Billy Sunday a Marvel

as of "BILLY" SUNDAY A IJARYEL THE GREATEST EVANGELIST IN THE COUNTRY TODAY. HE COITVEIITS 7II0LE TOVITS A Description of Ilia Personality and Ills Methods of . Work Story of His Conversion How no Revolutionized Mason City. . s Mason City, lo., correspondence of the Des Moines News: Great is Billy Sunday! He is undoubtedly the nearest approach to Dwlght L. Moody on the continent today. What Finlfcy Is doing in Wales and Torrey in En gland, Sunday is duplicating . in this country. He converts 1 cities and towns. He came. here from Redwood Falls, Minn., a town of less than 1,800 population, where he converted 600, making almost every man, woman and , child In the city a Chris-tion. Every county officer, was con verted. An old saloon bum, who on the night he was converted was going to the bridge for a leap to his death, was as .miraculously saved as was Paul when ' he went on his trip of persecution to Damascus. A, prominent merchant of the city . who had spent during the past year $3.50 daily in the saloons was reached. A . gentleman, well informed, says that during the month of December ninety-one barrels of booze were received there, while during the month, following the revival only five and one-half barrels were received.-- He has killed the saloon , business of that town deader than a. smelt. . . : ' He has duplicated this work In Mason City. Some one' has said that a revival that does not compel your Zaccheuses to pay old debts and refund money taken by fraud does not go deep enough to do much good. Well, Sunday's work goes deep enough. About eight months ago $50 was stolen from a residence In the suburbs of the city. After one of Sunday's sermons to men the next morning $50 in crisp bills was found on the steps. A man who had stolen a large number of turkeys from a neighboring farmer was touched and he sent a check In part payment, promising to settle the bill in full. A contractor who had a misunderstanding with a patron in which quite a little money was involved closed the deal by squaring the deal , and shaking hands. Old scores galore have been called off and the moral ledger balanced up to date. - The Man and Ills Methods. . It is impossible to describe William A. Sundays He simply gets there. While ;he shocks some of the staid old deacons by his rough and ready way c-f putting things, the great throng stand von and applaud. He has a wonderful gift of street slang and he : uses the choicest of it. He can preach using as fine English a3 any man ; In the country, but he is dreadfully- lonesome doing it. He likes to employ language people best understand . He is a slight man, weighing less than 140 pounds, but is wiry and as scienced as Jeffries. He Is a bundle of nerves, and from the moment he throws a beautiful fur coat from his shoulders to the close of the meeting every nerve is put in play Those who hear him go away stating that ho cannot stand It long to work with the nerve force he does, but he has stood it for eight years and is as able today as he was In the beginning. He pleads, he entreats, he prays and weeps, and the crowd are . with him. Few men have the power to swav crowds like Sunday. He can cause them to break out in peals of laugh ter and can make them weep copiously as he appeals to sympathy. Ho is great on story telling and can em- to his room in the hotel. That's the way he tears up the town. Some times he causes lots of domestic trouble, but he -usually comes out ahead, and the very crowd that would persecute are the ones that follow him to the depot singing paeans of praise and wishing htm godspeed. William A. Sunday is an Iowa boy and the state has every reason to be proud of him. He came from the humble walks - of life. He was born in Story county. Before his birth his father had shouldered his musket and gone to the front in defense of the union. - He never came back. The slab "to the unknown dead" is all that Billy Sunday knows of his -father. For Ave years his mother would go to the door and look toward the southland hoping that she : might get a glimpse of the one so dear to her, but he had gone down under shot and shell. When 12 years of age Billy was sent to the soldiers' orphans' home, then , located at Glenwood. He left home without a cent, and, being unable to walk the distance, he . boarded a passenger train; The conductor was a gruff old man and when he came to Billy he demanded that' he pay or get off the train. When the little boy Tjroke out in te&rs and told his pitiful story the conductor's heart was touched and he was taken to his destination. He staid in the institution for a number . of years, . once or twice breaking away for liberty. . It was here that he developed into quite an athlete.' wliich later on secured him a position in the great White Sox aggregation of baseball players. Lovers '.of . the sport look back to this team as.' the greatest aggregation ever . brought together on the .'diamond.. if. was "when Capt.' Anson, Flint, Kelley, Dalrymple and Sunday were at their best. Sunday got a salary of $500' a month as fielder. ' He blew it ' all in in riotous living. ; He tells the story of one night all the : boys, decided on having a "good old booze," .and they