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Tt*-*3i \iii tiir ’. ;u\\i.1c ,Hs ■»c ’ g1IIV 1 nitelt;s PpfHN,SAN FRANCISCO, September 7......The district court of appeals today| denied a rehearing to the Rev. JoshtiaC Sykes, pastor of The Church ofthe Living God; A, M. Beanf JoKr Ferguson and Joseph Crosby, follow crs of Sykes, in their conviction of j violating the espionage act.| The case was an outgrowth of the ; war, Sykes and his followers being!I accused of obstructing the draft by J!• advising others not to register. §\ Sykes had been sentenced to 18 months at McNeil's Island federal! penitentiary, and the others to oneyear. * • • ...... . * They had appealed and were seek*!: ing a new trial. !Sykes* case drew great interest in! Berkeley. One night a crowd satdto have been composed largely rot:university students burned Sykes* tent where he conducted his services and forced Sykes to leave the town.■t}lt; \C Ie ili nWas Located Here.Joshua Sykes, pastor of the * '■ “Church of the Living God/* esfab~ n ' lished a tent tabernacle at the corner! af Rus.se H and Mil via streets nearly, tour years ago. Shortly after its establishment the city attempted to cause him to build a frame structure but the pastor won the case, after a long court fightSykes was threatened by a crowd of boys on April 16, 1918, for refusing to fly the .American flag in front i-1 of his tabernacle, after Charges ^ * ‘been made that he was urging mem-rr; bcrs of his congregation to evade ,t ! the draft. The next night another i-[crowd visited th£ church, and after (gaining entrance seized Sykes,, his }1 [son and an elder of the church, and: i threw them into a baptismal tank at o ; the entrance to the tabernacle. While 1 services were in progress the following evening* a cifowd, consisting of more than 500 people wrecked the;} interior of the church and then set U fire to the tent, which burned to the ‘•j ground. Sykes escaped and took y\ refuge in San Francisco. Theodore Belt, San Francisco attorney, who \ j was representing Sykes, declared tK : j Police .riuef. .Augu.st Voilmcr had i refused Jo attempt to stop the struction of the tabernacle.d3,Sykes and three of his “apostles?f«l1'I were found guilty of obstructing »draft on January 1, 1919, and \vtttfi7 ! sentenced to serve eighteen months I :n Iin a federal prison. The pastor ap-d pealed. to the United States .circtltt 7! court of appeals for a ncHv trial ! which was denied.i-0- ¥nnr nrlt;ni a nnniir'linn
Newspaper Details
Berkeley Daily Gazette
Berkeley, California, US
Tue, Sep 07, 1920
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Matthew S.
IA, USA 01 Apr 2021
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