The saloon-keeper mentioned above, who almost failed in business because
of the revival, tried to work out a plot against me. He had a friend
who lived in the State of Michigan, to whom he wrote for information
concerning my life. This man wrote back: "The minister who is preaching
in your town is a professional white-slave trader, and has escaped the
authorities here in America and fled to Europe." This letter was taken
to the officials in Denmark, and immediately I was arrested. One of the
best detectives in the kingdom and several state officials were working
on the case. A number of impressions were taken of my fingers and my
picture was hung up in police stations among those of professional
thieves and criminals.
A very bitter persecution also broke out in the Scandinavian press.
Among the people I was generally known as "The Prophet." My aunt and
cousin in Copenhagen were nearly dumbfounded one day, when, as they
passed one of the large printing-houses in the city, they saw on the
news bulletin of a prominent daily in large bold type, which could be
read at a long distance, the following:
"The Prophet Morris Johnson--White-Slave Trader--Baptized
Naked Women--Stole Church's Money-Box--Went to America
with Fifty Young Girls and Sold Them to the Houses of
Ill-Fame--Escaped the Hands of the Authorities."
None of these things were true, however; but wherever I went I was
carefully watched by the authorities. My name was associated with the
most ignoble, immoral, and dishonorable things, and the matter was given
such publicity that I could not board a train or a steamer without its
being made known to those around me.
Finally the people of God to whom I had been preaching considered it
their duty to encourage me to appeal to the law for protection, one
brother offering to spend five thousand crowns on the case. This I could
not do, for it would have conflicted with my Christian principles; but
at last I saw that the only way I could satisfy them was to do something
to prove that I was not guilty of the accusations.
Accordingly I went to Copenhagen, spoke to the United States Minister
and to a prominent lawyer about the matter. They encouraged me to take
up a law suit against the parties who had so inhumanly treated me, but
feeling that I should grieve God by doing so, I decided to patiently
suffer, knowing that God would stand by me and that in the end his name
would be glorified. I must admit that had it not been for the fact that
the people of God were praying for me and that God in a special way
comforted and strengthened me, I should not have been able to stand
through this trial.
About three months after the time I had been in Copenhagen, a state
official published in the paper an article in which he made known to the
public that after a thorough examination of my case they were satisfied
that I was innocent and was worthy of the moral support of the people.