News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1886-03-25
SAM sMALL's CONVERSION.
Sam Jones' Able Lieutenant Tells His Own
Story to Chicago Reporter.
From the Chicago 1nter.ocean.l

O~A~~@soS
SIT was this way. The 18th day OF
last September Sunday took my wife
and children and went from Atlanta,
| my home, up to Gainesville, fifty miles
| away, to hear Sam Jones preach in q
big camp meeting. It was kind OF
Sunday excursion. Any change of life
up to that time7 No; there had been
no change of life up to that time--but
for the worse. / heard Sam Jones
preach, and I was convicted of my sins.
l was awakened. This was on Sunday.
/ went home and got drunk again, and
stayed drunk until Tuesday afternoon.
Then I went into my library at
O'Clock, and / prayed until f2lt that
saw my way clear. l had been thinking
about my condition, and I felt that the
time had come to stop. was getting
over my depth. looked the whole
thing in the face, and l surrendered to
the Lord. Then I went out and had
5000 circulars printed, announcing that
l would preach that evening at the
corner of Peachtree streets. The first
job printer that I went to thought
was crazy You see l had been on a
drunk, and my friends thought that
would go crazy from drink, and SO this
man thought the same and wouldn't
print my bills. So l went to another
place and got them printed at last. ]
had them distributed, and at the place
mentioned a great crowd assembled
when it came time for me to speak.
told them what had happened, what
l was going to do, and told them I
meant business. They could stand off
and see me do it.
Gas soon as Jones heard about what
had happened he telegraphed me to
come up to Cartersvile and speak for
him. Well, l preached the next two
nights in local churches, and on Satur-
day went up and preached for Jones.
From that day to tEis have lost about
a dozen days, speaking some days from
one to four times. Yesterday" and
here was another complete overturning
of the erroneous theory of his being
converted some time ago, studying with
Bishop Beckwith, etc, yesterday ]
was five months old in the Gospel"
'How are you satisfied with your
work2"
Thoroughly, thoroughly. My best
llICluO Sdl0 4 OuSnb " hdNC btOA Al
this work long ago. My mother prayed
for it till her death. 1 fought it as
long as / could. My work has been
uniformly pleasant, and l feel that it
has been blessed with success"
Now, how many have you CON
vertedf'
"Well, you mean the two of us, since
l have been working with Jones? It's
hard to tell; it can't be told, but I can
give you the estimates of our work to-
gether. In st. Joseph, Mo-, 200; in
Birmingham, Ala, /, 800 in St. Louis,
well, we can't tell, but by the best cal
cuIation by those in the churches, about
1 900; in Cincinnati-there's absolutely
no telling. The names of probably
1000 people in Cincinnati were handed
in, but there were many, many people
who had been formerly connected with
churches who did not care to have their
names given. 1t is thought that the
lives of from O,0O0 to $4,000 people
were affected by the meetings.
81 am 35 years old, and was born in
Knoxville, Tenn, on the Sd of July,
getting in one day before the celebra-
ton of the Declaration of Independence.
I entered Emory and Henry College, in
Virginia, Methodist college, in 1869,
leaving college in 1871. / then went
into newspaper work, first in Nashville,
being engaged in various places, in New
Orleans, and other points in the South.
I was in all kinds of newspaper work,
running several papers of my own,
sometimes into the ground, or getting
the Sheriff to run them for me. 1be
gan the old ST. papers in 1876, during
the Presidential campaign. In 1878
went with my family to Europe as an
of the American Commissioners
to the Paris Exposition. l travelled
about a good deal in France and Eng
land, an saw all sides of life. In my
earlier youth / was thoroughly trained
and indoctrinated in Bible truth, which
now comes back to me, and l bring all
the balance of my knowledge to bear
upon the enforcement of the truth. "
"What of the future?"
''There is no future-but Chicago.
We are going to get through with it
first We take the work nearest our
hand first