The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1881-07-14
lCincinnati Commereial.l
When Does a Preacher Do Wrong!

When Does Preacher Do Wrong!
Readers of the Commercial will re-
member the story of Rev. Mr.. Cow
ley, that was in all the newspapers
something over year ago. Brother
Cowley was Superintendent of the
Shepherds Fold, in New York, a
house of refuge for homeless children.
Benevolent ladies of the Protestant
Episcopal Church had started it, and
maintained it as church charitable
institution. Thither the helpless, in
nocent waits Of humanity, who were
nobody's children, were sent to be
cared for and reared.
If there is any creature that calls
out all the gentle, pitying impulses Of
less little child Nero is said to have
danced while Rome was burning, but
there is no evidence that he ever starry
ed baby to death. But Rev. Cowley,
Superintendent of the Shepherds s
Fold, was found guilty in court of
something very like this. There is a
monstrousness of cruelty about some
of his conduct that almost creates a
suspicion Of insanity. Indeed, ON the
whole, it would be a credit to Rev.
Cowley to have been insane, under the
circumstances. There mus be some
thing Of either insanity or fiendish-
ness about the person who would
abuse child.
He had nobody to watch him. He
was not even responsible to Board
The babes were handed in to him,
much the same as kids and young rab-
bits are poked in through the bars to
a tiger in menagerie. The respec-
tive fates Of the babies and the kids
were much alike The tiger crunches
his victims bones quick and ends their
misery. The clergyman tortured
them to death by slow, horrible mis-
cry. The sworn testimony before the
court shows that the tiny creatures had
often only sheet and an outside
spread upon their cots in cold weather.
The spread was there for show, and
was taken off at night, and folded up.
Then the motherless infants lay upon
a hard, thin mattress, with nothing
over them but cotton sheet.
The evidence showed further that
the Rev. Cowley daily stuffed himself
with the good things Of the table.
The fat Of the land went down his
throat, on the one hand, while on the
other he cut down the orphans food
to procure these delicacies for himself.
All this came out plainly at the trial.
A physician from outside was called
in to attend a sick child He found
there condition of things which
turned him sick himself Some of the
babies were reduced to mere skin and
bone. They were covered with the
loathsome eruptlons that arise from
uncleanliness and insufficient nourish-
ment. The children died off like poi
soned rats, and no wonder. Evidences
of neglect and of devilish cruelty were
heaped up on every side. A thrill Of
horror ran through the country when
the tale was given to the public.
Mothers and fathers asked themselves:
What if fate had sent our children to
this wild beasts den? By common
consent there was fastened on HIM
then the name he will bear down to
his grave-"Wolf Cowley"
The sick children were removed to
a hospital. Public sentiment demand
ed that some sort of punishment
should be meted out to the wolf in
clergyman's clothing. He was tried
and found guilty of cruelty. He was
sentenced to fine and year in the
Penitentiary-not very long, consider
ing how many years he had tortured
the innocents. The verdict of COM
munity was that he didn't get half
enough.
His fellow-ministers in the Episco-
pal Church were the only persons who
didn't go back on him.
During the whole time of his trial
and confinement in the penitentiary
he retained his standing as regular
Episcopal minister. He came out of
prison not long since, and council of
clergymen sat on his case to decide
what to do with him. The church
law provides for the trial before an
ecclesiastical tribunal of a minister
who has been guilty Of immoral or
criminal conduct. The committee
decided that there was nothing in the
charges against him sufficient to justi-
fy his trial before the church court,
for criminal or immoral conduct. He
is still, therefore, Protestant Episco-
pal clergyman in holy orders and good
standing. He will conclude that it
isn't so very bad to starve and beat
babies after all. Perhaps he will get
a call to take charge of a church in
some of the Western cities.
In this connection it will occur to
numbers Of people to wonder what
body of ministers would call criminal
or immoral conduct. A hard-headed
law court proved itself in this case
more merciful and tender-hearted than
a committee of Christian preachers.
1t helps little that they say Cowley's
conduct did not come under the head
Of anything punishable by church
law. If this is so it is only so much
the worse for the church. A religious
organization which takes no cogni-
zance of crime against humanity
would do well to amend its statutes.
Instances are not altogether un-
known in which common humanity
and ecclesiastical courts differ widely
in their view of what constitutes i'm
proper conduct. The Cowley case re
calls a circumstance that happened
some years ago, not thousand miles
from Cincinnati. 1t was tolerably
we'll established that a certain lay
preacher occasionally lifted his pious
foot and kicked plates of food into his
wife's face, when the breakfast failed