The New York herald., 1921-10-20
SLUR ON SERVANTS
| SOUL ENDS FUNERAL
Prominent Flushing WOm-
an Rises in Church to
Defend Negro.
| CHOKES OFF PREACHER
Congregation Follows Hel
to Cemetery Where Hus-
band Reads Service.
.WAS FAITHFUL 20 YEARS
Mr.. and Mrs. Nelson Held No
Doubt as to Black Friends
Salvation.
sWAS FAITHFUL 20 YEARS.

Thomas Nass, a negro somewhere in
the late sixties, had been for more than
twenty years in the service of Mr.. and
Mrs. Norman Nelson of POI Sanford
avenue. Flushing, before he died last
Saturday. and he had been so faithful
and SO devoted to them they had come
to look upon him almost as a member
of their family, and that was the rea-
son, Mrs. Nelson said last night, she
stopped his funeral last Monday after
noon when The preacher, the Rev.
Henry Parker, began to upbraid the
dead man and told the congregation
he doubted if the soul of Thomas vass
would be saved.
II couldn't stand it any longer
Mrs. Nelson said. Thomas was a
good man. He had been with us for
twenty years, and he had done every
thing he could to serve US well. I
couldn't stand to hear the preacher
say Thomas was not Christian, and
that he would not be saved, because
if ever q man led decent, Christian
life for more than twenty years it was
old Thomas"
Mrs. Nelson's action caused comn,o-
ton in the church, the Ebenezer Baptist
Church in Flushing, a negro congrega-
ton. She said last night she sat for
some time in silence as the Rev. Parker
Ipbraided the dead man, cast reflections
on his character and pictured him as n
bad man, because she thought he was
perhaps trying to illustrate a point ia
his sermon, but she was aroused to ac-
ton when the preacher leaned forward
over the dead man ard cried:
THE matter of souls salvation must
be left to the Lord, but I am very
doubtful if the soul of Thomas vass
will bc saved"
Mrs. Nelson and her husband were
sitting about the centre of the church
Mrs. Nelson jumped to her feet, pushed
her way into the aisle and cried to til :
Rev. Parker to stop. Then with hand
on the coffin she told the people in the
church, people Of VASES own race and
religion, that the man whose body lay
tHeic hdu DSSH SOOO Ipdu ana q
Christian.
II cannot stand it," she told Them IL
cannot stand it to have this man In
the pulpit telling you that Thomas Vass
was not a good man -
AS Mrs. Nelson defended the memory
of her servant. the Rev. Parker was
interrupting her, she said last night
with exclamations of Hold on! Let
me finish -
But Mrs. Nelson motioned to the
undertaken, Albert Earl OF Flushing,
and the bearers carried the coffin from
the church. the congregation following,
as the preacher continued his sermon
There was no time to obtain another
preacher, so the funeral procession
went to the Nelson home. where Mr.
Nelson got an Episcopalian prayer
book. Then the cortege went on to the
Flushing cemetery. and there the body
of the old negro was lowered into the
grave, while Mr.. Nelson read a part
of the Episcopal burial service and de-
livered a brief eulogy.
The preacher last night, told re-
porter for THE NEW YoRK HERALD he
had not said that Thomas VASES soul
would not be saved What he did say.
he declared. was that "all men are
frail. and that on the Lord and the
value the Lord puts on their work and
on their life. depends their salvation"
The Nelson's are members of one of
tho most prominent Flushing families.
Mr.. Nelson is connected with the Flush
ing Branch of the Corn Exchange Bank.