went .down town and filled clear up to the brim. . How He Was Converted. . They went into the streets. Passing down they heard music and, attracted to the place, they sat down on the curbing. It was street preaching. put into this work the same energy he did on the diamond. Ilfs AVoi-k and Its Results. He" accepts about eight appointments a year," giving. to each appointment . from four to six weeks.. He demands union meetings and will not go to a place without. He usually has tabernacles erected especially for his meetings. He can talk comfortably to 2,500 people, and the seating capacity is usually limited to that number. He has assisting him his singer, F. G. Fisher, and a prominent Methodist evangelist. Rev. Mr. Honeywell, of the Rock JRIver, III., .conference. Miss Poxton, of Chicago, ; always puts in from - three days to a week assisting him, and his wife, who la a : most excellent speaker, , usually has one or two talks for the ladies. Mr. Sunday himself has a ; lecture which he delivers to the ladles which is as plain a - presentation of everyday truth " as he gives to the men in their meetings.. He does not spare and he does not compromise with, any form of vice, no matter where its origin. Mr. Sunday never, has any 'trouble" in raising all the money he wants . ' to ; defray , expenses of the meetings. ' He gets it and he does it easily. , He is a better man to, raise money than is the great church dedicator, Dr. Ives. He does it without the sweat box system employed by the . latter, and you smile while you give. He, pays hissinger $120 a month, as he does his assistant. This he raises as a part of the current expenses. All he asks is a free will offering at the close of the meeting and he is always well remembered; A Revolution at Mason City. His . coming to Mason City has revolutionized, things. He has changed the political complexion, and men of high moral principles will be placed in office this spring. - Hundreds who have : danced . pledged themselves to-quit It forever, and already several dances completely failed. The Masonic ball, which for fifteen" years has been a part of the life of Mason City, given , as a charity ball,, has been declared off, and twice as much money was raised as would have been secured through the dance." Card players have burned up their packs, ' Deinsn witn au tne facial expres-the . sions necessary. He is so agile on the stage that without any trouble at all he can lean over backward and touch his head to the floor, and, if occasion demanded, could turn a flip with the best of them. It is this that undoubtedly, arouses the curious and those who wish to be entertained. But It doesn't end there. He can preach : powerful sermons. If you go once you go twice and if you go twice you will find that, at the close of his month's services you have been plesent at about every service. Given to Plain Speaking. He is not afraid to talk . plainly. He calls a spade by its right name. Damn' and hell are not expunged from his dictionary. If he wants to hold up a "mean devil" in the community he does not dodge the issue. He does it. From more than one meeting he has had to have an escort "JifWVJ. tm Tlwrirrt nmnmini ) i inliiwn Jinn n limn ' ' "' 1 ' ' ' ' mtimil in Tmi i in r inn 11 I THE LAST AND THE FIEST OF THE SALEM Tho Ship Australia, Owned by Stone, Silsbeo and Pickman, I860, and a Brig ed by Jonathan Pecle, 1793. Sunday was under the influence of booze, but he listenecV and when they got through he said to his companions that as for him he was through with that kind of living. They got up and Sunday asked the boys to follow, but they did not. "Billy" did, and he landed in the Pacific Garden mission. Night after night he went, and finally was reached. He never hated to do anything so badly in his life as he did to face the boys in the team the next day after he was converted. He expected to meet nothing but jeers and sneers. Imagine hi3 surprise when he entered the gate to have Ed Kelley rush up to him and congratulate him.. Anson did the same, and before he had gone on the diamond every member of the team had shaken his hand and pronounced a benediction upon him. A little Jater he joined the Presbyterian church and three years ago he was ordained a minister of that denomination. For years Sunday was secretary of the Y. M. C. A. work In Chicago. He theater receipts are . not one-fourth what they were, and all along there Is the same results. This is an Impartial resume of what he has done in Mason City: He has preached seventy Sermons. A total aggregate of between 85,000 and 100,000 heard him. He uses the card system, asking those who will give their heart to God and henceforth lead a new life to come . forward. There have been 1,100 responses. He raised $2,500 current expenses. He raised $800 for charity. - The tabernacle was sold for $500. : Sunday received for his services In a free will offering, only those giving who wanted to give, $2,000. He gave to the Odd Fellows home $25, to the Memorial university a like amount, and $25 to charity. He left the city for Dixon, 111., Monday at 10 o'clock, a number, following him to the train. Sunday was the greatest religious success in the history of the city. .