The preacher & the elder resort to fisticuffs

By most accounts, the Rev. Herbert J. Bryce had a successful run as pastor of Chariton's First Baptist Church. Called from Omaha during October of 1912 he served until 1917, when he left to serve a congregation in Des Moines.

At the time, First Baptist was housed in the grand old building (above) that stood on the site of the current church with parsonage to the west, now site of a parking lot.

But the Rev. Mr. Bryce was not yet 30 when he arrived in Chariton --- and he had a lesson or two to learn.

One of those lessons involved Milton C. Lorimer, some 20 years his senior and the elder in charge of the Chariton branch of Charles Taze Russell's International Bible Students Association (after 1931, Jehovah's Witnesses). This group met on Sunday mornings in the assembly room of the courthouse.

Mr. Lorimer was an enthusiastic promoter of Mr. Russell's theories; the Rev. Mr. Bryce was an equally enthusiastic promoter of the idea that those theories were works of the devil --- and eventually the two men encountered each other on the streets of Chariton and resorted to fisticuffs. 

The Chariton Leader of June 5, 1913, reported the encounter this way:

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It is not often that editors have opportunity for cautioning ministers of the gospel against fighting. Usually it is the other way about. Religious fervor has been stirred recently, however, in Chariton, and two men who should be engaged in fighting the devil turned nature's weapons on each other Tuesday evening in resenting what each believed an insult to himself.

Rev. Herbert J. Bryce became involved in heated controversy with M.C. Lorimer, who frequently tells Chariton audiences his opinion of the future life, earnest words being followed by blows.

No material damage was done either of the participants in the mix-up, but both men were fined the sum of $3.85 when they appeared in Mayor Seward's court immediately after the fracas. Both men have expressed sorrow over their actions and it is safe to say neither will be drawn into another such exhibition.

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And it would appear that the two men managed to avoid overt hostility until the Rev. Mr. Bryce left town four years later. He continued to serve Iowa churches after that, but eventually moved to Los Angeles, where he died during 1962.

Mr. Lorimer became increasingly involved in the work of the I.B.S.A. and eventually he and his wife took to spending much of the year on the road, selling Russell books and related literature and working as missionaries in towns where they alighted temporarily.

The moved headquarters from Chariton to Ottumwa during 1929 and Mr. Lorimer died there in 1944.

There's no sign either ever budged from the religious convictions that had caused them to butt heads in the first place.