The Blades Versus The Salvation Army
From the time William Booth had first started preaching among the poor, he had been pelted with rotten vegetables and clods of dirt. But now things were getting uglier. Bands and preachers were pelted with bricks, sticks, stones and even dead animals.
Everything came to a head at the 1882 Annual War Council in Sheffield. A march through town to Albert Hall had been organised. Leading the march was a brass band mounted on a wagon pulled by four white horses. Behind the band and also on a white horse was Lieutenant Emmerson Davidson, a former champion wrestler. Behind him came William and Catherine riding in an open carriage. And behind them were scores of Salvation Army members in uniform. They carried flags and banners.
Amongst the large crowd of onlookers was a thousand of Sheffield’s biggest gang, the Blades. One of the gang hurled a short, thick stick that hit Lieutenant Davidson on the back of the head. He slumped forward, trying to stay conscious. Two more of the gang pushed forward out of the crowd to pull the wounded leader off his horse. Other Salvation officers rushed to his aid keeping him in the saddle. A hail of dirt clods, rotten fruit, eggs, vegetables and even dead cats came down on the band. William stood up in his carriage but quickly became the next target. Gang members came out of the crowd everywhere to attack the uniformed Salvation Army members. The few police who attended stood around William and Catherine to protect them as fighting broke out in front and behind. William yelled to a bloodied and now broken-nosed Elijah Cadman, his fiery evangelist, if the officers were all right. In true Salvation Army style, Cadman fired back, “The officers will be all right, dead or alive!”
When they finally reached Albert Hall, police did all they could to keep the Blades outside. William rose to speak, “Here publicly, I want to forgive those who attacked me outside. They are men in desperate need of the Saviour’s love, and that is what I extend to them.”
This was just the beginning of a sustained and violent campaign that would soon take lives. William Booth was undaunted. He became the target of dangerous violence, just as much as his Salvation Army members were. We don’t face anything like what they faced. Possibly one day we will. But our Saviour gave everything for us. No sacrifice is too great for us to bring our world to Him.