The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-05-23
CRUSADER AFTER
VICE GUILTY. OF
IMMORAL ACTS
DOns False Whiskers and Sporty
Clothes to Visit Carbarets
RUINS GIRLS IN HIS FLOCK
Resigns Charge-He Is Denied
Citizenship--Is Married and
Forty Years Old

New York, May 23-On the ground
Of his morality, c'ti2ensh p in the
United States was denied Saturday to
the Rev David Duncan Irvine. pastor,
of the First Methodist Episcopal
church of Richmond Hill Borough of
Queens.
1T is unfortunate said Just ce
Lewis NJ Fawcett in the supreme
court in Long Island City, after ex.
amining the affidavits Of several
young women, presented by Merton
r. Sturges, chief examiner in New
York of the bureau Of naturalization,
that this m. mister is not unfrocked.
A fact of which both the justice
and the clergyman's parishioners were
unaware was that that already had
been done. On Wednesday last Mr..
Irvine in the presence O. Dr. A. rs.
Kavanagh, district superintendent of
the New York eastern conference OF
the church. voluntarily turned in his
ecclesiastical parchments and with
drew from the Methodist ministry.
Deportation Considered
In court yesterday Wallace E. j. Col
lins, assistant United States attorney,
tod Justice Fawcett that there could
beNno criminal persecution because OF
the statute of lin taton, but that the
department of justice was looking up
the laws and precedents to see whc'h-
er Mr.. Irvine could be deported
Mr. Sturgis said that the conclusive
evidence in his hands was the result
of an investigation in four States.
One of the young women swore that
Mr.. Irvine establ shed int mate rela-
tions with her when she was in her
early teens when he was pastor of
the. Methodist church in Bay Shore. l..
l., of which her parents We're mem
hers. Justice Fawcett did not take
down the names and addresses of the
affidavits.
Il enjoined Mr. Surgis," he sa d
after giving his decision, from max
ing public the affidavits or the names
OF the young women, for | wanted to
protect them and their families How
ever. this man is a hypocrue in the
puplit and he had great influence by
reason Of his cloak Of Office bef nd
which he had been hiding and shield
ing his crimes. | had statements
which proved the charges beyond a
doubt. There is no denial in .he rec
ord or as part of the investigation.
II s unfortunate that such circum-
stance should have happened because
it skaters the ideals Of those who
look up to and yenerate members Of
the clergy.
Crusader Against Vice.
Some of the offenses charged
against the pastor are alleged to
have been committed in his own body.
One Of the women speaks also of two
visits to hotels In Manhattan ana OF
a visit to Jersey City. None of the
women lives in Richmond Hill The
charges all antedate Mr. Iryine's aG-
vent in that village
Mr.. Irvine Is 40 years old NAMED
and has been in the public eye a good
deal. lie has been a stern crusader
against vice and when he was pastor
at Bay Shore he put on false whSkers
and sporty clothes and by watching
personally the going on in cabaret
restaurants of that | vely summer
town got ev dence which compelled
the owners to eliminate girls from
their shows. He has also held pas
torates in Borough Park and Mount
Vernon and in Waterbury, Conn. In
the course of his four years in Rich
mond Hill he has accumulated such a
loyal following that even now some OF
his people will not hear the breath Of
a word aga nst him.