TWO SKETCHES
Grace Lumpkin
THE CONVERSION OF BOBBIE RAWLINS
D URING
THE TIME
when Elmer Jackson and his crowd were
making money out of the taxpayers of our county, at the time
when the taxpayers were beginning to wake up to what was
going on, suddenly there sprung up a great religious revival in
and around our city.
Elmer Jackson, President of the Merchants National Bank.
Jim Peabody, County Treasurer, Ed Ramsey, our Mayor, and
the others belonging to the ring, gave money for the revivals.
They urged people at church, at schools, and in .the newspapers
to support the religious revival that was sweeping over the coun–
try. They spoke about God and eternal salvation.
There were three separate and different revivals going on
at the same time, and they kept up until the money coming,
from the Jackson crowd didn't come any more, because they
were indicted, though they were all freed ill the end.
Mr. Peasner's revival is still going, and is growmg every
day, and the thing which made him so popular at first, and
drew the right sort of people to him was that he got Bobbie
Rawlins to join up with him.
.
Down in the parts of town where Negroes live and in the
factory districts they had two revivalists, like
Bil~y
Sunday, one
for Negroes and one for whites, carrying on meetings. And
people came in flocks to hear them, for anything that t ook
their minds off the troubles of the depression and the bad state
of the county was welcome. People put their pennies or two–
bits willingly into the collections to help keep the Evangelists
with us.
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