Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1879-01-08

An UnmiasIgated scoundrel Abros


Our friend, w. L. Mcknight, of
Charleston, Tenn, sends us an account
Of the crookedness OF one John
Maffett. alias Goodwin Turner, alias
w. w. La Verne, who has passed
himself off on various communities,
once as Baptist minister, again as
Cumberland Presbyterian minister,
and still again as professional teacher.
He preached last summer for some
time in the neighborhood of Kingston,
Georgia, and attended Baptist Asso-
citation while there, giving his name
as Rev. w. ". La Verne. Inquiries
were instituted as to where he came
from and who he was. Unsavory
facts began to be developed, and he
left for parts unknown.
Soon after he turned up In the neigh
borhood of Charleston, in Bradley
county, as q Cumberland Presbyterian
minister. He contracted with the
Trustees of the High School at that
place to carry on their school for five
years, and purchased property from J.
M. Knox, an Elder in that Church,
but paid no money on his purchase.
He borrowed q small sum OF money
from Mr.. Knox, and obtained from
Rev. A. w. Motheral, Of Cleveland,
| several articles of clothing. About the
first of December, he left there, pre-
tending that he was going to Clarks-
Vile, Tenn, for his family, and from
there to Memphis, where he had some
property to sell. Not returning, MT.
Motheral wrote about him to Mem
phis. and received the informa-
ton that there had once been
a Cumberland Presbyterian minister
bv the name OF Gordon Turner, bat
that he had left " under cloud"
Mr.. Mcknight wrote to Uniontown,
Pennsylvania, where 1t was ascer-
tanned this imposter had been fol-
some time, and received information
that he had preached for time, and
received the information that he had
married respectable woman of that
place, and after swindling her out Of
her private fortune deserted her. A
. late number of the New York Iinae'
says of the Same individual:
One Of the men whom the country
newspapers are fond OF calliug wolves
in Sleeps clothing has recently ap
peared in several towns In interior
Pennsylvania. He calls himself Rev
John Maffitt, and processes to be Bap
fist preacher. He occupied puIpl
: some months at Smithfield, where h'
: excited suspicion of his piety by licen
tious conduct, by copiOus drinking anC
by taking letters from the postoftict
addressed to Goodwin Turner. He Elk
planned the last popularity by saying
, that Turner was an intimate friend o
! his and would soon join him but ali
Iicentiousness ane intemperance seems
to have been overlooked-perhaps or
| account of his profession. Not Ions
I after, he married woman OF PropertN
> and good position, and went on Weo'
ding tour to Baltimore, where he robbed
her Of 81 800 and deserted Ler. IL wa
discovered that he had wife al Long
- wood, Mo-, and that he had gone ther
from Baltimore. He was traced to 81
= Louis, then to different places In len
4 nessee and Gergia, having figured
!. HALLS Mills, in the latter State, q
Rev, w. w. La Verne. He was Of
the point of marrying again at Car
|. tersville, Ga, when an article In tn
d Baptist Observer exposed him, an.
n caused his flight. For the time hi
a whereabouts is unknown. He Ia az
parentIy 40, of medium height; ha
large nose, small mouth; blue mar
under right eye, scar on lefs cheek, an
: ia a ready speaker. Nearly all thes
!. rascally fictitious clergYmen seem 1
have an uncomfortable passion 10
II poIygamy and otheriabuses of womeE
% because, no doubt, these are, from fel
T. vid piety, easily imposed upon. IN
|. name Of John Maffit Is unfortunat'
, having been made unpleassntly mote
y rious, many years ago, in the perso
l. Of Rev. John Newland Mafhtf ono
10 Chaplain to Congress. e. -