The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1893-05-24
A Strange Evangelist.

a man has very peculiar feeling
creeping over him when he meets face to
face in the living flesh a person who is so
notoriously dead that there can be no
reasonable doubt about it.
This was my experience some years
ago when went to hear John Smith, the
evangelist, in little backwoods town in
California.
I was making tour of the Pacific
coast and as Smith was the sensation Of
the day in that locality, I went to one of
his meetings.
The evangelist preached with great
power and it was impossible to question
his sincerity, but his sermon was utterly
wasted, SO far as 1 was concerned 1
never forget mans face or voice, and
after staring at the Rev. John Smith fully
FIVE minutes 1 was ready to swear that he
was John Gray, the murderer, who was
hanged at Cottonvile before my eyes
twenty years ago.
1t was no use to fight against this con
viction. The man stood before me,
somewhat older, but with the same ex-
preston, the same trick of manner, the
same strongly marked face that had
made John Gray attract my attention
and live In my memory.
The circumstances of the execution
were fresh in my mind as sat in that
little country church and listened to the
familiar tones of the preacher. The day
of The hanging was the most memorable
in the history of Cottonville. Just after
Gray's execution his body was carried to
the Jail, a temporary wooden structure,
where the doctors were going to hold an
autopsy. In less than FIVE minutes after
the hanging cyclone struck the town
and completely demolished it, with the
exception of few dwellings. Several
lives were lost and dozens of people were
wounded. Not vestige was left of the
jail on the bank Of the river, and the
terrified survivors of the storm were too
busy for day or two to waste any time
looking for Gray's dead body.
No trace of the Jail was ever found and
it WAS believed that its fragments with
the murderer's corpse had Aoated down
the river.
And yet the man I bad seen strangled
on the gallows stood before me preaching
to crowd of men and women who were
shedding tears under the spell of his
magnetic elo9uence.
When the services were over I sought
the evangelist in his room at the hotel.
There was fash of recognition in his
eyes the moment he saw me.
II expected you," he said. "I saw
you in my congregation and it was plain
to me that you recognized me. / can
afford to tell you my story because l am
ci7;lly dead-so conclusively dead that l
could return to Cottonville and not be
molested, even if the people knew me to
be John Gray"
ut is q mystery to me-" replied,
'but my eyes cannot deceive me. Tell
me all about it,"
The evangelist pondered moment.
"You know the story of my case," he
said, ''in the heat of passion I killed q
friend. My poverty and unpopularity
caused the jury to convict me of murder
and I was hanged on public gallows.
I had presentment that I would live
through it, You see that weigh very
little and my neck is pheromenally short
and thick. The sheriff was an inexpe.
rienced countryman and the fall when the
trap door fell was a short one. The
shock caused me to lose consciousness,
but was slowly and painfully regainiug
my senses when the cyclone came.
"You know what the storm did. 1t
lifted the Jail and blew it out of sight,
leaving the floor, over which my body
was stretched waiting for the doctor.
The electric force of the storm revived
me and I felt comparatively well in less
than two minutes.
II rose to my feet and at q glance saw
that the town was in ruins. Nobody
thought of me or of the Jail. 1t was my
opportunity and 1 took advantage of it.
I followed the river, travelling by night
and in the course of time made my way
to California. My rescue I attributed to
the direct interference OF Providence and
I resolved to devote my life to the cause
of.the Master.
$50 where you please in the country
districts of the Pacific States and you
will hear good report of my work. Is
it not 80 ?"
eyes," was my answer, "you have
nothing to fear from me-"
The evangelist took my hand.
81 may have been wrong," he said,
"but my love of life and my belief that
had been saved for special work caused
me to hide the truth from the people who
once knew me. Now my race is nearly
run and 1 do not dread mans venge-
ance."
7 assured him again that his secret was
safe with me and after somc further talk
we parted.
A month later / heard of the death OF
the evangelist and it was no longer
necessary to conceal the fact of this
strange case.
Gray is not the only man who has sur
vived the ordeal of hanging. The in.
stances are rare, but they have occurred
in this country, in Russia and in Eng
land.
The inexnerience of the Cottonyille