The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1908-07-21
TIE SLEEPING PARSON.
Major z. F. Wright Tells A New
York Times Reporter Of The
Wonder.

! The following interview with Mr..
Il. f. Wright was published in the
New York Times Of the 18th and will
be read with interest:
Major Zachhcus f.. Wright of New
berry. $. G., who is staying at the
Hotel Manhattan. was telling some
OF his cotton milling friends in New
York the other day the strange story
or the Rev. Hczckiah Elijah Perry
of Silver Street, Newbcrry county, S.
e., the only negro parson on the face
of the earth, according to Major
Wright, who is illitcratc while awake
and highly educated when in a trance.
The parson is nothing more or less
than psychological wonder. lie
is known from the banks of the Sa-
luda, where he has so long cntllrall-
ed his hearers with his sleeping dis
courses, to the banks Of the Congaree,
fifty miles further south, as the
"slceping preacher Of the Saluda hay
fields. -
For nearly Il quarter Of cen
tury,' said Major Wright, "this
strange negro has been preaching his
sleeping sermons. Although scores Of
people in Newberry and adjoining
counties pronounce him an impostor,
he is nothing of the kind Old Hez-
ekiah must now be we'll on the way to
the thrcescore-and-ten mark, and al
though he has been examined by not
ed physicians and psychologists, who
have applied every possible test to
lind out whether he was shamming,
he has stood every test so far, and to
my mind there is no doubt about the
genuncncsS of the Silver Street won-
der
"Whcn awake IIezckiah is lust
like any other ordinary South Caro-
lima darkcy. He is well behaved,
ruurtcous, and respectful, in fact the
widc-awakc Perry is a good specimen
Of what the old. before thc-war dark
les were. But in Il trance he is Il
different person. 7 have heard him
preach and watched psychologists,
physicians, and college professors try
to solve the mystery of his sleeping
power but so far the answer to the
puzzle is missing. In the meantime
the parson goes on hts way. preaching
his sleeping sermons and thriving
thereby.
"Hcrc is how Hczckiah does it.
Every Sunday morning he asccnds
his little pulpit at Silver Street. and
the moment he mounts the rostrum he
goes into a catalcptic state, from
which he cannot be aroused until the
bcncdiction is pronounced There he
stands rigid as pole, long, lean, and
mcanny looking. It's the appear
ancc of Il mummy, and only the work.
in" Of the mouth ana the sound of
the we'll measured voice indicates that
the preacher is alive.
'First Il hymn is announced by
the sleeper. and then he leads the con-
grcGation joining in. Tn the Sweet
Bye and Bye and the various halle
mjah combinations n.c his favoritcs
and those darkicS almost lift the roof
Of that little chapel when Ilczckiah
starts them to singing. The singing
of thco first song over, IIczckiah de-
dccites the LORDS Prayer, the cm,n-
citation, being perfect, only the slew
montonouS song-song way Of its re-
cital indicating the ratalcptic state
of the parS0n. The Lord : PRAYER is
followed with another OF his own,
and that prayer, as y rule. would do
credit to Il New YORK clergyman.
"Ncxt comes The sermon. and there
is where IIezckiah shines Although
without any literary training what
ever, he reads passages in the Scrip
lures with his eyes closed, and not
once does he make mistake as to
book, chapter, verse. or phrascology.
Awake he could not do that to save
his life. The nearest, for instance,
that he can come to saying Ncbuchad-
nezzar when he is awake is TO humble
something that sounds like 'Ncbud-
had-a-razzcr,' but in his trance he can
rattle that word off like professor
in a theological seminary.
"Is this darly person an impostor7
I think not. Instead he is a genuine
instance of a psychological freak.
Not so long ago Hczekiah was the sub
,iect of long debate before the soda
fountain In NV rOo1 friend WenlSs' g