Evening star., 1897-06-14
JUMPED THROUGH WINDOW
Pastor Of Montello n. P. Church Feared Per.
sonal Violence.
His Enemies Insist He Shall Not 90.
cupy the Pulpit-Policeman Cleve-
land Takes o Hand,

Pandemonium reigned supreme i'm Mon
tello for several hours yesterday morning,
caused by the efforts of the opponents of
the pastor Of the Montello Church, Rev
Hanson Primrose. to keep him from preach
ing there They succeeded, too but all
persons who took part in the conflict came
near getting into the hands of the law.
The affairs of the Montello Church. grow
ing out Of the conflict between Joseph Lee,
Francis Lofty, Dan Hollins Andrew Smith
and John Smith. on the one side. and the
pastor. on the other, have been taken into
court. as hitherto stated in The Star. Mr..
Primrose stated yesterday to Star re-
porter that he was advised by his counsel,
w. c. Martin. that pending a decision of
the case in court. he had a right to preach
In the church, and by E. NJ. Hewlett, the
counsel for his opponents, that at this time
ne had the better right to the possession
OF the church. and consequently as he had
been regularly appointed as the pastor by
the Maryland conference of the Methodist
Protestant Church to which the Montello
society belonged he went there yesterday
morning to hold service, as usual
The Lock Changed.
Upon reaching the church Mr.. Primrose,
who was accompanied by friend, found
that the lock had been changed since his
last visit, and that he was unable to open
the door, The adherents of the two fac
tions soon assembled in large numbers, and
one of the friends of the pastor opened the
door of the building by force.
Mr.. Primrose and a number of his friends
entered the church, and the former ascend
ed the pulpit. He had read the first verse
of the hymn, "A Charge to Keep l Have, -
when loud noises were heard outside, and
1t was soon ascertained that Joe Lee, an
opponent Of the pastor, and Will Colbert
one of Mr.. Primrose's friends, had gotten
into fight while discussing the merits OF
the pending controversy. They were separ-
ated by bystanders. but Mr.. Primrose
be next attacked, jumped through a win
dow. hastily got into mis- buggy and started
toward Washington.
The news of the scrap spread like wild
fire, and, in less time than it takes to tell
it. reached Policeman Cleveland, who was
at the time patrOlling the Bladensburg
road. The officer started toward the scene,
and on the way met Mr.. Primrose in full
retreat The officer and the preacher then
returned to Montelo where the police
man heard the story of the Lee crowd
which was. of course, antagonistic to the
pastor. The policeman thereupon threat
ened, II Mr.. Primrose attempted to preach
in the church. to put him under arrest,
and the latter left for home.
The Officers Story.
Policeman Cleveland told The Star re-
porter that he threatened to arrest Prim-
rose because he did not think the latter
had any right to preach in the church until
he had decision from the court in his
favor.
Here" said he. Just as 1 was about to
turn in at the noon hour 1 was called to
interfere in this difficulty, and now 1 have
got to make a great long explanation to
the lieutenant as to why / did not make
report at II o'clock / will not be bother
ed in that way again. or if l am and Mr..
Primrose cannot show the papers authoriz-
ing him to preach in the church l will ar
rest him."
At o'clock yesterday afternoon Mr..
Cleveland was relieved by Officer Knupfer,
who took charge of the. affair Mr.. Prim-
rose was at the church last evening but,
although assured of police protection, did
not attempt to preach