The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-10-30 00:00:00

THE CLERICAL IMPOSTOR IN THE

DOCK.

The clerical impostor Keatinge, Moreton, or
Crouch, arrived in Dublin on Monday morning from
Liverpool in charge of a detective officer, and was
brought up during the day in the Northern Police-
eourt, before Mr. Keys. When placed in the dock
he appeared nervous and excited. He was attired in
a heavy frieze dreadnought with cape, and was clean
sbaved except the moustache. The court was
densely crowded, many clergymen being among
those present. The charges set out in the police-
sheet were as follows : " Oswald Keatinge,
aged 56, of 4, Dunville-avenue, journalist,
alias Thomas Keatinge, alias Arthur Henry
Moreton, alias Edward Arthur Alexander Moreton,
alias Mandeville Morton, for having within the six
months last passed by falsely representing himself
to be a clerk in holy orders, obtained from the Rev.
John Edward Moffatt, St. Philip's Church, Milltown,
county Dublin, the sum of £l2 108., with intent to
defraud; also for being a parson subject to police
supervision at large in the city of Dublin for 48
hours and more in the month of May last, who failed
to notify his arrival to the police as required by the
statute." The charge-sheet also stated that in his
possession when arrested there were found 4s. 41d., a
purse, a knife, an umbrella, and a number of letters
and pawn-tickets.
Mr. Coll opened the case for the prosecution, and
explained that it was an undertaking by direction of
the Attorney-General. Having stated the charges,
he went on to say that he would now merely take for-
mal evidence and then ask for a remand for a week.
The prisoner was convic*Jed on Jan. 1, 1858, for fraud,
and sentenced to three months' imprisonment. In
August of the same year for a similar offence he was
sentenced o twelve months' imprisonment. In 1877,
for obtaining goods under false pretences he wae sen-
tenced to eighteen months' imprisonment and several
years' police supervision. He was released from gaol
in 1879, and his period of police supervision would
have expired on June 10, 1866. Before that period,
however, he came to Dublin, and he was introduced
to Dr. Moffatt, and officiated for him for a while as
curate of Milltown Church. He acted there from
Juno 13 to August, and received for his services
there £l2 10s.
The Rev. Dr. Moffatt, rector of Milltown, was then
called, and on his entering the box the prisoner ad-
dressed him with the words, "You coward." Dr.
Moffatt stated that he first met prisoner in the last
week of May under the name of the Rev. Theodore
Oswald Keatinge, D.D., that he represented himself
as having done clerical duty in Northampton and
other places, and that he was engaged by witness to
do duty in his church, where he officiated from Whit
Sunday to the last Sunday of September, but wit-
ness only paid him to the end of August. He paid
him .E 7 10s., and Mr. Kirwan paid him .Es—a gross
sum of £l2 10s.
Mr. Coll: Did you pay this sum to him on the rep-
resentation that he was a clergyman of the Episcopa-
lian Church in holy orders ?—I understand him to
have been a priest of the Church of Rome. In the
Church of Ireland, under such circumstances, it is not
necessary to have fresh orders.
Mr. Coil: You received him as entitled to
officiate.
Prisoner: Did you not consult the archbishop.
Mr. Coil: Do you know as a matter of fact that he
is not entitled to act ?—I do not take it for granted.
As a matter of fact you do not know whet her he
is or is not ?—Certainly not.
Did he represent to you that he was a Catholic
priest, and received orders as such ?—Yes.
Mr. Keys: That he was a Roman Catholic priest
gone over to Protestantism ?—Yes.
On examination by Mr. Murphy, for the prisoner,
Dr. Moffatt said he had no ill-feeling towards the
prisoner, and admitted that he was highly appre-
ciated by the congregation. Witness added : 1 cannot
say the exact words, but he tOld me he was a priest
of the Church of Rome, and that he was secretary to
a cardinal and a monsigneur.
Mr. Murphy: Now did he himself toll you that he
was a priest of the Church of Rome? Did be Use
those words ?—I cannot say that.
You won't swear that be did 2—No. The reason is
that I don't recall it to mind.
Do you know that the Archbishop of Dublin gave
bim his permission to officiate ? —Frs know thzi, hc,
did. I wrote to the Archbishop before I allowed the
prisoner to officiate. It was not on my own respon-
sibility that he came in.
So that it was through the rnsdium of the Arch-
bishop he came to preach ?—No, it was through the
medium of the secretary of the Priest's Protection
Society.
You say the prisoner never represented to you that
he was a priest of the Church of Rome ?—What I
said was that I could not recall that exactly. I said
that lam not perfectly sure of that at this time. I
have the full idea and understanding that he did say
so to me, but I cannot swear to it.
Mr. Coil: But you have seen under his hand a
statement to that effect ?—I have.
Mr. Murphy Was it a conversation you had with
another person other than the prisoner that led you
to employ him as a minister ?-11e was introduced
to me by the Priests' Protection Society's secretary,
who asked me to allow him to preach, and I did so
in the first instance at the request of the secretary
of the society. When he bad preached once or
twice he was so much approved of by the congrega-
tion, and approved of by myself, that I thought he
would be a likely person to officiate for me in my
absence when going on leave, and then I wrote to the
Archbishop for permission, and I employed him on
temporary duty in that way.
The witness further deposed that he had received
an angry letter from the prisoner, for which the
latter apologised to the Archbishop, but with this
apology witness was not satisfied.
Mr. Coll said there was a mass of documentary evi-
dence to be given, including an autobiography of the
prisoner, which would take two hours to read, and
therefore he asked for an adjournment.
The prisoner was then remanded for a week, being
detained in custody, but permission was given that he
might see his wife. The latter was in court, and
several times interrupted the proceedings by excited
exclamations.

Speaking at the Dublin Diocesan Synod on Monday,
the Archbishop of Dublin (Lord Plunket) said with
reference to the case of Keatinge, that he wished to
state he had never given him a license as had been re-
ported, but simply accorded him leave to undertake
temporary duty. He examined his credentials with
more than ordinary care when he stated that be was
a convert., because as he knew persons sometimes
changed their religion from unworthy motives. He,
however, found nothing in them to warrant suspicion.
One denomination should not seek to cast stones at
another in reference to this matter. He had imposed
on all, and they all should be ashamed of the fraul
as a disgrace to common humanity.
Mrs. Keating() is still at her residence at Danville-
avenue, Rathmines. She states that she has only a
few sovereigns, that the house is denuded of its fur-
niture, even the bedstead having been removed, and
that she lies on a palliasse on the floor. She states
that she was married to Dr. Keating° 25 years ago,
and notwithstanding her husband's conduct she re
ceives a good deal of sympathy, and very many of his
admirers have exhibited a determination to aid him in
his trouble. Mrs. Keatinge, has written a letter in which
she repudiates a number of statements regarding her
husband. She winds up in the following terms :
"It is not alleged even by his enemies that anything
has been committed by him since 1879. In any
other profession eight years would cover a multi-
tude of sins. Lord Plunket cannot allege anything
against my husband's personal conduct during the
six months he has been in Dublin, nor can anyone
who has admitted him into the intimacy of their
friendship. All right-minded persons must admit
that it is my husband's great ana exceptional talents
that has stirred up spiteful jealousy. He has a right
to expect fair play from the public; to be treated as
his conduct while here under their eyes merited; and
if they would even now, after his enemies have ex-
hausted their malice, give him this chance, they
would find him fully deserving their confidence. The
police on Saturday searched Keatinge's house, at
Rathmines, but did not discover anything of import-
ance.