The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1877-10-13

| uhueT Cne pleIenSe OF erecting Cathedral
in Baltimore; magistrate of this city has
just sent him to Blackwel's Island to
mediate on his misdeeds-let us trust that
the enforced selusion may make him a
wiser and better man.
In June last the Free Methodist Church
of Elgin, Illinois, made up a very hansome
purse to send their beloved pastor, the Rev.
Alfred Thompson, to Europe for the benefit
of his spiritual and temporal health. The
moral atmosphere of the Continent and the
British Isles have evidently done very little
for the spiritual elevation OF the Rev. Alfred
Thompson, for, entirely forgetfu of the
fact that he had left the original Mrs.
Thompson with a p behind at Elgin,
Illinois, and two interesting little Thomp-
sons, sweet pledges of their mutual love,
he discovered on the steamer the truant
wife of a Baptist clergyman with whom he
appears to have broken the seventh and the
tenth commandments. Not satisfied with
these stolen delights which could only be
enjoyed by the wholesale infraction of the
decalogue, taking advantage OF a moment
OF misplaced confidence, he robbed the gay
| grass widow of ten bright guineas and
then departed for the verdant plains of the
great West where he expected to enlighten
the denizens of Elgin on the power of Paul
before Agrippa, or the marvellous miracle
of Daniel in the lions den, but like MANY
other eminent and worthy Christian gen.
tlemen, this Elgin minister came to grief,
and now, looking out from behind prison
bars, begins to realize possibly for the
| first time in his life that the way of the
| transgressor is hard.
The sensation of the week, however, has
been the discovery of vast and complica-
ted system of forgeries running through
years and amounting to hundreds of thou
sands of dollars perpetrated by one of the
| pious creme de la creme whose seat was
| high up in the Sanhedrim of the elect. If
ever there was case of unequivocal and
inexcusable villainy, it is in the illustration
afforded by this sanctified rascal, William
G. Gilman. His father was Gods noblest
work, an honest man, his mother model
of Christian piety and blessedness; from
his childhood he had been surrounded with
every religious influence, and when his
father died he inherited his business, and
| all good men were glad to take him by the
hand. He married a beautiful and virtu-
GUS woman, and several children crowned
their welded love. His home was the GEN.
ter of an elegant, though by no means law
ish, hospitality. He seemed to be as far
removed from temptation as it was posi-
bic for man to be.
1t shakes our faith in humanity to dis
cover that this man was the meanest and
most depraved of all petty swindlers and
thieves. The wretched prig who takes
your pocket handkerchief in crowd, was
a frst-cla nobleman alongside this mser-
able scoundrel. For the people he plum
ders he is not indebted to, but this thief
stole the very hearts blood of his dearest
friends. For years past, while exhorting
in the church, and endeavorng to lead sin
ners to repentance, he has been robbing
and forging to the amount of hundreds of
thousands of dollars. Banks have been de-
trauded, private fortunes have been de-
stroyed, and now in the midst of their
misery they have the poor consolation of
knowing that another factor has been added
to the list of pious frauds. Only few
weeks ago the treasurer of Dr. Cuyler's
church, one of the foremost Presbyterian
congregations in Brooklyn, publicly ac-
knowledged himself a thief and a swindler,
and while the acknowledgement OF sin may
give unqualified satisfaction to his brother
deacons and trustees, the widowed sister
and the fatherless orphans whom he has
robbed look in vain for the restitution of
those squandered thousands which went to
swell his benefactions to foreign missions,
or to buy lfe-memberships in the Y. NJ. G.
A. From the quiet little cemetery on Jer-
sey City heights, the ghost of Mary Pom
eroy cries out for vengeance on the MUIR
derer of her reputation, the Rev. John
Glendenning, and every day new crimes
come to light, shocking to the hearts of
those outside of the pale of the church.
Perhaps New York is no worse than
hundreds of our sister cities, it is in the
seclusion OF its multtudes that outside
crime finds it's greatest safeguard and shield.
The present moment is one of the grandest
OTTO f,, H. 80
the right-some one, who like the hermit,
Peter, shall rouse the hearts of men to a
crusade for the elevation of the religion of
the living God. 1t may be that as of old
when the man of sorrow preached by the
sea of Gailee that impostorS will be heard
crying Lord, Lord, deceiving the weak and
unwary; but religion owes it to itself that
these shall not be allowed to live, and that
no ability to pray nor ability to preach
shall save these hypocrites and vagabonds
from the punishment of crimes which have
brought to shame and disgrace the pure
religion of Christ. The custom has too
much been INDUCED in of hiding and COW
ering up the sins of religious delinquents
for fear the church might suffer. In Jer-
sey City, Mary Pomeroy is hustled from
the church because she inculpates her pas
tor in her ruin; and at Hackensack Mrs.
Foote is sent forth with disgrace, because
she declares that the thieving and SWIM
ding Philip had insulted her with impro-
per proposals. The religion of Christ
founded upon a rock, against which the
storms of nearly nineteen centuries have
dashed in vain, has nothing to fear by the
punishment and exposure of the swindlers
and thieves who have disgraced her. The
victim of Father Wards unholy lust lies a
ruined wretch in the asylum at ST. Louis;
nd tha cries of ba p,,,rIaroI child Of ho
Rev. Bert Holman whipped to death by her
unnatural father are still ringing in the
ears of the people of Georgia, and even
after that terrible tradegy he is ready to
minister to the spiritual wants of his church.
Religion owes it to itself that some great
effort should be made to stamp out this
gigantic evil, or men will begin to distrust
the efficacy of learning and genius in ex-
pounding the oracles of God, and turn as of
old for their prophets to men like the hum
BILE disciples who cast their nets upon the
sea of Galilee, or even to the penitent har-
lot of Jerusalem who wiped the feet OF the
Saviour with her hair.
The short end of the equinoctial burst
upon us with tremendous violence early on
Thursday night; cellars were flooded, ship
ping was damaged, but our streets were
treated to a wholesome purgation for which
Heaven be thanked. The Rev. Mr. Muller,
of England, has left us. This is the gen.
tleman whose faith and good works have
earned six hundred dollars every day for
his orphan asylum in England; the days of
miracles are not yet past long may he live
and prosper. The regattas on Harlem river
have been among the great features of the
week, the Columbia crew maintaining the
splendid reputation they won at Saratoga
Lake, Il lad of seventeen carrying off the
highest prize for single SOULS. Pierre Lor-
lizard has just arrived in town to make
arrangements for the races at Jerome Park,
which, from present appearance, will be
the most exciting We have had many years.
Several transactions in gold on Thursday
and Friday took place at %. Trade is
booming; all sorts of goods in active de-
mand. West and South streets, which
few weeks ago resembled poor mans
funeral, now have all the characteristic
good humor and hilarity which distinguish
an Irish wake. Boxing matches and greco
wrestling tits are superseding scientific lee
lures. and gradually becoming the favorite