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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 5, 1905)
THE OMAHA ILLUSTRATED BEE. Present Prosperity arid Past Struggles of an Omaha Congregation AST Sunday the cornerstone of the new South Tenth 8treet Metho dist church waa laid. Twelve paptors, some rt them from other cities, took part In the services, L " " which were under the auspices of the Methodist SocUI union, and the Nebraska grand lodge. Ancient Free and Accepted Ma Hons, under the , direction of Grand Master Melville R. Hopewell of Tekamah, laid the cornerstone with the beautiful and Impressive ceremonies" designated by the Masonic ritual. Governor John H. Mickey, Congressman John L. Kennedy and Rev. Gcorgo V. Ishatn delivered appropriate addresses. Such ai the Intereit of the public In the event, that the newiy laid floor was not half large enough to hold the people, and hundreds of them watched the ceremonies from the sidewalks. ' It was a great day In the history of the church, one for which the members had been praying for six year. The old homo was twenty-flve year old and In a very dilapidated condition. As early aa the $a4lora vt Kev. Owm LaxruKm, who - i ... , vi 'k 4k. 1 err" PART OF THE CROWD THAT WITNESSED THE CEREMONY. came to the church In U9t and left In 1900, the need was strongly felt for a new church building. At this time there waa consider able talk of erecting a church, but the debt was so large already that no action waa taken. IMfflealtlea in the Way. Rev. A. Lk Mlckel waa the successor of Mr. Lariison, and It was understood that the conference sent him to Omaha with the idea that he would bend hla efforts toward the building of a church. All of hla work and that Of the building commit tee to this end Is not generally known to the public. The debt on the church waa still such that the pastor considered as almost Impossible the erection of a building which the growth of the church demanded, If ordinary methods of aecurlng subscrip tion were to be used. The Idea was con ceived of making the edifice a memorial to some prominent dtlsen, provided the heirs of the dead man would furnish the build ing committee with about half the neces sary funds. Mr. Mlckel visited the sons of a well known man who had recently died. and they offered to give IS.000 on a church which would cost 115.000, and which was to be named in memory of their father. This decision was discussed at length by the board, which finally arrived at the conclu sion that the remaining $10,000 could not be raised, and rejected the offer. Mr. Mlckel then gave up all thought of building and began, to collect money to repair the bid structure. He secured $2,000, and when he left In October of 1901 this amount was Klven Into the hands of the present pastor, Rev. D. W. McGregor. i . What Mr. Mlckel did accomplish waa to clear the church of debt and thus pave the way for the work of his successor. Tenth Ltreet was first paved with cedar blocks by he city, and taxes for this improvement were heavy on the church. When Rev. J. B. Priest came to the church In 1894 the taxes lad not all been paid. Sometime in hla par- Korate the cedar blocks were removed and the street paved with granite. Here waa jan added heavy burden to the church. Mr. Fi-lest left in INKS. Rev. U. A. Luce, L). now pastor or the Boulhwest Methodist (church, presided over the church for the three years following and paid off a part of the debt. Mr, Mlckel scoured a reduction of taxes from the city In exchange for tho right to several feet of ground along Pierce street and succeeded In paying the amount till due. MeGreaer Tackles the Job. It required two years for Rev. D. W. Mc- tDregor to familiarise himself with condl lone and to get the subscription fund far nough under way to justify the new build ing. Mr. McGregor went to the men who tad offered Mr. Miokel $5,000. thinking to ket that amount from them, and feeling sure that the remainder of the $15.0u0 could e raised without any trouble. He had ust finished building a parsonage at Bloom- field, and he had every confidence' In him- elf as a money-getter. But the Bona of the man for whom the church was to be tamed had changed their minds about the lonatlon. They would give $1,000, but would tot give $5,0(0. and did not care about hav ng the church named In memory of their rather. This was a great disappointment. ijut what waa Iost4n this instance by pro 'rastinatiou waa made up by determined labor on the part of Mr. McGregor. Lat Cummer the board of trustees decided t1:at he fund was large enough to warrant the' ulldlng. and the old church was torn hows for the erection of a new one this fall, kll ilmmer and fall services have been leld In a tabernacle erected temporarily or the purpose. Style el the New Chsrch. The new church, according to contract. kill cost $15,153. It will be of manufac tured stone blocks, with stone trimmings, n dimensions It is 75xm