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REPRESENTING THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF 2X2 HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS ON THE INTERNET
To The Church Without a Name, The Truth, Two By Twos
July 13, 1917 - Ideas
July 19, 1917, p. 6 - Impartial Reporter
July 7, 1921 - Kings County Chronicle, Parsontown, Ireland (Mirder of Pearson Brothers on Cooolacrease)
July 13, 1917
One of the most remarkable religious sects of our day is that of the "Tramp Preachers," otherwise known as the "Cooneyites," who have suddenly sprung into prominence during the last 15 years.
In many of the histories of religious delusion which have been narrated in Ideas, it has been quite obvious that the promoters were animated by mercenary motives, and that their main object was to extract from their dupes large wealth for themselves.
In the case of the "Cooneyites," there can be no suspicion of this, for their principal tenet is a profession of poverty, and there is not the slightest suspicion that their leaders have acquired any wealth from a movement which most sane people would regard as mischievous.
The "Cooneyites" call themselves the "Go Preachers," and they have taken that name from the injunction in the Gospels to "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." They literally obey the injunction to "take neither purse nor scrip," but leave their homes, and trust to working or begging to maintain themselves during their evangelistic journeys.
HYSTERICAL
The old phenomena of hysteria is not absent, and many of the women
preachers fall into a sort of trance in which they are supposed to be speaking
under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
They denounce all other Christian churches as "false teachers," and
decry the institutions of marriage as inconsistent with the approaching
end of the world.
Their founder was really a Mr. William Irvine, who lived near Enniskillen,
and his doctrines, of course, do not differ essentially from those of the
various heretical millenarian sects which have arisen in the history of
Christianity.
Irvine’s teaching did not make much progress until he converted some
15 years ago a very strange personality—a farmer, of Irvinestown, County
Fermanagh. Tall, spare, ascetic-looking with the beard of a prophet
and the eyes of a fanatic, this farmer became the missionary of this new
sect, and preached all over the North of Ireland.
There was a flaming enthusiasm about him that might have made a new
Peter the Hermit, and very soon the converts began to flock in, and the
sect increased in numbers.
A THOUSAND EVANGELISTS
Now it has "tramp" missionaries all over the world. Men and women
disappear from their homes and are lost in the cities of the United States,
of Argentina, of Australia, where they are living the life of religious
mendicants.
In the summer of 1906 the sect had made such progress that the villagers
of Crocknacrieve, in Co. Fermanagh, were astonished by the arrival in their
midst of an international convention. There were 1,000 men and women
evangelists who gathered there from all parts of the United Kingdom, besides
travelling from France, Germany, Spain, Australia, the United States, South
Africa, and New Zealand. They stayed there for a couple of weeks,
living in tents in a great camp, which was conducted on communistic lines. The men did the cooking, tailoring, repairing, etc., while the women looked
after other domestic duties.
There were daily services, and in their spare time the pilgrims were
to be seen walking about the meadows reading their Bibles. The services
were attended by thousands of women from all parts of the North of Ireland,
and it was a sight to witness proselytes being baptised by complete immersion
in the river of the neighbourhood.
It is only natural that a movement of this uncompromising character has aroused hostility as bitter as it has evoked enthusiasm. One of its most fruitful recruiting grounds has been East Suffolk where the people resemble in their hard Puritan outlook and their dogged literalness the Ulster folk among whom the new sect arose.
Some years ago there came into Cretingham, a small village near Framlingham in East Suffolk, two young women who were Cooneyite evangelists. They disclaimed all sectarian associations, and when asked for their credentials one replied in the formula "I am of Martha" and the other "I am of Mary." They began preaching in the villages and very soon their enthusiasm and the novelty of their mission began to gather in converts. A large farmer’s two daughters, and one of his sons were converted by the "Cooneyites" and gave up their homes to join the sect. They simply disappeared, and the Cooneyite evangelists refused to give any information as to their whereabouts. At the same time other young people began to disappear from Suffolk homes, and their parents were frantic with grief.
The missing farmer was of that stern breed which filled the ranks of Cromwell’s Ironsides with East Anglian troopers. Wild with grief and anger, he commenced a bitter campaign against the Cooneyites. He began by attending the meetings they held in farmhouse kitchens and labourers’cottages in the nearest villages, and testifying to their hearers of the wrong they had done him. He covered the dead walls round Debenham, a small town, which became their stronghold, with posters setting forth his view of their conduct and morals. He followed them across the county to Sudbury in West Suffolk and roused a crowd of 3,000 people, who drove the "Go Preachers" out of the town.
