Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1885-05-01
he REFUSED TO BE CONVERTED.

The newly elected Mayor of Erie, Pa, +.
F. Adams, having built himself d court
house for the purpose of holding municipal
court daily, has had for his maiden judicial
effort 9. case that might have puzzled Solo
mon himself, The prisoner is a colored sis
ter named Ola Sterrngton, aud her Of
tense consisted in disturbing ths public
peace by attempting to convert her husband
to, Christianity through the mediums oil Il
meat axe and a dish, of scalding water.
Mrs. Sterrington, in extenuatlon OF her
crime, urges that she is Methodist, and
that having married 4 Hindu of. the Brah-
min sect, it was her duty to convert him,
regardless of the means required to attain
that end. When she married him she was
not aware that he was pagan, not having
inquired into his religion, but the first meal
of their honeymoon opened her eyes to his
lost. condition. She wanted him to sip out
of her cup Of coffee, but he declined. with
disgust nor would he let her take q bite Of
his bread. lest his caste should be broken
and he be claimed after death by silva, The
Destroyer. "a ~, ...~........ -. : z
She found that the preservation Of his
East Indian soul necessitated the use of a
double set of kitchen utensils and crockery,
| for no food could be cooked for him in auten-
sill used in the preparation of her food. Not
being Brahmin, he considered her uncleau
although the prisoner iswore she was as
clean and tidy as any of her race. The on
ly article of hers he would use was her seal
skin sacque, which he utilized rs mat to
knee upon when he said his prayers. He
was such an inveterate devotee that the
nap of the sacque. WAS worn Oft by his
knees. .......,..... ..l. T.,
She first tried to convert him from pagan
ism to Methodsm by relating the miracles of
the Gospel and by singing Moody and San
key songs. but he met these. arguments by
bowling Vedic hymns in scurrilous Sanskrit
and by telling her the miracles of Krishna.
When she thought she had him on the Jonah
and whale miracle he blasphemouslv snap
ped his fingers aud taunted her with the al
legged feat Of Krishna, who, when he saw a
gang Of coWherds attacked with thunder and
lightning sent by silva, the Destroyer, pluck
ed up q. mountain by the base, and held it
for ten days as an umbrella over the heads
of. the cowboys. ...,..,..... ..,.f..-....
,.''Reat that, 1.-THE impiouss spouse would ex-
claim. After that she declined to contend
against him ON miracles. ni,s "..:.. .,'..,'
!: The next. serious matter was. the religious
belief OF an expected offspring. She had
tried to convince her husband that it was
her duty to haveit baptised aChristian. He
maintained. !, that. :Vishnu; the PreServer,
should be the god Of the infant, and the re,
suit 81. the argument was three. incised
wounds, 'one big scafd Burn, and an assort-
,ment of confused bruises distributed over
her husbands, entire.area. s.-.s.' -.s- '..'-
She wanted the Mayor to make; an order
directing the child to, be made a Christian,
and toihtruct the Chief Of Police to sever
the head 1of fSiva's image, break all the Brah-
mas, and crush sevesS cWshnu in her hus-
bands collection of gods, The Mayor
|'thGrghtte days in jail would give tho wo.
mah time to'work out a scheme Of ,conver-
sion less liabfe'to conflict with the city ordi-
nances than bruising her Brahtnin and scald-
ing her pagan. -7---r 50