused 
 with tears; then an (earnest and devout upturning of 
 the eyes, a swelling bosom, breathing through parted 
 lips the sentiment of the poet and singer. Here and 
 yonder were seen to start the full, round tear drops, 
 rolling down the furrowed cheeks of the fathers and 
 mothers in Israel. On many a youthful face there 
 was an expression of delight at nearing the shrill, 
 clear notes of an old tune and hymn sung by the 
 strange preacher. One verse sung and the whole 
 audience was irresistibly swept into the channel of 
 devotion, and with the stranger struck the first note of 
 the second verse: 
 
 "Here Til raise my Ebenezer, 
 Hither by Thy help I'm come." 
 
 By the time the last verse was sung the whole con- 
 gregation belonged to God by solemn vow and was 
 
TO THE WORK. 87 
 
 mine in every good sense to help in the work of sav- 
 irig souls from sin and death. A subdued wave of 
 joy rolled over the audience, and when the prayer was 
 offered many a hearty ''Amen" lent its impulse like 
 wings of light to carry the petition incited by the 
 Holy Spirit through the gates of the heavenly temple 
 to the throne where the Lamb performs the desires of 
 His followers through the merits of His own death, and 
 from whence came that day sweet answers of peace 
 to the hungry hearts of God's children. 
 
 "The memory of that blessed day: 
 O, may it ever stay!" 
 This was my introduction, my installment. It has 
 been interrupted by change, but never broken up. 
 There was none to herald or introduce me, none to 
 give seal or signet to my appearance. But I was here 
 as the sent of the church, by her Bishop, and the Holy 
 Ghost honored my coming. No pre-thought, or pre- 
 arrangement, but only that song— that grand old 
 battle song, of our church— springing as by magic 
 to consecrated lips— had touched as by divine power 
 and melted as by divine love all hearts into a happy 
 union of song and praise. This was a glorious be- 
 ginning of a pleasant pastorate of two years on my 
 first circuit in the regular work. 
 
 My text on the occasion was "Only fear the Lord 
 and serve Him in truth with all thy heart, for consider 
 what great things He hath done for thee." 
 
 Having preached at ii a. m. I returned home with 
 a brother's family after having formed the acquaintance 
 of a number of the prominent members of the church. 
 After dinner I was accompanied by several of the 
 brethren to Waynesburg, where at 3 P- i^- ^ preached 
 to a good congregation, many of whom welcomed me 
 
88 TO THE WORK. 
 
 most cordially to my new field of labor. I was dis- 
 suaded by friends from going to the "Woods" appoint- 
 ment, some five miles distant, as there was no an- 
 nouncement out, and I therefore preached in Waynes- 
 burg at 7:30 p. m. to a larger congregation, the other 
 churches having no evening service. 
 
 ;|; ^ ^ ;,'; ^; ^ ;[; 
 
 I immediately proceeded to adjust myself to the 
 work before me. Arrangements were made that I 
 should have a home at one of the stewards. I then 
 started to bring my trunk containing my wardrobe and 
 library, such as I had. On my way I was hailed by 
 a man whose name was George Wood, who with his 
 father and brothers were members of a small class at 
 what was known as "Wood's Meeting House" on 
 Paris circuit. These were large, strong men, very hard 
 to govern or to keep near the mark of Christian duty. 
 They kept whiskey in their houses and drank it. Elec- 
 tion days were times with them of settling neighbor- 
 liood troubles. They held the neighborhood and class 
 in a state of terror, which made the exercise of disci- 
 pline very difficult, indeed next to impossible. I was 
 innocent of hint or knowledge of these facts. 
 
 Wood accosted me on the highway with "You are 
 the young preacher sent to our circuit, are you?" 
 
 "I am the junior preacher sent by the Bishop to 
 Paris circuit." 
 
 "We learn that you are a Son of Temperance," said 
 he, "and we are determined that no member of a tem- 
 perance society shall preach in our church." 
 
 I replied that I hoped there would be no difficulty 
 on that subject, but that I would be on hand at the 
 regular time and preach in the church — or on a stump. 
 
 I rode away wondering what manner of man tliis 
 fellow could be. In accordance with the announce- 
 
TO THE WORK. 89 
 
 nient (contrary to the advice of my colleague) I was 
 on time to meet a good congregation. Many had heard 
 of the interview between Wood and me and came ex- 
 pecting excitement. I preached, announced the next 
 appointment and dismissed the people. 
 
 Immediately Wood rose and requested the members 
 to remain, saying, "We want to know what the young- 
 preacher intends to do about leaving the Sons of Tem- 
 perance." Then he sat down. 
 
 The unconverted, expecting fun or trouble, stood 
 anxiously looking on, for I had fairly won them by 
 my sermon. I afterward learned that they had re- 
 solved that I should not be harmed. As the first ex- 
 citement lulled Wood rose again and said: "We want 
 to know if you (addressing me) will leave the Sons of 
 Temperance, for we are resolved that no member of 
 that order shall preach here." 
 
 I was a stranger, but after surveying the situation 
 leisurely, I arose and replied that I was born in Ohio, 
 born free, that my father was a gentleman and a Chris- 
 tian, and had always taught me to mind my own busi- 
 ness, and I had an opinion that the fathers, of others 
 should have done the same. As to leaving the "Sons 
 of Temperance" I had simply to say if my colleague 
 or my presiding elder, either or both, should so advise 
 me I would do so; or, if the quarterly conference 
 should so advise I would comply; but if they said I must 
 leave the Sons of Temperance then I would exercise 
 my rights as a man and do as I pleased — that I could 
 be led but never driven. 
 
 All outside who could hear applauded. Wood and 
 his party almost gnashed their teeth upon me. I took 
 my hat and walked out amid subdued applause by the 
 outsiders. So the matter rested until the quarterly 
 conference. The preacher in charge, the elder, and 
 
90 TO THE WORK. 
 
 the quarterly conference refused to interfere with my 
 private rights, and I continued to preach regularly 
 there for two years, with but little irritation and some 
 success. 
 
 ;|; ;)t ^ ^ ^ ii; * 
 
 The most remarkable display of saving power was 
 at Wesley Chapel and at Malvern. Hundreds were 
 converted and added to the church. My colleague had 
 a long spell of sickness which utterly disqualified him 
 for his work for six months. At the meeting many 
 very interesting cases of conversion occurred, one or 
 two of which may be cited as illustrative of the power 
 of grace. 
 
 Miss Brunson, a mute, with whose father I stopped 
 when I first came to this circuit, had been married 
 several years before to a Mr. George Miller. She was 
 the mother of three children but had never been known 
 to speak a word. She became deeply convicted of sin 
 and sought salvation by faith in Christ. After long 
 and prayerful seeking she accepted Christ and was 
 gloriously saved. Rising from the altar, with a coun- 
 tenance all radiant with joy and hands raised toward 
 heaven, she exclaimed audibly and distinctly, "Jesus, 
 Jesus, Jesus saves me! Glory!" Such a thrill as went 
 through the congregation I never witnessed before 
 nor have I since. Strong men wept like children. 
 Some wept aloud, others joined the shout, and it ap- 
 peared that the Master was filling the house with 
 divine light and life and power. The case was reported 
 in the "Pittsburg Christian Advocate." This woman 
 still lives a Godly life. Partially restored speech con- 
 tinues. I visited her and her family in Ohio in 1875. 
 
 The above occurrence brought men and women 
 from near and far to attend our meetings, many of 
 them unbelievers. Of the number there was a tall, 
 
TO THE WORK. 91 
 
 fine looking young man, Barton Blygh, who was well 
 posted in the objections of infidels, himself an unbe- 
 liever. On one occasion he came up near the altar 
 to gaze and scoff at the scene. Some of the brethren 
 thought he ought to be invited to a back seat, es- 
 pecially as he stood defiantly leaning against a column 
 near the altar during prayer. I noticed his derisive 
 sneer, and asked the brethren to pray that the Holy 
 Spirit might touch his stony heart and awaken him. 
 When we kneeled to pray I approached him, laid my 
 hand on his shoulder and asked him if he did not feel 
 the need of salvation. He replied that he neither knew 
 nor cared for our religion and wanted nothing to do 
 with it. I soon discovered that he was trembling 
 violently, and leaning heavily against the column for 
 support. The spirit of prayer continued to rise in 
 fervor about him. As I stood with my hand on him 
 I prayed God to have mercy and enlighten him and 
 save him. Presently he cried aloud as though pierced 
 with a dart, and fell in the aisle as one slain in a battle. 
 There he lay until midnight, stiff and stark, as though 
 indeed dead. Dr. Wilson and other physicians exam- 
 ined him and wanted to remove him to his home as 
 dead, and were ready to say that life was gone; for 
 he was as rigid as iron. I told them God could kill 
 and make alive, and he would in this case. About 
 midnight the sweet, low, subdued singing began to 
 penetrate to his soul and he showed signs of returning 
 animation. A heavenly smile came over his face, his 
 lips moved, some of the brethren near by stooped to 
 listen to his whispers; his words became more dis- 
 tinct as he repeated with indescribable sweetness, 
 "Glory, Glory, Jesus saves me! Glory, Glory, to His 
 Name!" This was a glorious conversion and its sub- 
 ject remained firm in the faith as long as I knew him. 
 
92 THE WAIL OF A LOST SOUL. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE WAIL OF A LOST SOUL. 
 
 At our meeting at Malvern we had a large ingather- 
 ing of young men, while whole families were saved, 
 to remain steadfast members of the church. 
 
 There came to our meeting here, on one occasion, a 
 canal-boat captain named John Crandall. He was per- 
 haps fifty years old, and had been on the canal for 
 several years. Rev. J. H. Rogers preached from Luke 
 xv-io. Captain Crandall listened to the sermon with 
 attention and at the close while the exhortation was 
 being pressed upon the people, arose and requested 
 the privilege of speaking. I told him to speak on. 
 
 He said: ''He that hath an ear to hear let him hear! 
 I was the only son of religious parents. I was raised 
 in the fear of the Lord. I grew up to young man- 
 hood, and my father died. I promised him on his 
 death-bed that I would meet him in heaven. Months 
 and years passed and often I thought of my promise 
 but made no preparation for dying. Finally my moth- 
 er was taken sick and called me to her side and said : 
 'My son, you promised your father you would 
 be religious and meet him in heaven, but you have 
 made no start yet. My dear boy, I cannot die satisfied 
 unless you promise me you will prepare to meet me 
 in heaven.' I then and there promised my dying 
 mother I would lead a Christian life and meet her and 
 father in heaven. The spirit of God strove with me, 
 
THE WAIL OF A LOST SOUL. 93 
 
 but I put off my return to Him from time to time 
 I still kept on my wicked ways and sought the society 
 of old companions. In a bar-room I cursed God and 
 bade the spirit leave me. Soon after I attended a meet- 
 ing in Pennsylvania. I was deeply convicted of sin. 
 So powerfully did the spirit of God strive with me that 
 I trembled like a leaf in the wind. I left my seat to 
 go to the altar for prayer but my proud spirit rebelled 
 and I stopped in the aisle and leaned against a column 
 that supported the gallery. Here for some moments 
 I parleyed with the spirit and finally, summoning my 
 rebellious will with an oath, I determined I would run 
 the risk of being lost rather than yield in that way. 
 At that moment the spirit of God left me. I could 
 almost see it departing. A deep, dark night settled 
 down on my soul. I went out of the house and cursed 
 God and heaven and dared Jehovah to do his worst. 
 From that hour until this I have never had a convic- 
 tion nor a desire for heaven. I know my doom is 
 sealed." 
 
 Standing out in the aisle and raising himself to his 
 full height he went on, "Look upon me and behold a 
 man in his right mind and yet consciously and justly 
 damned above ground! Language fails to describe 
 the horror I feel and the anguish that is consuming 
 my soul. Oh, the worm that dieth not is now preying 
 on my lost soul!" 
 
 The poor man looked the personification of anguish. 
 
 Said he, 'T would willingly give the world, did I own 
 it, if I could but feel a desire to be saved. The only de- 
 sire I have is for my broken-hearted wife and daughter, 
 that they may not come into this torment. Some of 
 you may say, 'Why, Crandall, if you have such a de- 
 sire for others the Lord will save you! He will have 
 mercy on you.' No! No! No! Mercy for me is gone 
 
94 THE WAIL OF A LOST SOUL. 
 
 forever. The rich man in hell desired that his broth- 
 ers might not come into that place of torment, and 
 he wanted God to send Lazarus to warn them. I 
 warn my wife and daughter and all of you who know 
 me to turn to God now, for now is your day of salva- 
 tion. Mine is gone. My doom is sealed. I am lost, 
 lost, lost!" 
 
 His exhortation to others to make peace with God 
 and not hazard their salvation by delay or by resisting 
 God's spirit was a horrifying appeal that thrilled all 
 who heard it. I seem yet, after years have passed, to 
 hear and see that man and feel the terror of that hour. 
 The congregation was terror-stricken. A score or 
 more pressed their way to the altar for prayers and 
 before the meeting closed were converted. The re- 
 vival continued several weeks and a great number 
 professed religion. 
 
 After this Captain Crandall continued to run his 
 canal-boat until taken sick at Bolivar, Ohio, where he 
 died on his boat. His death was reported to me by 
 Mr. Rogers: "John Crandall died in the winter of 
 1848-9 at Bolivar. I went down from Waynesburg 
 for the purpose of learning how he died. I found his 
 boat and his wife and nephew living in it. She was a 
 Christian woman. I told her I had heard of the Cap- 
 tain's death and asked her how he had died. She said 
 she could not endure telling me, but that his nephew 
 would tell me. He told me his uncle died a most 
 horrible death, cursing God and Jesus Christ. He 
 would turn on his stomach and bite his own arms and 
 gnaw his own flesh. *T would leave the boat, so ter- 
 rible was it. It seemed to be full of devils, and he 
 W'Ould tell us the devils were torturing him to death." 
 
 Thus he had lived and thus horribly did he die — a 
 rejecter crying, "Remorse ! Remorse ! ! Remorse ! ! !" 
 
I AM MARRIED. 95 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 I AM MARRIED. 
 
 At Paris and other points on the circuit we held suc- 
 cessful meetings, especially at Minerva. Here several 
 very interesting conversions took place, which attracted 
 much attention and became of lasting good to the 
 church. There were three very amiable and intelligent 
 sisters, by the name of Hostetter, who occasionally at- 
 tended our meetings. The first one converted fell un- 
 der the displeasure of the mother, who was strongly 
 opposed to the Methodist Church. This so interested 
 the other sisters that they took sides with the con- 
 verted one and it was not many days until all three 
 were happy in the Savior's love, sharers together of 
 precious faith. In my subsequent visits to the family, 
 by invitation of the father, I found the mother quite 
 subdued by the beautiful lives of the three Christian 
 sisters and almost persuaded to join with them in lead- 
 ing a Christian life. Their influence on society led 
 many to accept Christ as their Savior. The conversion 
 of these young women produced a remarkable change 
 in their family, and the revivals of that year have also 
 in other ways their fruitage even yet. 
 
 The sickness of my colleague, depriving the circuit 
 of his services for half a year, my responsibility and 
 work were greatly increased; for, in addition to the 
 claims of the circuit I had my conference course of 
 study on hand. My method was to study the text- 
 books closely and work up the material of the course 
 
96 I AM MARRIED. 
 
 into sermons. Thus as I went through the year I was 
 utihzing my labor and preparing for conference, and 
 while the lack of a colleague made it hard for me in my 
 inexperience and youth yet the Lord was my strength 
 and helper. We reported a large increase and finances 
 in a reasonably good conditon. I received seventy- 
 six dollars on salary with a good many presents as 
 tokens of kindness from the people; among them was 
 *'a suit from top to toe." There were a great many 
 farmers whom I visited and from these families I re- 
 ceived numerous gifts, in some of which — not "the 
 mitten" — the deft fingers of appreciative young ladies 
 had inwrought the initials of my name; pleasant little 
 marks of respect, by the way, one of which w^as to be 
 a sign-manual for alarmed recollection far ahead in 
 the future. 
 
 Near the close of this my first year of conference 
 work, after due deliberation, prayer and counsel with 
 my brethren who were acquainted with my betrothed, 
 and by the advice of my presiding elder, I concluded 
 that it would be of advantage to my work to marry 
 before conference, and on the morning of May i, 1849, 
 at 6 o'clock, I was married to the wife whose counsel 
 has never misled me, nor retarded me in ray ministry, 
 ^nd whose helpful courage, piety and presence have 
 always been a tower of strength in my various rela- 
 tions of life and my duties to the church. 
 
 We made an early start, both as to the hour of the 
 day and the day of the month, as well as the month 
 in spring. Our wedding tour was to Steubenville, 
 where after two days' visiting we bade our friends 
 farewell for an itinerant life, so full of incident, interest, 
 fact and history that volumes might be written before 
 the whole could be exhausted and recorded. 
 
 Returning to the circuit on May 5, we found a cor- 
 
% m. 
 
 ELIZABETH MARGARET FISHER. 
 
1 AM MARRIED. 97 
 
 dial welcome at Mr. Simeon Westfall's, to whose fam- 
 ily my wife became as a sister. Dinner over, we drove 
 to Minerva and took supper with the family of David 
 Kurtz, whose wife was as a mother to myself and 
 bride. After supper we drove to Paris and lodged 
 with Brother and Sister Gideon Smith, who had en- 
 deared themselves to me by kindnesses I can never 
 forget. In their House I had found a home during 
 the severest sickness of my life, which had occurred the 
 fall previous. These good people always treated me 
 as their son and my wife as a daughter. On Sabbath 
 day I preached at ii a. m. in Paris, at 3 p. m. at 
 Franklin and again at night in Paris. 
 
 This was my introduction to a married life in the 
 itinerancy, the beginning of unceasing activity. Dur- 
 ing six succeeding weeks we traveled over the circuit, 
 visiting many families who had never had a visit from 
 a preacher's wife before, and who took our attention 
 to them as a remarkable treat. We thus visited over 
 sixty families and so ingratiated ourselves into their 
 afifections that years of change have not obliterated 
 the pleasant memories of the past nor broken up the 
 endearing attachments. 
 
 Conference met this year at Brownsville, Pennsyl- 
 vania, Bishop Waugh presiding. He said in his ser- 
 mon on Sabbath day that ''Christian perfection con- 
 sisted in being emptied of sin and filled with the love 
 of God." For this I hungered and thirsted. At the 
 close of conference my name was announced, with 
 Thomas Rucle, to Paris circuit. This surprised me, 
 as well as others, for it was unusual to return a pro- 
 bationer the second year. I think the secret of my 
 return was my method of visiting all the people, which 
 had made me very generally acceptable. 
 
98 I AM MARRIED. 
 
 Almost immediately we commenced house-keeping 
 in Waynesburgh in a cosy little home of two rooms. 
 But as my wife, who had been a school-teacher had 
 been somewhat used to boarding around among the 
 scholars, it was easy for her to make herself at 
 home traveling the circuit, and we often traveled to- 
 gether to my appointments in a buggy. An occur- 
 rence took place in the fall of this year which deeply 
 impressed us with the value of prayer and the provi- 
 dence of God. I had a regular Friday evening ap- 
 pointment about six miles from Waynesburgh on the 
 Canton road. My wife was accompanying me as 
 usual when, at the top of a long and very steep hill, 
 whose road was washed out on the upper side and 
 was very crooked and in places dangerous, my horse 
 stumbled and fell, breaking both thills short ofT, but 
 leaving the traces attached to the single-tree. The 
 buggy ran upon the horse, which had fallen down. I 
 sprang out and called to my wife to jump, but before 
 she could do so the horse in its fright regained his 
 feet and rushed wildly down the hillside. My wafe 
 rose deliberately and threw her cloak back of¥ her 
 shoulders and sat down in the buggy. Horse, buggy 
 and wife went flying down the road. I thought she 
 would be killed. I stood a moment as if paralyzed, 
 and prayed, ''Lord, save her, save her!" I ran after 
 them, expecting to find my wife dead by the wayside. 
 After running a third of a mile and turning a sharp 
 curve in the road I beheld the buggy, a total wreck; 
 the horse was not in sight but my wife, who had been 
 thrown down the hillside by the upsetting of the 
 buggy, v/as gathering herself together and clamber- 
 ing up the side of the bank shaking the dust from her 
 clothing. When I reached the spot where she stood 
 we knelt down in the road, wept for joy and thanked 
 
I AM MARRIED. 99 
 
 God for His interposition in saving her life in answer 
 to prayer. Some farmers at the foot of the hill caught 
 our runaway horse and one came riding back expect- 
 ing to find some one killed by the accident; but he 
 found us alive and praising God. We stripped the 
 remains of the harness from the horse, and gathering 
 the broken buggy together put it into a brother's 
 wagon and sent it back to be rebuilt. We then walked 
 to the foot of the hill, borrowed a side-saddle, my 
 wife took the reins of the prancing steed and rode on 
 to the appointment while I walked by her side to meet 
 a good congregation to which I attempted to preach. 
 The event made a deep impression on all who heard 
 of it, and was regarcfed as a special interposition of 
 Providence in answer to prayer. 
 
 My. colleague made one full round on the circuit 
 when he was taken sick and after a short illness died, 
 leaving clear testimony of the ability of Christ to save.' 
 His death was a sad loss to me, but it became an op- 
 portunity of development for future work; for larger 
 responsibilities were thrown upon me which gave 
 fuller scope to my former observation and experience. 
 
100 THE DOVE'S DESCENT. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE DOVE S DESCENT. 
 
 At the close of the year conference was lield in Can- 
 ton, Ohio, Bishop Edmund Janes presiding. I was 
 by special request quartered with Uncle Jimmie Arm- 
 strong, an old colored man strong in the faith, who 
 entertained us in a princely manner. At the confer- 
 ence I was admitted into full connection, my proba- 
 tion having expired, and ordained as deacon in a class 
 with Sheridan Baker, X. C. Worthington, J. J. Mc- 
 Ilyar, James Beacon, G. B. Hudson, Robt. Cunning- 
 ham, Joseph Woodrough, A. D. McCormac. D. B. 
 Coleman, John Barker, D. D., Henry Snyder, Richard 
 Clegg and J. T. W. Auld. Most of these have finished 
 their work in holy triumph. Only two are still on the 
 walls of Zion proclaiming the acceptable year of the 
 Lord. 
 
 At this session of conference I was appointed col- 
 league with Josiah Dillon to the New Brighton cir- 
 cuit, Pennsylvania, and crossed the country by private 
 conveyance, stopping one night with the presiding eld- 
 er, Father Monroe, in Beaver. On arriving at 
 Freedom, a principal appointment in the circuit, we 
 met with a cordial welcome notwithstanding some dis- 
 satisfaction because both the appointees wxre married 
 men. Two preachers with two wives were more than 
 they had bargained for. Money was scarce and the 
 outlook rather forbidding. A good Brother McCon- 
 nell consoled my wife with the thought that probably 
 
THE DOVE'S DESCENT. 101 
 
 she could afford to wear "six cent calico" before the 
 year ended. But nothing daunted, we went to work, 
 visiting indiscriminately, and were soon installed in 
 the afiections of the people. \\'e had a favorable ini- 
 tiation through a Sunday school celebration on the 
 Fourth of July, wdiere I made the eagle soar in a 
 speech full of patriotism and temperance. Entertain- 
 ing strong views on the temperance question, we en- 
 tered the campaign to win and soon had the satisfac- 
 tion of seeing the traffic of rum closed out. The cir- 
 cuit was large and required a great amount of labor 
 to meet the expectation of the people. Some of our 
 meetings impressed me so profoundly that I can never 
 forget them. Many of them were very pleasant and 
 are garnished with reminiscences which make them 
 a delight to contemplate. 
 
 During the early part of our first year on this cir- 
 cuit there was a call made by Bishop Janes and Dr. 
 Durbin for men to go to California to occupy that open 
 field. Father Monroe, my presiding elder, wrote a let- 
 ter commending me for the field. He deposited it in 
 the post office, but as the mail only left twice a week, 
 his letter remained in the ofiice a day or two, during 
 which time he relented, and being unwilling to have 
 me leave his district lifted the letter of recommenda- 
 tion. It was never remailed, and thus I was retained 
 on the circuit. 
 
 Among others, we held a very successful camp- 
 meeting near Freedom. A great many were convert- 
 ed and scores of believers sanctified. Several incidents 
 vrill bear recital. The meeting was attended with a 
 display of divine power in a manner not before w^it- 
 nessed by the oldest Christians in attendance. Sister 
 Dillon, wife of my colleague, a very sweet-spirited 
 Christian, and Sister John Ansley, another preacher's 
 
102 THE DOVE'S DESCENT. 
 
 wife, with my wife, were all young in Christian ex- 
 perience, as well as in the itinerancy, and were bound 
 by these common ties in very dear relation to each 
 other, and were wonderfully blessed, as the sequel will 
 show. I know the reader will not only pardon the 
 writer but thank him for the facts (though personal; 
 that are here more minutely narrated, as incidentally 
 connected with the meeting. My wife, who was reared 
 a Presbyterian, had never been at a camp-meeting. 
 Several weeks before the meeting she had a remark- 
 able dream. I will allow her to relate it. 
 
 ^ :,k :^ ;i< ;!; ^ ;K 
 
 *'I dreamed that there was a great concourse of 
 people assembled on a beautiful plateau of ground; 
 along one side a shining river ran eastwardly, while 
 to the westward seemed to rise a beautiful 
 sloping hill covered with stately oaks. The 
 earth was carpeted with green. The company 
 was shaded by the overhanging branches through 
 which gleamed the subdued but clear sunlight 
 of a mid-autumn day. All appeared to be filled 
 with delight, while with upturned face and expectant 
 eyes they were waiting and watching for some strange 
 heavenly visitant. I drew near and asked what they 
 were looking for so intently. Some one answered that 
 they were looking for a dove that was promised to 
 come that day, and that on whomsoever it should 
 alight there should rest great peace and joy. Each 
 one was filled with anxiety to be the first to see it and 
 to have it alight on him. Presently a sensation of de- 
 light thrilled the throng as it was announced by some 
 one of the company, 'The dove! The dove is coming!' 
 I looked intently upward and away in the distance be- 
 held a glittering speck as of burnished silver flashing 
 in the sunlight. It came circling down in most grace- 
 
THE DOVE'S DESCENT. 103 
 
 ful motion, seeming to survey every anxious spectator, 
 while the vast, excited, breathless throng swayed to 
 and fro with outstretched hands inviting the beautiful 
 stranger to alight. It reviewed the large crowd with 
 apparent satisfaction and then, to my surprise and ex- 
 treme delight, perched upon my shoulder and nestled 
 close to my face. Several persons pressed forward and 
 put forth their hands to secure the dove but it shrank 
 from their touch and settled closely down on my 
 shoulder. The whole company joined in a shout, *Tt 
 has come! It has come!' I was so filled with joy that 
 I shouted with inexpressible delight and awoke to find 
 it but a dream, but so impressive a dream that even 
 yet it seems a reality. My effort to shout awoke my 
 husband, to whom I related my dream. Whereupon 
 he replied that he hoped it was significant and that I 
 might receive a visit from the heavenly dove at the 
 approaching camp-meeting." 
 
 In due time the meeting began. It was largely at- 
 tended. We held'noon-day prayer meetings in a large 
 tent, usually very much crowded. On one occasion 
 Sisters Ansley, Dillon and my wife, neither of whom 
 had ever prayed in public, were together in the meet- 
 ing. I called on Sister Ansley to pray. She hesitated. 
 I urged her to take up the cross. Finally she said in 
 the most plaintive voice, "Oh, Lord, help me; I don't 
 know how to pray." 
 
 I said, ''Sister, you have made a good beginning; 
 go right on and pray." She continued to plead with 
 God in such supplicating terms as I had seldom heard. 
 All were looking by faith for the fulfillment of the 
 promise: "Whatsoever things ye ask, believe that ye 
 have them, and ye shall receive them." And the Hoiv 
 Ghost came upon all the company. None shared more 
 
104 THE DOVE'S DESCENT. 
 
 largely in this baptism of power and glory than these 
 three preachers' wives. My wife said to me, "My 
 dream is fulfilled"; and for hours she rejoiced and told 
 with wonderful clearness and simplicity the amazing 
 power and sweetness of saving grace. Many Presby- 
 terian ladies, hearing of her remarkable ecstacy and 
 joy came to the tent purposely to hear from her own 
 lips the glad story of salvation by simple faith. They 
 were astonished and delighted to find one brought up 
 as they had been testifying in such a manner. 
 
 Soon after this we visited my wife's father and 
 mother. She resolved she would tell her mother all 
 about her great blessing. When we reached the top 
 of the hill overlooking the old homestead her heart 
 failed her a little and she said to me, ''I don't know 
 how to begin to tell mother." I remarked she must 
 not flinch now; that the way to commence would be 
 open. On reaching home I said to mother I was 
 sorry she had not been at the camp-meeting to have 
 witnessed the wonderful blessing her daughter re- 
 ceived. Then I retired, leaving the mother and daugh- 
 ter alone. My wife related her vision and the in- 
 cidents of the meeting, and especially her own rich 
 share of the Divine gift. They wept like children to- 
 gether and we have every reason to believe that from 
 that day mother had a clearer knowledge of the way of 
 salvation than ever before. She often said she had 
 never heard such an experience, not even from her 
 own favorite pastor. Dr. Duncan, of Baltimore. It 
 was, indeed, as my wife told it, "The coming of the 
 Holy Ghost and of power." 
 
 ^ :}: * ^ * * 5|« 
 
 It was in this circuit that I was called upon to ofifi- 
 ciate in ministerial capacity under a reversion of cir- 
 cumstances unusually sad, and aptly illustrative of the 
 
THE DOVE'S DESCENT. 105 
 
 fact that in the midst of life we are in death. In the 
 neighborhood a young lady of twenty years of age 
 was engaged to be married on a certain day and at a 
 special hour. The wedding attire was complete, the 
 guests invited, the minister engaged, the bridegroom 
 came — to find his betrothed sick unto death. The 
 very hour and day that should have sealed their nup- 
 tials became the burial hour of the intended bride. It 
 was my solemn duty instead of performing the mar- 
 riage ceremony to preach a funeral sermon over that 
 beautiful young woman dressed in the chaste white 
 silk meant for her bridal robe but now become the 
 fit burial dress of one whose hopes had faded before 
 and into the brighter bliss of a more intimate union 
 with Christ. The sad termination of such an engage- 
 ment almost crazed the affianced groom, who was only 
 consoled by the doctrine of the resurrection of the 
 dead and immortality at God's right hand. 
 
106 MY FATHER'S DEATH. 
 
 CEIAPTER XIV. 
 
 MY FATHER S DEATH. 
 
 At the close of the first calendar year, as was my 
 custom, we held a "watch-night meetmg." It was held 
 in the Methodist Church in Freedom, Pennsylvania, 
 1850-51. We had a very solemn time. The Lord was 
 manifestly present. When we went home, very early 
 in the morning, we received a telegram (the first in my 
 life) from Steubenville, Ohio, saying, "Your father is 
 dying and wishes to see you. Come home." He had 
 long been a suflferer, but longer a Christian and active 
 worker in the church. In addition to my natural af- 
 fection for my father and my desire to be with him in 
 the closing scene of life I had long cherished a desire 
 to know how his faith would endure that severest of 
 all tests, for I knew he would not deceive his children, 
 and that he could not be deluded into a false trust or 
 confidence, much less a false profession. We hastened 
 to his bedside by the first steamer, as we did not have 
 railroad communication. 
 
 On arriving we found father still alive. As I opened 
 the door of his room he stretched forth his pale, thin 
 hands, exclaiming: "My son, come while I tell you 
 what great victory I have through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ! Glory, glory to His precious name! The fear 
 of dying is all taken away and I have perfect peace 
 with God, and peace with all mankind. Preach a com- 
 plete salvation, a full and perfect and finished salva- 
 tion, in Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
MY FATHERS DEATH. 107 
 
 Subsequently he said, "Satan has tempted me more 
 severely than ever before in my life. He has tried to 
 persuade me to trust in my good works and devotion 
 to the church, and it has been a struggle to give up all 
 these, but Jesus Christ is my only hope, Christ in me 
 the hope of glory. Tho' Satan tempted me that the 
 Savior would forsake me, I have had victory over 
 that fear. He will never forsake me. Perfect love 
 casteth out all fear, which hath torment." 
 
 He repeated and with effort sang parts of sacred 
 ■ hymns which he always admired, one of which I re- 
 member hearing him sing when a child: 
 
 "My span of life will soon be done. 
 
 The passing moments say; 
 As lengthening shadows o'er the mead 
 
 Proclaim the close of day. 
 
 Courage, my soul; thy bitter cross 
 
 In every trial here 
 Shall bear thee to thy heaven above. 
 
 But shall not enter there. 
 
 Courage, my soul; thy bitter cross 
 
 Deliverance soon will come; 
 A thousand ways has Providence 
 To bring believers home." 
 
 He also repeated the words of that glorious sonnet 
 beginning: 
 
 "How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, 
 Is laid for your faith on His excellent word." 
 
 And dwelt with manifest satisfaction upon the soul- 
 stirring words: 
 
108 MY FATHER'S DEATH. 
 
 ''Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, 
 
 That saved a wretch like me, 
 I once was lost, but now I'm found. 
 
 Was blind but now I see. 
 
 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, 
 
 And grace my fears relieved, 
 How precious did that grace appear, 
 
 The hour I first believed!" 
 
 The scene was so overwhelming and inspiring that I 
 have never doubted the power of Jesus to save to the 
 uttermost, and to the close of life. 
 
 iji ^ :jc ^ ^ :)< jji 
 
 Father lingered until the 4th of January, 1851, dur- 
 ing which time he was in constant ecstacy, frecjuently 
 shouting the praises of God until his strength would 
 be exhausted. His triumph and his experience were 
 truly glorious. In the afternoon of the fourth day 
 after my arrival, at about 4 o'clock, we were all gath- 
 ered in the room where our mother had fallen asleep 
 in Jesus on the' 7th day of September, 1837, saying, 
 "Jesus is mine and I am His," to witness the closing- 
 event of a life which was to us more a comment on 
 Christianity than anything else. For this had always 
 been our father's theme, and had led to an exemplifi- 
 cation of it in his every day life in the most familiar 
 and endearing relations of the family. He was now 
 evidently and rapidly approaching the "\>dley of the 
 shadow of death." We gathered close to his bedside 
 to catch the last utterances from his faltering tongue. 
 None but those who have been blessed witii such a 
 father and who have been called to mourn his decease 
 can appreciate our anxiety at that moment. His sight 
 had evidently failed for he asked, "Who is in the room? 
 Are you all here? " My oldest brother answered, ''We 
 
MY FATHER'S DEATH. 109 
 
 are all here, father. Do you want anything?" He 
 answered, "No." Then raising his hand and passing 
 it over his sightless eyes he said: 
 
 "It is dark here, but glory is bright." 
 
 And the weary wheels of life stood still. 
 
 Angels caught the redeemed soul of our father in 
 their loving arms and bore him to his home on high. 
 To us all, but to me especially, it was a deeply solemn, 
 gloriously triumphant hour. I have never since that 
 hour felt like shouting the praises of God as then. It 
 was victory, triumph over the last enemy by faith in 
 our Lord Jesus Christ. The grave has lost its gloom 
 and terror, and death his venomous sting. Since then 
 Christ is dearer and heaven has been nearer. We 
 made his grave beside our mother's, under the spread- 
 ing branches of the old chestnut tree in the grave- 
 yard whose dust is sacred to the sainted dead, who 
 sleep in hope of immortality. 
 
 I returned to my work a more sanctified and better 
 man. 
 
110 AGENTS OF THE DEVIL 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 AGENTS OF THE DEVIL — SERVANTS OF THE LORD. 
 
 I was called upon shortly to preach in a Calvinistic 
 neighborhood near the seat of Rapp's colony of 
 Economists in Butler County, Pennsylvania. When 
 I arrived at the neighborhood school-house I met a 
 goodly company assembled to hear what had never 
 been heard there, a Methodist sermon. I chose for 
 my text the eleventh verse of the 119th Psalm, read 
 the verse, closed the Bible, and preached a plain but 
 practical sermon. The Presbyterians were delighted, 
 some regarding it as wonderful that a man could 
 preach such a discourse w^ithout notes, and especially 
 with the Bible closed. The truth sanctified and ap- 
 plied by the Holy Ghost led several persons into a 
 clear Christian experience, and many became my 
 regular hearers and fast friends. 
 
 ;;; ;|j ^ ;|; -l^ >'fi ^; 
 
 While we were stationed at the beautiful little town 
 of Freedom, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, about 
 three miles above the confluence of Big Beaver with 
 the Ohio river, our home was blessed by the arrival 
 of a little boy, our first born, whom we named for his 
 grandfathers, John William. His birth occurred on 
 the second day of June, 1851. His arrival was a mat- 
 ter of unusual moment to the young circuit rider and 
 his wife, as may be expected, and was also hailed w^ith 
 satisfaction and delight by our members, all of whom 
 took a greater interest in us on this account, if this 
 were possible, and were exceedingly kind to us in our 
 initial parentage. 
 
 Freedom was chiefly given over to the business of 
 
JOHN WILLIAM FISHER. 
 
SERVANTS OF THE LORD. HI 
 
 steamboat building. While here I launched one of the 
 finest of the numerous craft built there for the river 
 trade, the ''John J. Simons," a boat upon whose decks 
 I subsequently, eleven years later, took a boat load oi 
 contrabands from the Southern armies of the Union 
 to homes of Hberty in Kansas and Nebraska. 
 
 Our first son, whose portrait is given, is engaged 
 in mercantile pursuits — a dealer in coal. For many 
 years he engaged in farming on the ''home farm" in 
 Atchison County, but subsequently engaged in other 
 pursuits in the city of Atchison, of whose council he 
 was one term a member, and where he was for several 
 years secretary and treasurer of the Pomeroy Coal 
 Company, with yards and offices at Atchison, Topeka 
 and Lincoln, Nebraska. For many years he has been 
 a devoted Christian and an active and efficient worker 
 in the church and Sabbath school. In recent years 
 he has been deprived of the pleasure of regular church 
 work because away from home most of the time, but 
 he still delights in the service and church of his God. 
 
 ;!< * >!: ^: ;;; ;!-' ;!=: 
 
 Having spent two years on this circuit I was re- 
 turned to Ohio and put in charge of Lima circuit with 
 "one to be supplied." The circuit had thirteen ap- 
 pointments, with a membership of nearly five hun- 
 dred, scattered over a territory twenty miles wide by 
 thirty miles long. This territory included the hot- 
 bed of infidelity in Ohio. The noted "Come-out-ers," 
 Abby Kelly, Foster, and H. C. Wright, had traveled 
 the whole field, disseminating infidel doctrine, de- 
 nouncing the church and the Bible, ministers, and 
 the marriage contract as intolerable and to be re- 
 pudiated. Abby Kelly, who had been a member of 
 the Quaker church, was a woman of considerable in- 
 telligence and will, with fair address and force of char- 
 
112 AGENTS OF THE DEVIL 
 
 acter. She formed the center of attraction for a 
 crowd of rude and irrehgious people who composed 
 
 her following. She and Foster traveled together, 
 being entertained by those who, like themselves, held 
 to very radical views relating to liberty from customs 
 growing out of the marriage relation. But in some 
 places public sentiment was so severely against the 
 example of this free and easy way of evading the law 
 of God and man that they finally formed a kind of 
 ^'Hicksite-Quaker" copartnership, in the town of 
 New Brighton, Pennsylvania, at the house of one Town- 
 send, after which I believe they were recognized as 
 man and wife, he being a kind of appendage or con- 
 venience, as is sometimes the case with strong-minded 
 women and weak-minded men. Their teaching and 
 example were subversive of morality and good order, 
 because well suited to the baser passions of the human 
 heart. Wright had been a local preacher in the 
 Methodist Church, but left it and joined the ranks 
 of the "Come-out-ers." The whole territory of the 
 circuit of which I was placed in charge was poisoned 
 with the false and vicious teaching of these people. 
 
 About the time I was sent to this circuit the Misses 
 Fox, of Rochester, New York, began their spirit rap- 
 pings — the origin of spirituaHsm in America — which 
 was also a part of this infidelity. Abby Kelly and 
 company had well prepared the way for this new 
 theory and irreligion. Some incidents connected 
 therewith will furnish a faint idea of the state of 
 society under such influences. 
 
 Not far from Freedom, one of my appointments in 
 Stark County, Ohio, there was an old log church, 
 called Rucker's Church. It was arranged to hold in 
 this house a convention of the infidels and sympath- 
 
SERVANTS OF THE LORD. 113 
 
 izers to consider what should be done relative to this 
 new development called "Spirit Rappings" or Spiritu- 
 alism. The appointment was made, the evening 
 came, and with it a crowd of curiosity seekers. The 
 old house was lighted in the rudest manner by the 
 use of the light of past ages, tallow "dips" or candles. 
 These were fastened here and there against the jambs 
 of the windows by pocket-knives, while for front lights 
 a board resting on the stand and window-sill sup- 
 ported several candles. Behind this were seated the 
 leaders in the movement with a tall son of Anak, 
 called Johnson, "the first letter of whose name" was 
 "Jep." Acting as chairman, this young man was 
 chief operator and held himself with much dignity. 
 The company was a motley one, composed of railroad 
 graders, "Come-out-ers," strong-minded old and 
 young women, some of whom were dressed in bloom- 
 ers, and young men with very long hair parted in the 
 middle, easily and almost entirely covering the lim- 
 ited brains in their peanut-shaped craniums. Besides 
 these there were numerous old moral cripples who 
 had "come out" to the great relief of several churches. 
 These, with a sprinkling of unbelievers, came to hear 
 and see what the "Spirit had to knock." And they 
 did. 
 
 The president began to state the object of the 
 meeting to be the consideration of these new develop- 
 ments at Rochester, when a faint "Rap, Rap, Rap," 
 was heard, as if immediately behind the president. 
 At first all present were startled. Then came silence. 
 By and by the president opened his astonished mouth 
 to say that it was indeed mysterious; that they had 
 met to consider this strange subject, and it appeared 
 that the spirits were verily present; whereiipon with 
 greater vigor and emphasis than before the obtrud- 
 
 8 
 
114 AGENTS OF THE DEVIL 
 
 ing spirit gave its mystic "Rap, Rap, Rap," and all 
 was again as silent as death. Cheeks were blanched, 
 eyes flashed astonishment and surprise, knees quaked 
 and smote together, all were amazed. Presently some 
 one ventured to ask, ''What do you want to com- 
 municate?" When, with greater vigor than before 
 and much more deliberately and determinedly was 
 heard the mystic "Rap, Rap, Rap," followed now by 
 a most unearthly "Yeaow, Yeaow, Yeaow , RapT 
 This brought the house to their feet and the president 
 in gathering himself up overturned the board, up- 
 setting every candle and extinguished most of the 
 light. This served as a signal for a grand stampede, 
 and out the door and through the windows went the 
 astonished crowd, flying in every direction, some 
 praying, others crying, while the Irish Catholics called 
 on the "Howly Virgin" to pity Pat, and to forgive him 
 for being at "sich a divil of a matin." One poor fel- 
 low who had recently been married, forgot his wife 
 in his fright and ran as for his life. When he came 
 back he found she had fainted for very fright, and 
 was lying by the deserted house just recovering con- 
 sciousness. When the truth was known the obtrusive 
 spirit which had caused this confusion w^as none other 
 than the materialized animus of an overgrown feline 
 with a split stick on his tail which he used as a wrap- 
 per, and with which he had given a first-class "Spirit- 
 rapping" seance, supplementing his efforts with the 
 unearthly "Yeaow" which a Tom cat alone can give. 
 Thus equipped and prepared for action some mis- 
 chievous boys Lad dropped him through a broken 
 window just behind the president's chair, to become 
 the innocent cause of the sudden dissolution of the 
 first and last spiritualistic gathering in all these parts. 
 
SERVANTS OF THE LORD. 115 
 
 The insolence of this class of people so outraged 
 society that occasionally it had to be checked by law. 
 There lived near Goshen Church two families namedt 
 respectively, Jenkins and Gibson, who, following the 
 false teaching of the ''Come-out-ers" and spiritualists, 
 disregarded the sanctity of the marriage relation with 
 such contempt that the civil authorities were com- 
 pelled to interpose. They were brought in bloomers 
 before Esquire Simeon Card, one of my class leaders, 
 and were the first real spiritualists I had ever seen. I 
 would they had been the last! The end was in dis- 
 grace and death — like Flerod, they were eaten of 
 worms. 
 
 We were compelled to meet these e/ils squarely 
 and deal with them plainly from the pulpit. This 
 sometimes led to public encounters. But truth, al- 
 ways mighty, prevailed, and the people were saved 
 from the example of this heresy and ruin. 
 
