G. Parker Dykes Escapes Mob Violence in Aalborg

In 1851, G. Parker Dykes returned to Aalborg, Denmark, where he had established a Church branch in November 1850. He found that a hostile mob had vandalized the Saints’ meeting hall and that members were being insulted and beaten in the streets. An officer summoned Dykes to the mayor’s office, where the mayor warned that he could not guarantee Dykes’s safety and told him to leave the city immediately. As Dykes boarded a steamer bound for Copenhagen, a mob gathered to search for him. The mayor and the ship’s captain helped him escape by misleading the mob: the mayor reportedly said Dykes was in prison, while the captain said he had already left for the city or fled into the country. The mob continued searching until the vessel sailed, carrying Dykes safely away. The accounts also note Dykes’s work as president of the Aalborg branch and his missionary publications, including a 1851 pamphlet.