St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-01-15
JARDINE,s FATE.

n correspondent WIG says he knew the
Rev. HENRY ID. JARDINE, the lately de-
posed Kansas City clergyman, who COM
mitted suicide in st. Louis last Sunday,
and knows that he had a big heart and
charitable instincts, asks the GLOBE if
there is not some newspaper that will
speak a kind word for the dead man. So
far as the GLOBE is concerned it prefers to
say nothing of the dead unless it can speak
kindly. If JARDINE had kind heart and
charitable disposition we are only too
glad to make record of the fact. Charity
cOvereth multitude of sins. and we sim
cerely hope that its mantle is sufficiently
wide to hide from view any vices that NAV
have been his afflictiOn. But laying aside
sentiment and looking at his life and death
in the light of cold facts if JARDINE is de-
serving of kind words then he has been the
most Outrageously maligned man that ever
lived. The record is all against him. The
prison records of Monroe county, New
York, show that while quite young man
JARDINE was convicted and sentenced TO
the states prison for a term of two years
for robbing his employer of 1900. When
released from prison he shifted his quarters
and afterward turned up in New York city.
where he managed to secure admission to a
theological school, and subsequently entered
the ministry of the Episcopal church, but
kept from the church the secret of his
prison episode. While rector of a church
in Kansas City he was publicly accused of
plying the vocation of seducer under the
cloak of his sacred garb. even going so far
in this, the grOsSest of all crimes. as TO COM
pass the seduction of little girls who were
members of his parish. The Kansas CITY
Times published all these accusations, and
was sued by JARDINE for libel. On the
trial of the case the Times adduced evidence
to sustain the allegations, and by unanimous
verdict the jury acquitted the newspaper of
libel, thus virtually convicting JARDINE.
Later on JARDINE was brought to trial be-
fore an ecclesiastical court. and after full
investigation Of the whole matter the sol
emn verdict of that court was that
he was guilty and should be deposed
from the ministry. The case was appealed
to the bishop of the diocese, and it was
when the announcement was made to JAR
DINE that the bishop had refused to sus-
P~AiN ''S OANASA VI NiAO NNulb Nildb III a III vi
dependency he suicided. This is the case
as it appears from the record. If the record
is true then JARDINE does not deserve a
kind word from the newspapers. There is
no word of condemnation severe enough for
the hypocritical scoundrel who will dis
guise himself in the garb of a priest the
better TO accomplish the qualification of
Geyilsh lusts. If the record of .JARDINE's
life is false then the libelous scoun-
drels who debauched his good name
and reputation deserve eXecration.
If he was the victim of malice and calumny
it is the saddest episode in the experience
of human life that ever occurred. The idea
of good man being bounded to his death
by traducers and maligners is a horrible
thing to contemplate. 1t is just TO the
memory OF the dead priest to say that the
last words he ever spoke were protest of
his innocence. By his own act he has OBJ
tanned change of venue, and in heavens
high court, where all the hidden things of
earth are brought to light, it will be deter
mined whether the record of his life is a
true or false one.