SLANDERED MINISTER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8365, 27 February 1913, Page 4

SLANDERED MINISTER

HOUSEKEEPER ORDERED TO PAY £IOO DAMAGES. SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS. LONDON, January ID. Unfounded allegations oi drinking and immoral conduct made o gainst a Scottish minister by a former keeper led. to an action .in which, the minister was awarded, £IOO damages for slander. . The action 1 was brought by Angus John Morrison, minister of Moy,.-To-matin, against Miss Elia Maclntyre, 35, White street, Partick, Glasgow, Pursuer said ho was thirty years of ago, and unmarried. The manse at Moy which he occupied consisted of a dwelling house and offices. Witness kept a housekeeper and servant. Defender entered his emjdcyment as housekeeper on July 7tli, 1912, and remained until. September 20th. She obtained the situation in reply to aa advertisement in a Glasgow newspaper. Her testimonials were satisfactory, one being from a minister. From the outset witness was not satisfied with his new housekeeper. Ho found fault with her as a cook, and when she was asked to make up an inventory of the household effects previous to the manse being let to a summer visitor, he had to complain. In August he thought it was better they should part, and he spoke to defender. He said to her it was evident they could not get oh together, and ha suggested that she should go away. Defender left the manso on September 20th. It .was on October Ist that witness learned that defender had been circulating stories about him. Ho was told by one of his parishioners. Those stories referred to his moral conduct with a servant, and there was no truth whatever in them. Another story was that he had been found locked in a room with a _ girl. That was also without foundation. On no occasion, had ho ever given the slightest ground for such a statement being made by defender. The slander had become current in the district, and unless it was stamped out pursuer would be held liable by his Presbytery. He only wished for nominal damages. All he wanted was to vindicate his character, Defender had been asked to retract the statements and apologise, but had refused. by Mr Brown, witness said that he never heard of complaints being made by the Termer housekeeper about him. Witness was not unreasonable with defender when she was making up an inventory of household effects. He denied ewer being in the servant’s bedroom. He Kod not been asked to bring this notion by the Presbytery, but os a minister ho thought it was his duty to dear himself. Ho denied having called defender “a —— bitch” when eho was leaving the manso. BEMABKABLE LETTEB, Miss McClure, formerly housekeeper with pursuer, said she left his employment in July, 1912. She received a letter on September 24tb from the defender as follows:Dear Miss McClure, —You will bo ' surprised to hoar from me, a complete stranger. Jemina has circulated a very nasty story about you. She says the cause of your leaving the manso was that you drank two bottles of whisky of Hr and that Morrison gave you your leave over that. Now, I think in your 1 interest, and for the benefit of the ' Tomatin people, you should write Mr McLeod, High Church, Inverness, and tell him your reasons for leaving was his, Morrison’s, conduct with the servant maid. Tell him to write me for more particulars. I have found him several times with her. ' She is coming back to the manse next week, and if I can manage I will bo away by the beginning of the week. Ido hope you will ■write him by return of post, and also to me. Her father came down hero two or three days after I came, 'and he called you for everything’ that was bad. I think the least you can do is to epese—(expose)—■ his daughter. P.S. —Please excuse this scribble, Ss I am in a hurry. Witness said it was not true that she had been dismissed for drinking two bottles of whisky. She was much hurt at the letter. •<;. Jemiha Sharp, a smart, well-dressed yottng woman. Who was servant at the manse, denied'that any undue familiarity or immoral conduct had ever taken place between pursuer and herself. ; She had obtained decree in' absonoe for £IOO against the defender in connection With the slanders. Defender, a matronly woman, afterwards gaVe evidence. She gave her age as fifty-two years, and declined to withdraw her statements and apologise to the minister because they were true. It was the ease that she saW the door locked and these two persons coming down from the. room one after the other. She Attributed defender’s desire to get rid of her through her having seen these things. His Lordship, in giving judgment, .said that the evidence showed that the slander had been uttered on two occasions, Defender’s plea was that the statement was true, but she had not proved that. There was only her statement without any corroboration. The slander was a very serious one, and there must be substantial damages. Ho accordingly would giro decree for the slim sued for, with expenses.