 ;|; ijC . ^ 5{C >I; ^ ;{; 
 
 A very delightful occurrence took place while 1 
 was holding a protracted meeting at ]\Iarleborough. I 
 was assisted by my old friend. Uncle Jimmie Arm- 
 strong. We held a meeting which was growing in 
 interest, but which was much hindered by the clamor 
 of want of union. There came to the neighborhood 
 an itinerant Quaker preacher and his traveling com- 
 panion, visiting the Quaker churches. It was an- 
 nounced tliat he would preach in the Friends' church 
 at II o'clock a. m., and we were invited to attend the 
 meeting. Uncle Jimmie, Brother John Swarts, and 
 myself attended the services to hear a Quaker 
 preacher for the first time. He preached a very 
 orthodox sermon on the Resurrection of the Dead. I 
 felt impressed with a desire to have him preach for 
 
116 AGENTS OF THE DEVIL 
 
 my congregation. I told Uncle Jimmie I was going 
 to ask him to preach for us. He replied, "O, it's no 
 use. He won't cio it." But I said, "I'll see." 
 
 So I went up to the preacher and assuming as much 
 of the plain language as I cou':d command, I said, 
 ''I am a Methodist preacher. We are holding a pro- 
 tracted meeting in Marleborough and I would like to 
 have thee preach for me tonight. We will give thee 
 the hour, and thee can do as the spirit leads thee." 
 
 He replied very kindly, "I will be very glad to 
 preach for thee." 
 
 Notice was given and an invitation extended to the 
 congregation to attend. When the hour for services 
 came the house could not contain those who were 
 anxious to enjoy such a union service. The Quakers 
 came in great numbers and sat with hats on, present- 
 ing a strange appearance in a Methodist church. I 
 told the preacher we would dispense with singing 
 until the sermon was over, the hour was his. He 
 prayed and sat down. All was as quiet as the grave. 
 Then he arose and quoted a text or two of Scripture 
 as a starting point and proceeded to preach a very 
 evangelical sermon. In the midst of one of the most 
 eloquent passages, in which he referred in beautiful 
 language to the peaceable nature of the coming King- 
 dom of the Blessed Messiah and its near approach, 
 and expressed a desire that it might speedily come, 
 I was carried away with his eloquence and fervor, and 
 endorsing his expressed desire I said "Amen." 
 
 Unused to such responses he was surprised, and 
 turning around to me, asked, "What did thee say. 
 Brother?" 
 
 I was confused, but had presence of mind enough 
 to say, "Go on, Brother, go on." 
 
SERVANTS OF THE LORD. 117 
 
 Said he, "What did thee say?" I rephed, "I said 
 Amen." 
 
 He righted up and went on. The congregation 
 was greatly amused and I feh woefully embarrassed. 
 The Preacher finished w^ell without any more of my 
 '•'Amens." 
 
 While he was closing his sermon my mind was at 
 work on how best to utilize the occasion. I knew 
 all the Quakers wxre abolitionists and I had a good 
 subject. So I determined I would take them with 
 guile. 
 
 I arose and said: "A strange thing has occurred in 
 Marleborough tonight. . The quiet Quakers and 
 noisy Methodists have held a meeting together and 
 all ye are witnesses it has been a glorious meeting. 
 And now I am going to ask Uncle Jimmie to sing 
 the first hymn." 
 
 I gave him a sign and he promptly arose, attracting 
 every eye and stood while I remarked that any who 
 did not wish to hear him could retire. Every one 
 remained. Uncle Jimmie struck the tune known as 
 "Exhortation," singing, 
 
 "O, for a thousand tongues to sing, 
 My great Redeemer's praise. 
 The glories of my God and King, 
 The triumphs of his grace." 
 
 He sang as only he could sing. Under an inspira- 
 tion every heart was moved. The whole company 
 was swayed by this grand old hymn and tune sung 
 by this dusky son of Methodism, as by the magic of 
 a master. 
 
 When he had sung the last line I invited all to join 
 in prayer and called on Uncle Jimmie to lead. Such 
 
118 AGENTS OF THE DEVIL 
 
 a prayer had never been heard by that company, a 
 prayer most eloquent and effective. 
 
 When it was over I stepped to the front of the 
 altar to announce the appointments for the following 
 evening, when the Quaker preacher came out of the 
 pulpit and threw his arms around me and said 
 audibly, '*0, my brother, it is good to be here." 
 
 That meeting still lives and it will never be for- 
 gotten. Its far-reaching influence cannot be esti- 
 mated. 
 
 This occurred in 1852 and in 1864, as I returned to 
 Kansas from general conference at Philadelphia (of 
 which body I was a member as a delegate from the 
 Kansas conference) I met in the cars at Yellow Creek- 
 Station, Ohio, an itinerant Quaker preacher and his 
 traveling companion. In the course of our journey 
 I fell into conversation with them and learned that 
 they were on a trip of visitation to the churches and 
 were then going to Marleborough. I related to them 
 the above incident, when they both rose to their feet 
 and, grasping me warmly by the hand, exclaimed 
 with unusual emotion for Quakers: 
 
 "Is it possible thee is the man that treated our 
 Brother so kindly? We have heard him describe the 
 singing and the singer, and the wonderful prayer, and 
 the meeting, but we never expected to see the man 
 tliat took such part in that interesting meeting." 
 
 They said that the relation of the incident pleased 
 their friends ver^^ greatly. We had a joyful time 
 talking over an incident of more than tvv^elve years' 
 standing. So far as I have been able to learn it was 
 the first of the kind that occurred wherein Methodists 
 and Quakers united in such a way to worship our 
 common Savior and God. 
 
SERVANTS OF THE LORD. 110 
 
 At Mount Union, Stark County, one of my then 
 appointments, there had been commenced a college 
 three or four years previously, which is one of the 
 many important institutions of Ohio. The president. 
 Dr. O. N. Hartshorn, is a remarkable man, self-made 
 in a striking sense, his whole life one of self-reliance. 
 Coming up from obscurity and through poverty he 
 has achieved wonders and assisted thousands of poor 
 young men and women to the acquirement of an edu- 
 cation and peculiarly fitted them for usefulness in life. 
 
 During my pastorate on the circuit I held four pro- 
 tracted meetings at this place, resulting in the con- 
 version of more than one hundred of the students of 
 the college. This was the beginning of active, open, 
 effective Christian work in this locality, which was 
 surrounded by infidel influences. In all these meet- 
 ings I was heartily seconded and largely helped by 
 all the professors, who continued to be a willing work- 
 ing band of Christian laborers. Every year since re- 
 vivals have been enjoyed at this seat of Christian 
 learning, resulting in the conversion of thousands 
 of precious souls. The college is still sending men 
 and women into every open field of usefulness. It 
 was the first to adopt the co-education of the sexes, 
 and from beginnings so small has gained upon popu- 
 lar sentiment until it has won its way to the front 
 rank and today stands among the leading colleges of 
 the West, owing much of its success to its decided 
 religious caste and the faith and faithfulness of its 
 faculty. 
 
 After more than thirty years absence from that field, 
 ten of which were spent in Kansas, I returned to the 
 Pittsburg conference and was made corresponding 
 secretary of Mount Union College, in which relation 
 I remained until called of the church and bv the 
 
120 AGENTS OF THE DEVIL 
 
 Bishop to a field of vast moral importance. My early 
 associations with this college as a religious instructor 
 and helper so cemented my affections to the professors 
 and institution that I still love to think, speak, pray, 
 and write about them and its success. 
 
 ^ >!; ^ >!; ;|c ;|i ^ 
 
 When my time was up at Freedom we were assigned 
 to a charge including North Benton, Mahoning 
 County, Ohio. This was a pretty hamlet surrounded 
 by well cultivated fields and beech and hickory forests. 
 These abounded in game of various kinds, including 
 flocks of wild turkeys. The circuit was thirty miles 
 long and twenty miles wide, the parsonage being lo- 
 cated at North Benton. Our removal was accom- 
 plished in part by rail and in part by wag- 
 on, and when we paid our teamsters our sole 
 remaining funds in cash were three old fash- 
 ioned copper cents. It was three months till quart- 
 erly meeting and we were among strangers. 
 Furthermore, our larder was illy supplied with the 
 necessaries of life. Such an experience v/ould be ac- 
 counted an unusual hardship even by a Methodist 
 itinerant in these days, but it was not uncommon then. 
 
 When the situation became known to one of the 
 stewards. Brother John Carter, he called to his aid 
 Brother Henry Lewis and we were soon supplied, 
 through their efforts and the kindly responses of the 
 members of the local charge, with all that was neces- 
 sary for our comfort. 
 
 There were thirteen appointments on this circuit, 
 embracing, ad told, about three hundred members. 
 The people were unusually considerate of the needs 
 of their pastor and his little family, and took excellent 
 care of us all over the circuit. My work was success- 
 
CHARLES EDMUND FISHER, M. D. 
 
SERVANTS OF THE LORD. 121 
 
 fill, it including thirteen protracted meetings during 
 the first year and eleven the next. 
 
 ;;< >!i * ^ ^ ^ ;!; 
 
 Our second son, Charles Edmund, his second name 
 being given him because of my love and admiration for 
 Bishop Janes, was born during our residence in North. 
 Benton, on the seventh of March, 1853. I had been 
 attending a special meeting sixteen miles from home 
 and upon my return found the parsonage enlivened 
 by the presence of this little black-eyed stranger. His 
 coming greatly endeared us to the people, as he was 
 the first new-comer ever arriving at the North Ben- 
 ton parsonage. 
 
 This son studied medicine, graduating at Detroit 
 in 1872 and again in Cincinnati in 1875. ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ 
 attended post-graduate study in New York and 
 abroad, and has taken high rank in his profession. 
 He early removed to Texas for his health, remaining 
 there until 1893, when he removed to Chicago, where 
 he now resides. He has been president of the Texas 
 Homeopathic Medical Society, as also of the Southern 
 Homeopathic Medical Association and, in 1895, of the 
 American Institute of Homeopathy. It was my pleas- 
 ure to attend the annual meeting of the latter body at 
 Newport, Rhode Island, in June of last year, over 
 which he presided. This doctor-son is editor of a 
 semi-monthly medical journal, the Aledical Century, 
 author of a standard work on Diseases of Children, 
 and joint-author and editor of a large composite text- 
 book of surgery. He has also served with distinction 
 as a professor of surgery in one of Chicago's medical 
 colleges. 
 
 }H, 'i^ 'i: ^ -'r- ^ ^ 
 
 At the close of my pastorate on the Limaville and 
 Alliance circuit I was appointed to the Sewickly 
 charge, in Pennsylvania. Here we spent a very 
 
122 AGENTS OF THE DEVIL 
 
 pleasant year with a good degree of success. We 
 finished a neat church, which had been commenced 
 by my predecessor, Rev. Albert G. Williams, and 
 Bishop Simpson dedicated it in his inimitable style. 
 A pompous brother was to preach at 3 p. m. He an- 
 nounced that he would "endeavor to follow the Bishop 
 at a deferential distance," and he did follow at a very 
 deferential distance, and without special endeavor, 
 too, greatly to the innocent amusement of the people. 
 
 On this charge we held successful meetings at Hop- 
 kins Chapel, where several persons were converted. 
 Here w^e beheld the unusual sight of a beautiful rain- 
 bow by moonlight. 
 
 At Blackburn Chapel we held a meeting of great 
 good to the many who attended. One evening there 
 were eight or nine adults kneeling as seekers of salva- 
 tion at the altar. A spirit of solemn supplication pre- 
 vailed. The pastor's wife passed along from one end 
 of the altar to the other, encouraging the seekers, 
 with appropriate quotations and promises, and in less 
 than ten minutes the whole number by faith entered 
 into a joyful Christian experience and testified to the 
 power of Christ to save those who believe. I seldom 
 if ever witnessed such remarkable unanimity in belief 
 and such simultaneous believing and rejoicing. 
 
 Sewicklyville had for* a long time prior to our com- 
 ing, presented a striking example of "how great a 
 fire a little matter kindleth." Two otherwise good 
 men had had a financial transaction about which they 
 had disagreed, and for years they had kept the church 
 in perpetual turmoil, until I finally succeeded in 
 getting them to arbitrate their difTBculties — to find 
 that it was all about sixty-two and a half cents. 
 
 ;!; ^; ^ ;|; ;!; ^ ;|; 
 
 At the close of one year in the Sewicklyville charge 
 
SERVANTS OF THE LORD. 123 
 
 I was removed to what proved to be the most pleasant 
 station I ever filled, viz., McKeesport, Pa. This was 
 a beautiful town at the junction of the Monongahela 
 and Yougheogheny rivers. Dr. Isaac N. Baird was 
 my presiding elder. During the first year I united 
 with the resident ministers of other denominations in 
 a course of fifteen lectures on the Evidences of Chris- 
 tianity. There was much intemperance prevalent 
 and a strong band of infidels, thoroughly organized 
 in a club. This club held regular meetings for the 
 purpose of reading what they termed 'The Infidels' 
 Bible," viz., Payne's Age of Reason, and other similar 
 books. The club was popular, and was exerting a 
 widespread influence among the young men of the 
 town and neighborhood. Our course of lectures was 
 designed to oflset this plausible plan of the enemy 
 and save the young men from infidelity. There were 
 in the Baptist pulpit Dr. Penny and Dr. Remington; 
 in the Presbyterian pulpit Dr. Nathaniel West, a man 
 of learning, who was the author of 'The Analysis of 
 the Bible," and in the reformed Presbyterian church 
 a Mr. Wallace. These brethren gave their best time 
 and thought to the preparation of their lectures. 
 From the beginning the course was so popular that the 
 largest church in the town was crowded, and at the 
 close of the third lecture, which I had the responsi- 
 bility of preparing and delivering, Mr. Isaac Wam- 
 pler, the president of the infidel club, arose in the 
 midst of the vast audience and moved the lecture just 
 delivered (which was on the Insuf^ciency of the Light 
 of Nature as a Rule of Moral Conduct, and the Ne- 
 cessity of a Divinely Authorized Revelation of God's 
 Will) be requested for publication in pamphlet form, 
 and that he and his friends would pledge the payment 
 of the cost of publication. His motion was seconded 
 
124 AGENTS OF THE DEVIL 
 
 by another noted unbeliever, and put by Dr. West, in 
 whose church the lecture was delivered, and unani- 
 mously adopted. The lecture was published accord- 
 i]}gly, and was the means of doing much good. The 
 infidel club never held another meeting, and at the 
 close of these lectures many who were recorded un- 
 believers at the beginning became Christians, living 
 and dying in the gospel of peace. 
 
 The churches had not only rest, but prosperity. 
 Mr. Wampler became a memb^er of the Presbyterian 
 church, and Captain James Henderixson, Daniel Pol- 
 lard, and other members of the club became members 
 of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
 
 ^ 'K 'i< ^ ^ -k 'fi 
 
 At Pine Run, some three miles above McKeesport, 
 on the Monongahela river, we had a class of twelve 
 members. With the eflficient help and liberality of 
 the class leader. Brother John O'Neal, I built a beauti- 
 ful church, which was dedicated by Bishop Simpson. 
 Our members here increased until the Society at the 
 close of my pastorate, numbered eighty, with a flour- 
 ishing Sabbath school. 
 
 During my pastorate here, on the 25th of May, 
 1856, our third son, Joseph Clarence, was born. He 
 early became a devout and consistent Christian, and 
 lived long enough to give great promise of useful- 
 ness, but was cut off in the midst of his preparation 
 for life work by a very short illness, at Olathe, Kansas, 
 before he attained his eighteenth birthday. 
 
 Our home in McKeesport was a delightful one, and 
 the people were exceedingly kind and considerate. 
 The town was picturesque and lovely, its situation 
 being at the confluence of two of Pennsylvania's 
 beautiful rivers. We spent two of our most delight- 
 ful years in gospel work in this charge. 
 
JOSEPH CLARENCE FISHER. 
 
SAD INCIDENTS— WORK AT BIRMINGHAM. 125 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SAD INCIDENTS — WORK AT BIRMINGHAM. 
 
 In McKeesport there was a family by the name of 
 Ludwick, most of them being very devoted members 
 of the Methodist Church, though formerly Lutherans. 
 They had built a large and beautiful flour mill, one of 
 them being an experienced millwright and practical 
 miller. He was a Lutheran. The day before the mill 
 was to be tested was "Communion Sabbath." I had 
 preached in the evening and administered the Holy 
 Sacrament, of which a large company partook. It 
 was a very solemn occasion. When we were about to 
 formally finish the services I was profoundly impressed 
 that there were others who should, on that occasion, 
 commune. I urged upon the people their privilege 
 and duty, with an inexpressible feeling that to some 
 it would be the last time for such opportunity. While 
 I was yet speaking this man arose, and coming to the 
 altar knelt alone, and received with great solemnity 
 the emblems of his Savior's passion and death. There 
 was a holy reverence resting upon the entire audience, 
 and he retired, his face bathed in tears. The follow- 
 ing morning, very early, he went to the mill, only a few 
 rods from his house, started the machinery to test it, 
 and soon after was found in the lower story, where 
 he had gone to adjust a wedge in the driving wheel, 
 dead. Evidently his adz, which he had used in setting 
 the wedge, had been caught by one of the swiftly 
 revolving wheels and dashed with deadly efifect against 
 
126 SAD INCIDENTS-WORK AT BIRMINGHAM. 
 
 the side of his head, producing instantaneous death. I 
 hurried to his house while yet the warmth of life was 
 left, and when I entered the room w^here his body lay 
 his aged father and mother and wife and little children 
 were in tears of anguish. My coming in awakened 
 the memories of the evening past, and one of them ex- 
 claimed, "Oh, what a comfort it is to think that the 
 last public act of his life was to acknowledge his Sav- 
 ior! Now the Savior has acknowledged him before 
 His father and the holy angels!" 
 
 ''Oh," said his wife, ''I can bear the parting, in the 
 hope of blissful and eternal reunion." 
 
 Just at the close of the second year a most horrible 
 double murder occurred above McKeesport, and 
 nearly opposite my appointment at Pine Run. The 
 parties murdered were an old couple who were living 
 alone on a little farm, and had accumulated a few hun- 
 dred dollars, which they had laid by in their house. 
 This became known to a girl who was a niece of the 
 old couple and whose name was Charlotte Jones. She 
 became acquainted with a young Canadian, Henry 
 Fife, and his accomplice in the crime, one Stewart. 
 They planned the murder, and this trio of desperate 
 characters, on their way to its execution, passed under 
 my window, looking in where I was counting my mis- 
 sionary collection and other conference moneys, pre- 
 paratory to starting to conference next morning. 
 They did not molest us, however, but before daylight 
 had killed and robbed the two old and helpless people. 
 The man, Fife, and Charlotte Jones expiated their 
 crime on the gallows in Pittsburg, while Stewart was 
 reported as having died of smallpox. I have always 
 believed that some other person died .of the disease 
 and he escaped, by means of unlawful influences. 
 
SAD INCIDENTS— WORK AT BIRMINGHAM. 127 
 
 Conference met the next day after this horrible 
 murder, in IMonongahela City, Bishop Simpson presid- 
 ing. I had finished a successful two years' pastorate 
 and the second day of conference the Bishop informed 
 me that I might write to my wife that we were going 
 to South Common Church in Allegheny City. On 
 Monday following a committee from Birmingham 
 called on the Bishop and requested that I should be 
 sent to their station, to "take them out of the drag," 
 as they said. They had a dilapidated church, in an 
 out-of-the-way place, their congregation was run 
 down, and though they had been trying for six years 
 to change their condition it grew worse from year to 
 year. The Bishop offered other names, but the com- 
 mittee hung for their first request. Having told me 
 early that I was to go to South Common the Bishop, 
 in the kindness of his great heart sent for me and very 
 tenderly informed me of the Birmingham request and 
 stated that he did not want to make the change with- 
 out my concurrence, but he thought I could save our 
 church interests in Birmingham, and as he was living 
 in Pittsburg he desired the churches in and around 
 the city to be put on a firm and healthy basis. 
 
 "I have always had a very profound respect for 
 Episcopal authority," I said, ''Bishop Simpson, you 
 have the authority and the responsibility. I will obey 
 orders." 
 
 As a result I was sent to Birmingham. My wife, 
 though a heroine, felt afflicted at the change, but we 
 went promptly and cheerfully, sending word in ad- 
 vance that I was coming to build a new church. This 
 was taken by some as a jest. When we went to church 
 on Sunday morning our little four-year-old boy, 
 Charles Edmund, coming in sight of the old, dilapi- 
 
128 SAD INCIDENTS-WORK AT BIRMINGHAM. 
 
 dated church, stopped short, and said, with character- 
 istic vim: "Pa, if I were you I would not preach in 
 such a dirty old church as that. I'd go back to Mc- 
 Keesport." 
 
 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^; ^ H? 
 
 The congregation was very small, and sadly dis- 
 couraged, but we had a melting service at the very be- 
 ginning. Good Brother Fawcett came up immedi- 
 ately after service, and with tears on his cheeks, said 
 to me: 
 
 ''Brother Fisher, thank God! I love to see the peo- 
 ple wiping off" while the tears ran down his own face. 
 Many who were present wept with joy. The Sabbath 
 school was very badly disorganized, but we began 
 hopefully to plan and work. I arranged a series of 
 cottage prayer meetings in the homes of the people, 
 and appointed various leaders, giving each one some- 
 thing to do and directing that family worship be es- 
 tabhshed everywhere. It was not many weeks until 
 our little meetings had to be transferred to the lecture 
 room of the old church and these, in turn, grew to be 
 crowded. The Lord gave us favor in the eyes of the 
 people, and I was enabled to buy a corner lot, right 
 next to one our people had bartered away many years 
 before, on which we soon began the erection of what 
 is now Birmingham Street Methodist Church, which 
 has been a center of power for years. It is in the very 
 heart of the town, where the great manufacturing in- 
 terests are. 
 
 But our chief energy and attention was directed to 
 the conversion of souls. A deep religious feeling pre- 
 vailed at every meeting, and in the families at pastoral 
 visitation members of the family would often leave 
 the room at close of prayer, their faces bathed in tears. 
 The congregation grew until every seat, even pulpit 
 
SAD INCIDENTS— WORK AT BIRMINGHAM. 129 
 
 and altar, would be full to overflowing. A gracious 
 revival began. Over two hundred and fifty souls were 
 converted. I received above two hundred and thirty 
 names, numbers of which remain on the roll till the 
 present time. On one Sabbath day there were ninety- 
 six of these dear people called around the altar and re- 
 ceived into full connection at one time, the largest 
 number I have any knowledge of ever having been re- 
 ceived at one time into the church up to that date. 
 The scope of the revival was such that leading mem- 
 bers in other churches desired their ministers to invite 
 seekers to an anxious seat, or ''mourners' bench," and 
 they declining, were removed. 
 
 Thus four settled pastors were unsettled, simply be- 
 cause they would not unite in this glorious work. The 
 work in the Methodist Episcopal Church went on. 
 The town was shaken, and very many rejoice yet that 
 they enjoyed the privileges of that meeting. 
 
 We had the new church walls up, roof on, spires 
 partly finished, a grand Sunday school, several side 
 appointments, and these hundreds of converts to look 
 after. Our classes were of the Wesleyan type, full of 
 fire and love. Conference came, and everybody was 
 expecting my return to Birmingham. They were pay- 
 ing me a good salary. The work was really in its most 
 important, if not most precarious, state. Conference 
 met at Cambridge, Ohio. My wife accompanied me 
 to Steubenville to visit friends. On our way we 
 learned, to our surprise and consternation, that Bishop 
 Jaynes had written from Kansas that Leavenworth 
 City was left to be supplied, and that he desired my 
 transfer and appointment to that charge. I could not 
 have been more surprised if it had been proposed to 
 
130 SAD INCIDENTS— WORK AT BIRMINGHAM. 
 
 have sent me to China. Bishop Simpson was sick 
 nigh unto death. Bishop Baker presided. 
 
 The letter of Bishop Jaynes was sent to Bishop 
 Baker, who, on the first day of conference invited me 
 to his room, read the letter, and asked me what he 
 should do in the case. I told him all about my Bir- 
 mingham work, and said I could take no responsibility 
 in the case. The matter was laid before the cabinet. 
 Eight presiding elders were opposed, while D. P. Mit- 
 chell thought I ought to go. Rev. Sylvester Burt 
 offered to go to Leavenworth for a year, and I was to 
 follow. Rev. D. P. Mitchell offered to resign his offtce 
 as presiding elder and go in my stead, but Bishop Bak- 
 er said: ''They have asked for Brother Fisher, and if 
 I send any one Til send him." 
 
 So it stood till the last hour of conference. Rev. S 
 E. Babcock, who had taken me into the church when 
 a boy, came to me and said the Bishop wanted me to 
 go but would not send me without my consent. I 
 told Brother Babcock to say to the Bishop just what 
 he pleased. I would stand it. 
 
 It was at the last moment decided that I should go 
 to Kansas. 
 
 Brother Lynch, with whom I stayed, said he suffered 
 inexpressible agony over the matter. The people of 
 Birmingham were inconsolable. Their disappoint- 
 ment was beyond imagining and sorrowful indeed to 
 witness. When I preached my farewell sermon I do 
 not think if my body had been before the people pre- 
 pared for burial they would have lamented more than 
 they did at my removal from them. 
 
4, 
 
 THE AUTHOR AT THIRTY-FOUR. 
 
WESTWARD, HO! 131 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 WESTWARD, ho! 
 
 ^^ At an early day we embarked on the steamer 
 "South America," Captain Shepherd commanding. 
 She was advertised for the Upper Missouri River. 
 There were no railroads west of the Mississippi River 
 at that date, and the Missouri had been patrolled by 
 pro-slavery minions to prevent free-state emigration. 
 The journey necessitated nearly eighteen hundred 
 miles of steamboat travel. The captain, other officers 
 and crew and passengers were very kind to the preach- 
 er and his family, consisting now of my wife and three 
 little boys, aged seven, five and two. Especially were 
 the cabin boys attentive to the wants of our little fel- 
 lows, and in the genial atmosphere much of the 
 tedium of the trip was lifted and the run, though haz- 
 ardous from Cairo to St. Louis, because of flood, was 
 restful and enjoyable. 
 
 Owing somewhat to the frailty of our craft, which 
 was heavily laden, our captain decided to go no far- 
 ther than St. Louis and we were so fortunate as to drop 
 our lines and "lay to" immediately in the rear or at the 
 stern of the good steamer ''Oglesby," a noble craft 
 under the command of the son of a Methodist preach- 
 er who had introduced Methodism into Illinois. We 
 were kindly offered special rates, and at once trans- 
 ferred from the "South America" to the "Oglesby," 
 bound for Leavenworth City. The captain and crew 
 
132 WESTWARD, HO! 
 
 gave us every needed attention to make our voyage 
 pleasant, and with admirable success. 
 
 Here I was; I, an outspoken abolitionist, en route 
 and nearly to Kansas in the year 1858! All along the 
 voyage the difference in improvements, the evidence 
 of a different civilization, as between Ohio and Vir- 
 ginia, Illinois and Kentucky, had been to me a most 
 impressive phase of the advantage of freedom over 
 slavery. I was sailing up the river to my future field 
 more and more ready and primed to engage in the en- 
 counter already so long waged on that soil between 
 liberty and bondage. Little did I dream how actively 
 the struggle, like an octopus, was to draw me, with 
 all who held Kansas dear, into its embrace! 
 
 When we arrived at Leavenworth we found a wel- 
 come from our future congregation in the persons of 
 George S. Weaver and Jacob Lander, who took our 
 boys in their arms, carried them safelv ashore, and 
 escorted us to a home with Brother and Sister Morris 
 Roberts, old parishioners from McKeesport, and who 
 — we always suspected — had much to do in our unex- 
 pected removal from Birmingham to Kansas. 
 
 A most encouraging instance of the solicitous affec- 
 tion which was to be my portion in my new home be- 
 fell us immediately upon our arrival. An elect lady of 
 seventy years or more — Mother Day — said to me 
 heartily and simply as she grasped me by the hand: 
 "Brother Fisher, ever since I heard you were coming 
 I have been praying that God would be with you and 
 bring you safely to us." Among other loved parish- 
 ioners whom we had left behind was one Mother Gar- 
 rison, as old and venerable a lady as this one, who had 
 said just as we were leaving Birmingham, "Brother 
 Fisher, I shall not cease to pray that the Lord will go 
 with you and bring you safely to your destination." 
 
WESTWARD, HO! 133 
 
 Here had been the prayers of these two good old 
 Christian mothers outspread over me for a journey 
 of eighteen hundred miles, and I wept for joy at the 
 thought of the answer to that prayer as a rainbow of 
 promise fulfilled! 
 
 :|= ;;: ;;; ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 I had left the new church approaching completion. 
 It would seat eight hundred or more people, the old 
 church having accommodated six hundred souls. We 
 left a grand congregation, large Sabbath school, good 
 house to live in, with a competent salary, and probable 
 increase; we had journeyed at our own expense 
 eighteen hundred miles — to find twenty resident mem- 
 bers, no missionary appropriation, not a foot of ground 
 to build a church upon, not a dollar to build with. Yet 
 I was expected to build a church and sustain my fam- 
 ily on what the people would give. 
 
 My first sermon was to a congregation of less than 
 thirty hearers, and that in a little shot-marked school- 
 house, seated with rude benches, and very untidy, in- 
 deed filthy, with Kansas soil. The whole condition of 
 church affairs was so different from those we left that 
 the first Sabbath of June, 1858, was absolutely the 
 "bluest day" I had ever experienced. It was the date 
 of my first sermon in Kansas. But as I preached the 
 gospel of consolation tears started from many eyes. 
 My heart was touched and my tears began to flow. 
 I wept because it seemed to me that I liad brought 
 my wife and three dear boys away out to Kansas to 
 starve them to death. It looked so that day. But I 
 wept also because I knew Christ, whom I preached, 
 was able to deliver all those who would put their trust 
 in Him. And before the sermon ended I was con- 
 vinced I was in a providential opening, as it evidently 
 turned to the good of the church. 
 
134 WESTWARD, HO! 
 
 But we had to face difficulties. The "Town Com- 
 pany," being all pro-slavery men, had early resolved 
 that the "Northern Methodist Church," as they called 
 it, should not build a church in Leavenworth. We had 
 no provision for such grounds, and my society, being 
 so weak numerically and financially, had not bought 
 a site. Hence we were barehanded and handicapped. 
 To add to our trouble, six weeks after our arrival, and 
 after I had obtained a good subscription to aid us in 
 building a house of worship, a fire originating in the 
 greenroom of the theater destroyed the whole busi- 
 ness center of the city, including the business of the 
 only four persons connected v/ith our church upon 
 whom we could depend for substantial help, namely,. 
 George H. Weaver, H. P. Johnson, R. Newland, and 
 Rev. Stewart of Philadelphia. None of these recov- 
 ered except Mr. Weaver, who after fourteen years of 
 patient toil and great economy re-established a very 
 prosperous business. 
 
 Our subscription was wrecked. The struggle we 
 had because of poverty and abounding wickedness in 
 the city was enough to discourage the most heroic. 
 But our necessity was so absolute that we could not go 
 back on our plans of work nor could we safely stand 
 still. We were compelled to press on to success, or 
 forfeit all we had gained. So committing our cause 
 to the God of all grace, and confiding in Him, we 
 pressed forward to the work. Renewing our effort 
 we purchased a lot in the most central part of the 
 city, still occupied in 1896, and raised our subscrip- 
 tion to the highest point possible. By the request and 
 direction of my official board I made a visit abroad, 
 succeeded in raising some money and returned to 
 cheer my brethren in the good work. A few months 
 
WESTWARD, HO! 135 
 
 later I made a second visit, and much farther East, 
 which resulted in the raising of considerable means, 
 through great effort, wherewith to sufficiently com- 
 plete the church for temporary occupancy. I spent 
 several weeks in Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York 
 and other cities and towns, while the building went 
 slowly on. 
 
 -'.' ^ ^ ;f: >!; :|; ;j; 
 
 I met with many very interesting and instructive 
 incidents in this work, some of which were really en- 
 couraging, and their memories are thrilling and re- 
 freshing. I w^as generally well supplied with letters 
 of introduction and endorsement by merchants and 
 others in official position. I had especially the en- 
 dorsement of Bishops Simpson and Ames. One letter 
 I bore was to Mr. D. A. January, of St. Louis, from 
 Nelson McCrackin of Leavenworth. Mr. January 
 was a Presbyterian elder. A traveling companion 
 from Leavenworth was Rev. Mr. Baccus, a Presby- 
 terian minister, 'going East on a mission similar to my 
 own. On the way down the river I became familiar 
 with the passengers, made known the object of my 
 trip, and circulated a subscription book for my church, 
 When we arrived in St. Louis I stopped at a hotel 
 where charges were light, while Air. Baccus went to 
 an up-town hotel where charges were much higher. 
 
 Next morning — "the King's business demanding 
 haste" — I went forth early with my letters of introduc- 
 tion to Mr. January. He was not in. The porter in- 
 vited me to take a chair, gave me the morning paper, 
 and I began to read. Presently a very affable gentle- 
 man came into the office. I arose and asked, *'Do I 
 address Mr. January?" 
 
 He extended his hand, and with a smile answered, 
 "You do. Whom do I address?" 
 
136 WESTWARD, HO! 
 
 I replied, *'H. D. Fisher, of Leavenworth, Kansas, 
 a Methodist preacher; and I have the pleasure of bear- 
 ing a letter of introduction from our mutual friend. 
 Nelson McCrackin." 
 
 He read the letter with evident satisfaction, and 
 then asked: ''What can I do for you?" 
 
 I told him in a few words what the object of my 
 visit was, to obtain money to build a church, at the 
 same time handing him my book in which my steam- 
 boat subscription was recorded. He took it, saying, 
 "I am a Presbyterian, but I will help you what I can 
 this morning." 
 
 He wrote his name, put down $20, and handed me 
 a twenty dollar bill v;ith many a good wish expressed 
 for my success. I was in the act of bowing myself out 
 of the ofhce when in stepped Mr. Baccus. We recog- 
 nized each other and I was about to introduce him 
 to my new acquaintance when the latter very kindly 
 said, ''I have met Mr. Baccus before." 
 
 Without any ceremony Mr. Baccus drew from his 
 pocket a book, saying as he did so, ''Mr. January, I 
 have called to ask a subscription to help pay for a 
 Presbyterian church in Leavenworth City." 
 
 Mr. January laughingly replied, "Why, I have just 
 given Mr. Fisher twenty dollars. That is all I can 
 give, and this should teach you not to let a Methodist 
 preacher get ahead of you again." 
 
 I replied, "It is not Mr. Baccus' fault. It was fore- 
 ordained, and I was simply carrying out the orders. 
 I am very glad they were in my favor." 
 
 When I arrived in Philadelphia, I found myself in a 
 strange city, with but sixty-two and a kalf cents, hav- 
 ing remitted my funds as fast as I collected them. I 
 felt that time was everything, and learning that there 
 
WESTWARD, HO! 137 
 
 was to be a family gathering, or kind of love feast or 
 reunion at Cohocksink M. E. Church, of which Rev. 
 Fernly was pastor, I determined to attend and enjoy 
 the meeting. As it was an "Experience Meeting" I 
 arose to speak of my Christian experience, and told 
 the congregation that as a stranger I wished to bear 
 my testimony; that I had been sent by Bishop Baker, 
 at Bishop Jayne's request, from Pittsburg conference 
 to the Kansas conference, and stationed at Leaven- 
 worth; that we had been wonderfully sustained by 
 divine grace, and now I was here to raise money to 
 help build a church. 
 
 Brother Fernly jumped up and said, ''Come right 
 forward. Brother, so the people can see you, and tell 
 us all about matters in Kansas." 
 
 I gladly accepted the opportunity of describing just 
 what we were trying to do. 
 
 At the close of the meeting Brother Fernly told 
 the people to come up and give me all the help they 
 could. He and another preacher began writing the 
 names and amounts, but the people came so fast they 
 quit writing and just put the money in a hat. To me 
 this was a complete surprise, and made me almost 
 shout for joy. 
 
 The amount was about sixty dollars, as many dollars 
 as I had cents in the morning. 
 
 As I had letters of introduction to merchants down 
 town I started to walk in the morning, hoping to see 
 at least a few of them before night. A street car came 
 along and my first impulse was to ride to save time. 
 Then I thought if I did some one who has given their 
 money to help will think, ''Yes, he can ride at our ex- 
 pense." I walked on rapidly until seeing I was losing 
 precious time I resolved to ride. So I ran and caught 
 up with the car and stepped inside. As I did so a lady 
 
138 WESTWARD. HO! - 
 
 arose — that is unusual — and extended her hand and 1 
 gave her mine, when to my extreme embarrassment 
 she held to me saying, "You are the brother from 
 Kansas who was at the meeting. I was very much in- 
 terested in your remarks and I hope you will get all 
 the help you need." I thanked her for her good wishes 
 and when she let go my hand she left a five dollar 
 gold piece in it. I came very nearly shouting, only 
 remembering in time that it would not do to shout in 
 a street car in Philadelphia. Yet I dare say if it were 
 to happen again I would shout — arrest or no arrest. 
 
 I went at once to the store of a Mr. Townsend, a 
 Quaker, to whom I had letters. He gave me twenty 
 dollars and I soon sent home a draft for one hundred 
 dollars and was very happy. 
 
 H; ;i< * * >1: * ♦ 
 
 The next marked surprise was in Hartford Avenue 
 Church, Baltimore, of which Rev. G. W. Cooper, was 
 pastor. Dr. D. W. Bartine and Rev. Alfred Cookman 
 and I had gone down to Baltimore to aid Dr. Aquila 
 Reese and Brother Cooper in protracted meetings. 
 Brother Cooper said if I would preach for him I might 
 state my case at the close of the sermon and let the 
 people give voluntarily. Kansas was not a very savory 
 name for Baltimoreans, but I preached and made a short 
 statement of my case and of my visit East. Before 
 I was through a solid looking old brother rose, hat in 
 hand, and started for the door. I thought he was 
 offended, and that the 'Tat was all in the fire." But 
 just as I closed my remarks he stopped near the door, 
 turned around and sang out: "Brother Cooper will 
 take his hat. I've got mine, and we will stand at the 
 doors and when you are dismissed you can drop into 
 the hats what you wish to give Brother Fisher. Now, 
 get out your pocket-books and give liberally." 
 
WESTWARD, HO! 139 
 
 Brother Cooper asked me to dismiss the company 
 but my emotions overcame me and he pronounced the 
 benediction and the people passed slowly out. Broth- 
 er Cooper and I walked down the aisle. The old 
 brother spread out his bandanna, and dumping the 
 contents of the hats into it, said to us, "Now, come 
 home with me and get dinner, and we will count the 
 collection." We obeyed with pleasure, and after din- 
 ner found there was over sixty dollars. Father 
 Thomas has ever had my sincerest thanks for this 
 pleasant surprise. Doubtless when we meet in heaven 
 we will talk it over. 
 
 >{: ^ ;•: H: ^ -i; ;? 
 
 On Sabbath evening I preached for Dr. Reese in the 
 old Exeter Street Church. The sainted Cookman and 
 Dr. Bartine had been assisting in his meetings, but up 
 to this date there had been no particular signs of re- 
 vival, except deep and growing seriousness. There 
 was general curiosity awakened to hear a Kansas 
 preacher. While I preached Dr. Reese's mother-in- 
 law, a saintly woman of great faith, was praying, and 
 would occasionally say audibly, "Lord, bless the ser- 
 mon." The tide of feeling rose and spread, and as i 
 closed Dr. Reese said to me: "Brother Fisher, invite 
 mourners to the akar." I did so in a short, earnest 
 exhortation. There were a lady and three daughters 
 sitting midway in the church. The mother and two 
 of the daughters were Episcopalians. The third one 
 arose and very deliberately walked up the aisle, the 
 tears streaming over her face. When she reached the 
 altar railing she put out her hands to steady herself 
 in the act of kneeling, and as she paused she looked 
 up and cried piteously, "Lord, save or I perish!" In- 
 stantly a gleam of light covered her face, and she 
 turned in the face of that vast congregation and cried 
 
140 WESTWARD, HOt 
 
 aloud, "Glory to G®d, my sins are forgiven. Where 
 is my father? I want him to come and be saved too." 
 The scene that followed is indescribable. Men wept 
 like children ; strong men bowed themselves in prayer. 
 The congregation swayed like a forest under a whirl- 
 wind. Women shouted the praises of God. The altar 
 was soon crowded with seekers of salvation, nearly 
 every one of whom was happily converted before the 
 meeting closed. It was a remarkable victory. Thus, 
 while I was begging money for a Western church God 
 was watering my soul and repaying others in spiritual 
 benefits for what they bestowed upon us in the way 
 of material help. I was learning rapidly the way of 
 working in the vineyard. 
 
 ij< ;|c >); ^ ;|; ijc ;Jj 
 
 Later on I visited a camp meeting near Dover, Dela- 
 ware, and preached, making known my mission. While 
 here a devout and venerable man who had come a 
 long distance to attend the meeting came to me 
 and gave me a dollar and seventy-five cents, 
 saying he wished it were more but it was all he had 
 and he wanted to give it to help plant the church in 
 Kansas. I declined to take it, and pressed him to keep 
 it to pay his way home. He replied, "The 
 Lord has promised to provide, and he will take care 
 of me." At night I preached again, and invited seek- 
 ers to the mourners' bench. As I stood in the pulpit 
 the good old brother who had given me his last penny 
 came to me and opening his hand, said: "Look here, 
 someone put that into my hand just now and disap- 
 peared so quickly I did not see who it was." There 
 sure enough was double the amount he had given 
 me. "Now," said he, "I know the Lord's promise is 
 true," and he actually wanted to give me what he had 
 just received. But, strange as it may appear, I de- 
 
WESTWARD, HO! 141 
 
 clined it. I have often wondered if I did just right. 
 I rather think I did. 
 
 * H: 5ii if: * * * 
 
 I next visited and preached in Union Square M. E. 
 Church, Baltimore. Rev. Brother Chapman was pas- 
 tor. The church was large, and had galleries on both 
 sides and front and accommodated a large audience. 
 The house and galleries were filled. I was describing 
 Our Lord's ascension, and the grand pronouncement 
 of his benediction, "Peace I leave with you; my peace 
 I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I," 
 while with outstretched hands he ascended and was 
 lost to sight, amid the shout of angels and the bright- 
 ness of the more excellent glory. The audience 
 seemed to catch the inspiration of the Holy One, and 
 almost simultaneously arose to their feet, while shout 
 after shout rang through the large church. It was a 
 most blessed time; many wept for joy in anticipation 
 of seeing their ascended Lord in like manner descend 
 in the last day. 
 
 I preached also at Shrewsbury camp meeting by re- 
 quest of Dr. Henry Sheer, and had among other noted 
 hearers, Drs. Sargent, Reese and Littleton Morgan. 
 My text was the tenth verse of the tenth chapter of 
 Romans. This sermon was so well received that seven 
 different Baltimorean pastors requested me to preach 
 from this same text, saying, *'Our people have heard 
 of your preaching from the text and want to hear for 
 themselves." I preached from that same text more 
 than fifty times during my visit East. 
 
 * >K ;|-. ;|< >i< iK :;< 
 
 After having spent more than six months of inces- 
 sant toil and labor in preaching and begging, I at last 
 made my way homeward to my wife and dear boys 
 
142 WESTWARD, HO! 
 
 who had been well for the most of the time, but had 
 had a very hard battle with poverty. 
 
 By the help I raised abroad and $i,ooo I borrowed 
 from Brother Fry, of Baltimore, on my own paper, we 
 began pushing the church to completion as fast as 
 possible. I found services had been suspended during 
 my absence, the congregation scattered, and matters 
 in a state of general disorganization, except the Sun- 
 day school; but we soon ralHed, finished the lecture 
 room, and gathered in the church and Sunday school 
 to a new home. 
 
 The first service we held nine persons joined our 
 ranks. We had the best Sabbath school in town, and 
 Methodism became so strong and respectable that we 
 held the controlling influence in the city, and greatly 
 aided other churches to get a foothold. 
 
 There were a few colored persons in Leavenworth 
 who affiliated with the Southern Methodist Church, 
 but they were not permitted to commune when the 
 whites held their sacramental service. Brother 
 Pritchard, the pastor, announced that they would hold 
 a special service for the "colored population" in the 
 afternoon. This was so contrary to my feelings of 
 Christian equality that I advised Uncle Moses White, 
 his name and soul are white though his skin was very 
 black, to come out and organize a church of their own 
 people. He was a local preacher, but said they had 
 no one to administer the sacrament, as he was not or- 
 dained. I told him to go on and organize, and if my 
 services were needed I would cheerfully serve them 
 until they had a minister of their own. They soon 
 organized and at the ensuing conference held at Alton, 
 111., the African M. E. Church sent them Rev. John M. 
 Wilkerson, an unordained man. Their presiding elder 
 lived at a great distance and they unanimously invited 
 
WESTWARD, HO! 145 
 
 me to administer the ordinances. Great numbers of 
 colored people were seeking- homes in Kansas and 
 their society grew very rapidly. They early resolved 
 to build a substantial brick church, just one foot larger 
 every way than the church I had built for the white 
 people. An.d they accomplished their work. The two 
 churches stand to-day — thirty-six years since erection 
 — as monuments of the real grit and liberality of Chris- 
 tian people under trying circumstances. Brother Wil- 
 kerson and I had the pleasure of remaining to see the 
 work in both departments flourishing, and still live to 
 labor together in the gospel of peace. 
 