feet. The seating Vapacity of the auditorium will be 400, but when the Epworth league room and the vomen's parlor are thrown open Into the auditorium the entire seating capacity will ;te 50IX The pastor'a study Mr. McGregor j-egards as a gertw All the rooms on this floor are be finished In oak. In the baite-, 'nent will be class rooms fur the accommo dation of 600 Sunday school children. The (windows are of a very fine design and were tiurctuutod from local firm, the building onmilttea believing in the patronage of iome industry. It is expected that the church will be umpleted about February 1 and tentative dans are now botng made for the dedlca- tlnn. It la probable thnt a- bishop will be pree"nt, arid . also the natlonul secretary of the Epworth league. The dedication services will require two Sundoys. The building committee which ha charge of the erection of the new church Is com poned of Rev. D, W. McGregor, E. Cain, A. 12. Walkup And Dr. Seymour Smith. Members of the Board of Trustees are A. 8. Gaymann, president; E. I. Cain, treas urer; A. K: Walkup, secretary; A. 8. Wlndle. Archie Temple. L. H." Jones, H. B. Hildebrand, DnvUl Cole and Dr. Seymour Smith. History of ibe rherrk. It was In the spring of 1872 that a mission was formed at Tenth and Pierce streets, with Joseph M. Adolf In charge. : The t-lty had spread out southward beyond the Union Pacific crossing on Tenth street And the people In the new part of town found the distance too great tq the First church at Seventeeth and Dodge -streets. . Mr. Adair's field w.is not only the south part of the city, but a circuit which Included : I several points outside. In his diary he mentioned Omaha, Florence, Papilllon, Iron Bluffs, Richards. Bird's school house and Pickens as placea where preaching waa held. ' : The missionary traveled from neighbor hood to neighborhood and preached the gospel. His dependence for food and rai ment for himself and farnily was upon a few and scattered church members and friends who were engaged In making homes for themselves. His receipts were small and his meager support waa augmented by .presents of food, clothing and other articles. There was not a church building in the field when MY. Adair assumed charge of the work, except the one at Florence, and the places for holding services were primitive and In the winter uncomfortable. In the last year of his work, 1874, Mr. Adair raised money to apply on the debt on the church and lot on Tenth street. The build ing on the lot was small, but It served as a place In which to preach and conduct a Sunday school. "About the time of the autumnal equinox In 1875," says Rev. Jamea Haynes, who wrote "A History of Methodism In Omaha," "the eccentric and volatile T. H. Tibbies waa given charge of the little church In which worshiped a small mem bership of poor people. The other appoint ments were adjusted to other charges or abandoned, among the latter Florence. Before the close of the next spring - Mr. Tibbies secured ' a promise from Bishop Revolution Which Copyright, 1906. by Frank G. Carpenter.) lASHINGTON. Nov. I. (Special -Cor-wj respondence of The Bee.) Did T ! J Uncle Sam foment the iffvoliltinn by which Panama broke away from Its mother country, Colom bia, and make It possible for us to buy the Isthmian canal? The truthful answer to this question will never be given. It la known only to the leading officials of Pan ama and the United States, and they will not tell. I heard a number of stories last spring during my stay on the isthmus, which show how Panama attempted to get the assistance of the United States and some which indicate that she succeeded. Whether the stories are true to the letter or not, they are certainly Interesting. They came to me from men entitled to credence, but as I am not permitted to mention their names they must be taken for what -they; are worth. President Aaaador Visits Wasblaatva, The fimt story Is as to how Dr. Amador, - now president of the Panama republic re ceived the assurance that Uncle Sam would come to the aid of Panama if it declared Its independence. The Incident occurred shortly after Colombia had refused to ratify the sale of the canal by the French to the I'nlted States for $10,000,000. Panama feared that this refusal would cause our congress to adopt Nicaragua as the place for its transisthinlan waterway. Its leading offi cials saw the necessity for quick action. They decided to break away from Colombia if they could get the support of the United 8tates, and Dr. Amador was chosen to go to Washington and sound the authorities. He came and called upon the secretary of war, but could get no satisfaction. Secre tary Taft manifested an interest In his proposition, but he waa noncommittal. He said : "There Is yet no breach' of friendship between the United States and Colombia and we can do aothlng now." This waa a decisive that Dr.Amador looked upon all as lost and started back to Panama. On hla way huuiu, however, he called upon Mr, Undo, of Ptexa, Nephews & Co., In New Tork, and was there advised to wait over a sleauier to confer with Mr. Bunau-Var-Ilia of the French canal company as to the situation. He did so and at the con ference Mr. Vartlla, So the story goes, told him that he would agree that If the new republic, would make lilm, Varilla, its first minister to the United States, he would see that the1 deal went through. To this Dr. -Amador agreed, and Bumau-Varilla atarted for Washington. It la alleged he had a private talk there with President Roosevelt and that our president, while not making any poaltlve premises, gave such Indica tions, that Buanu-Vartlla concluded the '.. 