The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-07
LEGAL CHASE ,.. FOR FOUNTAIN Bethel Baptist Deacon
 Involved. TIT BETWEEN TWO FACTIONS Hostile Trustee Boards Ask Judge
 Sayre to Referee. Feuds QAase4 Destruetioa of ChurcA By Fire .sa A.ti-Desee, Crowd Ask for .Proteetfs. sx Re- building.

For one-man power, for machine politics. for all that "stearn- -rolier" business in which the politicians de- light. the Sig Stick, the Peerless Leader. and. all the rest of the vote manipulators must concede, marked ability to Deacon Isaac Fountain of gornery.
 Far out in Peacock's Tract there Is congregation. composed of 2l4 "cu}p lud'-bretheren. Deacon Isaac, the good shepherd of the fiock. lost favor among the church folks, and yet he grew stronger by the loss of his popularity, he created his own trustees. caused them to elect him to the pulpit, and has brought conditions to
 such a point that the remaining Iss
 members, through their duly elected
 Board of Trustees. have applied to Judge Sayre for an injunction against
 Fountain and his Board. restraining him fram exercising what is termed
 In the complaint an undue usurpation. The little Bethel Chapel has faced dtscord since Deacon Fountain first came to the midst of it's people. in 1902. They didn't like Deacon Fountain, and
 the way he ran things. and when his
 term expired in 1908. he was given to
 understand that he would not be re-
 elected to the pulpit. Now this was
 not at allf, what Deacon Fountain
 wanted. For he was having a beauti-, ful time ase pastor of the Bethel flock. And So he made use, as the bill Of complaint declares. of. his political ingenuity. and, at meeting called by himself, and watch the rwenty-s.x of his supporters were present, he elect ed a Board of Trustees, and caused
 them to re-eiect him to the pulpit. The Bethel Chapel Is So regulated
 that its aHairs are conducted by the Board of Trustees, duly elected by
 the congregation. The Board holds
 the property, manages and controls 1t. and names the pastor. And thus Dea- con Fountain was fixed.
 Hut the 1S2 who were left in the cold were sore. They had Board of Trustees of their own and that Board
 didn't favor Deacon Fountain by & whole lot. They asked him to quit, and he didn't. They had him arrested for his ever-zealous behavior. But Dea- con Fountain was like the Old Man of
 the Sea and he remained.
 His Board declares itself the party in power, 1t attempts to hold, manage
 and control" But the rest of the congregation dissented. and one cold l morning awoke to find Bethel Chapel a mass Of ashes In their bill of com plain in the Equity Court the repre- | sentatiyes of the 1ss cast accusations at Fountafn and hts twenty-six in re- gard to the fro t And now, Fountain's power comes l into force. The 1Ss want to rebuild:
 bue Fountain and his board, by the regulations of the church. claim the
 title to the land, claim the right to do
 whatsoever they please. and refuse the | right to build. But the 1SS faithful
 will build. whether Fountain win or
 no. they say, and 10 get rid of the de- | VA-, kI
 settle the matter in the Equity Court, l to fix the title one way or the other.
 to grant temporary injunction against the Fountain faction" as the twenty-six Is called, and thus to fix
 things for smooth running. and for a
 new church.
 The bill Is filed by the Board of Trustees elected by the 1SS, and is aimed at Fountain and his Board that
 was elected by the twenty-six.