 I had gained much valuable information in Philadel- 
 phia, Baltimore, New York, and other cities, and had 
 everywhere received from ministers and people the 
 greatest degree of kindness and sympathy in my work 
 as well as having been greatly aided by their liberality. 
 
 In my visits to the East I demonstrated the need of 
 a "Church Extension Society" to encourage liberality, 
 and save time and expenses of preachers whose pres- 
 ence and labors in their pastoral fields were much 
 needed. On this subject I had very interesting inter- 
 views with Brother Long, who for many years after- 
 ward was Treasurer of the Church Extension Society. 
 I wrote the Pittsburg Christian Advocate an article 
 advocating the organization of such a society and of- 
 fered a resolution in the General Conference of 1864 
 which resulted in the appointment of a committee to 
 present a plan on this line, the outw^orking of which 
 has been so fruitful in results. 
 
 The loan I obtained from Brother Fry of Baltimore 
 of $1,000 was the beginning of our Loan Fund, which 
 has become such an efficient source of help to church 
 extension. 
 
144 FRONTIER EPISODES. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 FRONTIER EPISODES. 
 
 I remained three years pastor of the First Church 
 in Leavenworth before the restrictive rule was 
 changed. My third year was one of most remarkable 
 agitation in the civil and social affairs of the city. 
 Upon a certain occasion I had invited the preachers 
 of the city to my house. When we met I proposed 
 the discussion of the general question: 'What are the 
 hindrances to the spread of the gospel in Leaven- 
 worth?" This was adopted, and I divided the themes 
 and appointed a brother to open the discussion of each 
 topic, e. g. : Drunkenness, Gambling, Dancing, Pro- 
 fanity, Theater Going, Balls. 
 
 Each preacher was to preach on these specified 
 topics, and then on each Monday night following a 
 public discussion was to be had, in which laymen were 
 invited to participate. The politicians soon saw that 
 this was reformation and they called an anti-Sunday 
 law meeting. I attended one at Wyman's Hall. At 
 each of three corners in this hall they were selling 
 beer. The other corner was ocupied by a band of 
 music. The speaker, a young lawyer from Cleve- 
 land, delivered the most bitter tirade of abuse I ever 
 heard against the Bible, churches. Christians, and the 
 Sabbath. Col. Vaughn and others were to speak, but 
 when they saw a company of Christians present they 
 declined. The Germans had a very popular man 
 among them named Fischer, who was engaged in 
 
FRONTIER EPISODES. ' 145 
 
 selling beer and the hall echoed with calls of "Fischer, 
 Fischer." Finally Brother Miller said to me, "Here 
 is a chance to make a speech. Get up on this stool 
 and give them the truth." They called again, 
 ''Fischer, Fischer," and I mounted the stool and be- 
 gan to address the crowd. They listened a moment 
 and asked: ''Who is this?" a little curly headed Jew 
 replying, "The Methodist Preacher." With knives and 
 revolvers they made a rush for me. Young men 
 around me repelled them and said they should not 
 harm me. I w^aved my hand, commanded silence, 
 and told them I had a right to speak; I was a German* 
 my father could not speak a word of English when 
 he was a boy; that to prove to them that I was a 
 German I would tell them my grandfather's name, it 
 was Johannes Christofer Fischer." Whereupon they 
 cheered and cried, "Go on, go on!" I gave them hot 
 shot for a little while, till they began to cry out lustily, 
 "Ausgespielen! Get out! Dry up!" and again' fell to 
 brandishing their knives and revolvers. I stood un- 
 moved above the storm 'till it quieted, when I an- 
 nounced a meeting in Stockton's Hall for the follow- 
 ing evening and invited them all to attend. 
 
 By morning we had the dry goods boxes and cor- 
 ners of stores covered with notices of the meeting, 
 some of us working all night to accomplish this re- 
 sult. Saturday evening witnessed the most respecta- 
 ble and enthusiastic mass meeting ever held in the 
 city. Appropriate addresses were made and law and 
 order were vindicated. Revs. Mr. Baldridge, Stone,- 
 Pitzer, Parker, and I preached on the Sunday law 
 the Sabbath preceding election day, and we exhorted 
 the Christian women, as they could not vote, to pray 
 that God would give us the victory. 
 
 I visited the Catholic Bishop, who kindly said: "My 
 
 JO 
 
146 FRONTIER EPISODES. 
 
 people have need of the Sabbath for a day of worship 
 and rest and I will instruct them so to vote." 
 
 Our mayor was a pro-slavery whiskyite and ap- 
 pointed the polls at inconvenient and out-of-the-way 
 places. But Mr. Stone, the Episcopal Minister, 
 dof¥ed his surplice and gown, Mr. Baldridge put his 
 trousers inside his boots, Brother Pitzer rolled up 
 his trousers and put on a pair of rubbers, while I 
 dofi'ed what little ministerial dignity had hitherto em- 
 barrassed me — I have never seen it since — and we 
 pitched in to win. And win we did. 
 
 The morning after election I met Jerry Clark, a 
 high Episcopalian, who accosted me with, ''Brother 
 Fisher, you should have been down at the court- 
 house last night to have given Brother Stone a word 
 of exhortation. We should have had a grand Metho- 
 dist shout, for," said he, "thank God, we beat the 
 rummies one hundred and sixty votes, and Mr, Stone 
 staid right there till the last vote was counted!" He 
 was a noble man of God and we loved him dearly. 
 
 The following Sabbath was pronounced the quietest 
 enjoyed by Leavenworth since her first saloon was 
 opened. The churches were filled and all moral in- 
 fluences had a chance thereafter. 
 
 About this time, while in Leavenworth, a colored 
 man named Charley Fisher was claimed by heirs in 
 New Orleans, and in order to take him away with as 
 little noise as possible he was kidnapped, gagged, 
 handcuffed, and taken to a bagnio and saloon in Mis- 
 souri. His captors became drunk and sleepy with 
 debauch, and he effected his escape by recrossing the 
 Missouri amid ice, though manacled, in a skiff, and 
 made his way to a cabin, where Mr. Justis Skeen 
 lived. Mr. Skeen directed him where to look for a 
 
FRONTIER EPISODES. 147 
 
 file, which he firmly placed in a crack in one of the 
 logs and filed the fetters off his hands. He then re- 
 turned to Leavenworth and was finally brought into 
 court before the notorious Judge LeCompt, under a 
 ruse, as a witness against Jack Shepherd and Charley 
 Henderson, the men who had kidnapped him, the 
 real object being to get him into the hands of a pro- 
 slavery marshal. When dismissed from the witness- 
 stand he was seized as a fugitive slave, taken under 
 guard to the Planter's House, and locked in an up- 
 stairs room. 
 
 A rescue was planned. Twenty young men with 
 muffled boots met mysteriously at midnight and by 
 concert of action went to the room, which now con- 
 stituted a prison, to rescue the man. But the plan 
 miscarried, for the young man who was to bring an 
 axe, with which to open the door, in the excitement 
 forgot his axe and the alarm was given. 
 
 Next day the marshal changed the prisoner to 
 another hotel, the "Mansion," fearing a repetition of 
 the effort at rescue. Four of the young men boarded 
 with me. The second night the knowledge of the 
 whereabouts of Fisher was made known by a hotel 
 waiter, who took him his supper. "To the rescue!" 
 w^as passed from mouth to ear, with a determined 
 tone, which meant that no axe should be forgotten this 
 time. Nor was it! And for years I had that very 
 axe for a memento. Afterward it was borrowed by 
 a careless fellow w^ho failed to return it. 
 
 Charley was rescued, taken to Judge Gardner's, 
 held under a habeas corpus order, and in returning 
 to the city under cover of a sham fight, escaped and 
 fled toward Lawrence. He lost his way, hid all night 
 in a shock of corn, and next night came to my house. 
 My wife gave him a coverlet and directed him to hide 
 
148 FRONTIER EPISODES. 
 
 in the weeds until she could send me word to prayer 
 meeting that a refugee was needing our assistance. 
 I arranged for Brother Clayton to pray. I told him to 
 take his time, and he prayed loud and long, while 1 
 gave the rescuers word to rally, and when prayer 
 ended I found a company of willing ones at my house. 
 We concealed the poor fellow^ hunted like a wild 
 beast, until the next day, when my wife and Mrs. 
 Weaver dressed him in women's clothes, but unthink- 
 mgly gave him a pair of my hose. When I was a 
 young preacher nearly all the young women of Ohio 
 knitted their own and their brothers' stockings and 
 socks, and as I was popular among them they had 
 made me presents of many pairs. Indeed, I had 
 enough given me to last me for fourteen years after 
 I married. Among others w^as a beautiful pair with 
 my initials in red in the tops. These were the ones 
 my wife gave to the black fellow and these he wore 
 away. After his departure it became a source of great 
 alarm to her lest he should be captured through the 
 initialed socks and she and Mrs. Weaver be discovered 
 as having helped a fugitive slave to escape. Happily 
 no such result followed. 
 
 We sent him off under escort of three trusty rescu- 
 ers, in open daylight in the presence of the marshal's 
 posse of sixty men, under the guise of a wedding 
 party from the country, landed him in Lawrence, and 
 his pursuers were never the wiser. He subsequently 
 fell into their hands on his way to Canada, was taken 
 to New Orleans, remained there till the rebellion 
 broke out, then working his way to Vicksburg, was 
 there when It fell into Gen. Grant's hands, when he 
 again come North. At the close of the war he made 
 his way to Kansas, reporting himself to my wife and 
 Mrs. Weaver in great demonstration of gratitude for 
 their interest in his escape. 
 
AN UBIQUITOUS CHAPLAIN. 149 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 AN UBIQUITOUS CHAPLAIN. 
 
 At the close of my ministerial term in Leavenworth 
 I was stationed at Lawrence. We were soon at our 
 new post of duty, and though the church was small 
 and the society weak it was a pleasant field. After 
 spending four months of very active effort I had erect- 
 ed for my family a very substantial brick house. Our 
 boys were anxious to help, though yet quite young. 
 So, to save material and secure perfectly ce- 
 mented walls, I arranged that the boys should 
 wet . every brick that went into the walls in tubs 
 of water. The wisdom of this will be seen in the 
 chapter on "Ouantrell's Raid." At the ex- 
 piration of four months I moved my family into their 
 home. The next day I was appointed Chaplain of the 
 Fifth Kansas Cavalry by Gen. James H. Lane, and ap- 
 proved by the ofBcers of the regiment. Col. H. P. John- 
 son commanding. 
 
 War had fairly conmienced. The battle at Wilson's 
 Creek had taken place. Gen. Lyon had fallen, and the 
 Union forces had been defeated. Largt- army stores 
 had been sent to Fort Scott as a basis of supplies for 
 Lyon's army. These supplies became a tempting ob- 
 ject for Sterling Price, Gen. Raines and Gen. Slack. 
 Gov. Caleb Jackson of Missouri was anxious that 
 Price should capture them and his army was sent to 
 Fort Scott. Gen. Lane was ordered to Fort Scott and 
 directed to repel Price's army. He hastily collected 
 his brigade, in a half equipped condition, and sent 
 word for the militia of the state to rally and help repel 
 
150 AN UBIQUITOUS CHAPLAIN. 
 
 the approaching enemy, with an army eighteen thou- 
 sand strong. The work of equipment was quickly and 
 imperfectly efifected. Among these equipments was 
 the locally noted ''Old Sacramento" belonging to Col. 
 Moonlight — a howitzer that might have been carried 
 on the shoulder and which had been taken in the Mexi- 
 can war. 
 
 We were ordered on a forced march. The cavalry- 
 men were mounted on brood mares, farm horses and 
 ponies, with sabres, muskets, revolvers, double-bar- 
 reled shotguns and Sharp's rifles. There were sixteen 
 hundred all told on a forced march of one hundred 
 miles, to meet a disciplined army of eighteen thousand 
 men, many of whom had been on what to them was a 
 victorious field at Wilson's Creek! 
 
 I rode to Lawrence, on the way to bid my family 
 farewell. I was simply a chaplain, but I took the 
 authority to hire every wagon I could find to carry 
 the infantry, whom I knew would be foot-sore and 
 weary, to the scene of conflict. When the commander 
 came next day he approved the timely forethought and 
 contracts for the wagons, publicly thanked me, and 
 took charge of them. We hurried on, the wagons 
 greatly relieving the already foot-sore infantry. When 
 we reached Fort Scott we went into camp and prepar- 
 ed for the defense of the military stores. Price's army 
 finally approached. Citizens were coming in, many 
 unarmed, from all the country round. We drew am- 
 munition and equipage. I opened the cases of 
 Springfield rifles and bayonets and gave them to men 
 on horseback who rode ofif with them like rails lying 
 across their saddles. It was a serious time, but into it 
 crept now and again the grotesque and laughable, the 
 ludicrous as well as the solemn. 
 
 General Lane finallv ordered his advance guard. 
 
AN UBIQUITOUS CHAPLAIN. 151 
 
 under Colonels Montgomery, Weir and Johnson, with 
 Colonel Moonlight's howitzer, to hold the rebels in 
 check at Dry Wood, a creek ten miles to the east of 
 Fort Scott; for nearer and nearer had come the rebel 
 army. The detail proceeded to this duty in fine spirit, 
 while the general and ofBcers engaged themselves in 
 getting all available forces in the field in good shape. 
 Our men met the enemy, dismounted, and from ihe 
 tall prairie grass poured deadly shot from their Sharp's 
 rifles into Price's advancing columns. Moonlight be- 
 gan to give play to his little gun and the first shell 
 burst in the midst of Captain Bledsoe's battery, kill- 
 ing three gunners, upsetting tw^o guns and seriously 
 wounding Captain Bledsoe. One or two more shells 
 went screaming from Moonlight's unerring piece into 
 the rebel column. The hiss and whirr of the Sharp's 
 rifle balls sent rider and horse to the grass, and in less 
 than an hour after the first shot was fired the rebel 
 army was in full retreat, and the rebel General Slack 
 afterwards had to report to Governor Caleb Jackson 
 that wdien he came up with his division he found his 
 friends. Generals Price and Raines, in rapid retreat, 
 amounting almost to a panic. Less than three hun- 
 dred and eighty Kansas troops were in the fight, but 
 it was the acme of patriotic eloquence. It was action. 
 The superior force of the enemy was known to 
 General Lane, and apprehending that his forces were 
 known by the rebels he naturally supposed they would 
 return, renew their march on Fort Scott, capture the 
 military stores and endanger the whole border of Kan- 
 sas. So he ordered the immediate remo\«al of all the 
 stores to a new post, which he selected, and called 
 Fort Lincoln. It was a busy time. Mrs. Col. H. P. 
 Johnson, myself and two teamsters, struck our regi- 
 mental tents and camp, loaded our w^agons, and had 
 
152 AN UBIQUITOUS CHAPLAIN. 
 
 everything in readiness to move out as soon as the 
 command returned from the field. We first busied 
 ourselves feeding the hungry soldiers, without refer- 
 ence to the regiment to which they belonged. The 
 whole night and part of the next day were occupied 
 in moving the military camp and stores. General 
 Lane was ubiquitous, everywhere directing the hasty 
 and difficult work. Believing, as he did that the enemy 
 would come and take possession of the evacuated fort, 
 he ordered a detail of eight men, gave me a box of 
 matches and placed me in charge, commanding that 
 if the enemy came up, to fire the post and town and 
 burn it rather than let it fall into their hands. 
 
 It was a strange sight, and one over which I have 
 often mused, to see a Methodist preacher, with revol- 
 ver in one hand and axe in the other, preparing fagots 
 and placing them in the houses where they would do 
 the speediest work, watching for an approaching 
 enemy as a signal to the men detailed to fire the build- 
 ings which afterward sheltered us. The enemy, how- 
 ever, avoided the Kansas line and marched to the cap- 
 ture of Colonel Mulligan, at Lexington, Mo., after 
 which they returned to Springfield. 
 
 The Sabbath following Dr. W. R. Davis preached 
 for my regiment while I drew from the stores cloth- 
 ing for our entire regiments as our old quartermaster 
 had not yet got familiar with his work and because my 
 general seemed to have an idea that my services in an 
 emergency were as valuable as an ordinary sermon. 
 The previous Sabbath I had organized a "Camp 
 Church," on a liberal Evangelical basis which I have 
 reason to believe was the first camp church of the war. 
 The day Dr. Davis preached for us quite a number 
 joined the church. This camp church lasted through 
 
AN UBIQUITOUS CHAPLAIN. 153 
 
 the war, and some of its members are Christians to 
 this day. 
 
 H; ^ ;k ik >|J -^ ^ 
 
 When we left Fort Lincohi we marched to Barns- 
 ville to prevent the rebel army from coming to Kan- 
 sas after having taken Lexington. Here our commis- 
 sary stores were in great danger, and General Lane 
 sent for me to act as commissariat — a new role for a 
 chaplain. I requested each company in the brigade 
 to send a detail of eight men and an orderly and in 
 less than an hour each had its portion of the stores 
 and had been made responsible for its care. As it was 
 their means of subsistence they were ready to protect 
 it or fight. We soon had every pound under most 
 efficient guard, and so distributed that it could be safely 
 moved in the company and regimental wagons. 
 
 When we reached the "Old Indian Mission" the 
 general issued an order directing that I repair as early 
 as possible to Quincy, Illinois, and other points east 
 and bring out companies, regiments and brigades to 
 join the army of the border, instructing us to apply 
 to Capt. Insley at Quincy, and Capt. Prince, com- 
 manding at Fort Leavenworth for all needed trans- 
 portation for men and horses, as well as money to 
 outfit these commands. 
 
 I started on this unusual mission and was detained 
 a day or two at Leavenworth awaiting orders 
 from Washington when the sad news reached me that 
 my Colonel, H. P. Johnson, who had been a local 
 preacher in my charge in Leavenworth, had been killed 
 in an engagement at Morristown, Missouri. His wife 
 was at Leavenworth. She was an intimate friend, and 
 upon Capt. Prince's advice and her persuasion I 
 awaited the arrival of Col. Johnson's remains, attended 
 
154 AN UBIQUITOUS CHAPLAIN. 
 
 the funeral, preached the sermon, and then went to 
 Lawrence to visit my family, having learned that I 
 would meet General Lane there. 
 
 In the meantime the Illinois troops were being mus- 
 tered for the Mississippi Valley. Since Price's army 
 was making all possible haste to Arkansas leaving the 
 army of General Fremont to be reinforced by troops 
 from the West, via Kansas City. Our command was 
 soon marching via Osceola to Springfield, Missouri. 
 The Osage River was a difficult stream to cross at 
 Osceola. There was only a miserable old scow with 
 a chain made of iron rods reaching from bank to bank. 
 No quartermaster or wagonmaster would venture to 
 cross a team on the rickety boat. Colonel Ritchie had 
 succeeded to the command of our regiment. I accom- 
 panied him and General Lane to see if we could by 
 any possibility get the command over. We went down 
 to the river where I examined the boat and told the 
 general if he would detail six men from each company 
 I would take the train over. We pulled the boat out of 
 water, made some necessary repairs and then launched 
 her, provided with a half a dozen battery buckets to 
 bail out the water. I took command, and we took 
 over a light wagon and four mules. We ferried the 
 wagons and animals belonging to my regiment first; 
 then the general's wagon, the stafif-wagons and the ar- 
 tillery. When this was done Captain Haskell, quar- 
 termaster of the Third Regiment, relieved me, seeing 
 I had demonstrated the possibility of crossing the 
 river. (After the war I was introduced by General 
 Lane in the United States Senate chamber to a num- 
 ber of senators as ''the chaplain who saved the day and 
 his brigade at Osceola.") 
 
AN UBIQUITOUS CHAPLAIN. 155 
 
 We joined Fremont's command at Springfield, and 
 remained in camp until General David Hunter took 
 command and relieved Fremont. While encamped 
 here we were short of rations. Colonel Ritchie, myself 
 and about thirty men were sent on a foraging mission. 
 We took possession of Isam's Mills and .sent the men 
 to the farms, and they threshed the wheat and brought 
 it to the mills, where we ground it into flour and sent 
 it to camp, thus supplying the wants of our army. 
 While camped at Springfield and, on our return march, 
 via Lamar, our camp was the center of attraction to 
 multitudes of "contrabands" and refugees, so that they 
 cumbered our camp and movements, and became at 
 last so numerous as to threaten our subsistence. 
 
 On the march to Lamar General Lane sent an or- 
 derly to notify me that he wished to see me as we 
 marched. I rode to the head of the column and was 
 at once asked by him : 
 
 ''Chaplain, what can we do to relieve the army of 
 these contrabands, without exposing them to their 
 enemies?" 
 
 My advice was that they be sent to Kansas and pro- 
 vided with labor and homes to help save the crop and 
 provide fuel, as most of the men were in the army. 
 When we went into camp the general issued an order 
 that all the contrabands and refugees should be re- 
 ported to headquarters, and ready to move by eight 
 o'clock next morning. The following order was is- 
 sued : 
 
 "Chaplains Fisher, Moore and Fish : — You are here- 
 by ordered and directed to take charge of the contra- 
 bands and refugees in camp and proceed with themi to 
 Kansas, finding homes and employment for them, and 
 
156 AN UBIQUITOUS CHAPLAIN. 
 
 dividing the property among them to the best of your 
 judgment. 
 
 (Signed) J. H. LANE, 
 
 Commanding the Army of the Border. 
 'T. J. ANDERSON, Adjutant General." 
 
 Next morning early there was a stir in the camp. 
 Fourteen men were detailed as an escort to save us 
 from falling into the hands of the guerrillas. We had 
 a wagon load of almost useless guns. I picked out 
 about thirty negroes and armed them, the first negroes 
 armed during the rebellion. We divided this company, 
 and also the white escort, and placed half as an advance 
 guard with orders to "scout well," and the other half 
 as a rear guard with orders to keep well up, and by 
 no means to allow a surprise. Such a caravan had not 
 moved since the days of Moses. It was a nondescript 
 emigration. We traveled day and night, not stopping 
 to cook, only eating what cold food might chance to 
 be on hand. Once we came upon a little herd of 
 cattle of which the boys shot three, and while they 
 were yet kicking the flesh was cut from their bodies 
 and hastily broiled, while other portions were put in 
 the wagons for use when we were secure in camp. 
 
 When we reached Kansas I halted the command, 
 drew them up in a line and, raising myself to my full 
 height on my war horse commanded silence, and there 
 under the open heavens, on the sacred soil of freedom, 
 in the name of the Constitution of the United States, 
 the Declaration of Independence, and by authority of 
 General James H. Lane, I proclaimed that they were 
 "forever free." 
 
 Their mouths flew open and such a shout went up 
 as was never heard. Men and women who had been 
 
AN OBIQUITOUS CHAPLAIN. 157 
 
 sighing for liberty during many long unrequited years 
 of toil now felt and knew they were free. They jump- 
 ed, cried, sang and laughed for joy. These were the 
 first slaves formally set free. It occurred in Septem- 
 ber, 1861, long before Mr. Lincoln's proclamation 
 had been issued. I made my proclamation effective by 
 giving to everyone of them a new name. Many of 
 them still Hve to confirm the story of their emancipa- 
 tion. 
 
 A frosty-headed old negress of eighty years stepped 
 out of line and shouted: ''Chillen, heah me! I'se 
 been tellin' you dese many a yeah de yeah of jubilee'd 
 come, and Glory to Gawd! de yeah of jubilee am 
 come!" 
 
 When we arrived at Fort Scott we began hiring the 
 negroes to any who would agree to take care of them 
 and pay them for their labor. We changed their 
 names from the old plantation names to those of North- 
 ern significancy, to prevent the possibility of their 
 being returned to slavery in case the war should be 
 a failure. This was more than a year before the im- 
 mortal Lincoln issued his proclamation. It was a re- 
 markable experience, a never-to-be-forgotten oppor- 
 tunity of useful work. Almost all those brought out 
 of bondage did well. Many of them came with noth- 
 ing but their plantation outfits, and these worn almost 
 threadbare. Now they own lands, horses and cattle 
 and are rearing their families with good educational 
 and reHgious advantages. 
 
 Upon reaching Lawrence — I had been talking re- 
 ligion and morals all the way up — I announced that I 
 would preach to the emancipated contrabands in the 
 Methodist Church. The house was full. I preached. 
 Rev. L T. Ferrell exhorted, and then I invited them to 
 
158 AN OBIQUITOUS CHAPLAIN, 
 
 join the church. Twenty-six joined that night, others 
 the next night, and they finally organized a church 
 which has done and is doing a vast amount of good. 
 
 I count this among the incidents of my life which go 
 to make up a record of which I shall not be ashamed 
 in the last great day. 
 
THE CAMP CHURCH. 169 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE CAMP CHURCH — CAMPAIGNING IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 Upon our return to our commands we found plenty 
 to do. The Fifth Kansas Cavalry went into winter 
 quarters in Camp Denver, in Kansas. My colored 
 help, ''Nels," and his brother and I built a log house 
 of rails, stopping the crevices with hay, covering all 
 with a large tarpaulin, thus making a tent that would 
 accommodate two hundred people. I had this for my 
 camp church. We had instrumental and vocal music 
 and I preached often to the boys. Finally the pay- 
 master did not make his appearance and the men 
 became almost mutinous, for they had not received 
 any pay for about live months. They held a mass 
 meeting in my camp church and requested the colonel 
 to appoint the chaplain to visit General Hunter at 
 Fort Leavenworth and secure payment of the troops. 
 Orderly Samuel Cargo was requested to accompany 
 the chaplain. Accordingly I was appointed and re- 
 ceived military orders to proceed to Leavenworth and' 
 secure the immediate payment of the men. I obeyed 
 and was very kindly received by General Hunter, who 
 directed Paymaster Adams to proceed with all reason- 
 able dispatch to pay the troops. Orderly Cargo re- 
 turned with the pleasing intelligence that the pay- 
 master was coming. General Hunter extended my 
 leave of absence, and I made a visit to my home, 
 finding my family well and contented, though "wishing 
 for the war to cease." 
 
160 CAMPAIGNING IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 When I returned to camp they had converted my 
 church into a paymaster's tent. Then, when the men 
 got their pay some of them became drunk and dis- 
 orderly and the colonel converted it into a guard- 
 house. When they had sent the disorderly ones up 
 they seemed very much ashamed to think they were 
 put under the eyes of the chaplain. Afterward I was 
 requested by a number of the soldiers to take their 
 money to their families, which I was enabled to do by 
 the commander giving me a leave of absence for that 
 purpose. 
 
 Besides frequently preaching to the command I 
 read and explained the army regulations, which 
 seemed to be of great help to the men in fully under- 
 standing the details and purposes of military disci- 
 pline. 
 
 ******* 
 
 The second term of our service was under the com- 
 mand of Colonel Powell Clayton. He was emphati- 
 cally a military man. Our regiment was connected 
 with General Curtis' command, and ordered to Helena 
 to reinforce General Grant bfore Vicksburg. The 
 regiment was at Rolla when General Curtis pene- 
 trated the fastnesses and swamps of Arkansas, and we 
 marched to unite with him at Batesville. A party of 
 us were left at Rolla to bring on the quartermaster's 
 stores and ammunition. As soon as we could get 
 mules we began the march to overtake the command. 
 The rebel army had been driven before Curtis and his 
 men, but a large body of guerrillas hung upon the 
 skirts of his army, and Confederate General Hind- 
 man had been stationed at Desark with thirteen hun- 
 dred men to take in any Union soldiers who might 
 turn their attention to Little Rock. Our party con- 
 sisted of eighty men, some of whom had just come 
 
THE CAMP CHURCH. 161 
 
 out of the hospital at Rolla. We met the noted guer- 
 rilla chief, Coleman, and surprised his advance guard, 
 whereupon the rebel party fled precipitously. 
 
 We were under the necessity of marching night and 
 day, only camping one Saturday night when com- 
 pletely worn out, at ten o'clock a. m. breaking camp 
 and starting again on our way to Black River. Captain 
 Barnes had charge of the advance. I was riding in a 
 covered buggy, caring for Lieut. Trego, who was very 
 ill. We were immediately behind the advance 
 guard. Just as we were reaching the top of a hill 
 and as day was fully upon us we beheld at the foot of 
 the hill three hundred rebel soldiers marching to sur- 
 prise us in camp. Captain Barnes gave orders to 
 draw sabres and charge at full speed. Our com- 
 mand was coming up. The word rang back, 'The 
 rebels are here!" and our men put spurs to horse and 
 came rushing on as fast as they could. Meanwhile I 
 put the whip to my horses and down the hill I went, 
 amid the dust raised by Barnes' men, while the rattle 
 and bang of my callash-top buggy made the rebels 
 think there was a "pack of flying artillery" coming. 
 Our men yelled like savages. When they struck the 
 head of the rebel column they killed eleven and scat- 
 tered the whole force. I never before saw such break- 
 ing through the brushes and over fences. It was well 
 for Lieut. Trego and me that they ran, for we never 
 could have gotten out of the scrimmage in our buggy 
 had they made a stand. 
 
 We were blockaded the next day, but an exhibition 
 
 of bravery was our only possible hope, so our men 
 
 charged the blockade, and after cutting through 
 
 pressed on in hope of overtaking the main command. 
 
 ******* 
 
 At Black River we were compelled to cross on a 
 
162 CAMPAIGNING IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 frail boat, which was pulled over by hand, by a rope 
 suspended from side to side from trees. When we 
 bad about half the train ferried across the stream we 
 were surprised and attacked by three hundred Texas 
 rangers under command of General Johnstone, who 
 had been promoted for meritorious conduct at the 
 battles of Pittsburg Landing and Corinth. The at- 
 tack was a complete surprise, and must have resulted 
 in overwhelming disaster to us if the enemy had dis- 
 mounted. But they were over-confident and rushed 
 upon our dismounted men, who took to trees and 
 fence, and from behind these and banks of sand and 
 other barricades poured a deadly fire into the "Secesh" 
 and their horses. Their commander was killed early 
 in the attack. Seventeen rebels were left dead 
 on the plateau at the ferry, and the repulse became 
 complete in less than an hour. 
 
 During this time, with the help of comrades Thomp- 
 son, Harrington and Winship, I was employed in 
 bringing over the rest of our men, running the old 
 scow of a boat across the river under a shower of bul- 
 lets, some of them whizzing into the gunwale, others 
 whizzing about our heads. As we reached out on the 
 rope a bullet passed under my arm and struck Win- 
 ship in the thick part of his shoulder. He dropped by 
 my side, but we soon had him on shore. The boat was 
 filled in a trice, and run as by steam to the side where 
 the fighting was going on, and the men sprang to the 
 fray with a yell, let loose a volley upon the swaying 
 rebels and rushed upon them with such deadly pur- 
 pose that they turned and fled. 
 
 Some of our men were in the river bathing when the 
 cry of "Secesh! Secesh!" was raised. They scrambled 
 out of the water and as the rebels ran mounted their 
 horses, graciously attired in cartridge box, with gun 
 
THE CAMP CHURCH. 168 
 
 in hand, and followed the retreating foe until his rout 
 was complete. We at once finished the task of cross- 
 ing the river and that night bivouaced on the further 
 bank. The next morning came with a long march 
 ahead, and our quartermaster proposed to abandon the 
 train. 
 
 ''Never!" said I, and "Never!" cried the boys. "We 
 will go in with the train and colors up or we won't 
 go in at all. We'll fight for the train as we have done 
 all the way through." 
 
 So we lightened it up as much as we could and 
 went on our way. We had lost but one man, and he 
 by drowning. The poor fellow had been ill and was 
 too weak to stem the current. 
 
 ^'; 5;; -]. H= 'I^ ^ >I- 
 
 Pressing on as rapidly as possible we sent word to 
 General Curtis asking for relief. We were nearly out 
 of provisions and likely to be annihilated at any mo- 
 ment. Our first messengers fell into the hands of the 
 enemy, but the second ones sent got through the lines 
 with our message. Curtis sent word that he could not 
 spare a regiment and that a company would do no 
 good, suggesting that we had better abandon the 
 train, separate, travel at night and make all haste to 
 concentrate at Helena. But we determined to re- 
 main together and take the train in rather than aban- 
 don it and then sneak in like cowards. 
 
 At Cache River we were so fortunate as to come up 
 on three or four head of cattle, which we soon dis- 
 patched and appropriated to our urgent needs. After 
 a dinner consisting almost entirely of fresh beef we 
 broke camp, crossed the Cache and burned the bridge 
 behind us. Before it fell there were thirteen hundred 
 rebels in sight; but the bridge went down, the stream 
 
164 CAMPAIGNING IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 was impassable, and they were compelled to fall back 
 to Desark while we went marching on. 
 
 We were out fifteen days and nights before we were 
 able to join our command. The march was full of 
 privations and dangers, all of which the men bore un- 
 complainingly, and upon our arrival at Helena we 
 were in as good condition as might be expected after 
 so trying an experience. 
 
 The camps at Helena, as before at Lamar, were 
 over-run with contrabands seeking freedom. In ad- 
 dition to my duties as chaplain I was postmaster for 
 the regiment, and, with Chaplains Foreman and New- 
 land, was appointed Superintendent of Contrabands. 
 The blacks came in upon us by the thousands, re- 
 quiring the exhibition of great care and patience for 
 their handling. Here my church building experiences 
 served us well. Vve built a large though rude church 
 which answered for both church and school purposes. 
 I preached the dedicatory sermon and we opened a 
 school with Orderly Benfield as teacher. A Mr. Leech 
 also taught in the Episcopal Church. I believe these 
 were the first free schools in the state of Arkansas, 
 where all colors and classes attended together. 
 
 il; :;= >;; ;k -l' -'fi * 
 
 Upon their return trip from taking supplies to Gen- 
 eral Grant at Vicksburg the steamers J. J. Simons, 
 War Eagle, Emma and Katie White were put under 
 my control at one and the same time, and by military 
 orders I took large numbers of contrabands to St. 
 Louis and Leavenworth, and scattered them through- 
 out Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and Kansas, sending some 
 of them as far as Ohio. One of the steamers had a 
 crew all of whom were sympathizers with the rebel 
 cause, and when we were ready to start General Pren- 
 tiss called the captain of the boat to one side, and also 
 
THE CAMP CHURCH. 165 
 
 a military captain who was to accompany us, and said 
 to them; 
 
 "I am sending Chaplain Plsher in charge of these 
 people. I want you to obey orders strictly, and follow 
 his commands to the letter. We must not allow these 
 boats to fall into the hands of the enemy. Render 
 him all aid you possibly can. 
 
 Then, turning to the military commander, he said 
 to him: "Captain, I wdsh you would see that Chap- 
 lain Fisher's orders are obeyed, and if any officer or 
 man on the boat should disobey them put him in irons 
 and deliver him to the military authorities at St. 
 Louis." 
 
 After we were under way I told the mate that if he 
 desired any help at the wood yard or in coaling up to 
 let me know and I would detail as many men as he 
 washed, so as to save time and avoid danger of cap- 
 ture. We forbade all persons except the engineers 
 going back of the boilers. I had orderlies with me, and 
 placed four men in the pilot house and four on the- 
 forecastle, to prevent being betrayed by the pilot or 
 commander. 
 
 After supplying the mate with a detail of sixty men 
 to help wood up Orderly Want came to the cabin and 
 said to me that there w'as trouble below and he wanted 
 me to come down. I went with him and found the 
 mate and a deck-hand back among the refugees 
 cursing them in the most violent manner, and the poor 
 people in utter alarm. 
 
 I asked wdiat was the matter, and he turned upon 
 me and wdth an oath told me to mind my own business. 
 
 I replied, "That is w^hat I am here for; and now, sir, 
 I want you to leave here immediately. I don't allow 
 any one back of the boilers." 
 
 He refused to go. I called the orderly in charge of 
 
166 CAMPAIGNING IN ARKANSAS. 
 
 the soldiers on the forecastle to bring his men and 
 told them to fix bayonets and surround the man. I 
 took out my watch and told him he had just five 
 minutes to get out of that, or we would let daylight 
 through him. He stood defiantly until I told him he 
 had just one minute left and ordered the soldiers to 
 advance. 
 
 He weakened and said to me, "Chaplain, take them 
 away; I'll go, and I'll not trouble you any more." 
 
 I then told him again if he wanted a detail at any 
 time to let me know and I would have it ready, and 
 that if he and his men would obey orders there would 
 be no trouble. After that we got along without diffi- 
 culty and I reported the whole party safely at St. 
 Louis. 
 
THE SAM GATY— A NARROW ESCAPE. 167 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE SAM GATY — A NARROW ESCAPE. 
 
 I was also ordered to take a large party to Leaven- 
 worth and find homes for them. The steamers 
 Magenta and Sam Gaty were loading for Fort Benton. 
 I put a part of the company on the Magenta in care of 
 Orderly Want, who was with me in this work for 
 eighteen months. The rest I put on the Sam Gaty, 
 intending to go in charge of them myself. Just as the 
 cable was cast and the last gang-plank was being 
 drawn in I was impressed that I had better go via 
 rail and prepare for the reception of the party. I gave 
 my papers to Mr. Wilson, an orderly, went up to the 
 office, obtained railroad transportation, and reached 
 Leavenworth in time to receive the Magenta. The 
 Sam Gaty was detained by a broken shaft at Herman, 
 Missouri, and when she reached Napoleon on Sunday 
 evening a band of guerrillas, having been notified that 
 I was on her, captured the boat. Orderly Wilson lay 
 down by the cylinder timbers and the women covered 
 him with their cooking utensils and clothing. The 
 guerrillas took the black men ofT to the beach and 
 made the mate hold a light while they shot them. 
 When the order to fire was given many of the blacks 
 fell and lay as though dead. Nine were killed and 
 several wounded. Seven women were shot but none 
 killed. Then they instituted search for me and would 
 not be satisfied that I was not on board till they had 
 killed three men in my stead. 
 
 ^leantime I was about to preach a sermon in the 
 
163 THE SAM GATY— A NARROW ESCAPE. 
 
 Methodist church in Leavenworth when the provost 
 marshal came up and notified me that he had received 
 Vvord that the Gaty was captured and all on board had 
 been killed. I requested him to telegraph to Liberty 
 and learn the facts. He returned as I closed my ser- 
 mon and reported that some had escaped and hailed a 
 boat and were coming up and that the Gaty would be 
 in on Monday. 
 
 Her arrival baffles description! Such a scene was 
 never before nor since witnessed on the levee at 
 Leavenworth. Hundreds had assembled at the sound 
 of the steamboat's whistle. When she was safely 
 moored Captain Sours, commandant, came ashore, 
 and in the presence of the crowd threw his arms 
 around me and wept for joy. *'Oh, Chaplain," he 
 cried, "I am so glad you were not on my boat; the 
 guerrillas had fagots lighted three times to burn her if 
 you were not surrendered, and they took three men 
 out of their beds, one at a time, and killed them, think- 
 ing they had you. I protested from the first that you 
 were not on board, but they said they had word from 
 St. Louis that you were and they were bound to get 
 you." 
 
 The blacks cried like children, and asked me, "Why 
 did you leave us? We could have escaped if you had 
 been with us." 
 
 The guerrillas had taken eighteen of the boys and 
 girls and run them away into Missouri, scattering 
 them among sympathizer's families. There was soon 
 organized a rescue party of loyal boys in blue who 
 scoured the Missouri country near Napoleon and re- 
 covered all the children but one, a boy named Jack- 
 son. And even he escaped his captors and came to 
 Leavenworth, where, by our help, he found his mother, 
 to the joy of us all. 
 
THE SAM GATY— A NARROW ESCAPE. 169 
 
 The whole party were promptly provided with 
 homes in good families. Orderly Wilson was so 
 crushed by the events of the trip and his exposure so 
 broke his health that he did not return to his company, 
 but in due time was honorably discharged from ser- 
 vice. 
 
170 THE QUAXTRELL MASSACRE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 THE QUANTRELL MASSACRE. 
 
 Having returiied to my regiment I was detailed in 
 the early part of August to take charge of a large 
 number of sick and wounded soldiers, with orders to 
 take them to the hospital at St. L®uis. There were 
 nearly one hundred men, with sixteen nurses, Surgeon 
 White and several assistant surgeons and hospital 
 stewards to care for the sick and wounded. I was also 
 ordered by Colonel Powell Clayton to proceed to 
 Leavenw®rth and c®ntract with a surgeon to join the 
 regiment at ©nee, as our regimental surgeon. Dr. A. J. 
 Huntoon, was sick and on furlough in Pennsylvania. 
 
 After seeing that the party under my care were 
 safely placed in the hospitals at St. Louis I proceeded 
 to perform the second part of my duty. At Leaven- 
 worth I contracted with Dr. Carpenter to go South 
 immediately and join the Fifth Kansas Cavalry for 
 surgeon's duty at Helena. I was then ill, due to ex- 
 posure on the trip, and having been seized with quinsy, 
 to which I had long been subject, repaired to my fam- 
 ily at Lawrence, a very sick man, reaching home about 
 the middle of August. It thus happened that I was 
 there, an invalid, at the time of the most fearful and 
 barbarous occurrence of the War of the Rebellion, the 
 massacre and pillage of Lawrence by Quantrell and 
 his murderous band. 
 
 For a long time rumors had been afloat that it was 
 
THE OUANTRELL MASSACRE. iTl 
 
 the intention of the Missouri guerrillas to sack Law- 
 rence and slaughter her citizens. More than once 
 guards had been placed on all the roads leading into 
 town. The cry of "Wolf" had been raised too ©ften. 
 The people had served as pickets and had been fright- 
 ened so many times, each time to learn that the alarm 
 had been false, that they had come to look upon tke 
 danger of a raid up@n their town as not even remotely 
 possible, and had become accustomed and indifferent 
 to alarms of this character. Thus it happened that 
 when Ouantrell came at last, with hellish and dire 
 destruction, the guards had all been withdrawn and 
 the town was asleep to danger. 
 
 The unnatural and barbarous state of affairs engen- 
 dered by war was terribly emphasized on Kansas soil, 
 where the anti-slavery people were exposed to the 
 malignant hate of an enemy in the throes of defeat, 
 whose schemes of revenge took form in arson, rob- 
 bery, pillage and murder wherever defenceless border- 
 towns promised hope of success to these murderous 
 marauders. How deadly their purpose, how sweeping 
 in destruction were these guerrilla raids many a Kan- 
 sas town was called upon to bear testimony to. But 
 of them all none were made to suffer and mourn as 
 Lawrence was made to suffer and mourn. The black 
 cloud of darkest woe was her mantle. The citadel of 
 free-state thought and sentiment, beautiful in situation, 
 easy of approach, presenting avenues of escape to the 
 hills of Missouri because of her contiguity to the bor- 
 der line, an object of supremest hate and fellest design 
 to the desperate bandits who roamed the country and 
 gloated in the opportunities which war afforded, their 
 leader embittered toward the town for its ostracism of 
 him for crimes he had committed within her limits, 
 [Lawr ence easily fell a prey to the vicious products of a 
 
172 THE OUANTRELL MASSACRE. 
 
 fratricidal war and furnished the historian the records 
 from which to pen the darkest deed inflicted upon a 
 city and people during all the dark days of a needless 
 
 conflict. 
 
 ^ ■^ ^i ^^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 ■ Quantrell was the chief of border murderers and 
 leader of the most desperate band of highwaymen ever 
 organized for pillage and death in all this country. In 
 him were represented courage and cowardice; suc- 
 cessful leadership, intrigue, cunning, clesperation, re- 
 venge and hate, all to a marked degree. A brief re- 
 trospect of his life will bear testimony against him for 
 the evils he accomplished. 
 
 William C. Quantrell was born in Dover, Ohio, in 
 1837. His father was a tinner by trade, a school- 
 teacher by profession. Under his direction the son 
 was given a fairly good education. Quantrell junior 
 came to Kansas in 1857, locating near Stanton, Miami 
 County. In his nevv surroundings the baser motives 
 of his character came quickly to light. He initiated 
 himself into his new home by appropriating unto him- 
 self a yoke of oxen from a man who had befriended 
 him. Concealing them in a deep, unfrequented ravine, 
 and there lariating them with a log chain, he carried 
 stolen fodder to them and in so doing betrayed himself 
 — the trail he made in going to and fro leading to the 
 finding of the cattle. He made his escape to the moun- 
 tains and was next heard of in Salt Lake City. 
 
 After a few months he returned from the West and 
 located in Lawrence under the alias of Charley Hart. 
 Here he taught school for a brief term, but his asso- 
 ciates were low and he was shortly connected v/ith 
 them in an inter-state thievery of no small pretensions. 
 This consisted in the liberation of slaves and mules 
 from Missouri and horses from Kansas, to be returned 
 
THE QUANTRELL MASSACRE. 173 
 
 to their respective owners when reward of sufficient 
 amount to justify the transaction was offered. The 
 Lawrence officials at length became aware of this 
 brigandage and broke it up, ordering the soi-disant 
 Charley Hart and his associates out of the state. This 
 so embittered him against the town that the en- 
 fevered guerrilla chief, as he afterwards became, was 
 imbued with the spirit of revenge and the determina- 
 tion took possession of him to give vent to it in 
 destruction and death when his moment should come. 
 
