“[John Patton] told me that he had often seen five hundred men start off at a run through the woods—day as well as night—like so many red deer. Yet nobody ever got hurt. Then, men stood and jerked themselves most violently, holding to saplings trimmed up for this use….”
“I had heard about a singularity called the jerks or jerking exercise, which appeared first near Knoxville, in August last, to the great alarm of the people….”
Camp-meeting commenced at Liberty: here I saw the jerks; and some danced: a strange exercise indeed….
“[M]et with…Lorenzo Dow at a meeting at Liberty Hill on Nashville. There I saw much of the dancing and jerking exercises among those of the best standing in society. This was and still is in many respects an unaccountable exercise to me….”
“It is asserted in some prints, that these assemblies have originated a disorder called the Jerks….”
“People of every age, sex, sect, and condition appeared to be more or less affected with the disagreeable operations of these exercises, not only at their meetings, but in their daily employments….”
