Perth Amboy evening news., 1912-08-21
CAREER
Of GEN.. BOOTH
Founder of Salvation Army
Passed Away.

London, Aug. 21.-There is wide
spread mourning here today over the
Of the Salvation Army. An operation
for cataract was performed on his lief
eye last May, since which time he fail
ed steadily.
William Booth was born in Noting
ham, England, April 10, 1929. His
father was u carpenter, who had little
but a consuming religious zeal to sup
port him in the world. By dint Of
much economy the carpenter managed
to give his son an education and to
send him to a private tutor for prepa-
ration in the Methodist ministry. At
twenty-three the young man took his
first church, q chapel in Nottingham.
1t Is said that the Rev. William Booth
was not a magnetic speaker nor one
especially qualified for evangelical
work, but into that work be plunged
with tremendous zeal shortly after bis
admission to the ministry Of the
church. During his travels over Eng
land on preaching tours he met Cath
crime Mumford, and after a long en-
gagement they were married In 1855.
The Rev. William Booths wife was in
many ways a remarkable woma She
had the same religious zeal es her hus-
band, the same instinct for organtza-
ton and a strong appealing quality in
her personality, which later served to
attract the besotted people Of the Lon
don slums to her.
Had Preoarious Existence.
For five years after her marriage
Booth and his wife lived the precarious
existence of reyivalists. He laid a plan
Of campaign before the conferences Of
the Methodist New Connection church.
1t was so radical they would have none
OF It.. Then 1t was that the zealot cut
loose from orthodoxy, as it was con-
strued by his superiors, and went down
to preach to the people of the mean
streets in his own way. The flock he
chose to lead was of the very neighbor-
hood Of the criminal, the lowest dregs
OF a great city, born to an Inheritance
OF crime through generations. In 1865
Booth and his family settled in Mile
End Waste, one of the blacklist cor
ners OF the east end, and the work of
saving souls by new methods began.
His first tabernacle had been a second
hand tent erected In a disused burying
ground on Mile End road. Before 1873,
when the Salvation Army had its In
ception, Booth had learned the bitter
ness of the work that he had selected
for himself.
Paraders Attacked by Roushs.
Probably the bitterest moments that
the tndomitable evangelist were ever
made to feel followed the first march
lngs Of this tattered Christian army
Of regenerated sots and criminals
through the streets of Whitechapel.
1t was a holiday for the masses when
eve the little band struggled out of
their tabernacle and marched behind
their wheeling instruments. Every
thing that lent itself to hurting was
hurled, and in many cases the police
sided with the roughs and arrested
the Sa~lvatfonistS for o~bstructing the
highways. Then when the noise of
this sensational evangelizing reached
the ears Of the clergy of the west end
congregations they rose in wrath and
denounced the vulgar sensationalism"
and the ~"lrreverant trumpery" Of this
Salvation Army.
When a year had passed there were
1877 officers in Its ranks and eighty
corps had been established through
out England. Before the Salvation
Army was four years old General
Booth and his wife began the long
series of social reforms and sterling
charities which stand today monu-
ments to their greatness, as enduring
as the army itself.
Recognition Of General Booths work
came in a startling manner and just
at the time that the storm Of persecu-
ton was at It's height. This was in
the form of a message from Queen
Victoria praising his work of salvation.