Phoenix tribune., 1920-01-10
BOYD FACTION WINS

ciprocal News Service) Christmas
was celebrated with a different feel
ing and under different conditions by
the Unincorporated or Little R. F.
D. Baptists," as they are known and
have been styled for the past four
years, due to a recent decree of the
Court of Civil Appeals in the State of
Tennessee that has just been handed
down and made public today. The
decree affirms a decision in Part II
of the Chancery Court given out by
Special Judge Cherry some time ago,
when he declared that R. H. Boyd
and others of the National Baptist
Publishing Board are the rightful
and lawful board, and, further, the
court assessed the costs of the court
upon the followers of the Morris con-
vention, who brought the lawsuit.
They appealed and went up, so it is
said, claiming that the lower court
erred. When all the arguments were
in and the briefs were filed and when
the Court of Civil Appeals had taken
the case under consideration and
studied the arguments and briefs of
both able counsellors, their decision,
in simple terms, was:
you are out"
The opinion rendered by the Court
of Appeals is lengthy one, more
than twenty-five pages of typewriter
matter rendered by Judge Wilson tax
ing up two whole pages in the Ma
tional Baptist Union-Review and the
Nashville Globe, two enterprising
newspapers published in this city. But
the decree itself, as entered, was very
short, concise, compact and to the
point. In substance, the decree is
that the Morris followers who COM
planned against Boyd and his board
members had no rights on the board
and are not entitled to fill the posi-
tions as board members. They refuse
to discuss or decide on the denomina-
tional squabble or quarrel which
brought about a separation and two
conventions. They say that the Ma
tional Baptist Publishing Board, char
tered under the law of the State of
Tennessee, is the lawful and right
board and that they shall have all
the rights guaranteed to them by the
charter OF the State of Tennessee.
The decree closes by saying that the
Norris and Haynes followers who
brought the suit shall pay all costs
of the court. 1t is understood that
when this decision was made and the
decree entered that CONSERVATION
reigned supreme in the camp of the
Morris followers, but the Boyd and
Jones people declared that they are
''calm in victory and sober in defeat,
and that their erring brethren still
have a chance to come back to their
first love. Thousands Of letters and
hundreds of kilograms congratulating
Dr. Boyd and his followers have been
pouring in for number of days.
The history of the Baptist disturb
ance dates back primarily to the Chi
cago convention in 1915, while many
intimate that there were rumblings OF
wars and rumors Of wars before, and
which almost came to a reality in
1914 at Philadelphia. Chicago was
the real scene Of conflict, and accord
ing to the best information, it was
the famous charter secured by seven
men, unauthorized by the convention,
that brought about the separation
when the Rev. Dr. Morris and his fol-
lowers walked out and attempted to
adjourn the convention without al
lowing the majority rule, which has
always been regarded as Baptist pol
ity and policy, to obtain. 1t was said
that they were outvoted on three prop.
ositions. Since that time, the fight
has been hot all over the United
States, but from all indications, the
Morris people have been beaten in
every court trial, and according to
the Jones faction, they have lost five
decisions; three of them in Chicago,
and two in Nashville.
When DR.. Boyd was seen this week,
he declared that he held no ill-will
toward the erring brethren and that
the National Baptist Publishing
Board, the leading Baptist publishing
plant of the United States, was sup
plying literature to twenty thousand
Sunday schools and approximately
one million, five hundred thousand
Sunday school workers. He was busy
arranging his plans for a trip to Pan
ANA, where he will visit Rev. and
Mrs. Thorbourne, after which he will
come home to make preparations for
the Sunday school congress next
June. He is planning, he declares,