The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-19
The Row Over Dr.. Paxton.

The West Presbyterian church, New
York city, is one Of the great churches of
Gotham. 1t is probably better known
throughout the country than any other
in New York or Brooklyn, except those
of DR.. John Hall and DIR. Talmage, be-
cause of the immense wealth of a number
of its members. Russell Sage is a mem
Der of the West Presbyterian church; so
Is John T. Terry, and the Jeffreys, and
Miss Helen Gould, and other people who
count their fortunes by the millions. 1t
is the church that Jay Gould used to at
tend. The edifce is a splendid one, its
furniture is magnificent and its music is
made by the highest priced choir in the
city. The leader of the choir-the prima
donna, in facts Miss Clementina de
We're, noted opera singer, who is paid a
salary of 1900 year
DIR. John r. Paxton is the pastor of the
West church. He is great pulpit orator,
one of the kind that touches up timely
topics in the breezy way that catches the
crowd. In church and out he has a GER
tain unconventional manner about him
that has made him quite as famous as his
sermons. He is a citizen soldier, the
chaplin of New York regiment. G.
A. r. man, and a jolly good fellow at a
banquet table, and his doings and saw
ings in these several capacities have more
than once astonished the town As illus
trating the fact that he is in touch with
the spirit of the age, the story is told
that at a dinner friend congratulated
him upon having so fine a choir leader as
Miss de We're. "Oh, yes" replied the
reverend gentleman, shes fine; I'll bet
on Clemmy every time!'
a few Sundays ago DR.. Paxton
preached a sermon touching upon the
financial stringency in hich, to employ
the vernacular, he Laid OUT the mil
lionaires. He gave them some rough
truths and rubbed them in till the rich
folks in the pews squirmed. Since then
there has been trouble in the church.
The doctor went away for a vacation,
apparently in good health, and in a
short while sent back his resigna
ton from the pastorate, giving as
his reason that his health was broken
and that he needed unlimited rest to re-
cuperate it. A meeting of the church
session was hurriedly held and a faction
of the congregation, led by Mr.. Jaffrav.
appeared anxious to give the doctor all
the rest he wanted. But party friendly
to the preacher successfully interfered,
secured him a years leave of absence
with his salary of $4,000 to run. Then
Elder Jatfray resigned he was very
wroth. And subsequently there cropped
out charges and counter charges of
trickery, packed meeting, ward politi-
cal methods, and other naughty things
enough to make a worldly mans head
swim. Altogether it was as lively
church row as could be got up at short
notice. And the end is not yet. The
great West church may be split
A Chicago scheme, having for its pur-
pose the colonization of negroes in Mon
tana, 3" is doomed in the news columns of
a republican newspaper in PHILADELPHIA.
The scheme is under the management of
a man named Grave, and he is said to be
sending out circulars and selling bonds
to negroes in all parts of the country. OF
the man and his scheme this is said: "He
has incorporated, under the laws of Mon
tana, a company for the development of
gold and silver mines and is inducing the
colored population to buy shares in his
company at $50 each, under the promise
of giving them steady employment at the
rate Of $3.50 per day" The sensible ne
gro with $50 in his pocket will do lot of
thinking and considerable investigation
before he drops his little pile into this
scheme. 1t is said, however, that a
Large colony of blacks is about ready
to start for the new Eldorado to become
mine owners on 4 $50 deposit