Los Angeles herald., 1907-05-25
GOSPEL WAGON
WESTWARD BOUND
TOUR TO BE MADE TO THE
COAST
Party of st. Louis Citizens Plan Novel
Way of Preaching christ's Teach-
ings-Members Belong
to No Church
Special to The Herald.

Special to The Herald
ST. LOUIS, May PA unique cara
van will leave Nineteenth and Chest
nut streets Saturday morning for a
tour of the west, covering several thou
sand miles during years time. The
party will consist of Samuel Snyder,
the originator of the plan; D. E. Skaggs
and wife Of 1929 Sheridan avenue and
E. Allen and wife of Glencoe, Mo-, who
will live in two large wagons Of the
old caravan type, travelling from town
to town and preaching the gospel.
Farewell services will be held Satur-
day morning at o'clock at the start
ing point, after which the party will
drive toward Jefferson City, the first
stop, fully equipped with folding chairs,
cots, tents and all other necessary
equipments. Two wagons will be used,
one drawn by span of mules and the
other by horses, and both vehicles will
be placarded with scripture quotations.
A southern route has been chosen for
the trip to California, covering the
principal cities in eight or more states.
Among the cities at which the party
will hold services are Jefferson City,
Nevada and Joplin, Mo-; Kansas City,
Kan; points in Oklahoma and the In
dian territory; Fort Worth, Dallas and
I1l Paso, Texas; Phoenix, Ariz., towns
in Nevada, principal points in Southern
California and San Francisco. The
trip returning to st. Louis will include
northern states. Mr.. Snyder estimates
that the trip will take from one year to
eighteen months.
Represents No Sect
Mr9 Snyder is quaint little German,
about 45 years of age, and has spent
many years in travel, having been all
over the world. He belongs to no sect,
but trusts to God for everything he
needs. Speaking of his proposed trip
yesterday he said:
we represent no particular branch
OF the church. The church is doing too
much nowadays to make skeptics of us.
Too many. especially of the younger
generation, are drawing away from the
church on account of denominational
administering Of Christianity, and the
purpose of our overland trip is to teach
the Bible to just such persons as these,
from a non-denominational point of
view.
I'VE trust God for everything we get.
We do not beg or take up a collection.
Any voluntary donations that may
come in are very gratefully received.
We trust God to answer our prayers,
and 1 have never known him to fail
When L thought of this plan to make
the trip to California 1 prayed for the
means of getting my outfit. 1t came to
me, as it will to any one who will trust
the Father, and l am not afraid to start
out on this long journey with the same
trust to carry me safely through.
I'VE will not carry large amount of
provisions. Just enough to sustain us
from stop to stop will be- carried. We
will have guns and ammunition and
fishing tackle. We are not seeking con-
verts to any denomination-only con-
verts to the Christian faith"
Speaks Five Languages
Mr.. Snyder has travelled many thou
sands of miles in doing religious work.
One of his tours included eighty-five of
the principal cities of Europe and con-
sumed twenty-eight weeks. His home
has been in ST. Louis for the past fif-
teen years while not touring the coun-
try. He speaks five languages-Eng-
lish, German, French, Greek and Latin.
When the party returns from Califor-
mia Mr.. Snyder will start on a trip of
several years to Europe and the holy
land, making the complete tour, except
or water, by wagon.
"I am writing book on my travels -
said Mr.. Snyder, "and will have some
interesting experiences to give to the
public. 1 have been working on the
book for several years. and probably
will not finish it for several years yet
I want to include my trip through the
west and the one to follow While it
will not be a book based entirely on my
religious work, 1 will devote consider
able space to my experiences in that
work"