He gradually extended his campaign to other parts of England. Invoking the assistance of the clergy and Nonconformist ministers in the towns which he visited, the grief-stricken father would appear at Cooneyite meetings and denounce them with burning language. He wrote letters to newspapers and printed handbills and posters which he exhibited wherever he could find a sympathiser. Passion drove him on, and his mind, inflamed with his wrongs, led him to make charges as to the lives led by the disciples which he could not justify. Briefly, they were the charges which the outside world has made against the heretical millenarian sects since the days of the third century—that while decrying marriage and preaching the approaching end of the world, certain of the "Tramp Preachers" had duped and deserted the young girls who trusted them.
It is, in fact, quite clear that the leading men of the "Tramp Preachers" are entirely free from any suspicion of any conduct of this kind; but it is easy to understand how the feelings of a father and the passion of an apostle betrayed the farmer into a false position.
That the "Cooneyites" deliberately separated him from his daughters is quite clear from a prosecution which took place at Framlingham Petty Sessions in October, 1907, when the grieved father was charged with breaking the windows at a farmhouse used by the "Go Preachers."
The prosecutor, who claimed to be a "bishop" in the sect, admitted that he knew where one of the farmer’s daughters was preaching, but declined to reveal it on the ground that the father would go there and upset the meeting.
It is a strange drama that of the "Tramp Preachers" to be acted in the twentieth century right under our eyes.
Ideas of July 13th, contains the following article under the heading of ‘Romance of the "Tramp Preachers."’ It is not correct in some particulars:—
One of the most remarkable religious sects of our day is that of the ‘Tramp Preachers,’ otherwise known as the ‘Cooneyites,’ who have suddenly sprung into prominence during the last 15 years.
In many of the histories of religious delusion which have been narrated in Ideas, it has been quite obvious that the promoters were animated by mercenary motives, and that their main object was to extract from their dupes large wealth for themselves.
In the case of the ‘Cooneyites,’ there can be no suspicion of this, for their principal tenet is a profession of poverty, and there is not the slightest suspicion that their leaders have acquired any wealth from a movement which most sane people would regard as mischievous.
The ‘Cooneyites’ call themselves the ‘Go Preachers,’ and they have taken that name from the injunction in the Gospels to ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.’ They literally obey the injunction to ‘take neither purse nor scrip,’ but leave their homes, and trust to working or begging to maintain themselves during their evangelistic journeys.
HYSTERICAL
The old phenomena of hysteria is not absent, and many of the women
preachers fall into a sort of trance in which they are supposed to be speaking
under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
They denounce all other Christian churches as ‘false teachers,’ and
decry the institution of marriage as inconsistent with the approaching
end of the world.
Their founder was really a Mr. William Irvine, who lived near Enniskillen,
and his doctrines, of course, do not differ essentially from those of the
various heretical millenarian sects which have arisen in the history of
Christianity.
Irvine’s teaching did not make much progress until he converted some
15 years ago a very strange personality—a farmer, of Irvinestown, County
Fermanagh. Tall, spare, ascetic-looking, with the beard of a prophet
and the eyes of a fanatic, this farmer became the missionary of this new
sect, and preached all over the North of Ireland.
There was a flaming enthusiasm about him that might have made a new
Peter the Hermit, and very soon the converts began to flock in, and the
sect increased in numbers.
A THOUSAND EVANGELISTS
Now it has ‘tramp’ missionaries all over the world. Men and women
disappear from their homes and are lost in the cities of the United States,
of Argentina, of Australia, where they are living the life of religious
mendicants.
In the summer of 1908 the sect had made such progress that a village
at Crocknacrieve in Co. Fermanagh, were astonished, by the arrival in their
midst of an international convention. There were 1,000 men and women
evangelists who gathered there from all parts of the United Kingdom, besides
travelling from France, Germany, Spain, Australia, the United States, South
Africa, and New Zealand. They stayed there for a couple of weeks,
living in tents in a great camp, which was conducted on communistic lines. The men did the cooking, tailoring, repairing, etc., while the women looked
after other domestic duties.
There were daily services, and their spare time the pilgrims were to
be seen walking about the meadows reading their Bibles. The services
were attended by thousands of women from all parts of the North of Ireland,
and it was a sight to witness proselytes being baptized by complete immersion
in the rivers of the neighbourhood.
MISSING CONVERTS
It is only natural that a movement of this uncompromising character
has aroused hostility as bitter as it has evoked enthusiasm. One
of its most fruitful recruiting grounds has been East Suffolk where the
people resemble in their hard Puritan outlook and their dogged literalness
the Ulster folk among whom the new sect arose.
Some years ago there came into Cretingham, a small village near Framlingham
in East Suffolk, two young women who were Cooneyite evangelists.
They disclaimed all sectarian associations, and when asked for their credentials
one replied in the formula ‘I am Martha’ and the other ‘I am Mary.’
