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ONE MAN'S OPINIONS
BY N. D. COCHRAN
His Master's Work. Speaking of
Rev. Elmer L. Williams, the Herald
says editorially:
"So this minister of the gospel,
who is trying to do his duty and his
Master's work by helping to make
the world about him cleaner, who has
refused to be blinded by the outward
whiteness of the sepulcher to the
dead men's bones within, is' charged
on the first pages of the evening
papers as a 'law violator merely be
cause a loose-lipped lawyer called
him so."
All this comes about from the
prosecution of Washington Porter for
owning a building that was used as
a shady hotel. In order to get the
goods on the millionaire Porter, the
"Rev." Williams accosted a woman
on the street in fact, he solicited the
woman and persuaded her to go with
him and a stool pigeon to the hotel,
in order that she might earn $3,
which she said she needed.
And the Herald has the gall to call
this "his Master's work" and "help
ing to make the world about him
cleaner."
There is nothing I have read in the
New Testament or out of it to indi
cate that the Master was that kind of
a man. He never solicited women.
He never tempted them. He never
took them to a shady hotel in order
to get the goods on somebody else.
On the contrary, when the woman
caught in sin was brought before
Himf, and her persecutors asked
judgment against her that they
might stone her, the Master said:
"Let him who is without guilt cast
the first stone," and when her perse
cutors had slunk away, the Master
said to the woman: "Neither do I
condemn you. Go" and sin no more."
Instead of being soft-soaped edi
torially in a great newspaper that
makes some pretense of morality, I
think this preacher ought to have
l
been arrested and prosecuted for ac
costing a woman on the street.
If he hadn't had a "Rev." in front
of his name, he probably would have
been. But he is a reformer and can
get away with stuff like that.
However, I am glad the Herald
printed that editorial. It gives me a
line on the Herald's outlook on life.
Personally, I can see no virtue in
the detective who tempts a man to
commit crime in order to get the
goods on him, or in the preacher who
will tempt a woman to sin in order to
get the goods on a millionaire who
owns property rented for immoral
purposes.
This particular minister, "who is
trying to do his duty and his Master's
work by helping to make the world
about him cleaner," accosted a wo
man on the street, persuaded her to
go to a shady hotel with him, got two
adjoining rooms, took a stool pigeon,
with him, ordered beer and then flash
ed a "star," and plied her with ques
tions in order to get evidence against
the hotel.
The woman went to the hotel, all,
right She .expected to get $3 from
Rev. Williams. It didn't appear in
the testimony in court that she got
the $3, but her name was dragged
into the mess and she has been hu
miliated and publicly pilloried.
Williams got a conviction of the
millionaire owner of one shady hotel
I care nothing about that. But I do-,
think he played a low-down trick on
the woman; and I know nothing
about her at all except what appeared
in the evidence 111 court.
Personally, I would feel less shame
walking along the street with the wo-,
man than with the man who lured
her to the hotel, even if the man does
call himself a minister of the gospel.
My opinion is not based on any
thing a loose-lipped lawyer said about
this preacher; it is based on what
the preacher shamelessly admits he
did.
The- Prevailing Style,- M6s$ big
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