BOSH'S UNDERSTUDY.

NZ Truth, Issue 68, 6 October 1906, Page 3

BOSH'S UNDERSTUDY.

PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF " PURITY." A Pervert and Thief Seeks to Contaminate Small Boys. Pleads Guilty and is Committed for Sentence. The Gospel according to Pure-boy Bli-gh, at present peregrinating this colony and drawing big houses and bigger collections by his dirty, disgusting, depraving talks to men only and women only, was . preached at the Wellington^ Magistrate's Court on Wednesday afternoon last, before Dr. McArthur, S.M. This Gospel according to St. Bligh, was preached by a self-styled disciple of the purist who was a prisoner. . occupying the dock that afternoon, and it seems that coming from the mouth of that disciple it is a particularly pernicious Gospel, if not a f Oul and filthy and contaminating one. Either the selfstyled disciple is a humbug, or a hypocrite, while undoubtedly he is a sexual pervert of a dangerous class, whose presence outside gaol is eminently undesirable. - This preacher, or rather the disseminator of Mir Bligh's gospel, is a young man, who described himself as an architect. His name is Alfred Anstruther Gourley, and m addition to three charges of committing indecent assaults on boys, to which he pleaded "guilty, without any bad intention," he was charged with the theft of some fishing rods, tackle and other things, valued at £10, the property of the Colonial Carrying Co., m whose employ he was as storeman.. To this theft he pleaded guilty and the Magistrate passed a sentence of three months' imprisonment. The offences on the boys, whose ages are one 13, and two of 14, were committed .oh July 2-4, .August 4 and 15 last. From the evidence of the boys, all manly little chaps, it would seem that Gourley wandered about Wellington on the lbOk-out for boys, on whom he either attempted or committed liberties of AN INDECENT CHARACTER. Moreover, it appears that the beast had a system and • never once were there witnesses to his depraved acts. In the cases m question, the lads promptly resented his conduct, and one, possessed of a lot of spirit, pro; mised his would-be cbntaminator that the police would hear of the. matter. In the ' case m July he met three boys near the Theatre Royal at night time. Two, he sent on a fool errand and the third,, his would-be victim, he beguiled with a conversation on football., and cajoled him into accompanying him on a walk up Wellingtonterrace, and m some off-street sent the lad into , a couple of houses, on the pretext of asking for Mr Gourley, who worked at the Public Works Department, and who, of course, did not reside there. He then plied the boy with many indecent nuestions, and The boy, " becoming alarmed, walked off : but G pur ley t followed and canght hold of him and offered' him 10s. The boy then ran off, saying, "I don't want any of this fooling here ; it. won't he long before the police know of this." With regard to the offence , committed on August 4-, it seems that Gourley waylaid the lad near the Wellington "Evening Post" office about 6.30 p.m., and, after asking him to do a favor, questioned him about the school he attended. The favor required of the boy was to take a note in-, to the newspaper office asking for letters for "Inquirer," and requesting the lad to bring' the letters to No. 5 Wordsworth-street. The boy took the note m, but was advised to bring m the man who sent him m. He came out and followed Gourley up to the Albert Hotel, m Willis-street, and ►told him what he had been told at the "Post" office. Gourley laconically replied that it was a pity, and then invited the boy to visit him at his house, THE BAIT WAS FOOTBALL PICTURES. Practically the samp promises and performances were gone through as before, and the boy cleared out. Another lad's story was that during the August school holidays he was fishing on the Glasgow Wharf, when the accused promised him some fishing rods if he came up to 5 Words-worth-street 'at 7.30. „ To this boy he gave the name of Anstruther. That evening the boy weflt to, t\_e address given apd w&s ushered into Gourley's bedroom by the prisoner himself. He was shown a lot of pictures, particularly the faces of two women, which Gourley represented to be the GOOP FACE AND THE EVIL' FACE, Then he proposed that the boy should pose as a model for 80, then 15 and next, 1-6 minutes, m order that Gourley should paint' m the muscles on the side of some picture he was on. It did not transpire how police became acquainted with Gourley'-jj conduct towards the. Jails. JVpiiflgr. pe^ectivej Rawle has arreissjft him, apparently^ pu_ the Qfi&vm of theft, to which he _\,t once pleaded guilty. At the Detective Office on the day, of his arrest, Sept. 24, - statements made by two of the boys were read by Rawle to Gourley, tfnd he said m reply that he would/ like to give an explanation. He /as afforded every ppppv-. tunity anfl „is s|alsnrat>B (two.) were fedqpe-d to Writing. In one of the s^atjements he denied committing an indecent act, but went on to say that his "meaning was taken .the wrong way" and that, he had "kEANT N$ HARM,"-' Hp explained th> IPs jn&tter by stating that he plight have told the bo* ' that it would cost 10s if he Wanted the, society _. of. ft- woman for a pur* pose, and he admitted tha,t _\* anight have spoken m an in^fff-a} about girls at school, ''_ '_„-. Jn a gepflnd; statement made and s\m& ]>y Wrl-ey -m Rawle's preface :h-e' said. h«wa^ years of age. This statement dealt with that made by the boy he had met outside the "Post" office. The object (_.{ getting any letters, fot* '.'l^i^r" fta* thftt they fltouty bft gIVfJ to fc Wend jt

trip down, whioh goes to show , what am obliging person Bligh's disciple is. After ' stating that he told the boy that he knew of a school where the boys and girls were mixed and where they had fun together this remarkable statement went on : ' _ then asked him if Mr Bligh was lecturing at his school. I then told him I was helping Mr Bligh whilst he was here. I said tb him (here he acknowledged asking the poor innocent lad questions that showed him to be a filthy minded degenerate, unfit to be at -large). "I then asked him if he understood the purport of Mr Bligh's lectures, which he did not seem .to understand. I then showed; him ONE OF BLIGH'S BOOKS on the subject, which he did not understand. I asked him if his father had spoken to him on the subject as I thought it the parent's duty to point out these things to boys about his age. I said prostitutes ran away with a man's money, and (unfit for publication). I also asked the boy if his parents had ever examined him to see if he required surgical attention. The boy said '1 cannot talk of such subjects ;. I am going.' I said 'Don't be silly. I don't mean it the way. you mean it.' Then I let him go." A denial of the perpetration of the acts complained of followed. He could give nO reason why the boys should have made the statements they had, and he thought that he had only spoken to three boys on the same subject. A little while after the statement was made, the detective preferred the three charges against him and when he searched him he found on him two bottles, one containing olive and the other castor oil. His room was also searched and m addition to some drawings— identified by a couple of the boys— a pamphlet circulated by Bligh, entitled "The Choice; A Purity Booklet for Young Mon," was found, and on it was scrawled "Cayley Gourley, Newtown lecturer." Gourley told Rawle that he would plead guilty to the charges, as he did not want to wait for trial. • He •wished to get his sentence over and make a fresh start. When formally charged^ Gourley pleaded "Guilty without any bad intention." This was interpreted as a plea of guilty and he was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. Gourley was brought before Mr Justice Edwards at the Supreme Court, yesterday, and sentenced to three years' imprisonment.