7 y if e I-.'- . . ' ,, .. ' '' , ,. ' -s - ,. ;.,v,V.- ; J ; 0 ; vV:k; r -v " PUTTING THE CORNER8TONB " - '"CS. " ' V,",V-. ".'J V 4 A ' " 1 5 INTO ITS PERMANENT REST- w NV. t ' " ,r I . .... . . , . , - : A? . V -....' -::.:' :-:r: '-r, r . v- . -... .-- ,J 4" ft V Andrews. whose episcopal hjome at that date waa at Dea Moines, la., to come to Omaha and dedicate the house. The bishop cam and preached, but refused to utter the dedicatory formula, - saying the people ahould build better before . giving a house to God's service. "Mr. Tibbies waa. a stenographer and newspaper reporter, and rather than de pend, upon the membership to pro vide a salary, he gave more time to writing, for . which he waa In a small way compensated. The charge, hence, did not prosper In his care, but he ad ded to Its indebted ness 'by having a parsonage built on the south aide of the meeting-house at a cost of about $300. most of which United States would help Panama when the time for action came. At least he satisfied Dr. Amador to that effect, and the latter returned to the isthmus. A short time later, the news came that the Colombian government had appointed new officials for Its Panama state. This meant that if any thing waa to be done It must be done quickly,' so the revolutionists had another .meeting, and at that Independence waa fin ally decided upon. I Clnntsy Cabling. In the meantime cables were flying back and forth between Washington and Pan ama. The situation was serious, and, m. the story goes, the Panama revolutionists . V : ."- . Frederick Boy 4 Rleordl. Areas Nlcanor de Ohanlo, Jos AugusUa Araaga, Dr. Amador, Manual Esplnosa, Carlo Constantlne, Afiaa eir-a-a. T'lmm Aria ' . ' . BOARD OF REVOLUTIONISTS "WHO THE INDEPENDENCE OF PANAMA. PUTTING THE CORNER8TONB INTO ITS PERMANENT REST-' 1XQ ri-Acn J? -, GOVERNOR MICKEY READING, THE ADDRESS. Established the communicated directly with the officials at Washington. One cable translated from the code read: "Where are American battleships?" The reply came back In another code word which meant, "Will be In Panama within four days." This cable was sent through Bunau-Varllla, and, aure enough, four days later the flrat vessel arrived. The day fol lowing lta arrival the Panama Independence was declared. But this waa not the only cable that came that day. It seema that the authorities at Washington were getting anxloua. They cabled the vice oonaul general of the United States, who waa acting in the absence of hla chief, the query: "How are affairs In I ' t"' f -I I " '-- ri 1 1:- i V 1 ':- n - - , . .r" waa provided for, but the remnant . was added and put down as debt, and the property was mortgaged to cure It." The next se- two yeara the church had no pastor, and the pulpit was sup plied by pastors from other churches. The opinion was general that the charge was not , deserving a e r v i c e a' of the a preacher, and prob ably It would have been dropped from the list of appoint ments If it had not been for the advice of John Phlpps Roe, a supernumer ary of the Wiscon sin conference, who lived in the south part of the The mlRBlon city. was placed In Mr. Roe's hands by the pre elding elder, took charge He on PanamaT" expecting, of course, that he , would send aback a reply which would give k the information, but that in such a way that none but our officials could understand It. The vice consul general, however, evi dently lost his head, for he cabled back these words: "Will be at t o'clock." He was only an hour out of the way, for Inde pendence was formally declared at 7 o'clock that night. A Narrow Escape. In the meantime the Colombian govern ment had received an Inkling of the pro posed revolution. 