BRAWL IN CATHEDRAL

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 6, 8 January 1931, Page 8

BRAWL IN CATHEDRAL

EX-JUDGE FORCED OUT.

attempted reply to . BISHOP'S SERMON.

"COMPANIONATE MARRIAGE'' ISSL"

(From Our Own Correspondent.) SAN FRANCISCO, December 10. But a faint idea of the wild seen enacted in New York could have bo. fathered by the necessarily curtailccabled reports of the brawling incider, between former Judge Ben. B. Lindss exponent of companionate marriage, an Et. Rev. Bishop Manning, of New Yori The ex-judge was mauled and put. melled by an angry church gatlieri, assembled in the Cathedral of St. Jol: the Divine, in New York, at the coi: elusion of the Sunday moining sei\iee' when he attempted to reply to a vitriolic attack from the pulpit by Bishop Wil liam T. Manning, one of the foremost ecclesiastics in North America. Men aiui women participated in the assault, <.nd order was not restored until six plainclothes policemen, stationed in the congregation of 3500 worshippers, literally carried the Denver jurist down the wide carpeted aisle amid cries of Ljncii him!" and "Throw him out!" After being rescued from the militant churchmen of America s laigest catliedial, Judge Lindsey was taken to the Harlem police station, where lie was charged with disturbance of public worship. The Denver man was joined at the police station by Garfield Hays, widely known attorney, who, x with Clarence Darrow, the leading criminal lawyer of the United States, promised to act in his defence in court. Judge Lindsey said at his hotel that he wouid seek legal redress, intimating a slander action. The disturbance in the Cathedral was expected to result in a wide split in the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of New York, as Bishop Manning in his sermon scathingly denounced "that little group of clergymen who are doing' all within their power to embarrass their Bishop. ' He was alluding to those in his dioee.;e who had overruled and denounced UK I edict forbidding them to listen to Judge t Lindsey's address on the previous Monday, before the Churchmen's Association, and organisation within the diociio ! over which the Bishop has no official | power. Cathedral Crowded. The cathedral, built by contributions from America's wealthiest families and dollar gifts from every section of the land, was crowded with a representative New Y'ork congregation. Men and women six deep stood in the rear of the auditorium, the vacant choir stalls were filled with worshippers, and some were on balconies in the nave just under the roof, where the Angel Gabriel stands with his trumpet, for the Bishop had announced he would speak on "Companionate Marriage and Other Issues,"' and Lindsey had made public his intention of attending and possibly replying.Bishop Manning had addressed the congregation with "This is a time for speaking out," and had attacked Judge Lindsey by name for his teachings of what the Bishop called "free love." ■ The minister recalled that Judge Lindsey had been forbidden to practise law in Colorado. "As to his last book," shouted tin Bishop, "it is, in my regard, one of the most filthy, insidious and cleverly written pieces of propaganda every published in behalf of lewdness, promiscuity, adultery and unwarranted sexual gratification." At the conclusion of the. sermon. Bishop Manning turned to face the altar for the Benediction. Judge Lindsey, seated in a chair in the front row, climbed to its top and, with one hand clutching the iron grille work guarding the pulpit, looked up at the Bishop several feet above. His face flushed witn anger, the Denver jurist shouted: I "Bishop Manning, you have lied about me. If this is not a house of justice, it is not a House of God. I ask for five minutes to answer your attack." The Bishop wheeled about and shouted: "We will now sing, 'Fight the Good Fight with all Thy Might, God is Thy Strength and God is Thy Right.'" "Lynch Him!" There was no response from the organist, but there was action in the front pew and throughout the congregation. Cries were heard of "Get him out," "Take him out," and a woman's voice shouted "Lynch him!" Someone cried, "Good for you, Bishop," and an elderly man near the front called, "Bishop Manning, God bless you." As if by common impulse those nearest rushed at Judge Lindsey and pulled him down from his clutch on the iron railing. Several worshippers clung to the disturber's legs, others pounded him in the middle, and one struck the judge on the head. The cathedral ushers and policemen in the congregation fought their way through the crowd, and grabbing Judge Lindsey by his arms and leg- 5 made for the nearest exit, to the right of the pulpit. Throughout the long length of the cathedral several hundred worshippers—men p.nd women—followed, muttering threats. Meanwhile Bishop Manning remained in his pulpit calling vainly for the hvnin, "Fight the good fight.'-' The organist was so excited he could not find the music. Eventually one of the assistants shouled "Hvmn 113," whereupon there followed a peal of organ music and a burst of spontaneous applause, for the music and Judge Lindsey's appearance through the door had arrived simultaneously. After this the customary celebration'of the Holy Communion took place, Bishop Manning assisting in the service. A short prayer followed, and the congregation filed out buzzing with amazement. "Seventh Commandment Not Debatable." Bishop Manning in his sermon declared that those who had arranged for "a man of former Judge Lindsey's character" to speak to the Churchmen's -Association have "a lot to explain to the fathers and mothers of the diocese." Ho said the clergy of the Episcopal Church had no right "to give endorsement of their invitation to a man who stands publicly for legalised free love under cover of the term 'companionate marriage.' To those in the Church the Seventh Commandment is no more debatable than the sixth or eighth. The man's teachings are contrary to the precepts of Christianity. What I fear is that lie will use our voiced objections to obtain lecture engagements in boys' and girls' colleges, and put before them by clever suggestion teachings tending to break down the moral defence of our