The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-03-28
TOO FOND OF WOMEN.
Career Of the Alleged Clerical
Swindlers in This
City.

Jacob Kemp, the alleged minister, who
with Alfred Gansdorff were arrested in
Hoboken Friday and sent to the county
jail IN a charge Of swindling. was pretty
we'll known not only in the vicinity Of the
Hotel Washington" NO. 1913 Pavonia
avenue, which both men gave as their adj
dress. but in other parts of the city. For
a number of months last summer he made
the restaurant of John Petri, No. SO York
street, a sort of headquarters or rem
devious for gathering about him recruits
to establish a church on the Hill. His
appearance was rather that of a young
Catholic priest. 1t was in such garb he
always appeared, with clean-shaven face
and bushy black hair, usually pushed
carelessly from his forehead. He wore
spectacles and looked every inch a young
student. He is a brilliant CONVEX
~sationalist. His conduct at the restau-
rant, Mr.. Petri say was usually beyond
reproach. Some of the frequenters of the
restaurant noticed that he evineed in his
conversation and acts a weakness for
women. The young minister became
enamored of the charms of a relative of
Mr.. Petri, who lives on Staten Island,
and matters We're speedily shaping them,
selves in the direction of a near at hand
wedding. when Mr.. Petrf discovered evil
dence which led him to believe that young
Kemp was already married 20 a young
woman in Brooklyn. His engagement to
Mr. Petri's cousin was quickly broken off.
Kemp then ceased his visits to the
Petri restaurant. He was known there
as the Rev. J. Lamer Kemp. It was
known that he was trying to establish a
church on the Hill. He threw out the i'm
preston that he was an assistant pastor
of a church in New York. Though he
looked like a Catholic priest and said he
was educated at Notre Dame College in
his country, he was 9 onver to Pro-
~testantisln. Some of the frequenters of
Petri's restaurant recall the tact tnat ne
used to occasionally argue in favor Of
Mormonism.
For a while he had a room at No. $40
Fourth street. This he suddenly vacated
eaying behind a number of books OF vari-
Gus kinds. Some of these were common
taries ON the Bible and Scriptural works,
such as "History of the Prayer BOOK.
Cummings Lectures on the Apocalypse,
and Brewster's christian Philosophy
A number of miscellaneous works were
included in the collection. One OF the ar
ticles left behind was an advertising tcke
of the Louisiana Lottery. The women
folk of the house and neighborhood
thought he acted sometimes just a little
too Familiarity.
Proprietor Lentz of the Hotel WASH
ington. in Pavonia avenue says that
Kemp came to his hotel about tour
months age. He represented himseif as
a young Methodist clergyman VINO mad
DGGn QGpCSe0 iIOfn tltC N1 - -
arene IN Summit avenue. near Lincoln
street. Kemp told him that he was trying
to establish another church. The Hotel
Washington is a cheap restaurant, 1odg-
ing house and saloon near the Pavonia
avenue railroad crossing. Proprietor
Lentz says that Kemp always conducted
himself in an ordinarily digniied manner;
that he had performed a marriage cere-
mony for a couple, the certificate for
which had been pronounced genuine by a
local Catholic priest. Mr.. Lentz said that
he understood hat Kemp had once been
a Catholic priest, but that he had changed
his belief. As to the paper, "The Turf,
Mr.. Lentz said it was to have made its
appearance Friday. 1t was not a newspa-
per, but an advertising sheet, with a pic
lure of ~trottlng horses by
advertisements headed The Turf"
Owing to failure to collect money for adj
vertisements in advance, the sheet did not
come ont on promised time. 1t is still
in the hands of the printer.
The police say that Gansdorf was for
merly a bartender for Proprietor Lentz
OF the Hotel Washington, and that he was
expecting to be reinstated when Kemp
made his appearance at the hotel: that
Kemp and Gansdorff became intimate,
and that a few weeks afterwards the lat
ter had out cards bearing the name,
"Rey. Won Gansdorff."