The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1914-01-08
the Pope'S System

BOUT the most sensational
n thing which has happened in
I'M Pensacola in recent years,
and which has afforded the
principal topic for conversa-
ton here for the past week or ten
days is the raiding of club in this
city, in which raid Rev. Father
Francis Doyle, one of the best
known and most popular Catholic
priests in this section of the coun-
try, is alleged to have been caught
participating in a game of chance,
and also to have been intoxicated at
the time of the raid
The place raided, and in which
the crowd of about thirty-f1ve or
forty men are charged with gamb-
ling, was the Pastime Athletic Club,
and the raid occurred on Sunday,
July 20, at a. As in the morning-in
the wee sma hours" SO to speak.
Deputies BeWley and Rice, of the
sheriff's Office conducted the raid
and signed the aff1davits against
Father Doyle and the others in the
party. The officers also captured
some poker dice and a considerable
amount of money, which they are
holding as evidence and which will
be introduced and exhibited in the
court whenever the case shall come
UP for trial.
Immediately after the arrests
were made, which occurred as soon
as the warrants were issued, all of
the men charged with gambling, in
Guiding the priest, being allowed to
make bond, Father Doyle mysteri-
ously isappeared and it was general
ly supposed that he had left the city
for parts unknown, or for some field
where his services were more badly
needed than in Pensacola. 1t was
only yesterday that it became known
that the priest was in the Pensacola
sanftarium, where it is stated, upon
good authority, that he is suffering
from mental alteration either real
or affected. A telephone message
from the sanitarium this morning
was to the effect that the patient was
resting more quietly, although it
cannot be told how long it will be
before he will be able to leave the
hospital and appear in court to ans
wer to the charge Of gambling which
is docketed against him
Neither of the local papers have
published anything about the sensa-
tional raiding of the Pastime Club,
evidently, for the reason that Pensa-
cola is such CahOtlc stronghold
that the publishing of this story
would probably mean boycott,
which no paper, unless backed by a
millionaire could stand. Prominent
and influential members of the
Catholic church and the Knights Of
Columbus have done everything pos
sible to suppress any publicity of
the scandal and have attempted to
institute all kinds of denials, but
they have not been able to suppress
the street talk, as that the matter
has leaked out, little by little, until
AoW it is common talk upon the
streets.
1t is known that efforts have been
made to induce the sheriff to let the
matter drop where it is and not push
the prosecution, but he has positive
w re used to do this, and states that
he will handle the case exactly as he
would had the priest not been
caught
Tt was also reported that the
county judge had refused to issue a
warrant for Father Doyle, after the
deputies had made the affidavit
against him, but the sheriff states
that this is not true and that the
warrant has been issued and served,
the priest being allowed to go on his
own recognizance, and that he will