The San Francisco call., 1898-02-07
TRUSTEES
 HAVE NOW
 RETIRED The Financiers of Dr. Halls Church
 Resign. The Congregation Sur prised by the Sudden
 Action. The Sensational Announcement Made During the Morn
 ing Services. THE OUTCOME IN DOUBT. There Is Much Sympathy for the Pastor, but the Factions May
 Not Be United.
The Sensational Announcement Made During the Morn
 ing Services.
THE OUTCOME IN DOUBT.
There Is Much Sympathy for the Pastor, but the Factions May
 Not Be United.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

NEW YORK, Feb. 6.-The trustees of the Fifth avenue Presbyterian Church have resigned. Announcement to that effect was made from the pull pit by the Rev. Dr. John Hall this morning, and the members of the con- gregation were notified to meet at the church Monday afternoon, February IA, and choose new trustees.
 The church was crowded, and prior to the giving out of the text of his ser mon, pr. Hall made the announcement. Dr. Hall read the notice in a sad tone of voice, but he made no comment oIi the matter, though it attracted atten- tion among the pew-ho1ders, who began whispering to one another, but desisted when he began his sermon.
 After the morning services, Dr. Hall held a short scssion with many of his warm supporters in the congregation, and afterwar6 there were many con- ferences in the vestryroom and the pastors private room. The congrega- tion is bound to stand by Dr. Hall no matter what may be done by the ses- sion next Thursday evening, and to- day they were giving him the warmest assurances of their support and as- sistance. The members of the cOngre- gatiop were 10th to discuss the sig nificance of the trustees action, but it was admitted by Robert Bonner, J. H. Work and many others that it was the direct outcome of the differences of the factions in the church.
 The trustees are the financial gover- nors of the church. They are also the financial packers of the church. They not only represent in themselves finan- cial support, but also represent the Me- Cooks, the Maitlands and the Sloanes. who are supposed to be opposed to the continuance of Dr. Hall in the pasto- rate The resignation of the trustees, following close the stand taken by the congregation last Monday night, is expected to be followed next Thursday by the withdrawal from the session of many influential and wealthy mem bers.
 Robert Bonner, a warm advocate of Dr. Hall, said to-day the resignation of Dr. Hall had not been prompted by the financial condition of the church. MT. Bonner asserted that the dissatisfac- tion with Dr. Hall by members of the session commenced with the WarSZa- wiak incident last summer. Had that not occurred, there would never have been MT. Bonner believes, the slightest opposition to Dr. Hall. Herman Wars zawiak had charge of one of the CnuICIeS. 1Ild1 S6S Ol IulSSOIuuCt w CI c made against him, and he was found guilty by the session and dismissed from the church.
 "Dr. Halls sympathy was with Wars zawiak, and he stood by him little too long," continued MT. Bonner At the time I said that either Warszawiak was guilty and should be dismissed from the church, or John B. Parsons was guilty of a great libel on him."
 This incident, MT. Bonner thought, tended to make a breach between those who thought Warszawiak should be dismissed and pr. Hall. The dramatic incident in the Fifth-ayenue Presbyte- rian Church last summer, when Dr. Hall announced the decision of the ses- sion, in the case of Warszawiak, helped to widen the breach so far as Dr. Halls position was concerned. The congregation, however, as a whole, was not affected by the incident, the mani festation of sympathy by Dr. Hall only serving to endear him the more to them. MT. Bonner said, however, that prior to the Warszawiak incident and long before the charges were preferred against the man, Dr. Hall announced to him that 1t was his intention to re- sign the pastorate of the church at the completion of the thirty years of la bor.
 Dr. Hall made no reference in his sermon to the affairs of the church.