The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-04
Denies Emphatically the Charges
Against the Manitoba
Bishop.
QUOTES THE NEW YORK SUN"
The Catholic Champion Says That Ross
Is Either a Liar or an Idiot,
or Perhaps Both.

Father Yorke makes vigorous reply to
Rev Donald NJ. Ross letter, published in
THE CALL of yesterday. Quoting the Ian
guage of the New York Sun he says Mr..
Ross is "either liar or an idiot, or perhaps
both"
Father Yorke positively refuses 10 enter
into a public debate with Rev. Donald NJ.
Ross unless that gentleman will accept his
wager of 500. Mr.. Ross Is equally OPP
posed to engaging in what he calls a bet
ting proposition" and there the matter
stands, Father Yorke's reply to the last
letter of his antagonist, published in
The CALL of yesterday, is as follows:
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 8, 1895.
To the Editor OF the San Francisco CdIl-SIR:
After resting on Sunday from the severe lit
erary labor which had resulted in his letter
published on that date, the Rev. D. NJ. Ross
comes before the public this morning in an
effusion which is undoubtedly his own. as
sure you, Mr.. Editor, that notice it with re-
luctance. have no time to waste in vain
attempt to teach Mr.. Ross the manliness of
standing by his word or the decency of silence.
He refuses alike to put up and to shut up.
The Rev. Donald NJ. Ross has refused my test
He answers for the third time that he will de-
bate instead.
Let me say, once for all, that did not pro-
pose that test for the purpose OF enabling the
Rev. Mr.. Ross to gain a little cheap notoriety
by switching off TO public debate. proposed
that test to correct in the public prints false
and slanderous assertions made in these same
public prints against the Catholic church.
Ny test was simple. Either the quotations
were to be found in Catholic publications or
they were not. If they were to be found Mr..
Ross had nothing to do but to produce the
publications; if they were not to be found
then Mr.. Ross was guilty of circulating for
gerry.
Ny test has been successful. The bad tenn
per and the bad grammar of Mr.. Ross last lu-
cubration are sufficient evidence of the fact.
BY the success OF that test have the right to
claim that the quotations used by the Rev. Mr..
Ross are forgeries, and 1 have moreover the
right to claim that men who have been found
false IN one statement are to be considered
false in all.
Every schoolboy IN San Francisco can see
that incoherent invitations to a public debate
are no answer to my proposition. have not
the slightest intention of helping Mr.. Ross to
evade the issue by accepting such invitations,
He knows my test, he knows my terms; let
him put up or shut up.
That money was necessary to pin the Rev.
D. NJ. Ross down TO facts is evidenced by the
skill and dexterity with which in his last
letter he skips over the border TO Canada.
He writes: "You are not aware that at this
moment the Roman Catholic church of Mani
toba, with the Archbishop at its head, is
charged and convicted of forgery in the matter
of the provincial constitution"
wish TO state Mr.. Editor, that 1 am well
aware of the charge, as I am well aware of the
charge that 1 would lie if the church ordered
me to lie. 1 wish to state, too, that the man
who asserts that the charge is true is-to use
the words of the New York Sun-"either a liar
or an idiot, or perhaps both" The accusation
that the constitution OF q province OF the
Briti7h empire could be forged or stolen is as
ludicrous as the attempt of the Rev. Mr.. Ross
TO pose as protector of American institutions
believe that the people of Canada are fully
competent to manage their own affairs with
out assistance from outsiders, just as l believe
that the institutions of this country can pro-
tect themselves without calling on aliens
fresh from Canada. l would humbly suggest
that the organization which Mr.. Ross repre-
sents would make diligent search in its ranks
for native or a naturalized American to
speak for it in public.
1t is cruel kindness to the Rev. Donald NJ
Ross to put him forward as the defender OF a
country of which he is not even citizen.
do not wish to take up more of your val
liable space with the que tion of "betting."
Mr.. Ross knows as well as 1 do that my propo-
sitlon is not betting proposition" Never
theless if it should become necessary to admit
that my offer to devote 500 to charity is
wager I would rather go before the public as
"a betting priest than as "a lying preacher"
Ny test is SO simple that the Rev. Donald NJ.
Ross has no excuse for evading 1t. All he has
&c do is to produce the Catholic publications
containing the propositions in question. If
these propositions are to be found in any Ro-
man Catholic publication is there a man,
woman or child in California who believes
that the Rev. D. NJ Ross would not accent
500 for charity? If the propositions are not
to be found in Roman Catholic publications all
the debates in Christendom cannot erase the
stigma OF forgery which is branded on him
broad and black by his regeneration.
OF course l admit that the sum of 800 is
."paltry." Still it happens to be big enough to
bury the Rev. Mr.. Ross out of sight forever. AS
often as he appears before the San Francisco
public that "paltry" sum will confront him.
Money talks, and the burthen of it's utterances
for the Rev. D. NJ. Ross is, "Put up or shut up"
Yours truly, P. C. YoRKE.