The La Jara chronicle., 1910-02-11
Pastor Turner Resigns.

Well, / am no sport and so / quit.
This was the reply of Rev. B. F.
Turner, late pastor of the NJ. T.
church of this city, when asked why
he resigned his charge. consisting of
the La lara and Bowen districts.
Rev. Turner came here a few
months ago from the east. He was
Young, highly educated. and at once
Interested the young people in liter
ary ani church societies. His sermons
are said to have been models of elo-
quence and logic and his resignation
came as surprise to the congrega-
lion. following an official visit by
District Superintendent Lee, last Fri
day night.
Mrs. Eliza Hamilton, steward of the
church. said yesterday that Rev. Tur-
ner had nothing to complain of; his
salary had been promptly paid and
she thought he was doing good work.
She stated that everything was salts
factoryunul he resigned. when he i'm
mediately began working to create a
division in the church. AS part of
strated with the pastor because he
neglected to call on the older men,
bers of the church. The date of that
conversation was, she said, several
weeks ago, and at the close of their
ak. Rev. Turner had held out his
hand and said. Let us still be
friends" Then, Wednesday evening.
shortly before the departure of the
Urain, he had called at her home, be-
ing accompanied by a number OF
young people, and took her to task
for his trouble.
The Chronicle is an outsider in this
controversy and refrains from COM
ment. But knowing the matter is a
topic OF general conversation and
feeling that the sooner the facts are
Lhreshed out the better it will be for
the community. we give considerable
space to the details of the case. a
member of the church handed US the
following contribution and requested
that it be published:
On last Wednesday evening Rev.
B. F. Turner left La lara for Denver
as a result of a disagreement which
arose among the officials of the NJ.
f. church as to his availability for
the position of pastor here. Mr Tur-
ner's resignation. which was put in
The hands OF the district superintend-
ent DR. n. II. Lee Of Denver, on last
Saturday morning, was promptly ac-
cepted. and Rev. Layton. who has
been boarding at Mrs. Hamilton's for
several months, will temporarily fill
the pulpit
MIR. Turner's dismissal was fol
lowed on Saturday morning by the
designations of the entire official
board. barring Mr.. Wisegarver, who
did not attend. and the future of the
NJ e. church in La lara begins to
look precaIious even to its most
staunch supporters. The attendance
at all the services of the church in
creased during the last pastorate,
and a change was not considered
advisable at this time by the majority
of the church members and regular
attendants.
According to the best information
obtainable. the cause of Rev. Turner's
action was the ceaseless criticism
which was portioned out to him by
the steward of the church who, in
her official capacity, exercised a
praiseworthy and most $ s'euth-like Wig
ilance in scanning the daily life and
conduct of the pastor, whose procliv-
ity to turn up his trousers, wear a
cap, to clothe himself in striped
shirts, 90 skating with the young peo-
Pile, etc, finally justified her in her
determination that he was a man of
the world" with which delectable and
highly entertaining fact she hastened
to acquaint him. \ number of inter
views on these vastly important sub
jects caused Mr.. Turner to resign,
since he considered his daily apparel
much more civilized and agreeable
rnan that of the ancient prophets
who wore sackcloth and ashes
when they wore anything-to which
costume he refused to revert. A
crowd of townspeople saw the retir-
ing minister off last Wednesday even
ing.
This is the second time within six
months that La lara has been de-
prived of popular pastor through
the complaints of the same person.
The other official members-princi-
pally those whose designations are
Al Il 10 lrna .n