Amador ledger., 1904-09-23
The Morrow Case.

case of R"v. F. A. Morrow The rev.
erend gentleman was pastor of the
Jackson church for the year ending
September, 1902. He was then sent to
Antioch, in Contra Costa county. After
exercising the ministerial function in
that charge for few. months, he left
there and returned to Jackson, and
has been resident of this town ever
since, although not engaged in the
active work of the ministry. The Rev.
]. H. Van Vliet succeeded him as
pastor Of the Jackson charge. Friction
and dissensiou soon arose, which seri-
ously impaired the church work.
When Rev. j. w. Phelps was sent
here last year, church matters were at
a pretty low ebb. Under his firm
guidance the affairs picked up. The
scandalous letters next appeared, and
has created bitter feeling ever since.
The authorship of those letters has
never been definitely settled. Steps
were taken to have them made the sub
ject of criminal prosecution, but moth
ing was done in that direction. The
community has been divided in senti-
ment, but the church mem bers and
congregation were almost a unit in
support of the pastor, DR.. Phelps. The
effort to divide the church, and to
ALLEVIATE support from the pastor was
tracea BILE throughout, and instead of
accomplishing this it had the opposite
effect, namely, to consolidate the
church, and draw support to the pastor
from the outside. Practically new
church has been built and paid for
during the year, and the PASTORS sal
ary raised without any trouble; not
withstandirg the ministerial pathway
was made as unpleasant as possible.
The name of Morrow was more or less
coupled with the trouble, and on this
a keen and bitter partisan feeling was
engendered. The letters have been
the cause of investigation by fraternal
organization, by officers of the United
States and local government, and by
the church officials, but nothing de-
cisive was accomplished.
On the assem- bling of conference the
Rev. J. W. Phelps went to Pacific
Grove, determined to have the affair
fully ventilated. He presented formal
charges against the Rev. Morrow,
which included indulgence in liquor,
un truthfulness, immoral conduct, and
sowing dissensiOn in the church. The
Rev. Morrow went to Pacific Grove
few days before the conference opened,
determined, as it was said, to fight the
charges against his character. He
was asked to resign as the easiest way
out of the trouble. OF course a re-
ligious body is aVerse TO airing scan
dal if it can be avoided. The accused
clergyman refused to resign, and in
vited a trial. No formal charges were
filed against him, but committee of
fifteen ministerial brethren was ap-
pointed to make preli minary investi-
CATION, and report to conference as to
the probable cause of action against the
accused, Thirteen witnesses were ex-
amined, including four from Sacra-
mento, touching matters that occurred
at Oak Park during the pastorate of
Rev. Morrow there. After hearing
the committee reported unanimously
in favor of proceeding with a regular
and formal trial on the charges pre-
ferred. There was some talk of de-
sire to have the trial in Jackson.
Finally the accused minister decided
to resign as clergyman and men,
ber of the Methodist church, and
thereupon it is hoped this whole affair
has been brought to an end, on the
understanding that all reference to the
charges preferred should be expunged
from the records of the conference.
the only minute being that the
Rev. F. A. Morrow resigned from the
ministry and the church. The presi-
dent of the conference, Rev. A. Wilson,
wound up the sensation with the sig
pifcant remark, directed personally to
the accused, "You are getting off
mighty luckily; you are getting off
mighty luckily" This trial and its
outcome has been the main topic of
conversation in Jackson for the past
week.