“On the Watch for Converts.” New York Times, April 24, 1893, p. 8.

ON THE WATCH FOR CONVERTS

REPORTED PLAN BY JEWS TO CHECKMATE CHRISTIANS.

“Converted” Missionaries Under Espionage in Their Proselyting Tours — Influences to Induce Converts to Renounce Christianity — Many of Them Declared to Have Secretly Made Affidavits that They Have Renounced It — Rivalry Between “Converted” Missionaries.

The Jews of New-York, or at least a very considerable number of them, it is alleged, have formulated a plan for checkmating the vigorous efforts which the various denominations of Christians are putting forth to proselyte them from their ancient faith. The details of this plan could not be ascertained yesterday, but those who are concerned in it are said to be confident that it will not fall far short of the purpose in which it was conceived.

It is said that the churches and mission houses of the Christians are under close espionage, and that the name of every Jew who attends the services is quickly learned by agents detailed to this work.

A sharp watch, it is said, is being kept on the movements of the “converted” Jewish missionaries in their proselyting tours among the poor and uneducated Jews in the crowded tenement-house districts of the east side, and that wherever the traces of one of these missionaries are discovered, the Jews who have been approached by them are seen and every effort is made to effectually warn them of the fallacies of Christianity from the Jewish standpoint.

An especial watch has been instituted, it is said, on the various mission schools into which the little Jews, as charged by Rabbi Silverman, are drawn with promises and presents of cake, candy, and clothing, and the Jewish children are followed to their homes and their parents are appealed to.

Those of the Jews who are baptized into Christianity are personally approached by unconverted Jews, it is alleged, and various influences are brought to bear to induce them to renounce Christianity.

One of the men who is most active in the work of nullifying the labors of the Christians among the Jews is Mr. A. Benjamin of 253 East Fiftieth Street. He collected the affidavits of the young Jews who renounced Christianity which were published in THE NEW-YORK TIMES of April 18.

One of these young Jews was Max Winterling, who is now in Buda-Pesth, it is said. It is charged by the converted Jewish missionaries that Winterling went crazy after renouncing Christianity.

“I do not believe that Winterling has gone crazy,” said Mr. Benjamin yesterday. “It is easy to say that a man is crazy when he is as far away as Buda-Pesth. I am in constant correspondence with him, and I have been unable to detect any signs of insanity in his letters to me.

“There are many of these so-called converted Jews,” continued Mr. Benjamin, “who have secretly made affidavits renouncing Christianity. These affidavits are not offered for publication because the men who made them have secured business places with Christians through the agency of the `converted' missionaries, or on their representation that they were Christians, and if their affidavits were made public they would be in danger of losing their places.

“I could not give any better evidence of the extent to which Mr. Freshman, Mr. Warzarviak, and the other so-called `converted' Jew missionaries are imposed on by their supposed converts than by showing you this letter, which I have just received from a young Jew who is employed in a down-town law office. The head of the firm is a liberal patron of one of the `converted' missionaries, and he took the writer on the representation that he was a Jew converted to Christianity.

“I have an affidavit in this room from that young Jew, renouncing Christianity. The affidavit was made more than a year ago, but the man still attends one of the missionary Christian churches, and is looked on as a sincere convert. He writes to me every week, informing me of every move that goes on in the church, and through his letters I keep fully acquainted with all that transpires.”

Mr. Benjamin showed a letter from the young man dated Feb. 27, in which he relates the details of an alleged unfortunate transaction with one of the “converted” missionaries. The young man, while on his way to a hospital, as he says, gave $6.50 to one of the “converted” missionaries and never recovered all of it. He was advised, he declares, by the wife of another “converted” missionary who took a deep interest in him to have the rival missionary arrested, but failed to do so, and eventually got back some of his money.

In his letter the young Jew referred several times to the P. L. C.

“What is the P. L. C.?” Mr. Benjamin was asked.

“That means the `Pretty Little Church,'” was his reply. “That is the pleasant way in which the so-called converts of one of the `converted' missionaries habitually refer to his place of worship. The nickname has come to be familiar to us.

“I know another `converted' Jew who has publicly renounced Christianity. His name is Robert Anspach. He is about twenty years old. He came to New-York from Europe two years ago, and seeing the Hebrew signs on Mr. Freshman's place he entered, and became a habitué.

“After a while a man gave him the address of Warzarviak, and the latter furnished him with a room and board, and he had a good time generally. He had no work to do, and he was in clover. He was baptized a Christian in February, 1892. After he became a Christian he was sent to the A. B. Simpson School to be fitted for missionary work, attending the course there until the middle of May. After the closing of the school he went to Buffalo, where he did missionary service, preaching and giving testimony until he returned to New-York and to Mr. Warzarviak.

