Carson Parker, Obituary/Death NoticePorter County obituaries and death notices . . . .
Carson Parker
VALPARAISO GOSSIP.
Carson Parker, a former well-known minister of Valparaiso, is dead. This man, once a pillar of strength, whose tongue could flame forth eloquence as flashes would gleam from a diamond, died a drunkard, and an outcast, in a Pueblo, Colorado, saloon last Sunday. Years ago Parker came from New York to Valparaiso to fill the pulpit of the Universalist church, He brought with him a charming family, and for a time became the lion of the Vale. His church was always filled to its utmost, and the best people of Valparaiso flocked to hear him, fascinated by his eloquence. But Parker fell into the power of the demon, Alcohol, and before long, he dragged his clerical robes in the gutter, and feel from grace. He disappeared from Valparaiso for several years, but again returned, an outcast and a wreck. This was about eight years ago. In Father O'Reilly, the deceased pastor of St. Paul's Catholic church, he found a friend, and resolved to reform. For months he did successfully cope with his enemy, brought his family to Valparaiso, joined the Catholic church, and with the help of willing friends, earned his living. But soon the appetite for drink got the better of him, and his benefactors suffered the mortification of seeing him in the gutter again, and the family abandoned. From bad, he went to worse, and finally when there was no place for him to sleep, nothing for him to eat, and no whiskey to feed his remorseless appetite, he disappeared. He wandered over the west, trying to reform. At Pueblo he held a good position as an editorial writer, and, it is said, did rare work. But, as in Valparaiso, he fell, and each fall hurled him lower than before. The writer knew this man well. Gifted with a wonderful mind, he lacked the power to control it. He was an abject slave to his passions, and none may ever know how he suffered from their merciless promptings. Rightly directed, his abilities, energies and talents would have secured for him a happy home, and honored position, and a life of usefulness, but indirected, they have laid him in a drunkard's grave, unmourned by those who knew him, and a disgrace to all who loved him. His life and death is a fearfully illustrated temperance lesson.
Newspaper: The Tribune
Date of Publication: January 9, 1890
Volume Number: 6
Issue Number: 39
Page: 1
Column(s): 3
Key to Newspaper Publication Locations:
Newspapers Published in Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana
Chesterton Tribune
The Tribune
Westchester Tribune
Newspapers Published in Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana
Porter County Vidette
Practical Observer
Valparaiso Practical Observer
Vidette and Republic
Western Ranger
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Obituary/death notice transcribed by Steven R. Shook