Delaware gazette and state journal., 1896-04-16
Or. LANAHAN CHARGES FRAUD.
Tho Methodist book Concern May bu 1
veatignted by Conference.

Tho Methodist Book Concern May bo In
vestignted by Conference.
An article from Baltimore last week
said that the Rev. DIR. John Lanahan
sprung sensation in the MethodiHt
preachers meeting that morning, when
he announced that in few days he
will publish in a permanent form the
Era of Frauds, in the Methodist Book
Concern ut New York, where he was at
one time an agent. He stated that
the publication is made necessary by
the repeated denials Of the frauds by
persons in official positions.
AT the last General Conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church DIR. @. G.
McCabe In a speech on the floor of that
body, declared that "tho church mover
lost dollar by one of its agents. "
DIR. Lanahan, who has for many years
been tho presiding elder of tho Balti-
more Conference, took the statement us
denial of the charges he had thereto
fore made against the New York Meth
odist Book Concern, and he determined
to secure thorough investigation of
the matter, for, as he puts il, 'no
funds are 30 sacred as those contributed
in the name Of Christian charity, con
tributed in some instances by poor
people who can i'll afford to give of
their substance -
After the astonishment created by
DIR. Lanahan's reiterated charges
against the New York Concern had
somewhat subsidized there was an almost
unanimous sentiment expressed among
the members Of the preachers meeting
that the General Conference to meet in
(ilnValand N naNf month will ha nnn,.
PEELED tn give serious attention to the
case. DIR. Lanahan will be member
of that body, and his etanding in the
church is such that his statements can
no longer he ignored.
DIR. Lanahan will, be says, furnish
indubitable proof that for more than u
years every financial report made TO
the church by the New York manage
ment was false, from $40, 0O0 to 300, 600;
that said reports we're false as to the
amount Of cash in the Shoe and Leather
Bank, where the official account was
kept, because the senior agent kept
large amounts of tho concerns 8 moneys
in his personal account and used it to
speculate in Wall street; that large
sums OF money sent to the conern for
church beneyolences were used in the
same way.
The speaker further stated that frauds
were perpetrated in the manufactur-
ing department. In tho printing
branch, the purchase of 500, 600 worth
Of paper was fraudulently availed of,
he said, by the superintendent, who
used man having no connection with
the concern as a GO between, and that.
no matter from whom the paper was
purchased, that man was allowed to
levy a tax and realize a handsome
benefit; that more than $40, 600 worth
of leather was paid for in less than two
years, out of which no account was or
could be given; that the Book Commit
tee, whose business was to examine,
assumed that the exposure of the frauds
would injure tho church, and endeay-
ored to conceal all and whitewash the
defrauders; that the committee in
duced one OF the defrauders Is. j.
Goodenough) to sue him (Dr. Lana
ham for slander, but that the plaintiff
evaded trial of the case, and it was
finally dropped.
In addition ot these serious charges,
DIR. Lanahan stated that three large oil
companies were secretly organized and
carried on by the senior agent at New
York, with the cooperation of other
employees of the concern, without the
knowledge of the Methodist church.
The capital stock of the three com
panies aggregated more than million
dollars.
DIR. Lanahan, in conclusion, stated
that he had recently been able to secure
copies Of largo part of the records Of
the Book Committee, and is therefore
In a position to prove his case before
any ecclesiastical or civil tribunal. He
appeals to the church for an honest
examination of his charges, and adds:
II the approaching General Confer
ence shall order an examination, l care
not by whom nor by how many, shall
claim but Que thing, namely, to he
represented in person ana by one ac-
countant Of my own choosing. If this
is granted, and | do not demonstrate
the truth of my charges, the church
vii! be justified in doing what the ma
iority Of the Book Committee and a
part of the official press planned and
labored to do, max lay name the
synonym of infamy and hang my char
acter on the giboet of Methodist his.
tory"