Omaha daily bee., 1905-08-14
POPE REJECTED AS LEADER
Oolored Preacher Who Starts Organization
Of Church Rebuked by Lsynen.
PEOPLE SAY HE IS UNFIT FOR SERVICE
Accused of Twice Attempting Suicide
and Admits DiscouraEements I'm
PEELED Him 90 Think of
Self-DestructiOn.


| From present indications there is likely
| to be a hitch in the launching Of the new
Colored Presbyterian church OF Omaha
! At least under the administration of Rev.
! John Andrew Pope A.B. BID. Such are
the natural deductions from the proceed
| ings held at Lowe Avenue Presbyterian
church Sunday afternoon.
| Immediately following the regular devo-
tional exercises of the afternoon, at which
Rev. DR.. Pope preached. from the text
OF John iii:6, Mr.. w. ]. johnson, one OF
the best known and highly esteemed col
ored men of Omaha, and one Of the leaders
| in the, movement for the organization of
| the church, stated that he had, from the
start been deeply interested in the new
movement and had hoped to see 1t succeed
| but from recent developments he was salts
fled it could not succeed under the leader
ship of Rev DR.. Pope. He said:
What l am about to say pains me very
| much, but my duty as a Christian and a
Presbyterian impels me to speak very
plainly.
Wrong Man Now Present.
There is one person connected with this
| organization whom l am satisfied from my
| own knowledge and information is not
at this time and what have to say 1 wish
to say in his presence"
Rev. DR.. Pope here interrupted Mr.
johnson with the remark:
Go on, Mr.. Johnson, and say what you
| intend to say. Speak out so that the people
! here will understand you"
THAT is exactly what 1 intend to do" re-
sponded Mr.. Johnson. You, Mr.. Pope,
are the man to whom refer. Several days
| ago a social was to be held at the home
| Of one of our members in the interest of
| this organization. 1t had been formally
announced and you WERE l believe. to
| be present However, nobody came. At
the time, l was sick in bed. A short while
after, my son came to me and told me he
| was on a Twenty street and
| saw you on that car and that you were
| intoxicated l asked him if he could not
| be mistaken, and he insisted that he was
| not, that he knew you quite well, and he
repeated a maudlin conversation you had
| with the conductor about being put off at
! q certain street, long after you had passed
| the street The following morning | again
| asked my son if he was not mistaken, but
| he still insisted he was not. 1t has also
| come to the knowledge of some of our
members that you have abruptly entered
their homes, showing them scant courtesy,
anu llldA Nlt MOillcll VI AllOSt llOlllCo ltN 20
been alarmed by your actions. which were
i not at all consistent with the actions of a
| Christian minister.
Twice Attempted Suicide.
| Il also have learned from unquestioned
| sources that you have, at least twice, at
| tempted suicide since you have been in
| the city. That at time the services
! of doctor had to be invoked and a stom-
ach pump was used to pump the poison
| from your stomach.
AT another time you went down to
Bellevue and slept out on the Bellevue
campus all night.
| The natural deduction is that If you are
/ not strong enough to bear your troubles
| without resort to suicide you are hardly
the man to undertake the leadership of a
church and l, for one. cannot countenance
your leadership and must decline to have
anything further to do with you in this
| matter"
Pope Makes IA Reply.
Rev. DR.. Pope in reply to Mr.. Johnson
| said:
This is a personal matter and l have
| the right to bear my troubles in any
manner | see 1T. | have met with many
| discouragements, but | am a minister Of
| the gospel and ordained minister of
! the Presbyterian church and have the
| Presbyterian organization back Of me. l
| do not deny that l was tempted to take
my own life while under great discourage
| ment but even this would not hinder me
| from doing Gods work. 1 have done
nothing wrong as God is my judge, done
nothing Inconsistent with my duty as a
minister. l have been invited into the
homes of our people freely and have
! availed myself of that invitation"
| DIR. ]. IL. Hutton. the leading colored
physician of the city also was present
| and he confirmed in a general way the
! remarks of Mr.. Johnson, and said:
Agrees Pope IL Unht to Lead.
! 81 am a Presbyterian, have been edu-
| Gated in a Presbyterian school and believe
in the high ideals of the Presbyterian doc
| trine. And while 1t has been my prayer
| and wish since in Omaha to see Presby
| terian church of our race organized here,
| l am fully satisfied that you, Mr.. Pope,
are not the man to do that work. You
| are too weak and vacillating. Personally
J 1 have nothing against you, but for
| assisting in the organization of a Presby-
| terian church here / can have nothing to
do with it so long as you are to be its
! leader So l am Of the opinion that this
matter had best be dropped here and now"
Several colored women present spoke in
like terms and in a measure confirmed re-
ports of the discourteous manner in which
Mr.. Pope entered their homes.
The janitor of Lowe Avenue church.
also a colored man, when called upon for
remarks stated that he had nothing 10
say except that, "as matters had come
to this head all l say is that there
will DE no more meetings of this organiza-
ton held In this church
The controversy throughout was carried
on earnestly, but with very little acri-
mony. Rev. DR.. Pope had but little TO
say I'm conclusion other than to ask all
the congregation 10 speak, calling out each
one Individually. There were about fifteen
persons present