“First of the men to be led up was the old blind man who is such a familiar sight at the Fifty-ninth Street Park entrance. He is nearly eighty years old and had to be carried to the edge of the pool.
“The congregation was greatly excited. Women in all parts of the church tore their hats from their heads and shouted wildly. During the last half hour of the service six of them fainted.”
From the New York Journal, March 12, 1900:
“Yesterday was a day of jubilee and joy in the Mt. Olivet Baptist Church. The fruits of the five weeks of the soul-stirring revival were gathered. Converts to the number of 184 men, women, children, boys and girls, were baptized by immersion amid such scenes of praises as are not likely to be forgotten by the hundreds present. To take the figures of the happy elders, it was a record breaking event in New York for 408 recent converts to gather in fellowship in a meeting last night; this result was especially gratifying because of the recent dissensions in Mt. Olivet Church. For a time there was the trouble and then came a rallying cry and with it a new leader—the Rev. C. T. Walker, of the Tabernacle Baptist Church of Augusta, a preacher of forcible ability and intense religious zeal, sometimes called the colored ‘John the Baptist.’ Under the pastorate of Mr. Walker, Mt. Olivet has thrived. The baptismal services yesterday morning attracted a tremendous congregation. Long before the doors opened the crowd was pressing at the doors of the pretty church, 53rd Street and Broadway. The morning sermon was preached by Rev. Silas X. Floyd, the successor of Mr. Walker in Augusta. The subject was, ‘Pleasing God.’
“The baptismal services followed. The marble baptismal tank sunk in the pulpit platform was opened. The candidates for baptism, 144 women in white flannel baptismal robes, and 40 men in black, met in the Sunday school rooms in the basement which was divided into two sections.
“For three hours, Mr. Walker and his assistant, Deacon Webb, stood waist deep in the tank and conducted the baptismal services.
“The religious enthusiasm of the congregation was intense. Three women and two men fainted after leaving the tank. Converts and members became hoarse, with their cries for blessing and approval; an hysterical cry from a newly baptized convert dripping with water on leaving the tank was followed by choruses of glad cries. The baptism of a little blind girl was followed by a tumult of enthusiasm.
“‘Indeed, this reminds me of a day in the old South,’ said Mr. Floyd, his eyes glowing with religious emotion.
“With but brief intervals, hymns were sung with striking fervor. A brother who sat on the platform led a series of old-fashioned, Southern camp-meeting hymns. One was:
I have a little book I carry with me,