Читать книгу Singing From the Gallows: The Story of "Bad Tom" Smith - Wayne Combs - Страница 9

During the lifetime of Bad Tom Smith, only a few scattered churches served all of the southeastern Appalachian area. Most of them were originally nondenominational, with few members. Religion did not loom large in the lives of most mountaineers, but they were willing to hear the sermons of any preacher who passed through, no matter what his doctrine. Most preachers were uneducated, barely literate, narrow-minded, and dogmatic. Many used rhythmically chanted preaching and urged congregational shouting. Some practiced foot washing and a few promoted snake handling. Most insisted on natural water—creek or river—baptism. Occasionally an educated preacher would hold a revival and attract large crowds. One of the first educated preachers to come into the eastern Kentucky mountains was Reverend George Owen Barnes. The Presbyterian Church had defrocked Reverend Barnes in 1866 for failure to wholeheartedly subscribe to the Westminster Confession. He was later accused of universalism. He became a self-supporting missionary to the mountain people of Kentucky. Not doctrinally rigid, the Reverend always gave his converts the choice of baptism by immersion or sprinkling. Barnes began his mountain ministry at Jackson, in Breathitt County, on November 12, 1879, pledging to preach “the true gospel.” Jackson then consisted of a courthouse, twenty houses, and a mill. Barnes held a revival in the courthouse, during which he converted the county officials and the jail inmates. The incarcerated converts were baptized by immersion, then came out of the water to shake hands with the converted judge who had sentenced them. Deputy Sheriff Shade Combs brought a jail inmate charged with murder to the revival wearing handcuffs. The handcuffs were removed, and the jailer and the prisoner confessed their sins together. In all, there were 365 Jackson area residents converted. Reverend Barnes found Hyden, the county seat of Leslie County, the most unsympathetic mountain town in which he’d ever held a revival. Drunks brandished pistols, shooting right and left. Men walked restlessly in and out, constantly interrupting the services. One man walked up to the evangelist’s daughter who was playing the organ, an object of curiosity to everyone. Taking out his pistol, he laid it on top of the instrument. Barnes’s daughter, Marie, continued to play the organ while the man divided his attention between the preaching and the uproar outside. Sometimes the pistol fire outside increased in intensity, subsided, then got louder again. Suddenly, the man put his hand on the pistol as if to leave. Marie reached up, closed her hands over his on the pistol, and stared at him. He stared back for a moment, released the gun, and listened to the preaching. Reverend Barnes left Hyden for Hazard, grateful for his safety.

Hazard welcomed the clergyman with open arms. He preached at the courthouse to hospitable people who would not accept payment for lodging and refused to accept any money for items bought at the local stores.

Barnes left Hazard on July 14, 1880 headed for Whitesburg, in Letcher County. One of the people converted at a Reverend Barnes revival was Dr. Marshal Benton Taylor. Ten years later, Doc Taylor was involved in the infamous massacre of the Mullins Family at Pound Gap, Virginia. He was later hanged for the murders at what was then Gladesville, Virginia, and the execution was attended by author John Fox, Jr. During his work as an evangelist, Reverend Barnes is credited for 26,000 converts, with 20,000 of them in the mountains of eastern Kentucky.