Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1914-06-09
FANATICS HANDLE
SNAKES TO PROVE
RELIGIOUS FAITH
Strange Sect in Kansas and Okla
homa Toy With Deadly Rep
tiles to Show Trust
in God.
SEVERAL HAVE MET DEATH.
If Bite Proves Fatal It Is Taken To
Indicate Lack of Reliance
in Lord or Call to
Heaven.
SEVERAL HAVE MET DEATH.

Dodge City, Kan, June 5.-A
faith in God that enables them to
handle the most poisonous reptiles
without fear of injury, has given to
religious sect spreading over
southwest Kansas and Oklahoma the
name of "Snake Eaters" Members OF
the organization have been holding
meetings in Dodge City homes and a
number of converts have been made
in this city. AS a result Of their
blind faith that nothing will harm
them unless God wills it, several of
the devotees of the strange cult died
from the bites of reptiles.
The presence of members of the
new cult was not known here until
the calling of police to a house in
the 1900 block on Fourth avenue to
quell a disturbance revealed the
fact. The trouble grew out of dis
pute over revelations made by
one of the members.
The members of the new cult call
themselves the True Disciples of
Christ. A part of their service con-
sists of testimony. Some of the old
er members claim the gift of tongues.
One woman member, Mrs. Sarah Os-
teen, a widow, whose home is in
Bloom, Kan, who claimed the gift
of tongues, interpreted the remarks
of the speaker into reflection on
the character of Mrs. T. A. Coving-
ton, another member, in whose
home the meeting was being held.
Mrs. Covington Indignantly denied
the aspersions on her, in spite of
the fact, as she admitted, that her
faith might not be strong enough
to handle snakes. The lie was
passed between the two women, and
then the hair-pulling started. BY
the time the officers arrived, nearly
every attendant of the meeting had
been drawn into the fight and the
police had hard time separating
the combatants. Most of those who
were at the meeting were from
nearby neighborhoods, and the po-
lice ordered them to return to their
homes or be arrested.
Mrs. Covington said there had
been attempts by some of the other
members of the creed to "set her
aside from the church for some
time because of her alleged lack of
faith. Her husband, daughter and
son-in-law, she says, are against her
on that account. Mrs. Harvey Car
ter, her daughter, explained why:
There are mighty few people
who believe in all the bible and fol-
low it," she said. ''But we do just
as the bible says, and We believe
those of strong faith can handle
snakes. In Luke it says that if we
have faith we can raise up serpents
and not be harmed.
at doesn't say that people won't
be bitten by serpents, but if they
are bitten it only shows their faith
is weak. If they die they are only
laying down their lives to the Lord,
and any of us is ready to do that,
because we will take it up in a
more glorious hereafter. That isn't
being harmed
There are said by some persons to
be more than 5000 members of the
"Snake Eaters" in Kansas and Ok
Iahoma. That their belief in divine
protection has been put to the test
with frequent fatal results was ad-
mitted by Mrs. Covington and Mrs.
Carter.