'This came, so It Is be lieved, through the bishop of Panama, who made a journey to Cartagena about that t condition that the membership would agree to par one-fourth the Indebtedness on the property every three months for a year, and promlned that If they succeeded In cancelling the debt at the rate mentlont-d In the condition, they should have his services free for a yenr. The debt was removed from property In twelve months. Mr. Rows was reappointed the following year. He railed the officers of the church together to plan the year's work. He told them If they would guarantee him a salary of tfiOO he would lay it aside to be used In the erection of a new church. The sal ary was glvon, and Mr. Rowe put It away as a nest egff for the buUdlng fund. Rev. P. C. Johnson, who had been sta tioned at the Eighteenth Street church, was appointed to the charge In 1878. He keenly felt the humiliation of being trans ferred to the humble ohurch. and he was without ambition to try to do very much. The question of building waa often talked of, but the courage of the church waa not of such measure as to lead to any decisive aoUwn, Uiovli Uia 0 ef Hi. Koe'a be- K '" , KNIGHTS TEMPIaAR IN LINE AT quest was held In reserve for the purpose. Rev. David Marquette, who came to the church in 1879, was the indefatigable worker who was responsible for the erection of the church. The little mission church and the parsonage built by Mr. Tibbies was on the corner directly eaat of the present chUrch. Mr. Marquette, when he found sufficient encouragement In hla efforts at gathering subscriptions, bought the present location of the church at a cost of $1,200. Twelve months after the old property waa sold and Mr. Marquette began the building of a new house of worship. To carry out', his plans the persistent preacher kept at his canvass until he had gone over the largest part of the city, applying personally to business men, clerks, and others. The house was completed In the third year of Mr. Marquette's partorate and waa formally dedicated by Bishop John F. Hurst. July 10, 1881. With the subscriptions, the money from the sale of the old property and the reserve fund left by Mr. Roe, the chorch was able to start in Its new home with a large proportion of Ita debt paid. It was a day of -thanksgiving, but the gladness was marred by one thing. On his bed In the city of Washington lay President Garfield with a bullet hole through his body. He had been shot eight days before by the assassin Gulteau. Before the dedica tion a prayer for his recovery was pro nounced by Rev. John B. Maxfleld. In the fall of 1882 Rev. J. W. Stewart waa transferred from the First church to the Isthmian time. It waa at once decided to nip the plot In the bud by appointing nfw officials. Troops were ordered to Panama and the officers sent with them had Instructions to execute Messrs, Amador, Obaldla, Tomaa Arias, Federlco Boyd, Augustln Arango and others. This waa duly reported at Colon In advance of the arrival of troops, so that , these men knew that If Panama did hot be come Independent they would lose their heads. They had already organised their army with General Huertas at Its head, and were ready to act at the time the troops came. The Colombian soldiers numbered 460 men, three generals and six colonels, but it was only the officers who came to Panama on the first train, leaving the sol diers to follow. The officers arrived at 10 o'clock. They were met by the state officials and treated with honor. No mention of revolution was made, and Colombians and Punamans dined together at the president's palace. After dinner the Colombian generals made a de mand that the Panama army be turned over to them, and they showed their au thority from the government at Bogota. The Panaman officials pretended to comply and all went to the fort where General Huertas was in command. The general or dered the troops out and the Colombian officials were ready to take charge. They were about to do so when Huertas raised his hand and the soldiers surrounded the Colombians. They were told they were un der arrest and were marched off to prison. This was done and the revolution was ac complished, the Colombian soldiers In the meantime being held at Colon. . Had they been at Panama they could have defeated the Panamans and the revolution would never have been accomplished with out bloodshed, or without the dlrcet Inter vention of the American gunboats. How the PanasnaHallroaal Helped. The fact that the Colombian troops did riot get to Panama was largely due to Col onel Shaler, the superintendent of the )'anama railroad. Colonel Shaler knew that the Panumans Intended to rebel; but this railroad company was Indebted to Colombia for Its franchise, and he had to nominally Support the Colombian government or the charter might be annulled. Colonel Shaler was at the same time a good American citisen, and ,as such wanted Panama to succeed and Uncle Sam to got the canal. The situation required diplomacy and fin esse, and Colonel Shaler rose to meet it. He evidently knew that our gunboats were coming, and that If he could keep the oldlers for a day or so in Colon, Pana ma's Independence might become a reality. For this reason be got the officers to make their trip across the isthmus on the first train. Intimating that the troops would follow on a special train aa hour later. South Tenth Btreet church, where he stayd two years. K. O. Fowler came next imhI he proved an efficient pastor. AlthoURn Ilia membership of the church