Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1850-02-27
PAUL NTON.
THE TEXAN MISS SIONAR
BY CHARLES sCMMCAFIELp.


/ During the last week Of September.
, 1886, the first successful Camp meeting
was held in Eastern Texas. l employ
the epithet ''successfui'' because several
previous failures had apparently rendered
all efforts Of like kind perfectly hope
less. Indeed. the meridian at that peri
cd was mos. uncongenal 10 religious en-
terpr,se. The country bordering on the
Sabine. had been occupied. rather than
as wild as the savages whom they had
scarcely expelled. and the beasts of prey
which still disputed their domain of prim-
eval forests Professional gamblers. ref
ugees from the Jail absconded debtors.
outlaws from every land. forgers Of false
coin, thieves. robbers, murderers. inter
spersed among a race Of uncducated hun
ters and herdsmen made up the strange
social miscellany: without courts or
schools. or even the shadow Of civil au-
thoriiv or suborlinatson--a sort Of munic-
ipai pandem1nian1. where fierce passions
sa; en,hroned. waving It's bloody sceptre.
the naked bowie knife! LIT no one ac-
cuse me Of exaggeraion. for the sake OF
dramatic effect: | am speaking now of
Shelby countv--thai home Of the Lynch
ers-the terrible locale. where ten years
later. forty persons were poisoned to death
by marriage supper.
1t will be obvious that in such a com
munity. very few would be disposed to
patronize camp meetings: and according
~ dozen different trials. at various times
had never collected hundred hearers.
on anv single occasion. But even these
were not allowed to worship in peace:
uniformly. the first day and night band
Of armed despel ADDE'S. headed by the no.
torious Watt Foeman. chief Judge and
execufioner Of the Shelby Lynchers broke
into the altar and scattered the mourners
or ascended the pulpit and treated the
preachers with a gratutous robe of tar
and feathers! Hence. all prudent evan
gelists soon learned TO shun the left bank
of the Sabine. as if it had been infested
bv a cohort of demons; and two whole
years elapsed without any new attempt to
erect the cross in SO pcrilous field.
At length. however. an advertisement
appeared. promising another effort in be-
half of the gospel The notice was
unique, perfect bacs-woods curiosity.
both as TO its tenor and mode Of publca-
tiCl 4ICt SI'C ~ CC' OUttHS c. fttF n-
fum.
barbecue Camp Meeting.
There will be Camp to com
mence the last Monday of this month. at
the Double Spring Grove. near Peter
Brinson 8 in the county of Shelby.
THE exercises will open with splen-
did barbecue. Preparations are being
made to suit all tastes; there will be a
good barbecue, better liquor, and the best
OF Gospel! paul DENTON.
"Sept. !, 1886"
This singular document was nailed to
the door of e-erv public house and gro
cery; it was attached to the largest trees
at the intersections Of all cross roads and
principal trails. and even the wandering
hunters themselves, found it in remote
dells of the mountains. miles away from
the smoke of human habtaton.
AT first many regarded the matter as a
hoax played off by some wicked wag. in
ridicule Of popular creduli,y But this
hypothesis was negatived by the statement
Of Peter Brinson, proprietor ofthe Double
Spring Grove, informed all inquirers tn
he had been employed and paid by a
stranger calling himself a Methodist mis-
sonary. to provide an ample barbecue at
the period and place advertised.
but the liGuor-the better liquor-are
you to furnish the liquor tool" was the in.
variable question Of each visitor
The missionary said that he would
tend to that himself" replied Brinson
''He must be precious original" was
the general reloinder. a proposition
which most Of them afterwards had an
opportunity to verify experimentally.
need hardly add that an intense ex-
element resulted. The rumor took wings;
flew on the wind: turned to a storm-a
storm of exaggera,ion, every echo in
creased its sound. ill nothing else could
be heard but the Barbecue Camp meet
ing it became the focus Of thought. the
staple of dreams. And thus the unknown
preacher had secured one thing in ad-
vance; a congregation embracing the Ell.
tire population of the county. which was
likely the purpose of his s.ra:agem.
! | was travelling in that part of Texas
at the time. and my Imagination being in
famed bv common curiosity. took some
trouble and attended. But although nv
eyes witnessed the extraordinary scene. !
NAV well despair of the undertaking to
paint 1.-THE pen Of Homer or the pencil
of Hosarth were alone adequate to the
sublimity and burlesque of the complica-
ted task may only sketch the angular
outlines.
Aspace had been cleared away imme-
diately around the magnificent Double
Sprin 2. which boiled up with force suffi
cient to turn a mill-wheel. in the very
centre Of the evergreen grove. Here a
pulpit had been raised. and before il, was
the inseparable altar for mourners. Be.
vond these. a, a distance Of fifty PAGES. a
succession Of plank fables extended in g
great circle. or the perimeter OF po.yson
completely enclosing the area about the
spring. An odoriferous steam of mos
delicious SAVIOR. diffused itself through tn,