The Irish standard., 1906-03-31
His Frauds and Deceptions Were Practiced
Throughout Europe, Australia and .
the United States.
He Was Only Last Year Exposed byLabon-
chere in London Truth and Part
of His Life Made Public,

priest. and was caught just in time.
That time the affair. received so much
publicity that he started for America.
All the details of his American ca
reer are not definitely known. He
appeared first in Buffalo in 1899. There
he had q emission" and was associated
with one Father BASIL" known to the
police all over the world. and finally
sent to prison in Chicago.
Complaint Of some Of Donkin's per-
formances reached the Gerry society
in New York and he was investigated.
The evidence was all against him. It
was found, moreover. that he had run
up lot of debts on the strength of
the mission and had been borrowing
money right and left. One night he
dropped out of Buffalo and disap-
peared until his arrival in Milwaukee
in 1908.
His American career is tied UP close
ly with that Of Father BASIL" and It
is hard to tell which one worked GER
tain American cities. '' * -
When he appeared in Milwaukee he
represented himself as Church of
England missioner, st. Augustine's
Priory, London" The High Church
clergy of the diocese took him up, and
he preached in several churches. He
is remembered there as an effective
preacher.
When asked about his antecedents he
admitted that he was the son of the
Duke of Devon, with the title Lord
Courtnay. He did not like to speak
Of 1t, he said; ne was just q humble
priest.
In High Church circles this conse-
Grated man with the noble ancestry
became something Of q rage. He gath
cred many Of his admirers into an &C.
clesiastical order of his own imagi-
nation, known as the Order of the Red
Cord.
This died out, only those on the In
side know why; and at about that time
he met a priest of the Old Catholic
Church. Donkin professed himself a
convert to the Old Catholics. and trav-
eled to Chicago, at the expense Of his
new friend, to see Archbishop villatte,
who professed to be head Of the move-
ment in the United States.
Il was completely blinded" said the
Archbishop afterward.
Lord Courtnay" was ordained a
priest of the Old Catholic Church, and
began his ministration in Chicago. The
graft there lasted longer than usual.
1t was more than year before scam
dal broke out and the Archbishop un-
frocked him and cast him out.
He moved on to Cleveland. There he
founded what he called an Independent
Catholic Church and did we'll. But
there was another scandal. He was
arrested but escaped conviction. New
ertheless the town was made SO hot
for him that he left for Rochester.
About the same thing happened there
although the case never got into the
| courts.
After this he left America and sailed
for Rome. This was in 1903.
Rome was his hoodoo. He had little
more than started his old game Of an
Anglican convert when he was caught
| and did another term in Jail. Then
one morning there appeared a note
in the London papers saving that
"Monsignor Benedict Count Donkin
Bishop of Santa Croce in Antioch, had
been appointed vicar-apostolic of the
Old Catholic Church in southern Swift
zerland by the Patriarch Of Antioch y
There is no such bishopric in the
Old Catholic Church, and there is nc
such ONCE as vicar general of southern
Switzerland. This, however. was his
notice to England that he was coming
back.
First he bobbed up in Switzerland tc
assume his new ONCE. There'he swim.
died the widow with whom he boarded
to such an extent that she had to e
through bankruptcy. He stopped IL
Paris. where he conducted a series o.
small swindling operations before h,
arrived IN England as the Bishop o
] lsanta cIoee