The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-11-28
A RUMPUS In
THE CHURCH.
Preacher Hawks Congrega,
tion is All Stirred Up.
A WOMAN GAVE HIM $3.50
And Now She Wants It Back-The Pastor
is Threatened and y e Sends
A Lawyer to
Settle.


Jacob ]. Hawk, attorney at law and
minister of the gospel, is in trouble.
Members of his parish are after him
with justice of the peace and Brother
Jacob has flown to the tranquil home
of Seneca county relatives and left
brother barrister to patch UP his diff
culties. A year or so ago the Methodist
conference took Mr.. Hawk under its
wing and give him circuit Since then
he has been putting in his time practic-
ing law in Canton and preaching the
gospel on his circuit, His. principal
charge is at Tuscarawas, a little hamlet
in Tuscarawas county between New
Philadelphia and Uhrichsville. 1t is
here that he has found trouble. In his
charge there is an old woman 81 years
of age named Mrs. Eckman. She is
very devout but has reached a time in
life when she is just lowering on the
brink of eternity.
Realizing this she wished to make pro-
vision for closing up her earthly affairs.
She lived with her son and owned the
household effects. In order not to have
an administrator appointed after she
was gone she decided to turn over
everything to her son he giving her
$3.50 in cash so she could have little
spending money to pay the church and
buy such things as were needful. The
money was paid over. Just now Rev.
Hawk appeared upon the scene. The
old lady told him she wanted to do
something for the church and under
the pastors magnetic influence she did
finally do something. In fact she gave
to Hawk the entire $3.50. From this
point on, the stories differ somewhat
The opponents of the parson claim he
ought to return the funds and they
threaten arrest. Squire M. c. Romig,
of Tuscarawas, was UP this week to
Canton looking for Hawk with deter
mination to get satisfaction. BY due
consideration of the statements of the
seem to be about as follows
Hawk got the $3.50, there is no dispute
on that. The old lady is practically on
her death bed and being childish, in
the enthusiasm of the moment, gave
away her whole fortune. After her son
found out what had happened and rem
onstrated, she then realized the sttua-
ton and rued the gift.
In the meantime Hawk had not turn
ed the money over to the church. He
claims the church owed him some $50
and he thought he would just keep this
much out. AS the matter had gotten
stirred up the church refused to settle
on this basis. Here now was a pretty
state of affairs. The old lady Eckman
had concluded she had not given Hawk
the money except to put in the bank
for her and she wanted 1t back. The
church refused to have anything to- do
with it unless they could have 1t all.
Matters got pretty warm. Hawk was
threatened and he sent Attorney Bord-
ner down to try and settle. Bordner
was unsuccessful.
Hawk has gone off to Attica, Seneca
is trying to settle. He has made a
proposition to pay back to Mrs. Eckman
the whole $3.50 excepting some she owed
Hawk on her subscription. The Eek
mans have practically agreed to the
terms and If Hawk ratifies the deal the
matter will probably be ended. If he
does not they will probably have him
brought into court for a reckoning. Mr.
Bordner says he thinks the whole mat
ter grew out of misunderstanding
between Hawk and the old lady.
In connection with the case horse
deal of the preacher also got mixed up.
Hawk bought a horse and buggy down
there for $100. He made payment on
it and was to give mortgage on the
outfit for the balance. He put in a
clause in the mortgage allowing him
to take the rig out of the county. When
he delivered the mortgage the payee re-
fused 1t. Then Hawk failed to make
his payment as agreed upon and the
old owner replevined the rig. Hawk
settled the case by giving up the horse
and buggy.