Exciting Scene at a Lecture.
On Sunday evening week, Mrs. Cora L. V. Scott (late Cora Hatch) lectured at Clinton Hall, New York, taking for her subject the question, “What is Deity and the Origin of the Earth?” The hall was crowded with an intelligent audience, quite a number of clergymen being dispersed among the congregation. The lady lecturer claimed that it was impossible for man, the finite, to comprehend the Deity, the infinite, and undertook to prove her position by logical analysis as deduced from the nature of the earth’s organism. She claimed that all things—matter and intelligence, substance and motion—had existed forever, and that something (the earth) could not have been made from nothing. At the conclusion of the lecture an invitation was extended to the audience by the speaker to ask her any questions growing out of that of which she had treated. A number of gentlemen, one of whom was an elderly clergyman, accepted this offer, and quite a lively discussion ensued. Among those who embraced this opportunity was a person in the rear of the hall. He desired to ask the gentleman who preceded him how he knew of the existence of intelligence except through the medium of materiality. A young man at this point of the discussion arose and exclaimed, “Do not allow that man to speak; he is my father, and he has abandoned his wife and family.” The person who was interrupted, continued, however, and the young gentleman was obliged to subside for the time being. The interruption, however, caused great excitement among the audience, and at the close of the meeting, which took place a few moments later, the young gentleman approached the person whom he had interrupted, and addressing himself in part to the audience and to the person so offensive to him, said: “I have come here to shame that old man. He is my father. He left his wife and children, and is now living with Cora Hatch, in East Broadway.” A Voice—“Well, go home, and do not come here to settle your private troubles.” Young Man—“You may think I am doing wrong; but if you knew the facts of the case you would think I was doing right.” Several Voices—“Go on. Let us hear the story. Take the stand,” &c. Young Man—“I have done everything to get that man to do right by his family, but I have not been able to do so. I am his son, and am here to shame him in public. His name is William McKinley, and he keeps a store at the corner of Chatham and Pearl streets. He has beaten my mother and treated her most shamefully, and he has abandoned her to live with Cora Hatch.” The young man, Mr. McKinley, jr., appeared to have the crowd with him, and was repeatedly applauded. Mr. McKinley, sen., skedaddled in the middle of the controversy, while the fair lecturer, who appeared to be much excited, retired to the ante-room with some friends, one or two ladies among the number. The scene was decidedly sensational, and was quite a novel one in its way.—Advent Herald.