Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-10-29
|DR. JOHNR. STRATON
|D|ES UNEXPECTEDLY
Militant Baptist Leaders
Wife Is at Side When He
Expires in Sanitarium.

BY the Associated Press.
CLIFTON SPRINGS, N. Y, october
29.-Dr. John Roach Straton, noted
militant fundamentalist Baptist preach
err. died at sanitarium here today. He
was 81 years old.
Although seriously Ill with nervous
breakdown for the last month, death
came unexpectedly at $50 am. after a
heart attack. His wife was at his bed
side when he died
He suffered slight paralytic stroke
last April, and Immediately after went
to a sanitarium at Atlanta. Ca, for
rest. He returned to his home month
ago, but soon suffered from a nervous
breakdown and entered the sanitarium
here.
Fought Smith Candidacy.
He was pastor of Calvary Baptist
Church in New York, but by his ag-
gressive campaigns against modernism,
and especially evolution, he gained
Nationwide prominence. During the
last presidential campaign he took an
active part against the candidacy of AL
fred E. Smith, attacking him from his
pulpit and campaigning against him in
the South.
His campaigns against alleged in
decency on the stage date back to 1922,
when he engaged in a debate with Will
liam A. Brady, Broadway theatrical
producer, on a resolution that the mod
ern stage was menace to public morals.
N1aA narustnfCnH
teachings in the public schools and de-
nounced Ku Klux Khan doctrines.
DR.. Straton constantly was In conflict
with various members of his congrega-
ton at Calvary Baptist Church, in New
York City, partly through his sermons
and because of his other activities. At
one time 20 members were suspended
because of troubles with their pastor.
He also encountered difficulty with the
church's board of trustees when he
planned a 20-story combination church
and hotel on the church site. He blamed
social climbers" for most of his difficult
ties within the church.
Debated with Unitarian.
He once engaged in a fundamentals
modernist debate with Rev. Charles F.
Potter, pastor of the West Side Uni
tartan Church: attacked various maya
zine publishers as promoters OF ire
ligion, and deplored the modern methods
Of teaching science.
His pentecostal services In 1927
brought another upheaval in his church
and several deacons resigned. He then
started a series of divine healing serv-
ices and became involved with the
American Association for the Advance
ment of Atheism, which sought his
prosecution on charges Of practicing
medicine without license.
Growing out of this conflict with the
American Association for the Advance
ment of Atheism, DR.. Straton had
Charles Lee Smith, its president, arrest
ed on charges of annoying him by send
ing him clippings and atheist literature
through the mail. Smith was found
guilty and fined on the charge.
Pastor at Calvary, IL Years.
DIR. straton had been pastor of the
Calvary Church since 1918. He was
born in Evansville, Ind, and was edu-
Gated in Mercer University and the
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary,
at Louisville, KY. He also studied at the
University of Chicago and the Boston
School of Oratory and Expression. He
received his doctor of divinity degree at
Shurtcliff College, Alton, Ill, in 1906.
He held pastorates in Chicago, Balti-
more and Norfolk, Va, before coming to
New York, and at one time was on the
faculty at Baylor University. He was
ordained in the Baptist ministry in 1900.
He was the author of numerous books
supporting his fundamentalist beliefs
and attacking the theories and teach
ings of the modernists.
DR.. Straton is survived by his widow,
Mrs. Georgia Hillyer Straton. and four
sons, the Rev. Hillyer H., John Charles
Warren B. and George Douglas.