El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-10-08
EVANGELISTIC
CIRCUMSTANCE
lncidents In the life. of the
Ex-CIoWn..
FIGHTfNG COCAINE MEN
The Street preacher Doinu, . Good
Work in the Cities and Towns OF
Texas

| Texas
Men AZ my stamp go up, against
some prettl hard propositions said
| Wheeler the ex-clowa street mission
| ary. we find men wherever We go in
some guise. probably that of preacher,
| editor. banker. or any business or pro-
| tession- who seek to. raise themselves
by attempting to lower some one else.
In my twenty-siX years experience as
clown | never failed to meet, il every
| town in which l performed the town
clown L hoped that. in my new bust
| ness would be rid of him but not so.
He is still on hand. and gives a free
performance at one of my meetings, at
least in every town. in which hold
| them.
ITO give you an idea of the man,
of whom l am s2eaking.I will tell you
| of one or two experiences l have had
with him since / was here in June.
While addressing a crowd in a Texas
! town one night after L had made four
or five talks IN. the place a preacher
| approached me. 1 thought he was, GO
ing to buy a book. or may be would
invite me to- occupy his pulpit. But
in the most authoritative voice that
he could assume he asked, Have you
your credentials with you? II so l
would like to see them sir l answered.
If had ever so many credentials with
me l would not show them to you for
you are not entitled to the honor and
turning to the audience l said The
street is my church house, you are
my congregation. If any member of
my congregation would like to see my
credentials l will show him letter
from my wife. who is In 81 PaSO for
the benefit of her health. in which she
thanks me for the last money order l
sent her. and the preacher sneaked
away while the audience cheered.
When l had said the benediction and
turned to walk away the preacher
crossed my path again. spying, loudly
enough for the greater part of the aud
fence to hear. Il know you, Wheeler.
and l answered, If you know anything
bad about me, step out there where l
stood and tell my congregation about
it, but he skunk away midst the cheers
for Wheeler
In FIT. Worth 1 talked to big aud
fence in the Standard theater en- Sun
day night. The Standard is variety
theater in the tenderloin district, an
ideal place to get an audience of the
kind of people that needs the Gospel.
The minister in his church talks to
those who know the blessings of sal
walton through the blood of Christ
while those who should be told about
them are never spoken to upon the
subject except by men in my business.
The next night | addressed a crowd
at the corner of Ninth and Main
streets. During this talk | said, Many
a protesting Christian will pray. Lord.
show me something to do and then
shut his eyes for fear He will show
him something to do. Last night there
was an opportunitl for the Chi istian
people of this town to do a good work |
The Lord opened the way through His
humble servant to a place where the |
lost might be found but they did not |
avail themselves of the opportunity
When l had closed the meeting a |
young banker stepped up to me and |
said in pompous way, L understood |
you to say you do not like church peo-
ple?
Il told him that I had not intended |
to impart any such understanding, that |
| liked everybody when they acted |
like they should, and he said very |
sharply. I'll give you to understand.
sir. that my father and mother are |
good Christians, although | may not |
amount to much. Well said l. YOU
are oneo these fellows who hope to
make their way through the world up
on the reputation of their parents. |
Your parents have my sympathy 4
gave you ten cents he said haughtily.
Here 1t is, | said, L cannot conscien-
1ously accept money from such a fell
low as you. but he would not take it, |
What will L do with it?' l asked. L
VIII not use it Give it to some one
else he said and booty man pushed
his way through the crowd and said.
Give il to me and I'll get a drink
No, sir. said i. although | have as
good friends in the saloon business as
anywhere | will not give any man
money to buy booze with. but | will be
lround on the streets after | close
lere and If you want a cup of coffee
n a bed call on me-
There were fully 500 men crowded
lround me and as | had been firing 8
ome hot shot into the cocaine selling I
druggists ! suspected that | would be {
nobbed. There was something fell
With thud on the walk beside me and ,
was sure IL was missile some one
rad thrown at me. a lady in an upper T
tory windoy asked me. Did you get | .
t. Mr.. Wheeler?' Not that time / :
aid. thinking she meant did | get hit. 4
ut man touched me on the shoulder Z
nd said, Here il is X was a dollar
wrapped iii paper. Turing to the q
anker L said, The ladies give me :,
olIars while you, Il rich banker, are n
licking because You gave me ten
ents.' Turning to my audience | said.
There are two kinds of religion, spir- q
.uai and practical. When you find S
hem together in one person YOU find s
strong. worthy Christian. and while u
he crowd cheered 1 withdrew. feeling q
nat had won the bout with the F
Dung banker" c
Mr.. Wheeler has heen making a spe- c
lal fight against cocaine vendors and T.
Ill make some talks on that subject d
n the streets of Ell Paso He has L
cen in almost every town in Texas. q
making talks from the de- D
OF platforms while the train was stop q
Ell Few minutes. At Roswell he ! r.