The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1911-06-12
Pastor And Choir
Singer Leave Home
Congregation Waits Vainly al
Morning Service and Finds
Both Have Disappeared
WEEPING MOTHER Ih-LAW
TELLS OF HIS DEPARTURE
He is WidOwer With Three
Children and is Fifteen Years
Older Than Young Woman

New York, June PA romance.
which has been the chief topic of con-
versation among members of the No
bic Street Presbyterian church at
Lorimer and Noble streets, Brook
Ign, for more than six months, is be-
lieved to have reached it's culmina-
ton yesterday when there disappeared
simultaneously the pastor, the Rev.
G. Clement Edison, and a soloist in the
choir, Miss Gertrude Abbey. who lived
with her parents at No. 81 Orchard
street
Mr.. Edison is thirty-f1ve years old
and widower with three children.
aged seven, five and three years. Miss
Abbey is twenty and pretty. His at
tentions to the young woman became
marked soon after his wife's death.
When Pastor Edison failed to appear
at the Friday evening mems meeting.
for the first time since he had taken
charge of the pastorate, the elders de-
termined to~g get an explanation for his
absence or demand his resignation.
Saturday morning Donald A. Manson.
senior elder, met Mr.. Edison in the
street and asked him if he had called
on Miss Abbey the night before and
what were his intentions toward the
young woman.
,
according to Mr.. Manson. who adds
that to every other inquiry Mr.. Edison
remained silent
The congregation assembled yester-
day morning and waited for fifteen
minutes before realization came that
their minister was not going to ap-
pear AS if moved by a common i'm
pulse the churchgoers, directed their
gaze toward the choir loft. where the
seat of Miss Abbey was seen to be
vacant. The church was quickly
emptied of the whispering congrega-
ton and excited groups buzzed their
suspicious in the vestibule and on the
sidewalk.
At the parsonage Mrs Elizabeth
son. received the elders in a condition
bordering on hysteria.
81 have been crying my eyes out
ever since o'clock this morning." she
told them sobbingly. Il woke up with
a start and found my son-in-law fully
ed him where he was going and what
it meant but he would tell me moth
ing.
HE, acted as if he hardly knew
himself what he was doing. 1t fright
ened me and / begged him not to go
away; but he paid no attention to me.
1 asked him if he were going away
WIN lIldI younS girl anu lie Hldue no
answer. But when I said / knew
he was infatuated with her he adj
mitted it. Then he left the house,
Meantime, at the Abbey home the
committee was hearing of Miss Alb
beys early arising yesterday morn
ing and her departure without telling
her destination. She declared she was
only seeking relief from the gossip of
which she had been the subject in
the church ''as long as she could
stand it,
The Rev. DR.. Bosworth of Ozone
Park. responding to the telephone sum-
mons conducted the morning service
an hour late. Special services. in
which the children took leading part,
were held in the evening, but Mr.. Ed
son did not return for them as it was
hoped he would. His own three chill
dren had been drilled long and care
fully for important parts. News Of
his strange absence in the morning
was responsible for a crowd at night
services. which filled the church to the
last seat.
Again there was a long wait, but
Mr.. Edison did not appear. A. D. Cor
don, superintendent of the Sunday
school. took charge of the exercises.
Following them the elders met in a
long continued session at which they
decided to lay the case before the
Presbytery. 1t is expected that word
will soon be received from Mr.. Ed
son requesting that his resigna ton be
accented