Death & Salvation

In peaceful Sunbury Court at Sunbury on the Thames, England, 63 uniformed officers of the Salvation Army High Council squatted in the meeting-room, listening with silent approval--a few with speechless scorn--to the impassioned oratory of the vice president of the Council, Lieutenant Commissioner William Haines. His glumly ascetic countenance became vitalized as he denounced one-man control of the Salvation Army, justifying his part and that of his colleagues in deposing Gen. Bramwell Booth, which they had done but two days before this meeting of the Council (TIME, Jan. 14 & 21).

A telephone jangled. Commissioner James Hay left the room to answer it. Lieutenant Commissioner Haines went on talking for a minute or two; then wearily he sat down. When Commissioner Hay returned, even the most phlegmatic councilman could spot him as a bearer of bad tidings. From London had come a trunk call. Gen. Booth had gone to law, obtaining a temporary injunction which forbade the council to elect a successor to his deposed self.

Lieutenant Commissioner Haines gasped, stared hard. At Hay's suggestion all rose, asked God for guidance. The meeting was adjourned.

Some stayed to mutter about a Booth promise broken. From the Booth camp had come word the previous day that no legal action would be taken. Some went away with the feeling of having been tricked into impotency. Lieutenant Commissioner Haines went into the adjoining room, lay down, and, in the torture of a sudden attack of acute indigestion, died.