The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-07-05


Latter Day Saints. us they prefer To be
called. held baptismaI services yesterday
afternoon on the shore of New York Bay.
at GretuviIIe y. J Only one person was
baptized. Another. who expected to be-
was not because her husband wouldn
allow it. This was Mrs. Thomas Blair
former president of the Christian In
deavor Society OF the Port Morris Con
EreSatiouaI Church. who some time ago
startled her church associates and caused
a storm of Indignation among the church
es in The Bronx by bringing into meet
ing three Mormon elders who attempted
to speak there Since that incident Mrs
Blair has not been a member Of the church
and has openly proclaimed her conversion
10 Mormon doctrines But the MoTmous
do not believe in letting q married woman
5oiu their church without the consent of
her husband. and in this case the hUs-
band Was not willing. although it was
hoped that he would be up to the last
minute.
The person who was baptized was Miss
Elizabeth Dickinson, of The Bronx. also
q former member of the Port Norris
Church. Miss Dickinsou'S prominence in
the church was almost equal TO that of
Mrs. BIair's and her detection caused rs
much comment She was secretary Of the
Miss Dickinson was also one OF the party
who accompanied the Mormon elders 10
the Christian Endeavor meeting She
broke with the church and her pastor
after that, and went over TO Mormonism-
In her case there was no husband 10 in
terp0se objections. and her mother. who
was present yesterday, encouraged her
The Mormon elders sent here from Utah
as missionaries have already held several
baptisms at the place where yesterday ;
was held. Three women were baptized
there two weeks ago. Their baptism did
not attract so much attention even
among the MormoHs as did Miss Dickln-
sons fer the reason that hers was re-
garded y a sort OF triumph over the per
sccution they feel they have had 10 en-
GUTe IL The Bronx
The place selected was in the rear OF
the New York Bay Cemetery and the
services were held in a tumbIe-down
house that has stood for 125 years on the
shores Of tn. bay. 1t is occupied by Mrs
Adelaide Young, who lets boats and al
lows those hiring them to use her
grounds and the house occasionally Mrs.
Young said yesterday that the Mormons
had not been invited by her to share its
shelter or use the grounds or float for
their services. They had simply come
and taken possession and she, being
EOod-heartcd, although a strong Roman
Catholic. had not seen her way clear to
turn them out. She had expected that
they might offer her something, she said,
but all that she ever got from them were
two five-ceut pieces which one OF the ED
ers gave the children as a bride to run
away and not bother them
While the services were in progress
yesterday Mrs YOung's sister came over
from Staten Island. and for moment it
looked as though the baptism would be
Interrupted Mrs. Toung's sister is also
a Roman Catholic. She had read in the
papers that her sisters place was to be
the scene Of a religious ceremony that
her church did not cOunJenance- and she
came to see about it When she found
that the Mormons We're not paying she
declared that it was time that their
meetings should be held elsewhere But
the meeting was in progress then, and
her sister would not let her order the
assembIase to dispense All she could
do was to tell the children that they
could fire off all the hrecrackeTs and as
near the house as they pleased That was
almost as serious an interruption as her
order TO disuerse would have been
The AIo1mons hereabouts are not very
strong IN numbers yet and the gathering
was small one There were eight ED
ers- They could be easily picked out be
cause they were ali dressed in black min
fsterIal frock coats and were very young
and smooth shayen- Only one the lead,
CT. Elder W. ! Snow. the President OF
the Brooklyn Mormon Conference. wa.
over thirty The others were SaEnue
Nea. George \. Golf. and James 2. Bur
row. from the Bronx D. c. CouIan, O.
y r.-ETa
Clarke. and Joseph Baird. Of Brooklyn
OF the laity it was observed that all bu
three were women The women. O.
whom there were about twenty-five
nearly all OF whom had been baptized
were Of all ages. though large proper
ton were young girls IN summer dresses
All had brought picnic baskets
The baptism proper was preceded by ser
vices in Mrs Ysangs parIor- After sing
ing The Mormon hymn, Hail to the Pro
phets Asceudcd in Heaven, Elder NeiT
who brought about Miss DickinsOn's con
version spoke. He said ne had been Otter
asked why they had come into a commun
itv where there were 50 many chUrche
and preached that these churches had no
the true gospel as preached by tn
Saviour. a gospel, he said, which had al
the powers that II ever had, for they ha
been restored to the earth by Josep
Smith
Joseph Smith. said he. was called O
God and was sent here from heaven [
receive Gods message from the angels
Soon afterward John the Baptist visite
him and conferred on him the Aaroni
priesthood and after them came Petel
James. and John There are no other pee
pie who claim such visitatiCns, but il y
turn TO the Bible we see there prediction
Of just such things. Joseph Smith Wa
sent on earth because God saw that dc
nominationalism had the form Of GodI
ness, but not the power"
There was more singing, and then tn
little crowd waited outside for Miss Dick
insou to make her preparations She az
peared IN a white flannel gown and abou
her neck were a lot Of loose daisies Sh
wore no shoes Mrs Dickinson, he
mother, who had not yet become a Nor
mon. led her down 10 the float Their
was a strong breeze. but it was hardI
Dickinson. who looked very fraH shIv
cred. There was more singing on III
raft while one of the elders with a pol
found how deep the water was. Then E
der Nea tripped on his frock coat and i
his shirt sleeves stepped into about f0U
feet Of water and lifted Miss DicIsinso
down. Then he waded out q bout fifty fee
the HOTmOus on the raft preserving dea
silence.
and lac looked as though he enjoyed i