at that time waa but little more than 100, he reported liberal collections for all the benevolences with out a blank. T. C. Clendenlng. from Il linois, followed Mr. Fowler In 1. In tha second year of his pastorate he was chosen presiding elder of the district and Rev. C. N. Dawson, who had Juat completed hla second year at North Rend, camo to take his place April 1. He was reappointed twice! and served until the autumn of JStnt. Rev. Alfred Hodgetts had chargo of Mie church from 1S90 to 1S93. and Rev. T. C. Webster was pastor from 193 to lS9t. "Then cam Rev. J. B. Priest, whose pastorate has al ready been mentioned, who was the next pastor. When the old church was torn down a chrtit was found In the cornerstone, con taining, among other things, records of the church history. The list of the board of trustees, dnted December 2!t, 1KS0, waa as Xollewii LuUivr iiannon, president; A. I ., -'.' I r,' ' -' I I' . V 'f A v'-'-j ' ,; - " V THE DEDICATION. Harmon, secretary; G. T. Smith., treasurer; N. J. Smith, J. Phlpps Roe, C. B. Furnesn, I. P. Cure, N. W. Merrill, David Cole. The building committee consisted of Rev. David Marquette, J. P. Roe and N. J. Smith. Some Iaterestiaa; Incidents. People used to wonder why the windows were one color In one side of the church and another on the opposite side. It was In the summer of 1895 that a big hailstorm came which broke thousands of windows In the city. The full force of the storm struck one aide of the church and beat nut all the windows there, while the windows on. the other side were uninjured. No glass to match the windows could be secured and glass of another color had to bfi taken. The two sorts of glasa'were still Jp the church when It waa torn down. When Rev. J. B. Priest, now pastor of the Seward Street Methodist church, be comes reminiscent, he tella of the time the floor fell. It was on the evening of Easter In 1896, and the congregation had gathered for services. Mr. Priest had just begun to pray when he heard a terrific crash. He looked out from the pulpit to see the. floor sinking and to hear the congregation screaming and yelling. A large timber had given way and let the floor drop two feet. No one was Injured, but one woman was so frightened that she had hysterics al most all night. Mr. Priest remembers dis tinctly that the services were not 'resumed that evening. Republic "HI -5 I ': -Lit 'L The officers agreed to this and started off. As soon as they left the special was or dered back to the yards and the cars dis connected. There was much telephoning and telegraphing on behalf of both parties, but the soldiers were kept at Colon, not withstanding the .officers left ' there told Colonel Shaler that if the train was not ready within two hours the troops would charge the city and kill every American In 1L Our Marines to the Front. Our gunboat, the Nashvlllo, was at this time In the harbor, and its commander, W. M. Hunter, had been notified by Col onel Shaler that there waa likely to be trouble. He had told Captain Hunter that If the American flag should be raised upon his house, It would be a signal for the marines to' come to his support. When the soldiers threatened to fire upon the Ameri cans, Colonel Shaler hoisted his flag and went to the docks. He had hardly reached there before Captain Hunter landed with a company of thirty-eight marines. Colonel Shaler told his story, watching Captain Hunter anxiously, to see how he would take it. If he should refuse to assume the responsibility Shaler realised that It was all up with Panama, for the troops could not be held back longer. As he concluded Captain Hunter said: "Well, colonel, the only thing I see to do Is to fortify the freight depot. You get ' vhat men you can, and with them and the marines I think we can prevent the cars from going." This was done. The marines took the station and piled up the cotton bales lying there in front of them. Colonel Shaler ordered his men from the railroad shops and in a short time there were sixty more Americana ready to fight. In the meantime the battle of diplomacy wus going on. The officers had alrady been arrested and word was sent from Panama that the troops might come If they wished. This was la the evening and Colonel Shaler, on the ground that he dared not link his cars and men carrying the soldiers arras, tho Isthmus after dark, demanded that they re main until morning. Thoy stormed, but walled. In the meantime the lights of a second and a third American gunboat ap peared In the harbor of Colon and with them more American marines. The Colom bian troops then saw that the game wus up. They decided to submit, especially as they were proiiil-d by the revolutionise $8,0u0 in gold If they did so. They took the money and sailed back to Colombia. Mk Where Drib. Money ran From. The story of the bribe money Is also In terestlng. It was furnished by Colonel Shaler, but not directly, for If It had been, (Continued on Pags BlxJ