They began preaching in the villages and very soon their enthusiasm and
the novelty of their mission began to gather in converts. A large
farmer’s two daughters, and one of his sons were converted by the ‘Cooneyites,’
and gave up their home to join the sect. They simply disappeared,
and the Cooneyite evangelists refused to give any information as to their
wherabouts. At the same time other young people began to disappear
from Suffolk homes, and their parents were frantic with grief.
WILD ACCUSATIONS
The missing farmer was of that stern breed which filled the ranks of
Cromwell’s Ironsides with East Anglian troopers. Wild with grief
and anger, he commenced a bitter campaign against the Cooneyites.
He began by attending the meetings they held in farmhouse kitchens, and
labourers’ cottages in the nearest villages, and testifying to their hearers
of the wrong they had done him. He covered the dead walls round Debenham,
a small town, which became their stronghold, with posters setting forth
his view of their conduct and morals. He followed them across the
county to Sudbury in West Suffolk and roused a crowd of 3,000 people, who
drove the ‘Go Preachers’ out of the town.
He gradually extended his campaign to other parts of England.
Invoking the assistance of the clergy and Nonconformist ministers in the
towns which he visited, the grief-stricken father would appear at Cooneyite
meetings and denounce them with burning language. He wrote letters
to newspapers and printed handbills and posters which he exhibited wherever
he could find a sympathiser. Passion drove him on, and his mind,
inflamed with his wrongs, led him to make charges as to the lives led by
the disciples which he could not justify. Briefly, they were the
charges which the outside world has made against the heretical millenarian
sects since the days of the third century—that while decrying marriage
and preaching the approaching end of the world, certain of the ‘Tramp Preachers’ had duped and deserted the young girls who trusted them.
It is, in fact, quite clear that the leading men of the ‘Tramp Preachers’ are entirely free from any suspicion of any conduct of this kind, but it
is easy to understand how the feelings of a father and the passion of an
apostle betrayed the farmer into a false position.
That the ‘Cooneyites’ deliberately separated him from his daughters
is quite clear from a prosecution which took place at Framlingham Petty
Sessions in October, 1907, when the grieved father was charged with breaking
the windows at a farmhouse used by the ‘Go Preachers.’
The prosecutor, who claimed to be a ‘bishop’ in the sect, admitted
that he knew where one of the farmer’s daughters was preaching, but declined
to reveal it on the ground that the father would go there and upset the
meeting.
It is a strange drama, that of the ‘Tramp Preachers,’ to be acted in
the twentieth century right under our eyes.
The King's County Chronicle
Parsonstown, Ireland
Thursday July 7, 1921
TWO YOUNG FARMERS SHOT AND HOUSE BURNED
THE SHOOTING WITNESSED BY MOTHER AND SISTERS
On Thursday evening last two young farmers named Richard Henry and Abraham Pratt Pearson were taken from their home at Coolacrease, Cadamstown and shot.
At least six rifle or revolver bullets penetrated the bodies of each of the brothers, who shortly afterwards succumbed to their wounds. The shooting was witnessed by their sisters and two other ladies.
Their residence, furniture, and out offices, as well as ricks of hay and straw were burned.
The deceased's father and a younger brother were absent from the home and did not learn of what had happened until the following morning.
Coolacrease House is situated about four miles from Kinnity and one and a third from Cadamstown.
FORTY ARMED MEN
On Thursday evening of last week, at about four o'clock, while the two men were making hay in a field about thirty yards from their residence at Coolacrease, Cadamstown, they were surrounded by about forty armed and masked men, who ordered them to go up to the house, which they did, closely followed by a number of the men. On arrival there the men directed the occupants to put up their hands, a command which was complied with.
It was intimated to the family that the house was to be burned, and a number of the party thereupon pro ceeded to search the rooms, breaking, it is alleged most of the furniture and other articles, including a piano. While the search was in progress (a Chronicle Representative was informed) one of the girls was held up and asked if there was any money in the house, to which she replied that there was not, so far as she knew. This evidently satisfied the interrogator, who then joined the main party. The members of which, the search having been complet ed - were making preparations for burning the house. Hay, sprinkled with petrol, was placed in various places. Meanwhile, Mrs. Pearson, who had fainted when the raiders arrived, was being attended to by her two sons, Richard and Abraham, who were endeavouring to restore her to consciousness.
SHOT IN YARD
What exactly happened after this is not quite clear, but we learn that the two young men were brought out to the yard at the back of the house, and at least six bullets fired at each of them, the occupants of the house, including the boy's mother, three sisters, and two other ladies, cousins, who were visiting the Pearson family at the time, having experienced the dreadful ordeal of witnessing the shooting.
