New Britain herald., 1917-01-23
GAMBLE TO RAISE
 FUNDS FOR CHURCH
Archbishop Relates Experiences
 in Wild and Woody West

Archbishop B. M. Spurr of Mounds vile, W. Va, was the speaker last evening at the supper of the Mems Brotherhood of the South Congrega- tional church.. Besides being the arch
 bishop of the state he is the chaplain
 of the state penitentiary and is in charge of about 1,2OO prisoners MT. Spur was born and brought Up in England and received his education
 in the schools of that country and the
 thought of becoming a minister never
 once entered his head. He intended to become a school teacher but at the conclusion of his studies he received an invitation to go west and settle down with some friends It was in North Dakota that he settled on a ranch.
 Mr. Spurr said, that while in North Dakota, he started to live and that to become acquainted with the western Americans is one of the easiest things in the world. Yes, your name Is Spurr,' one man said to me, but about your handle. Whats the first name?' Well, Ben, my handle Is Aleck. Shake.'" He lived in North Dakota for several years and while there did many things for the men when the op- pOrtun1ly arose.
 "One of the things that prefer do- ing" said MT. Spur, "is taking care of people, and I had only been in the west short time when one of the men was taken with typhoid fever I was with the man many weeks before he recovered. From this case went to another and also stayed with him until he was cured. Tn this way I be- (,nto to1 x1y1fh .oFt 10 @ in the district
 on my ranch, and ono night three of them came staggering into the house. Everyone knows how important 1t Is to be on a committee for the first time. Well, these men gave me a big surprise by asking mo to be their preacher and it WAS only a short time before I was giving them a sermon every Sunday. At the same time I was given the power to oficiate at weddings and funerals and became a sort of perpet- ual deacon. Eighty five per cent of those that attended the services were men. The committee that asked me to become the preacher had two saloon keepers on 1t and a very interesting fact was disclosed from this. I once asked no" the men raised the money to support the church and I found that once a month, at the city's official gambling house the members of the chruch meet
 and figured out how much would be
 needed for the church during the com
 ing month After they had figured the
 matter out they would win the money
 by gambling and the house owner
 would put the money in the Sunday
 collection"
 After many years of this life in
 North Dakota MT. SpuSr moved his
 headquarters to West Virginia and
 settled as near the penitentiary as pos
 sible. It was only a short time before
 he became chaplain of the institution and he has remained in that capacity for the past twenty three years.
 His tales of the horrors of life in the prisons was very concise recital
 of facts as he saw them in his every
 day work MT. Spur spoke strongly
 against capital punishment. He said that in his opinion hanging was to be
 had in preference to electrocutton,
 but he was against death in any man.
 ner as 8 punishment. He said that he
 was against electrocution because a
 man was not always killed 1y the first
 shock and often a fourth and fifth be-
 came necessary.