“Here he took a cold which, it is said, threatened his lungs, and Mr. Warzarviak sent him to Clifton Springs. From Clifton Springs his fare was paid to Northfield, Mass., where a Moody and Sankey meeting was in progress, and he was required to attend and relate his experience. He returned to New-York for the opening of the Simpson School, as one of the promises made to him in view of his baptism was that the Simpson School would give him free board and tuition for three years, while Mr. Warzarviak was to provide washing, clothing, and other necessaries. He remained at the school until Aug. 20, 1892, and was then assisted to St. Louis by Mr. Warzarviak.

“From St. Louis he drifted to Texas, and five weeks ago he went to New-Orleans. He was helped by several Christian denominations, and entered the employ of Bishop Sessums. He had not been long in the service of the Bishop before he went to Rabbi Heller of Temple Sinai in New-Orleans and publicly renounced Christianity. On the advice of the rabbi Anspach confessed his hypocrisy to Bishop Sessums, and the latter shook his hand in forgiveness, after expressing his sorrow. Was there not a clear waste of the money of the deluded Christians in this boy's case?

“Within two days I have secured the affidavit of a man who has known one of these `converted' Jewish missionaries since boyhood. He swears that his wife was robbed of jewelry by this missionary while they were in a foreign city waiting to embark for America. He also borrowed money of her, and he robbed the woman with whom he lodged of several hundred marks. When she went to the police they told her they were hunting for the man on other charges. The next day he fled.”

Mr. Benjamin showed the reporter the affidavit referred to above. It was made on April 22, before a notary public of this city, and makes serious and specific charges against the missionary in question.

The author of the affidavit swears that he went with his charges to Dr. A. F. Schauffler, who listened to them in detail, and then sent, according to his statement, to the missionary and heard his story. Last Thursday Dr. Schauffler wrote to the author of the affidavit, saying that he could not take his unsupported allegations, inasmuch as they had been denied in toto by the accused missionary.

Accompanying the affidavit is a photograph of the wife of the man who makes it, and in the affidavit he offers to bring her from an interior city in this State, and confront the missionary with her.

Mr. Benjamin also showed a letter which had been sent to Chief Rabbi Joseph of this city, by the father-in-law of one of the “converted” missionaries, who is a well-to-do merchant living in Lodz. According to Mr. Benjamin's translation, the old merchant accused the missionary of inveigling his wife to London and thence to America on the promise that if she would reunite herself with him he would either renounce Christianity or give her a religious divorce.

“Since the affidavits of the `converted' Jews were published in THE NEW-YORK TIMES,” said Mr. Benjamin, “I have received several visits from the leading assistants of one of the Christian missionaries, and he is ready to renounce Christianity.

“New and bitter rivalries are springing up every day between the `converted' Jewish missionaries. Mr. A. C. Gaebelein, who was formerly an assistant of Mr. Freshman, has been made assistant pastor of the Allen Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church in Rivington Street, and has set up a rival missionary shop. He has taken with him several of Mr. Freshman's heavy weights. There is also brisk competition for the job of missionary to the Jews. The branch of Mr. Freshman's place at 220 East Eighty-fifth Street has been sold out at auction.

“Talk about the Christian spirit of Christianity,” said Mr. Benjamin, producing a check for $1, drawn by him on the Nassau Bank, and made payable to the New-York City Mission. “I sent that check to Dr. Schauffler for a year's subscription to one of the Christian mission publications. He sent me back the letter and the check. I finally succeeded in securing a subscription from the treasurer of the periodical.”

Gustav S. Ziegler yesterday denied the charge that he had secretly aided Mr. Benjamin in entering the De Witt Memorial Church in order to break up the meeting.

The Rev. Dr. Gustave Gottheil of Temple Emanu-El, Fifth Avenue and Forty-third Street, delivered an address yesterday on the progress of Judaism in this country during the last fifty years.

The attention directed to the Jews and to Judaism, Dr. Gottheil said, had never been more marked than it was at the present time, in consequence of the recent action of the Union League Club in refusing admission to a Jew upon the grounds of his religious faith.

A glance at the history of the last fifty years of Judaism in this country, he said, must satisfy every one that the Jews had no reason to hide their heads, to shun comparison, or fear public criticism. They had a right to insist on being regarded as an integral part of the American people. They had borne their share of the public burdens, and had done their part in the work of developing the intellectual, moral, and material resources of the country. He felt satisfied that they discharged all the duties devolving upon them as citizens. He declared that the Jews were for peace and not for strife, but at the same time, if need be, they were prepared to defend their rights and interests at all hazards.