American Messiahs by Adam Morris

Author:Adam Morris
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Epub3
Publisher: Liveright

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DURING ONE PARTICULARLY RAUCOUS Holy Communion on November 15, 1931, the police arrived to rearrest Divine and his followers en masse. According to John Lamb’s recollection of events, Divine and his angels were in the middle of a “very spirited praise meeting” that lasted well into the night. Responding to complaints from neighbors, Officer Richard Tucker went to heaven with orders to silence the hosannas. But Michael St. John, Divine’s holy bouncer, barred the officer’s entry. In Lamb’s account, which entered into Peace Mission mythology, “FATHER’S Will” held back the police for an hour longer. In fact, the officer who first responded to the disturbance had left for backup. Already past midnight, Tucker summoned Suffolk County DA Joseph Arata, who by this point was eager to demonstrate his worth to the citizens of Sayville. Arata arrived to Macon Street with reinforcements while the angels remained lost “in the midst of a great demonstration of the Spirit.”14

As an angry mob brandishing makeshift weapons assembled on Macon Street, vowing to take matters into their own hands, Arata entered the house through the back door to have a word with Father Divine. He told the preacher that his angels had fifteen minutes to surrender to authorities or else be flushed out of heaven with fire hoses. Divine used ten of the fifteen minutes to gather his flock in silent prayer, and then led them outside and into the buses that were waiting to take them to the courthouse. Seventy-eight worshipers were booked, including Divine; fifteen of them were white.

Arraignment of the angels took all night; eventually, the rabble that followed the paddy wagons to the courthouse dispersed with fatigue. Two-thirds of the angels pleaded guilty and were fined $5 apiece. The remaining angels pled not guilty and were ordered to appear in court for trial the following Friday. Father Divine was slapped with the additional charge of maintaining a public nuisance. He paid his $1,500 bail in cash and was released, to the consternation of his neighbors.

At the trial, Ellee Lovelace was joined at the defense table by Arthur Madison, another black New York lawyer who had taken an interest in what he perceived as racial bias in the persecution of Father Divine and his followers. Madison would remain one of the evangelist’s most trusted confidants, but would not recognize Divine’s divinity until he’d spent a decade as his counsel.15 After more than a dozen neighbors testified for the state, only four of the remaining defendants were found not guilty. The court postponed Father Divine’s trial for public nuisance to a later date, but the outraged citizens of Sayville could abide no further compromise. A town meeting convened in the local high school to address the menace heaven posed to the community. Divine sent Madison to represent him at the November 21 meeting. The lawyer arrived with New York journalist Millard J. Bloomer and the New Thought writer Eugene Del Mar, both of whom supported the movement. Dozens of angels packed the meeting.

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