 Upon being driven from Lawrence he settled in the 
 Sni Hills, in ^lissouri. This locality is perhaps the 
 most picturesque and romantic in all that Soutlnvest- 
 ern section. Its geography is characterized by the Big 
 and Little Blue rivers, as also by the Sni, by moun- 
 tains and hills, dark ravines and impassable gulches, 
 deep defiles and precipitous canyons, and open glades 
 of Hmited extent, much of the country seldom if ever 
 penetrated by man or domestic brute, almost unknown 
 to the sunlight of heaven, a typical home for demons 
 of darkness, destruction and death. It was here that 
 Quantrell made his rendezvous and guerrilla head- 
 quarters. 
 
 His lieutenants embraced all the desperate charac- 
 ters who were Missouri's disgrace during the border- 
 ruffian period, while the war between the states was 
 going on, and for many years to follow. There were 
 among them Bill Hickman, Joe Maddox, the Younger 
 boys, the Jameses, Bill Anderson, Tuck Hill, Woot 
 Hill, Bill Hulse, Jim Hinds, Ben Broomfield, Dick 
 Yeager, Tom Maupin, Ben Morrow, Sid Creek, Fletch 
 Taylor, Jim Little, Col. John Holt, Col. Boaz Roberts, 
 and Sim Whitsett, all of whom were men after Quan- 
 trell's image, skilled in daring, cunning and murder, 
 all men with grievances — grievances against Kansas, 
 
174 THE QUANTRELL MASSACRE. 
 
 the United States and their fellow men. They all 
 thirsted for revenge. And they all slaked their thirst 
 in blood. 
 
 ^ ^ ^ ;]< >f: ^ ;|c 
 
 At a meeting of these chieftains and men on the 
 banks of the Blackwater at the house of one sympa- 
 thizer by the name of Pardee, the raid on Lawrence, 
 was determined upon, consummately planned and the 
 details carefully worked out. In this council Dick 
 Yeager made a speech, now passed into history, where 
 he deftly outlined the massacre. Ouantrell was on his 
 feet in an instant to say that he had anticipated the 
 plan and already had spies in the town, one of whom 
 lived at the Eldridge House as a cattle-speculator and 
 occasionally opened a bottle of wine at the same table 
 with General Lane. When the motley conclave broke 
 up Lawrence's doom had been sealed. The date for 
 the raid had been settled upon as the 20th of August, 
 1863. 
 
 Meanwhile, as each setting sun brought the fateful 
 day one step nearer life went hopefully on in Law- 
 rence, where men passed to their daily occupations, 
 unwitting of the fact that upon their heads prices had 
 been set and that they, of all Kansas, would be called 
 upon to bear the heaviest woe of the war. 
 
 The town in those days was spread over a fair site 
 on the South side of the Kansas river and had held 
 its own with growing beauty and prosperity since its 
 founding in 1854 as the home of a New England 
 colony, one of whose constituents, Amos Lawrence, 
 had given it his name. OfT to the West lay Blount 
 Oread, in after years to be the home of the magnificent 
 buildings comprising the University of Kansas, but in 
 those eventful days covered with breastworks and 
 rifle pits of freedom's defenders. 
 
THE QUANTRELL MASSACRE. 175 
 
 The beautiful streets, stretching away at right angles 
 and parallel with the river on the North front, the sub- 
 stantial dwellings, the enterprising stores, the bustling 
 little market, had all that long August day been alert 
 with the sturdy life of the town, and when at last the 
 twilight came it enfolded a weary people, who slept all 
 too well despite the war and rumors of war which kept 
 Kansas electric in those dark days. So that when the 
 sun came up in his slow August grandeur on the 
 morning of the 21st the people yet slept — many of 
 
 them for the last time on earth. 
 
 * * * ^ ^ * * 
 
 The destruction of Lawrence is directly attributable 
 to two main reasons, with all their dependent chains of 
 circumstances. 
 
 The first of these was to be found in the utterly un- 
 protected condition of the town, as indeed of the whole 
 border, because of the absence of all able-bodied men 
 the state could spare at the seats of war, and because, 
 too, of the censurable indifference of those in munici- 
 pal authority in Lawrence to the dangers of the time. 
 Warnings had been so frequent that the ears of the 
 officials had grown deaf to threat or entreaty. They 
 had no guards about the city, no pickets, no signals, no 
 rallying point. 
 
 The second causative influence was in the method 
 of guerrilla attack. Sure-footed, noiseless, quick, 
 treacherous, these border fiends won many a victory 
 before their dazed contestants recovered from the first 
 bewildering alarm. Their spies were everywhere at 
 work, and they kept themselves well posted on all weak 
 and defenceless points in the enemies' ranks. An old 
 Mrs. L— — ., of Kansas City, was the spy who furn- 
 ished the necessary information and map of Lawrence. 
 On her map she had marked all objectionable houses, 
 
176 THE QUANTRELL MASSACRE. 
 
 and this map Quantrell and his men had studied zeal- 
 ously in her parlor while Union men scoured the coun- 
 try for them. So that while the people slept on that 
 fatal morning Quantrell and his men came upon them 
 with a full and fiendish knowledge of their helpless- 
 ness and an intimate conversance with their situation. 
 
 The line of march was up out of the Southeast across 
 the line into Kansas between Anthony and Shawnee- 
 town, thence in orderly fashion over the open prairies 
 and small streams toward the village of Franklin, four 
 miles to the Southeast. As they came they floated over 
 their column the stars and stripes of the United States, 
 to avert the suspicion of any who might cross their 
 path. They halted briefly in Franklin to await word 
 from their scouting spies, who were to report a favor- 
 able opportunity for attack, emphasizing there their 
 plan and determination to kill Jim Lane , Chaplain Fish- 
 er and Col. Eldridge. Favorable word being brought 
 them out of Lawrence the column moved on. There 
 were three hundred all told, one hundred and fifty of 
 whom were Quantrell's tried and trusted guerrillas 
 and one hundred and fifty of whom were picked from 
 Price's most desperate Texas rangers. 
 
 As they neared the town the stars and stripes were 
 lowered and out over the heads of the column shot 
 the black folds of the Quantrell flag, flaunting the 
 name of the leader, inwrought in red upon it by a 
 woman's hand. 
 
 And where all this while were the out-lying troops? 
 Why did not Fort Anthony send the warning? Why 
 did not some early riser shout an alarm? Were people 
 to be slaughtered like dogs? Was that awful holocaust 
 to be permitted while the heavens smiled on and 
 never a sound reached the ears of thq 
 
THE OUANTRELL MASSACRE. 177 
 
 sleepers? Alas! the troops at Fort Anthony had been 
 woefully intimidated and, bereft of their senses, could 
 only wait in fear and trembling for the end to come. 
 Three times men who happened to be already up and 
 about attempted to give an alarm, but three times 
 unerring bullets laid them low with death-groans on 
 their lips. 
 
 ^ ^ >!; ^ >is 5k >k 
 
 Lawrence had a population of nearly twelve hun- 
 dred people. It was accounted the loveliest town in 
 the state. Mount Oread, lying to the West, rose sev- 
 eral hundred feet above the level of the main residence 
 and business portion. Seven miles to the Southeast 
 lay Blue Mound, plainly in view. Directly South lay 
 the Waukarusa flats, or bottom lands. The river 
 coursed directly Eastward on the North, the road to 
 the Missouri line following close by its banks. To 
 the Southeast, from which direction the guerrillas 
 came, there lay a beautiful stretch of farming country, 
 just being opened to cultivation. There was here and 
 there a farm yielding a bountiful crop, but the settle- 
 ments were scattered and few. The main wagon-travel 
 to and from Lawrence was from the Northeast, from 
 Leavenworth, and directly to the South, through Prai- 
 rie City and Baldwin to the Southern part of the state. 
 Hence the guerrillas were enabled to come in upon us 
 undisturbed. Recruiting stations had been established 
 at various points, among them one at Lawrence, and 
 the cowardly ruffians were easily able to avert suspi- 
 cion by floating the stars and stripes above them. 
 
 Entering the town from the Southeast they marched 
 in regular order until the center of the residence por- 
 tion had been reached. Here they broke into a main 
 body and squads of four, six and eight, the larger body 
 galloping furiously down Massaschusetts street to the 
 
178 THE QUANTRELL MASSACRE. 
 
 business section, the smaller squads riding as fast as 
 their horses could carry them to the various parts of 
 the town assigned them for individual action. Some 
 flew to the extreme Western limit, the residence of 
 General Lane and other prominent citizens. Others 
 galloped swiftly to the Southwest, skirting Mount 
 Oread and the Southern edge of town. The river 
 front needed but little guarding, yet here, too, pickets 
 were quickly stationed. As the affrighted people flew 
 for safety, no matter what the direction, they were 
 confronted by squads of guerrillas so stationed as to 
 cut off escape. A cordon of death had been thrown 
 around us while we slept. 
 
 Fairly within the city the work of death and destruc- 
 tion was begun. With demoniac yells the scoundrels 
 flew hither and yon, wherever a man was to be seen, 
 shooting him down like a dog. Men were called from 
 their beds and murdered before the eyes of wives and 
 children on their doorsteps. Tears, entreaties, prayers 
 availed nothing. The fiends of hell were among us 
 and under the demands of their revengeful black leader 
 they satiated their thirst for blood with fiendish de- 
 light. 
 
 The lurid glare of burning houses joined with the 
 oncoming sun to shed more light upon the awful 
 scene. The torch was applied to every house that had 
 been marked on the traitoress' map. Everything that 
 could not be carried away as booty was doomed to 
 destruction. Every business house on Massachusetts 
 street save one was burned to the ground. No home 
 that was picked out as the home of a soldier's family 
 or that of a Union man was left if it could be burned. 
 
 Not only was the torch applied for the destruction 
 of stores and homes, but in many instances the bullet- 
 pierced bodies of their owners were consigned to the 
 
THE QUANTRELL MASSACRE. 
 
 179 
 
 flames, in individual instances before life was ex- 
 tinct. Such scenes of barbarity have never been wit- 
 nessed, even in the days of war, in recent centuries, 
 except among the most degraded tribes of earth. 
 ^ 5|t ^ >ij * * * 
 
 Particularly atrocious were the murders of Senator 
 Thorp, Dr. Griswold and Editor Trask. Together 
 with Mr. Baker they, with their families, were board- 
 ing in the Northern part of the town. The guerrillas 
 called them to the doorway, and assuring them and 
 their wives that they were only to be taken down town 
 to a rendezvous at which the citizens had been gath- 
 ered, that the danger to the raiders might be lessened 
 as they did their work of robbery and arson, they 
 were marched to the front side-walk and as their wives 
 bade them adieu were commanded to front face, and 
 before the eyes of the women and children on the 
 porch but thirty feet away they were shot in their 
 tracks. The entreaties of wives and mothers and chil- 
 dren went for naught. Shot after shot was fired into 
 their prostrate forms until life was extinguished in all 
 but Mr. Baker. Though pierced by seventeen bullets 
 his splendid constitution saved him and he lives to-day. 
 Equally atrocious was the murder of Judge Car- 
 penter. In delicate health he had not joined the army 
 of the frontier, but he sympathized earnestly with the 
 Union cause and served us nobly in many ways. His 
 judicial utterances were always on the side of the right, 
 and thus he became an object of hatred to the ruffian 
 element. Called from his home in early morn he saw 
 the danger and attempted to escape by running around 
 his house, hoping to get out by a side gate and away 
 to some place of safety. They chased him, and when 
 his wife saw he was certain to be caught she flew to 
 his side and threw her arms around him, enfolding him 
 
180 THE QUANTRELL MASSACRE. 
 
 in her skirts. The murderous guerrillas tried to wrest 
 him away from her, failing in which they forcibly held 
 her to one side and shot him down in her arms. She 
 fell with him and again they tore her partially from 
 him and finished their crime by repeatedly turning 
 their revolvers upon him while still she clung to him 
 and begged for mercy and his Hfe. 
 
 Most terrible was the fate of a Mr. D. D. Palmer, 
 an inoffensive man who happened to be in his gun- 
 shop when the murderous band came upon him. Hav- 
 ing become satiated with ordinary blood-shed they 
 shot him and an assistant, then fired the shop, tied the 
 hands of the men and threw them into the burning 
 building which, being of wood, burned fast and furi- 
 ously. The wounded men arose and struggled to the 
 door to be kicked back into the flames! When the 
 fire had at last burned the cords from their wrists they 
 again fought their way to the door and begged for 
 mercy. Demoniac yells of revengeful delight came 
 from their tormentors for an answer, and death, slow 
 but awfully sure, was their release ! 
 
 ^ ^ ^': >!< ^ * ijf 
 
 One hundred and fifty-four of the best business 
 houses and dwellings of Lawrence were burned to 
 the ground. The value of the property destroyed was 
 estimated at one and one-half million dollars. Two- 
 thirds of the people were homeless. Many of them 
 had not a suit of clothing left and but few had a dollar 
 in money. That night nearly an hundred widows and 
 two hundred fatherless children sat wailing in the 
 streets. One hundred and eighty-five men had been 
 killed. Shorn of her pride and beauty and sons the 
 city wept in sack-cloth and sat in ashes — a Phoenix 
 who should one day rise again. Desolation like a pall 
 
THE QUANTRELL MASSACRE. 181 
 
 hung over every home. There was nought doing but 
 burial. The hearse was the only trafficker. 
 
 Many a good name and fair is on the list of the 
 lamented dead who were left bleeding on the streets of 
 Lawrence on that terrible day of the raid. A partial 
 list of them is appended. These men and the otners 
 slain deserve to have their names inscribed upon the 
 pages of the history of Kansas and the Union. They 
 fell martyrs to a noble cause. Upon the sacred soil 
 of Lawrence, whose individual history is more in- 
 timately interwoven with the history of the struggle 
 for the emancipation of the Xegro race than that of 
 any other city in the L'nion, there should be erected 
 a monument to these men, commemorative of the 
 destruction of their town, the burning of their homes, 
 and their murder, which shall tell the history of this 
 awful crime to generations to come. Lawrence stands 
 as the Thermopylae of Kansas and freedom. 
 
 LIST OF THE MASSACRED. 
 
 Albach, George Coats, George. 
 
 Allen, E. Collamore, G. W. Mayor. 
 
 Alwes, George. Crane, John L. 
 
 Anderson, John. Clona, Charles. 
 
 Allison, D. C. Cooper, James. 
 
 Argel, Jas. Coleman, L. D. 
 
 Allen, Clay (colored). Cornell, L 
 
 Bell, Capt.' Geo. W. Dix, Ralph. 
 
 Bowen Samuel. Dix, Stephen. 
 
 Brechteshaner, James. Dyer, Uncle Frank. 
 
 Brant, E. Dulinsky, Sylvester. 
 
 Burt, George. Eheles, August. 
 
 Burnes, Dennis. Eldridge, Jas. 
 
 Burns, Michael. Ellis Frank (colored). 
 
 Carpenter, Judge Louis. Evans, John. 
 
182 
 
 THE QUANTRELL MASSACRE. 
 
 Englar, Carl. 
 Englesman, Samuel. 
 Fitch, Edward P. 
 Fillmore, Lemuel. 
 Frawley, John. 
 Frank, Joseph. 
 Fritch, S. H. 
 Giebal, Anthony. 
 Gentry, Levy. 
 Green, John. 
 Gates, Levy. 
 Gill, John. 
 Griswold, Dr. J. P. 
 Griswold, Watt. 
 Gregg, Geo. 
 Hay, Chester. 
 Hoge, Calvin. 
 Holmes, Nathan. 
 Johnson, M. 
 Johnson, Ben. 
 Jones, Samuel. 
 Kimball, Fred. 
 Keefe, Pat. 
 Klaus, Wen. 
 Klaus, Fred. 
 Kleffer, W. M. R. 
 Lawrie, John. 
 Lawrie, William. 
 Leonard, Christopher. 
 Lambert, Noe. 
 Little, John. 
 Limbach, Henry. 
 Laner, Christian. 
 Longley, Otis. 
 Loomis, Rich, 
 
 Lowe, Joseph. 
 McClelland, Amos. 
 McFadden, J. 
 Martin, Robt. 
 Murphy, Dennis. 
 Martha, Samuel. 
 Martin, Michael. 
 Meeky, M. 
 
 McFarland 
 
 Nathan, W. 
 
 Oldham, Anthony (col'd). 
 Oerhie, Jno. 
 Oneil, Jas. 
 Palmer, Charles. 
 Palmer, Daniel W. 
 Ferine, James. 
 Pope, Geo. 
 Pollock, J. 
 
 Purrington, David H. 
 Roach, Jacob. 
 Reedmiller, A. 
 Reynolds, Samuel. 
 Range, Geo. 
 Range, Samuel. 
 Speer, John M. 
 Snyder, Rev. S. S. 
 Stewart, Henry. 
 Smith, Charles. 
 Schwab, John. 
 Sanger, Geo. H. 
 Sargent, G. H. 
 Stonestreet, Benj. 
 Stone, Nathan. 
 Swan, L. L. 
 Thorp, S. M. 
 
THE QUANTRELL MASSACRE. 
 
 183 
 
 Zimmerman, John. 
 Woods, James. 
 Waugh, Addison. 
 
 Unmustered Recruits" who 
 unarmed : 
 
 Parker, Ashbury. 
 
 Parker, Isaac. 
 
 Riggs, Chas. F. 
 
 Speer, Robt. 
 
 Watson, John. 
 
 Waugh, Wm. A. 
 
 Wilson, Jas. 
 
 Woods, Andrew. 
 
 Trask, Josiah C. 
 Turk, David. 
 Wise, Louis. 
 WilHamson, John. 
 
 The following were " 
 were killed in their tents 
 Anderson, C. 
 Allen, Chas. R. 
 Cooper, Jas. F. 
 Green, John R. 
 Griswold, Weaker B. S. 
 Walderman, Aaron. 
 Markel, David. 
 Markel, Lewis. 
 Markel, Samuel. 
 
 Of a company of twenty-three recruits, of the ages 
 of from eighteen to twenty years, only five escaped 
 with their lives. 
 
184 THE STORY OF MY ESCAPE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIL 
 
 THE STORY OF MY ESCAPE. 
 
 The most miraculous incident in my eventful life 
 is my escape from death at the hands of the guerrillas 
 at the time of the Ouantrell raid. There were many 
 narrow escapes experienced by our citizens on that 
 awful morning, but none of which I have knowledge 
 is more strikingly illustrative of the dangers and ter- 
 rors of the situation, nor of the fortitude and courage 
 and resourcefulness under the most trying ordeals of 
 a heroine having faith in herself, faith in her God and 
 devotion to her husband and family. Could I but 
 remove self from the recital of this occurrence I would 
 freely proclaim that of all the individual incidents of 
 the war none is more deserving of record, none more 
 pregnant with heroism, none more truly illustrative 
 of the bravery of the gentler sex when called upon to 
 face the most exacting trials of life. 
 
 I had been ill and was wakeful through the night. 
 About four o'clock in the morning I was awakened 
 by the sound of horses' hoofs directly in front of my 
 dwelHng on the Northwest corner of the public park 
 in the Southern part of the town. Arising hastily I 
 partly dressed and went to the door opening to the 
 east on our upper piazza and saw three horsemen rid- 
 ing rapidly out of town to the South. I felt that some 
 calamity was impending and said to my wife that I 
 was afraid something terrible was going to happen. 
 She replied that I was ill and nervous, that there had 
 
THE STORY OF MY ESCAPE. 185 
 
 been a railroad meeting the night before and that 
 some of the countrymen who had been in attendance 
 v.ere doubtless going out early to their work on their 
 farms. Thus assured I felt easier and lay down 
 again, though troubled in mind and still fearful that 
 the presence of those horsemen and their rapid ride to 
 the Southward boded no good. It was so near getting- 
 up time that I did not fully undress, but lay on the 
 side of the bed with trousers on. 
 
 A half hour later my wife decided to get up, re- 
 marking that she had planned to take the older boys 
 and go wild grape gathering that day, and that she 
 believed she would get breakfast and start early that 
 a full day might be put in in the woods. She arose, 
 commenced dressing and called the children that it 
 was time to get up. Dawn was just streaking the 
 eastern horizon, and she went to the front windows to 
 raise the curtain to let in the light. As she looked 
 out Southeastwardly she was attracted by a body of 
 troops entering the outskirts of the town. She looked 
 attentively for a minute and turning quickly ex- 
 claimed: 
 
 'Ta, get up! There is a company of soldiers com- 
 ing into town. I believe it is Quantrell and his men!" 
 
 H; * ^ ;{: * >i« ^ 
 
 I bounded to the door just in time to see them 
 shoot down Rev. Mr. Snyder as he sat milking his 
 cow in front of his house, and was confirmed in my 
 wife's fears that Quantrell was upon us. As I watched 
 the raiders for a minute they began to break into 
 squads and fly to different parts of the town, shooting 
 right and left as a man would appear in sight, and 
 calling men to their front doors in their night dresses 
 to kill them at sight. 
 
 I did not stop to dress further, except to throw on a 
 shirt and put on my shoes, and thus arrayed I ran 
 
186 THE STORY OF MY ESCAPE. 
 
 down stairs, out of the house to the stable and turned 
 loose on the common back of our lot a blooded horse 
 and a pony we had in the barn, thinking them less 
 likely to be stolen if loose upon the prairie than if tied 
 in the stable. 
 
 By this time my boys, William and Edmund, aged 
 respectively twelve and ten years, were dressed, as was 
 also our son Joseph, aged seven. My wife had Frank, 
 six months old, in her arms and Josie by her side, and 
 begged earnestly that with the older boys I should 
 take to Mount Oread lying a quarter of a mile to the 
 West and try to get to the bushes beyond it. So we 
 started up the prairie to the foot of the hills, running 
 together, Mrs. Fisher remaining behind with the 
 younger children. 
 
 As I ran I felt all the time that I was going away 
 from the only place of safety. I was weak from my 
 illness and knew that I could not run far nor fast. 
 Furthermore, upon glancing up the hill I could see 
 pickets stationed every hundred yards or so, so that 
 it would be impossible for me to get through their 
 line alive. The boys were smaller and could dart 
 through the hazel and sumach bushes skirting the 
 hill, and they ran on while I decided to go back to 
 the house. 
 
 Willie fell in with a school fellow named Robbie 
 Martin, an older and larger boy, and they ran to- 
 gether. Robbie's mother had made him a suit of 
 clothing out of his father's old soldier clothes, and as 
 the boys ran together near one of the pickets he was 
 attracted by the uniform and gave them chase, killing 
 young Martin right by my boy's side, his brains and 
 blood spattering in Willie's face, frightening him al- 
 most to death and so terrorizing him that he has never 
 fully recovered his nervous vigor. 
 
THE STORY OF MY ESCAPE. 187 
 
 Edmund got separated from his brother in their 
 flight and caught up with Freddie Leonard, a boy a 
 year or more older than he, the two running together. 
 They succeeded in evading the pickets, though shot 
 at from a distance a number of times, and sought 
 refuge in the town cemetery two and a half miles out. 
 After their first terror had somewhat subsided they 
 became frightened at being in a graveyard and sought 
 a place of hiding in a patch of cotton being grown by 
 an enterprising German farmer a little way from the 
 cemetery. From this they could see the smoke from 
 the burning town and hear the firing, and so terrorized 
 were they that it was well on toward the middle of the 
 afternoon before they dared venture to get a sip of 
 water or to return toward the town. 
 
 ^ ;!i ^; if; ij: ^ * 
 
 After leaving my boys as they ran I made my way 
 back into my yard through a rear gate and down the 
 garden walk into the kitchen and on into the cellar. 
 Our house was a two-story brick, with a one-story 
 stone kitchen built on later. The entrance to the cel- 
 lar was through the kitchen, consequently I was able 
 to enter it without going through the main part of the 
 house. My wife heard me, however, and asked if it 
 was I w^ho had gone down stairs. I replied in the 
 afflrmative, whereupon she expressed her fear that I 
 had done wrong, telling me that the guerrillas were 
 killing everybody they could find to shoot at and that 
 she was afraid they would find and kill me too. I 
 told her of the pickets on the hill and of how weak I 
 found I was as I tried to run, and that under the cir- 
 cumstances there was nothing to do but to come back 
 and take my chances. 
 
 "Well, trust in the Lord and pray that he may save 
 you. I will pray also, and do all I can for you," she 
 
188 THE STORY OF MY ESCAPE. 
 
 replied, as she left the cellar way and went to the front 
 part of the house to look after Josie and the baby. 
 
 She had hardly got to the front part of the house 
 when four of the murderous villains rode up to the 
 front gate, dismounted and demanded admittance. I 
 was lying just beneath the front hall, parallel with it 
 and near the front door, and could hear every word 
 they said. 
 
 Accosting my wife with oaths they inquired, "Is 
 your husband about the house?" 
 
 ''Do you think," she replied, "that he would be fool 
 enough to stay about the house and you killing every- 
 body you can? No, sir; he left with the little boys 
 when you first came into town." 
 
 With an oath one of them contradicted her, and to 
 
 her astonishment and mine replied, "I know a d d 
 
 sight better; he's in the cellar; where is it?" 
 
 "It is not very gentlemanly for you to doubt the 
 word of a lady," she said, "and besides, I don't want 
 you to swear in the presence of my children. The 
 cellar is open, if you think he is there go look for your- 
 selves." 
 
 The men walked right over where I was lying, 
 through the dining room into the kitchen and to the 
 cellar doorway. There was no other entrance for light 
 and it looked very dark down the steps, so one of them 
 turned to her and remarked. "It is too dark for us to 
 go down there without a light; get us a candle." 
 
 "We don't burn candles," she replied. 
 
 "What do you burn for a light if you don't burn 
 candles?" 
 
 "We burn oil — in a lamp," was her answer. 
 
 They demanded a lamp and my wife, believing the 
 only way to save me was to throw them ofif the track, 
 freely gave it to them. As the man after taking it from 
 
THE STORY OF MY ESCAPE. 189 
 
 her attempted to light it he turned the wick down into 
 the bowl and turned to her to ask her assistance. She 
 looked at it and told him he had ruined it, that it would 
 take half an hour at least to get it so it would burn. 
 
 This diverted them for the time and they set about 
 ransacking the house, appropriating unto themselves 
 everything they could find of value and many articles 
 that were new to them but which possessed no value. 
 Finally one of them said to her, ''Haven't you another 
 lamp in this house?" 
 
 "Yes," she replied, ''but it is up stairs." 
 
 She was ordered to go and get it, but protested that 
 she could not carry the baby and suggested that one 
 of them must go and get the lamp or hold the baby 
 while she went for it. 
 
 One of their number took Frank from her arms 
 and walked the floor with him, cooing to him to keep 
 him quiet while his mother went for the lamp, perhaps 
 wondering the while whether the father whose life they 
 were seeking had eyes like the baby's eyes and what 
 would become of the child if they took his life. 
 
 I heard my wife come down the front stairs and 
 knew that in her hand she held the lighted lamp with 
 which they were to search for me, and was almost per- 
 suaded to save them the trouble by emerging from the 
 cellar and surrendering myself into their hands. Just 
 then, however, I heard the man to whom she handed 
 the lamp say: 
 
 "Come on, now, cock your revolvers and kill at 
 sight." 
 
 This determined my action and I gave up the 
 thought of surrendering, knowing that it meant cer- 
 tain death. As I reached this conclusion they began 
 to descend the stairway into the cellar and my life 
 hung as by a thread. 
 
190 THE STORY OF MY ESCAPE. 
 
 The body of our house was twenty by thirty feet in 
 dimension. The cellar was but eight by fourteen feet, 
 occupying the middle part of the space beneath the 
 house. It had been dug just deep enough and large 
 enough to accommodate our immediate necessities, it 
 having been our intention to complete it later. The 
 dirt which had been excavated had been thrown up on 
 the bank between the limits of the cellar and the 
 foundation walls of the house, more on one side than 
 the other. When I entered I crawled upon the bank 
 on that side of the excavation and lay behind the bank 
 of dirt thus carelessly thrown up. 1 lay flat upon my 
 back, and as my face was deeper than wide I turned 
 my head on the flat, also, and lay as close to the earth 
 as I possibly could. My left foot shook so that I was 
 compelled to place my right foot upon it to keep it 
 still. 
 
 Just as I got as snugly in position as was" possible 
 the scoundrels entered. There were three of them, 
 one having remained behind to guard the house 
 against approach. The ceiling was low, and as the 
 man who held the lamp in one hand, a cocked revolver 
 in the other, stepped to the floor he was compelled to 
 stoop to keep from striking his head against the joists. 
 In stooping he brought the lighted lamp directly un- 
 der his face, and the heat and glare caused him to hold 
 it to one side, the side on which I was lying within 
 a few feet of him. This threw the shadow of the bank 
 of dirt over me and they did not see me. My wife had 
 so completely thrown them ofif of their guard that 
 their search was not thorough, else I would not be 
 here to tell the story. I could see them plainly, could 
 even have reached over and touched the leader on the 
 shoulder. But they did not see me and I was saved. 
 
• THE STORY OF MY ESCAPE. 191 
 
 'The shadow of the Almighty was over me," and un- 
 der his wings He protected me. My heart stood still. 
 I did not breathe. Every act of my life came before 
 me like a panorama. I lived but did not live. I died 
 but did not die. In God's goodness and mercy the 
 hour of my departure had not yet come. I was naked 
 and helpless before my own conscience and could 
 see eternity as plainly as noonday. 'This poor man 
 cried and the Lord heard him and delivered him from 
 all his enemies." Blessed be the name of the Lord, he 
 saved me when salvation seemed impossible, when 
 death was at hand, when deliverance had ceased to be 
 hoped for! 
 
 Ji; * 5k * Hi * * 
 
 During this fearful ordeal the agony of my wife's 
 soul can readily be imagined. As the guerrillas took 
 the lamp from her and went to the cellar doorway she 
 passed quickly to the front part of the house, pressed 
 the baby to one ear and her hand to the other to 
 deaden the noise of the fatal shots she now expected 
 to hear and to drown my death groans. Her agony 
 was intense. Her soul was tried to the uttermost. 
 Her heart-strings were almost rended asunder; and 
 especially since she had almost become convinced that 
 her courageous assurance had not misled the villains 
 and that in part upon her pure hands might rest my 
 blood. If it was an awful moment for me, what must 
 it not have been for her? As I calmly consider what 
 she must have passed through during the minutes 
 those murderous men were seeking my life I am 
 filled with admiration for her courage, her fortitude, 
 her confidence in God. It is one of the grandest ex- 
 hibitions of womanly devotion and hope of which there 
 is record. Had she swerved in the least degree, had 
 she allowed her emotions to overcome her, had she 
 
192 THE STORY OF MY ESCAPE. 
 
 allowed her fears to be seen, all would have been lost. 
 God never blessed man with a nobler wife than mine, 
 nor one possessed of greater courage and resourceful- 
 ness in time of trouble. To God and His servant, my 
 wife, I owe my life, my all. 
 
 >fC 3fC 3fC 3fC 3fC ^ 3^C 
 
 Finding themselves baffled in their pursuit of the 
 hated pioneer preacher whose life they had so often 
 sought, one of the men said to the others with an 
 oath, "The woman told the truth. The rascal has es- 
 caped," and they turned and left the cellar. 
 
 When they were gone I found that the suspense 
 had been most awful and that it had left me as one 
 dead. It was a physical efifort to return to life, and it 
 was a moment before I fully realized that whether in 
 or out of the body the Lord had marvellously saved 
 me thus far. 
 
 When those cold-hearted villains went up into the 
 dining room my wife's confidence and courage re- 
 turned and she took the lamp from one of them, ex- 
 tinguished the flame, and said to him : 
 
 "You will believe me, now, I hope. I told you my 
 husband had gone an hour ago. You needn't suppose 
 that any one is going to be fool enough to remain 
 around and be shot down if he can get away." 
 
 He uttered a muttered oath, continued the search 
 for valuables and ordered the house fired, as it was 
 one that was doomed to go. After the fire had been 
 started up stairs they left one of their number to stand 
 guard, the others riding ofif to further deviltry. 
 
 "Madam," said the one who remained, "if there is 
 anything you wish to save Til help you save it." 
 
 "Turn in and help me put out the fire," she replied, 
 as she struggled to stamp and smother it out in vari- 
 ous places. 
 
THE STORY OF MY ESCAPE. 193 
 
 "It would cost me my life to do that/' he replied, 
 ''but I can help you save your stuff if you want me 
 to." 
 
 'Tf you can't help me put out the fire," she said, 
 "just get on your horse and ride off, telling them that 
 it was burning when you left and I'll soon put it out 
 myself." 
 
 'T will do so," he said, "but it will do you no good, 
 for this is one of the marked houses and is bound 
 to go." 
 
 He mounted his horse and rode off, cautioning my 
 wife to save what she could as the house would surely 
 be burned. She thinks he was the one to whom she 
 handed the baby when she went for the lamp and that 
 this confidence in him and the child's cooing had 
 touched his heart. 
 
 My wife carried water up stairs and extinguished 
 the flames, and having flooded the floors and beds 
 thoroughly came again to the cellar door. 
 
 "Pa," said she, "those men who were hunting you 
 set fire to the house in several places and left, but I 
 have put the fire all out so you have no need of being 
 afraid; I must go now and attend to Frank for he is 
 crying for me. But I am afraid another party may 
 come and find you yet and kill you, and I want to 
 know, if they should, are you ready to die? That 
 knowledge would be better to us than all besides." 
 
 I told her how I felt, and she said, "Continue to 
 pray and trust in the Lord, and I'll do all I can to save 
 you; I must go now." 
 
 * 5k >!< ^ Jk 5!^ * 
 
 She left me and it seemed like a long time until she 
 
 returned. Lying on the ground, as I was, I could 
 
 hear the horses' feet and the roar of the burning town, 
 
 the noise of the falling houses, the shouts of the 
 
 13 
 
194 THE STORY OF MY ESCAPE. 
 
 human demons and the screams of the dying. It 
 seemed indeed as if pandemonium reigned and that a 
 whirlwind of destruction was sweeping over the city. 
 Imagine, if possible, my relief when I heard the voice 
 of my wife as she came near, talking loudly to the 
 children that I might know it was she. 
 
 They had scarcely reached the parlor when three 
 other of the murderers came rushing into the hall 
 inquiring, ''Madam, are you a widow?" 
 
 "Not unless you men have found my husband out- 
 side and have killed him," said she. ''He left the 
 house with our little boys when you first came to 
 town. There has been a party of your men here al- 
 ready and they hunted all through the house and in 
 the cellar for him, but, thank God, they did not find 
 him." 
 
 "I am d d glad of it," replied the impulsive 
 
 leader. 
 
 They did not visit the cellar, my wife had so com- 
 pletely thrown them ofT the track. But when they 
 saw the house had been fired by their comrades and 
 that the fire had been extinguished, and having drank 
 whisky freely before coming, they were very angry 
 and swore that the house must be burned, "as it is 
 one that was marked to be destroyed." 
 
 This second band broke the window shutters and 
 chairs and book-case into fuel, made kindling wood of 
 the furniture, and fired the house more effectually than 
 before. Then two of the number left. The other one, 
 now drunk and murderous, remained with revolver in 
 hand and swore he would kill my wife if she attempted 
 to go up stairs and put out the fire. She slammed the 
 door in his face and began drawing water out of the 
 well, filling buckets, tubs and pans. When the fire 
 had driven this fiend out of the hall and into the 
 
THE STORY OF MY ESCAPE. 195 
 
 Street she saw that fire from the main building had 
 ignited the kitchen roof, and reahzing that through 
 the kitchen was my only way of escape she climbed 
 upon the cook stove and dashed water on the under 
 side of the board roof, then drew a table near outside, 
 set a stand upon that, and putting pans and buckets 
 of water on the roof climbed up and threw the water 
 upon it, thus saving the kitchen. 
 
 But she saw another danger. The roof of the main 
 building projected over the kitchen, and the burning 
 cornice was about to fall. So she got down, filled her 
 buckets and pans anew and again climbed to the roof 
 and after dashing a pan of water over her dress to 
 keep the fire from lighting her clothes stood with the 
 roaring fire in front of her until the flaming cornice 
 fell at- her feet. Then she dashed water on it where it 
 was nailed together at the crest, and stamping it apart 
 tumbled it off the kitchen and threw the rest of the 
 water on the roof. 
 
 Then came still a new danger. The small windows 
 in the rear wall of the main building were on fire and 
 might fall outward on the kitchen and yet set it on 
 fire. So she called to Joseph, our seven year old boy, 
 to give her a stick of cord wood and with this she 
 punched the windows into the burning building. She 
 had saved her kitchen, and through it had saved me ! 
 
 The main building was built of brick,which had been 
 saturated by the boys dipping them in tubs of water as 
 the masons laid them in the walls, so the cementing 
 together was perfect. Hence the walls stood when all 
 the lumber was burned out. I was lying on the bank 
 of earth just under the door that led to the kitchen, 
 when the whole upper story of the house fell to the 
 floor immediatelv over me. 
 
1^3 THE STORY OF MY ESCAPE. 
 
 My wife then began pouring water through the 
 kitchen door on the floor beyond, but the heat and 
 flames became so intense that she had to draw the 
 door shut to prevent them from setting fire to the 
 kitchen. The lower floor burned through, fell into 
 the cellar and burned to within a yard or so of where 
 I was lying. T expected to be cremated alive, when 
 suddenly T saw a little stream of water trickling 
 through a knot-hole in the floor. I then realized what, 
 an unconquerable fight my wife was making for my 
 life. Soon a Mrs. Shugro, a neighbor, came to where 
 she was working close to where I lay and said to 
 her, ''Mrs. Fisher, what are you trying to save that 
 piece of floor for? It won't be worth anything." 
 
 "I don't care, I am going to save it if I can for a 
 memento. Bring me more water." Then addressing 
 the woman in a lower tone she said to her, ''Mrs. 
 Shugro, I have a secret to tell you. By the Virgin 
 ' Mary and all the Saints" — she was a Catholic — "will 
 you keep it?" 
 
 "I will." 
 
 "Mr. Fisher is under that floor." 
 
 The woman raised her hands and was about to 
 scream when my wife said to her, "Don't speak a 
 word, for they are all around here watching for him." 
 
 "What are you going to do to save him?" 
 
 'Til have him come up the cellar-way and crawl 
 under that piece of carpet, and we will hide him in the 
 garden under yonder little bush, covering it with the 
 carpet." 
 
 Then she came down into the cellar and said to me, 
 "You must come out of there or burn alive; I can't 
 keep the fire back any longer. I am afraid they will 
 find you outside and kill you, after all; but stand here 
 till I look outside and when you come up to the level 
 
THE STORY OF MY ESCAPE. 197 
 
 of the floor crouch down as low as possible, crawl 
 under the carpet and follow me out into the garden to 
 the little bush overgrown with morning-glory vines, 
 lay flat on the ground under the bush, and I'll throw 
 the carpet over it and you." 
 
 She looked out and finding the coast clear told me 
 to follow her. As I came up the stairs she dropped a 
 dress over my head and shoulders. I gathered it 
 about my body, crouched close to the floor, crawled 
 along as close to her and the ground as I could, part 
 of the time tramping on the carpet she was dragging 
 from her shoulders, and followed her to the bush. 
 Here I lay flat upon the ground and wormed myself 
 under the little bush while my wife and Mrs. Shugro 
 threw^ the carpet over it. When this was done and the 
 women turned away there were four guerrillas by the 
 fence, not eighty feet away, with guns in their hands, 
 standing looking at the women. 
 
 "Mrs. Shugro," called my wife, loudly, "Let's throw 
 those chairs and things on top of this carpet. What's 
 the use of saving anything from that old burning 
 house and then have them burn up outside?" 
 
 We have three of those chairs yet as heirlooms. 
 
 They piled the chairs and everything of the kind on 
 the carpet, while the bush kept them from exposing 
 me. I was almost famished for a drink, and at one 
 time as my wife came near I whispered to her that I 
 wanted a drink of water. 
 
 Josie, who w^as close by, heard me and said to his 
 mother, "Pa is here somewdiere ; I heard him speak." 
 
 His mother replied, "Why Josie, your papa went 
 aw^ay w^th the boys when the men first came to town. 
 You go up to the stable and bring me the rake." 
 
 When the little fellow had gone she came close, 
 tucked the carpet around the bush and warned me 
 
198 THE STORY OF MY ESCAPE. 
 
 not to speak again for my life. I obeyed and laid 
 there until after eleven o'clock, when the band of mur- 
 derers had all left town. 
 
 When I came out of hiding I was all but dead. I 
 had gone into the cellar before five o'clock and had 
 been under intense mental strain and had been four 
 times in imminent danger of death in those six hours 
 of most terrible and indescribable experience, all of 
 which my wife had passed in agony and heroic effort 
 to save her husband. When I came out from under the 
 carpet and bush our house and all we owned in it 
 were in ashes. 
 
 H; -I; ^ 5k H< ^ >l« 
 
 Willie came back after a little while and told of 
 Robby Martin and his terrible death, of others who 
 were killed in the prairie, of how he ran past the 
 picket after they had killed his little comrade and 
 joined Mrs. Solomon and her children for safety, and 
 how, bye and bye, another party of the guerrillas had 
 come to them and asked who they were, threatening 
 to kill the boys. When asked whose boy he was he 
 said he was Mrs. Solomon's boy; and he told us how 
 his heart was almost broken at the thought of having 
 denied being my son; but he knew they hated me be- 
 cause I was a chaplain in the army. 
 
 Upon recovering our self-control we went down 
 town to find that more than one hundred and eighty 
 of our citizens had been killed and many of them 
 burned until they could not be recognized. The 
 whole business part of our town was in ashes. Eighty 
 widows and two hundred and fifty children were in 
 indescribable grief! 
 
 Crushed and grief stricken we returned to our own 
 desolation, and remained about the ashes of our home 
 until four o'clock. Edmund had not returned, and my 
 
THE STORY OF MY ESCAPE. 199 
 
 wife had became almost frantic by this time, fearing 
 he had been killed and was lying on the prairie un- 
 cared for, or perhaps wounded and bleeding to death. 
 She left her babe with a neighbor, and taking an old 
 sheet and table cloth saved from the fire ran in search 
 of him, calling to everybody she could see asking for 
 her boy. After traversing nearly a mile she saw him 
 and Freddie Leonard coming toward her, and he, see- 
 ing his mother, rushed to her. She joyfully threw 
 away the sheet and table cloth which she had carried 
 to bind up his wounds, and ran to meet her new found 
 boy. As they came near each other, he called out to 
 her in fright and anguish, 
 
 ''O, Ma, is Pa or Willie killed?" 
 
 ''No, thank God," his mother answered, ''we are all 
 alive.". 
 
 As they came down the garden w^alk I took the 
 babe in my arms and William and Josie by my side 
 and we met mother and Edmund in the garden under 
 the shadow of a little peach tree, and there I put my 
 arm around my wife and we all knelt on the ground 
 and sent up to our Father in Heaven a volume of 
 thanksgiving and praise. None but those who have 
 passed through like dangers and have experienced 
 like deliverance can conceive the gratitude to God that 
 springs up within the heart. We realized that the 
 Angel of the Lord encampeth around about them that 
 fear him and keep his commandments and delivereth 
 them. 
 
 The question has often been asked of my wife, 
 "Mrs. Fisher, how could you keep you courage and 
 confidence and plan and do so much to save your 
 husband?" And always her reply has been, "The 
 I,ord helped me. Has not He said, 'Call upon me i-i 
 the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou 
 shalt glorify me?' " 
 
200 THE DAWN OF PEACE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIir. 
 
 THE DAWN Ol' PEACE, 
 
 Quantrell learned that Colonel Plumb was on hi.^ 
 march from Kansas City, and fled the town, going di- 
 rectly south through Prairie City, making his way to 
 his retreat in the Sni Hills. General Lane gathered 
 all the men he could to follow him, but his men were 
 poorly armed and poorly mounted. When Plumb found 
 the guerrillas retreating toward him he countermarched 
 and fell in between Quantrell's men and Lane's citi- 
 zen band. It was expected that troops at Paola would 
 intercept the retreating murderers, but they safely es- 
 caped to their rendezvous on the head waters of the 
 Little Blue. 
 
 Later, after I had returned to my regiment, I was 
 told by men who were captured on the Fourth 
 of July when the rebel army was defeated and when 
 General Grant captured Vicksburg, that as they were 
 marched to Little Rock the rebels consoled them- 
 selves that Lawrence had been destroyed and that ''Ji"^ 
 Lane and that nigger-freeing chaplain. Parson 
 Fisher," had been killed. General Price had given 
 sanction to the massacre by sending one hundred and 
 fifty Texas rangers of the worst type to aid Quan- 
 trell in destroying the town, whose destruction would 
 have taken place earlier but for the vigilance then 
 
 shown in guarding it. 
 
 ******* 
 
 Our friends in Leavenworth heard that I was killed 
 
THE DAWN OF PEACE. 201 
 
 and sent a deputation of men with a hack to get my 
 body and family to take me to Leavenworth to bury 
 my remains. Learning of my marvelous escape 
 others came with money and supplies, among them 
 Brothers Geo. E. Smith, John Best, Ralston and Rev. 
 D. P. Mitchell. Kind friends in Pennsylvania and 
 Ohio also sent us relief, which came most timely, for 
 we were left without a suit of clothing for any of us 
 or a bed to sleep on, a pillow to rest our heads upon 
 or a quilt or blanket or coverlet to sleep under. 
 
