Phineas F. Bresee - A Prince In Israel - Media Sabda Org

Phineas F. Bresee
A PRINCE IN ISRAEL
By E. A. Girvin
CHAPTER 7
A Thrilling Episode -- Appointed to Clarinda -- William P. Hepburn -- A Musical Church --
Introduction of Modern Gospel Songs -- Appointed to Creston -- Railroad Men Attracted --
Church Enlarged -- Returns to Council Bluffs -- A Great Storm and Its Effects -- Attention
Directed to California
A Thrilling Episode
At the session of the Annual Conference, held at Red Oak, in the autumn of 1876, Bishop Foster
presided. A very sad thing occurred at this session. The year previous, when the Annual Conference
was held at Indianola, a ballot was taken for the election of delegates to the General Conference, and
a member of the Conference stuffed the ballot box in his own favor. The tellers, in counting the
votes, detected that there were more votes cast than there were voters, and reported that some
inaccuracies in the vote would necessitate the taking of another ballot. This was ordered taken, and
the tellers, being very watchful, discovered the culprit, as he repeated his former fraudulent conduct.
His character was immediately arrested, and he was put on trial under the most intense excitement.
He was not given a charge at Indianola, although his trial was not completed until the following
Annual Conference at Red Oak, when he was tried before a special commission, and found guilty.
The trial commission brought in its report late in the Conference session, and at a late hour of the
night. The great church was packed with people. Intense interest in the matter had been aroused, and
when the report was read, stating that the accused was found guilty, and expelled from the church,
his wife became hysterical, and began to cry and scream so that she could be heard a block or two
away from the church. She was taken from the church and carried home, and all the way to her
house, the streets were filled with her cries. In the solemn stillness that fell upon the great audience
after she was gone, Bishop Foster said, speaking tenderly of her, that it was not to be wondered at,
for sin was an awful thing.
Appointed To Clarinda
The Presiding Elder of the district in which Red Oak was situated, was detained from the
Conference by sickness, so at the invitation of Bishop Foster, Dr. Bresee acted in his place. The
Bishop was determined to appoint Dr. Bresee as Presiding Elder of the Council Bluffs district, but
to this he made the most strenuous objection, as he never felt called to the Presiding Eldership, as
he did to the pastorate. It seemed, however, that his objections would be overruled, and that he would
be appointed to the Presiding Eldership, but late in the session, a special committee of influential
men came from Clarinda, with the object of securing Dr. Bresee's appointment to that church. Bishop
Foster yielded to the solicitations of these men, and in conversing personally with Dr. Bresee,
informed him that they had put him down for Clarinda. Clarinda was a beautiful town, not more than
fifteen or twenty miles distant from Red Oak, and was the county seat of Page county. It was a city
of about the same size as Red Oak, and the Methodist church there was a remarkable one in regard