In an interview with our reporter, one of the Miss Pearsons stated that she had not had the remotest idea that her two brothers were going to be shot. "I knew they were going to burn the house," she said, "but I did not think there was going to be any shooting. Though I saw my two brothers being confronted by a number of armed men, who were speaking to them in the yard, I did not think for a moment that Dick and Abe would be shot, being under the impression that they were only being questioned or cautioned not to report or say anything about the burning."
PREPARING FOR FIRE
While the tragedy was being enacted in the yard, which is in full view of the house, arrangements for set ting fire to the residence and everything it contained, were proceeding apace. The girls asked leave to remove their clothing and bicycles, and also to be allowed to go out of the house, but the latter request was refused until the last moment, when they were allowed to get some clothing, one of the girls being given a bicycle, which was, however, not her own, and almost useless. All the occupants of the house, Mrs. Susan Pearson, her three daughters, Misses Tilda, Ethyl, and Emma, and the two cousins, Misses Evelyn Pearson and Kitty Pratt, then came out on the road, and in a few minutes, witnessed the destruction of their home, from which bicycles and other articles had been removed by the raiders, who then decamped.
The family were now homeless and scantily clad, in a sparsely populated district, -- more than a mile from any human habitation, -- and in the small hours of the morning.
The demeanour of the men when they first arrived at the house showed excitement; they burst in the door with, it is presumed, the butt end of rifles.
NO REASON GIVEN
Asked if she could assign a reason for the tragic occurrence, this lady said "I asked them what was the rea son for their action in burning the house, and one of them said he did not know. I pointed out that it was an extraordinary thing to burn a house without having any reason for so doing. The reply to this was: "Don't think we are doing this because you are Protestants. It is not being done on that account."
Continuing, she said: "There was some trouble about a pathway last year, but this was settled long ago, the path having been given to those who claimed a passage through it. I don't think that has anything to do with this occurrence."
The two men, with others of their family, had been attending the wedding festival, in Tipperary, of a relative on the day before their tragic deaths. Their father Mr. W m. Pearson and a younger brother Sydney, had gone to the house of some friends on Thursday morning and did not know of the terrible happening until Friday morning, when they became aware of what had occurred.
At 7.30 p.m. on Thursday evening Dr. F. W. Woods, Kinnitty, was summoned to attend the injured men, one of whom (Richard) was dying. He dressed the wounds of both men and remained in attendance for over an hour, when a party of police arrived and had the wounded men removed to Birr Military Barracks, where Richard succumbed two hours later, and Abraham at 6 o' clock on the following morning. The family were brought to the house of a relative, Mrs. Odium, at Newbridge Street, Birr, where they stayed for some days.
The residence which has been destroyed was a slated two-storey dwelling. A row of out-offices and ricks of hay and straw were also given to the flames, and totally destroyed. Richard Pearson was 24, and his brother, Abraham, 19, both being unmarried. The farm on which they were working is an extensive one.
THE WOUNDS DESCRIBED
A military enquiry, in lieu of an inquest, was held at the Military Barracks, Birr, on Sunday morning of last week, at 11 o' clock, to investigate the cause of death. A "Chronicle" reporter was permitted to be present during the taking of medical evidence.
Dr. Frederick W. Woods, M.O., Kinnity, stated that on Thursday night a civilian called to his house and said that his presence was required at Coolacrease House, where two men had been shot. The messenger asked him to go at once, as one of the men was dying. He left immediately on his bicycle, and on arriving, found the two men on a mattress in a field. He first attended Richard Henry, who was in a dying condition, and then attended to the other man, Abraham. He treated the wounds of both men antiseptically. Richard seemed to have bled considerably, having superficial wounds in the left shoulder, right groin and right buttock, in addition to which there were several wounds in the back, one of which had probably penetrated the lung. He also found a wound in the left lower leg, also of a superficial nature. They might have been caused by rifle or revolver bullets, which, in his opinion, were fired at close range, the wounds being saturated with blood. He spent an hour and a half at the house, which he left at about 9.15 p.m.
On his way home he met Dr. Morton, who also exam ined the wounds. Both of the men were then removed to the Military Barracks, where Richard Pearson died of his wounds about two hours after admission, and Abraham on the following morning. In his opinion the cause of death was shock and sudden haemorrhage, caused by gunshot wounds, the fatal shot having been that which entered the right groin.
The medical evidence in connection with the death of Abraham was identical. The remains were removed for interment to the family burial place at Ballacolla (Queen's County), on Sunday.
NOTE: "Parsonstown" was the name of the town now known as Birr in County Offaly. The former name of Offaly was "The King's County". They were interred in the adjoining burial grounds of Killermogh Anglican Church, close to the village of Ballacolla in the Queen's County. The Queen's County is now called County Laois.
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