The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-01-23
THE IMPRISoNED PRIEST.
Charging TINT the Jrr-cy City Brethren Have
Conspircd Against Him.

Charging TINT the jersey City brethren Have
Conspircd Against Him.
Five miles across the drcIry marshes
from Jersey CITY stands on rocky eminence
the Hudson County Penitentiaiy, and in one Of
Its cells Is the Catholic priest Father John Nc
GIL, the nero Of many religious backslidines.
"W y" said the genial " arden, Mr. Henry C..
Post, last night, IL don't know the story II this
man, and guess that there is no one that does
This is the third time ihat he has been in here,
aud don't believe that there l. a prison in all
New jersey thai he has not been an inmate Of.
lie traN els 10y his wits. ana collecting money by
pretending to be a Catholic minister, he 4, wan
dering from place to place and getting drunk
and into prisOn. But just come with me ind
We'll zee what hen say. lie has been rather IN
ruly lately, aud has talked Violently against all
~ the prison. few DAYS ago he re-
fused 10 work at shovelling on coal
WAS obliged 10 pat him Into tine d Tx cell and
give Inn tread and water. Then, too, placed
MN outside aud made MIN stand In the suacklcs
and WIN "A sicdEr about his feet until lac be-
ctine pcui ent, aud promised that he would 20
earnestly to work If the ball aud chain Were
As Nj. Post threw open the heavy bound iron
dor, Father McGill s'epped from the dark re-
treat 81 his celi, and standing on the all tOid ms
story OF his Incarceration. lie rs about thirtysiX
years old, tut his shlrpened features and snowy
locks rive him the look of a man II Sky. lie
sueake uucnIly, ana Is Of more than Ordinary in-
IL Is all a conspiracy on the part OF the Jcr-
sey Cliy uucsts and the police to keep me out Of
the way" said Father McGill. aud yet they
know that hm AN ordained priest as much as
they are. tut am "A PRIEST Of different do
cese aud the priests Of Jersey CITY are afraid 10
have me come among them and make known
their dclnqucnclcs. hey cali me an impos tor
and say that collect money iraudulently. And
sun have every rgnt Of the Church, and have
never been suspended, ceLs ur,d or restricted,
and am empowered To pre-. ch In any diocese
In the known world. Ten years ago OH ciated
in ST. Michaels Church, IN New York, with tine
Rev. Arthur j. DOnnclly | blame the priests
for entering into collision with the police In in
vadng my civil anu ecclesiasticai rights
aud liberties. l regard my Incarceration
IA conspiracy, Tor they, the priests
know that ! am true IN what saw.
Flrst, they arrest me on charge OF
drunkenness, and next thcf say that / am an
impOstor. and now ! am here under the vagrant
act. was simply jOnrue' lug from ono diocese
10 another ana collecting, little money, us IA
the custom Of Catholic priests, to help me on
my way, when they trump'd up this charge aud
threw mo into prison. III Ia true that on my
II ist arrest had taken few drinks OF Whi-key,
but stu was Perfectly sober, and was, as they
say, perfectly cOmUos mcntis. And here am
wrecked, physically. morally, mentally and spir-
itu lly, ana IL all results from no other Teasp N
than that nave to meet "A conspiracy on the
part Of the jersey CITY priest and police"
THAT'S all talk cf hls," sid an intelligent
keeper. ~ am Catholic myself, and know
letter. The clergy are di,gusted with him and
his impOstuIee, and they have cast him out, and
now he Is grumbling and talking all sorts Of
thluRB.'