 Lawrence had been from the first the center of free- 
 state sentiment in Kansas, and as such was the apple of 
 the eye of New England and an object of hatred to the 
 pro-slavery party. It is not surprising, therefore, that 
 the raid and massacre helped arouse the loyal 
 North to a resolve that the rebellion should be curbed, 
 in spite of the fact that just about this time the war 
 for the preservation of the Union had been declared a 
 failure in convocations held in Chicago. The reaction 
 set in, the army was reinforced, the rebellion was 
 crushed and peace restored. 
 
 For two weeks we slept in our hay-loft,in the hay, 
 without pillows or covering, and ate our meals under 
 the shadow of a tree in the garden. The first week after 
 the raid, while the fire was still smouldering, I hired 
 carpenters and contracted for lumber to rebuild my 
 house, for the walls stood like walls of iron. We cut 
 trees in the woods, loaded them from the stump, and 
 they never touched the ground until the joists were 
 laid down at the door. In a short time the roof was on 
 and the plasterers were at w^ork completing the house 
 for occupancy. It still stands, a monumental reminder 
 of what v/as and what is. 
 
 >i; ^ H: * ^ * * 
 
 Before we were allowed to finally settle in peace, 
 
202 THE DAWN OF PEACE. 
 
 however, our community was subjected to several 
 severe and rousing scares. On the evening of the 23d, 
 while my wife and I were sitting in scanty attire in 
 the shadow of our stable, our boys having retired to 
 their beds in the hay, we heard an unusual noise at 
 Mr. O'Connor's, a neighbor's close by. With others, 
 a very dear friend of ours, a chaplain and colonel in 
 the army. Dr. D., on coming to Lawrence on Saturday 
 had taken occasion to censure the people for having 
 allowed Ouantrell's band to raid the town and had said 
 with some gusto, "If we had been here we could have 
 driven them out of town with stones and brickbats." 
 Their other professions of courage were likewise 
 somewhat remarkable, until those wdio had been in 
 the fray felt almost as if there need have been no fray 
 had these brave men been at hand. But on Sunday 
 evening, when Dr. D. and others were planning to form 
 a party to follow Ouantrell to the ends of the earth 
 and punish him, word came into the town that he and 
 his murderous band were returning to make com- 
 plete work of their destruction in killing men, women 
 and children. The doctor was taking supper with a 
 friend, where two or three of his party were with him. 
 Mr. O'Connor was at home. Attracted by the noise, 
 I ran to learn the occasion of the excitement. 
 
 There were Mrs. O'Connor and another lady in the 
 "hack," O'Connor had hitched two wild horses to it, 
 with no bridle on the horses and was tearing around 
 like mad, hunting the bridles. 
 
 "What is the matter?" I asked. "Run for your life, 
 Mr. Fisher," says he, "Ouantrell is coming back and 
 will kill all of us." 
 
 I ran to the stable where my wife and children were : 
 we got the boys out of the hayloft and my wife and 
 boys ran to the Catholic church near by, while I 
 
THE DAWN OF PEACE. 203 
 
 started down town to get a gun, hoping to help to de- 
 fend the remainder of the town. When my wife and 
 little boys reached the Catholic church the men were 
 all advised to go to the country. They started on a 
 run to where Dr. D. and his party were at supper. 
 Our second boy outran the rest, and rushing in upon 
 the company cried out, "Run to the country, Quantrell 
 is coming back to kill every body!" 
 
 Just at that moment my wife rushed into the door 
 with the babe in one arm and the other hand waving 
 in the air. 
 
 'Take your children and run for your lives," she 
 cried, "Quantrell is coming!" 
 
 The party of men did not wait for explanation, nor 
 for wife nor for children, nor for hat nor revolver, but 
 flew out the back door and up the hill, my wife and 
 boys after them. Before she was half way up the hill 
 they had crossed its top, and she saw them not again 
 until the next day. She and the oldest son with the 
 babe, none of them half-clad, spent the live-long 
 night in a drenching rain and a chilling northerner 
 in a corn field. 
 
 The alarm proved to be false, but it vacated the 
 town. Men dressed in women's clothes crossed the 
 ferry to escape danger. The stampede was most ef- 
 fectual. I remained down town until we were as- 
 sured that it was a false alarm, when I went to the hay- 
 loft to seek a httle needed rest. Joseph, meantime, 
 had become lost from his mother and brothers, and re- 
 mained in the Catholic church. In the morning the 
 little fellow came to the stable where I was sleeping 
 and called piteously for his mother. I awoke to a pro- 
 found impression that my wife had run to the country, 
 and through fright and sheer exhaustion had per- 
 ished in the darkness of that stormy night. I took 
 
204 THE DAWN OF PEACE. 
 
 the dear little fellow and cuddled him in the work- 
 place in the hay where I had been sleeping and then 
 ran here and there and everywhere, frantic with alarm, 
 almost beside myself, hunting for my wife. I climbed 
 on fences and called, while the hollow air seemed to 
 mock my agony. I inquired of every one I met. I 
 got men to guide me on horseback, while I struck 
 out in the direction I finally heard my wife had gone 
 the night before, and after driving a mile or more, 
 met her and Mrs. Cherry, with the children, coming- 
 home through the wind, in the sorriest plight imagin- 
 able. I wept with delight to find them unharmed. 
 
 The moral effect of that night on the inhabitants of 
 Lawrence, I have often thought, was more profound 
 than the raid itself, yet it was only made possible by 
 the horrible massacre which preceded it. May Heaven 
 in mercy forbid the nation should ever again have 
 occasion to record such a crime! 
 
 ^ ik -!- * >j: ^ =i= 
 
 In 1882, while I was visiting the Southwest Kansas 
 Conference at Chanute, a most thrilling circumstance 
 took place. On Sabbath morning a conference love- 
 feast w^as held in the Methodist church. There w^as a 
 large company of laymen, as well as the wdiole body 
 of the members of conference present. Many testi- 
 monies to the saving power of divine grace were given, 
 and a delightful spirit of liberty prevailed. About the 
 middle of the service I arose near the front part of the 
 church and related briefly part of my Christian experi- 
 ence. As I sat down a brother arose in the back part 
 of the congregation and in a loud and triumphant 
 tone cried out, "Glory to God, that I have lived to 
 meet and hear Dr. Fisher tell his experience. His 
 miraculous escape from Lawrence from Quantrell's 
 band led to my conversion and call to the ministry." 
 
THE DAWN OF PEACE. 
 
 :05 
 
 Every body turned to see who was speaking when 
 the gentleman continued, 'Til tell you how it oc- 
 curred. In August, 1863, I was employed in the gov- 
 ernment service as a teamster and we were ordered to 
 Ft. Smith, Arkansas, with government supplies. We 
 reached the north bank of the Kaw river on the after- 
 noon of the day that Ouantrell's massacre occurred. 
 After we had cared for our teams we crossed the river 
 and went up into the city and viewed the ruins while the 
 fire was yet burning and the dead remained unburied. 
 I was acquainted with John Shugro and his wife, and 
 they and myself were Catholics. I called upon them 
 at their home on the lot adjoining Dr. Fisher's home, 
 which had been destroyed. Mrs. Shugro told me' 
 about Dr. Fisher's miraculous escape, and said it was 
 all in answer to Mrs. Fisher, who said the Lord had 
 heard her prayer and helped' her save her husband. 
 I held that surely the Lord would not hear and an- 
 swer a heretic's prayer, but Mrs. Shugro insisted that it 
 was true. Then I said to her, Tf the Lord hears 
 heretic's prayers we ought to cease persecuting them.' 
 My friend still repeated that the Lord did hear Mrs. 
 Fisher's prayer and saved her husband, for no human 
 being could have saved him from the fire and murder- 
 ers. The next day we proceeded on our journey 
 South, and all the way I felt that I was a sinner, and 
 there was no priest to confess to, and I repeatedly 
 thought, Tf the Lord heard a heretic pray and saved 
 her husband certainly he would hear me pray,' as there 
 was no priest .to confess to. Finally, after we had 
 started to return to Ft. Leavenworth I became so 
 deeply convicted of my sins that I was very unhappy, 
 and one evening after I attended to my team I went 
 away off from the camp— in the woods— and fell on my 
 knees and cried, 'O, Lord, if thou canst hear and an- 
 
206 THE DAWN OF PEACE. 
 
 swer a heretic's prayer, hear my prayer and save me;' 
 and I kept on praying until the Lord did hear my 
 prayer and saved me. I am here to tell you that Dr. 
 Fisher's deliverance from death was the cause of my 
 salvation, and I am glad I live to tell him how good the 
 Lord has been to me. He called me to preach the 
 gospel, and I am now a member of this conference." 
 
 The conference and multitude were thrilled with joy, 
 and many came to me and said tearfully, "Dr. Fisher, 
 you could well afford to pass through the fire to save 
 a Roman Catholic and make a good Methodist 
 preacher out of him." 
 
 Truly, the Lord does hear and answer prayer! 
 
 ;|< ;!: ;^- ;1: ;!: >i; * 
 
 Among the important events occurring while liv- 
 ing in Lawrence was the coming of our fourth son, 
 Hugh Francis, whose birth occurred on the eighth of 
 February, 1863. He was six months old at the time of 
 OuantreH's massacre. It was he who was held in arms 
 by one of the guerrillas seeking his father's life while 
 his mother bravely went to get the lamp for them to 
 use while searching for me. Frank was with us 
 through our varied experiences in the far West, related 
 further on, and served during my life as agent of the 
 American Bible Society as a colporteurer, doing efh- 
 cient work among the Mormons and mountaineers. 
 He subsequently studied medicine with his brother in 
 Texas, graduating from medical college in Chicago. 
 Later he took up the special study of Ophthalmology, 
 graduating in 1890 from the New York Ophthalmic 
 College and Hospital, since which time he has pursued 
 this special study. He has practiced for some years in 
 the South, but has recently returned to our immedi- 
 ate neighborhood and located in Kansas City that he 
 
HUGH FRANCIS C. FISHER, M. D. 
 
THE DAWN OF PEACE. 207 
 
 may be near us in our closing years. He has long 
 been an active worker in the church and Sabbath 
 school, and has attained a satisfactory reputation as a 
 competent specialist in his department of medical work. 
 Several college positions have been tendered him, one 
 of which he has accepted. We have reason to believe 
 that a useful and efficient life will be his for many 
 years to come, and that not only in the profession but 
 in the church he will be able to do great good unto his 
 fellow men. 
 
 * * ^ >ic * -k * 
 
 While residing in Lawrence we adopted an orphaned 
 child, a bright httle girl named Jennie Arthur, whose 
 parents died while she was very young and whose first 
 foster-parents followed soon after her adoption by 
 them. Jennie became a part of our family and grew up 
 to sensible womanhood under our roof. In the winter 
 of 1870-71 she was happily married in Atchison, dur- 
 ing my pastorate in that city, to Mr. Porter Hazeltine, 
 a successful hardware merchant of Columbus, Kansas. 
 This happy marriage resulted in the rearing of a fam- 
 ily of several children, two of whom are now married 
 and already installed in motherhood. Mr. Hazeltine 
 has prospered steadily in business, and has been able 
 to give to our foster-daughter all the comforts of life, 
 and to provide well for his family through all the 
 troubulous years that Kansas has seen. We enjoy 
 our relationship to this good family as though they 
 were of our own flesh and blood. 
 
208 A PRESIDING ELDER. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 A PRESIDING ELDER. 
 
 Soon after the raid I returned South to join my 
 regiment and was made superintendent of contra- 
 bands. But as I was almost at once ordered on de- 
 tached service by General Halleck, to report to Gen- 
 eral Curtis at St. Louis for duty in New England as 
 agent of the Western Sanitary Commission, I spent 
 the fall of 1863-4 in this field with headquarters in 
 Boston, where Governor Andrew, Amos Lawrence, 
 and other noted men became my advisers. I lectured 
 throughout Massachusetts and Maine, aiding in filling 
 in the quota of some of these states and raising sup- 
 plies for the Sanitary Commission and Freedmen's 
 Bureau. While in Boston we bought a whole cargo 
 captured ofif Cape Hatteras, that was intended for the 
 rebel army, and sent the supplies to the contrabands 
 of the South. I had the privilege of lecturing to im- 
 mense audiences in the Old South Church, and in 
 Fremont Temple, Boston, and also in the city halls 
 of Portland and Charleston. In February, 1864, I 
 returned to St. Louis via Philadelphia, where I 
 preached for Dr. Bartien, in Old Green Street Church, 
 from "Behold, I will shake all nations, and the desire 
 of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with 
 My glory, saith the Lord of Hosts." 
 
 I was shortly commissioned to visit the middle states 
 in the interests which took me to New England. Dr. 
 Mitchell of New York was ordered to meet me inPhil- 
 
A PRESIDING ELDER. 209 
 
 adelphia and arrange the plan of appointments for me 
 to lecture. My conference met in Leavenworth. 
 Bishop Baker, who transferred me from the Pitts- 
 burg to the Kansas conference, presided, and ap- 
 pointed me presiding elder of the Baldwin District. I 
 was also elected first delegate to the general confer- 
 ence, which was to meet in May in Philadelphia. 
 
 I was ordered to the East by military authority and 
 to report to headquarters every week. I also had to 
 report to my colonel in the South monthly, as to 
 where I was and what engaged in; and to report to 
 Mr. James Yatesman, secretary of the Sanitary Com- 
 mission at St. Louis, weekly. I was also superintendent 
 of contrabands and refugees for Kansas and Arkan- 
 sas, providing for thousands of them coming monthly 
 to Kansas. My district was large, but I made it the 
 basis of distributing the contrabands and refugees. 
 At one and the same time I was Chaplain of the 
 Fifth Kansas Volunteers, Presiding Elder of Baldwin 
 City District, Agent of the Western Sanitary Com- 
 mission, Superintendent of Contrabands for two states, 
 Delegate to General Conference, and the director of 
 an immense work in the middle states. I worked 
 day and night, and received congratulations upon 
 my success from Gen. Curtis, Mr. Yatesman 
 and my own conference and regiment. Dr. Mitchell 
 made my appointments wisely, so I could fill most of 
 them and yet be in my place at the sessions of the gen- 
 eral conference. Frequently, while in Philadelphia, 
 I was called on to preach that memorable "Shaking 
 
 Sermon," as it was called by Dr. Bartien's people. 
 
 ******* 
 
 During the session of the general conference the 
 first decisive battle of the Wilderness was fought. 
 When the news reached the seat of conference an im- 
 
210 A PRESIDING ELDER. 
 
 promptu meeting was held on the steps and in front of 
 Union Chapel. Dr. Granville Moody, who had 
 created a great sensation in the conference a few days 
 before, made a characteristic patriotic speech — a 
 marvel in its way. This was a glad day, as it was a 
 turning point in the life of the Union. The Bishop said 
 publicly, "Now we have hope of preserving the Union, 
 since that wonderful, silent man proposes to 'fight it 
 out on this line if it takes all summer.' " 
 
 The general conference at this session extended the 
 term of ministerial service to three years. I had 
 served Leavenworth Station three years. Bishop Ames 
 could not reach our conference, the people had 
 declared an emergency, and we had a bishop pro tern 
 who did not ignore that seeming emergency. 
 
 I had advocated in Philadelphia, in 1859, and by let- 
 ters to the Pittsburg Christian Advocate of August, 
 1859, the organization of a Church Extension So- 
 ciety. Mr. Long, who has served the society as treas- 
 urer, and I, as early as March, 1859, consulted on this 
 important matter, and in 1864 I offered a resolution, 
 which was referred to a committee, proposing the or- 
 ganization of such society. The plan prepared by 
 Dr. Kynett and the committee was adopted, and some 
 time later the society was organized and has been 
 of immense benefit. 
 
 When general conference closed I remained but a 
 short time in the Eastern and Middle states, but after 
 reporting to Mr. Yatesman in St. Louis called upon 
 General Curtis and went into active work within the 
 bounds of my district in the interests of the refugees 
 and contrabands. My district extended Eastwardly to 
 the Missouri state line and West as far as white men 
 lived, toward Mexico. 
 
THE OLD WINDMILL AT LAWRENCE. 
 
 This quaint old structure stands upon a hill overlooking Lawrence. It is the 
 only one of its kind and size in the United States, and is an object of interest 
 to thousands of visitors who annually visit the Historic City. It is a landmark 
 which is cherished by the citizens of the town, more especially by the old residents. 
 It was built in 1863, the year of the raid, at a cost of $9,700, by twelve skilled 
 workmen brought over from Sweden for the purpose. It is of true Holland style, 
 and is an unusually large windmill. The foundation is forty feet across, the re- 
 volving cap in the dome being twenty feet in diameter. The arms are forty feet 
 in length, the sails, or wing boards, being ten feet in width. With the wind 
 blowing at twenty miles an hour the capacity of the mill was eighty horse 
 power. It is four stories high, and was originally used for grinding wheat and 
 corn. Later it was used as a machine shop, for the manufacture of farm im- 
 plements. It made its last lun in July, 1885. It has been purchased by the Associ- 
 ated Charities of Lawrence, and will eventually be made a museum and place 
 of historic resort. 
 
A PRESIDING ELDER. 211 
 
 Life had many ludicrous phases, even amid solemn 
 circumstances. The Saturday after the Kansas Con- 
 ference adjourned I started for Baldwin City to hold 
 my first quarterly meeting as presiding elder. It was 
 a beautiful morning. Baldwin is the se.at of Baker 
 University and a great center for church dignitaries. 
 I harnessed one of my faithful army friends and ser- 
 vants to my buggy, and with Bible, hymn-book and 
 Discipline in my gripsack, whip and bucket provided, 
 started to my first quarterly meeting. I traveled blithe- 
 ly and joy full}' three or four miles until I reached the 
 Wakurusa river, the Indian name meaning''Hip-Deep." 
 As I went down the sleep bank and entered the stream 
 to my dismay and discomfiture my front axle broke, 
 the right front wheel rolled into the water, and I came 
 nigh plunging out of the buggy into the stream. I 
 had on my best suit, but rolled up my trousers, got 
 out, and, wading in mud boot-top deep, got the buggy 
 to one side, unhitched my horse, fished the wheel out 
 of the mud and water and laid it on the side of the 
 road. Then folding up the lap-robe to use as a sad- 
 dle, with whip, bucket and gripsack I mounted on top 
 of the harness and blanket and seizing the bridle reined 
 my faithful steed to a keen trot, still on my way to 
 quarterly meeting. I was so occupied with the 
 thought of the mishap that for several minutes it did 
 not enter my head what a ludicrous thing it w^ould be 
 to go riding into town in that plight. At last the sun. 
 breaking through a rift of the cloud, threw my shadow 
 fair on the roadside, showing me my outfit and noble 
 steed in a distinctly fantastic photograph. Appreci- 
 ating at once my ludricous situation I laughed out- 
 right at my plight and the sight of the new presiding 
 elder going to his first quarterly meeting. But I was 
 
212 A PRESIDING ELDER. 
 
 both "called and chosen," so on I rode laughing, 
 though heartily wishing I was not a presiding elder. 
 I soon gave up the wish, however, for having reached 
 a farm house I was kindly furnished with saddle and 
 bridle, and leaving my unique outfit journeyed on, 
 reaching my appointment in due time. 
 
 While holding a quarterly meeting in Olathe, as the 
 preacher and myself were walking toward a little 
 church in which we held a love-feast at 9 A. M. and 
 preached at ii, we noticed two men riding into town 
 leisurely. When the love-feast opened they sat in 
 their saddles in front of the door awhile, then rode 
 away. We learned afterward they were noticed dur- 
 ing the day riding saunteringly in different parts of the 
 town, and late in the evening in the Southeastern part. 
 We had a great attendance, for the preacher had been 
 diligent in announcing my presence at the meeting, 
 clear out to the Missouri line. The two men spoken 
 of inquired of some citizens where the Alethodists 
 were holding their meeting, and if Elder Fisher was 
 in town, and where he stopped. They were heavily 
 armed, but as this was usual it attracted little or no 
 attention. In the evening the attendance was so great 
 that not more than half the people who came could 
 get into the house. The Congregational preacher, 
 who held services in Francis Hall, sent an invitation 
 to us to occupy the hall. We accepted the invitation 
 and while we sang a hymn some brethren lighted up 
 and we transferred the crowd to the hall. It was en- 
 tered by stairs and platforms on the outside. The 
 people left their horses and wagons hitched near the 
 church. The hall was soon filled, and many had to 
 stand on the platform. Services began, and in the 
 midst of my discourse I could hear from without 
 
A PRESIDING ELDER. 213 
 
 voices, as if horsemen were trying to make their horses 
 stand steady. I hesitated to call attention to this, 
 knowing that many had left their teams at the church, 
 a little way oft and that it would arouse their fear that 
 something might be wrong or that there might be 
 trouble among the horses. 
 
 I was preaching earnestly and had straightened up 
 and stood squarely in one position for a moment, 
 when, ''Whang!" went a gun, "Crash!" went the win- 
 dow South of me, and the audience screamed as a 
 bullet flattened against the opposite wall and fell into 
 a lady's lap. Instantly there was heard the patter of 
 running horses' feet; a few men ran quickly down 
 stairs, but could only hear men in the distance riding 
 swiftly away in the darkness of the night. I stood 
 unmoved, and said to my congregation calmly, "I 
 am not hurt." The splinters of glass fell all over the 
 platform where I stood, and the ball ranged from 
 where it entered the glass to where it struck the wall in 
 a line not a foot from my head. I took up the thread 
 of my sermon, finished it and dismissed my audience, 
 several of whom were army officers. One was a 
 United States detective, and after examining all the 
 facts he gave it as his opinion that the bullet was in- 
 tended for me and only failed of its deadly aim because 
 the would-be murderer did not take into account that 
 firing through glass at an angle would deflect the ball. 
 The ground outside showed that the horses, after the 
 shot, had been spurred to their utmost speed. This 
 gave occasion to my being cartooned in the Police 
 Gazette as "Parson Fisher being shot at in the pulpit 
 in Olathe." 
 
 I look upon the incident as one of God's great prov- 
 idences toward me, and as I pen these lines feel that 
 my life has been spared for a purpose and ask, "Lord, 
 
214 A PRESIDING ELDER. 
 
 what wilt thou have me do? Show me, that I may do 
 it with my might." 
 
 Subsequently I became the pastor in Olathe for two 
 years of hundreds who were present in the congre- 
 gation and remembered the assault upon my life, 
 presumably by ex-members of Quantrell's guerrillas. 
 
 ^ 'K -K 'i' 'K ^ 'K 
 
 During the term of my presiding eldership I held 
 responsible positions, as president of the board of trus- 
 tees of Baker University, regent of the State Uni- 
 versity, president of the State Temperance Society, 
 and member of the state central committee of the 
 republican party. The board of regents requested me 
 to spend as much time as possible in Topeka, attend- 
 ing the sessions of the legislature, to aid in securing 
 appropriations for the erection of university buildings 
 and the maintenance of the faculty. I arranged my 
 district work accordingly, and spent several weeks 
 in the capital holding quarterly meetings on contig- 
 uous charges. I also gave part of my time and atten- 
 tion to temperance enactments. 
 
 A bill was submitted by a representative from 
 Jefferson county which provided that no person should 
 be granted a liquor license by municipal or county 
 authority until he had obtained on petition a majority 
 of the names of all persons, male and female, over 
 twenty-one years of age, in the ward or precinct 
 where he proposed to engage in the sale of intoxicants. 
 The rum power fought this bill bitterly. When it 
 came to its passage, seeing they could not defeat it, 
 they tried a checkmate move by amending the bill to 
 read that it should not take effect until published in 
 the Leavenworth Bulletin, intending to pigeon-hole 
 the law until the Leavenworth city council and other 
 councils should issue batches of licenses to run a year, 
 
A PRESIDING ELDER. 215 
 
 thus making: the law of no effect. The law passed, 
 was engrossed and a copy was made and mailed by 
 Mr. Barker, secretary of the state, to the editor of the 
 Bulletin. The ice was running thick in the Kansas 
 river and there was no bridge except at Lawrence, 
 twenty-eight miles below. The council-men of Leav- 
 enworth who were at Topeka were telegraphed to 
 come home immediatetly as there was not a quorum 
 present. They chartered a stage and started at mid- 
 night, ran down to Lawrence, crossed the river on the 
 bridge and took cars for home to hold a council meet- 
 ing that night, thinking thus to head off the law. In 
 the morning the man whose duty it was to put the 
 mail containing the law on the train failed to cross 
 the river on account of the ice and returned the mail to 
 the ofifice. I early learned of his failure and of the de- 
 parture of the Leavenworth councilmen who had so 
 opposed the law, and, hurrying to the home of the 
 secretary of state awoke' him and requested an order 
 on the postmaster for the copy intended for the Bul- 
 letin, which he wrote for me without hesitancy. 
 
 Thus provided, I hurried to the postoffice, where 
 the postmaster had just arrived who quickly opened the 
 mail pouch and gave me the desired paper. I hastened 
 to the telegraph office and sat by the side of the op- 
 erator until the last word of the act was sent to the 
 editor b}- wire, who, when he received the law thought 
 it was sufficiently important to be published promptly 
 as it had been sent by telegraph; so he put his whole 
 force to work and when the councilmen from Topeka 
 arrived at the depot at Leavenworth the news boys 
 were selling the paper, caUing out, "Here's your Leav- 
 enworth Bulletin, with the new dram-shop law in it!'" 
 The councilmen swore and ''tore the -ground" in anger 
 and chagrin. One of them, a Dutchman, said to the 
 
216 A PRESIDING ELDER. 
 
 rest: "I tole you whot; dot is de work of dot med- 
 dlesome Mettodist breacher." They did not have a 
 council meeting that night. We beat them by acting 
 on the impulse of the moment, not knowing their 
 plans. The Lord led us in our efiforts to restrain 
 wickedness. The designs of evil men were brought to 
 naught, and law was triumphant. 
 
 During my presidency of the temperance society 
 there occurred a very interesting convention in To- 
 peka. I drew up and presented the first resolution 
 ever offered to a convention in any state memorializ- 
 ing the legislature of the state of Kansas to submit 
 the question of legal prohibition by constitutional 
 amendment and enactment to a vote of the people. 
 Col. Lyons, of Wabaunsee county, then pension agent, 
 seconded my resolution in an able speech. But it was 
 opposed by Hon. Geo. T. Anthony, Benjamin Kin- 
 caid and others. All the women in the convention 
 voted for the resolution, but it failed by a small vote. 
 
 I then took my resolution, flaunted it in the face of 
 the enemy and said to them, "Gentlemen, we nail this 
 proposition to the mast-head of fhe good ship Tem- 
 perance, and we will never strike our colors till Kan- 
 sas is redeemed, and the national constitution is 
 amended, forever prohibiting the manufacture, impor- 
 tation and sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage!" 
 
 Our dram-shop act was very efHcient until am- 
 ended, giving cities of the first and second class 
 the privilege of dispensing with the petition. This 
 change facilitated the movement of prohibition, for 
 the rural districts bore the burden imposed by the 
 cities' debauch and drunkenness. 
 
IT 
 
 METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT ATCHISON. 
 
CHURCH BUILDING AT ATCHISON. 217 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 CHURCH BUILDING AT ATCHISON. 
 
 When my term as presiding elder had ended I was 
 stationed by Bishop Thompson in Atchison. I had 
 here dedicated a frame church in 1859. It was illy 
 located, however, being at one side of the town, on a 
 hill and out of the way. It had always been difBcult 
 to secure a congregation. The house had been neg- 
 lected and was delapidated; the west foimdation had 
 careened so as to draw the sill from under the 
 joists, and had left the floor teetering as people walked 
 upon it, so that house, as well as congregation, was in 
 danger of collapse. Old indebtedness and alienations 
 of friendships existed, and the outlook was anything 
 but encouraging. 
 
 Knowing that church debts are always damaging to 
 church growth I resolved, with the aid of the Ladies' 
 Society, to revive the church, pay the debts, repair the 
 house and try to secure a congregation that would 
 demand and build a new church in reasonable time. 
 We raised about five hundred dollars, with great dif- 
 ficulty, and when the old church was repaired and 
 beautified we had a re-opening which became the 
 harbinger of promise and success. This done we be- 
 gan the work of upbuilding in good earnest and 
 courage. The people though poor had a mind to 
 work. 
 
 In this charge I had two typical families — one poor 
 but pious, the other rich and worldly-minded. In these 
 
218 CHURCH BUILDING AT ATCHISON. 
 
 two homes wealth and fashion contrasted severely 
 with piety and devotion. Brother B. had great wealth, 
 had been a member of the church for years, but had 
 never learned to pray or speak in meetings. Brother 
 D. was powerful in prayer and rich in experience, very 
 industrious, as was his wife, economical, cultured and 
 frugal, their intelligence contrasting favorably with 
 the family of afifluence, who were gay and vain, attend- 
 ing parties, balls and theaters occasionally. None of 
 Brother B.'s children were Christians, nor were any 
 members of the church, while Brother D.'s whole fam- 
 ily were both and constant in their attendance on 
 class and prayer meeting. Brother B. said to me 
 often, 'Tarson, you must do the praying; I'll do my 
 share of paying. I can't pray. I never learned how;" 
 while Brother D. often said, "I'll help all I can both 
 financially and spiritually, for I have resolved with 
 Joshua that 'As for me and my house,' we will serve 
 the Lord!'" Both these families filled their chosen 
 niches, but the contrast was so manifest that it was 
 often the subject of remark, and none could fail to 
 see the advantage of piety and devotion and the su- 
 perior value of Brother D. to the church. We often 
 wished and prayed that the rich brother would couple 
 with his wealth and influence the piety and zeal which 
 were manifested in the poor man, so as to become a 
 blessing to the church. Now that they and the writer are 
 getting near the close of life. Brother D, still poor in 
 the world's goods, is still growing rich toward God in 
 faith and good works* 
 
 ;|: ^ ik ^ * 'K =k 
 
 The building of a new church involves a great strain 
 
 *Since the above was written Brother D. has reaped his reward, 
 while Brother B. is self-satisfied in possession of his million?, which he 
 jnust soon leave to others. 
 
CHURCH BUILDING AT ATCHISON. 219 
 
 on minister and people, under almost any circumstan- 
 ces, and in Kansas in early days this was peculiarly 
 true. Yet we pressed the work, with the reasonable 
 co-operation of the members and friends of the 
 church, to a state of satisfactory completion, and be- 
 fore my pastorate ended moved our growing Sabbath 
 school and congregation into much more commodious 
 and convenient quarters in the basement of the new 
 building, taking possession with rejoicing and praise 
 to God. This was a great achievement, as we were 
 now centrally located. Methodism took a new start 
 and a broader sweep of usefulness, and became and 
 remains a leading factor in reformatory and saving 
 agencies in that growing community. The church 
 and Sabbath school have grown very largely in in- 
 fluence and members since then. 
 
 I spent a very pleasant pastorate, a three years term, 
 in Atchison, during v/hich time we enjoyed a visit from 
 my wife's aged mother and my equally aged and much 
 respected step-mother, whose society our children and 
 the members of the church greatly enjoyed. They 
 were objects of interest on account of their plain style 
 of dress and bordered caps, which were severely in 
 contrast with western fashions. Their visit to us was 
 a great benefit to us. 
 
 We had in our society here the widow and blind 
 daughter of the martyred Rev. Anthony Bewly, who 
 was massacred in Bonham, Texas, for his loyalty to 
 his church and country. His bones were left to bleach 
 on the roof of a shed, in the rays of a tropical sun. 
 A more prudent and conservative man and minister 
 could not have been found. He died a hero and a mar- 
 tyr for the cause of Christ and humanity. Mother Bewly 
 and her daughter stili live within the bounds of the 
 
220 CHURCH BUILDING AT ATCHISON. 
 
 conference of which their husband and father was a 
 member at the time of his death. 
 
 ^ JJI 5jc ^ >iC ^ ^ 
 
 While living in Atchison we were led by the ad- 
 vice of physicians and our own knowledge of his condi- 
 tion to place our oldest son on a farm to avert nervous 
 break-down superinduced by the terror caused by the 
 massacre at Lawrence. Two of my wife's brothers, 
 practical farmers, had come out from Ohio and bought 
 adjacent lands in Atchison County. I bought with 
 them and built and the married brother's family moved 
 into my house on the home farm. William was placed 
 with them, and here in good part regamed his health. 
 
 The summer after placing him with his uncle and 
 family I went to the farm on a visit and was out in 
 the field with him when he w^as partially overcome by 
 the heat. I sent him to the house and took his place be- 
 hind the plow, while he sought rest. His aunt and four 
 children were with him in the house, when, almost with- 
 out warning, a Kansas cyclone came sweeping across 
 the country and struck the house with all its mighty 
 force before the inmates could flee for safety. The stru:- 
 ture was lifted from its foundation as if it were a straw, 
 carrried fully twenty feet, perhaps more, into the air, 
 and thrown with such violence to the ground as to 
 completely demolish it. Aly sister-in-law and the 
 cook-stove were thrown through a small window 
 together. The stove was full of fire, as it 
 was baking day, and the live embers were scattered in 
 every direction. My boy was dashed feet foremost 
 out of the house, while the children were hurled amid 
 the general wreckage like so many pigmies. Every 
 one in it was more or less bruised, but, although the 
 house was completely destroyed, by the Grace of God 
 none of them were seriously hurt. 
 
CHURCH BUILDING AT ATCHISON. 221 
 
 As an incident illustrating what strange things may 
 happen in occurrences like this let me recite one which 
 is difficult of behef. Joseph, our third son, had been 
 saving hen's eggs and duck's eggs to set in due time. 
 He had placed them in boxes above the window of 
 the second story, and though the house was torn into 
 fragments and the roof carried away down in the orch- 
 ard a small section of the house, with the window and 
 the eggs, was let down amid the wreck so gently that 
 not an tgg was broken. 
 
 The storm destroyed fifteen houses in its mad ca- 
 reer. No lives were lost, as it occurred in the day 
 time. One school house, with the teacher and chil- 
 dren on the floor in their spelling class, was picked up 
 by the wind, turned face about on the foundation, and 
 set down so gently that not a child was hurt nor a light 
 of glass broken in the windows. I soon got the wo- 
 men and children from the debris and put them in a 
 field close by till the storm was over and help ar- 
 rived. Our house took fire in many places, but we 
 saved the broken mass from burning by applying 
 handfulls of mud wherever we discovered a flame. By 
 adding new lumber and utilizing the broken timbers 
 as best we could we soon rebuilt and reoccupied. 
 
 The storm was one of astonishing vagaries and 
 pranks, and the escape of my son and family who 
 were in the house at the time of its instantaneous de- 
 struction was almost miraculous. We had been 
 burned out of our home in Lawrence, and now another 
 house which all contemplated as a future home had 
 been destroyed by a cyclone! But out of all "The 
 Lord had brought us by His love, and still He doth 
 His grace afTord, and hides our life above." 
 
 :]: >;; V * * * * 
 
 At the close of a three years' pastorate in Atchison 
 
222 CHURCH BUILDING AT ATCHISON. 
 
 I was sent to Ottawa, which divided my family into 
 four bands, and now, after more than twenty years, 
 we have never been home together at one time. Our 
 oldest son, above alluded to, was too young to leave 
 alone on the farm and his health too precarious to 
 abandon him to the care of others. So my wife, act- 
 ing on her motherly instincts, decided to go to the 
 farm with him while I should build a new parsonage 
 in Ottawa, and to remain until she should think it 
 best to join me in my new field. Our second son, 
 wdio was reading medicine under the preceptorship 
 of Dr. Johnson, removed to Lawrence to prepare for 
 a second course of lectures under the direction of our 
 former family physicians, Drs. Richard and Samuel 
 Huson. Our adopted daughter had married Mr. D. 
 P. Hazeltine and removed to Columbus, Kansas. 
 
 The new church at Ottawa was built by Rev. J. F. 
 Nesley, the lower story dedicated by the author sev- 
 eral years before, and I was now expected to finish the 
 upper story. I went to my work, proceeded to finish 
 the church, and build the parsonage and prepare to 
 move into it. At this juncture I was importuned to 
 resign the charge and take the financial agency of 
 Baker University, which was deeply indebted and li- 
 able to be lost to the Church. The indebtedness 
 amounted to $20,000, and the notes and bonds had 
 matured, with no provision for their payment. On 
 my way to Lawrence to take out a power of attorney 
 to legally transact the college business I met the law- 
 yer, Hon. J. K. Goodwin, on his way to the bankrupt 
 court, with the papers all perfected to throw the Uni- 
 versity into bankruptcy. He developed his plans to 
 me and knowing the legal status of the whole busi- 
 ness from my long association with the university and 
 educational society I turned a short but legal and just 
 
CHURCH BUILDING AT ATCHISON. 223 
 
 corner on him by telling him that if the creditors 
 would but give us time I would pay every dollar ever 
 received from them. If not, I would prove that their 
 claim was groundless and worthless. I knew the 
 mortgage had been given under mistaken views by 
 men who had no authority to issue it, and I was pre- 
 pared to establish the title vested in the educational 
 board, the bonds and mortgages having been issued 
 by an entirely different body of men. I knew the 
 county records would show this to be the case. 
 
 The result was that time was given, and though 
 the state was new, our people poor, and churches and 
 parsonages were to be built, yet we succeeded by vari- 
 ous expedients in paying over $ii,ooo of indebtedness 
 and .raising what was considered by the trustees a 
 valid subscription of over $13,000 during my agency 
 of eighteen months. 
 
 I then resigned and others took the agency. The sub- 
 scription was not collected, for various reasons, and 
 the residue of debt mostly remained unpaid until suit 
 was brought, while Rev. J. M. Sullivan was agent. 
 In the meantime I was in Montana, and received word 
 that the case was in court and would come to trial 
 soon with a prospect of the loss of the university, after 
 all that had been done to save it. I immediately wrote 
 Brother Sullivan informing him of the legal status of 
 the bonded indebtedness. He was absent but his wife 
 received my letter two days before the case came up 
 and sent it by Dr. Read and Brother Walter to the 
 court where, when it was received by Brother Sul- 
 livan and the attorney for the university, it enabled 
 them to save $5,000 and gain time to pay all the debt 
 actually due, thus saving this great interest to the 
 Methodist church. 
 
 "Through difficulties to success," has been the 
 
224 
 
 CHURCH BUILDING AT ATCHISON. 
 
 motto of the university, and none rejoice more in the 
 results than I do. Many sacrifices were made for this 
 great interest both by ministers of Kansas and lay 
 members of both sexes. May God bless them all. 
 
THE LORD GAVE AND 225 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE LORD GAVE AND THE LORD TAKETH AWAY 
 
 BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD. 
 
 At the close of my agency I was stationed at Olathe, 
 Johnson County. Our oldest son married April 15, 
 1873; our second son was practicing his profession in 
 Wichita, and my wife and two youngest sons removed 
 from the farm to Olathe, where we were destined to 
 experience the greatest sorrow of our eventful lives. 
 The charge was a pleasant one, the people kind, and 
 the society in a good condition. But rum had a 
 strong-hold and infidelity and spiritualism were thor- 
 oughly intrenched. With others, we engaged to break 
 this triple alliance of evil. The struggle was a bitter 
 one, but by a combined effort upon the part of all 
 Christian churches in lyceum and pulpit the enemy 
 was routed, horse, foot and dragoon. The infidel club 
 was broken up, the spiritualists were put to flight by 
 the electric light of gospel truth, and the rum power, 
 though in city ordinances backed by the common 
 council and mayor, was undone. We drew the mayor 
 into public debate and, though seconded by Mr. 
 Winans, a noted lawyer, Rev. Mr. Clark and myself 
 met them in open discussion, and with the aid of the 
 "Woman's Crusade" cleared the county of the saloon, 
 never to return. This was really the beginning of 
 prohibition in that part of the state. 
 
 But the defeated "rummies" had my wife arrested 
 on complaint of a miserable old ex-saloon-keeper, and 
 15 
 
226 THE LORD TAKETH AWAY. 
 
 held under bond for six weeks. The ladies signed her 
 bond and would not allow a man to sign with them. 
 Several lawyers in the state volunteered their services 
 to defend her. Hon. J, P. St. John, afterward gov- 
 ernor, v/as her chief defender and the case was dis- 
 missed, it being understood that it was designed 
 merely as a ''bluff" to the temperance people, and 
 especially to the Methodist preacher and his wife. But 
 the triumph of right and truth was complete and the 
 Lord and the people gained a great victory. 
 
 t- ;;= if,: '^ -r-^ ^ ^ 
 
 I have said this was a time of great and sore trial. 
 Our oldest son, John William, had remained on the 
 farm where he had gone to escape the terrible results 
 of nervous prostration on account of the Ouantrell 
 raid. Our second son, Charles Edmund, had gone 
 into the practice of medicine and surgery in Wichita. 
 Joseph, our third son, had spent most of the spring and 
 summer on the farm, but in September, with several 
 young companions, had entered Baker University, in- 
 tending to fit himself for a useful life. He had been 
 a Christian from his earliest childhood and never al- 
 lowed an opportunity to pass without recording his 
 testimony to the love of the Savior for a little boy. The 
 boys on the farm worked hard and had fine prospects, 
 but lost heavily by the grasshopper plague. The doc- 
 tor son was young but successful, though his work was 
 among homesteaders, and as they lost all by the grass- 
 hoppers he lost fifteen hundred dollars. My leading 
 members were farmers, and when the grasshoppers 
 struck Johnson county my salary dropped five hundred 
 dollars in forty-eight hours. My farmer boy lost all 
 his crop — not getting an ordinary wagon-box-full from 
 one hundred and thirty acres of cultivated land. I 
 had to stand the loss of at least $5,000 and back my 
 
THE LORD GAVE AND 227 
 
 sons in their enterprises, beside all the sacrifice I had 
 made for the university. 
 
 But these things were as nothing compared with the 
 great sorrow that came to our home in the death of 
 Joseph, our third son. He was nearly eighteen years 
 of age, attending the university, full of hope and 
 promise, but was stricken down of two days' sickness 
 at home, in the full possession of all his faculties, and 
 a clear consciousness of the divine favors. Among 
 his last utterances were these: ''I am trusting in God, 
 mother. I am passing through the gates washed in 
 Jesus' blood." And just as he ceased breathing, as 
 he reclined upon his mother's breast, he said audibly: 
 ''Lord Jesus receive my spirit." 
 
 There appeared a bright and shining way, right 
 from the chamber where he fell asleep into eternal life. 
 We wept in bitter sorrow, sorely, sorely bereaved, yet 
 rejoicing in that our dear boy was saved by faith in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. One of our little flock is safely at 
 home in heaven. We all believed he was the best pre- 
 pared to go, and resolved to follow in his footsteps. 
 It was a terrible blow to us, but we were wonderfully 
 sustained by grace and the hope of heaven. 
 
 * * ^ * ;;>' * rfc 
 
 To add to the sorrows of that day, as if all before 
 were not enough, misguided and jealous men began 
 waging persecution and unjust, as well as unfounded 
 complaints against me, growing out of my manage- 
 ment of college affairs. When the case was set for 
 trial at conference and their main witness was put upon 
 the stand he broke down so utterly that they plead for 
 the privilege of withdrawing all ''charges, specifica- 
 tions and accusations" against me. This my friends 
 advised me to consent to and it was done. Then the 
 
228 THE LORD TAKETH AWAY. 
 
 conference unanimously passed the following endorse- 
 ment: 
 
 "Whereas, Rev. H. D. Fisher, D. D., has been in 
 connection with this conference about seventeen years, 
 laboring with acceptability in all the various fields of 
 labor assigned him, and 
 
 ''Whereas, The Bishop having transferred him to 
 the Pittsburg conference by his own request, there- 
 fore be it 
 
 "Resolved, That we highly appreciate the labor and 
 counsel of Brother Fisher while he has been with us, 
 and should he at any subsequent period desire to re- 
 turn, we will welcome him among us again." 
 
 The members of a former charge, McKeesport, had 
 petitioned my return on account of sympathy with us 
 over the death of Joseph, who was born in that city, 
 and because they had spent a pleasant and pros- 
 perous term under my pastorate. This led to my 
 transfer to Bishop Merrill and the above action. They 
 kindly provided funds to meet my moving expenses 
 from Kansas to McKeesport, and a committee from 
 the society met me at Alliance, Ohio, where the Pitts- 
 burg conference was in session. 
 
 I left Manhattan on Monday morning, March 15, 
 1874, at 9 o'clock to pack our goods. I met my wife 
 at Nortonville, reached Alliance Friday night, and ap- 
 peared in conference Saturday morning, where I was 
 introduced and recognized as a member of the con- 
 ference. But the committee and people of McKees- 
 port and myself were doomed to disappointment. The 
 conference was crowded. Some churches were de- 
 manding special transfers, and there was a great fever 
 in the "body ecclesiastic" over my return, lest my 
 transfer should be an innovation on the established 
 rules of a ring, which had relegated to the rear those 
 
THE LORD GAVE AND 229 
 
 n ho had been away doing heroic work for the Master 
 in other fields, that they might serve a second pro- 
 bation. 
 
