Tragic Plight of Pastor Linds Innocent Vietim

NZ Truth, Issue 1175, 7 June 1928, Page 1

Tragic Plight of Pastor Linds Innocent Victim

mii[iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii[[ii[[ii[nii[ii(iiiiiiiii!iiiiii[ii[iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiifiiii!iiiii[iiiiiiiiii! In Abeyance IN the opinion of a surgeon at the * Wellington public hospital, whose certificate /was tendered m the Wellington Magistrate's Court yesterday, Canon Feilden Taylor will be a cot case for at least six weeks. " * ■ . In all probability he will be unable to appear m court for at least two months and has been remand- . Ed accordingly. iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii^ SOME five years ago, a great deal of unwelcome notoriety was heaped upon the sober city of the south, when, at the quarterly sessions of the S,upreme Court m August, 1923, a series [ of serious charges were sheeted home to two criminals — one a notorious chemist by the name of James Hayne, and the other missioner rejoicing m the name of Abraham Alfred Isaac Leonard Lind. Lind, it was then stated, had originally come from India and when the Smith - Wigglesworth faith-healing mission had- completed its work m Dunedin, he took it over and continued the meetings. The extraordinary facts of the case will no- doubt be remembered by the majority of "N.Z. Truth" readers, but as the subject of this story had her life career ruined through her association with Lind' and his meetings, it lis well .to recount a brief outline of the abysmal vulture's nefarious methods of living and his conduct at that time. Such hypocritical lust and blasphemy as was practised by Lind has seldom, if ever, been heard of m the criminal history of the Dominion. • " / Many of. the peopfe who attended Lind's meetings were o/ the highly emotional type and the pastor gained a degree of ascendency over them which was abnormal. At times his congregation reached a great state of excitement, exaltation

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and religious fervor during his services and it was m such moments of mental \ ecstasy that the pastor commanded various of the' young girls to meet him and have "an audience with God" Consent to misconduct with these young women was obtained by Lind by false and fraudulent representations as to the nature and quality of the act. There was no evidence submitted by any of the three young women who appeared as witnesses for the Crown to show that they offered any serious resistence to Lind, but it was nroved. that he exerted considerable influence over them. One person who was closely connected with the trial, and by reason of his long experience with such cases had a good opportunity of studying Lind, told "N.Z. Truth" that he was absolutelycertain, incredible though it might seem, that Lind exerted a form of Indian witchcraft over his subjects and had them completely under his spell. The facts of the case concerning ■ the girl m this story certainly lend weight to that assertion. Some of the adherents to the Lind cult were reduced to a condition of uttering sounds which neither they nor anybody else could understand. Lind's gatherings became very popular m Dunedin and they naturally raised considerable comment and criticism. . • * On one occasion, when defending his mission against critics, he made the iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

HYMNALS, HYPNOTISM, HYPOCRISY ' , ' ■ ♦— — : ■ ■ ' ■ ' ! ■ Persecution of Crown Witness By State Department Recalls Sensational Criminal Trial VULTURE WHO MASQUERADED IN CLERICAL GARB (From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Dunedin Representative.)

|I IN THE MENTAL HOSPITAL at Seacliffe, a few miles north of Dahedin, brooding over her entirely unwarranted || |i persecution by a State department, is a young woman — a voluntary boarder— :pho, up till quite recent years, was a bright, healthy If If and intelligent girl with all the promise of life before her. , - ( 1! [j But her interest m life has been stamped out,, her livelihood gone, the ties of home and friendships cruelly wrenched |l I! asunder — all this her reward from the Crown for her performance of a national duty m giving evidence m one of the most sen- || If sational and revolting cases ever tried m a New Zealand court of justice.

significant statement that "he had never interfered with an innocent girl m his life." One of his victims attended to ask Lind if he could cure her sleeplessness and worry. She began to feel bet- j ter. He then misconducted himself and told the unsuspecting girl that he and she had a "secret with the Lord," so she was frightened to tell anyone. Another girl said that while at his meetings she became partially unconscious and felt "a heavy, bearing-down sensation" . . . She sank to the floor. When Lind would proceed to administer to his victims what he termed "a message from the Lord," she felt helpless and could not speak, while once when she was at his home she felt an irresistible impulse to kiss him, and did so, even though his wife was present.;' ;• . . .- ... '■____:•' .^^.jvvv. ,-.'..• '.'. ...:.',..:■-,. v-vJ . power of drawing his' victims ,'to him and when out with one of them ho would always preface his debauchery by saying that the Lord had iievealed to him that he had to teach the girls "the deeper teachings." To one of his victims the 'blasphemous Lind expressed himself thus: "We never give up anything for the Lord but that he returns it to us tenfold. The Lord has revealed to me that I am to be a special brother to you. In plain words I am to be, as it were, ten husbands to you ■ . . ." It is, perhaps, more than a coincidence that all Lind's victims, so soon as they were relieved of his baleful influence, became active m a movement against him and his meetings. This by way of explaining the unusual influence with which Lind acquired such domination over the girls. I — 1

