The Washington times., 1922-10-25

/ TRANSFER.
He. ASKED
Or. MoEImoyle and His Elkton
Church Now Special Brand
of Presbyterians.

2 .s 80
The First Presbyterian Church,
Of Elkton, Md, and its "marry-
ing parson," the Rev. John Nc.
Elmoyle are today left in the
position of "the man without a
country" by the action of the
Baltimore synod, now in session
here, in tabling a plea for trans
fer of the church and its pastor
from the Newcastle to the Balti-
more synod. -,
Left Complete Branch"
The church and the paster have
been ousted from the Newcastle
synod. with a demand that the
Baltimore pynod take them under
its Jurisdiction This the Baltimore
synod today refused to do. In the
meantime the Elkton church will be
left In the air." member of no
synod, In the position Of the un.
loved and unwanted child, until the
meeting of the general assembly
next May. T.. ..
Thus the Elkton church Is left
In the unique and embarrassing
position Of being complete branch
Of the Presbyterian church all by
itself, having been virtually dis.
owned, for. the time being by the
only two synods under whose juris-
d.ction 1t could possibly come.
ADD ONE No. 2---SYNOD
s-ss - 81 0l Gk6i
Had Passed the Buck.
As a climax to the notoriety sur.
rounding the activities of the Rev.
John McElmoyle in which the
pretty Peggy Udell, Follies show
girl, and John w. Montgomery, col
lege boy scion Of a wealthy New
York family, played a prominent
part through their midnight elope-
ment from Philadelphia last spring,
the Newcastle synod took action
which virtually passed the buck"
to the Baltimore synod. ordering
that the Elkton church be removed
to the latter's jurisdiction.
By the action" Of the committees
which submitted its report today
q large part of the Congregation
which is standing firmly behind the
Rev. Mr.. McElmoyle will have no
other recourse than to carry their
appeal to the general assembly.
In the meantime, II was said dt
the conference here today that the
ousted pastor undoubtedly will be
allowed to remain in charge Of his
church at Elkton unless formally re-
moved by the trustees and the
members of the congregation, which,
1t was said, is considered u remote
possibi ity.
BY its action today in tabling the
appeal. the Baltimore Synod regis
tered decided objection to the Elk
ton church being placed under It's
jurisdiction as ii desired to keep
clear of the controversy.
Although the committee on bills
and overtures suggested that the
petition of the Newcastle synod be
referred to judicial committee,
j. ID. Blake. of Pennsylvania, chair
man of the former committee, today
said that the action taken ends the
matter in so far as the conference
Of the Baltimore synod is concerned.
Explains Committee Report.
'The committee made the recon-
mendations 1t did in its report be.
cause there are a number of phases
oil legal nature connected with the
case" Mr.. Blake said. There was
nothing reflecting on the Rev. Mr..
McElmoyle's work in this report.
We considered the petition as a
church matter and the committee
formed no conclusions I'm the case,
nor expressed any in Its report"
Called up unexpectedly late yes
tortlay afternoon, the matter was
speedily closed when he recon-.
mendation of the comm .ee on bills
and expenditures that the appeal be
tabled was sustained. DR.. McEl-
moyle left Washington last night
and was not present at this MORN
mg's session. when the matter was
reoprned tor a brief but heated
moibent.
The only action taken. however,
was to change the recommendation
OF the committee for appointment
OF judicial commission of five.
which action was declared to be
Illegal, to a recommendation for a
special committee of twelve. The
entire matter was again tabled.
The members of the synod today
were received at the White House
by President Harding after which
they were entertained at luncheon
by the ladies Of the First Preshy.
ter'ian Church. This afternoon they
will enjoy a motor trip to Arlington
and other points Of interest. Ee
The Key. George Francis Green,
president Of the board of ministerial
relief, last night made ans appeal
for a s5Oo.O0O endowm, mt fund for
the care OF ministers who have
gown old i'm he service of the
church. Miss Mary Weiser, the
first woman who ever addressed
the Baltimore synod, asked that
classes In Christian education be
installed In all women's colleges.
Growth of the West Nottingham
Academy of Baltimore and Its need
Of further support. were described
by the Rev Edgar =. Hill. The
Rev. Charles Wood told Of the re-
markable increase IN Christianity
In C2e"ho s'oNak'
Members Of Committees.
Two committees were appointed
at this mornings session. as fol.
lows:
Committee to visit the Presbv-
terian Training School-D. A.
Rce"e W. II Wilson and Bernard
Bru"inmp.