He had not been gone two hours when the city, was re-entered by the Federal forces—a much enraged Kansas regiment—and for some cause yet unknown his house and church were searched, and every place of possible concealment in the whole vicinity visited with unsparing vigilance to find him. Enraged soldiers stamped the pavement in bitter disappointment, and swore loudly that if he could be found the first limb would be too good to swing his lifeless carcass for the fowls of the air.
Many a dark day had he shared with his flock, and they rejoiced now in his safety. He will never forget the “Black Thursday,” as it was called by sad distinction, when all the men of the city were arrested by Col. Jennison, penned up in the Court House yard, and guarded by a double line of soldiers all around the public square, while the drunken negroes of his command were turned loose upon the city to free the slaves and pillage and plunder the homes of the people to their hearts’ content. The insults offered the ladies by those beastly semi-savages, infuriated by bad whisky, and the deeds of horror committed by them, will sufficiently characterize the day as the “Black Thursday,” and distinguish the annals of crime without any detailed record here. None can forget the pillage and burning of Porter’s elegant residence and the very narrow escape of his sick daughter, who was rescued from the second story only by the efforts of the ladies, in defiance of the threats of the brutal soldiery; nor will that line of burning buildings, the light of which fell on their retreating path all the way back to Kansas City, and made lurid and fervid the evening sky, ever pass from the mind. Many other scenes of similar character had made life and property insecure; and Southern Methodist ministers were the objects of particular displeasure.
During that fall, and before the church had been supplied with another pastor, a Rev. James Lee, of the M. E. Church, North, made his appearance in Independence and demanded possession of the church. He first demanded the key, which the rightful owners refused to give up. He then appealed to the military commander of the post. This officer ordered the trustees of the M. E. Church, South, to report the key to his headquarters under pain of confiscation and banishment. The key was surrendered to him, and he gave it to Mr. Lee with his authority to hold and use the Church. After Mr. Lee got possession of the house of worship he, as if to “add insult to injury,” went through with a formal dedication service, setting the house apart to the worship of God as though it had been a pagan temple; after which it was used by the Northern Methodists as though it belonged of right to them, and without any seeming compunctions of conscience. The Church, South, had no place of worship, and in some respects the ladies of Independence duplicated the work and re-enacted the scenes of Kansas City.
In 1864 Rev. Mr. DeMott was sent by his Church to hold possession of and use the property. Not content with the church, he demanded the parsonage. He already had the coat and he wanted the cloak also. But the trustees of the M. E. Church, South, had rented the parsonage to a poor widow, Mrs. Brazil by name. Mr. DeMott asked her to vacate the house, this she declined to do; he demanded the key, she refused to give it up. He then appealed to the Commander of the Post, and returned with the result of this appeal in the form of the following military order:
“Headquarters 43d Inf. Mo. Volunteers. }
Independence, Mo., March 31, 1865. }
“To Mrs. Brazil, living in Methodist Parsonage, Independence, Mo.:
“It having been represented to the commanding officer that you occupy the parsonage belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and persist in retaining the possession of the same to the exclusion of the minister of said Church, using in connection with such refusal language defiant of the Federal authorities and treasonable to the United States Government, you are therefore required to move your household goods out of and evacuate said parsonage by the morning of the third of April proximo; at which time, on failure on your part to comply with this order, your goods will be removed by the commander of this station.
“Very respectfully,
“B. R. Davis,