He was granted a full pardon by Governor Andrew Lee in 1898. Morse made a decision in prison to give his heart and life to Jesus Christ, through the ministry of Mother Wheaton, a woman who visited the prison and proclaimed the Gospel. Morse was convicted in Roberts County, SD for the shooting death of a Sisseton man in September of 1893. It was backed by stock trader Alfrederich Smith Hatch, who believed in uplifting those unfit for charity, whom he called the “undeserving or unworthy poor.” The first USA, Gospel Rescue Mission opened on Water Street in 1872 in New York City when former alcoholic and ex-con Jeremiah McAuley founded his “Helping Hand for Man” on the site of a licentious dance hall. David Nasmith is the spiritual father of the City Mission Movement and founded a number of ministries including the Dublin Christian Mission, London City Mission, as well as 31 other Missions in the United States and Canada. The City Mission Movement goes back to the year 1826, when David Nasmith, a former manufacturer’s apprentice, founded the Glasgow, (Scotland) City Mission for the purpose of practical ministry for the underprivileged, proclaiming the Gospel in everyday language.

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