“Major 43d Mo. Vols., commanding station.”
Now, let it be understood that this property, as well as the church, had been built and paid for by the Southern Methodists, and of the three hundred members of that Church then in Independence, not more than eight or ten united with the M. E. Church, North.
The language of the above order sufficiently indicates the representations made by Mr. DeMott to the military authorities to influence them to move in that direction in their work of saving the Union.
To turn a defenseless and helpless widow with her children and household effects into the streets to make room for a Northern Methodist minister to occupy and hold property that belonged to others was, perhaps, a military movement of great strategic importance to the cause of the Union and the restoration of the Government; but in the light of moral honesty and Christian decency the military manœuvre becomes a pious fraud, which the perpetrators were forced, after using its opportunities for several years, to confess before men.
The church and parsonage were occupied and used by Mr. DeMott, when in the fall of 1865 Rev. M. M. Pugh was appointed by the St. Louis Annual Conference, M. E. Church, South, to the Independence station. On his arrival he made a formal demand of Mr. DeMott for the property. This was just as formally refused; the occupant declaring at the same time that he “had been sent there by his Church to hold that property for the use and benefit of the M. E. Church, and he intended to do it.” Recourse was had to the law, and suit for possession was instituted.
This suit was called in the Circuit Court for the spring of 1866, when Mr. DeMott made affidavit that important witnesses were absent and he was not ready for trial—the case was continued. The following fall term of the Court was held, and the defendants again swore that they were not ready for trial. Again the case was continued, but it was apparent that the motive for continuing the case so often was the farther use of the property, of which they knew the law would deprive them. They were never ready for trial, but began to feel the force of public sentiment and the shame of fraudulent dealing, if the sense of shame still remained; and the wiser and abler of them began to fear the penalty, not only of fraud, but of rents and damages, and advised a compromise. In February, 1867, they proposed, through their counsel, one Col. Hines, to surrender the property and pay all costs if the M. E. Church, South, would withdraw the suit. To this Messrs. Sawyer, Chrisman and Hovey, counsel for plaintiffs, agreed. The suit was accordingly withdrawn, the property vacated, and the rightful owners took possession.
The property was much damaged, and involved heavy expense in the necessary repairs. Those who occupied it evidently felt that it did not belong to them, and abused it accordingly.
To show more fully the grounds of the suit and the defense set up by defendants it may not be out of place, as an important part of the history of this affair, to introduce here a statement of the case furnished by Sam’l Sawyer, Esq., of Independence, one of the counsel for plaintiffs. It is as follows:
“The Church property at this place (Independence), as you are aware, was taken possession of by the M. E. Church, North, during the war, and the trustees of the Church, South, were compelled to assume the offensive. At first a suit by forcible entry was instituted before a Justice of the Peace, which was moved to the Circuit Court by certiorari; but as the suit, however determined, would not settle the title to the property, it was thought advisable to institute a suit, not only for possession, but also to quiet the title. In this last suit a full history of the church at Independence, as well as of the action of the General Conference in New York in 1844, and the Louisville Convention in 1845, was set up. In the answer filed by defendants they admitted the action of the General Conference of 1844, and the Convention at Louisville, Ky., the following year; also, the action of the Missouri Annual Conference of 1845, but deny their authority to act in the premises, and assert that the property was conveyed for the use of the M. E. Church at Independence Station, that they are the successors of the original trustees named in the deed of conveyance, and as such they assert their title to the property. Within the past few months several passes have been made for a compromise, but nothing definite was proposed until last Saturday, when I received a proposition from the attorney for defendants to surrender the whole property and pay all the costs. This proposition, although not what it should have been, yet, under the circumstances, and in view of the uncertainty hanging on the future, it was deemed best to accept; and on last Monday morning I received the keys, and possession was at once given to the trustees of the M. E. Church, South. This I hope ends the controversy.
“I would be glad to believe that the motive claimed, viz., a disposition to do right, was the governing motive in giving up the property; but my own opinion is, they saw that whenever trial could be had they had no case, and hence concluded to get out of a bad scrape with as much credit as possible. There was a difference of opinion among their members. Those, as usual, who had no pecuniary interests, and no property to answer for the costs and damages that might be recovered, were for fight to the last, while the more moderate and the men of means were determined to yield the possession, and their better counsels prevailed.”