Evening star., 1933-09-09
Charles H. Parkhurst.

Sunday morning. February IA, 1892,
Rev. DR.. Charles H. Parkhurst, pastor
of Madison Square Presbyterian Church.
in New York City, ascended the pulpit
which he had occupied for more than
decade to the entire satisfaction Of
his large congregation and delivered
sermon that shocked his immediate
hearers and caused the greatest sensa-
ton ever effected by a clergyman in
modern times He had been for some
months acting as president Of the Society
for the Prevention of Crime, but it was
not known that he had come to regard
the municipal government Of New York
as an agency or an abettor Of crime.
But he had not proce ded long before
it was clear that he had perhaps un-
Willingly entered upon a crusade that
would lead 10 untold ends. He said:
There is not form under which the
devil dlsguises himself that so perpleXes
us in our efforts or so beWllderS us in
the deviSing of our schemes as the
polluted harpies that, under the pre-
tense of governing this city, are feeding
day and night on its quivering v1tals.
They are a lying, perjured, nun soaked
and libidinous lot. Every effort that is
made to improve character in this city,
every effort to make msn more respect
able, honest, temperate and sexually
clean, Is direct blow between the eyes
of the mayor and his whole gang of
drunken and lecherous subordinates in
this sense. that while we fight iniquity,
they shield and patronize it; that while
we try to convict criminals, they manu-
facture them, and they have a hundred
dollars invested in manufacturing to
our one invested in convicting machin-
cry.
This sermon started revolution. Dr.
ParkhurSt was cited to appear before
the grand jury to prove his charges
He had no proof. The grand jury re-
ported its findings and reprimanded the
clergyman for his rash SANDER That
was a fatal mistake by the Tammany
organization which then, as now, con-
trolled the city government. For Dr.
Palkhurs, thus challenged, proceeded to
make good his accusation. He secured
assistance and conducted personal in
vestigation. One month after his first
sermon he went into his pulpit and
displayed affdavits telling the story of
the regime of Richard Croker. Then
came a legislative inquiry which re-
vealed a shocking condition of official
corruption When it was all over Rich
ard Croker was a virtual exile in Eu
rope more than three score of police
men were under indictment, reform
movement was inaugurated, Tammany
was ousted from power and Theodore
Roosevelt became police commissioner
of New York
Yesterday DR.. Parkhurst died as the
result of fall suffered while walking
in his sleep. He was 81 years old. He
had lived to see the reform that he
brought about sweep out the rascals,
then subside and react to the reinstate-
ment of Tammany and the revival of
some of the evil conditions against
which he had fought. He never re-
GREETED his impu-sive outburst which led
to such momentous results, but he did
come to deny that he was reformer
and to express doubt Of the value OF
reform in the realm of morals. But
whatever the reaction from his stunning
onslaught on the forces of evil in New
York, it undoubtedly demonstrated the
power of an informed and outraged
public sentiment that has since been
an occasional corrective menace to the
corruptionists and exploiters of vice and
crime who from time to time gain Office
and authority in Americas greatest city.
He was ridiculed and reviled only to be
acclaimed and praised. He made his
tory