The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-12-09
R THAT CAUSED DEATH.


Sealed His Death Warrant.
| Williamson CIV. va.) Telegram in Pittsburg
Commercial Gazette.
With his head resting on the revolver
with which he had shot and killed Rev.
John H. Wohl a few hours before, Attor-
ney Davis Stokes, the survivor of Wednes-
| days duel. spent a night and day OF fevered
agony. Tonight his condition is improved
and he will recover. The cause of the
tragedy was the clergyman's sermon
preached last Sunday against social amuse-
ments. It was at the morning service,
I when the church was filled almost TO suf-
location, for it had been generally under
stood for several days that the doings of
the social world would come under the lash
of the preachers invective. At this point
in his sermon he leaned over the pulpit for
a moment, looking into the upturned faces
Of his audience, and from the amen corner
could be heard loud cries of Amen!
| Amen!' The sentiment was meeting with
the hearty approval of some whose hair
had grown gray, but in the body of the
congregation, among the young people,
married and single, vas written upon every
face wrath and indignation. There was a
stir, a murmur of disapproval, and many
rose in their pews as if to leave the house,
among whom was Attorney s. d. Stokes;
and then, with one accord, as II recognizing
that to leave would be to admit what had
been said. all confusedly sat down. There
was GREATNESS silence, and then, in a clear,
strong voice. Rev. Mr.. Wohl continued:
Yes. my friends. well may. you say
| Amen for you have watched during more
than half a century the work of this DEVILS
water. You have seen the future of young
men blasted; you have seen the hope Of
the mother in the daughter, as she budded
and bloSsOmed into the supreme flower of
-womanhood, crushed and mangled. You
have seen the majestic memories of EN-
pires and kingdoms sullied and blackened.
Nay, more, you have seen nations falter In
their great work, only to fall at last at
the feet of this most subtle and alluring
poison"
The effect of this sentence can only be
imagined.
Leaving the liquor subject. Rev. Mr..
Wohl took up the dance; and now, COM
ing to the fearful story of the daughter
Herodias and John the Baptist. he told In
quaint words the old Biblical story, as
never before heard in this town. Tears
stood in the eyes of many. Heads were
hung in shame, and throughout the con-
gregation could be heard the sound of
weeping. Then it was that the preachers
voice rang out from the pulpit:
Il say unto you. o my beloved, for you
are beloved of my soul, that so long as
you follow the footsteps of sin, SO long
as you tread the mazes of the dance, YOU
are on the brink of despair, and on the
morrow your JOY shall be turned into
mourning. He who Is instrumental, he
who assists, in working UP one of these
nefarious devices of the devil, is opening
the gates of hell for his own sister, and
for his fair young wife. You may call it
the social whirl, but L have another name
for tit is the whirligig of hell. The man
has not breathed whose thoughts in the
waltz were not an insult to the woman
whose pulsing bosom he feels against his
breast, and his only pleasure In this
amusement is the hope that at last his
own evil thoughts may be mirrored in her
mind"
With no word of explanation Rev. Mr..
Wohl announced this ominouS text from
the Book of Lamentations v, 10: The
joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is
turning into mourning" with a subteXt
taken from st. Mark vi: The daughter
OF Herodias danced before the king" This
furnished the theme of the discourse which
became a prelude TO his death.
Rev. Mr.. Wohl, in beginning, briefly
sketched the social events of the past few
months here, taking them up seratim,
especially the dances. He commented on
the drinking of wine and said:
81 tell you that this town must be purged
of this fearful evil. The young woman
who gives to her friends the liquor that
is red in the glass. is putting into their
hands so many ounces OF hell fire, which
\ Will consume InelT very souls. Inc woman
who drinks wine with a young man. is
standing on the threshold of eternal dam
nation, and her feet are leading her
straight TO perdition. From the wine table
IL is but a step TO debauchery. Aye, my
brethren and sisters, the married woman
who drinks wine would just as well, then
and there, employ some one of her bril-
Eant young friends in the legal profession
to defend a divorce suit, for she is well
coming the foe that will destroy the home.
blot out the family and cause the husband
- - 49, aA- l. 49, III
dren he is looking, when he fondly sup
poses he is gazing upon the darlings of his
own heart"
The minister seemed exhausted, and yet
the force Of his indomitable will urged
him on:
You have read the history of the great
people concerning the dance held in an
European city the night before the COM
bined forces of the world crushed the man
of destiny at Waterloo, and how the rev.
elry ceased at the surly growing of the
distant cannon. But, my friends, the rum
bling. though awful il may have been, will
be as the voice of some sweet scene of old
when compared with the sounds of which
those who now dance will hear on the last
Voices that last night laughed with gayety
shall then shrek with the damned, and
forms that a few day before moved in
the sound Of the violin shall writhe in the
torture of eternal fire. Lips that to-day
may have chung in loving kisses shall then
be forever parched and dried. Eyes that
now look love shall then start and burst
from their sockets, and the fair hair that
now weaves about the marble of a beauti-
full brow the meshes of a net of gold shall
in that awful day be turned 10 fame.
Would that my tongue could picture, and
in words paint that fearful scene.
Turn, my friends. Why will we die?
Abandon your evil practice; become high
minded men and women and these we cam
not be so long as you are sullied by the
touch OF the dance. Again / say unto you
that the white light and glare which IL
Eliminates the ballroom are the shroud of
manly probity and womanly purity, and
that when these die your life is a living
hell"
Funny Men i'm Congress-.
| AinSlee'S Magazine