Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1899-05-19
Is HE AN IMPOSTOR2

10 he AN lMf UoIUh
Rev. j. f. Marston arrived in
our city Wednesday morning and
billed himself for a lecture that
night. Throughout the day he
did considerable grumbling be-.
cause so many Of our young people
were going out to hear Ralph
Bingham, at Geeville, instead of
remaining TO hear.his lecture,w which
was to be on his travels in the
Hohlyland and Cuba. The crowd
was very small that night, and he
gave only short talk and an.
nounced the full lecture for the
next night. He claimed to be a
Mason of high order and repre-.
sentative of the Red Cross So.
ciety to solicit contributions for
the Lee Orphanage, at Havana,
Cuba.
There was whispering among
the "knowing ones" as they would
meet on Thursday, and there was
an evident meaning that they did
not care to tell just then, which
was noticed by the gentleman
himself, and he was frequently
heard to remark that "there was
something wrong" "the people are
not social in Baldwin, and take no
interest in this work."
His lecture Thursday night was
very we'll attended, but the con.
tribution NAL |. Everybody
seemed to think there was some
thing wrong, but just what they
were unable TO tell. This morn.
ing "The Baptist" the official
organ of the, denomination of that
name in this State, was received
here by q number of our citizens,
and in it was an article from Mr..
Oswald, of Alderman, denouncing
Rev. j. f. Marston as an impostor;
also letter from Gen. Lee, at
Havana, stating that several reg.
istered letters had been received
there from Marston, but they con-
tanned nothing. Gen. Lee stated
also that no one was authorized
by the Red Cross Society to So
licit contributions.
Mr.. Marston was approached ON
the subject by two of our citizens
and shown the paper, and his only
reply was denunciation of "The
Baptist" claiming ''it was not a
decent paper" that it was run by
a "ring,' and he was not ''inside
the ring" etc. The only evidence
of his sincerity of purpose in
the matter was registery receipts
from the different places he had
sent registered letters to Cuba
and other places, but as registery
receipt does not show the amount
sent, no facts could be gathered
from these. He also had a "li'
cense to preach" He also adj
mitted being arrested at Acker.
man and tried, and the trial put
off, he to appear on his own recog'
nizance. The article in ''The Bap'
tistn also states that he had been
published in the Alabama papers
as an impostor. He is of medium
build, has a cork leg Qeft one) and
passes as a Baptist minister.
We do not wish to do the gen
tleman an injustice, but az his de
scription TALES with the published
article in "The Baptist we give
it for what it is worth, and if that
paper has done Mr.. Marston an
injury, it is very easy matter tc
disprove it, and if he is an author
lied representative of the REQ
Cross Society (and Gen. Lee says
they have none in this State, then
he should produce his credentials
all of which he failed to do here
BALDWIN Miss Indicator.
Rev @ Marston lectured in Sa
vannah Wednesday night of last
week to a good crowd. He hand
led his subject in way that made
it interesting to all, but our people
contributed only a small amount
(S6) to the cause he claimed tC
Representative Red Cross Society
which did noble work for oul
soldier boys in the war with Cuba
Whether MarstOn is q "fake" OIL
not we are not in position to say
but our readers can read the
above and form their own cOnclu
sions as to the man.
-------s------
~ .>->>',>--~