The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1910-11-03
QUEER STORY R
ggenaa Claims Thai She is ths Lauhl
wife Of Catho!ic Priest.
Is SEEKING A DIVORCE

She Claims That LoniH T. Hare, Her
Husband, Really the Rev. Louis
n. McGinn, and to Prove Her Mar
.3 i, ,rtage She Now Brings Suit for
Divorce.
Alleging that her husband, Louis
I +. Hare, Is in reality the Rev, Louis
IT. McGinn, for years widely known
as a Roman Catholic priest In Brook
I lyn, Mrs. Helen F. Hare will sue for
divorce this week in Reno, NeY.
The plaintiff. whose father was Hen;
driek Haste, a wealthy butcher OF
Brooklyn, will charge desertion and
non-suppnrt.
Mrs. Hare's story OF love and bit:
terness Is stranger than any the Re
no courts have diyulged. II begins
thirty years back, when she and her
husband were pupils In St. Joseph
parocvhial school, Greenpoint, and
runs on through his education tor
the priesthood at st. johns College,
Wtlloughby and Lewis avenues, to
his appointment as assistant pastor
of st. Anthony's Greenpoint, in 1888
and his assignment to the Church
of St. Mary, Star Of the Sea, Court
of Luquer streets, Brooklyn. in 1900.
All this time, Mrs. Hare says,
their affection for each other contin-
ued, and on Nov. 13. 1902, the priest
persuaded her to go with him to the
home Of the Rev. Dr.. Frederick Nor
timer, rector Of St. Marks Episco-
pal Church, by whom they were mar
ried.
Because Of his vows, she adds
Father McGinn assumed the maiden
name. of his mother, and she became
Mrs. Louis T. Hare. DR.. Mortimer,
she says, had no suspicion of the
identity of the man whose marriage
he was solemnizing.
Mrs. Hare went to live two blocks
from St. Edwards Church. st. Ed
wards street, to which Father NC
CHM had been transferred. ohs
night her younger brother discover
ed the priest in her company. She
took her brother into the secret and
pledged him to keep the knowledge
to himself.
l'sG BY and by a baby girl was born,
and to1ayoid detection by her other
brothers and her aunts. her parents
being dead, Mrs. Hare moved TO an
other part Of Brooklyn. There she
lived until May, 1904. when the re-
lations that existed between her and
Father McGinn were disclosed in sucn
a way that they were brought to the
attention of Bishop Charles f. MIC
Donnell.
l. Bishop Mcdonnell took Immediate
action. Mrs. Hare says. On May IA
her husband received S1O0 and was
uIaeed aboard a steamer for Europe.
He went by direction to Trappist
monastery in Ireland and renamed
for several years. He then returna1
to the United States. being sent, Mrs.
Hare says, to parishin the South.
How long he remained there sne
does not know. but she believes ne
is now somewhere in the West. IN
BROOKLYN it is said he came bacH
for a visit not many months ago.
MRS. Hare, who IS now forty years
old. has been in Reno since last Ap'
ril. She has not been known as d
member of the divorce colony and
even among the friends she made
there her story was. not known until
b week ago. At the time OF her
marriage she was about to go on
the stage, she says.
She had taken course at tue
American Academy Of Dramatic ART
and had signed contract to play
an ingenue part. But she had taken
bart in only a few rehearsels before
she became the wife of Father Nc
CHM, her story runs,
The charge in her suit for divorce
will be restricted to desertlon anh
failure to provide Dispositions from
friends OF hers in Brooklyn will be
offered In evidence to show. she says,
that even before her marriage be-
came known she was compelled 10
.support herself Her baby died
within year after birth.
Father McGinn won q wide circle
of friends in Brooklyn. His power
over children was especially marked
and his first great success came
when he was placed in charge OF the
Sunday school at st. Anthony's. TT
was popular 80 as a preacher. When
at St. Mary's ne took delight in drlS.
Ing a speedy horse.
When he left St. Edwards unex.
pectedly his parishioners were told
he was going into retreat in Ireland
Father SIcGinn was tall, slender
dark haired and bright eyed--ai-
together a striking figure. Bat on
his last appearance in Brooklyn ii
is said, he had changed so greatly
that many who had known him In.