Matthias meanwhile revenged himself on the mocking crowds a few years ago, by appearing at the Battery gate in a superb coach with a fine pari of horses. Sometimes walking to and fro, he would cause his friends to follow him at a reverential distance. His great height, his long wavy hair, his coarse curly beard and mustaches, and his green coat, figured vest and black pantaloons, with a sash of crimson silk around his waist, made him one of the most striking figures in the New York of the early Thirties.

Presently, friends of another disciple broke the harmony of the church and managed to have Matthias committed to the hospital for the insane at Bellevue. Here his beard was cut; but a relative got him out of Bellevue and he returned to the Pierson household.