The New York herald., 1878-03-06
is He A PRIEST?

THE INVESTIGATION MADE BIZ DETECTIVES
nrIATIvE TO AN ALLEGED PERSIAN cATHo-
LIc PRItsT.
Some curiosity has been aroused BY the recent visit
to this city of detective from Detroit In oil
formation relative to the character and antcccdcnts
Of q person who lately collected various sums Of
money In Detroit on the representation OF being a
Persian archpriest OF tho Catholic Church engaged
soliciting pecunary aid for the erection of church in
his native country.
The OF the person In question Is Lazar Cinciaga
and from the Information given by the detective ap
pears that he called Bishop Borgess. of Detroit,
about month ago and presented letters representing
himself to be priest He stated the object Of his
the United States to be the raising OF money for the
purpose mentioned Believing the letters TO be genu-
iue, the Bishop sanctioned the proceeding, and the
result The collection eight or ten churches Of
sum aygregating about 500, which was handed 10
him.
Suspicion that all was not righ. was, IL is stated
Persian gentleman spoke English In the hotel at
which be WAS stopping, while In his Intercourse with
the clergy he pr0fesscd entire Ignorance o our Ian
guage, conversing only in French. This coming 10
light the investigator was begun.
Arriving In New York the detective, whose name is
O'Netl, allied himself with Pinkertons Agency, and
found the object OF his search dom,ced in The Msr
chants Hoiel whore he had registered on February
Is s.Aasar Cnciaga Archi Prctre De Ormaen
Perser He was ascom panied BY valet Three dayy
watching elected nothing further than that the
Persian gentlemen lived quietly, received daily a
foreign looking visitor. and .eek most Of
O'Neil called ON. Vicar General Quinn and
stated hts suspicious Father Mori who speaks Per-
sian equsntiy visited the Mercnants' Hotel aud
conversed with the gentleman. He found MIN 10 be
thick set, middle aged man, with full beard. The
Persian exhibited some letters and the next day
called Vicar General Quinn, 10 whom also he
showed the letters TO establish his identity.
Referring to the the Vicar General said last
night to- HERALD reporter thst he had means OF
pr0nouncng upon tho authenticity OF the ottcrs. and
that thus far be unable TO whether the reverend
gentleman Is deserving OF confidence or Is impos-
lie asked for privileges such priests usually
doslre to have and ho has had none Tho Vicar Gen.
eral regards him he would stranger visiting
city over whom he does not claim 10 exercise any
SPECIAL supervision.
visit TO the Msrohants Hotel BY reporter elected
the the Persian gentlemen had loft here on
Monday In a carriage with his valet and baggage
Whore he went 10 Is unknown His stay in tho
hotel was characterized by nothing extraordinary.
Ho first came there on November 10 and stayed one
day. He returned on the 18th ult. On his irst
he could not apparently understand a word OF Eng
lsh but during his last sojourn he was able to
undcrstandingly, though poorly 1t was further
learned tnat he was originally priest OF the creek
Schsmatic Church, but became, II Ia thought, con-
vert 10 Catholicism. Detective Omen has lett for
Detroit, having gwen up the Investigation.