CHAPTER XXII.
REVS. D. B. COOPER, H. N. WATTS AND THOS. GLANVILLE.
Rev. D. B. Cooper—Attempt Made to Ride him on a Rail—Defeated by the Timely Appearance of Soldiers—Particulars Furnished by Dr. N. W. Harris—Rev. H. N. Watts—A Native of Missouri—Efforts Made to Place the Old Ministers under Disability or Run them out of the State—Mr. Watts Arrested—Silenced—Correspondence with Provost-Marshals Reid and Sanderson—“Test Oath”—Rev. Thos. Glanville—An Englishman by Birth—Early Life—Peculiar Trials—Manner of Life as a Citizen and a Minister—Driven from Home in 1863—Returns and Obtains Written Permission to Preach—Warned not to fill his Appointment on Sabbath, September 20, 1863—Remains at Home—That Night he is Shot Through his Window—Shot a Second and Third Time, and Expires Praying for his Murderers—His Eldest Son Shot and Killed the Same Night—Details Furnished by J. H. Ross and Rev. John Monroe—Conclusion.
Rev. D. B. Cooper.
The following account of an attempt to mob and ride on a rail this humble and worthy minister of the gospel will be perused with interest, as it is furnished by an eye witness and an intelligent physician, whose statements will not be called in question. But for the fact that he is “not a professor of Christianity,” and authorizes the use of his name with respectable references, the language would be somewhat toned down and tempered to a milder moral zone. But it is thought best to give the communication as received, as it details some important facts, and throws light upon the animus of others:
“Pilot Grove, Cooper Co., Mo., April 25, 1869.
“Rev. P. M. Pinckard, St. Louis, Mo.:
“In the summer of 1863 Rev. D. B. Cooper, now of Mt. Sterling, Ky., was on the circuit in Linn county, Mo. He is one of the purest men I have ever known, and remarkably reticent. I knew him intimately and well, being his physician and a personal friend. He never preached or talked politics, even to his most intimate friends and acquaintances. If there was but one man in Missouri during those wicked years of horror walking humbly before God and acting uprightly toward his fellow-men, that man was D. B. Cooper.
“On Sunday he was preaching in Laclede, my then residence; some one whispered to me that some soldiers were outside intending to ride the preacher on a rail. I went out and sure enough there were some half-dozen soldiers who had come up from Brookfield, had gone into a ‘loyal’ doggery, imbibed freely, and meeting some ‘loyal Methodists,’ were told that a rebel was preaching. Under the stimuli of bad whisky and the worse hearts of the ‘God and morality’ Methodists, they had come to the church with a fence-rail intending to commit an outrage upon this gentleman. But ‘man proposes and God disposes.’
“I tried to dissuade them from their purpose, but could not, and went back into church to a lieutenant of Col. McFerran’s regiment, then stationed in Laclede, and told him to go to Col. McFerran and tell him to send a file of soldiers immediately. I knew McFerran could be relied on, as he was a Democrat and a gentleman. There was no time to lose; service was nearly over, and neither Mr. Cooper nor his congregation knew anything of the impending outrage. The upper floor of a ‘loyal’ Methodist’s house near by was full of ‘God’s elect’ to witness the fun. Just before the service closed the braves crowded into the house, and when the congregation was dismissed they, the soldiers, were so situated that they had to leave the house last. When they came out and were about to lift their rail at the side of the house and seize Mr. Cooper—who was yet in ignorance of their designs—they, and all but myself, were surprised to see two files of soldiers, with fixed bayonets, marching down on us so as to encompass the entire crowd. As no violence had been done, no arrests were made. The miserable tools of the bad-hearted fanatics slunk away like whipped curs, leaving their pious (?) instigators gnashing their teeth and calling down curses upon McFerran and myself. I don’t think their prayers were ever answered.
“These maudlin soldiers were not to blame. They were mere tools in the hands of the base-hearted men and women who instigated the outrage. This act is only a type of the general conduct of this people during the war who are now whining for union with you.