Ch 14. - Saved to the UttermostCh 14. - Saved to the Uttermost
Dry Dock of a Thousand Wrecks, The by Philip Ilott Roberts (1872 - 1938)
This chapter recounts Reinhold Scholz’s fall from educated professional to Bowery drunkard and his near-suicidal despair in New York. It then describes how a visit to the Jerry Macaulay Mission and a prayerful surrender to Christ are said to transform his life, restore his family, and end his dependence on alcohol.
9:14•1 Apr 2026
Saved to the Uttermost: From Bowery Drunkard to Restored Father
Episode Overview
- Alcohol can drag even educated and gifted people into severe degradation, homelessness and the loss of family and work.
- Despair and suicidal thoughts are portrayed as common end-points of chronic drinking when all support and resources are gone.
- A welcoming, non-condemning environment at the Jerry Macaulay Mission offers practical warmth and human connection to destitute drinkers.
- Hearing testimonies from other redeemed alcoholics plays a crucial role in opening Reinhold’s mind to the possibility of change.
- The chapter presents surrender to Christ at the mission bench as the turning point that removes his craving for liquor and leads to restored family life.
“"I rose from my knees, a changed man. I cannot explain the change. Yet I knew it had been effected."”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? This chapter from *Dry Dock of a Thousand Wrecks* tells the raw, gripping story of Reinhold Scholz, a highly educated German who arrives in America with every advantage and then drinks his way down to the Bowery.
From university duels and political speeches to losing his family, his work, and even his room, the episode traces how alcohol turns a once "cultured" man into what he calls "nothing but a homeless, hopeless, drunken loafer." The heart of the story centres on one desperate night in 1911, when Reinhold, half drunk and freezing, decides his life is no longer worth living and heads for the river.
A chance encounter outside a Bowery saloon leads him instead into the Jerry Macaulay Mission, where he’s met with warmth, a "bright, cheery room," and men who call him "friend and brother" despite his "wretched condition." You’ll hear how testimonies from other redeemed drinkers cut through his despair, and how, when invited forward by the superintendent, he kneels and prays: "I did as Mr. Weinvern invited me to do...
and cried unto Christ to save me and take that terrible appetite for liquor out of my life." He says simply, "I rose from my knees, a changed man," and the narrative goes on to state that his appetite is gone, his family restored, and his life now stands as "a magnificent proof" of what faith at the mission can bring.
This chapter will appeal to anyone curious about faith-based recovery, historic rescue missions, or whether a person can really come back from "the vilest of the vile." It raises a quiet but powerful question: if change was possible for Reinhold, what might be possible for someone caught in addiction today?
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