Under Lind's Spell

To the casual observer, it is almost ingredible that any sane person could inndcently become the victim of such an extraordinary mixture of lust r and blasphemy on the part of a man who prayed to make his unfortunate victims submit to him; yet the successful scholastic record of the girl m this case — right up till the time she came under Lind's spell — indicates that her mentality and intellect were more than commonly sound. The girl was educated m the primary and secondary schools of Dunedin and for two years she acted as a pupil teacher at a surburban school. Her work was thoroughly satisfactory, according to her reports, and at the age of twenty she was admitted to the ' Training College, m February, 1922. With the public service examination and matriculation to her credit, it took her but a short space of time to assimilate sufficient knowledge m the college to obtain her teacher's "D" certificate, and she was drafted to the "A" division, the top section of the college. ■ • It wag during this period that she commenced attending land's meetings, which had a very popular appeal. At the end of six months, however, her progress at, the school was showing signs of having been retarded, while she suffered unpleasant visitations of pains m the head which she was at a loss to understand. The inexplicable check m her progress had an unsettling effect upon her and sometimes, while on the way to school, she would become giddy and lose control of herself. In October, 1922, the climax arrived, though no crime had been committed against her by Lind up till this time. She was reminded by the Otugo Education Board that her progress was not satisfactory and she replied that it was on account of her health. She was accordingly examined by the school doctor, but his report was not made available to either the girl or to her father, who was her bondsman. The board then offered her six months' leave of absence if she chose to take it, but she had been out of Lind's company for some time, and as she was beginning to feel better, she decided to carry on. „\ By this time, however,, the police took a hand m the matter and- set up investigations' concerning kind's conduct with certain female members of his congregation. ! ■' j The girl was asked to tender evidence on behalf of the Crown and though she at first declined, she 'was assured that she would be protected and that her position would m no way be jeopardized. She was even told that the police ■ i . v; •■ . '

roquired her evidence to arrest Lind, and, under promise of secrecy and protection, and m View of the forcible manner •m which she was told that it was her duty to the .country and to othor innocent girls, she reluctantly acquiesced. ' A week before the Supreme Court •trial commenced; the girl was sent fpr one day by the principal of the Training College and told that she must resign. She was threatened, it is alleged, by her father, that" if she did not ..sign the resignation the principal would report to the Education Board that she had no qualifications as. a teacher. . Under stress of mental anguish, prompted by the spectre of unemployment and a wasted scholastic career, she appended her^signature, „yet it; had m the country and' come back, to the college the following year, when she would be thoroughly restored to health. Why was this girl asked to sign a

resignation at a time when she was not really fit to consider such a matter? Though both she and her father have applied and demanded the facts surrounding her dismissal, they have been sternly and stubbornly refused by both the Department of Education, and the then Minister (Sir James Parr). In her application to the Minister, she was quite frank that it Was her poor state of health that had impeded her progress m the college. It was then generally known 1 that it was her association with. Land's religious meetings .that had transposed her from a bright, intelligent, industrious girl into a dull human who had temporarily lost her punch. . : Pained at the injustice done to her, the girl told the detective who' had promised her on behalf of the Crown that she would be protected, and he made representations to the chairman of the Otago . Education Board and to the principal, of the college, but without result. . ' ' ' -' Their only reply was that the court case had nothing to with -the matter. Yet they flatly refused to give any explanation for the girl's hurried removal from the college. That the Otago Education Board or the Education Department had something to hide is rather apparent from subsequent actions concerning the, forfeiture of the. bond, which, m effect is a gukLrantee that, the student will

not leave the college before his orner training is completed. The girl's father interviewed the secretary of the board, asking when he would receive a demand for .the payment of the. bond. The board's' secretary replied that the department had written several times- for the payment of the bond and he- had not coninVunicated with the father, but had written the department stating that the girl was a Crown witness m a certain case. On that account > he did .'not think that the father 'would hear any more about it. ■How. could the Otago Education Board,' m the face of the facts, reconcile this .statement with its declaration that the court case . had nothing to do with the girl's .dismissal from the Training College? \_ ;. bbard/and the^ department?,'. ' A further injustice was done the girl when she applied to the department for her grading marks, without which iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiniiiiiiiiiuiiililtiiiiillllllilllllllllllllllltlllllllllllllllllllllUllllllUt

she could not apply for a teacher's position. These were refused on the grounds that the chief inspector had forwarded an unfavorable report on her work. She was not asked to resign on account of this report, however, as it was not submitted until some time after she had left the college. Six months after the case the girl was examined by ; Doctor Newlands, who certified . that she was then m good health and fit to teach again. Her . livelihood, however, had been taken from her and as she had not enjoyed the justice \yhich is the birthright of every Britishborn subject, she became despondent. , . With every avenue of redress closed to her, she lost all hope of the future and at once sank back into her previous condition. But adding insult., to; injury is apparently the particular , pastime of cerI tain state officials who are unused to being clothed with brief "authority. 1 The next intimation- that came to the girl's father was that, she was dead and he should make application for her superannuation contributions. . Yet this girl who had been driven from the service without any inquiry into the circumstances surrounding her case, was living • at horne — her only haven since her living had been taken from lier. ■ ,_ ■ \ The department wrote the father ex—

