Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-23
A PASTORS TROUBLE.
He Is Mistaken Everywhere He Goes
for His Scapegrace Son.
TRIED BY CHURCHES AND COURTS.
The Defeated Coke Strikers Now Officially
Suing for Peace.
ONE MORE T0BIN INVESTIGATION
ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DISPATCH ]

| ESPECIAL TELEGRAM TO THE DIsPATCH.1
PARKERsBURa, May 22.-Rev Giles r. Daw-
| son. local preacher in a Methodist Church
| South at Huntington, is in serious trouble.
Charges have been brought against him by
members, and he has brought suit for dam
ages for 5000 against man named Davis,
of Huntington, for circulating stories which
Dawson says are untrue. Dawson has ais o
had one of his sons, F. NJ. Dawson, arrested
on the charge of violating the postal laws,
and the young man is now in Jail at Hunt
ington awaiting the action of the United
States grand jury. Dawson charges the
young man with opening private letters.
There is another Dawson, also a son of the
preacher, whose name is G. X. Dawson. The
preachers first name is Giles, and the sons
first name is George. This fact with the
further fact that both father and son have
lost an arm and resemble each other, has led
many to mistake the son for the preacher
and vice versa. This son, George, commit
ted a forgery about ten years ago in this
State at Yellow Creek, Calhoun county, for
which he was sent to the penitentiary. The
elder man removed to q small Ohio town,
where he took charge of a church, but i'll
luck followed him wherever he went. His
identity was mixed up with that of his con-
vict son, and every place he went the same
old story followed him, until about a year
or two ago, when he settled down at Lower
Belpre, o., just below this city. Dawson pur-
chased a small property at that place, which
had upon it two small houses, one OF
which he rented to a family named Root
The convict son came on visit, met the
Root girl and an intimacy sprang up. After
the younger man had gone home his father
learned of the infatuation, and that they
were carrying on correspondence. He
wrote his son, who was already q married
man, and importuned him to stop the CORE
spondence, intimating that even were he
free to marry her, she was not the sort of
person he should marry The ungrateful
son inclosed his fathers letters to the young
woman, with other statements which he
said had been made by his father, and the
girl had the old man arrested. He was given
preliminary trial at Belpre, which The
DISPATCH correspondent attended, and, al
though there was no evidence upon which
he could be held, in view of the highly-ex-
cited condition of the citizens and neigh,
bors, who had taken sides in the affair and
were feeling very bitter, the preacher was
held to answer Indictment. AS was sup
posed at the time, the grand jury refused to
pay any attention to the case and 1t was
thrown out.
Shortly afterward on a Sunday, while
Dawson was preaching at his church some
distance away, his house was burned to the
ground, and, although the insurance was
comparatively nothing and there had been
no fire in the building that day, rumorS were
circulated that he had set his own dwelling
on fire. OF course, this story found very
few believers but the influence of the. man
was again destroyed, and he left Ohio and
came to this city, where for some time he did
evangelistic work in theacountry districts.
A short time ago he removed to Hunting
ton, where he took temporary charge of the
Second NJ. E. Church, South, but his ill-luck
seems to follow him. The Quarterly Con-
ference investigated charges against the
reverend gentleman. Although he still in
the conference dismissed him from his pas
tOral office,