St. Paul daily globe., 1888-02-09
A Direct Issue Between the
First Methodist and the
Peoples Churches.
Both Want the One Thousand
Dollars Left by the Late b.
Judge Goodrich. = a 3
The Question Is, Can 1t Le-
gally Go to Support DR..
Smiths Church /?
r. -
What Some of the Trustees.
! Of the Churches Have
H.,
to Say. s1r


AT last the smouldering fires that
have for the last two months underlaid
!. the smiling faces of the gcoi members
of the First NJ. f. church and the New
Peoples church are to break out in
what promises to be a lively and ami
mated conteSt-a fight to a finish, as it
were.
The cause Of all this trouble is q 1000
beQueSt made to the trustees of the
First church by thelate A. j. Goodrich.
AS to the way in which Mr.. Goodrich
was induced to give this, what he would
have done had he lived twelve months,
etc, the stories of S0mt of the principal
actors on both sides will tell. The facts
are that when Mr. Goodrich made his
will early last summer he left Loco to
the trustees of the First church, and
as soon as Mrs. Goodrich and
the balance of the family decided
to leave their Old church. request
was sent in by them to the hoard of
trustees, asking that the 81 900 be re-
turned to them, as they wished to go
into the new movement and to give this
81 ,0G0 toward building the new Peo-
pies church; and that finally. with
hut one dissenting vote, the board
of trustees passed q resolution return
ing the hequest to the family.
But right here is where the
FIRST CHURCH. People KICK.
They claim that all hut Que of this
board bad then determined and has
since gone into the new church, and
that carried in this way-some say i'll
any way-it is not legal and will
not stand. 'fis said there is still an
other and more powerful reason impell-
ing the First church to hold on to this
money, and this is, according to mem
ber's statements. that the church is
in straitened financial circumstances,
Ii is q we'll known fact that short time
ago the church issued a circular appeal
ing to the people to stand by them and
limiting that unless vigorously supported
by the people the church could
of the heavy losses it had sus-
tained. The truth probably lies
somewhere between teeSe two opposing
statements. Below are given talks
with q number OF membGrS of the board
of trustees, which voted to return the
81 ZOO. .. ...
POINTS IL THE CASE.
''Dr. Smith has for long time
been anxious to build Il large een-.
trail church to accommodate his
large congregations, said HeZekiah
Hall last evening. ''While Mr..
Goodrich was in Philadelphia | under
stand he correspondcd with DR.. Smith
in regard to the matter, and afteE,fis;
return the question was discussed a;
nE;Nher of times by the two. 1t is GEN
orally known that Dr.. Smith was
mainly instrumental IN getting him
to consent to beaueath Sl.D95
fef 6. this purpose. At several
meetings Dr.. Smith solicited subscrip-5
tons, and my impression is that after
| the will was made the project Of a new
and independent church appeared To
have failed. 1t was big undertaking.
and L. for enc, didn't believe it could
be carried through. Now witen
the entire Goodrich family joined it and
united in a request for the return of the
| 81 600 bequeSt, in order, as they claim.
to carry out the evident purpose of MIR.
| G0edrieh's will, as we'll as to contribute
| toYgarit the church with which they pro-
posed to unite. The first | knew OF
| this was when Judge Brill called a
| meeting of the trustees, and the matter
| was discussed. On motion the matter
| was placed in the hands of a committee
| to ascertain whether or not it would be
subsequent meeting of the b ,aTd
the legal opinion was given,
fayoring the passage of the
| resolution requested as being all
| right in a legal point OF view. With the
| exception Of myself, the trustees voted
| unanimously to accept the report OF the
| committee and returning the money.
My reasons for obiecting were that
the committee hadn't obtained as
definite and positive advice as I felt
was desirable. | believed it should be
| I ho!
! to be sincere, drew up the will, and he
declares that it was the wish of Mr..
Goodrich to help along the new church
movement.
! Whether the First church caa raise
| any objection. or take any legal meas
ures to obtain the Si000, cannot say
L believe HIr. Nlc0ls acted in good
faith 1t is the right thing
| to say that the will shows
| this on It's face; for the money was left,
not to the First church, but to the trus-
the way in which il was to be used.
For this reason some argued whether or
not the church had u right to the
money
MIR. NICoI.s IS SILENT.
Il wont say word about the Good
rich vii! Natter said J. Ross Nicols
last evening. Yes, know more about
it, perhaps. than any one else, but [
won't talk
"a. j. Goodrich died last summer and
left 1000 to the First church," said a
member of the old board of trustees as
we'll as the present board, to a reporter
last evening. The board of trustees,
| with one Or two exceptions, were at
that time friends of DIR. Smith,
and are now his followers. They knew
then that they were going with him
| into the new movement, and just be-
fore Dr.. Smith left, when the members
of the board had determined to leave
with him. Mrs. Goodrich, the reSiduary
! legatee, sent communication to the.
trustees saying that she was about to
leave the church and join another, and
furthermore that she believed that if
! Mr.. Goodrich were alive he would also
! go into the movement. Thereupon she
| prayed that the trustees release her from,
the payment of the legacy. The
board of trustees by a vote of the men,
bers about to leave released her."
Judge Brill don't want to be mixed
up i'll the matter. OF course l know
something about it; but don't want it
to be published. don't think it should
be given out.
LOOKING FOR A SITE.
The Peoples church is now casting
about for suitable location for fine
new church building. The committee
to select such site, appointed at
recent meeting of the church
is made up Of j. r. Nieols, G. R. Marvin
and E. J. Hodgson. The committee is
in favor of some central location, and it
is safe to say that it will not be located
on st. Anthony hill. ~
There was difference of opinion,
said DR.. Smith, 'as to where it should
be located. No vote was taken, yet all
preferred central location. A loca-
tion somewhere between Wabasha and