 Even this would not have thwarted the people's 
 wishes had it not been that Dr. O. H. Hartshorn, presi- 
 dent of Mount Union college, had been wishing for a 
 financial agent for the college. Dr. Samuel Wake- 
 field, my former presiding elder, was chairman of the 
 educational committee. They and Bishop Bowman, 
 who knew of my successful agency in Kansas, united 
 tQ influence me to become financial secretary of Mount 
 Union College. Dr. Hartshorn's request prevailed 
 with the cabinet and bishop, and I was appointed 
 agent, the very thing I did not want. However, I ad- 
 dressed myself with zeal to my new work. My rela- 
 tions with the president, faculty, students and patrons 
 were pleasant. They were uniformly courteous, but 
 my experience with the debt on Baker University ren- 
 dered it desirable to me to return to the pastorate. 
 
 After some months in this relation to Mount Union 
 College, by request of the Women's Home Missionary 
 Society of Cincinnati, by Mrs. Clark, its president, I 
 was transferred by the authority of Bishop Foster from 
 the Pittsburg conference, and made superintendent of 
 the Home Missionary Society of that city. Here I was 
 associated with one of the most devoted bands of 
 Christian women on this or any other continent. The 
 field was broad and difficult, but white unto the har- 
 vest. Laborers were few and untrained. The property 
 of the mission was embarrassed by debt, and the Meth- 
 odist people discouraged by reason of former failures 
 in this most difficult work. But we were blessed with 
 a good degree of revival, and a number of very clear 
 conversions in the mission churches and at the city 
 
230 THE LORD TAKETH AWAY. 
 
 alms-houses. The work was so broad, diversified and 
 pressing that I could not, even with the help at hand, 
 accomplish all I found necessary to do. The Jesuitical 
 and oppressive "Reagan Laws" had for several years 
 previous kept protestant missionaries and preachers 
 from successful visits to the inmates of the prison, 
 alms-houses and infirmaries. Though they had been 
 repealed, the missionaries of Cincinnati had not yet 
 asserted their rights and privileges under the new 
 law. Backed by my noble band of Christian workers, 
 I presented myself at the various penal and charitable 
 institutions and found hearty welcome. In the city 
 work-house were three hundred men, and in the wards 
 for women many a miserable female convict. These 
 were of the lowest vagrant classes — ninety-five per 
 cent incarcerated through the blight of rum. Here 
 was a vast opportunity but for our poverty as a so- 
 ciety, which precluded the work of reform after the 
 expiration of the terms of imprisonment, for then those 
 who gave good evidence of sincere desire for re- 
 formation of life were doomed to go back to their 
 homes and haunts of vice. 
 
 Mission work from house to house among the poor 
 demanded constant charity. We had large congrega- 
 tions in the market houses and a great field for useful 
 work in a part of the city called expressively, ''Over 
 the Rhine," or German Cincinnati. 
 
 Strange to recount, the very activity and successes 
 achieved kindled jealousies and antagonism among 
 the local clergymen, with some very honorable ex- 
 ceptions. Those approving afterward filled honorable 
 offices in the church. One became missionary secre- 
 tary another book agent at Cincinnati, another editor 
 of the Western Christian Advocate, the last of the 
 four becoming secretary of the Educational Society 
 
THE LORD GAVE AND 231 
 
 of the M. E. Church. The opposition resulted in a 
 decrease of funds to support the mission work, but we 
 went forward, still reaching results which were very 
 satisfactory. I preached frequently in Findley market 
 place to great companies of Germans who never went 
 to church, who only attended here out of curiosity. I 
 was aided by a Brother Miller, a German preacher, 
 who usuallly re-preached my sermon in German, and 
 we were constantly aided by Brother and Sister 
 Thompson and my wife, who led the singing, a feature 
 the Germans all loved to enjoy. 
 
 In Raper chapel Brother Thompson had a large 
 Sabbath school, composed entirely of German chil- 
 dren. They at first were as wild as Texas cattle. Once 
 in the midst of the lesson they were seized with a 
 spirit of stampede, and out they went, pell-mell, over 
 the tops of the pews, girls, boys and all alike, as a flock 
 of sheep over a fence. But by the patient work of 
 Brother and Sister Thompson and others an orderly 
 Sabbath school was created which did much good. 
 
 Among the adults we often found the infidelity of 
 the continent most positively established. Mr. E. G., 
 a German butcher, whom Mrs. Fisher and I visited to 
 converse with about his spiritual welfare, said : "I don't 
 believe that I have any more soul than that brisket!" 
 striking a large butcher knife into a quarter of beef 
 lying on a block. Said he, ''When I die I want a big 
 funeral, with two or three brass bands to play music 
 over my grave, for that will be the end of me." 
 
 At High Street we had a very good Sunday school, 
 composed largely of what were called "Street Arabs." 
 It was marvelous what active students they were, and 
 liow they improved. I\Iany of them were transformed 
 into active temperance workers, making this a Lruiiul 
 mission field. 
 
232 THE LORD TAKETH AWAY. 
 
 The closing night of 1875 and the morning of 1876, 
 was a remarkable "watch night" occasion. I aided in 
 three watch night meetings and preached in as many 
 different churches, first visiting Finley church, 
 where 1 preached to a great audience at 8:30 P. M. I 
 then went to Christie Chapel, where Rev. Runyon was 
 pastor, and at 10 o'clock preached to a larger con- 
 gregation than the first. From thence I went to Trin- 
 ity, where Dr. Earl Cranston was pastor, and preached 
 to the largest congregation of the night, closing my 
 sermon just in time to join with the devout worshipers 
 in singing the ''Covenant hymn," ushering in the New 
 Year with prayer and praise. Thus ended the hun- 
 dred years of American independence, and thus began 
 the second century of our national history with us. 
 
 Many of my Sabbaths were the occasions of from 
 five to seven sermons a day, made possible by availing 
 myself of rapid transit to reach distant points in the 
 field. My wife, who was always a good Bible student, 
 became a remarkably efficient Bible reader, and did 
 effective work in holding meetings and explaining the 
 Scriptures. Some most disgusting scenes v^xre wit- 
 nessed, caused by rum, but we had the opposite scenes 
 to cheer us in our good work. Some of the happiest 
 Christians we ever knew were aged people in the city 
 hospitals and Home for the Friendless; souls wdio 
 were chastened by adversity, whose only happiness 
 comes from simple, hearty trust in the divine prom- 
 ises, realizing that Godliness is profitable unto all 
 things, and that Godliness with contentment is great 
 gain. 
 
 At a meeting in one of the city hospitals two adults 
 came forward in the midst of my sermon, uninvited, 
 and knelt at the altar and were gloriously converted 
 while I continued to preach. At Mears' chapel a Ger- 
 
THE LORD TAKETH AWAY. 233 
 
 man Catholic girl was converted while Mrs. Fisher 
 was leading the meeting. 
 
 He ;|c ;!: ;k * * ♦ 
 
 In the fall of 1877 ^ ""^^^^ solicited to take charge of 
 the First M. E. Church in Omaha, Nebraska. The 
 society had been rent by dissensions so that a large 
 number of the members and one-third of the Sabbath 
 school had withdrawn to establish a rival church. The 
 old charge had an unfinished building and a bonded 
 debt, with an accumulated interest of forty-seven thou- 
 sand dollars due. The bishops had advised the society 
 to give up the property and disband. They were de- 
 pressed and poor but promised, through the presiding 
 elder, Rev. H. T. Davis, that if I would accept the 
 pastoral charge they would give me a salary of fifteen 
 hundred dollars. I was receiving from the Woman's 
 Home Missionary Society $1,800 per annum, and the 
 day I resigned to accept the Om.aha charge, three elect 
 ladies, Mrs. Clark, Mrs. Simpkins and Mrs. Whet- 
 stone, all officers of the society, offered to add a hun- 
 dred dollars apiece, making my salary $2,100, if I 
 would remain superintendent of the mission work. 
 But the distress at Omaha appealed with peculiar force 
 and I resigned, and really lost in salary $Soo the first 
 year, going out "not knowing whither I went." I 
 had heard the call and believed it to be of God and 
 responded to it. 
 
23i WEST AGAIN. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 WEST AGAIN. 
 
 My removal was without incident of interest and my 
 arrival a disappointment, in that the presiding elder, 
 whom we expected would remain and by his presence, 
 counsel and prayers be of great advantage to us, had 
 summarily and unexpectedly removed to Lincoln. 
 We were met at the depot by a committee of recep- 
 tion who were looking for a sleek, kid-gloved, city 
 preacher and overlooked me until I had taken a seat 
 in the bus for the hotel. Brother W., one of the com- 
 mittee, a lawyer, concluded that they had invited the 
 wrong man. But when the Sabbath was over he re- 
 lated the joke on himself and said: "We made no 
 mistake; you will do." 
 
 In a short time we succeeded in satisfying the credit- 
 ors and liquidating the bonded debt by giving up 
 all the church property. We sold out, ''pole, hook 
 and line," preached a farewell sermon to the old 
 church and the old trustees, moved out of the build- 
 ing into a rented hall, and struck for liberty and a new 
 church. 
 
 With judicious changes and readjustment in the 
 composition of the ofificial board and board of trustees 
 we secured more adaptability and efiliciency of service. 
 The only remaining church prowess that was left was a 
 modicum of spirituality retained by a few members. 
 There was a band of noble-spirited women who were 
 ready for every good work, whose aid was invoked, 
 
WEST AGAIN. 235 
 
 utilized and became potent for good under the leader- 
 ship of the pastor's wife in visiting the sick, the erring, 
 the poor and the neglected. 
 
 We popularized our service in the new hall, and 
 with re-organized choir and unity restored began 
 building from the foundation. We took steps to build 
 a large, cheap, plain church for the masses. In taking 
 a subscription a stranger arose and said if we would 
 give him three months time he would give us twenty- 
 five dollars. He did not know wdiere it was to come 
 from, as he had no employment; but, trusting in God, 
 he" would give that sum. We gladly received his sub- 
 scription and commended him to the people. Two 
 weeks afterward he cam.e to the parsonage and said to 
 me: ''Dr. Fisher, I believe I promised to give twenty- 
 live dollars to the new church in three months. I have 
 called to pay it. WTien I subscribed I did not have 
 employment, nor did I have any idea where it was to 
 come from. But I prayed God to open my way. I 
 found paying employment, and this morning I went to 
 the post office and found a letter from a man in In- 
 diana, who had owed me seventy dollars for more than 
 eleven years? I had given up all hope of getting a 
 cent from him, for I had heard no word from him for 
 five years. In his letter he said: 'Ten or fifteen days 
 ago I felt I ought to pay you, and as I am now pros- 
 perous and you have been so kind in waiting I here en- 
 close a draft for the money I owe you with mterest 
 added, all amounting to nearly $ioo.' God put it into 
 his heart to pay me. I want to pay the twenty-five 
 dollars I subscribed and here is twenty-five dollars 
 more I want to give as a thank-of¥ering, and now I 
 have nearly fifty dollars more than I ever expected 
 from that source. I verilv believe it all came because I 
 
236 WEST AGAIN. 
 
 trusted God to provide a way for me to pay my sub- 
 scription." 
 
 He was happy in giving; s'-^ was I in receiving. 
 
 Through great labor and sacrifice we purchased a 
 lot on Davenport street, between Seventeenth and 
 Eighteenth streets, built a church and parsonage and 
 had a superior Sabbath school and congregation. And 
 before my pastorate ended we built a beautiful sub- 
 urban church, also. 
 
 ^ >!; ^ ^ ^ ^ ;!; 
 
 Engrossed as we were we yet found time to begin 
 a crusade against the saloons, gambling hells and 
 brothels, and with the aid of Col. Jameson and 
 John B. Finch so aroused the city that the patronage 
 of the saloons fell off to such an extent that the sa- 
 loonists prayed the city council to refund a part of 
 their licenses. 
 
 During my residence in Omaha a terrible calamity 
 happened, by which five men lost their lives. The 
 Grand Central hotel, costing $150,000, burned down 
 through the carelessness of a drunken carpenter who 
 v/as repairing the cupalo. The fire marshal, Charlie 
 Kofner, was a saloonkeeper. When the fire broke out, 
 notwithstanding his responsibility, he left his post of 
 duty and went to his saloon and carried whisky by the 
 jug- full and gave it to the firemen. Mayor Wilber 
 ordered the saloon closed, but as they were near the 
 fire vvdiere thousands gathered Hofner and others de- 
 fied the officials. The firemen became frenzied with 
 whisky, smoke and excitement, and five of them wer.t 
 down with the burning building and lost their lives. 
 
 There had been sent from our city a valuable young 
 woman as a Christian nurse, to the yellow fever 
 stricken south. She had died a martyr to her de- 
 votion to the sick. This, with the great fire, and the 
 
WEST AGAIN. 237 
 
 loss of those five valuable lives, produced a profound 
 sensation. 
 
 I seized upon it as a fit season to preach upon the 
 causes of the yellow fever in the south and the ''Burn- 
 ing of the Grand Central." Our doctor son was serv- 
 ing as a volunteer physician in the epidemic at Chat- 
 tanooga and we were deeply interested in the South's 
 affliction. I took bold ground, and charged the local 
 disaster to the besotted condition of the community 
 where a saloonkeeper could be entrusted with the 
 marshalship of the fire department. "And," said I, "a 
 city whose fire marshal was guilty of such conduct 
 when such immense responsibility rested upon him, 
 who would carry whisky to men who would drink 
 while on duty with such a fire raging, could expect 
 nothing less than the destruction of life and property 
 and no man's life or property is safe under such a con- 
 dition of affairs." 
 
 This raised a cry of rage among the drinking class. 
 The whole city was in a ferment. Some censured, 
 others praised me. The city council removed Hofner 
 and elected a Mr. Gallagher to his place, and the de- 
 partment elected J. W. Nichols, one of my stewards, 
 as president of the Consolidated Fire Companies and 
 elected four others of my best young men to im- 
 portant positions. 
 
 A few weeks later the department, by unanimous 
 vote, requested me to preach a sermon to them, which 
 I most cheerfully did, the mayor, city council and 
 almost the entire fire department being present in a 
 vast audience. My text was the ''Burning Bush" and 
 its lessons. 
 
 The reform was complete, the memory of which 
 liveth after many years, even to the present day. Ban- 
 quets given by the firemen had formerly been occa- 
 
238 WEST AGAIN. 
 
 sions of more or less debauch and drunkenness. But 
 this was changed. Intoxicants were tabooed and 
 coffee took their place. A beautiful steam fire engine 
 was bought in Boston, and on its arrival at Omaha 
 there was a great parade and banquet at Creighton's 
 hall. Mr. Craig, Omaha's greatest brewer, sent a note 
 offering to supply the firemen and their friends with 
 all the beer they could use. Mr. Her, the great dis- 
 tiller, did the same. Both offers were politely declined, 
 on the grounds of public interests and because the 
 ladies had proffered to furnish choice coffee instead. 
 Mayor Wilber informed me that a banquet held in 
 North Omaha by the department, which was attended 
 by the city council, the first to discard rum, was the 
 most enjoyable ever held by the boys, many of whom 
 said they did not know a banquet could be made a 
 success without liquor; but that this was the best one 
 they had ever held. 
 
 Here we had ample opportunity to discover the per- 
 verted and erroneous views of some professors of 
 Christianity as to the scope of the duties of the church. 
 
 ''Rescue the perishing, 
 Care for the dying. 
 Snatch them in pity 
 
 From death and the grave." 
 
 This is evidently a duty too long and too generally 
 neglected by the church of Christ. For this He es- 
 tablished His kingdom among men — that the lost 
 might be found and sinners saved. A peculiar case 
 presented in Omaha as an illustration. 
 
 A young man of fine musical ability, member of a 
 popular club and of the Protestant Episcopal choir, 
 the son of a local preacher in Iowa, though maintain- 
 
WEST AGAIN. 239 
 
 ing the appearance of respectability, had yet been lead- 
 ing an abandoned life. He finally married a woman of 
 like morals, took boarding with a very respectable 
 family, who were charitable, and did all they could to 
 help these young people to a better life. The sickness 
 of their hostess, however, necessitated her removal to 
 another state for medical treatment. Thus the couple 
 were compelled to seek another boarding place. They 
 were denied entertainment in homes and boarding 
 houses where before marriage the young man, though 
 known to be a debauchee, had been a welcome and 
 popular visitor. It looked as if his effort to reform 
 was doomed to failure, and that he and his wife would 
 be driven to live and associate with the very class from 
 whom they were seeking to escape. Appeals were 
 made at the parsonage for the sheltering wing of 
 Christian sympathy to cover them from the storm of 
 persecution. After exhausting every expedient to find 
 a home for them, without success, my wife resolved, 
 rather than have them go back to associations which 
 promised ruin, to take them to her own fireside. Some 
 of the officials of the church said if we took that couple 
 into the parsonage we might as well shut up the 
 church, for the people would not approve it. 
 
 To this my wife replied, 'Tf the church has not .re- 
 ligion enough to countenance an effort to save sinners 
 my husband will hnd a pulpit at the corner of a street 
 and seek to save the children of Christian families." 
 
 She took the couple in. The church was not closed 
 for want of hearers — it was too small to accommodate 
 the crowd. The Lord helped us. The couple re- 
 mained several months, and then, by my wife's aid, set 
 up housekeeping for themselves, living happily to- 
 gether, saved from a life of shame. 
 
240 WEST AGAIN. 
 
 Our new church was dedicated by Mrs. Van Cott, 
 who had many friends in Omaha. Subsequently we 
 were visited by Bishops Andrews, Merrill and Gilbert 
 Haven, who was an old-time friend. He, his son and 
 daughter visited us as guests at the parsonage. All 
 these bishops knew of the very embarrassing condi- 
 tions under which Methodism had been laboring in 
 Omaha for years previous, and when they witnessed 
 the changed condition of the society their surprise was 
 unbounded. 
 
 Bishop Haven said to the congregation, "It is mar- 
 velous indeed!" and to me, "Where did you get all 
 this? We have kown of the state of things in Omaha 
 for years before you came. Some said Methodism 
 was dead there and ought to be buried. But when I 
 learned you had gone to Omaha I told my friends 
 'that means resurrection,' and so it did." The Bishop 
 preached for us, and told the congregation that the 
 bishops had regarded the case as practically hopeless 
 and it was the man from Kansas who in the economy 
 of grace had brought them resurrection. 
 
 Bishop Merrill also preached for us on his way to 
 Utah to hold their conference, and as they needed a 
 man for Salt Lake City church and as my time in 
 Omaha was up, he requested me to try the grip of my 
 faith on that difficult field. 
 
EXPERIENCES IN SALT LAKE CITY. 241 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 PASTORAL EXPERIENCES IN SALT LAKE CITY. 
 
 My predecessor in the Utah work, Dr. McEl- 
 downey, was a splendid preacher, but had failed, as 
 had others, to get a hold on the influences that go to 
 make up a successful church in the land of so-called 
 "Saints,"especially lacking also a following among the 
 ex-preachers, local and otherwise. The church, Sun- 
 day school and day school were at very low ebb and 
 were disbanding. 
 
 Upon our arrival VvC were received in a most cor- 
 dial manner with a public reception. The Sabbath 
 school numbered twenty-six. The congregation had 
 an average attendance of thirty-five. Prayer meet- 
 ing, class meetings and day schools had been dis- 
 banded and the scholars of the latter enrolled in the 
 Presbyterian and Congregational schools. The re- 
 suscitation of the day school, called Salt Lake Sem- 
 inary, was vigorously opposed by the officers of the 
 church, including the superintendent of the mission. 
 A debt of over $1,500 was in court awaiting judgment 
 and foreclosure. The school furniture was being sold 
 to satisfy debts for janitorship and other expenses. 
 The board of trustees were out of harmony with Dr. 
 McCabe, who had so nobly stood by that enterprise 
 for years and who was carrying a large debt incurred 
 in the same interest. 
 
 The church cost $60,000 and was a beautiful one, but 
 owing to the altitude (though the accoustic measure- 
 
 16 
 
242 EXPERIEN.CES IN SALT LAKE CITY. 
 
 ments were perfect) the echo was so great that it was 
 very difficult to preach in it. Indeed, it was rendered 
 almost useless. The Rev. C. C. Stratton, who built 
 it could not preach in it at all. Dr. McCabe, Joseph 
 Cook, Bishop Simpson and others who had tried to 
 address vast audiences failed to be heard and appreci- 
 ated because of the echo. My voice was strong and 
 flexible, and as I had had early experience with the 
 echo from a Virginia clifif opposite my boyhood home 
 on the Ohio, with the skillful criticism of my wife 
 I overcame the echo, so that I could soon be heard 
 with ease. My congregations increased and ere long 
 Sabbath school reached an average of ninety-nine for 
 months in succession. 
 
 To help along the cause my wife, who had been a suc- 
 cessful teacher in earlier life in Ohio and Pennsyl- 
 vania, took up a day school, commencing with eight 
 little children, and without patronage or encourage- 
 ment from the officers of the church or mission-help 
 held on until she had an enrollment of fifty-two with 
 a regular attendance of fifty. 
 
 We found, however, that Bishop Merrill's fears were 
 well-founded, that in church matters we would fail 
 to command financial support sufficient to make 
 needed repairs, and to warm the large auditorium in 
 winter. We were literally driven by cold weather out 
 of the beautiful auditorium into a rather uninviting 
 basement lecture room, our congregation decreased, 
 and this inaugurated defeat of our cherished plan. 
 
 We held on, however, and adopted an ''art loan" 
 by which to raise money to relieve the case in court. 
 By this expedient and through Dr. McCabe's efficient 
 help we were enabled to take the case out of court the 
 day before judgment would have been rendered, thus 
 
EXPERIENCES IN SALT LAKE CITY. 243 
 
 saving the church from this disgrace and financial 
 loss. Interested parties stood ready to buy and crowd 
 a transfer of that beautiful and costly house of wor- 
 ship from Methodism to themselves. 
 
 We had good helpers in our Herculean task, but 
 had to expend a great amount of toil to overcome in- 
 fluences which should have been with us for good. 
 The lack of a parsonage justified us in occupying the 
 spacious parlors of the church as a home. This still 
 left ample room for school purposes, as the lower story 
 afTorded several well-lighted and large, well ar- 
 ranged, recitation room. Living in the church 
 parlors, in such close proximity to the con- 
 venient school-rooms, my wife was enabled 
 to give due attention to her domestic duties 
 and church work, and in addition thereto or- 
 ganized an evening school for Chinamen. Over sixty 
 "Heathen Chinee" availed themseves of the oppor- 
 tunity to learn to read. She had at one time a class 
 in the Sabbath school of twenty-six Chinese boys. 
 One of them, Lee Chung, was a Christian, and learned 
 rapidly to sing and read the Bible. He bought an 
 organ and afterwards taught the boys to sing. 
 
 Joe Fong, Charlie Hop, Joe Waugh, Fong Wong, 
 and Sam Sing were among the most devoted and dil- 
 igent to learn. But the pronunciation of words 
 bothered them. The "R" is ''L" with them. Robin- 
 Red-Breast is "lobin-led-blest." Joe Fong, in trying 
 this over and over and over, said, "Oh, Mrs. Fishee, 
 too muchee wordee." They showed great interest 
 in learning Scripture verses, and in learning to sing 
 such hymns as "Sowing in the morning," and ''There 
 is a fountain filled with blood." 
 
 On the last visit I made to Salt Lake City I visited 
 
244 EXPERIENCES IN SALT LAKE CITY. 
 
 the Chinese boys' class which had been organized by 
 Mrs. Fisher, and which, upon her leaving Utah, had 
 been taken in charge by a Miss Wakefield and re- 
 moved to the Congregational church. To my sur- 
 prise I there found Lee Chung, who was now able to 
 play the organ and teach music. He had a large 
 placard with the notes of the tune and Chinese char- 
 acters representing the hymn they were singing, and 
 to my great delight he led and the Chinese 
 boys sang melodiously in their native language. Then 
 they sang in English, and this w^as their song: 
 "There is a fountain filled with blood." 
 It w^as a matter of regret to me that the work so 
 nobly begun by Mrs. Fisher should have to be turned 
 from our Methodist school into other hands, for it 
 was full of promise. The day school of white children 
 had been turned over to the Missionary Society, and 
 Prof. Theopholis Hilton was sent out to take charge 
 of it. The Woman's Home Missionary Society, aided 
 by local generosity, provided a home for the school, 
 which has grown to be a considerable influence for 
 good. 
 
BIBLE WORK AxMONG THE MORMONS. 245 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 
 
 Upon the earnest solicitation of Bishop Wiley I 
 next became the superintendent of the American Bible 
 Society's work for Utah, Idaho and Montana. My 
 official board at Salt Lake gave me a six weeks' leave 
 of absence, and I immediately repaired to Montana 
 and organized the canvass of that vast region in Bible 
 distribution. I was pastor of the Salt Lake Church 
 and Bible superintendent at the same time. But soon 
 after my return from Montana I was relieved of the 
 pastorate to devote my entire time to the Bible work. 
 
 My first visit to the great North was by cars to 
 Beaver Head and Red Rock, thence in a barbarous ve- 
 hicle called a ''jerkey" to Virginia City or Alder Gulch, 
 where millions of gold had been found, thence to 
 Bozeman, thence to Helena and Missoula and to Deer 
 Lodge and Butte, holding public meetings and or- 
 ganizing county Bible Societies. I had no hope of or- 
 ganizing more than two, possibly three, auxiliaries 
 in Utah, as there were but two centers of any con- 
 siderable number of Gentiles and in these very few 
 Christians. 
 
 I re-organized in Salt Lake City and made a new- 
 organization in Ogden. I also arranged with Rev. 
 George E. Jayne, our Methodist missionary in Provo, 
 to hold a Bible meeting in his mission chapel. When 
 I visited him he told me he had not enough members 
 to fill the offices of a small society, and if a collection 
 
246 BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 
 
 was called for we could not raise more than from 
 seven to ten dollars, and his family would have to give 
 the half of that. 
 
 After full consultation I concluded to go to Spring- 
 ville, six miles away, to interest Rev. Leonard, a 
 Presbyterian missionary, and get some of his members 
 to act as ofBcers of the proposed organization and 
 join in collections to help procure Bibles to supply 
 the distribution in that county. I had made it a rule in 
 all my extended travels to try never to be left by the 
 cars; but when Brother Jayne and I arrived at the 
 depot the train was moving away grandly, nearly a 
 mile on its way to Springville. 
 
 I said to Brother Jayne, 'This is providential." To 
 this he naively replied, 'T don't see much providence 
 in being left." But I had already and immediately 
 formed my plans. ''Who is president of the Mormon 
 Stake, and where does he live?" I asked. 
 
 ''Bishop Smoot; he lives in a large brick house on 
 the second street North. 
 
 I told him I was going up to see the president and 
 try to get the privilege of speaking to the Mormons in 
 the Tabernacle on the Sabbath, and of inviting them 
 to the Bible meeting in his church. I wanted him to 
 go with me, but he scouted such an idea as ridiculous, 
 saying just a few Sabbaths before they had denounced 
 all missionaries as devils and interlopers, not to be 
 tolerated but to be shunned and avoided. 
 
 Now it happened that this same Bishop Smoot was 
 at one time, early in Kansas, a partner with Majors, 
 Russell & Co., in an overland transportation company. 
 i\Ir. Majors was a Presbyterian and secured Bibles to 
 supply the many drivers of their numerous and im- 
 mense trains so they could read at camping time and 
 on Sabbath, as they made the tedious journey to Cali- 
 
BIBLE WpRK AMONG THE MORMONS. 247 
 
 fornia. Mr. Smoot, for convenience, located in Salt 
 Lake City, went into partnership with Brigham Young 
 in the distillery business, bringing grain from the in- 
 terior of California to Salt Lake City, and selling the 
 whisky they distilled to the emigrants, miners and 
 Mormons. He joined the Mormon church, and Brig- 
 ham endowed him with an installment of three wives 
 with whom to begin housekeeping. He had acquired 
 great wealth, influence and more wives. When I 
 called upon him, upon nfy ringing the door-bell, 
 ''President Smoot" made his appearance at the door 
 in half dress, for he was in the midst of his toilet. He 
 very politely invited me into a spacious parlor, where 
 three of his wives were helping him dress. One but- 
 toned his collar, another adjusted his suspenders, while 
 a third brought him a necktie and handed him his 
 nicely polished shoes. 
 
 Meantime I had been seated, when he asked me in 
 a very polite manner if he could serve m.e in any way. 
 I handed him my commission, remarking that I was 
 superintendent of the American Bible Society's work. 
 He immediately replied, "I am glad you have come. 
 Our people are greatly in need of Bibles. I know all 
 about that society, and will gladly do all I can to aid 
 you in your work. What can I do to help you?" 
 
 I made known my wish, and he said he was getting 
 ready to go to Salt Lake City for the Sabbath, but for 
 me to go to Bishop Jones who would make all ar- 
 rangements necessary. . 
 
 Those arrangements were soon perfected. I was 
 invited to come to the Tabernacle at ten o'clock 
 next morning, and assured that, notwithstanding 
 there were to be two returned missionaries present to 
 make their reports. I should have all the time I wished, 
 
248 BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 
 
 as the Bishop would instruct them to make short re- 
 ports. 
 
 When I returned and told Brother Jayne what the 
 arrangement was he protested that they were insin- 
 cere, and if I went to the Tabernacle would repudiate 
 the arrangement and insult me publicly. I told him 
 that I believed it the clearest indication of Providence 
 that I had met for years. 
 
 Sabbath morning came, a calm, clear, bright day. I 
 went at the time appointed to the Tabernacle. The 
 people were gathering in troops from near and afar. 
 As I came to the gate I was met by Bishop West, who 
 requested me to follow him, as Bishop Jones had 
 directed him to meet me and accompany me to the 
 vestry, there to meet the bishops and ofBcers of the 
 church. I was ushered into the vestry with no little 
 ceremony. Here I met twenty dignitaries of the 
 church, great, pompous, fat old polygamists except 
 one. They eyed me closely and seemed to take my 
 measure. I felt — well didn't know quite how to feel. 
 I was never in such presence before, but I passed my 
 commission around, took my seat, and scrutinized the 
 crowd. I was in strange company, but I was there 
 for a purpose, and under divine leading. 
 
 The service opened with singing, followed with 
 prayer and singing again. Bishop Jones, acting presi- 
 dent of the Stake, presiding, announced that there were 
 two returned missionaries present who would make 
 short addresses and reports and come next Sabbath 
 and finish their reports, as Rev. Dr. Fisher, superin- 
 tendent of the American Bible Society, was present 
 and would address the people at length, and he wislied 
 him to have all the time he desired as he wanted them 
 all to have the great pleasure of hearing him. 
 
BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 249 
 
 The missionaries gave a running account of their 
 travels, labors and persecutions, and dwelt especially 
 on Joseph Smith's being a prophet and a martyr, and 
 on polygamy as a divine institution and a chief element 
 of religion, exhorting them all to go into polygamy 
 and to live their religion. I won't attempt to describe 
 my feelings as I sat in the pulpit and heard all this, 
 and witnessed how the people drank in every word. I 
 was indescribably disgusted. 
 
 Finally I was introduced. The house was crowded. 
 Every e}e was fixed upon me. Every ear was intent 
 to hear. Such a spectacle had never been witnessed 
 by these people. A Methodist preacher occupying the 
 pulpit of the Mormon Tabernacle in Provo! 
 
 I commenced by stating to the audience that I had 
 been introduced as the superintendent of the American 
 Bible Society, and I supposed they w^ished to know 
 what that society was and what it proposed to do. 
 "It is non-sectarian and non-political. It is composed 
 of representative men from all denominations. Chris- 
 tian men and women and churches give of their money 
 by thousands of dollars to print the Bible — not for the 
 Presbyterians, Methodists or Baptists alone, but for 
 everybody to read. It is printed in all languages, and 
 many Bibles are printed with parallel columns, so 
 that German parents can read it in their own language 
 while their children can read the same truth from the 
 same page in the English language. It is the Bible 
 for North and for South, for East and for West, and 
 for the whole wide world." 
 
 I had remarkable liberty in speaking, and as I 
 described how my mother, who was long since in 
 heaven, taught me to read the Bible, the adults were 
 carried back to home and mother and Bible, long be- 
 fore they had learned of "Joe Smith" and the Book of 
 
260 BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 
 
 Mormon, and they wept like children. Aged elders, 
 who had been Mormons for years, told me they had 
 never seen such heart-felt emotion in the Mormon 
 church. 
 
 I attended a number of their ward Sunday schools 
 and addressed them on the necessity of the Bible in 
 the Sunday school. As the hour drew near for the 
 Bible meeting in the Methodist mission chapel 
 Brother Jayne felt that there would be but few in at- 
 tendance, and no Mormons, but I told him all the 
 chairs from his house and study had better be brought 
 in. He laughed at my confidence, but when the hour 
 arrived the people arrived also and filled the house to 
 overflow. 
 
 Bishops, elders and people came. Two Mormon 
 bishops made addresses. Rev. Jayne and myself also 
 made addresses, and then organized a county Bible 
 Society. We elected a Mormon, Bishop Haygood, 
 president, and the Methodist Missionary correspond- 
 ing secretary. We took a collection amounting to 
 sixty dollars, and the next morning the president gave 
 his check for forty dollars. W^e sent one hundred 
 dollars to the Bible house at New York, and requested 
 a donation of one hundred dollars worth of Bibles, 
 which was granted, and soon we received two hundred 
 dollars worth. 
 
 When they came I was sent for and went to Provo, 
 where we held a mass meeting in the Tabernacle. 
 President Smoot presided, Rev. Mr. Smith, a Metho- 
 dist preacher, offered prayer, and made a speech. 
 Professor Measure, president of Brigham Young Col- 
 lege, also made a speech and said: "All the religion I 
 ever had or ever knew I learned out of the Bible, long 
 before I ever heard there was a Mormon church on 
 earth." Rev. Jayne mr^^.c an address from the same 
 
BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 251 
 
 pulpit with President Smoot and so did I. It was a 
 wonder to all the people that their bishops, who had 
 recently from the same pulpit denounced all preach- 
 ers as impostors, hypocrites and devils, should join 
 with us in this work. The Bible was distributed broad- 
 cast, and read by these crude people with great de- 
 light. 
 
 The proceedings of these meetings were written up 
 by Brother Jayne and sent to the official papers of the 
 church, and to gentile organs in the territory. As a 
 result my way was open to every Mormon pulpit in 
 the territory, even the great Salt Lake Tabernacle, 
 where I addressed more than a thousand Mormon 
 priests at once. 
 
 >|< ^ ^ ^ :Jc ^ ^ 
 
 My next meeting was held in Logan, in the Presby- 
 terian Mission Church. Rev. Mr. Park was mission- 
 ary. Bishop Preston was president of the ''Stake." 
 The temple for Cache Valley was in process of erec- 
 tion. When I called upon the president to arrange 
 for a meeting in his tabernacle he asked about my plan 
 of organization. I told him I wished to address his 
 people in the tabernacle, as I had done in the taber- 
 nacle at Provo, and in the evening hold a union meet- 
 ing in Mr. Park's mission church and organize a board 
 of Presbyterians, Mormons and others. 
 
 He replied that it looked very much as if I wanted 
 to get them "mixed up." 
 
 "Well," said I, "You Latter Day Saints are going 
 to heaven, and as we Gentiles want to go there too 
 I thought it would be well to get acquainted before- 
 hand." 
 
 He laughed vet-y heartily over the idea of gentiles 
 getting to heaven, both he and his bishop thought well 
 
252 BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 
 
 of the suggestion and arranged for a meeting next 
 day. 
 
 Brother Park, Hke Brother Jayne, was unbeHeving, 
 and reluctantly accompanied me to the tabernacle and, 
 to his astonishment, was invited into the pulpit with 
 me, where I had the unusual liberty of addressing the 
 vast congregation. 
 
 I then visited the Episcopal Sabbath school and all 
 of the Mormon Sabbath schools, and in the evening 
 held a Bible meeting, organizing a county Bible So- 
 ciety, as at Provo. The board was composed of Pres- 
 byterians, Mormons, Episcopalians, and one outsider. 
 The work in Cache Valley was carried forward by Mr. 
 Fredrickson, in a remarkably successful manner, until 
 the whole valley was supplied with the Bible. 
 
 Very soon after my visit to Logan I visited Ogden 
 and held a great meeting in the tabernacle, presided 
 over by Bishop Perrie, president of the Ogden vStakc. 
 The large, old-fashioned pulpit contained about a 
 dozen of the dignitaries of the church. Here I had 
 my usual liberty of speech. I was portraying the ex- 
 cellencies and superiority of the Bible as the divine 
 revelation, incomparable in its adaptation to the wants 
 of m.en, and said: "When Wycliff translated the Holy 
 Bible into the English language and gave it to the 
 common people it was as if he had lifted the roofs off 
 their houses and let the sunlight of heaven in upon 
 t-hem. It had lifted them up into a higher civilization 
 and given them the leadership in intelligence and lit- 
 erature for the whole race of mankind. The queen had 
 sent a beautiful copy of the Bible to a foreign prince, 
 with this expressive and truthful message, through the 
 minister: Tell your prince this is the cause of Eng- 
 land's great prosperity.' And when Luther translated 
 
BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 253 
 
 the Bible into the German language he liberated the 
 German people from the Roman yoke, broke the tem- 
 poral power of the pope, and not only made Germany 
 free but raised her to a place in the front rank of the 
 influential and educational nations; and that Bible will 
 live and triumph while the world remains!" 
 
 At the close of my address several of the bishops 
 spoke in very approving terms of my discourse. Then, 
 before we left the pulpit, President Perrie said, "Dr. 
 Fisher, if you will allow me, I want to say I most 
 heartily approve of all your statements about the ex- 
 cellency of the Bible and what it has accomplished; but 
 as you are going into Idaho and Montana I want to 
 suggest that if there are Papists in your audiences they 
 won't want your Bible if it uproots Romanism and 
 destroys the temporal power of the pope." I thanked 
 him for his suggestion of caution. 
 
 Bishop Balentine, who was the county superin- 
 tendent of the Mormon Sabbath schools, invited me 
 to dine with him. Bishop Perrie urged me to go, 
 saying, "Balentine is a good liver; and, besides, he 
 will take you to all the Sunday schools and you can 
 address them after dinner." 
 
 I consented, and on the way home the bishop took 
 me by the arm and said very confidentially, "I tell you, 
 Dr. Perrie is sharp. He don't care a great deal about 
 the Papists, but Fll tell you what he thought; that if 
 your Bible liberated England and Germany from the 
 Roman Catholic Church and from the power of the 
 pope it will liberate the Mormons from Joe Smith and 
 Brigham Young. That's what he was afraid of. Oh," 
 said he, "Perrie is sharp." And he laughed as he 
 added, "But you and your Bible got away with him." 
 I was soon ushered into a large room, where we met 
 some half dozen Mormon women who seemed pleased 
 
254 BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 
 
 at my coming, and I was introduced to them in their 
 given names (as is customary) — to Sisters Jane, Cath- 
 arine, Mary, etc., etc. These proved to be the 
 Bishop's wives. 
 
 Dinner over we were seated in the large parlor, 
 when the bishop, addressing me, said: "Now, Doctor, 
 I have a question to ask, and I wish you to answer it, 
 will you?" 
 
 I replied that it might be a question that it would 
 not be proper for me to answer. 
 
 ''Well," said he, 'T want you to answer it. I want 
 no dodging. It is about the way I am living." 
 
 I replied that I cid not know how he was living, and 
 besides, it would be very impolite, after partaking of 
 his hospitality, to in any wise criticise his way of living 
 in his own house. 
 
 "Oh," said he, in great glee, "you can't get ofif that 
 Vv-ay, though you are a Yankee. I am one of those 
 who are practicing polygamy." 
 
 "Well," said I, "I won't answer you in the presence 
 of these your wives, but if I should answer I would 
 say, 'I think you are living in a rascally way!' " 
 
 He clapped his hands and said, "You are a Yankee, 
 sure enough. That will do," while the women chimed 
 in and said: "We think you are right, Doctor. It is 
 a rascally way, and none but Mormons and rascals live 
 this way; we are ashamed and tired of it." 
 
 The old bishop laughed and rejoined, "But it is the 
 order of the church and I must obey." 
 
 Soon the sleigh was announced and away we went, 
 from ward to ward. As soon as we arrived all exer- 
 cises in the Sunday schools ceased, and I was imme- 
 diately introduced and addressed the schools, composed 
 of old, middle aged and young. 
 
 Thus we visited and I addressed seven different 
 
BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 255 
 
 schools and societies. In the evening I also addressed 
 a great company of young men and women in a large 
 v;ard meeting house — a union meeting of the Young 
 Peoples' Improvement Society. It was a day full of 
 labor and interest. The old bishop rendered valuable 
 service, by which I was enabled to make eight Bible 
 discourses to as many different congregations. And 
 on Monday night, by invitation, I delivered another 
 address to a large audience. 
 
 H: >i< ^ >i; ^ Ji< 5^ 
 
 My next visit was to Brig^am City. Here Lorenzo 
 Snow, an apostle, brother of Erastus Snow, another 
 apostle, was president of the Stake, and his son was 
 first counselor. I stopped with Bishop E., who had 
 five wives living in town — three in Mie house in which 
 I stopped. The old wife he had brought from Eng- 
 land. She was very rebellious and ''ruler of the ranch." 
 To the wife living in the north end of the house the 
 old wife would not speak. To the young wife up stairs 
 she was kind and showed some favor; to the two in the 
 other part of the town, who brought butter, eggs and 
 produce she was also kind. They all took sacrament 
 together at the hands of the Bishop, but the old wife 
 would not eat at the table w^ith him nor sit in the same 
 room with him. She told me that she had procured a 
 revolver and put it under her pillow and would kill 
 him if he came into her room. I stopped with them 
 several days but never knew of the bishop speaking 
 to his old ''first wife." 
 
 At my next visit I stopped with Bishop Z's family. 
 He had four wives in a large stone house, and about 
 thirty children. I boarded at the home of the younjest 
 wife. Though the youngest she had nine children. 
 The old bishop was at home while I was there, though 
 he had other wives scattered around, some in and 
 
256 BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 
 
 others out of town. This youngest wife told me with 
 heart-rending sobs and tears that Brigham Young and 
 the apostles came up to Brigham City and collected 
 all the girls from fourteen years upward who were not 
 married and discoursed about the beauties and re- 
 wards of polygamy, and finally told them it was the 
 order of the church that they should marry the bish- 
 ops and elders and raise up a generation of saints, and 
 that all who were married at the next Christmas should 
 be ''blood atoned." She said she was born in Utah, of 
 Mormon parents and knew her fate, and only knew to 
 obey; and, to save her soul, she had been compelled 
 to go into this degrading kind of life. 
 
 "Now," said she, *'what can I do? Here am I, the 
 mother of nine children. Where could I find a home? 
 What am I to do? I have often thought of suicide, 
 and were it not that I fear I should be lost I would 
 have taken my life long ago. I would rather see every 
 child I have dead and buried than that one of them 
 should be compelled to lead such a life as I have lead." 
 
 And then, while the hot tears dropped upon the face 
 of her babe, she said, in accents of despair, 'T suppose 
 I will have to endure this hell upon earth until death 
 comes to my rescue." 
 
 Poor creature ! She was only one of thousands who 
 are the victims of men's lusts, held in bondage in the 
 the sacred name of religion. 
 
 I organized here a county Bible society, and George 
 Bretherton, a colporteur, supplied that part of the field 
 with Bibles. 
 
 :|t :t- * * H< * * 
 
 On my return to Salt Lake City I visited John Tay- 
 lor, president. Seer and Prophet of the church. He 
 received me kindly, and as I gave him my commission 
 he said. 
 
BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 257 
 
 "I know where you have been and what you have 
 been doing, and I most heartily approve your plans 
 and work and your way of doing the work committed 
 to your care among my people. I know that the Bible 
 is the only book given of God to guide us in our duties 
 in this Hfe. 
 
 And, picking up a well-worn copy of the Scriptures 
 from his desk, he said, "This book has been my com- 
 panion for years. I carried it all through Germany, 
 France and England, and have found that the Ger- 
 mans regard Luther as their great political advocate 
 and leader as well as reformer, by reason of his trans- 
 lation and distribution of the Bible among the com- 
 mon people in their own language." 
 
 He gave me a letter addressed to Agnus Cannon, 
 brother of George Q. Cannon, who was president of 
 the Salt Lake Stake, directing him to arrange that I 
 should hold a county Bible meeting in the great taber- 
 nacle in Salt Lake City. 
 
 Accordingly, I soon held a meeting there, in which 
 I met more than a thousand of the priesthood of the 
 Mormon church, addressing them and completing an 
 organization, the only organization effected in fifty 
 years among the Mormon priesthood outside their own 
 plan and control. 
 
 I was, and am still the only gentile ever admitted to 
 a purely Mormon priesthood meeting. 
 
 At the close of this meeting President Cannon en- 
 dorsed on Mr. Taylor's letter the following address: 
 'To all the presidents of Stakes. Bishops, High 
 Priests of the Order of Melchisedeck and of Aaron, 
 and all Bishops and Elders and Priests of the church 
 of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, greeting: 
 
 "Whereas, John Taylor, president, Seer and Reve- 
 lator, has given authorization to Dr. H. D. Fisher 
 
 17 
 
258 BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 
 
 bearer of these presents, to hold Bible meetings in the 
 churches in Utah, 
 
 ''Therefore, It is ordered and directed that every 
 facility be afforded Dr. Fisher in the execution of his 
 work, for the supplying of the people of said church 
 with Holy Bibles." 
 
