The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-28 00:00:00

COLLAPSE OF A CAL U3EVE

Birmingham
stated
apafpewersd aoyfathaegolBtth-
The following report was published in the
18th instant
astant :
Committee,
consisting of Messrs. Kynnersley, Goodman, and
has
has completed
been
drawints
P. oncia, and Dr. Melson, had been constituted to
inquire into the charges brought by Mr. Gutteridge
of gross immorality in a nunnery. The Commit-
teefor y, bl' t' •
_ _" We, the undersigned, having been requested by
uipnquirpuanicleathwenftowing re-
port Mr. Gutteridge, and by gentlemen representing the
Roman Catholic community in this town, to investi-
gate the truth of the statement made by Mr. Gut-
teridge in a lecture delivered by him in the Town
Hall, on the 13th November last, with reference
to alleged immorality in a nunnery, and having ex-
amined such evidence as Mr. Gutteridge has pro-
duced in support of his statement, do find—
" That the whole statement is untrue, and with-
out foundation in fact in any one of its details.
" The narrative, as repeated by Mr. Gutteridge
at the Town Hall, together with other details not
first related to a member
mentioned by him, Was
of Mr. Gutteridge's family on the 2d July last.
On the following day it was repeated to Mr. Gut-
teridge, by whom it was taken down in writing.
The narrator was a young girl of nineteen years
of age, who was employed in Mr. Gutteridge's
household as a seamstress, and has continued to be
so employed up to the present time. During this
period she has again and again repeated her story,
with the addition from time to time of pretended
occurrences which gave the statement a great ap-
pearance of reality ; and so recently as three weeks
ago, in the most solemn manner, reasserted the truth
of all she had said.
4, The young girl appeared before us, and at once
declared that the wholep narrative was false and un-
founded, and entirely her own invention. She firmly
adhered to this declaration under a severe cross-
examination.
"The narrative included details, some of which
were capable of corroboration, if true ; others bore
on their face manifest improbability. We find
that no effort was made by Mr. Gutteridge
the truth of any of these statements • to
use his
to
test
own
words, he never crossed the threshold to make in-
quiry. We have still felt it our duty, as far as pos-
sible, to test such of the alleged facts as were capa-
ble of inquiry, and have failed to obtain confirma-
tion in any one instance.
" Under these circumstances, therefore, we can
arrive at no other conclusion than that Mr.
Gut-
teridge's statement was utterly untrue, and
that he
had no grounds whatever for making the
" T. C. SNEYD KyNNERs
LEY, J.Y.
J. B. MELSON, M.D.
J.P.
JOHN PONCIA, J.P. ,
J. D. GooDmAN, J.P.
"Birmingham, January 17, 1868,',
Hereupon the Daily Post I,_s remar - •
in a lead-
ing article :
" Mr. Gutteridge's nunnery story will .as
be seen
from a report in another column, has
utterly broken
down • the result we anticipated' from the moment
attention was called to it. Fourmagistrates,
three
of them Protestalits, and two of themr. Gutteridge himself, have chosen by
M
inquired into the
story, and their report is 'that the whole statement
is untrue, and without foundation
details.' To this, as regards Mr. Gutteridge's own
conduct, the committee add that 'he had no
grounds whatever for making the charge,' and that
he ' made no effort' to
test the grounds he pre-
tended to have. After
from such this emphatic declaration,
nobody will on any unquestionable authority, we suppose
slightest credence It) future occasion attach the
any gobe moucherie Mr. Gut-
teridge may choose to
that much credit is publish. We will but add
due to Mr. J. D. Goodman
and to Mr. Poncia f
in bringing this miserable or the trouble they have taken
story to the test of in-
quiry and consequent exposure."

We have simply to append to the foregoing
extracts the few facts needed to make their
import fully understood by our own readers.
We have refrained hitherto from noticing Mr.
Gutteridge's attack, although we observed that
some of our Catholic contemporaries were de-
voting considerable space to it. We prefer
in cases like this to leave the calumny to
work itself out, as it is sure to do, especially
when, as in the present instance, the matter is
taken up by candid and truth-loving Pro-
testants. Mr. Goodman is a gentleman who
answers to this description. Originally a
friend of Mr. Gutteridge, he represented
strongly to that ardent partizan the unen-
viable position in which a man leaves him-
self who, after casting an -unprovoked grievous
imputation on a large body of his fellow-
citizens, refuses, on frivolous pretexts, evrey
proposal to test its authenticity. This is what
Gutteridge did. Having asserted at a public
lecture that he knew as a fact within his own
knowledge, that young women were being
debauched wholesale by the priests in a certain
convent, he refused to give names and veri-
fications to any persons except Dr. Newman,
of the Oratory, Edgbaston, and when that
proposal was
Gutteridgeasnotaceepted allowedonheus Catholicw assidt%
all the