Reform and Christianity
After his release he gave up drinking and tried to reform thinking he would never see his son again if he continued his sinful ways. He attended the Revival of 1857 at New York City and found God, converted his brother Howell and the New York Times noted his transformation. He no longer went by the nickname "Awful Gardner" and he became a preacher whom many came to see. Gardner gave interviews and converted many. Jerry McAuley noted that Gardner, whom he had known as desperado, had given a powerful sermon at the Sing Sing Prison which converted many convicts, including McAuley. Gardner then began one of the first AA meetings, which was called the "Coffee and Reading Room".
Gardner was in and out of newspapers across the country. He was mistakenly thought to have been killed in 1883, but it was his brother Howell Gardner, who died from burns received in an explosion. Orville had become ill in the late 1870s, living in the Home of the Aged and Infirm as an inmate. Gardner soon made headlines in 1889 when he was sent to an Insane Asylum. He most likely died of his illness.
References: New York Times
| Persondata | |
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| Name | Gardner, Awful |
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| Short description | American boxer |
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Read more about this topic: Awful Gardner
Famous quotes containing the word reform:
“When I go into a museum and see the mummies wrapped in their linen bandages, I see that the lives of men began to need reform as long ago as when they walked the earth. I come out into the streets, and meet men who declare that the time is near at hand for the redemption of the race. But as men lived in Thebes, so do they live in Dunstable today.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)