A cryptic reference to “a Presbyterian minister who survived the bullets of a religious fanatic,” in a newspaper article, started speculation on the Presbyterian Church’s Facebook group. Who was this minister?
According to research by Rev. Peter Bush, editor of the Presbyterian History newsletter and Al Clarkson, a member of the Presbyterian Museum advisory committee, the mystery man was Rev. John McPherson Scott, a former minister of St.John’s, Toronto and the founder of what is today’s Scott Mission.
Scott’s would-be assassin was Harry Asher, who had worked with Scott as a missionary to Jews in Toronto. Scott dismissed Asher on allegations of misconduct. On Dec. 23, 1914, Scott was hit once in the hip and a second bullet was deflected by a steel case for his glasses that he carried in his left pocket.
