Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-08-31

II =
4 The idea that a preacher must
" be rather solemn and digni-
he'd person, wearing Prince
Albert coat and an expression of in
effable Goodness, is sharply contra
dlcted in act and word by the divine
who cares for the few hundred souls
In this town, and few thousand
more scattered over the several thou
sand square miles Of his wilderness
parish.
The Rev. Gilbert B. Traveller calls
himself frontier preacher, and lives
and dresses up to the part. He has
no church as yet and no plans for
building one. He is first going to es-
tablish q community center where
his parishfoners can have feasts, see
movies, read books, play games and
incidentally hear the word of God ex-
pounded by young man who Looks,
talks and rides like cowpuncher.
The regular garb Of the Reverend
Traveller consists of flannel shirt,
a pair of khaki trousers, hight eeled
riding boots and an enormous felt
hat. He spends most of his time
riding from one mining camp, ranch
or COW camp to the next. For this
purpose he has two fine saddle
horses. which are spotted black and
white, and are as like as two peas.
The preacher can be recognized a
mile away by the unusual color
| schemes Of his mounts, for which he
| has refused $500. He has also a
good car for reaching such points as
are accessible by road. Incidentally,
houses in town, and has an attractive
wife and a large family of little
Travellers.
Few born, None Die
A circuit rider is supposed to hold
services when he can get together
enough people, and also to marry
couples, bury the dead, christen the
| babies and comfort the bereaved. The
Reverend Traveller performs all of
these functions as much as possible,
but that. It appears, is not very
much. In few of the places that he
| strikes are there enough people to
| justify q formal sermon. Worse yet
when these people get married they
go off to some large town to have 1t
done. It appears that they seldom
have children and never die. This
| makes the conventional duties of the
circuit rider very light, but he makes
| Tot of duties for himself. He acts
as sort of general friend and coun-
| cilor to all and sundry, and this in
depreciation Of his clerical functions
seems very acceptable to- the people
of Cimarron, for the preacher is
popular.
Furthermore, he does not allow
his religious duties to become a
bore, He carries rifle as well as a
Bible when he rides the trails, and
although he is looking primarily for
souls in need Of salvation. he has a
quick eye for bear or a coyote. In
the hunting season he brings home
now and then a wild turkey or q deer.
And when the Lords business is slow
he cuts a willow pole and snakes a
mess Of trout out of some stream.
ety OILS H1I tho fdaQ that
there is no reason why preacher
shouldn't have a good time.
Mr.. Traveller, 1t should be added,
is only thirty years old and wears a
grin which causes him to look still
younger. FIe grew up in the. beef
business and knows horses and eat
tie at least as well as he does the
Scripture. That is one reason he +
so welcome at ranches. and round
ups. He can throw a rope Just as
well as he can throw the fear OF
hell into a sinner.
Peri1ous Preaching
If you imagine that Reverend
Traveller has a sinecure you have
only to listen to the story he can tell
you Of his predecessors in this par
ish. In the course of the fifty or SIX
ty wears that this country has been
settled, there have been several
preachers here, all of them, like the
Reverend Traveller, Methodists, but
not all of them so well fitted Tor
their jobs. Mono of them STUCK.
Several of them left very hastily;
and at least one of them was speeded
Straight fnom here to heaven by un-
grateful members Of his flock.
The earliest Of these pioneer
divines was here back in the SIX.
ties, when Lucien B. Maxwell, tne
famous land baron. who was sKeLcn-
ed in previous, ++,e aaI Efn edom on
the Cimarron. Maxwell had a daugh-
ter of whom he was so fond that ne
would not let anyone marry her. ne
used to meet all suitors. with :. gun.
But a young army captain e 1a maze i4 tpe
window of her bedroom on moon
less nights. Finally she passed down
her toothbrush and 9 few other er
things and climbed out after them
and the two eloped. They hnaeeat s .Ip
ed upon him the hazardous job OF
marrying them, He performed the
ceremony in the mill at dead Of night
and speeded the couple to Fort
Union where the old man couldn.t
burst of language not really fit Tor
clerical ears. But the Spreacher
stood his ground and told the irate
Maxwell where to go as well as q
preacher could tell him. What be-
came of this preacher is not known.
but Maxwell did not have the nerve
to shoot him.
The Murdered Minister
One of his successors who came
to Cimarron after Maxwell had lett
was not so fortunate. The great
Maxwell land grants had then been
sold to a syndicate or British cap
italists and there were stormy times
tiers and miners had taken up claims
on land which the English company
claimed, and regular little war
was started by the effort to put off
these alleged trespassers. Four men
who were hostile to the grant com
pany were mysteriously killed. This
preacher, whom we will call Smith,
had more nerve than judgment. He
loudly and publicly asserted that he
would find out who was guilty of the
crimes and would have the murder
ers indicted. A. couple, Of days later
He did not, however, die In vain,
and a mob of two thousand formed
to avenge him. They lynched a
Mexican who was said to have been
paid to do the job, and they were
about to lynch an attorney for the
English company when The United
States troops interfered. That at
torney still lives near here, a man
hair-raising story of how 1t feels
over the limb of a tree.