The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-01
GAVE ALL He HAD.
Puts His S37 900 Into a Church, and
Now He is its Janitor.

from the PlttSOurg Dispatch.
"Denyer has the extraordinary instance
of a man who gave his entire fortune to-
ward the building of church and then
became its janitor" said William H.
Graham yesterday. 1T is nothing I'M
usual 10 see the man who gave large
donation to the church become a leader
In the congregation. but here is a man
who gave every cent of the s31 900 he had
accumulated and was then content TO
serve in a lowly position with a small
salary. This is a rare instance # self
sacrifice and particularly interesting TO
Plttsburgers, as the noble man at one
period IN his life spent his time between
Alliance and this city
Many years ago there resided in Al
lance, o., man who, in order to make q
better living for himself and wife. opened
restaurant in addition 10 his regular
duties as engineer on the Fort WAYNE
road between Pittsburg and his native
town. He gained a little money in the
pursuit of his vocatious, but when the
western fever broke out and Denver was
looming up out Of the RAYS of the Setting
sun as the coming metropolis Of the west
he packed up his earthly possessions and
started for that growing place With the
little savings he had taken with
him he purchased a home sur
rounded by some little property. AS luck
would nave it, portion of the land adj
Joining his house suddenly became very
valuable, and he sold il at great profit
Having acquired taste for real estate he
bought and sold, always being successful
until his savings had increased to what
in those days, and we might say even
now, were thought to be a considerable
fortune-SB7 900 But the engineers
path was not to be all roses, for about
this time his wife died, leaving him alone
in the world. He mourned her loss very
bitterly. Feeling that he should do some
good in the world he became very much
interested in church work.
The Christian Church at Denver had
been very successful, but after acquiring
considerable congregation the work
seemed at a standstill The pastor had
received call from another city. and
was about to accept it, when the Pitts
burg engineer came to him and argued
that his proposed going away was i'll ad-
vised. For he cOntended, while our
church has increased rapidly, we are
now at a standstill What we need now
is a counter irritant to stir up the people
for the good work. Establish another
Christian church here, and you will see
what great good can be done The minis
ter concurred in this opinion, but could
see no way to accomplish the establish
ment of another church, as funds
were very scarce. with this the
engineer agreed 10 donate $4,000
toward purchasing a lot, and to build a
new church II the pastor would remain
This offer was accepted soon a lot was
obtained, and in short time the tent
which was erected TO hold the services
held an earnest congregation of seventy.
Interest in the work increased and build
ing soon commenced. So interested did
the engineer become that he not only gave
his promised Sl2 900, but kept adding and
adding TO his donation until when the
Sos 600 church was completed, he had
$31 600, leaving himself utterly without
money or means of support. The church
proved to be one of the finest in Denver.
and is to this day the pride of the city.
But what was this benevolent man to
do' He had given his all TO the church,
but he must live. He went meekly and
asked for the position of janitor OF
course he was accepted, and to this day
he is filling that position But he is no
ordinary ianitor; he is rather q king in
the congregation. He is about 20 years
old and lives in the church. Away up in
the belfry which be built he has a comfort
able bedroom arranged and down in the
basement he eats his meals. He receives
a salary, but every cent that is not re-
quired for his frugal living he gives to
the aims fund. ! said he is looked upon
as a king. ON every question that comes
up about the church his opinion is asked
for and respected. He is content with
his life, having made sacrifice of him
self and his wealth TO the great cause l
doubt If another such instance of self
sacrifice can be found inrecent times"