The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1906-10-05
NEWS FROM INDIANA
EVENTS OF GREATEST INTEREST
THROUGHOUT THE STATE
REFORMER WOULD REFORM.
Osorseed lsporte Pastor Seeking TO
Purge Himself OF Sins by Hard
Work IN the Open
Air

Laporte ~ shall never again at
temp to reform others until have
succeeded in reforming myself With
these words Rcy. : v Williams. the
disg'aced pastor of the First Chris
tian church OF l.apo te. Withdrew from
the pulpit To the pillow and exchanged
the ministerial irock for the farm
hand blouse
As preacher and scfolmer for many
years he had held that the agricul-
tural life more than any other con
duces 10 the regeneration of man. and
II has been his hobby 60 send TO the
farms every case Of fallen brother
that be could control In harmony
with his theory after having con
fessed 10 immoral practices, he has
retired Ia a farm under a self-im-
posed sentence Of al least one years
hard labor in the omen air The stua-
uon involves separation from his
wife. herself a successful minister OF
the gospel
Samuel Y. Williams il about IS
Years Of age. and until recently has
been in fairly rugged health He is
native of FL PasO. H.. where his Ia
Their Has a farmer. After passing
through the district school he deter
mined 10 enter the ministry He grad
uated with honors at several univer-
sites.
His pastoIates were successful and
his career was series of promotions.
He was connected with churches in
81. Louis and Charlottesville. Ind. and
several churches in Iowa While
preaching az one 81 his charges he
became acquainted with and married
the woman Who shared his lite for
several years II ~ is eloquent. she
is no less ~ and besides filling en-
gagements for him in eases OF his
unavoidable absence. she has been
regularly settled ia pastorates of her
owr az various places. her last CON
nection being az Tampico H. There
are no children by this marriage
Soon after the couple came TO La
porte there reached the official board
Of the church rumor followed short
- by direct charge. that Williams
had laid siege to the heart of Ger
tain widow. Her attorney mentioned
the matter 10 board members and
suggested the possibility Of damage
suit against the accused clergyman
Mr. Williams was able 10 convince the
board Of his innocence. and there was
s.fI a.
her lawyers As codefendanis So
when she entered the church one sun
day morning one Of the trustees
quietly hinted 70 her that her room
was more desired than her presence.
and she departed.
The predominating trend in vii
liams preaching was an appeal for
create. purity OF life. As an aid OF
purity he advocated the simple life
plenty ~ outdoor work and plain food
such as the farm affords From the
freshly turned soil. h. was wont 10
say. comes the great stream of vir
tue and force which purifes and
strengthens the life of the people IL
the stream becomes muddy and is
finally lost in the contamination %
our wicked business and domestic
conditions so much the greater rea-
son for starting reverse current
back 10 the soil FOR publication and
invigoration. PIT yonr delinquent man
or boy on the form II his physical con
dition admits for here is his best
chance 10 get q fresh start toward
worthy citizenship
One evening in August al a meet.
ing Of the official board Of his church
while routine matters were under con
sideration and the Introduction Of no
other subject was anticipated Elder 7
gush OF tears entered upon nervous /
and distracted narrative OF what he
termed his ~damnable and no longer 1
bearable double life" He was great. I
~ excited. tie declared that through. /
out his life he had sinncd. In disre. I
gard of his priestly and nuptaI VOWS 4
he had habitually he said. made fire. I
quent visits To neighboring cities for 4
the sole purpose of caTousing He had \
just returned. he said from his latest
escapade in Chicago. lie resigned his \
pastorate. renowned his marriage.
vowed that he was too great hypo-
critic for human association and be.
came so hystcrical thar IL was neces-
sary 10 stop his astounding trade and
confession al who were present
pledged themselves 10 secrecy pend
INK sn investigation.
Later Williams made public state
ment that the Widows assertions
about his conduct toward ner were
truthful. and that she was without
blame