Born: Murray County, Georgia, August 18, 1845
Died: Turkey, Texas, August 23, 1930

R. W. OFFICER was born in Murray County, Georgia, August 18, 1845. He obeyed the gospel at the age of twenty-five, and was baptized by Dr. Barris, at Salem, Franklin County, Tennessee. He was married to Miss Lota Venable, of Winchester, Tennessee, December 25, 1870, with whom he still lives happily. His first effort to preach was the night he believed the gospel. At the close of a sermon on the subject of the resurrection, he arose and said: "I believe with all my heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and I want to be baptized." The preacher, being a Methodist, produced a discipline, and he said: "That is the wrong book." The preacher asked him to explain himself, and he referred to cases of conversion in Acts of the Apostles as examples which he wished to follow. He talked several minutes, and closed by saying: "I am in the condition of mind the Ethiopian eunuch was in when Philip preached unto him Jesus. I want to find a man who will be as kind to me as Philip was to the eunuch. Can I find him here to-night?" Several preachers were present, but no one responded. He then said: "Is there no convert here to the gospel which Philip preached to the eunuch? Then I will have to convert some one." From that night forward he labored to convert some one to baptize him as Philip baptized the eunuch. He finally succeeded, and Dr. Barris baptized him six months afterwards on the confession

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of his faith in Jesus the Christ. The Liberty Baptist Association employed him as their missionary, and each year for six years, during which time he labored in that capacity, he was called upon--sometimes more than once in a year--to answer the charge of heresy. He was a constant and careful student of the Bible, an original and independent thinker, and a fluent and vigorous speaker. He traveled extensively and labored continuously in word and doctrine publicly and from house to house in the mountain region of North Alabama. He quoted scripture readily and copiously from all parts of the Bible, and the people so far exaggerated his familiarity with the Holy Scriptures as to think he could read the whole Bible from memory. The tenacity with which he adhered to the Bible, and the vigor, and even recklessness, with which he assailed everything in the way of religious work or worship not found in the New Testament, attracted much attention, drew large audiences, and caused no small stir in all denominations wherever he went. He repudiated everything in the way of a church, save the church of God, and his ideas about the church of God were so far from the doctrines and practices of the various denominations that few people seemed to understand exactly what he was driving at. The prevailing idea was that he was trying to start a new church, but he said he wanted no church, save the one that is in the New Testament. Wherever he went, those who were disposed to have nothing in religious work or worship but what the New Testament teaches rallied around him enthusiastically, and those who held to the traditions and doctrines of men in denominational institutions opposed him stoutly. His work was disintegrating to all denominational institutions and ecclesiastical organizations, and for that reason

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the whole machinery of denominationalism was against him. Some of the Baptists opposed him and tried to break him down, but others indorsed him and did all they could to hold him up. The principle to which he was committed soon ran its course to its logical conclusion and consequence, causing him to stand aloof from all denominational institutions and ecclesiastical organizations, and to oppose them as a violation of the plain teaching of the New Testament and a sin against God. Some Baptist churches and many individual members from all denominations accepted the logic of the situation and stood with him on this broad basis of undenominational, New Testament Christianity. This cut off all support he had received up to that time from denominational organizations; but he went steadily on with his work on the New Testament basis of individual effort, supported by voluntary contributions from individual Christians, isolated wellwishers, and independent congregations. The field of his lab or gradually widened into Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky, and Texas, and he finally undertook to preach the gospel in the Indian Territory. The best years of his life have been devoted to that work. While preaching among the Indians he has been supported by contributions from his old friends, acquaintances, and converts in the States; sometimes strangers and churches from afar have assisted him; editors have now and then appealed to their readers to help him; and, in emergencies, he has labored with his own hands to supply his necessities. In the limited space of this sketch nothing will be attempted by way of description of his work in the Indian Territory, save a few things which illustrate his methods as a frontier and pioneer evangelist.

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PERILS AMONG ROBBERS.

When Officer went to the Indian Territory, settlements were few and far between, and in his journeys he often camped alone. On one of his trips, after crossing the Canadian River, he decided to camp by a spring. Accordingly, he turned his ponies on the grass, ate his supper, hung one end of his hammock to a wheel of his wagon and the other end of it to a tree, suspended his lantern from a limb of the tree, and opened his Bible and began to read. Some one had tacked a board on the tree to which one end of his hammock was hung, bearing the inscription, "Look out for robbers," but, he had not noticed it.

Early in the night five rugged, ugly fellows dashed up from the river on horseback, firing their revolvers as they came. When they reached the place where he was swinging in his hammock and reading the Bible by the light of his lantern suspended from a limb of the tree above his head, one of them said: "Do you see that sign?" He looked on the tree in the direction indicated and for the first time read the sign. With ready tact he replied: "Yes, I see it; that's all right. Hasn't a man a right to advertise his business? I am running this ranch now; I got here first; so you may as well shell out, boys."

One of them said: "Well, what do you want?"

"I want to rob you of all your meanness and send you on in the world to be good and do good. Light and come in."

