Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-20
DEMANDS AN APOLOGY.

A Strange Mixture of Religious Secret So
cieties and Religion at the Sharon
Presbyterian Churchill May Get Into
the County Courts.
The trouble in the Sharon Presbyterian
Church will not down. As viii be recol-
lected by some people, there was a dispute
several months ago in an Odd Fellows lodge
in Sharon, to which some of the members of
the church belonged, among them Messrs.
Jacob Scatter and d. A. Weigle. The former
is an elder in the church, and though re-
garded by his neighbors as a good man, some
of them say he is unfortunate in having a
quick temper, and now politics is mixed in
the snarL During the controversy, as the
story goes, Mr.. Scatter became very much
enraged at Mr.. Weigle and in an uncontrol-
liable rage enacted the tragedy of Luther
versus Satan, hurting heavy inkstand at
Mr.. Weigle, which, catching him on the
frontispiece, damaged it considerably for
the time being and for some time subse-
quently. Some members of the lodge, who
are also members of the church, carried the
case before tine church authorities and the
Session was called to adjudicate
For the benefit of those not
up in ecclesiastical jurisprudence
it may be well to state that the Session is a
court composed of the elders and the minis
ter, the latter being the presiding officer
From it appeal is made to the Presbytery,
and from the Presbytery to the Synod and
finally to the General Assembly The pros
ecution urged that Mr.. Scatter ought to be
required to abase himself before Mr.. weigle
and ask forgiveness for the ebullition be-
helnp tod in ha
they are very wroth because the Session re-
instated him without exacting the penalty
One OF them denounces the proceeding as a
whitewash. Ecclesiast;c law was quoted
by both sides and ruling of the minister
Mr.. Mercer, is hotly disputed by the prose-
cution. who talked for time of an appeal
to the Presbytery, but as no further steps
have been taken the controversy has proba-
bly, been ended so far as the church is con-
cerned, though member stated yesterday |
that Weigle might carry the matter into !
the secular courts.
Letting natural gas out of the earth is
said to kill timber, and in some places is de- |
stroylng white oak forests. 1t is also Ger
tain that its discovery in some localities has |
had bad effect on people who, by their un- |
expected fortune, have become demoralized, |
and some still think that it affected not |
only society at large in Moon township, |
but politics and even the churches. |
As to its effect on politics. those
who urge it point to the |
fact that the Stevenson connection, which
has heretofore stood as solid wall for the !
Democracy from generation to generation, I
gave way this season, being carried largely |
into the Straightout movement. AS to the
effect on ecclesiology and Christian fellow
ship, they say there has been more friction
in the Sharon Presbyterian Church during
the last year or two than in all the preced-
ing time of its organization, some IS or so
years.
But this is not all of the controversy in
.he case above stated. Some who want Mr.,
Scatter disciplined say he was whitewashed
IN account of his prominence in the Grange,
yhlsh is power in that part of the county.
Thus anotha; inconguous element is added,
md some people inimical to secret societies
IRE also using the fact that the trouble be-
ween Messrs. Scatter and Weigle arose in
IN Odd Fellows lodge as an argument
'galnst conventional fraternity outside the
,ale of the church.