The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-05-16
FEARS TO FACE
NEW LINKS IN
SHADY CAREER
Payson Young Leaves Oakland
While investigators
Gather Evidence
Belief That He Abandoned Real
Name of Lyons to Conceal
ENLIGHTENMENT

OAKLAND, May 15-Payson Young,
the unfrocked rector who attained no
toriety through the disappearance OF
Edna Clark of Alameda while he was
rector of the Church of St. Mary the
Virgin. in San Francisco, has dsap-
peared. while the diocesan investiga-
ton committee is probing strange
record of his past, involving the divore-
ling his wife, abandoning his name of
Patrick James Lyons, and decefving
his relatives with reports of his drown
/ ing. in order that he might conceal an
embezzlement of $4,000, and enjoy
| the money undecided. Such is the sus-
picion of the committee. They are
seeking evidence on this point.
| The Investigation which the priest
dared not face began when Young was
unfrocked last month, and is only a
continuance of the scrutiny given the
mans life and affairs while he was rec
tor of the church in San Francisco.
| Secrets of Sinister Life
1t has unearthed many of the secrets
of a sinister life. 1t has established
fully that Payson Young and Patrick
James Lyons are the same man; that as
Patrick Lyons, the man was ordained
minister in Massachusetts and disap-
peared from there in 1895; that as Pat
trick Lyons the clergyman of two
careers obtained divorce from his
that as Payson Young the cleric boast
ed that he had invested money. mean
while letting his kinsfolk believe that
Patrick James Lyons was drowned in,
Canada June 14,S1S9S.
! The tale of the Canadian drowning
for Rev. Patrick Lyons. the clergy
man who left wife and son deserted
in Boston, especially if the priest were
fugitive with $4,000. For that story
printed in newspapers and surely read
by relatives of Patrick Lyons, an
nounced that when Lyons met death he
had on his person $4,000.
Rent in Web of Intrigue
rent in the web of intrigue and deceit
woven about 10 years of Payson
Young's life On June a. 1898, when
Patrick Lyons of Boston was nourned
as among the dead because of his
reputed drowning in Canadian waters
the man. having assumed his pseu-
donym of Payson Young. was actually
pastor of the First Evangelical Luther
an church at. Sixteenth and Grove
streets, Oakland.
| The identification of Payson Young
as Patrick Lyons of Boston, the con-
nection of Payson Young with the rela-
tves of Patrick Lyons in Boston, gives
the lie direct to the tale of death by
| drowning But it does not explain
away the emphatic assertions said to
have been made that Patrick Lyons died
with 900 on him. So far, the inves-
! tigating committee of the diocese has
/ not been able to trace the $4,000 to
its origin, or to its end. The facts in
the Jekyll Hyde life of the Boston fish
clerk who entered the ministry remain
! mistaken to the committeeman, VINO
draw only one conclusion-that Pat
rick Lyons drowning was. fabricated
to conceal the whereabouts of Rev.
Payson Young.
Committee Gets Evidence
Many are the ramifcations in the life
of Patrick Lyons, alias Payson Young,
as revealed in investigations since the
former clergyman disappeared from
Oakland short time ago. The first
incident of public note discovered
comes in an authentic paper from the
official records of the registers Office
at Boston when James o. Fallon was
register. 1t is Patrick Lyons mar
rage certificate, dated November Is.
|