Prisons and Prayer; Or, a Labor of LoveWheaton, Elizabeth Ryder
Religion
Prisons and Prayer; Or, a Labor of Love
Wheaton, Elizabeth Ryder
Evangelistic work; Prisons
One Sunday night, as I was on my way going from the meeting, being in
company with General Evans and his wife and the sister who traveled
with me, I saw a public house open and went in and began to speak to
the men and women. I had only talked a few minutes when the proprietor
came in and asked, "Are you a customer here?" I replied, "No, I am
only speaking to these people about their souls." He said, "Now you
leave, or I'll make you." He ran into a back room, and coming out he
passed me quickly, running to the door and blowing a long blast on a
police whistle. This aroused the people and brought to the scene
several policemen and hundreds of people of all classes in general
fright. A man rushed in and catching me by the arm cried, "Come out of
this place, quick, or you'll be killed. You are in danger. You don't
know where you are! This is the Gallow Gate; the worst place in
Glasgow." I said to him, "Let me alone, I am obeying God." But as the
policemen closed in around me there was a cry raised, "It is Jack the
Ripper in disguise." The excitement in those days was intense all over
Europe. Jack the Ripper was a fiend in human form that was killing
women continually in the most horrifying manner and in cold blood. You
might see on a bulletin board in the city that a murder would be
committed on such a day and hour and these threats would be carried
out. Yet he defied the detectives and police. Large rewards were
offered for his capture. I saw that my life was in danger unless I
could convince them of their mistake, of which I now saw the cause. I
was dressed differently from them. I had on a long black cloak and had
thrown my black shawl over my head concealing my bonnet, and carried a
bag on my arm which contained my recommendations, railway passes, etc.
I said: "You are mistaken, gentlemen, I am not Jack the Ripper"
(removing my shawl), "I am a missionary from America; and preaching at
the Globe Theater every night. Come and hear me there. There is no
cause for this tumult." The General and his wife having come in, we
passed out, the mob following us several blocks with shouts and
screams giving me some blows as we went. But God delivered us from
their cruel hands.
A MOB OF DRUNKEN WOMEN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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