 This address and proclamation was so like that of 
 Darius, on account of the deliverance of Daniel, that 
 I felt truly that God was in this work. 
 
 * ;}: ^c ^ ■:{: ^ ^ 
 
 Soon after this I made a trip to Southern Utah. Mr. 
 Fredrickson and my son Frank accompanied us, as 
 colporteurs, with a Bible wagon carrying supplies. A 
 portion of the party consisted of Rev. E. Smith and 
 wife. Miss Ida Bardwell, Miss Couch, Prof. Hilton and 
 Rev. Mr. Court. These were missionaries and teach- 
 ers. We traveled by wagon, holding meetings as we 
 went. 
 
 Arriving at St. George, the most Southern settle- 
 ment in Utah, we stopped at the Presbyterian Mission 
 home, where a brother of Rev. Court was in charge. 
 Here is the first Mormon temple erected in Utah, *'a 
 thing of great beauty," but, being gentiles, we were 
 not permitted to desecrate it with unholy feet. We 
 were permitted, however, to hold meetings both morn- 
 ing and evening in a magnificent tabernacle. 
 
 St. George is a perfect oasis in the desert, a town of 
 over four thousand inhabitants, with soil and climate 
 producing tropical fruits in abundance. Many of the 
 older people are New Englanders, sent by Brigham 
 Young to this extreme Southern corner of Utah to 
 build a town and temple, both of which they accom- 
 plished, many Mormons traveling hundreds of miles 
 to pass through the endowment house in the temple. 
 
 Bishop McCallister, formerly a Methodist, brought 
 up in Philadelphia, by a pious mother, who was a 
 
BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 259 
 
 member of the old Ebenezer Church, was president of 
 St. George Stake. He welcomed us royally and wept 
 freely as we carried him and his people in recollection 
 back to childhood associations, mother, home and the 
 Bible. He evidently still retained high regard for his 
 early training and many of those grand sentiments in- 
 stilled into his mind in childhood by his faithful, pious 
 mother. I preached in the morning and my party 
 were invited into the choir. 
 
 In the evening we had a most remarkable meeting. 
 Bishop McCallister presided. My party led the sing- 
 ing. Prof. Hilton and I made Bible addresses, fol- 
 lowed by the bishop, who eulogized the Bible in the 
 strongest language, as God's Word and Will, superior 
 to all other books in all the world. 
 
 Then he proposed to the congregation that all who 
 wished to express thanks to Dr. Fisher and his com- 
 panions for their visit and services, and a request for 
 their return when convenient, should hold up their 
 right hands. A sea of hands went up. Then he called 
 for their left hands. Up, up, they went, a forest of 
 them; while the shimmering, glancing light of the 
 great central chandelier shown down upon them, pre- 
 senting a phantastic scene. Then he called again. ''AH 
 who want to thank Dr. Fisher heartily, keep hands up 
 and rise to your feet!" The whole assembly with up- 
 lifted hands arose to their feet, and stood as if thrilled 
 with delight. 
 
 "Thank God," we cried, while hearty "Aniens!" 
 went up, all over the house. Our party was fairly car- 
 ried away with pleasure and the whole audience joined 
 us in singing. "Praise God from whom all blessings 
 
 flow." 
 
 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ >\i ^,i 
 
 I organized a Bible Society on Monday with Rev. 
 
260 BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 
 
 Brother Court, corresponding secretary, and we left 
 St. George for the scene of one of the most atrocious 
 massacres on record — the Mountain meadows — where 
 one hundred and seventeen innocent, inoffensive and 
 defenceless emigrants, were slaughtered by the Mor- 
 mons and their allies, the Mormon Indians, under the 
 leadership of John D. Lee and by sanction of the High 
 Council of the Mormon Church and Brigham Young. 
 The journey was a hard day's drive, and about nine 
 o'clock P. M. we reached Pinto, a small town about 
 five miles from the meadows. Here we were to spend 
 the night, and finding a boy guide made our way to 
 the Bishop's ranch in the corner of the town. Seeing 
 the Mormon church lighted, we inquired what was 
 going on in the church, and were informed that they 
 were having a dance in honor of the visit of a very old 
 saint, who had come to see the church and his friends. 
 
 My plans were immediately formed, and, leaving 
 Brother Smith and others to care for the teams and 
 prepare for the night's rest Prof. Hilton, Miss Bard- 
 well and myself repaired to the church to capture the 
 dance and convert iL into a Bible meeting. It was after 
 ten o'clock when we arrived. The seats were piled up 
 in the yard, the fiddler was playing his best tune, and 
 the bishop and people were dancing with great zeal. 
 Dancing is great sport with the Mormons and a favor- 
 ite means of grace. I sent the boy to ask the bishop 
 out. He came to the door when I made myself and 
 party known, as well as the object of our visit. We 
 were invited inside, and the Bishop said to me: 
 
 ''When this set is done I will introduce you, and 
 you can address the people concerning your plans for 
 supplying them with Bibles." 
 
 We went in. I had never seen a dance before. They 
 were hopping around and "swinging the circle," while 
 
BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 261 
 
 the violin squeaked and squealed like mad. I had no 
 knowledge of dance phrases, and had never before 
 seen a "set"; but the dancers looked like a ''set," and 
 they acted like a "set." By and by the music ceased, 
 and the "set," steaming- hot, and covered with per- 
 spiration, came to a standstill and vacantly gazed at 
 the intruders. The Bishop had the company seated 
 around by the walls, and introduced me and my mis- 
 sion. 
 
 I made a Bible speech, to which the panting com- 
 pany listened with attention. Then I introduced Prof. 
 Hilton, who made a finished address, the best he de- 
 livered on our trip. Afterwards I introduced Miss 
 Bardwell as a fine singer and performer on the organ, 
 saying, if they desired it, she would favor us with a 
 song and some music. I asked them to vote their re- 
 quest. Up went the right hand of every one and Miss 
 Bardwell sang grandly, "The ^Musician and his Lyre." 
 
 At half-past-eleven P. M., after capturing a Mormon 
 dance and turning it into a Bible meeting, we retired 
 in good order and the dance went on until the "wee 
 hours of the morn." It was a remarkable achievement 
 and grandly opened the way for our colporteurs, Fred- 
 rickson and Frank Fisher. 
 
 >k * H: * :k ^ * 
 
 The next morning over we pushed on to the Alead- 
 ows, a beautiful, sequestered and romantic spot. Here 
 is the famous spring where the emigrants were getting 
 water when attacked and when they first discovered 
 their perilous condition. Yonder are the ridges cov- 
 ered with low, scraggy cedar and burr-oak trees, 
 furnishing ambush for the treacherous Mormons and 
 the few Indians who joined the murderers for plunder. 
 Here is the great "carne" or grave in which were de- 
 posited by Conner's soldiisrs the scattered remains of 
 
262 BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 
 
 the massacred men, women and children of the doomed 
 party. Near by is a chimp of bushes, gnarled and 
 bullet-marked, behind which John D. Lee, in fiendish 
 manner, shot with his own hand the young women 
 whose rejection to become his concubines had in- 
 censed him and nerved him for the bloody work, 
 though his son-in-law begged for their lives. And 
 now we stand on the identical spot where Lee met his 
 just deserts, under sentence of Judge Bozeman, he 
 having been here shot to death by United States sol- 
 diers as he sat on his cofilin. 
 
 It is a solemn, lonely spot, just where as the men 
 were filing out of camp as prisoners they were merci- 
 lessly killed by Lee's orders in the presence of their 
 wives and children, who likewise were afterward 
 brutally shot down. The stone column built by Gen. 
 Conner's order to mark the burial place of the dead 
 had been destroyed by the Mormons, the rock hauled 
 away and ^scattered, and we gathered up as much as 
 we could of the stones and replaced them upon the 
 ''carne." 
 
 Having fully explored the Meadows and visited the 
 spring we turned our faces toward Cedar City. Here 
 we visited the Mormon church in which the decision 
 for the massacre was reached, after the deluded people 
 had held a meeting for plan and consultation before 
 going to the slaughter. We visited the ''Tithing 
 House," where the clothing of the victims, reeking 
 with their blood, was passed into the custody of the 
 church authorities and from which they were dis- 
 tributed to the participants of this bloody work, ac- 
 cording to the part each played. We met here some 
 one who had been active in this fearful and yet unre- 
 quited drama. Here we met John Taylor and the 
 Mormon apostles, on their annual visit to the stakes. 
 
BIBLE WORK AMONG THE MORMONS. 268 
 
 and heard their lamentation about Joseph Smith and 
 Brigham Young and their fate as martyrs, on account 
 of spiritual wifery or polygamy. 
 
 The journey was a surprise and revelation; the col- 
 porteurs were enabled to supply the whole populace 
 with Bibles, so that we had the field fully supplied be- 
 fore the "Edmunds Bill" took efiect in the territory. 
 It was most providential, for there never was before 
 nor has there been since an opportunity to put God's 
 word, without note or comment, into the hands of that 
 deluded mass of people. 
 
 *'God is His own interpreter, and he shall make it 
 plain, vindicating His own truth and word. It shall 
 not return to Him void." 
 
264 BIBLE WORK IN MONTANA. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 BIBLE WORK IN MONTANA. 
 
 Our work in Montana was entered upon im- 
 mediately after returning from Southern Utah. 
 My son Frank and Mr. Fredrickson were com- 
 missioned and outfitted for the trip an.d work 
 with two good horses, a well-arranged Bible- 
 wagon, provisions, cooking utensils and an ample 
 supply of Bibles. Traveling North they supplied 
 the field as they went, as far as they could reach 
 the ranches and settlements. I had ordered a number 
 of cases of Bibles sent to the terminal of the Utah 
 Northern Railroad at Dillon. When they reached 
 Camas Valley I passed them, going to Dillon to pre- 
 pare the field and in person supervise the supply of 
 this vast territory. 
 
 Arriving at Dillon I repaired to the depot to learn 
 if the Bibles had reached that point. My life-long 
 habit has been to reprove profanity, and I have met 
 but with two instances of rudeness or rebuff. Here 
 the teamsters from far and near, with the trainmen and 
 depot hands, were swearing as only that class of men in 
 the wild West can swear. In this case I thought that if 
 I should reprove them they would probably but swear 
 the more, so I retired to await the coming of my col- 
 porteurs. Next day they arrived, and I obtained the 
 privilege from Mr. Beebe, the depot master, to open 
 our cases in the depot in order to fill up our depleted 
 
BIBLE WORK IN MONTANA. 266 
 
 boxes in the wagon and condense the residue for ship- 
 ment to different points, so that we might stock up on 
 reaching those needy places. The men were still very 
 profane. When we opened our boxes they drew near 
 to see what we had. One fellow asked if we had any 
 song books. Another inquired if we carried Bob In- 
 gersoll's lectures. I replied that we were not allowed 
 to carry anything but Bibles and Testaments. Another 
 said he did not believe we could sell Bibles and Testa- 
 ments in Montana; that if we had flasks of whiskey 
 we could easily sell them all out. I replied that we 
 believed the people would buy and read the Bible. 
 
 In the meanwhile a young man had picked up a copy 
 of a "Brevier" Bible, and was quietly turning the leaves, 
 when I noticed his lip quiver and his eyes moisten, 
 and with an effort to suppress his emotion, he said, in 
 a trembling voice, "T declare, if that ain't the very kind 
 of a book my mother taught me .to read out of when I 
 was a little boy." 
 
 His words had a thrilling effect. We stayed there a 
 day and a half and did not hear another oath. The 
 thought of mother, home and Bible touched the hearts 
 of those hardy, rough mountaineers, and turned away 
 their profanity. I gave out a number of copies to the 
 men before leaving. 
 
 On returning some months later Mr. Beebe told me 
 that he never knew such a change among men. In- 
 stead of profanity and vulgarity, now when the men 
 have leisure they read and talk about the Bible. I 
 went unexpectedly to the depot, and there were three 
 of the men sitting quietly reading God's Holy Word. 
 One of them afterward ordered a beautiful copy and 
 sent it over two hundred miles as a Christmas present 
 to his father, saying, "It's the best book I ever read." 
 
 Subsequently Dr. McMillen, district superintendent 
 
266 BIBLE WORK IN MONTANA. 
 
 of the Presbyterian missionary work, included in my 
 lield of Bible labor, and I were together at iMcCannon, 
 on the Oregon Short Line railway, awaiting a train to 
 take us to Paris, Utah, in the interest of the missions 
 and the Bible Society. x\fter dinner, while sitting in 
 the public room of the hotel, we were annoyed by the 
 profanity of a party of men who were in the room. I 
 called their attention to their language when one of 
 the party attempted to provoke a laugh, to turn the 
 point of my reproof. But I interrupted him. 
 
 "Gentlemen," said 1, 'let me tell you my experience 
 recently at Dillon." 
 
 Then I related the foregoing incident. As I did so 
 every ear was attent to hear, and as I described the 
 young man's quivering lip, his moistened eye and sub- 
 dued and trembling tone of voice a hush came over 
 the company, like the awakening of conscience, and 
 again at the thought of mother, home and Bible, eyes 
 were suffused with tears. After a pause of but a brief 
 moment one spoke up and said: 
 
 ''Well, it is wrong to swear, and I would not have 
 my mother know I swore for anything in the world. 
 It would break her heart. I won't swear any more." 
 They all joined in admitting that it was wrong to 
 swear. Dr. McMillen often referred to the incident 
 with great commendation and pleasure. 
 
 Our journey to Paris, and visit to the bishop, our 
 Sabbath services, with our journey over the mountain 
 range, a night in the ]\Iormon camp, where they were 
 sawing timber for the great temple at Logan, and my 
 sermon to the Mormons in the mountain fastnesses, 
 were all of intensest interest but must not be detailed 
 here. Pages would hardly suffice to describe them. 
 
 :^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 
 
 Subsequently we leached the city of Butte, spend- 
 
Bible work in Montana. 267 
 
 ing a Sabbath in this great mining camp, supplying 
 the families and liolcling public services in the 
 churches. On Sabbath afternoon at four o'clock 1 
 preached at the corner of Alain and Fifth streets, the 
 principal business streets, to a large crowd of miners 
 and citizens. Mr. Fredrickson, my son Frank, and a 
 number of Christians sang and the men came out of 
 the saloons, faro banks, and other gambling dens by 
 the hundreds, and crowded up about the corner until 
 fully seven hundred people gazed at the singers and 
 the speaker. We sang "Come thou fount of every 
 blessing," many in the audience joining in this old and 
 everywhere familiar hymn. A short prayer was of- 
 fered and then "Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus 
 signals still!" was sung. 
 
 At its closing line I glided very readily into an ex- 
 planation of the origin of the patriotic song, then the 
 parody by Mr. Bliss, and his sad and tragic end, and 
 the hymn which was now so popular and its very ap- 
 propriate use on this occasion, and announced my text, 
 "A good name is rather to be chosen than great 
 riches." 
 
 While I was preaching a drunken fellow came up 
 near me and wanted to sing, insisting upon having my 
 son's book to sing out of. Several in the crowd called 
 out, "Arrest that fellow. He is disturbing the 
 preacher." A policeman was about to arrest him and 
 lead him away when I turned and said to the crowd, 
 "If nobody wants that man arrested worse than I he 
 won't be arrested." The officer stopped and I laid my 
 hand on the man and said to him, "Be quiet, they want 
 you arrested, but I want you to listen to me." He 
 straightened up and stood as still as a man could, 
 quietly and orderly. 
 
268 BIBLE WORK IN MONTANA. 
 
 From that moment the crowd were my friends. 
 They Hstened with marked attention. In my discourse 
 I referred to the value of the Bible as a safe rule of 
 life and the source of prosperity, and related, as I had 
 done to the Mormons,, how, when Queen Victoria was 
 young, a foreign prince sent his minister to inquire, 
 "What was the cause of England's prosperity?" and 
 how the queen in the presence of her lords gave th,e 
 minister a beautiful copy of the Bible, saying, "Take 
 tliis and give it to your prince, and tell him this is the 
 cause of England's prosperity." 
 
 Just here a true son of the Emerald Isle piped out, 
 "Be jabers, she had bether been after sending pertaties 
 to the starvin' Irish." 
 
 This spontaneous sally of Irish wit caused an audi- 
 ble smile to encircle the entire congregation. But in- 
 stead of reproof or attempted reply I pressed right on 
 to convince my auditors that a good name is rather 
 to be chosen than great riches, the Bible bringing 
 spiritual and temporal prosperity. The crowd remained 
 until the strange and impressive service closed. 
 Scores came forw^ard, shook hands with us, and 
 thanked us for the songs and sermon. Some said it 
 was the first sermon they had heard for years. One 
 man said to me, "It is seventeen years since I heard 
 the gospel preached." 
 
 * ^ ^ >(c 5|c :){ if; 
 
 Many other interesting incidents occurred in our 
 work. At Blackfoot, Idaho, one of the colporteurs 
 called at a store in which were a number of mc;-,. 
 Opening his grip he began to show his Bibles. 
 The men said they had no money, but maybe the man 
 for whom they w^ere herding sheep would buy one. 
 as he was the only one in the crowd that had mone} 
 
BIBLE WORK IN MONTANA. 269 
 
 Mr. Fredrickson accosted him, whereupon the man 
 repHed, "If you have a book that has anything in it 
 about sheep, I'll buy it." Quick as a flash Fredrickson 
 turned to the loth chapter of John and began reading: 
 "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep." Then 
 turning to the first of the chapter and reading on, came 
 to the 15th verse, when the crowd chimed in, "Buy it, 
 buy it. That's just the book we need!" 
 
 The man took out his pocket book, paid the price 
 and took the book, saying, "That's the book for me. 
 I am going to read it after this." Before^ he left the 
 company bought several other copies, and all of them 
 were pleased that they had met the Bible man. 
 
 In 1883 we arranged a visit for the supply of East- 
 ern Montana. There were two routes of travel open 
 for us from Salt Lake City, our base of operations; 
 one via Beaver Canon, Dillon, Virginia City, Boze- 
 man and across the Eastern Divide at Mullen's Pass 
 into the Yellow Stone Valley, thence South up the 
 Yellow Stone river to Yankee Jim's, the farthest end of 
 the valley, toward the far-famed Yellow Stone, or 
 National Park, very appropriately named "Wonder- 
 land." Here we would have to double our track and 
 retrace the usual trail or valley via Bozeman to Helena, 
 thence to Fort Benton and Fort Assinaboine, on the 
 Northwest ]\Iissouri river, and back to Helena, thence 
 by way of Deer Lodge, Butte, Dillon and Red Rock 
 to Beaver Canon, thus reaching the line of travel 
 eastward to the Park. The other route was via Beaver 
 Canon, thence die east one hundred and ten miles 
 through an unbroken wilderness to the Firehole basin, 
 thence through the National Park and out at the 
 North side of the Park to Yankee Jim's Dugway, join- 
 ing the valley at the Westerly traversed road, crossing 
 
270 BIBLE WORK IN MONTANA. 
 
 the divide at Mullen's pass into the Gallatin Valley. 
 This latter route we chose as giving us a shorter line 
 of travel, the opportunity to visit the most noted gey- 
 sers in the world, and as saving us from doubting our 
 track, or retraveling the same road. 
 
 This field, in long centuries gone by, has doubtless 
 been the field of the most powerful and active vol- 
 canoes on the whole globe. Here rivers of fire and 
 volcanic lava, like molten iron, have been vomited 
 forth until for hundreds of miles down the Snake River 
 Valley thejava, in some places forty miles wide and 
 fJty to one hundred feet deep, rolled in angry fiery 
 waves, covering the whole valley through which the 
 great Snake river runs. 
 
 Our party consisted of Mrs. Fisher, Messrs. Fred- 
 rickson and Foreman and myself, well outfitted with 
 five horses, two wagons and complete camp equipage, 
 and an ample supply of Bibles and provisions. We 
 wxre out sixteen weeks and traveled over twenty-six 
 hundred miles. When at Mammoth Hot Springs Dr. 
 Foote, of Boston, and General Armstrong, of Carlisle, 
 Pennsylvania, were with us at family prayer. 
 
 We were preaching frequently and singing on the 
 journey, and distributing Bibles everywhere, only 
 sleeping three nights in a habitable house. At Boze- 
 man I preached at eleven A. M. in the Presbyterian 
 church and at seven P. M. in the M. E. church. At 
 four P. M. I held a service on the street corner in the 
 principal part of the town. Quite a number of persons 
 had gathered, when a man in great haste, followed by 
 three physicians, came running by and the crowd fol- 
 lowed them. Wq soon learned that Charlie V., who 
 had been gambling as keeper of a faro bank all night 
 and until Sabbath morning, had lost all he owned, and 
 in a fit of desperation had taken poison and was dying 
 
BIBLE WORK IN MONTANA. 271 
 
 in a disreputable house, surrounded by fallen women 
 and debauched and drunken men and gamblers. Pres- 
 ently the crowd, greatly augmented in numbers, re- 
 turned. We sang a hymn, and I preached a plain and 
 searching sermon. We were surrounded on all sides 
 by saloons and gambling houses, but the people 
 listened with all possible attention. But to divert at- 
 tention and defeat the impression made the managers 
 of one saloon rushed around and organized some 
 music. I closed my services in time to checkmate that, 
 and the crowd was so indignant that instead of draw- 
 ing the men to the saloon it repelled them, and the 
 saloonkeepers felt the rebuke. 
 
 At the close of the services a very pleasant looking 
 young man from New York came to me and said, 
 "When I left my home and mother I had a good name 
 and recommendations from my Sunday school supenn- 
 tendent, pastor and business men. I came here an 
 innocent and pu^t young man but drifted into the 
 saloon, gambling hell and other disreputable places. 
 I soon lost my position, my good name and conscious 
 innocence and am ruined. What can I do to recover 
 myself and former good standing? Oh, if I were only 
 back with my mother again!" 
 
 I advised him to go to his former employer, confess, 
 ask Ins forgiveness and seek reinstatement that he 
 might recover himself and raise enough money to re- 
 turn to his home ?nd mother, and never stray from the 
 path of virtue again. He promised he would do so 
 and next day followed my advice with success. 
 
 We completed our work here, and at an early day 
 moved on to complete the work in other parts of our 
 vast field and hasten South, as winter was approach- 
 ing. We crossed the great mountain range between 
 Montana and Idaho just three days before winter 
 
272 BIBLE WORK IN MONTANA. 
 
 broke upon that vast, mountainous region, closing 
 travel for six whole months, but not until we had 
 furnished a vast territory with the blessed book of 
 God. 
 
 This was truly foundation work. The people and 
 missionaries gladly received us, and I felt that while 
 it was the most laborious it was yet the most im- 
 portant work in my ministerial career. 
 
COMPLETION OF BIBLE WORK IN UTAH. 273 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 COMPLETION OF BIBLE WORK IN UTAH. 
 
 American Fork Canon is one of the celebrated can- 
 ons of Central Utah. Here Rev. F. F. Day, a Pres- 
 byterian minister, was resident missionary. We ar- 
 ranged to hold Bible meetings in his mission church. 
 The town contained about two thousand souls. All 
 except about twenty were Mormons. I called upon 
 Bishop Harrington, the ruling bishop, and several 
 other leading Mormons and had but little trouble in 
 interesting them in the work. After Bible addresses 
 by myself. Rev. Day and some of the bishops, we pro- 
 ceeded to organize a county society. 
 
 Bishop McCary was elected president. Rev. Mr. 
 Day corresponding secretary, and some one nomi- 
 nated Mrs. Bishop Harrington (the ruling bishop's 
 wife) as vice-president. I put the motion and she was 
 unanimously elected. The secretary innocently in- 
 quired the lady's first name. Then came the tug of 
 war. The bishop had several wives. Some had voted 
 for one; several others had voted for a different one, 
 and others still for number two or three or another 
 yet. Finally Bishop McCray suggested that they 
 would give the old bishop away to the gentiles if they 
 did not look out, and they had better agree that they 
 had elected Sister Catharine Harrington, the fourth 
 one. This cleared up the very laughable predicament 
 of a too-much mariied bishop and of a promiscuous 
 vote on a bishop's wife in Utah. 
 
 18 
 
274 COMPLETION OF BIBLE WORK IN UTAH. 
 
 The *'San Pete" Valley is one of the natural divi- 
 sions of Utah, a very fertile and populous part of the 
 territory, almost wholly settled by Scandinavians. 
 Canute Peterson (commonly called King Canute) was 
 president of the Stake, including the entire valley. 
 Bishop Mabin, his first counselor, lived and presided 
 at Manti, near the south end of the valley. Here they 
 have cut the point of a mountain, built three terrace 
 walls, containing over twenty-eight thousand cords 
 of heavy mason work and graded up- to the site of a 
 beautiful temple, which looks from a distance as 
 though it had grown right out of the end of that moun- 
 tain. 
 
 When I visited Ephraim, the resident town of Pres- 
 ident Peterson, for the purpose of holding a Bible 
 meeting it was late in the day of an autumn month. 
 After an interview with the "king," he said: "You 
 need give yourself no anxiety about a congregation; 
 I will have all the people in the church by 7:30. I 
 have my own method of calling them together. You 
 be on time; we will meet you in the tabernacle if you 
 are there." 
 
 I repaired to the tabernacle about fifteen minutes 
 before the time, and to my surprise and delight found 
 the place packed full. I was the only person in the 
 house not a ^lormon. I occupied the pulpit with this 
 petty king and his bishops, made my Bible speech, 
 read the constitution, and called for a vote on its 
 adoption. In doing this by uplifted hands I called for 
 the negative to show their hands. The king cried out, 
 "Stop; we never take the negative side, for those who 
 do not favor our measures are not worth minding." 
 So we adopted the constitution unanimously and 
 
COMPLETION OF BIBLE WORK IN UTAH. 275 
 
 elected our officers in the same manner, Mr. Peter- 
 son making the nominations. 
 
 51; ***** * 
 
 One other incident, small in itself, but far-reaching 
 and vast in importance, occurred in the South part of 
 the territory in Frisco, where the Horn silver mines 
 are yearly putting out mililons of silver bullion. Here 
 Rev. Brother Hedges had organized a smah class and 
 Sabbath school. I visted the place to hold a Bible 
 meeting, and preached morning and evening to good 
 congregations, also addressing the Sabbath school. 
 I was requested to hold a temperance meeting on 
 Monday evening, and to organize a society for the boys 
 and girls. 
 
 When the hour of meeting came a large company 
 of men and women, as well as young people, assem- 
 bled in the school house to hear the temperance 
 speech. At the close of my address I read a constitu- 
 tion which I had prepared for the Boys' society, to- 
 gether with the pledge, and invited those who wished 
 to become members to come and enroll their names. 
 Three boys about fifteen years old, one a saloonkeep- 
 er's son, walked up amid applause from the audience 
 and boldly signed their names. 
 
 When they were seated the audience was startled 
 by a tall, fine-looking man named Peter Franklin 
 coming forward to enroll his name as a member. He 
 had been a Mormon, but in going through the en- 
 dowment house had become disgusted and apostatized. 
 He was quite intelligent and very successful in money- 
 making, but had become addicted to dram-drinking 
 and would often spend hundreds of dollars on a single 
 spree. His signing the pledge led many others to fol- 
 low his example. 
 
276 COMPLETION OF BIBLE WORK IN UTAH. 
 
 Next morning as he went to his work men said to 
 him, "Pete, you can't keep that pledge." He re- 
 plied, "You will see; I intend to stop right here and 
 now." The men at the smelter wanted him to 
 drink, but he declined. Then some of them said if he 
 would not join them in a glass of beer they would 
 not work with him. To this he replied, "I don't have 
 to drink with you, and you don't have to work with 
 me unless you choose to. I am not going to drink 
 rum as long as I live." He joined Brother Hedge's 
 class the next Sabbath. In less than six weeks he 
 was happily converted, and became quite active as a 
 temperance and Christain worker. 
 
 In the mining regions the rule generally prevails 
 that all who work in the mines and smelters pay one 
 dollar monthly to the hospital fund. This, in case of 
 sickness, entitles them to admission, on certificate, to 
 the hospital. It so happened that my friend Franklin 
 became sick from the fumes of the smelter, and was 
 compehed to enter the hospital at Salt Lake City, 
 where he lived. After being under treatment for sev- 
 eral weeks he became convalescent and so far re- 
 covered that he was permitted to visit friends whom he 
 had known in the Fatherland, before they or he had 
 become Mormons. He told them of his changed life 
 and now happy experience as a Christian. Many of 
 them wanted him to read the Bible and pray with 
 them, which he did. Then they wanted him to meet 
 them in some hall or public place and preach this bet- 
 ter way to them. But he was only a probationer, with 
 no authority to hold meetings; and besides, his mem- 
 bership was at Frisco. So he came to me for advice. 
 Being superintendent of the American Bible Society's 
 
COMPLETION OF BIBLE WORK IN UTAH. 277 
 
 work I authorized him to take copies of the Bible and 
 .distribute them, at the same time explaining the 
 Scriptures to his friends. He became an excellent 
 Bible reader and soon returned for more Bibles, say- 
 ing the people were urging him to preach to them. 
 I told him I would get the privilege for him to speak 
 to the people in the lecture room of the M. E. Church 
 and secured the use of one of the parlors of the church. 
 
 His first audience consisted of about forty Scandi- 
 navians, mostly old acquaintances. I was present, and 
 told the people that as a Bible agent I had authorized 
 Brother FrankHn to explain and expound the gospel to 
 them. Thus he opened his mission. His health was 
 restored, he left the mining camp, and under the di- 
 rection of the church began to preach and was finally 
 licensed and recommended for probation in the trav- 
 eling connection in the JNI. E. Church. 
 
 Bishop Wiley took his recommendation from the 
 mission to the Nebraska conference but forgot to 
 present it. From there he went on to Beaver, Penn- 
 sylvania, to hold the Pittsburg conference (my home 
 conference) and there presented the recommendation 
 and Franklin was received and elected to Deacon's or- 
 ders under the rule for missionaries. Bishop Warren, 
 returning from California, stopped in Salt Lake City 
 for the purpose of ordaining Brother Peter Franklin 
 and Brother Gillihan. 
 
 The Bishop lectured on Saturday evening on "The 
 Powers of a Sunbeam." This, with much service on 
 the coast, and long travel, had worn on him, and, al- 
 though I had just returned from a laborious trip in 
 Montana he insisted that I should preach the eleven 
 o'clock sermon, prior to Franklin's and Gillihan's 
 ordination. What a strange coincident that he who 
 was converted to a Christian life under my ministry, 
 
278 COMPLETION OF BIBLE WORK IN UTAH. 
 
 so strangely set to work under my authority, and so 
 strangely received into my home conference, should 
 be ordained after my unexpectedly preaching the 
 sermon the bishop should have preached! 
 
 Being a good scholar in his native tongue and a man 
 of fine address Franklin was a very effective speaker. 
 He visited San Pete Valley and created quite a stir 
 among his Swedish and Danish acquaintances and 
 countrymen who were Mormons. The day of his ar- 
 rival among them to hold a Methodist meeting two of 
 their principal bishops were carried out of the streets 
 of Ephraim in a state of beastly intoxication. Frank- 
 lin did not fail to make the best use of this event and 
 delivered a powerful discourse on "Righteousness, 
 Temperance and Judgment to Come." King Canute 
 forbade his people to attend the meeting of this apos- 
 tate heretic, but the more he opposed and interdicted 
 their attendance the more the people pressed to hear 
 the joyful tidings of salvation. Scores w^ere converted 
 and joined the Methodist church and subsequent]} 
 built a mission chapel. 
 
 My judgment from the first of my acquaintance in 
 Utah was that mission work could be most effectively 
 accomphshed among the Scandinavians. So it w'as 
 proven, and the conversion and call of Peter Franklin 
 to the ministry proved to be the opening of this vast 
 and promising department among the apostatizing 
 Mormons. Franklin's efforts resulted in building the 
 first Scandinavian church in Salt Lake City, the es- 
 tablishment of a school for their children, from wdiicli 
 the w'ork is grownng rapidly. Other brethren entered 
 into the doors opened bv Brother Franklin, when he 
 had been called to wider fields of activity and useful- 
 ness in Minnesota. 
 
COMPLETION OF BIBLE WORK L\ UTAH. 279 
 
 I received much efficient help in the Bibie work 
 from all the missionaries and teachers in the field. 
 The}' looked upon the putting of the Bible in the 
 homes and hands of the people, backed by Bible ser- 
 mons as "foundation work" which must produce 
 beneficial results, especially as the people had little else 
 to read. I was very greatly aided in the complete sup- 
 ply of Utah by an active, devoted and self-sacrificing 
 company of colporteurs, whose Christian spirit and 
 example contrasted beautifully with the sordid, secu- 
 lar and sensual lives of the chief Mormons. So that 
 the Bible and corresponding example made a sen- 
 sible impression upon many who were in the thral- 
 dom of the Mormon faith and teaching. The leaven 
 was put in the meal, and has been working gloriously. 
 
 If the introduction of my work was, as I believe, 
 providential, and if v\e were divinely aided and di- 
 rected in it, then the fact of our having so completely 
 and thoroughly canvassed and supplied the entire ter- 
 ritory before the Edmunds Bill passed is no less prov- 
 idential, significant and gratifying. For, be it remem • 
 bered, that this work was completed by the time this 
 bill became a law, and such was the attitude of the 
 IMormons all over L^tah toward the law and toward all 
 churches and all Gentiles that every pulpit was 
 closed against us, and every neighborhood barred 
 against our colporteurs because they were Gentiles. 
 But the work had been done and so thoroughly done 
 that the board of managers of the American Bible 
 Society have not thought it necessary to put workers 
 in the field since we closed the canvass. To me it was 
 among the most satisfactory fields of ministerial 
 labor ever occupied. 
 
280 WONDERLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIL 
 
 WONDERLAND. 
 
 It was in 1882 that I, as superintendent of the Amer- 
 ican Bible Society work in Utah, Idaho and Mon- 
 tana, planned the trip of supply to which I have al- 
 ready called attention, from Salt Lake through Idaho 
 and into Eastern Montana. The route which we pro- 
 posed to take followed the Utah and Northern rail- 
 road line to Beaver Canon, thence through an un- 
 broken wilderness one hundred and ten miles to the 
 Fire Hole Basin. This would give us an opportunity 
 to thoroughly see Yellowstone Park, as we passed 
 through it from west to east, and from south to 
 north. Thence we expected to go to the great Yel- 
 lowstone River Valley, cross the ridge or great Di- 
 vide at Livingstone, come into the Gallatin Valley, 
 and travel north to the British line, near Forts Ben- 
 ton and A.ssinaboine. 
 
 Having thoroughly outfitted with an exception- 
 ally complete supply of camp necessities, my wife and 
 I set out in company with two colporteurs on a jour- 
 ney of twenty-six hundred miles. We took with us two 
 wagons and five head of horses, and carried a large 
 supply of Bibles. From the day we left until the jour- 
 ney was ended we slept but three nights in a habitable 
 house. 
 
 After we were once under way we staid not nor 
 
 iK >J< ;!; -k ♦ ^ ik 
 
 stopped until we reached Beaver Canon, from which 
 point, after a brief respite, we plunged into the wil- 
 derness. The trail we followed was an unfrequented 
 
WONDERLAND. 281 
 
 one, and boasted in the way of roadside habitations 
 but a single hut on the river bank, constituting a sort 
 of rendezvous for lost travelers and explorers. 
 
 At Little Snake River we partook of cheer with one 
 Mr. Ray, who for fourteen years had maintained in 
 that lonely spot a fishing and hunting camp. A lit- 
 tle later vve were in camp at Goose Lake, then, pass- 
 ing Henry's Lake, we camped again near Riverside, 
 and at last we pitched our tents on the very rim of the 
 Fire Hole Basin. We did not reach this last point of 
 vantage without diligent labor, having had to double- 
 team and climb a mountain of obsidian glass and vol- 
 canic output, almost four miles long from bottom to 
 top. 
 
 When we had crossed the River of the Basin we 
 came into full view of the Fire Hole itself. Almost we 
 seemed precipitated into the heart of some vast man- 
 ufacturing center with belching smoke-stacks, so 
 numerous were the columns of steam rising in front 
 of us. L^gly-mouthed craters yawned at us, tall, gey- 
 ser-throats reared before us, wTaith-like pillars of 
 white steam towered above us. It was a burning, 
 hissing magnificence. 
 
 We hastened down the ashy rim until we reached 
 a point on the Fire Hole River — of water almost scald- 
 ing hot, fresh from the geysers — within forty rods of 
 the head waters of the Madison, one of the three trib- 
 utaries combining to give impetus to that greatest of 
 all rivers — the Mississippi. A little further, and we 
 have entered the Park, "Wonderland," where are 
 massed the most beautiful natural effects encom- 
 passed in any one spot upon the face of the earth. 
 
 In 1882 the Park was almost geographically square, 
 containing one hundred square miles — sections taken 
 off Idaho, Wyoming and Montana, and by congres- 
 
282 WONDERLAND. 
 
 sional enactment, introduced by a Kansan, Senator 
 Samuel C. Pomeroy, forever set apart as our National 
 Park. 
 
 About midway from where we had entered the basin 
 and the upper end of the Fire Hole we again crossed 
 the river and cHmbed a very precipitous elevation, 
 composed almost wholly of the output of the "Sheri- 
 dan Geyser," and so reached a small plateau, euphoni- 
 ously called the Devil's Half-Acre. 
 
 Up here we made our first visit at close range to a 
 hot spring or boiling lake. The surface area of the 
 one w^e examined first was about one-eighth of an 
 acre. Above water as clear as crystal floated and 
 gleamed in the dancing sunlight a beautiful cloud of 
 pink vapor. The walls of the lake were curiously 
 inwrought and of variegated color. Dense volumes 
 of steam were continually rising from the surface, 
 yet when these would break and clear away momen- 
 tarily we could see into immense depths through the 
 crystalline waters beneath. One strikingly beautiful 
 feature of the scene were the finely finished formations 
 on walls and shores, worn smooth as glass by the play 
 of the waters, some as small as the pearls of a lady's 
 necklace, others as large as oranges, and even as large 
 as large melons, and all rich in colored light. Some 
 were yellow, some were emerald green, some were as 
 pink as the inner sides of shells, some as blue as a 
 summer sky. And as they caught the sun's rays and 
 held back those colors they saw fit to, and sent out 
 others with many a refractory glint, the prismatic play 
 was marvelously enchanting. 
 
 Taking up positions at various angles and looking 
 down into the unfathomable depths, we could see into 
 fair and graceful formations below the water, and felt 
 that we were in eerie proximity to the water-nymphs 
 
WONDERLAND. 283 
 
 and sub-marine fairies. A fairy sun was there, and by 
 his side, in modest companionship, the moon sat in 
 benign splendor. Stars specked the water and shone 
 through the intensely clear liquid as from the other 
 side of the world. 
 
 We had up to this moment been so wholly ab- 
 sorbed with the hot spring that we were oblivious 
 to the nearness to us of the Sheridan geyser. When 
 our attention had centered upon it we found it to be 
 a gaping crater, thirty or forty feet, with irregular and 
 broken sides, holding a disturbed body of water some 
 fifteen feet below the surface of the plateau upon which 
 we stood. 
 
 The water was in great agitation and our awe and 
 wonderment changed to terror when the angry, hiss- 
 ing, seething volume rose suddenly as if it would 
 overwhelm us. We fled, Hke Lot's wife, to a place 
 of surer safety, while the whole column of water was 
 lifted with a deafening roar high into the air. De- 
 tonations as of terrific cannonading accompanied the 
 agitation, while the hiss and rush and roar of the gey- 
 ser continued and the column of angry water rose 
 ever higher, until it had reached the altidude of full an 
 hundred and sixty feet. From it, poised in mid-air, 
 floated of¥ bubbles as large as barrels, shot through 
 with the sunlight and showing every color of the rain- 
 bow, bursting as they floated further and sending back 
 a shower of hot water. My wife's heroism paled be- 
 fore the sublime manifestation, the colporteurs were 
 terrified, and I was overwhelmed with a sense of the 
 divine omnipotence. I wept and shouted and laughed, 
 thrilled with wonder and amazement. 
 
 Part of the great towering column of water fell back 
 into the crater, and part rushed like another Niagara 
 over the sides of the plateau into Fire Hole River. 
 
284 WONDERLAND. 
 
 The agitation kept up for fully fifteen minutes. When 
 it had subsided we cautiously wended our way out of 
 the field by way of the wagon tracks we discovered. 
 The whole crest of the plateau was blistered with little 
 rjeysers and openings out of which steam was issuing. 
 It was in a state of some trepidation from this latest 
 experience that we continued our way up the valley 
 to the upper end of the field of wonders. 
 
 5;C JjC 5|I I^C 5|C SjC 5jC 
 
 As we sat in our wagons awaiting directions from 
 our guide, to our great delight we were greeted with a 
 display of the powers and beauty of "Old Faithful." 
 This magnificent geyser has well earned her name, 
 for every sixty-five minutes, day in and night out, from 
 year to year, so far as known, "Old Faithful" makes 
 her report "All's Well" and emphasizes it with her 
 incomparable display. She stands like a sentinel on 
 an elevation on the west side of the river. She never 
 asks for a vacation, and her waters gush forth as beau- 
 tifully today as they have in all these years. Her 
 crater is built up of a product siliceous and limey in 
 character, corrugated and wondrously carved and in- 
 wrought by flowing of the water. Her throat is oval in 
 shape and is four by six feet in diameter. Her posi- 
 tion is on an irregular plateau thirty feet above the 
 river drainage. The volume of dense hot water rises 
 by the exploding force of the pent-up gas and steam 
 to an altitude of one hundred and sixty feet, and sways 
 back and forth like a sapling pine. The sparkling 
 column showers back myriads of drops and bubbles, 
 bright and glistening in the sunshine, like a multi- 
 colored sky rocket. Rising by impulsion the column 
 pushes away, jet after jet, higher and higher, and car- 
 ries heavenward with it the astonished game. 
 
WONDERLAND. 285 
 
 We made our way to a little plateau near by and 
 parking our wagons pitched tent in the midst of one 
 of the most active groups of geysers in the field. 
 Scarcely had we adjusted ourselves to our new sur- 
 roundings when we heard the thrilling shout of the 
 guide: 
 
 "The Bee Hive! The Bee Hive! The Bee Hive is 
 going to show up!" 
 
 The Bee Hive is a universal favorite and comes 
 in for a great meed of praise for its beauty where all 
 is beautiful. The crater stands five feet or more above 
 the plateau, is eight or nine feet at the base and six feet 
 at the top, with a throat large enough to admit of the 
 passage of an ordinary barrel. The opening is oblong 
 in shape, beautifully finished and as smooth as porce- 
 lain. There is connected with this geyser an under- 
 groud vent leading to a very small indicator, or gey- 
 ser, some twenty feet away, out of which a volume 
 of steam issues for fifteen minutes before the Bee Hive 
 begins to play, this signal serving as a steam whistle 
 to notify visitors that the entertainment is about to 
 begin. The valley is immediately alive with excite- 
 ment. Citizens from all the vicinity, soldiers from the 
 military posts who were en route to meet General 
 Phil. Sheridan, and tourists from all countries, came 
 rushing to the scene. A great company stood in 
 breathless expectancy. 
 
 The indicator ceased. The steam and gas from the 
 crater began to rise. Then the volume of water rushed 
 up and up, as straight as a telegraph pole and as com- 
 pact as the stream from the nozzle of a fire engine. 
 As dense as the body of a great pine tree the column 
 rose to the height of one hundred feet and then spread 
 out in a beautiful waving spray. So dense is the col- 
 umn of water, gas and steam that, standing close to 
 
286 . WONDERLAND. 
 
 the crater, I put out my hand until I almost touched 
 the ascending column. Then seized by a wayward im- 
 pulse I took off my hat and tossed it in. As quick as 
 a flash, to the amusement. of the company, up went 
 the hat more than a hundred feet, whirling and swirl- 
 ing with the steam and gas, cutting fantastic freaks. 
 
 5!; ^ ^; ^ * ik ;!; 
 
 During the demonstration on the part of the Bee 
 Hive we were also treated to an amusing incident as 
 one of the exigencies of the treacherous ground on 
 whicli we stood and sat. A soldier was sitting on the 
 ground narrating war stories to a crowd of interested 
 companions when he suddenly shot up in the air, 
 slapped himself vigorously on the place he had been 
 sitting upon and cried vociferously, "A geyser! A gey- 
 ser!" So it was, too. He had been sitting on a small 
 crater, which had surprised him by a hot attack from 
 the rear. 
 
 The beauty and grandeur of this most chaste of all 
 geysers was kept up for fully twenty minutes; and 
 scarcely had the excitement died away attendant upon 
 the Bee Hive's demonstration before another shout 
 was raised — 'The Splendid!" 
 