The answer struck them favorably. They were cattle men returning from a ride on the range, and "only meant to have some fun by searing a ‘greener,'"as they said. They spent the night with the evangelist, and within a few weeks four of the five became Christians.

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RUBE'S CONVERSION.

Rube married an Indian girl whom Officer and his co-laborers had helped to a respectable position in Christian society. Officer advised Rube to open a farm under the law which gives all Indians and men who have Indian wives the right of homestead in the Indian Territory. About two years later the evangelist went somewhat out of his way, as he was passing through the country, to see how Rube and his wife were getting on. He found a crossing of the creek in the woods, and, guessing his way, he soon came to a footpath, in which he overtook Rube's wife, with a young baby on one arm, and in the other hand a bucket of water which she was carrying home from the creek, about half a mile away. He got off of his pony, relieved her of her burden, and soon they came to a log cabin, part dirt floor, open cracks between the logs, poorly covered, and a part of a blanket for a door shutter. The wife said she did not know where Rube was, but the evangelist suspected he was spending his time somewhere in idleness, if not in some other kind of sin. She begged him to stay all night, and said the wolves frightened her when she had to stay alone with the baby in the cabin; but he went on to an appointment, hoping to see Rube before he left the community. Sure enough, one of the first men he saw at the meeting place was Rube. After preaching, Rube, with four others, wanted to confess faith in Christ and be baptized. The evangelist took the confession of the other four and announced baptism as soon as they could get ready, but told Rube he wanted to see him privately. They walked away from the crowd, and the evangelist told Rube what he saw at his cabin, and said: "Rube, if you want to be a Christian, you must build a better house for your wife, dig

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a well in the yard, and provide home comforts for your family. ‘If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.'" (1 Timothy 5: 8.) Rube went away from the meeting in a serious and religious state of mind, but he was not baptized at that time.

Two years later the evangelist was at that same place again to preach, and early Saturday morning he Saw Rube drive up in a wagon to the meeting, with his wife. When his wagon stopped, he called the evangelist to him, and said: "Do you see that team and harness? They are ours. Do you see this wagon? It is ours, too. I have built a good house and dug a well."

"Yes," said his wife, "and he is good to me now."

Rube said: "I brought my clothes, and I want to be baptized."

Rube was baptized into Christ, and to this day he is firm in the faith and a good Christian. His conversion and consistent Christian life is probably the best and most effective preaching that has ever been done in that country.

IN PERILS OF WATERS.

There is now but one living representative of the Towacany tribe of Indians. He married two Wichita Indian women. One of his wives is much older than the other. After his marriage he became a chief among the Wichita tribe of Indians, and in earlier years he was a great warrior, but now he is a strong advocate of peace among men. He is known as Towacany Jim, and he has long been a strong personal friend of Evangelist Officer. The evangelist has taught him the principles of Christianity, and under this teaching he has been persuaded to regard the younger

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woman of his two wives as his daughter, and to treat her as such. He insists that a man should have but one wife, and that the older of the two women has the best right to be regarded and treated as his wife. Once, when his camp was near a river, he was expecting Evangelist Officer to visit him from across the river. Recent rains had swollen the river, and Towacany Jim left his camp and sat by the river in the rain all night, waiting and watching for his evangelist friend to appear at the opposite bank of the river with a lantern on his journey in the dark. He was not disappointed; and when the evangelist arrived, Towacany Jim waded the river up to his neck and insisted on carrying Officer over the stream on his shoulders. He then led the evangelist's ponies across the stream, and rejoiced in the pleasure of having the man of God in his camp home. It is a well-known peculiarity of Indians to give names to men and things according to what they consider the dominant characteristics of the men and things named. Selecting a name on this principle, Towacany Jim calls Evangelist Officer "White-man-not-afraid-of-thunder." This is rather a cumbersome name, but it indicates the opinion the Indians have of him, for other Indians indorse the judgment of Towacany Jim by using the name.

INDIAN CAMP MEETINGS.

In the early years of his work in the Indian Territory, when the country was sparsely settled, Officer held camp meetings, which were largely attended by people, and especially by Indians from long distances. At these camp meetings the Indian women did much, if not all, the drudgery, while the Indian men took life easy and enjoyed their religion, especially the good eating which was always

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abundant. He rebuked the men sharply for their indolence and worthlessness, and taught them the way of God more perfectly by precept and example in the matter of Christian kindness and helpfulness toward the women. In those years it was a common thing for Indian women to butcher beeves near the camp between services, while the men lounged in idleness in the tent or under the trees in cool places by springs or creeks. Slowly but surely the principles of Christianity have worked a change for the better in the sluggish Indian nature, and now, after the lapse of many years, the condition of women, as compared with what it was then, is greatly improved in all the Indian tribes where the gospel has been preached. Of course much yet remains to be done along this line, but what has been done encourages the hope that the onward march of Christian civilization will in a few more years exalt women to their proper sphere in all the Indian tribes.

F. D. SRYGLEY.