St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-09-24
METHODIST ON TRIAL.
C. B. Lawton, the Realty Man,
Confronted With Grave
Charges,
Which, by the Way, Have
Been Preferred at His Own
Request.
Collected Moneys and Not
Turned 1t Over to the Prop
er Officials.
\ Considerable Amount Of
Methodistical Linen Is
Washed.

glance at Jl6 crOWQ, however. WOulu
show that this impression was err
roneOus. Neither the smiling count
enance of Judge Cory nor the
Thoughtful face of Judge Twohy was
visible and on the judicial bench was
seated the venerable Rev. DIR. Turner.
who, though not versed in the law, made
rulings that would have done credit to
a imam learned in the law" On one
side of the table sat the attorneys for
the prosecution, Messrs. Nicholas and
Boyd, while on the other, in true legal
style, sat the defendant and his advo-
Gates.
The defendant was none other than
c. Il. Lawton, the well-known real
estate dealer of West st. Paul, and the
trial was one instituted by the officials
of the church. The charges preferred
against Mr.. LawtOn are ten in num-
Der and range from what might
be termed the ridiculous to some
thing pretty large. One of
them charges him with collecting SIS
for the church and failing to pay it over
TO the treasurer. Another states that
he is accused of refusing to pay print
ing bill for the Methodist Social union
after making himself liable for the
amount, while the eighth and
Most Serious Charge
Is that he went to the cities of Winona.
Red Wing and Rochester and secured
subscriptions for the purpose of paying
oil the debt on the Central Avenue
church and then failed to pay over the
amounts so collected until advised that
he had better do SO to save trouble. To
summarize the matter, all the serious
charges run to the effect that Mr. Law
ton has collected moneys for the church
and failed to pay them over as he should
have done.
For number of years Mr.. Lawton
has been one of the most prominent
members of the Central Avenue church,
and has been superintendent of the
Sunday school, as well as something of
an evangelist in way He was one Of
the originators of the Methodist Social
union, as well as an officer Of it.
He is himself responsible for the
trial, as the members of the
Clinton Avenue church had
no desire, so they claim. TO prefer
charges, but some weeks ago Mr. Law
ton claims the public got hold of a great
many rumors, the circulation of which
was very annoying to him and so at the
last quarterly meeting he demanded
that the charges be put in shape as re-
CURED by the rules of the church, and
That he be given a trial and declared
either guilty or not guilty.
The official board at once took action
and prepared list embracing no less
than
Fen Specifications,
and on presenting them to the presid-
ing elder of the district that gentleman
named the following prominent men,
Ders of other Methodist churches of the
city as committee to hear the evidence
and make report finding Mr.. Lawton
either guilty or not guilty:
George E. Budd, NJ. L. Hutchins. j. c.
Quinby II. Simmons and j. W. Mackinson.
Ihr first meeting was held on Tues
day evening, and, after passing upon
some of the preliminaries, the first
tour specifications were taken up and
the evidence on both sides was heard
ana taken down by Stenographer. The
attorneys crosS-eXamlned all witnesses
exactly as is done in law courts. MIR.
LawtOn answered not guilty to all the
charges when they were read, though it
IS said that the specifications were not
exactly along the lines he had expected
and anticipated. Little progress was
made Tuesday evening, and last night,
promptly at O'Clock, the trial. was re-
sumed.
The sixth specification was read and
turned out to be charge that Mr.. Law
son had collected and retained SIS which
should have been turned over to the
oincers or the church. Robert Hare, the
well-known West side hustler.
was placed on the stand. and
testified that Mr.. LaWtOn had
admitted that he had 500 in his hands
which he had collected for the church.
only 81 of which had finally been turned
over. After Mr.. Hare had been sub
gected TO raking cross examination by
Rev. David Morgan, the Prohibitionist
tighter and leader, Mr.. Lawton took his
place
In the SweatbOx
and was questioned first by Attorney
Nichols. His version OF the matter was
that $40 of the balance of SIS was his
own subscription, while $3.50 of the re-
mainder had been applied to printing
bill. The balance of $3.50 he was ready
to pay over at any time to the proper
officers. He stated that he had never
been requested to pay it over. Mr..
Hare, being recalled, stated that he had
made repeated demands for the money.
This ended the sixth specification.
The seventh was read and led to the
washing of large amount of linen that
was very much soiled. In brief il
caused review of the organization and
history of the Methodist social union of
this city. Stripped OF all verbage it re-
cited that Mr.. LaWton had failed to pay
a printing bill of "a which he had
agreed to be liable for.
The witness for the prosecution on
thlS charge was none other than S.
Sherin, the we'll known secretary of the
National Educational association a year
ago. He had paid the bill, but had
failed to receive the money from Mr..
Lawton. In answer to this Mr.. Lawton
gave history of the first meeting. in
which he claimed he had lost consid-
cradle amount of money. Acting on
the advice of the committee of the
Methodist alliance, he had become liza
bic for 100 supperS at so cents each.
Only twenty people attended, and after
deducting money
Raised by Collections,
he lost the sum of s11.50. This he had
charged to profit and loss.
Whose profit and loss?" inquired Mr..
Nichols.
What do you mean?" asked Mr..
Lawton.
Il mean just this" replied Mr..
Nichols, twas it your money or some
one else's that you were distributing SO
lavishly?"
DO you want me to say that / stole
the money from some one else?' asked
Mir. LawtOn angrily. II did not do it
and | will not say so."
The next charge is considered the
most serious one by the members of the
church and its existence is probably the
cause of the whole trouble. Ever since