plaining that the mistake had been made through wrong information being supplied by the Otago Education Board, yet no apology has yet been tendered by the latter body for this Colossal piece of blundering:. This incident further increased the girl's worry and mental strain, causing her condition to become even more serious. . Her outlook for the immediate future was indeed black, and, having exhausted every possible means of securing justice; the girl wrote personally to the then Minister of Education (Sir James Parr). After the customary official delay of three months or so, the girl was .informed that "owing to the facts" she could not be reinstated "to her former position m the Training College. Her father demanded "the facts," as James Christopher I .Parr called them, father and bondsman, responsible for the girl's existence iri the college, was entitled to iiiformation concerning his daughter's expulsion, despite the possibility that he might not have to forfeit his bond m hard cash? Looking at the case from yet another point of view, the principal of the college ran a grave risk of interfering with the course of justice m favor of the accused by enforcing the girl's resignation just prior to the trial. It there were any bona-fide reason for the girl's removal from the school, at least she and her bondsman were entitled to know of them. The principal must surely have realized that it was his duty to place the facts before the Education Board and let the board ask for an explanation.

Confidential Talk

But life at times invests itself with inevitable conditions and under such '.circumstances the girl realized her hopeless position.. She had helped to place a dangerous criminal away, ensuring the safety of young women such as herself, and she rightly thought that she should not be made to suffer for it. But all hope had gone; her continual depression and worry wrecked her nervous system— wrecked her on the cruel rocks of autocratic officialdom and lop-sided justice. As a result, the girl is now a voluntary patient m the Seacliff Mental Hospital — yet, had there been some borderline institution where this unfortunate human could have rested her tired and overstrained nerves, it is more than probable that to-day she .would have been a sane, sensible member of the community, perhaps cmi ployed m some other walk of life, trying- to forget the bitter experiences of the past. That the girl was . entirely a victim of Lind's influence, which caused her ill-health, is indicated m expert, medical opinion. This is what Dr. Stuart Moore, M.P.s., M.R.C.P., . thought of the girl's condition :. "This is to certify that on dates between the termination of the trial of Abraham -Lind and well before Miss — ■ entered an asylum, that is, on dates about October, 1923, I had confidential talks with, her concerning the behavior of Lind and his trial. "These talks numbered about thirty and were each of one hour's duration. I am therefore m a position to express a vvell-weighed opinion that the emotional injury done to her by her experience, and by the trial, were the essential cause of her breakdown. "In my opinion, the loss of her position at the Training College, resulted from the effect these things had upon her, but, of course, though unavoidable, her dismissal acted also as an aggravation of her condition. "I am confident that, had it not been for her experiences with Lind and with his trial; she would haye remained m good health. , "I cannot see that anyone can blame the girl much for what happened, considering the influence that Lind's position as pastor gave him," :

■ It has been said that truth is stranger than fiction — and this certainly seems to apply to the case of Lind and his victims.

Incredible though they seem, manyinstances have been .related of how he had exerted his evil spell over young women, who, as soon as they excaped the measure of his power, resumed absolute normality. Though the cause cannot be definitely proved, it is known tha,b three

Mlli;ili:illllllllil:lililll!llllliii!! Call Again!

"I'VE never done anything I've 1 been guilty of," confessed a. defendant m the Auckland Police Court. '-„.' Everyone laughed. , "Thank you; good-bye!" said the same gentleman as . Magistrate Hunt dismissed the charge. ■ "Good-bye," exchanged his worship. Everyone roared. f!lll!ll!!ll!IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIllll!lll!lli!!lillU

Grave Injustice

case of the Crown achieving itp end, then immediately forsaking its promises. Those who knew this girl personally before Lind crossed her path say that character— the moral order seen through the. medium of an individual — was just as strong a feature of her make-up as is usually found m the average student. . But what has law and justice done for her? It has given her an environment of a most undesirable nature. Up till the time of her petition to the Minister and prior to her entry into the mental hospital, the girl had lost two years' employment and had incurred heavy medical expenses. . • The point remain's that if she had refused to be mixed up m the case, she would have completed her training and gone on life's way with a care-free smile, while perhaps the bestial Lind might have gone free—unfettered and uninterrupted to continue his nefarious and illicit exploits. Lind was sentenced to seven years' with hard labor on eight charges of a serious nature concerning the girl m this story and two others, but that is poor solace for his victim. Failing other redress or compensation m the way of a compassionate allowance the girl's parents are at least deserving" of an explanation and the whole of the facts being placed before them, iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiini