Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-02
CLERICAL SCANDALS.
A Couple of Them Worrying New
York's Methodist Conference.
PINKERTON DETECTIVES AT WORK
And Some of the Ministers Themselves
Running Down Clews
ANONYMOUS LETTERS CAUSE TROUBLE

dist conference for the last two days, ant
which a committee has been appointed Il
investigate, boiled up alarmingly to-day
and now involves the good name of Rev
James NJ. King, D. D., Of this city, one o
the most prominent clergymen in tn.
Methodist Episcopal Church.
1t was brought out to-day that Pinkertor
detectives had been hired by Methodist
ministers to look up the origin Of certain
anonymous letters, and had been put on the
track of their fellow ministers When sus.
picion fell on Rev. Dr. King a man went to
Dr. Kings Office, at 140 Nassau street, and
rummaged through his papers and opened
his desk, while he was at home i'll in bed,
for the purpose of obtaining evidence.
| All this and much more was common talk
among the members of the Conference in
! the Park Avenue Church to-day, although
none of it came to the surface at the public
session. The spectators who watched the
proceedings from the galleries did not get
the slightest inkling of the trouble from the
proceedings, but in a private room the
seven ministers who made up the COM
mittee of Investigation were busy all day
taking testimony from clergymen and lay
men. Y
Two Scandals Being Investigated.
Two distinct matters are occupying the
attention of the committee. One Is the
anonymous circular which purported to ex-
pose the log-rolling methods Of the minis
ters who met at Poughkeepsie early in Feb
ruary for the ostensible purpose of de-
nouncing log-rolling In general in confer
ence politics The other is q still more
serious matter. Bowles Colgate, the Presi-
dent of the New York City Church Exten-
sion and Missionary Society, received an
anonymous letter, a week or two ago, pro-
testing against the election of Rev. F.
Mason North as Secretary of the society.
The letter said that DR.. North was unfit for
the secretaryship, and made direct charges
against him. When the society met on
Tuesday it showed its confidence in DR..
North by unanimously electing him Secre-
tary in place of Rev. NJ D. Crawford, who
retired.
Evidence was laid before the committee
to-day designed to show that both the
anonymous circular and the North letter
came from the Office of DR.. King, in the
circumstautial, and many of the ministers
did not consider it was strong enough
to put any responsibility upon DR.. King
personally. DR.. King is pastor of the St
Johns Methodist Church, in West Fifty
third street, and is also Secretary of the
Society for the Protection of American In
stitutions, which has an Office in the Morse
building. There are two or three employees
in the Office, who are kept busy with the So
ciety's correspondence, which is very ex-
tensive.
Detective Work by the Preachers.
When the Poughkeepsie circular came
out, over month ago, some Of the friends
of the men mentioned therein began little
detective work on their own hook. The
circular was dated from Poughkeepsie, but
Rev. Andrew Shriver, who lives in that
town, went around among all the printing
houses there and found that the circular
had not been printed there. The circu-
lars had all been mailed from Pough-
keepsie, and it was found that the
day before they had been put in the post
office Methodist minister from Newburg
had been in town. This was Rev. E S.
Osborn, who got uo in the Conference on
Wednesday and disclaimed any knowledge
of the printing or mailing of the circular
The amateur detectives thought they had
obtained good evidence against Mr.. Osborn
when they learned that bundle had come
up from New York for him, which he had
taken over to Poughkeepsie. He explained
to everybody's satisfaction afterward that
this was bundle of his wife's belongings.
One of the ministers thought he detected
semblance between the writing on the en-
lars and the addresses on official documents
sent out from the Office of DR.. Kings So
cety. An expert was hired, and after
careful examination he gave it as his opin-
ion that the addresses of the anonymous
circulars were written by the same hand as
the others, although there was an apparent
effort to disguise the writing.
Minister in the Role of vidoca,
One of the ministers went shortly after |
this to DR.. Kings Office, and began to |
question the young woman who works the |
typewriter there This is the story of what |
happened, as told by several ministers |
He laid before her an official envelope in |
which some official matter had been sent out |
and asked her if the writing UPON it was
hers. She replied, after looking
1t it closely, that it was. Then he laid be- |
tide it one of the envelopes in which an
letter had been sert out and |
,sked her if that was her writing too. The
7oung woman hesitated, but just as she was
.beut to answer voice is said to have come
rom an inside room: 81 command you not
@ answer any further questions" i
The minister could not get any more in
then and he departed Dr. King
vas not in his Office at this time and the
Toice was said to belong to the Superin-
endent, John Mcclellan. This evidence, it
vas understood, was laid before the COM
nittee of ministers to-day for what it was
vorth.
Soon after Mr.. Colgate received the
letter about Rev. Mr. North he
allied at DR.. Kings Office, in company with ,
Mr.. North, so one of the ministers of the
conference said to-day, and the two made an
extensive search there
Betrayed by His Letter Paper.
"At another time," said this minister, "a
nan acting as detective q won't say he
vas detective, because it is too much to
ay that one minister is using detective to
rack down fellow minister), came to Dr.
Kings Office and borrowed a sheet of paper
o write note on. He took; that piece of
'aper away with him, and it was
compared with the sheet of which
he ANONYMOUS letter had been written, and
he same watermark was found on both.
! ow, that's as far as that evidence goes,
mind you, and, of course, it only indicates
hat the letter started from that Office. 1t
oes not connect DIR. King with it. Some
utside person may have used the clerks in
he Office for his hefarious purposes. But the
must get to the bottom of this
Thole affair now, for the reputation of
very minister in the New York Confer |
nee will be involved. If it is fastened on
ny minister in the conference. the commit
ee can do nothing but recommend his trial J