St. Paul daily globe., 1888-08-18
Caused by Alleged Affection
ate Propensities Of the
Floek's Shepherd.
Doors Are Barred Against a
Portion Of the Congrega-
ton.
Statement of a Sister to
Whom Elder Gray Made
Advances.
Items Of Interest Collected
and Condensed for Hosts
Of Readers.

DE preacnln is good, Dut de pfac-
ticin' is bad" Thus remarked Ander-
son Peters, trustee of the Pilgrim A.
M. E. church, last evening, regarding
Elder Gray, its pastor. For some time
past there has been good deal of
of grumbling and fault-finding
among the members of this
well-known colored church. The
congregation has become dissatis
fed with Mr.. Gray, and if half what is
said about him be true they have
right to be. 1t appears that when Gray
first assumed charge the church was in
a flourishing condition financially. For
a time he kept the church up to its
usually high standard in finan-
cial way, but of late he has
allowed the church to run down.
and during the past ten months debts
have been accumulating rather than
disappearing. Elder Gray also inau-
gurated anew set Of rules and regula-
tions, which were so distaSteful to
many of the brethren that the ''kick-
ing" became loud and long. In the
words of one of the trustees,
"Gray's rules don't suit us worth
cent" 1t is also claimed that Gray's
moral character has not beon such as to
comport with the dignity of his minis
terial station. He is charged with hav-
ing on divers occasions been unduly af-
fectionate with some of the sisters of his
flock. Last spring a charge of
this nature was preferred against
him, but for some reason the matter
was dropped. A lady Sunday school
now comes forward and accuses Gray
of having come to her place of busi-
ness and invited her to come to his
house and see him privately. She
SwearS that his intentions were neither
PASTOR-LIKE NOR HONORABLE.
a meeting of the deacOns was called
short time ago to investigate this last
charge, but as there were but three of
the deaconS present and four necessary
for quorum, wlsch Gray insisted on
having, the matter was postponed.
There was high old time at
the Pilgrim church Thursday evening.
The trustees and deacOns, disgpsted
with Gray's administration of affairs,
had the church locked up pending the
securing of new elder. On the even
ing in question, about 100 of the congre-
CATION, mostly women and supporters of
Gray, gathered in front of the church
and waited for the doors to be opened.
When told that they could not get in,
and that no further services wOud be
held in the church while Gray was in
charge, a number Of the indignant ones
put their shoulders to the doors and
forced them open. The crowd then
poured in and dire threats were made
against the trustees and the woman
who had preferred charges against
Elder Gray. The Gray faction threaten
to hire hall and allow the malcontents
to run the old church as they please.
Gray has been asked to send in his resig-
nation, but he persists in holding the
fort. The old members declare they
will have nothing to do with
the church so long as he remains.
Deacons Stevens and jackson
have already resigned their positions
because of their dislike of Gray and
several of the bretheren threaten to eX-
communicate themselves from the Pill
grim flock if the present pastor does not
STEP DOWN AND OUT.
This is the story of the trouble as
cleaned from one of the trustees of the
church and other sources. The Afro
Independent, the new colOred organ,
has this to say of the Rev. Gray's eSca
pades;
The peacefulness of this beautiful city has
again been thrown in wild excitement over
the freak of one who occupies an exalted
position in our midst. 1t is but the repeti-
ton OF the old, old story, we are all human
and liable to error, but we have little respect
for the man who uses the mantle of sacred
ness to accOmplish his dayjlish desires