 We rushed over logs and stumps and rough places 
 for about an eighth of a mile to witness the display of a 
 triple stream thrown out of a geyser with a large 
 throat but with a larynx so formed as to divide the 
 water into three streams. Strangest of all is the inter- 
 mittent impulse upon which this geyser plays. After 
 an exhibition of five minutes it takes a five minutes' 
 rest, then plays again for five minutes, then rests again, 
 and then comes the final effort of activitv. One stream, 
 two feet in diameter, rises one hundred and sixty feet 
 in a perpendicular line, one spurts out in a northerly 
 direction and the third and last cutting away to the 
 
WONDERLAND. 287 
 
 southwest. The effect is best suggested in the name 
 given the geyser. I went down into this seething 
 crater and secured a remarkably fine specimen. 
 
 Most phenomenal of all geysers, and, as her name 
 indicates, most powerful, is the "Giantess." At the 
 summit of the plateau lies what to the seeming is a 
 lake placid as a summer morning, smooth as a mirror. 
 Out toward shore line is a formation much like ex- 
 tending ice. The depths are bottomless. Only once 
 in a long while does the "Giantess" arouse to a deter- 
 mination to show the other geysers what a geyser can 
 really do. Her domain is undisputed, her prestige 
 unchallenged. The crater, of a diameter of twenty feet, 
 is so near the level of the top of the field that she is not 
 suspected of being a "spouter" at all; but when in ac- 
 tion this great body of w^ater is lifted solidly into the 
 air for an hundred feet, when by internal propulsion 
 it divides into five distinct columns, each of which rises 
 nearly another hundred feet like fluted columns. These 
 columns then begin to spread out like elm trees, until 
 having reached the altitude of nearly two hundred and 
 sixty feet the descent begins. Then it is as if the win- 
 dows of heaven were opened. The torrent rushes 
 madly down the sides of the plateau into Fire Hole 
 River. 
 
 :k ^ ^': * =i< >k * 
 
 It is useless to attempt a detailed description of a.V 
 the multiform attractions formed by the physical 
 agencies at work in the heart of the earth in "Wonder- 
 land." They are too numerous and too marvelous for 
 anything more than the typification of all by the illus- 
 trations given above, and the mere mention of a few 
 of the other most prominent ones to which attention 
 has not yet been given. 
 
288 WONDERLAND. 
 
 Among these 'The Castle" is well named. It is a 
 chimney shaped crater, some eight by ten feet, irregu- 
 lar, terrace-formed, while all around are curiously- 
 carved basins full of crystalline water. Some of these 
 little pools contain a pint of water, some a gallon, some 
 of the water is orange, some of it is green, some sul- 
 phurous. The intervening partitions are wonderfully 
 molded. The base of the crater is covered with a 
 convoluted formation resembling cauliflower. One 
 particular specimen in my cabinet might easily be 
 taken by an anatomist for the cerebellum of a child of 
 ten. When the Castle is on the verge of an exhibition 
 the earth trembles for acres around, internal intona- 
 tions and thunderings are heard, as if a battle had been 
 drawn and thundering parks of artillery were engaged. 
 There is a heaving, a hissing, a trembling, as when 
 the engineer throws the throttle wide. The water is 
 greatly troubled and rises and splashes and dashes Hke 
 a caged lioness seeking escape. 
 
 The "Giant" further down the field is a guard on 
 duty. It's crater resembles a large sycamore tree 
 broken ofi ten or fifteen feet from the root. In the 
 northwest side of this geyser there is a large rent and 
 a heavy piece has been thrown ofif by some mighty 
 shock or struggle within. 
 
 Not far from the Giant stands the Grotto and below 
 in the same field is the Riverside and Falls. 
 
 :{j ^ ^ 5|< ^ ^ * 
 
 Crossing the Divide we came to a lake of fire and 
 brimstone. In close proximity is the Devil's Outlook, 
 and not far away is the most inexplicable demonstra- 
 tion in the entire field — an opening in the side of a 
 mountain, where a mud-geyser is in perpetual action, 
 a veritable bit out of Dante's Inferno. Dark and 
 smoky, there issue from it horrid, rumbling noises as 
 
WONDERLAND. 289 
 
 of fire, and a cry as of some soul tormented. The 
 smell of brimstone mingles with the stench of the de- 
 bris — the base of all the extracts of cologne — into one 
 foul malodorous odor. The murky mud gooled up 
 toward us as if to overwhelm us, then receded in black 
 sullenness, while we stood terrified before it. 
 
 Further on we found Yellowstone Lake, the source 
 of Yellowstone River. Down the river are the Upper 
 Falls with a descent of more than eighty feet. A mile 
 or more below are the Great Falls, having a plunge of 
 three hundred and sixty feet. It is here that the 
 Yellowstone Canon begins, the most wonderful of all 
 on the east side of the Rocky range. From Point 
 Lookout we stand and gaze over the falls and as we 
 gaze on yonder rocky summit is an eagle teaching her 
 young to fly. Opposite us rise castellated precipices 
 thousands of feet high. Cathedral upon cathedral, 
 tower upon tower, rise in one grand amalga- 
 mating mass. We are charmed and chained by the 
 awfulness of the wonders of nature. Out of the north 
 flames before us a mountain of sulphur on fire. The 
 very wagon road we travel is of glass, "obsidian." The 
 forests we pass through are full of petrified trees, and 
 the fields are haunted by hobos and goblins, hideous 
 stone-forms, caused by the action of the water, frost 
 and erosion of the wind, and so terribly fantastic that 
 no Indian will go that way. 
 
 We pass, further on, "Young America," the "Minute 
 Man," who, though a little geyser, spouts every min- 
 ute. At almost the north limit of the park we come 
 upon one of its chiefest grandeurs, the Mammoth Hot 
 Springs, the wonder of all the tourists, vast and varied 
 in formation and indescribably beautiful. Then comes 
 Liberty Gap at the finish, and all reluctantly we bid 
 Wonderland adieu. 
 
 19 
 
290 RETURN TO KANSAS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 RETURN TO KANSAS. 
 
 After two years of very arduous though successful 
 work in the mountains I decided to return to the Kan- 
 sas Conference and again engage in work on Kansas 
 soil. It had so long been my field of labor and my life 
 and history had been so intimately interwoven with 
 her woof and warp that I longed for re-establishment 
 in my home conference. 
 
 Again, the Bible work in the mountains entailed 
 a great deal of physical hardship and I found it was 
 beginning to tell upon me in most trying manner. The 
 "jerkies," or mountain stages, were far from com- 
 fortable vehicles in which to ride over mountain roads, 
 and not infrequently after a long and rough ride I 
 would suffer excruciatingly with headache and spinal 
 irritation, until life would be almost unbearable. This 
 condition was aggravated by a misfortune which be- 
 fel me which came near being serious. While suffer- 
 ing violent pain at one time by mistake I took a dose 
 of tincture of Aconite, and but for the timely discovery 
 of the error would have been sacrificed to the poison, 
 the dose having been amply sufficient to have de- 
 stroyed life. This poisoning increased the sensitive- 
 ness of my brain and spine, absolutely necessitating 
 discontinuance of the mountain "jerky" method of 
 jerky travel. My health was so rudely shocked by 
 this laborious work that I was compelled to visit my 
 doctor-son in Texas for treatm.ent, and upon his ad- 
 
RETURN TO KANSAS. 291 
 
 vice determined at the earliest moment to retire from 
 the mountain field and take up lighter labor. With 
 this determination I purchased an interest in the Kan- 
 sas Methodist and became its editor, at Topeka. In 
 connection with my editorial labor I embarked in the 
 church book and publishing business, in which com- 
 bined enterprises I continued for some time. This 
 work did not prove satisfying to my energies and ambi- 
 tions, and after fairly starting both enterprises toward 
 success I disposed of them to Rev. J. N. See, who for 
 a long time continued the issuance of the Methodist. 
 During my editorship I was not idle ministerially. I 
 was repeatedly called upon to dedicate new churches 
 and lift church debts, in every instance in which my 
 services were sought succeeding in accomplishing the 
 work in hand. In several instances I succeeded in 
 raising far beyond the amount needed, winning the 
 gratitude of the people and assisting in furthering the 
 cause of the church and her substantial and spiritual 
 interests in this manner. This particular function has 
 been one in which the most gratifying success has at- 
 tended my efforts all through my church life. A list 
 of my dedications and debt raisings would prove an 
 interesting record, could I but get it together at this 
 time. Perhaps in the future I may do so. 
 
 Among the churches dedicated by me, one in par- 
 ticular had a most pecular history covering its origin, 
 completion and dedication. It is located on an Indian 
 Reserve strip, seven miles South of Eureka. Two or 
 three families came all the way from Northwestern 
 Iowa with wagons drawn by very poor spans of 
 horses and correspondingly poor harness. With the 
 men, the women and children walked most of the way. 
 
^92 RETURN TO KANSAS. 
 
 The teams had all they could do in their skeletonness 
 to draw the wagons containing the household goods, 
 bedding and clothing of the movers. These families 
 took up homesteads on the "Diminished Reservation," 
 which had just been opened for settlement, and built 
 a small temporary house from stones which cropped 
 from the surface of the prairie ridge running through 
 their homestead, the stones being laid in mud instead 
 of mortar. In these houses they concluded to live 
 until they could build a church and school. 
 
 Before long the time came for this much desired 
 work to begin. Sister B. agreed to board the work- 
 men, as her subscription. She had two small rooms in 
 which were quartered the masons and their helpers 
 while they were engaged in quarrying the rock and 
 laying the foundation. Then came the carpenters, and 
 these were taken in until the walls and roof of the 
 church were ready for the plasterers. Meanwhile her 
 husband solicited help and collected money, material 
 and labor, and superintended in a general way the 
 erection of the building. Then came the men to do 
 the plastering, painting and glazing, and they, too, 
 were boarded. 
 
 At last after a long and hard struggle the desire of 
 these self-sacrificing Christian men and women was re- 
 alized. On a prominent site in that primitive country 
 stood completed a well proportioned nud neatly fin- 
 ished church, which will accommodate two hundred 
 and fifty people, erected at a cost of nearly one thou- 
 sand nine hundred dollars. 
 
 The day of dedication was at hand. I was called 
 upon to preach and raise the amount needed to pay all 
 the indebtednesses on the church. When I reached 
 the neighborhood I was quartered with this Christian 
 
RETURN TO KANSAS. 293 
 
 family, as they only of all the neighbors were prepared 
 to entertain the preacher and visitors. Sister B. had 
 baked a barrel full of loaves of bread, roasted two or 
 three good-sized turkeys, boiled and baked half a hog, 
 and had cooked nearly a quarter of a medium-sized 
 beef. She was amply provided with table comforts for 
 all. We had a meeting of the trustees and interested 
 friends on Saturday night, after which we repaired to 
 this hospitable home. In the room in which I slept, 
 which was twelve by fourteen feet square, there were 
 four beds. Three persons slept in each bed, except the 
 one which the preacher was to occupy with the head of 
 the family. In the other room, which was smaller and 
 had the cookstove in it, there were five beds, and the 
 intermediate space was occupied by the rising genera- 
 tion until next morning. 
 
 The day dawned auspiciously, and the people came 
 in groups from far and near until the whole prairie 
 around the church was alive with teams and the church 
 was filled with people to its utmost capacity. As we 
 walked to the house of worship my big-hearted hostess 
 said to me: "That church has got to be paid for today if 
 we have to part with our homestead. We can go West 
 and take up more land and pre-empt it if necessary." 
 All this time I w^as wondering, Where lay the secret of 
 this zeal? 
 
 Before me gathered nearly one hundred young 
 men and women of ages ranging from fifteen to twen- 
 ty-five young people as intelligent as are found any- 
 where, w^ho had come with their parents from older 
 states where they had enjoyed the advantages of 
 church and Sabbath school, but who without a house 
 of worship would soon have passed into such in- 
 difference as would have foreboded moral ruin. The 
 
294 RETURN TO KANSAS. 
 
 children! — this was the secret which led to so much 
 joyful toil and self-sacrifice in the erection of this 
 church. 
 
 The company of people was so great that many 
 could not find room, notwithstanding the aisles were 
 seated with chairs and wagon-seats from the numerous 
 farm wagons in which the families came to the dedica- 
 tion. Quite a company of men were around the door 
 and near the windows, which w^re opened so they 
 could hear the sermon, for I was to "preach for all 
 that was out" — as well as for all who were in. 
 
 We had had a feast of spiritual singing and I was 
 preaching from a favorite dedicatory text, Galatians iv., 
 4, 5 : "When the fullness of the time was come God sent 
 forth His son, made of a woman, made under the law, 
 that we might receive the adoption of sons." The 
 audience had become deeply interested in the dis- 
 course, and I was about through its delivery, when out 
 from the North came an old Indian chief with some of 
 his tribe, his four squaws, and more than a dozen of 
 his children. Some of them were pappooses on their 
 mothers' backs, with all the wickups, poles and para- 
 phernalia of a real Indian camp on their ponies. When 
 they came in full view^ of the church, teams and crowds 
 of men, they halted, then diverged to the left of the 
 road until they came w-ithin about an eighth of a mile 
 and stopped again. Some of the men went out to them 
 and talked to the old chief, who, with his people, were 
 on their w-ay to visit tribal relatives in the Indian Ter- 
 ritory, intending to remain "two moons." 
 
 Imagine his astonishment to w^itness such a change 
 on the very grounds over which he had roamed from 
 boyhood to manhood, and which his people had occu- 
 pied in undisputed possession for centuries. The con- 
 
RETURN TO KANSAS. 296 
 
 trast of the situation, the difference between the Indian 
 clan before us and the assembly of white people in 
 their Christian homes and church, was so vivid as to 
 afford me the opportunity of showing the advantages 
 of revealed religion over the ''light of nature" and un- 
 assisted reason. The Indian had nature for a teacher 
 and nothing to do but study the book. He neither 
 toiled nor did he spin. The procession of states and 
 planets went silently in their incessant march before 
 him. The mountains with their pinnacled tops pointed 
 constantly toward heaven. But he knew not God, nor 
 Christ who had redeemed him. But the Bible, the 
 Church, the Christian Altar and Sabbath all told of 
 immortality and eternal life. 
 
 It was a glad day for the neighborhood and people. 
 The debt was amply provided for and the church duly 
 dedicated, to become a center of attraction and a joy to 
 the whole community. 
 
296 LAST YEARS OF PASTORATE LIFE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 LAST YEARS OF PASTORATE LIFE. 
 
 The closing years of my life as a pastor have been 
 pleasantly and efBciently spent in the Kansas Con- 
 ference. Up to April, 1887, after having retired from the 
 ownership of the Kansas Methodist, I served as or- 
 ganizer of the temperance forces of the state. At that 
 date I concluded to re-enter pastoral relations and ac- 
 cepted the charge of the church at Alarysville, Marshall 
 County. This was a pleasant little city and the mem- 
 bership of the church, though not large, was com- 
 posed of pious Christian oeople among whom it was a 
 pleasure to live. I associated myself with Halcyon 
 Lodge of Independent Order of Odd Fellows, by 
 transfer from my home lodge, and otherwise became 
 identified with the interests of my charge and its peo- 
 ple. But little of unusual importance occurred during 
 my two years' residence at Marysville, though many 
 incidents serving to strengthen us in the service of the 
 Master are recorded in our hearts. 
 
 At the close of my second years' pastorate at Marys- 
 ville we were assigned the station of Wamego, on the 
 Union Pacific railroad, and here spent two very de- 
 lightful and profitable years of service. During our 
 residence at Wamego we held a number of successful 
 protracted meetings, at which there were many con- 
 versions to Christ. Among those converted was a 
 bright young girl named Bessie Lilly. Her mother 
 had been a Baptist, her father a Baptist preacher. 
 
LAST YEARS OF PASTORATE LIFE. 297 
 
 When the time came for the administration of the 
 sacrament of baptism Bessie elected to be baptised by 
 the method most commonly in vogue in the Methodist 
 church and was sprinkled. Her grandmother, hearing 
 of this, visited her and taking the little girl upon her 
 knee expressed her regret that she had chosen to be 
 baptised in this way, presenting most earnestly her ob- 
 jections to this method of administering this sacra- 
 ment. The grandchild listened respectfully, but was 
 only confused by the earnestness with which her 
 grandmother urged immersion as a saving grace, and 
 finally sighingly said to her, ''Grandma, if you don't 
 stop talking to me that way you will make me an out 
 and out invalid." The child got the word mixed, but 
 her grandmother saw the force of her reasoning and 
 yielded the point at issue. Beyond doubt many men 
 and women are made infidels by the confusion in doc- 
 trines and sacraments in the various church denomi- 
 nations. To them these differences seem to undo a 
 great deal of the teaching of the church, and stand out 
 in bold antagonism to the preached doctrines of a 
 brotherhood religion. 
 
 From the time we used to hold union Sabbath school 
 services in my boyhood days, and the time of the union 
 meeting earlier recited as having occurred in which 
 the Quakers and Methodists came together to serve 
 one God, 1 have been a firm believer in the useful- 
 ness of union church services and have wished that the 
 time may come when all Christian denominations 
 whose doctrines are not widely at variance may wor- 
 ship the Master under one membership. I cannot but 
 feel that through the union of all Christian forces 
 greater good than now would be accomplished and 
 more precious souls w^ould be brought to believe in 
 Christ and Him crucified. The confusion of almost 
 
298 LAST YEARS OF PASTORATE LIFE. 
 
 innumera1)le denominations cannot but be confusing 
 and unsatisying to the unbeliever. 
 
 May God in His own good time bring us together. 
 
 ^ ;jj ^ ^ ^ ;J; :|c 
 
 While at Wamego for my second year I had the 
 satisfaction and pleasure, and a pleasure it was, too, 
 of visiting the four conferences now in Kansas, which 
 were formed out of the original Kansas Conference of 
 which I became a member in territorial days. 
 
 The South Kansas Conference met at Chanute. I 
 attended a lovefeast during the session, at which many 
 gave testimony of the goodness of God. After a great 
 many had spoken I arose near the altar and briefly re- 
 lated a part of my Christian experience, this prompting 
 the recital of the conversion and entrance upon the 
 Melhodist ministry of the brother whose conversion 
 was due to Mrs. Shugro's recital to him of my escape 
 at the time of Quantrell's raid, as already recorded. 
 
 I next attended the Northwestern Kansas Confer- 
 ence in session at Norton, the county seat of Norton 
 County. On the way to this conference I met with an 
 accident which all but cost me my life. Upon reach- 
 ing Mankato, on the Rock Island railroad, we were 
 snow-bound for nearly ninety hours. There were a 
 number of preachers and the presiding bishop, Bishop 
 Merrill, on the train. A deep cut was packed full of 
 snow and the plows were at work trying to clear the 
 tracks, three locomotives being employed in the work. 
 The passengers were irresistably drawn to where the 
 excavating was going on. One of the party, Rev. Dr. 
 Stoltz, had been ill and I remained behind with him for 
 a time, but when he became better we started up the 
 track to where the snow-plows were at work, not 
 knowing that there was a locomotive behind us. We 
 W'Cre w^alking deliberately up the track, unconscious of 
 
LAST YEARS OF PASTORATE LIFE. 299 
 
 danger, when an engine under good head of steam 
 approached from behind. We were not seen by either 
 the engineer or fireman, they being otherwise occupied 
 and not expecting that any one would be on the track 
 with the snow banked high on either side. A cry of 
 warning was raised from an adjoining elevator and 
 heard by Dr. Stoltz, who sprung from the track in time 
 to reach a place of safety. He cried to me to look out 
 for the locomotive. We had not thought of danger 
 from the rear, so I looked sharply ahead, thinking he 
 meant that an engine might approach from that di- 
 rection. He called loudly the second time, and turn- 
 ing I saw the locomotive with a snow-plow, looking 
 like the end of a barn, directly upon me. I could 
 neither turn nor run nor jump sidewise in time to be 
 saved. I felt a feeling of resentment to think I was 
 thus placed in an unconscious danger simply because 
 the engineer and firemen were not on the lookout 
 ahead, and seeing no other chance for escape sprang 
 with all my strength right on the pilot. The engine 
 was approaching at such speed, however, that I was 
 thrown from the pilot to one side. I was thus saved 
 from being crushed to death beneath the pon- 
 derous machine, but as it passed me the stop-cock of 
 an escape pipe caught me and held me alongside the 
 driving wheels a prisoner, lying flat on the snow-cov- 
 ered ties, close to the rail, as the great engine with its 
 snow-plow attachment passed almost over me. I was 
 so close to the drivers that one of them wrenched my 
 over-shoe from my foot. Brother Stoltz turned blind 
 and faint as I struck the pilot and was hurled to one 
 side, and marveled to see me escape alive. Though 
 my danger was of a different nature, yet it was but 
 little less pronounced than when the guerrillas entered 
 my cellar at Lawrence in search of my life. I praised 
 
300 LAoT YEARS OF PASTORATE LIFE. 
 
 God that I had again escaped a violent death, attended 
 conference as planned, and returned home to recite to 
 my wife who had saved me from the murderous hands 
 of the Ouantrell raiders how again I had had a narrow 
 escape from imminent danger from which the Lord in 
 His goodness had delivered me. 
 
 Jjc ^ "^ ^J^ i]J . ^ ^ 
 
 While at Wamego I lectured to the congregation 
 and citizens on the Quantrell Raid, at the special re- 
 quest of numbers of the people who knew something 
 of my marvelous escape, and who were, therefore, 
 more deeply interested in my recital of the awful mas- 
 sacre than they would otherwise have been. The last 
 time I delivered this lecture Mr. M. D. Embly, one of 
 our citizens, said to a friend, ''I have heard Dr. Fisher's 
 lecture four different times; I don't believe I care to 
 hear it again." When the hour came, however, he was 
 persuaded by his wife to accompany her, and I noticed 
 that he listened with marked attention. As he re- 
 turned to his home he said to his wife, 'T have now 
 heard that lecture five times. I thought I should never 
 care to hear it again, but I will give a live dollar bill 
 to hear it once more." Though indirectly a compli- 
 ment to the lecturer, perhaps, yet the thrilling incidents 
 of the story had so grown upon him that it had failed 
 to become an old story, and its recital for the fifth 
 time had so aroused his interest in the part his state 
 had played in the War of the Rebellion that he had 
 come to be a ready listener to the review of the most 
 deplorable of all its unfortunate occurrences. 
 
 At the close of my pastoral term at Wamego I was 
 stationed at Westmoreland, the county seat of Potta- 
 watomie County. I confess when my appointment to 
 this charge was announced I was disappointed. It 
 
LAST YEARS OF PASTORATE LIFE. 301 
 
 caused me to recall a story of Rev. George S. Holmes, 
 under whose pastorate I served as a lad, and of whom 
 I have repeatedly spoken in the earlier pages of this 
 volume. Brother Holmes expected to be stationed at 
 a certain charge at one of the conference sittings, but 
 when the appointments were read out he was surprised 
 to hear that he was assigned to one of the most un- 
 inviting of all the charges, a place to which he had not 
 had the slightest thought of being sent. As soon as 
 the Bishop had finished his appointments Brother 
 Holmes rose in his place on the conference floor, ad- 
 dressed the Bishop and conference, and voiced the 
 following words. "Bishop, and Brethren, I was taught 
 to believe that the assignment of preachers at the 
 sittings of our conferences is the work of the Lord and 
 the Bishop. But since hearing where I am to go for 
 the next twelve months I have reached the conclusion 
 that this particular lot of appointments is more likely 
 to have been made by the Devil and the Presiding 
 Elder." 
 
 This was about the way I felt when assigned to 
 Westmoreland. But in this, as in many other things 
 in which my voice has been raised in doubt of the 
 wisdom on God's movements as they have related to 
 me, I was doomed to a pleasurable disappointment. 
 Our station was a quiet town, ofi of any railroad. It 
 first seemed to me like a burial of myself and wife 
 to go there. It was so quiet that one of my little 
 grandsons, in writing to his Papa about it, wrote, 
 "Every day is like Sunday up here and Sunday is like 
 a funeral." This quiet was almost unbearable at first, 
 but I soon learned that it was just what I needed. 
 Furthermore, the people were among the most hos- 
 pitable and considerate I have ever presided over. Our 
 church work was satisfactory to us in large degree. 
 
302 LAST YEARS OF PASTORATE LIFE. 
 
 while our social- life in Westmoreland was restful and 
 in many respects delightful. 
 
 Among appointments I took in was one called 
 Moodyville Springs, a popular summer resort. On 
 one occasion at this station there were present under 
 my preaching one hundred and eleven persons, young 
 and old, immediately connected with a family named 
 Siddens. A large number of them were professed 
 Christians. This remarkable incident was made espe- 
 cially impressive by the fact that within a twelvemonth 
 I was called upon to bury seven adult members of this 
 family connection. 
 
 While pastor at Westmoreland I was stricken, al- 
 most without a moment's warning, with the 
 most violent illness of my life, neuralgia of 
 the heart. For a time my life was despaired 
 of by physician, wife and friends. In the 
 extremest moment of my illness I looked back upon 
 my eventful past and could but feel that while there 
 was many an hour and many a day and many a month 
 and many a year m which I could do better, perhaps, 
 had I my life to live over again, yet, after all,- I had 
 tried as best I could in an humble way to serve my 
 Master, and I could but feel that all would be well with 
 me were I called to leave my loved ones. Looking 
 over my church life to see if there was anything upon 
 which to depend for safety I was made comfortable and 
 happy in the beautiful words that came to my mind : 
 
 "My hope is built on nothing less 
 
 Than Jesus' blood and righteousness. 
 I dare not trust the sweetest frame, 
 But wholly lean on Jesus' name." 
 
 I was ready to go if it were God's will. But under 
 
LAST YEARS OF PASTORATE LIFE. 303 
 
 His providence I was spared for other years, though 
 shattered in health for a time. 
 
 It was during this severe illness, more than at any 
 other time, that I was made to feel and understand 
 God's providence in sending me to the good people 
 of Westmoreland, whom I shall ever bear in grateful 
 remembrance for their uniform kindness and support 
 in this dark hour. 
 
 ;Jc 5i: * * * * * 
 
 My own illness at Westmoreland and a serious ill- 
 ness which overtook Mrs. Fisher at conference, deter- 
 mined me to take a superannuated relation rather than 
 again undertake the arduous duties of pastorate life. 
 This step was not taken without much consideration 
 and prayer. We possessed a comfortable home in 
 Topeka. We were growing old. Our boys could not 
 make it convenient to visit us at out-of-the-way points 
 as they wished they might, and as we would have been 
 glad to have had them do. During my alarming ill- 
 ness neither of my doctor-sons could get to us. So 
 taking everything into consideration I decided I had 
 better seek retirement from active pastoral duties and 
 serve God as best I might be able in other lines of 
 work. 
 
 A special reason which operated to cause me to 
 reach this decision arose from the fact that I had de,- 
 cided to become a candidate for the chaplaincy of the 
 United States Congress at its Fifty-fourth session, 
 having received assurances from Honorable Case 
 Broderick, representing the First Kansas District, and 
 Honorable Charles Curtis, representing the Fourth 
 District, at Washington, that I would most likely be 
 chosen to this honorable position. I could but feel 
 that this would be an acceptable closing of a life of 
 usefulness in the service of the church and our coun- 
 
304 LAST YEARS OF PASTORATE LIFE. 
 
 try, and felt, also, that it would give me more of the 
 leisure and rest than pastoral work, and would afford 
 me opportunities for useful labor in a line of work 
 which I desired to take up between sessions of 
 Congress, were I elected. Therefore, I asked for and 
 was granted superannuated relation at the session of 
 the Kansas Conference held in Atchison in March, 
 1895, after more than forty years of active pastoral 
 duties, above thirty of which had been spent in the 
 service of the Master in the Kansas Conference. 
 
CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDACY. 305 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDACY. 
 
 In entering upon a formal candidacy for the chap- 
 laincy of Congress I was gratified beyond measure at 
 the warmth of support I received from almost every 
 one with whom I came in contact in this relation. It 
 was a case of where a prophet is not without honor in 
 his own country. Every state elective official, almost 
 the entire membership of the Kansas State Senate and 
 House of Representatives, members of the Supreme 
 Court of Kansas, and several of the District Judges 
 of the State, the officers of the Grand Army of the 
 Republic of Kansas and many of its prominent mem- 
 bers, together with leading members of the church 
 and citizens all over Kansas serving in private ca- 
 pacity, joined in signing my papers of recommenda- 
 tion and wishing me every possible success in this can- 
 didacy. Better than riches is a good name among the 
 brethren and one's fellow men. I could but feel most 
 highly complimented by the freedom and unanimity 
 with which the support of the state officers and legis- 
 lators was tenderd my congressional supporters and 
 managers. 
 
 Armed with these recommendations and with 
 promises of votes from members of congress from a 
 dozen or more different states, I repaired to Washing- 
 ton in the fall of 1895 in the interests of my candidacy. 
 Messrs. Broderick and Curtis had managed my cam- 
 paign with admirable skill, and to my extreme gratifi- 
 cation I found that it .was generally accepted that I 
 20 
 
306 CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDACY. 
 
 would be named for the chaplaincy on the ticket 
 headed by Mr. McDowell, of Pennsylvania, as a can- 
 didate for the clerkship of the House of Representa- 
 tives. This ticket was generally conceded to win in the 
 caucus,therefore my name was most freely mentioned 
 as that of the coming chaplain. The ofilice had been 
 long looked upon as belonging to the clergy of the 
 District of Columbia, five of whom were in the race 
 against me. Rev. E. H. Couden, of Michigan, a blind 
 preacher of the Unitarian church, was also in the 
 field. 
 
 When the caucus convened Mr. McDowell was eas- 
 ily elected as the candidate of the republicans for the 
 clerkship of the House. The remaining candidates on 
 the ticket headed by him were also successful, but the 
 balloting was prolonged well in the night and the 
 members were growing tired before the balloting for a 
 candidate for chaplain began. Seven names were 
 placed in nomination, my name being placed before 
 the caucus by Mr. Broderick in an earnest plea that 
 the Kansas Chaplain might be chosen. 
 
 The balloting began and I led the race, receiving 
 just as many as all the balance of the candidates to- 
 gether received. One more vote would have nomi- 
 nated me. The second ballot was taken and again I 
 received exactly as many votes as all the rest together. 
 It was then after midnight, and the members were 
 weary and beginning to scatter. Opposing friends 
 conceded that I would be elected on the next ballot, 
 and some of my supporters, hearing that the other 
 candidates were to be withdrawn one by one in my 
 favor, thought it not necessary to remain and left for 
 their hotels. This was a fatal mistake. The third bal- 
 lot was called and votes were being cast when a mem- 
 ber from Massachusetts violated the rule of the caucus 
 
CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDACY. 307 
 
 and in explaining his vote made an earnest plea that 
 the bHnd preacher might be chosen, and thus the 
 McDowell slate be broken on one office, at least. 
 Sympathy was aroused for the blind brother and those 
 of the candidates who had intended withdrawing in my 
 favor were not able to prevent their supporters from 
 going to Rev. Mr. Couden, who on the third ballot 
 received the nomination which on two ballots was 
 mine had I received but one more vote. 
 
 The most stinging part of my defeat was because it 
 was accomplished by a representative from Kansas, 
 through his not casting the necessary ballot for the 
 candidate of his own state. Representative Miller, of 
 Kansas City, Kansas, supported the candidacy of Mr. 
 Henderson, of Illinois, against that of Mr. McDowelU, 
 for the clerkship, and refused to support me because I 
 was the candidate of the McDowell ticket. Every rep- 
 resentative from Kansas but Mr. Miller considered that 
 it would be an honor for his state to have the office, 
 but he preferred that Kansas should not be thus recog- 
 nized than that a single candidate on the McDowell 
 ticket should receive his vote. Had it been given when 
 I lacked the one necessary to give me a majority of the 
 entire number cast I would have been the nominee and 
 the West would have had the office for the first time. 
 But he preferred to gratify his selfish opposition to the 
 McDowell ticket all the way through and thus defeated 
 his townsman. The responsibility is his. I recite the 
 facts without comment. 
 
 My vote on the second tie was one hundred and nine 
 ballots against one hundred and nine for the other 
 seven clergymen in the field. 
 
 It has been held that had Mr. Miller cast his ballot 
 for the Kansas candidate it would have resulted in 
 securing for the state the appointment of a number to 
 
308 CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDACY. 
 
 clerkships, thus reahzing to our citizens honors and 
 many thousands of dollars now lost to them, and that 
 among the results would probably have been the se- 
 cureraent of the reading clerkship. Of this I have 
 knowledge from congressmen, my information coming 
 from sources of eminent reHabiHty, in all probability 
 fully correct. 
 
 To say that my defeat did not bring disappointment 
 would be untrue. But whatever of disappointment I 
 experienced and whatever of bitterness toward the de- 
 faulting Kansas Representative I have felt is materially 
 lessened by the fact that the successful candidate in 
 every way deserved recognition by his country because 
 of his afBiction, a result of the war. I cannot but 
 feel that had I been a member of that caucus and had 
 I not been pledged to some other candidate for per- 
 sonal or local reasons I should have cast my ballot for 
 the blind man. Sympathy for his affliction elected 
 him, but it was a commendable sympathy. May God 
 bless him in the performance of the duties I aspired to 
 perform, is my prayer. 
 
 I have said that my candidacy developed the fact 
 that in this instance a prophet was not altogether with- 
 out honor in his own country. During the canvass I 
 received most hearty assurances of sympathy and sup- 
 port from many sourpes, some of whom which had 
 not been hoped for nor thought of. After the ques- 
 tion had been settled by Rev. Mr. Couden's election 
 I was made to feel even more gratifyingly than before 
 that both in church and state I am held in high esteem, 
 and that my failure of election brought as great a de- 
 gree of disappointment to many warm friends as it 
 did unto me. I violate no confidence in appending 
 some of the endorsements received while the canvass 
 
CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDACY. 309 
 
 was on and expressions of sympathy and regrets after 
 it was over. I cannot but feel that I would fail in the 
 performance of a pleasant duty should I not take pains 
 to express my gratification for these kindly expres- 
 sions of confidence and publicly voice the thankfulness 
 that in me is for that large warmheartedness of my 
 Bishop, my state and my friends, in thus coming to 
 me with support and sympathizing voice and heart in 
 the closing years of an earnest life. 
 
 Petition of Kansas State Senate: 
 
 Topeka, Kansas. 
 Hon. Case Broderick, 
 
 Member of Congress, Washington, D. C. 
 
 We, members of the senate, learn with much pleas- 
 ure that you propose the choice of Rev. H. D. Fisher, 
 
 D. D., as Chaplain of the House of Representatives of 
 the Fifty-fourth Congress. 
 
 His long and efificient services, his unswerving loy- 
 alty and devotion to the republican party, as well as his 
 eminent ministerial labors, peculiarly qualify him for 
 the position. 
 
 His loyal and faithful service in the army as chaplain 
 of the Fifth Kansas Cavalry, entitle him to such a posi- 
 tion and recognition. We heartily commend you for 
 this generous effort and hope you will succeed. 
 
 Lucien Baker Senator 3rd District. 
 
 (Now United States Senator.) 
 
 James D. Williamson Senator 3rd District. 
 
 W. A. Morgan Senator 23rd District. 
 
 E. T. Metcalf Senator 7th District. 
 
 Milton Brown Senator 38th District. 
 
 K. E. Willcockson Senator 39th District. 
 
 J. W. Parker Senator 6th District. 
 
 John A . Carpenter Senator 13th District. 
 
310 CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDACY. 
 
 H. F. Robbins Senator i8th District. 
 
 L. P. King Senator 27th District. 
 
 T. V. Thorpe Senator 5th District. 
 
 D. McTaggart Senator 12th District. 
 
 W. E. Sterne Senator 17th District. 
 
 S. T. Danner Senator 30th District. 
 
 Jas. Troutman Lieutenant Governor. 
 
 Jas. Shearn Senator 19th District. 
 
 H. G. Jampar Senator i6th District. 
 
 Jno. Armstrong Senator 35th District. 
 
 Anson S. Cooke Senator 33rd District. 
 
 J. W. Leeds Senator 36th District. 
 
 G. E. Smith Senator 40th District. 
 
 W. P. Dillord Senator 8th District. 
 
 H. M. Reid Senator 9th District. 
 
 J. H. Reilley Senator nth District. 
 
 Edwin Taylor Senator 4th District. 
 
 Geo. D. Bowling Senator 32nd District. 
 
 Alden E. True Senator 21st District. 
 
 A. G. Farney Senator 28th District. 
 
 Jason Helmick. Senator 26th District. 
 
 R. E. Baldwin Senator 31st District. 
 
 E. O. Bryan Senator 29th District. 
 
 Chas. F. Scott Senator 14th District. 
 
 H. S. Landis Senator 37th District. 
 
 Levi Dumbauld Senator 24th District. 
 
 John M. Price Senator 2nd District. 
 
 M. A. Housholder Senator loth District. 
 
 A. W. Dennison Senator 25th District. 
 
 \Y. B. Helm. . ^ Senator 34th District. 
 
 j. W. Leevy Senator T5th District. 
 
 Wm. Rogers Senator 20th District. 
 
 W. Senn Senator 22nd District. 
 
CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDACY. 311 
 
 Endorsement of Old Soldiers in Convention: 
 
 Lawrence, Kansas, October 15, 1895. 
 To Whom it May Concern: 
 
 At the annual meeting of the Douglas County Old 
 Soldiers and Sailors Association, held at Lawrence, 
 Kansas, October 15, 1895, it was learned that Chaplain 
 H. D. Fisher had been named by the Hon. Case Brod- 
 erick for the Chaplaincy of the House of Representa- 
 tives, for the Fifty-fourth Congress. 
 
 Chaplain Fisher was a resident of Lawrence seven 
 years, entered the service at the outbreak of the Re- 
 bellion, remaining until its close, serving as Chaplain 
 (and known as the "Fighting Chaplain") of the Fifth 
 Kansas A'^olunteer Cavalry, therefore. 
 
 Resolved, That in his selection for such place Repre- 
 sentatives can make no mistake, but will secure a 
 worthy, capable and deserving Christian gentleman, 
 who will reflect credit upon the state he has so long 
 and faithfully served, as well as upon those who may 
 vote for his selection as Chaplain of the incoming Con- 
 gress. Albert R. Greene, 
 
 Stephen H. Andrews, President. 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 Endorsement of the Fifth Kansas Cavalry in Re- 
 union Assembled: 
 
 Ottawa, Kansas, September 4, 1895. 
 Head-quarters Fifth Kansas Cavalry Volunteers, 
 
 Ottawa, Kansas. 
 Hon. Case Broderick, 
 
 Dear Sir: It affords us pleasure to know that you 
 propose the election of Rev. H. D. Fisher, late Chap- 
 lain of the Fifth Kansas Cavalry, as Chaplain of the 
 House of Representatives, Fifty-fourth Congress. We 
 assure you that we appreciate this honor as to our 
 
312 CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDACY. 
 
 regiment, and that in his election our delegates in Con- 
 gress will make no mistake. We request them to 
 unite with you to secure his election. 
 
 Most respectfully yours, 
 The Fifth Kansas Volunteers in Reunion Assembled. 
 O. E. Morse, Powell Clayton, 
 
 Secretary. President. 
 
 Expressions of Sympathy and Regret from Bishop 
 Vincent : 
 
 Topeka, Kansas, December i, 1895. 
 My Dear Dr. Fisher: 
 
 I learn from 'The Capital" this morning that you 
 failed, through a Kansas vote, to secure the prize you 
 coveted and deserved. I am sorry; I am very sorry. 
 And Representative Miller, whoever he is, ought to 
 be required to give his reason — whether it be religious, 
 denominational, political or personal. You have the 
 confidence of the whole state, the love of your church, 
 the testimony of a good conscience, and you crown 
 everything by your magnanimity in defeat. 
 
 Your faithful brother, 
 
 John H. Vincent. 
 
 Explanation of Mr. Miller, from Hon. Case Brod- 
 erick : 
 
 House of Representatives, U. S., 
 Washington, D. C, December 6, 1895. 
 Rev. H. D. Fisher, D. D., 
 
 Topeka, Kansas. 
 My Dear Sir: 
 
 I found among my papers the petition signed 
 by all the state senators asking your appointment as 
 chaplain. I was of the opinion when you were here 
 that I had left all these papers at home. 
 I trust you have reached home safely. 
 
CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDACY. 313 
 
 The vote on the chaplaincy Is still being discussed 
 here. Mr. Miller's explanation that he was determined 
 to defeat the combine, when they were complaining on 
 the other hand that Kansas wasn't to get enough from 
 the McDowell people, seems quite inconsistent. The 
 Michigan members had all been in the combine on 
 everything except chaplain, which shows that Mr. Mil- 
 ler's effort was to prevent Kansas from securing any- 
 thing in the organization. He knew that every state 
 senator in Kansas and nearly all the members of the 
 lower house of the legislature, the prominent people 
 in Pottawatomie County, and many Grand Army peo- 
 ple had all declared in favor of your election, but it 
 seemed to have no effect. 
 
 My daughters join in sending kind regards. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 Case Broderick. 
 
 Expressions of Sympathy and Regret from Judge 
 Guthrie : 
 
 Topeka, Kansas, December i, 1895. 
 Rev. H. D. Fisher, D. D., 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 I have watched the progress of your canvass for 
 chaplain ever since you left for Washington, and Sat- 
 urday night remained at the Capital office until a dis- 
 patch came stating that you were elected chaplain with 
 the McDowell ticket. But the Capital this morning 
 reports a man from ^lichigan elected. I assure you I 
 am greatly disappointed in the result. Kansas would 
 have appreciated your success. But there is nothing 
 to be gained by a post mortem discussion of the causes 
 of misfortune. I suppose you will be home soon, when 
 
314 CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDACY. 
 
 I hope you will call at my office and tell me about your 
 experiences. Truly and sincerely, 
 
 John Guthrie. 
 Judge Shawnee District Court. 
 
CONCLUSION. 315 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 The Psalmist allotted unto man three score years 
 and ten in which to serve God. I have reached this 
 age, and am two and a half years beyond it. My wife, 
 to whom I have been married more than forty-seven 
 years, has also passed the Psalmist's limit, and is by 
 my side as I close this volume, the sharer of my joys 
 in old age, of such disappointments as have come unto 
 me, and of my hope in Heaven. We are quietly enjoy- 
 ing our home in Topeka, resting as best we may after 
 a long life of activity and toil. It would seem that 
 we have been in the harness long enough to wish to 
 lay it aside altogether. Yet it is difHcult, after so 
 many years of public labor, to accept a life of enforced 
 idleness, and I rejoice in the fact that I am still able 
 to serve the Master as opportunity affords. We also 
 rejoice that in looking over an earnest past our lives 
 have not been wholly spent in vain. Though falling 
 short, no doubt, of the possibilities with which God 
 endowed us we have yet tried to be of service in His 
 cause, have tried to reach the mark of a high calling, 
 have tried to do good unto our fellow-men, and are 
 resting secure in the confident hope of a reward which 
 shall come from On High. 
 
 The part assigned me in the glorious work of sav- 
 ing the Nation and freeing the slave, and my labors in 
 bringing out of the house of bondage the thousands of 
 contrabands who flocked to the Union armies in the 
 
816 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Southwest during the war between the North and 
 South, is especially gratifying as I reflect upon it and 
 as I contemplate the far-reaching effect upon the civili- 
 zation of the nineteenth century of the War of the Re- 
 bellion. Yet not more gratifying are the successes of 
 that bloody conflict than are those peaceful victories 
 accomplished in the cause of the Master, in a contest 
 of nearly half a century of ministerial labor with the 
 agencies of the evil one. 
 
 It will have been observed that by far the major part 
 of my career as a laborer in the Master's vineyard has 
 been spent as a pioneer in His service; first, in Ohio 
 and Pennsylvania as an itinerant circuit rider, then as 
 a vidette on the outposts of Zion during the territorial 
 and early state days of Kansas, and yet later on the 
 plains of Nebraska and in the mountain fastnesses of 
 Utah, Idaho and Montana, among Mormons and 
 miners, in all of which fields, during my most active 
 service, the religion of Jesus Christ was as a sealed 
 book to the masses unto whom I was called upon to 
 preach. Necessarily this class of service entailed great 
 hardships, mental physical and financial; but we have 
 tried to endure them as true soldiers of the Cross. Our 
 trust has ever been in God, and we have always been 
 sustained by His grace. Whenever we have faltered 
 or swerved in the least from the path of righteousness 
 and duty we have been promptly brought to see the 
 error of our way, and have straightway made haste to 
 reconsecrate ourselves to His cause with the utmost 
 satisfaction and soul-inspiring enjoyment. Verily, 
 without God and His Son our lives would have been 
 but failures, our efforts in behalf of our fellow-men un- 
 productive of real results. With Him in our lives and 
 with His grace to sustain us always, our sorrows have 
 been softened, our crooked paths made straight, our 
 
CONCLUSION. 317 
 
 earthly credits have been rendered compensating. 
 
 The Spirit has guided us for lo, these many years. 
 Shall we falter now? Never! In the fullness of His time 
 we shall reap our reward. For has he not said that 
 there is a place prepared for them that love God and 
 serve Him? 
 
 "In my Father's house are many mansions. If it 
 were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a 
 place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you 
 I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that 
 where I am there ye may be also."