The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-08-06
Such Seems to Be the Record
of Bishop" ROpert.
RECOGNIZED BY MR.. KEEeAN
Past Exploits Brought to Light
in the Interest of Order
and Decency.

Considerable excitement was manifested
throughout the city Sunday and yester-
day over the ARREST Of the man Ropert,
who arrived here Sunday morning pur-
porting to be "a Roman Catholic bishop, in
charge of affairs ait Honolulu. 1t seems
that he Is the same panty Wtno made
The same professions at Portland, Fri
day and Saturday, full accounts Of which
appear in Sundays and yesterdays Ore
gonian.
In Astoria he made himself first known
to Father Dielman That gentleman says:
HE came TO me about o'clock Sunday
morning. l was engaged i'm church and
| very busy at the time. The boy came to
me and said "a bishop is here to see you,
| and when / went Ito him, found him
| standing in the bishops robes and when
| he had saluIted me he said that he was a
bishop of Honolulu. He was dressed in
the fula pontifcfals, yesterday being the
| feast of st. Dominic, and stated that he
was interested in the cause of the lepers
| at Mololoai. asked him If he had any
| letters from the archbishop. He replied
| that he hald not as lhe was very much
pressed for time, and THE archbishop had
tod him TO just go along and 1T would he
all right. He wanted 10 say the eight
raise a collection in aid of THE suffering
lepers. Being somewhat suspicious, told
him to wait for THE ten o'clock mass,
as there would be more people and more
good could be done. / did this to gain
time and hear from Portland. l did not
receive a prompt reply and he preached
the ten O'Clock mass, in which several
Statements which he made todd me at
once THAT he was "a fraud. He stated that
had 1863 priests under him, while there
are not twenty There altogether. A col
lection Was taken up and about $40 hand
ed Ropert.
In the afternoon Ropert was visiting
with the sisters at the hospital when a
message was delivered for me. He seized
1t, claiming 1T as his, opened Ut, saw
the contents and made immediate prepar-
atlons for departure, telling the sisters
that they had called him to THAT point.
Believing something was wrong called
at the telegraph office myself and was
handed "a duplicate of the message de-
livered at the hospital, and took steps at
once for the apprehension of THE man.
The message which 1 sent Ito Portland
and the reply are as follows:
B. Orth:
Is Ropert, bishop of Honolulu, NOW
here) all right. Answer.
L. DIELNIAN.
L. Didman:
Mo- lis a fraud, If you can, have him
arrested.
B. ORTIZ.
Father Die1man says he would have
lent the man money had he wanted 1t,
but now he is interested in exposing the
fraud committed, in tine name of the
church and to prevent imposition upon
others. ;N
Mr. Thomas e. p. Keegan, formerly of
LiUtle Falls, WASH, now of Astoria, yes
terday afternoon visited the jan and
recognized Ropert, bd,h by the features
and voice, as a man who went by the
name of Shields at Little FaiIs, during
the month of February, 1892 Previous
to THAT time he had been travelling on
the sound, purporting Ito be "a priest, and
had victimzed a number of people, claim
ing that he was an Indian missionary
His frauds We're discovered and he was
arrested at the instance of Father Hyie-
bos, Of Tacoma, hut for some reason was
allowed his freedom. He thea worked
his way soutlrward playing THE same
game under different names, until he
arrived ait Little Fails. Mr.. Keegan was
away ult the time of his arrival but
upon his return was told that there was
priest in town, who was sent by the
priest ait Cowlitz Prairie. Now Mr.. Kee-
gam being a churchman, and keeping
hotel, always entertained visiting clergy
m,n and provided rooms for them to
hold service in This man was intro
du,ed to Mr.. Keegan, who noticed that
his makeup was not quite as 1t should
be, and having heard OF the escapades
of the bogus preaGher ON the Sound, was
trat ~. .t-Fl
his name at Ithat time, made an effort
b interest Mr.. Keegan dn the building
Of church and school at Little Fails
and securing his influence in obtaining the
necessary land and funds from the clti-
zens there and in the neighboring viii
lages. Mr.. Keegan did mot fall in with
his plans, believing that the man was
not true and also not thinking it would
be proper Ito have a church and school
with a billiard ham underneath, which
was part of the Plan of Shields Shields
adso claimed that his order had head
quarters alt a small VILLAGE east of Van
couver, Wash, ON the Columbia. This Mr.
KeegNn knsw TO be false, as he was born
and raised at Vancouver, and was we'll
acquainted with the entire locality
Shields secured five pr six dollars from
citizens of Little FAILS and then left for
oWer pdHlS "A peW uglyS tateT Alr. hee-
gan heard Of THE man being at the sis
tens home i'm East Portland and having
lent there dn a sudden manner.
The circumstances above so impressed
the man upon Mr.. Keegnn's mind that,
while yesterday was the first time me had
ssen the man since he met him in Little
Falls, he is positive that he is the same
man.
The charge aguinst Ropert for obtain
ing money under false pretenses was dis
missed and q new charge of appropriate
ing and opening a telegram belonging Ito
another was entered against him. In the
meantime habeas corpus proceedings
were commenced by Attorneys Long and
La Force to release the man on the
grounds of inEsufficiency OF commitment
papers. Attorney Clyde Fulton for the
state filed a demurrer and the case was
argued In THE county court. The damur-
rer was sustained and at 10 o'clock this
morning before Justice AbercronIbie.
the criminal case will be taken UP.