Religion & Morality Vindicated, Against Hypocrisy and Pollution: Or, an Account of the Life and Character of John Church the Obelisk Preacher, Who Was Formerly a Frequenter of Vere-street, and Who Has Been Charged With Unnatural Practices in Various Places. To Which Is Annexed, a Fac-simile of a Letter, Written by Him to James Cook, Who Kept the Infamous House in Vere-street.Bell, Robert
Religion
Religion & Morality Vindicated, Against Hypocrisy and Pollution: Or, an Account of the Life and Character of John Church the Obelisk Preacher, Who Was Formerly a Frequenter of Vere-street, and Who Has Been Charged With Unnatural Practices in Various Places. To Which Is Annexed, a Fac-simile of a Letter, Written by Him to James Cook, Who Kept the Infamous House in Vere-street.
Bell, Robert
Church, J. (John), approximately 1780-approximately 1825 -- Trials, litigation, etc.; Trials (Sodomy) -- England
I now proceed to relate and comment upon some remarkable circumstances
that have occurred since my last publication. During the greater part of
Sunday, my office was beset by _gangs_ of fellows who came in
successively and threatened prosecutions for what appeared in the paper
about Church. In the morning a constable named _Holmes_ (hired no doubt
for the purpose) was employed with a ladder, in tearing down the bills
that had been posted up, announcing the publication of that morning
respecting Mr. Church. About noon, a man of the name of _Shawe_, who, I
understand is a sort of an attorney, residing in St. George’s fields, and
who, it appears has also been employed by Church, was standing in the
midst of some persons outside the door of the chapel, with the newspaper
in his hand, and was commenting on the _infamous_ libels, as he called
them, that were published against that _most virtuous character_, Mr.
Church. He seemed as if he wanted to provoke somebody to speak: and he
soon had his wish; for a Gentleman of the name of Webster, with whom I am
well acquainted, and whom I know to be as peaceable and correct a young
man as any in the world, came up, and feeling indignant at the
recollection of _certain transactions_ which I shall state presently,
declared that every thing stated in that paper (_The Weekly Dispatch_)
was true. This was the _tremendous_ riot which this most _dangerous_
gentleman committed. The _peace-restoring_ Mr. Shawe went immediately
for a _peace-officer_—the same fellow of the name of Holmes who for three
hours before had mobs of people collected around him while he was tearing
down my bills, gave charge of Mr. Webster as a breaker of the peace, had
him dragged like a felon to the watch-house, and afterwards conveyed him
to a filthy lock-up-house in the Borough, where he was kept in a state of
imprisonment, from his comfortable house and family all that day and
night, until 12 o’clock on Monday, when he was brought before the
magistrates at Union Hall. Of the proceedings that then took place, the
following account appeared in the Morning Chronicle of Tuesday:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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