Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1859-03-19
WARO@ I1W. 4.
Henry evans, the NEGRO Preacher

op Capcrs refers to some of those rcmarka
bic characters, who may be found in many
parts OF the South to shame our abolition
brethren, and who are denominatcd "black
preachers The account of Henry Evans.
of North Carolina, exhibits one of these.
Henry Evaus was contcssedly the faith
er of the Methodist Church, white and
black, in Fayetteville, aud the best preach
er Of his time in that quarter, and was SO
remarkable, as to have become the greatest
curiosity OF the town; insomuch, that dis
tinguishcd visitors hardly felt that they
might pass Sunday in Fayetteville with
out hearing him preach. Evans was from
Virginia; a shoemaker by trade, and, [
think, was born free. He became Chris
tian and a Methodist quite young, and was
licensed to preach in Virginia While vet
young lnan, he determined to remove to
Charleston, s. c., thinking he might sue
coed best there at his trade \ y s.
This determined him to stop at Fayctte-
vile; and he began to preach to the ne
grocs with great effect The town council
intcrferred, and nothing in his power could
prevail with them to permit him to preach
He then withdrew to the sand-hils, out of
town, land held meetings in the woods
changing his appointments from place to
place No law was violated, while the coun-
ell VS. eifoctually eluded and so the op-
position passed into the hands of a mob.
These he worried out by changing his ap-
pontmcnts, SO that when they went to work
their will upon him, he was preaching some
where else. x * Happily for him,
and the cause of religion, his honest coun,
MI Il;
powerfully seconded by the fruits of his la
h9fs,* Que after another began to suspect
thcir servants of attending his preaching,
not because they were made worse, but
wonderfully better. The,eHcct on the pub
lie morals of the negroes, too, began to be
seen, particularly as regarded their habits
on Sunday, and drunkenness. And it was
not long before the mob VAS called off, by
a change in the current of opinion, and
Evans was allowed to preach in town. At
that time, there was not single church
cdifico in town, and but one congregation.
Presbyterian, who worshipped in what is
called the State-h house, under which was
the market; and it was plainly Evans, or
nobody to preach to the negroes Now,
too, of the mistrcsses, there were not a few
and some masters, who were brought to
think that the preaching, which had prov
ed so beneficial to their servants; might be
good for them also; and the famous negro
preacher had some whites as we'll as blacks
80 hear him. Seats; distinctly separated,
were at first appropriated to the whites,
near the pulpit But Evans had already
become fiirhous and these seats were INSULT
ccnt. Indeed, the negroes seemed likely
to lose their preacher, negro though he was
while the whites, crowded out of their ap
propriate seats. took possession of those in
the rear. Meanwhile, Evass had repre-
scnted to the preacher Of Bladen Circuit
how things were induced HIN to take hin
mcetihg-house into the circuit, and consti-
tutc church there And, now there was
no longer room for thenegroes in the house
when l3vans preached and for the accom-
modation of both classes, the weather
boards were Knocked off, and sheds were
added to the house on either side; the
whites occupying the whole of the original
building, 2nd the negroes those sheds as n
part of the same house Evans dwelling
was a shed at the pulpit end of the church
X It was my practice to hold meet
ing with the blacks in-thc church, directly
after morning preaching every Sunday
And on the Sunday before his death, dur
ing this meeting, the little door between
his humble shed and the chanoel whoreI
stood, was opened, and thedying man en-
tered for a last farewell to his people He
was almost too feeble to stand at all, but
supporting himscifby himself by the rail-
ing of the chanccl, he sad Il have come
to say my last word to you. 1t is this -
Mono 1ut Christ. Threetimes have had
my life in jeopardy for preaching the Cos
pei toyou Fhree times have broken the
ice on the edge of the water, ard swan
across the Cape Fear, to preach the gospel
! to you. And now, if IN my last hour, |
could trust to thpt or to anything else but
Christ cruoifed, for 1hysalvation, all should
be lost, and my soul perish forever "
~ WAITED 10 PKEvENT SUSPICION. fell
low who Was arrested in Buffalo, for stealing
a shirt, put in the following defence: al
did not steal the shiftA-1 was passing along
by the store, and saw the shirt hanging up.
md then took hold of it. Wheat took hold
, oft, it dropped down in my hands, aud /
knew that if stood there with il; people who
saw me would believe that | meant steal it ;
SO ran off to prevent suspicion attaching to
me-"