Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-05-14

place in which the first church meeting
was held was rather inappropriate to hold
such services In when they hear that The
good missionaries of the Presbyterian
church, the Rev. Lyon and Rev. Sloan.
convened US together in a large ten. 25S
400, where liquor was sold and wher"
gambling was carried on wit,"ut any
restriction whatever. But when l tell
YOU that the l!rst church meeting was
held in such q place, l can equally tell
you that when the judge of the North
ern District Of the territory came here
70 open court, the honorable board of
county commissioners was compelled to
go and ask MIR. Edward (Mortem or
Wattam). who had II saloon n gambl-
ing house in the city. if they could not
partition Off the back part Of his saloon
to hold court in, and that is where our
first court convened. Strange as it may
seem, the two missionaries sat behind,
and spoke from behind what some gem
tlemen will recognize when | speak Of
1t, and that was. q faro table. The law
yers or the Judge of the di ,trict cour,
had borrowed from the sporting fra
ternity Il faro table. and he sat behind
4 faro table. lie was frequently jollicd
during the recesses of the court by the
pioneer lawyers as to when he would np-
on up the game.
1t was also true of the first political
meeting we ever held in this city, which
was held in n great large gamblers tent
which sat on the block where the Webb
/ kl,,l. Ia s,nC, ctt,,ntal Nnl tr,tn tn fnInNnr
precedent, the chairman Of that meeting
OF the politicar meeting, presided be-
hind Il faro table. Faro tables were in
demand ut that time. and the court
didn't exercise any power to suppress
them.
In explanation of what | might say
that those Of you who are familiar with
the law know that 1t was held that when
the Pilgrim Fathers came to New Eng
land they brought with them and adopt
ed only that part Of the common law
that was applicable to their conditions
and their circumstances in life. and l
presume that applies equally true to the
pioneers. They only adopted such of
the laws then In force as they could
adapt to their circumstances in life and
to their conditions. The sale of liquor
in those days was OF course Il legitimate
business. l believe. however, that our
Territorial atu wee against the
gambling, but. under the rule that only
those conditions that were applicable to
our conditions and those laws were
adopted. why gambling was tolerated
even by the courts, they never Thought
Of suppressing it.
But II you want to go back to the
areal first church meeting | will say to
you, just imagine yourself now in a
large tent, rs by 100 Along each side Of
the tent a row Of planks supported by
nail kegs INC saw horses, and on these,
two long rows of planks, hat is. on
each side of the long tent, and here
sat the congregation or the people there
assembled, all classes of people. Then
here was the Rev. Lyon and the Rev.
Sloan, at the back end Of the large tent.
behind Il faro table, | don't know whetl.
er either Of them was sitting in the
look outs chair or not. Chairs were
IN admitted luxury at that time. and
the chances are that one of them was
using the look -out's chair.
Rev. Lyon FIRST spoke, and then he
introduced Rev. Sloan. Rev. Sloan talked
4 little while, and those W. missien-
%aries-for that, l presume. is what they
were-received the greatest considera-
ton and wre shown the greatest rspcct
by ali tlos people there assembled.
After Rev. Sloan, Rev. Lyon asked the
people there assembled-l presume there
were FreSbyterians and Catholics and
Mcthodists and members OF all kinds Of
churches generally represented-if they
would like to have Rev Sloan become thir
pastor, or come to establish Il church
among them. He thought they needed
4 spiritual advisor, which was Il very
correct suggestion, they did need a spir-
itual adviser. The question being put
to the meeting it was carried unanimous
~ and the Rev. Sloan was invited to
come and become a pastor or mission
airy among US. The Rev. Lyon said that
he would use his best influence to Sc
cure him.
After. that was done, Rev. Lyon had an
eye to business and he suggested that
it was quite necessary to have a lit
l Tic VI ~ hCCNA"b = !" "
he thought the hat should be passed
around The contribution was a very
liberal one. They empticd the two hats
on the table and among the coins and
bills that dropped ont Of the hats there
were numerous chips, There were red
chips and there were white chips and
there wers blue chips. The lteverendS
kind of smiled. They didn't seem to UNI
derstand just what hey represented.
But the treasurer of this-what shall |
call it-iaro bank, got up and very gen.
erously said: ,'Reverends. those checks
are perfectly good. ! will redeem them.
The reds are one dollar and the blues
are five, and the whites are 4 dollar
and 4 quarter" or something like that.
And true t their word, they did re-
deem the checks.
Father Sloan afterwards did come to
Bismarck. lie was not called rather
Sloan then, but because OF his beautiful
character. because of his broad char
ity. because OF his great deep love for
man and womankind, he so ingratiated
| himself into the hearts of the people
of this wild community that they came
to love and fairly worship him And |
know of no divine who has come here
since who was so universally loved and
so dearly worshipped as that grand
man, or who exercised such a beautiful
influence for the betterment and the