The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-07-11

This strange sect has been operating in
Ontario county for some time. They have
been the wonder of the community, yet
not wholly without good. Stories of men
reclaimed from drunkenness and vice are
many. Children have been cared for. and
those who have been converted are ac-
knoWledged 10 lead upright lives. OF the
total enrolment in the country, all are
recent converts except Eastman and Miss
Chase who came from the southern part
of the state.
The hold which the Holy Roller faith
has taken on the people of Ontario coun-
ty is scarcely conceivable They come
from far and near to the services, and all
fairly worship Eastman. one enthusiast
two weeks ago brought his cows and pas
tured them in a field near the tent. This
was so he would have no necessity of
withdrawing until that series Of services
was at an end. Many of the people sleep
in their wagons or on blankets on the
ground impatient for the sun TO rise so
that the glorifcation may begin.
Strange stories of the doings Of these
zealots circulate about the region A
meeting Of especial fervor was held the
night before THE Union representative
arrived. 1t began early in the evening
and continued with growing excitement
until one of the women, leaping to her
feet in the ecstacy of spiritual emotion,
fell to the ground in a trance. The
preacher explained that she had the
power"
Don't profane her by your touchr' he
shrieked as some of the uninitiated bent
over the PROSTATE figure. So she was left
in Inconsistencies, with eyes staring va
cantly and limbs as rigid as in death.
Some time after midnight the woman re-
covered. She did not appear to have suf-
fered harm from the five hours stupor
q a
few minutes at a time at intervals
throughout the evening. No attention was
paid to them. When they came to- they
took up the hallelujah with the chorus.
Semi-lapses were common. This SEEM
ed to be a paralysis of certain parts of the
body. One man raised his arm in suppl
cation. stretching to his fun hight. He
gazed for moment toward the sky. He
shouted and called on God to save him.
Then his arm grew rigid. A sacrilegious
spectator tried to pull 1t down. 1t might
have been broken, but the muscles would
not yield. This seemed nothing more than
a case of mesmerism, although those who
saw 1t attributed it to divine power.
On this same night there was a bap-
tism in Canandaigua lake The candi-
dates were stripped and immersed They
did not seem to feel the chilly water in
the least
One effect OF the promiscuous CONVEX
sion to the High Rollers is in the dis
turbance of domestic relations. One man
adopted the faith and left his wife, who
was among the unsaved. He could not
live with her for fear of contamination.
Yet all who join the Holy Rollers do
not remain steadfast. At one of the meet
ings last week Eastman was preaching Of
what might be done by faith. II myself
could part waters and lead my followers
as well as Moses he said.
At athis juncture one of the fold whose
doubts had begun to take violent form
shouted: ~ don't believe it."
The preacher looked at the backslider.
Il can" he repeated. II could part the
waters of Canandaigua Lake"
Details of what followed are somewhat
meagre. The result, however, was that
the Holy Rollers are now one less. The
unbeliever was not allowed to stay
During the latter part of April one of
the members of the sect became i'll. 1t
was afterward learned that he had pneu-
monia. His friends who were not of tho
faith asked that something be done for
the man, but the Holy Rollers are fatalists
of a pronounced type, and would not OPP
pose the divine will by petty human
acts. The man died, and the incident
created no little commotion in the vicinity
at the time. There was even talk of in
dieting some of the Rollers who would
not allow a physician TO minister to fhe
dying man. Nothing was finally DONE
The Holy Rollers creed embodies doc
trines which were conspicuous half a
century ago. 1t is a belief that converts
by fear, as is evident from the class of
people to be found at the tent-meetings.
1t is a strange fanaticism. Dread of
eternal fire is the thing of frightening
prominence.