Arizona republican., 1909-02-13

Leave as planned.
 Perley W. Powers" This telegram was received yes- terday morning by Mrs. Perley w. Powers. 210 East Taylor street, wife of the Chicago clergyman whose mis- adventures with Mrs. V. c. Boak Fenner has set the western city by the ears. and filled the columns or Chicago newspapers with the story.
 Mrs. Powers has been in Phoenix since last fall when she came here on account of her health. She was also here a year ago.
 Perley w. Powers is the pastor Of the Clivet Methodist church of Chi cago. He has had the pastorates of several Chicago churches and pre- viously to his entering the ministry was for twelve years member or the Board of Trade.
 The nature of the charges against the clergyman are somewhat vague. From documents which are printed | below it would appear that an at tempt was made by a Mrs. Fenner to extort money from him on threats of ! publication of several letters which were written by the minister.
 The following purports to be car bon copy of a letter from the captain of police of Chicago to the official board of the Olivet M. E. church.
 It was sent by Rev. MT. Powers to Mrs. Powers who received it yester- day. The letter Is unsigned. On the same sheet of paper, written in pencil is this note:
 "Mv dear Wife-This is a carbon copy of a statement made by the captain of police who had the case in hand. My people are standing by me loyalty"
 | The letter is as follows: l Ccicago, H., Feb. 9. 'O9. | To the Official Board
 Of the Olivet NJ. E. Church,
 Chicago, H.,
 Dear Sirs:-
 I desire to state that in October last Mrs. " c. Boak Fenner was ar rested at this station upon a charge similar to that for which she was prosecuted by Rev. Perley w. Powers yesterday Upon questioning her last Sunday I found l had a very diff fererit person to deal with from the one formerly arrested. In her con- versation she made in my office some terrible accusations against other men and made threats that she would ruin all the ministers she could. In securing her conviction I regard that Rev. Powers has done the public great service and has made the character of every clergyman in Chicago safer. regard her as an unsorupulous and exceedingly dan gerous woman. She swore under oath that there was nothing wrong be- tween Rev. Powers and herself. Her testimony and her stories were un- supported by a shred of evidence and I regard them as a pack of lies giv- en and published for purposes of malice and revenge They are there fore to be discredited. I further hold myself in readiness at any time to go before his church, official board, or superiors and do all can in his interests.
 Mrs. Powers has implicit faith in her husband and is positive that he has not become entangled in any way with women. The suggestion that she was practically a prison CT here, as received by wire from Chicago newspaper, was ridiculed by her. She says that she came here for her health and is under the care of pr. Dysart.
 The following letter received by Mrs. Powers yesterday from her hus- band makes his position in the mat ter fairly clear.
 Chicago. H., Feb. 's-O9.
 My Dear Wife:-
 Your husband has been passing through a most severe trial In which he needs such comfort as can come only from the unshaken confidence of his wife to whom he is so com pletely devoted as you so well know. Yesterday he had prosecuted in court a woman for blackmail and secured her conviction. She is a professional at the job and has been in court before for the same thing. She was introduced to us by re- sponsfble people of our congregation. whe were sponsors for her and told me privately she was great church worker I have learned since they knew she was off color but boomed her in order to save her, and kept me in ignorance of her real character. They also asked me to do what I could to secure for 1 her a standing in the city as an elocutionist by introducing her to the Methodist public. This letter involved some correspondence of a perfectly proper sort which latter she hmade occasions for threats of extor- tion.
 | She wrote me two letters, when | she found she could not use me for her purposes, (meanwhile I had an inkling her character and refused to stand for her with other clergymen) in which she made all sorts of false accusations and allegations, insinuat- | ing if I did not pay her money she would publish them in the papers the day she left for New York which was to be soon. After consultation with my lawyer I turned these over to the police who had her arrested and she was convicted yesterday. On the stand she swore there was nothing wrong between us, for which I statement l have abundant proof. On | the stand she also made many false statements for which she offered no proof and since the case is out of the court she has colored things still more to the reporters. I have gone over the entire matter with Judge Newcomer from A to z and he says 1 have done the right thing and the only thing that if will not amount