The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-03-30
CHURCH IN JAIL.
Services at Which Attendance
LIS Compulsory.
Prisoners at City Lookup Were
Interested.
GAVECLOSEATTENTION
Talk OF the Missionary Was
Along Practical Lines.
hecounts Story of the Origin of
POtter's Field.
GAVECLOSEATTENTION

Topeka people who went to church
yesterday and sat in their cushioned
pe"s IN the magnificent stone edifices
IN this city dedicated to religious wor-
ship and who listened to eloquent SER
mons while the subdued light from
the muilloned windows displayed to
the best effect the luxurious appoint
ments and furnishings of the
churches. were serving the Master in
ease and comfort as well as with zeal
and earnestness. There were services
held in the city yesterday, and they
are held every Sunday in the year,
that were a great contrast with those
above mentioned. At 10 o'clock Sum
day two city missionaries, a man and
woman, called at the city Jail and
asked for admittance to the main
strong room where the prisoners are
herded together during the day time.
The woman had a little girl four years
old with her. Sergeant PARCELS es-
corted them to the main room of the
prison and drew a long wooden bench
across the upper end of the room.
This was the pulpit and it's furnish
ings. The prisoners sat upon their
steel hunks which line the walls on
both sides of the room. A negro sat
on the wooden bench by the side of
the missionary. One prisoner remain
ed in his bunk and drew his coat over
his head. The floor of this chapel
was of cement and the light came
through grated windows. The mem
bers of the congregation were in their
undershirts, but they sat quietly in
their places and gave close attention
to the lady conducting the services.
She sat on the bench with the little
girl beside her and opened the ser
vices by singing one of the old gospel
hymns She sang WE'LL but her voice
sounded strange in that place An
Italian sitting on one of the upper
hunks, hummed a bass accompani-
ment to the song, Rescue the Perish
ing" After two or three songs the
lady knelt On the tobacco stained floor
and made an earnest prayer for those
lost in sin. She then sang song
about being kind to the Man That's
Down." This solo was listened to
with close interest and admiration by
the prisoners. The lady then read the
scripture lesson about the judgment
and crucifxion of Christ. In the mid
die of the reading her little girl laid
her head in her mothers lap and went
to sleep. She looked like a flower
growing in a dark and dismal place.
The mother went on reading. One
point in the lesson of particular inter-
est to her audience was the story of
the origin of the "Potter's Field" The
origin of this place of burial for the
outcasts of society and the friendless
was connected with the betrayal of
Christ. Judas, it will be remembered
quickly repented his act of selling his
Master for thirty pieces of silver and
came before the priests and asked
them what he should do and where
he should go. They answered him
coldly, and he threw the silver at
their feet and went out and hanged
| himself. The priests gathered up the
money, but did not know what to do
| ing it back in the treasury. for it was
blood money. They finally decided to
buy "Potter's Field,' with this blood
money, and use it as a place of burial
only for men of blood and those
without friends or money. And it has
| been so since that day. The prisoners
were deeply interested in this story.
| There was one connecting link be-
| tween this service and that held in
our fashionable churches-one of the
congregation went to sleep and his
i snoring could be heard above the
| lady's voice. He was the man who
stafd in his bunk and drew his coat
over his head.
The lady talked to the prisoners
briefly and along practical lines. Her
earnestness and simplicity held their
attention. If she did no good, she did
no harm. This work requires high
| Christian purpose and is strictly in
| line with the teachings and example
set by the Nazarine and His disciples.
| Sergeant PARCELS said that on one
occasion he had seen four prisoners
| on their knees at one time during a
Sunday service at the Jail.