Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-03-06
OF ARCHBISHOP PUR-
CEEL

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have given, Of late, particulars Of the trouble
that has come upon the archbishop of Gin
cinnati, owing to practice that has existed
among the working people of the Roman
Catholic faith Of that city depositing their
savings in his hands. This custom has ex-
isied for forty years, and was kept up from
the belief that IN his possession money de-
posted would be safer than if put in savings
banks, institutions that experience proved to
be practically as unsafe in Cincinnati as they
have been elsewhere. For these deposits the
archbishop allowed at first four per cent,
afterward six per cent, which was the inter
est given at Snead's, Ellis & Morton s, and
other savings banks in the city, most of
which banks ended IN bankruptcy. This
business was not conducted by the archbishop
personally, but by his brother, Edward Pur-
cell, gentleman of very agreeable presence
and manners, an advantage possessed equal
ly by the archbishop himself. Father Ed
ward" as he was usually called, was the
manager of the business affairs of the arch
bishopric, and had the reputation Of being
thorough business man, a reputation not
borne out eventually. In 1888 the elder of the
two brothers was made bishop Of Cincinnati.
That city had then one Catholic church, small
frame building, and, as we learn from an ar
ticle6R the New York Sun, to which we are
indebted for most of the information that
follows, there were at that time only four or
FIVE other Catholic churches in the whole
diocese. So successful has been the arch
bishop in his official administration, aided by
the large German and Irish immigration to
Ohio, that there are one hundred and fifty
magnificent edifces now in the diocese, be-
side colleges, asylums, hospitals, converts,
and even farms and other country and city
property. Largely these structures and in
situations had the encouragement and aid Of
the archbishop. For himself, however, he
has always lived simply. His income has
been trivial, he has steadily refused to receive
the regular church salary attached to his Pc
sition, and the cathedral at Cincinnati has
never paid ITS expenses but has cost the arch
bishop about four thousand dollars a year to
keep it up in the state such building and
its style of worship demanded. The ground
on which that edifce, and the episcopal resi-
dence attached were built, cost twenty-four
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organ and other requisites made the entire cost
amount to three hundred thousand dollars.
The current expense, beyond what the mad
equate income from the cathedral has been,
has been paid from moneys in the hands of
Edward Purcell, who himself received no
salary, while both he and his brother were
profuse in relieving the poor and aiding to
support and originate religious and benevo-
lent enterprises and structures. Up to a year
ago the demands of the money deposltors had
been satisfactorily met; the great panic Of
1857, and other distressing periods, had been
successfully tided over. AT the panic of 1857
loans were made that saved hundreds of
families, and even banks that are still in bus
mess. The first heavy blow was owing to the
failure of Slevin & Co.'S New York and
Louisville dry goods houses in 1876; seventy
thousand dollars were lent them by Edward
Purcell to save them, but in vain, all was
lost. To another party a loan of forty thou
sand dollars was made to save his estate;
part of this, 1t Is hoped, may be collected.
Other minor losses, demands for cathedral
deficiencies, for aid to churches and other in
situations and charities, added to the
deficiency. In 1873 the poverty
of many of the depositors, ow-
ing to hard times, drove them to
withdraw their money. This could not read
lily be paid, and doubt began to arise. The
failure of Hemen & Co.'S bank in the city at
the same time caused a rumor that Father
Edward had lost largely by the catastrophe,
which was incorrect. Then Adae & Co.. bank
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similar but erroneous reports were spread Of
Father Edwards losses there. A panic was
the consequence, and depositors hastened in
crowds to the archbishop's residence to draw
their money. In this way the archbishop
first became aware of the fearful trouble that
has weighed him down with grief, and led
him to tender the resignation Of his Office to
the pope. At the petition of a large number
of his people, the archbishop's tender has
been hitherto treated as if it had not been
received. Priests and people FASTENED with
liberal contributions, expecting to fill the
deficiency; in vain was forty thousand dollars |
raised and paid away. A few days were |
gained, but examination showed that not |
thousands, but millions, were in question; /
the case was desperate. The fact that
similar difficulty and loss had occurred
not very long time before in Newport, across
the nver from Cincinnati, by which many
working people had lost their savings from
confding them to the care Of Father Guilfoi,
a very popular priest there, added to the agi-
tation that began to prevail, and which has
resulted in almost mobbings OF the episcopal
within whose doors the poor who
have lost their all forced themselves with
tears and means and bitter reproaches. How
came these millions to melt away while In the
custody of men whose purity cannot be called
IN question, whose simple lives had no touch
of extravaganza or disqualification, whose
character as upright men and conscientious
christians Is unquestioned? Inattention to
business requirements, and want of business
habits, is at the bottom of all the wreck and
calamity. The helmsman may stand steady
md sleepless at the wheel, but if he knows
nothing of compass or chart, and keeps no
of his daily track through the
waters, shIpwreck will come at last, spite of
attention to his duty as far as he knows It.
We learn from the statement IN
he San that in January last efforts
we're made to raise seven hundred
thousand dollars by bonds, coupled with
iind of lottery. A farm, an eighty thousand
iollar value lot Of ground, the cathedral and
grounds, and the seminary and grounds &
we're mortgaged and the bonds printed ready
or sale; then 1t was found that all this would {
lot pay the mountain Of debt that had aeon {
nulated. In all this, says the Sun. "tba /
rustees had little or no assistance from /
'ather Edward Purcell Indeed, they say i
Ie could give them but little. He had no t
looks to turn over to them, only bundle of /
otes-some six hundred and twenty-five a