Attempted Sunday Enforcement in Little Rock, Ark.
By A. P. Heacock
In the construction of the new sanitarium at this place, very little work has ever been done on the outside of the building on Sunday. The work has been discontinued on the Sabbath. Since the building was enclosed, quiet work, such as plastering, painting, dressing lumber, etc., has been done on Sunday. At first this was done only by our own men, but no complaint being heard, a few others decided they would work on Sunday. On Sunday, February 17, these men were cautioned that there might be trouble if they continued to work, on account of not being Sabbath-keepers, and so not exempt. They heeded the admonition, and ceased to violate the statute. On the next Sunday, February 24, a policeman came into the building, and on searching it all through, he found Dr. Green and his brother Egbert, Carl Crag, and A. Wakenight, the foreman, quietly working. They were notified to appear at police court the next morning at eight o’clock. After a season of prayer Monday morning, they all presented themselves as directed, the writer accompanying them. Dr. Green made a few appropriate remarks, a part of which is substantially as follows: “We are law-abiding citizens, have wronged no man, have violated no law either of God or the State, are here and engaged in a work to do people good and not evil.” He then cited the State law, which the city attorney read to the court. The attorney then stated that he knew these men, or more especially Dr. Green, and that he knew that he kept strictly the seventh-day Sabbath (which he said he believed was the right day), consequently he thought there was no case against them. The judge said, however, that this was a new thing to him, and he wanted it more fully investigated that he might know what to do in future cases of the kind. The trial was then set for the following Wednesday at 3 P. M., then deferred by the prosecution till Friday at 3 P. M. Meanwhile the city attorney decided to make it a State case, and turned it over to the State’s attorney. When we met on Friday, after a few minutes spent in preliminaries, the prosecuting attorney said to the judge: “These gentlemen are not accused of keeping open store or saloon or of disturbing a religious congregation; the only thing you can do is to dismiss the case.” The leading members of the bar seem favorable to religious liberty. I think we shall have no trouble till the present law is repealed, and we intend to watch for this. The prayer-meeting before the trial was made a special season, that God might overrule and bless. Our last Sabbath was naturally a day of thanksgiving, in which our hearts rejoiced in God.