It may as well be stated here, however, as a noteworthy fact, that the military officers and others who were the most officious and efficient in the persecution of ministers of the gospel, during the war and since, have subsequently been elevated to the most honorable and lucrative offices in the gift of the people. While the people have professed the strongest disapprobation of these persecutions, it can not be denied that for some reasons the perpetrators of the grossest outrages upon ministers of the gospel have filled and are now filling the highest civil offices.
CHAPTER XVII.
ELDERS J. DUVAL, ISAAC ODELL AND ALLEN SISK.
Elder James Duval—His Own Statement—Endorsement—Minister of the Regular Baptist Church—Arrested at Midnight—Suffered Much—Passes and Permits—Assessment for Military Purposes—Arrest of Elder G. W. Stout—Elder Duval again Arrested—Sent to Chillicothe—Charge, Trial and Acquittal—Making History—Re-arrested at New Garden—Heavy Bond—In Court for not Taking the Oath—Met others in the Same Condemnation—Isaac Odell and Allen Sisk under Indictment with Elder Duval—Estebb, the Prosecuting Attorney—Dunn & Garver for the Defense—Baptist Church at New Garden—Trial of their Pastor, Elder Isaac Odell, for not taking the Oath—Acquitted—Then Convicted—Division of the Church—Troubles—Non-Fellowship.
Elder James Duval.
The following sketch, furnished by this venerable servant of God, will be read with thrilling interest by the people of the State where he has been so long and so favorably known. It is unnecessary to present, for the people of Missouri, any endorsement of his character, but for the benefit of others, and because his statement, herewith submitted in his own style, involves the names and details the persecutions of others, it may not be out of place to insert here the following paper:
“Richmond, Ray Co., Mo., May 22, 1869.
“Elder James Duval, of this county, is a minister of the gospel of the regular Baptist Church, and bears an unblemished character as a preacher and a Christian gentleman.
(Signed) “George W. Dunn,
“Austin A. King,
“A. W. Doniphan.”