The San Francisco call., 1896-05-16
Debts Have Piled Up to About
Six Thousand Five Hundred
Dollars.
TRUSTEES TIRED OF PAYING.
The New Edifce Will Be Smaller and
on the Corner of Van Ness Avenue
and Sutter Street.

| that good old man, DR.. Stone, when China
town on one side ana the green blinds of
| Dupont street on the other shocked his
well-to-do congregation; the church SO
suddenly deserted by the fiightv DR.. Bar
rows; the church which, through Its late
pastor, had an unchristian wrangle over
| the pessimistic utterances of DR.. Heron {;
| the church torn by a dramatic scandal,
with impurity, blackmail and anonymous
letters as the furniture of the stage-is 10
| be wiped off the face of the earth, and the
rich tones of the organ and the prayers OF
the faithful are to ascend from q site with
out history, good or bad, for a new
church is to arise on that aristocratic
| boulevard, Van Ness avenue.
On Wednesday of next week Judge
Slack of the Superior Court will order the
property to be sold on petition filed by
the trustees and a majority of the pew
owners. The petition asking for the order
has been filed by the trustees-W. F.
Whittier, Henry L. Dodge, John F. Mer-
rill, Edward Coleman, w. ]. Dutton and
l. F. Morse-and is in accordance with
the following provisions of the constitu-
ton of the society:
Article XII, section lin the decision of any
| question that may arise concerning the dis
posal by sale or otherwise of the real estate or
buildings belonging to this society, only those
| of its members shall be allowed to vote who
| are owners of pews in the church edifice, each
| pew being entitled to only one vote, and In
case there are several owners of pew the vote
| of said pew may be cast majority in inter
! est OF said owners shall decide.
Section 2-In all other matters pertaining to
the business OF the society every member
| thereof shall be entitled to vote, but in no
event shall any member who has neglected or
! failed to pay pew rents or taxes when called
! upon to do so be permitted a voice in its de-
liberations until he has paid the same In full.
The roll of the church members con-
tains 900 names. The sale will be made at
the imperative and not-to-be- denied re-
quest of q ma jority of six trustees and
twenty-five pew-owners, one of which
(Trustee Whittier) owns three pews and
will have three votes. Hence four trustees
and eleven pew-owners, making fifteen
persons in all, have closed one OF the
hnest church buildings in the State and
will succeed in having the property sold
despite the protests OF the remainder of
the 800 members should they be inclined
to protest.
The reasons why the trustees have de-
ided to take this action are said to be
various. Members who insisted upon the
resignation of Rev. c. o. Brown say that
the trustees are actuated by spite and the
rule or ruin policy which they charge
constitutes the most salient charac-
teristic of DR.. Brown and his stanchest
supporters. The trustees, on the other
| hand, say that the church has not been
paying expenses, for 10, these many years,
and they have been paying the deficiency
out of their personal funds until the in
debtedness has reached about $500. They
do not wish to swell the debt, there being
no prospect in sight for its reduction, and
they saw no other way left open for them
but to lock the doors through which the
! fair and intellectual Matte, the pious and
venerable corset-maker Mrs. Davidson,
and the giddy Mrs. Stockton. were wont to
enter for spiritual consolation from the
eloquent lips of its pastor.
A CALL reporter visited L. H. Cleme ent,
| secretary of the Congregational Church
| Society, yesterday, and requested an in
spection Of the list of the twenty-five pew
| owners.
II have not the list" replied the secre-
tary sadly.
Are you not the secretary, and is not
the list part of the records in your pos
| session. was asked.
| We'll" replied Mr.. Clement. II have
not the list for publication"
That was all that the secretary would
say. This unaccountabie and unnecessary
| display OF secrecy is commented upon very
untavorably by the church members. They
say that II everything is regular and hon
est why should not the secretary be will
ing to let the sunlight shine through the
sta1ned-glass windows of the historic
church, Why cover a business transac-
! tlon in which 800 members are interested
with the mantle of darkness?
But under the law of the church the
900 members cannot do anything to pre-
orrff ho cs.la nra -
nents of the DR.. Brown methods said
Yesterday that if, say, half of the mem bers
should sign protest and file it in Jud ge
Slack's court the Judge would forbid the
sale; but no concerted action has been
taKen, and there is but little doubt that
the property will go under the hammer.
One of the trustees, who declined to
allow his name to be used, said that several
persons who signed the petition calling for
Dr. Browns resignation had not attended
services In the church since 1877, and many
had not attended since 1885 and 1886. He
said that the church expenses, estimating
the pastors salary at $4,000, were $12, 600 a
year; but that, owing to the so-called hard
times during the past few years, there had
been each year a deficiency, which had to
be made up out of the private fortunes of
the trustees.
The church building was completed in
1877 at cost OF $4,000. The lot cost
Soo,oVV. 1he property is now valued by
the trustees at $3.50 900, most of this heinz
in the land, the building being practically
worthless to the buyer except for church
purposes. 1t has a seating capacity of
15OO, and this is deemed too large for the
congregation. The site said to be selected
by the trustees is on the corner of Van
Ness avenue and Sutter street, and the
building which they propose to erect will
have seating capacity of 1000.
Deacon Dexter denounces as willful
and atrocious lie the statement in a morn
ing paper that he expects $4,000 commits.
sion out Of the sale. Deacon Morse sealed
the statement in the can of silence and
scornfully refused to make any statement
whatever in relation thereto.
The Pacific, the organ of the Congre-
gational Church in this City, has the fol-
lowing to say:
The officers of the First Congregational
Church and Society in this City have petit
toned the court to allow them to sell the prop