LIND'S CAMPAIGN OF VILIFICATION

NZ Truth, Issue 1246, 17 October 1929, Page 7

LIND'S CAMPAIGN OF VILIFICATION

sentence me for life or to impose a I death sentence, he gave me up to | the limit with the hope that I would die before my time was up," continues Lind. Either the quality of obsession has tipped his mental balance, or he has forsaken all the strands of decent feeling and' honor AA r hich bind one to the society of his felloAVS. Half-Avay down page seven appears the caption: "Hoav my mouth was shut." He says: "Mr. J. B. Callan was my counsel. He .said: '. . . I should feel at ease if you give me your word of honor that you will not interfere with my conduct of the case. On my part I can assure you that I shall do my best, and that I will get you out of this nasty business.' "So I gave him my word of honor, as he asked. "There were nine reputable witnesses, including my wife, waiting m court to give evidence on my behalf m the case, but Mr. Callan, m spite of repeated entreaties made by my wife and myself, refused to call eA'idence or to alloAV me into the Avitness-box. .". .. . He had promised to ask the witnesses for the CroAvn certain leading questions, including some relating to their past moral characters, but Avhen the time came he did- not do so and gave me as a reason for not doing so, that as they were immoral and unscrupulous women and very good actors, they would, if asked aAVkward questions, commence to cry and act m such a way as to act upon the feelings and sympathies of .the jury and the court. ". . . and thus do me much harm without answering the questions. "No comments are necessary (at this stage) upon such conduct on the part of a laAvyer Avho had undertaken (and had been paid m advance) to defend an innocent man." The attitude taken by Mr. Callan was by no means unusual. Many lawyers have been harassed by the interference of clients and their relations, who suggest and demand that certain courses shall be adopted, often to the detriment of their own case. In any event, the integrity and professional ability of Mr. Callan is unquestioned; Avhile Lind spent six years m prison for degrading his cloth and betraying a girl Avho reposed her faith m his. specious teachings. The moral seems obvious. Yet, on page nine of his booklet, Lind says: "I am iioav the victim of what can only be called NeAV Zealand Injustice!" Six months after being sentenced Lind Avrote to the Minister of Justice, » , ■

UNDER the heading "A plea for justice" he says: "I ask for a Royal Commission to inquire into the following facts and the charges arising from . • them. (1) The unfair and unjust conduct of the trial, and the deliberate maladministration of justice. (2) My. wrongful and illegal imprisonment. (3) The unconstitutional and unlawful actions of certain State officials and Ministers of the Crown m shielding those who had been guilty of maladministration; criminal conspiracy and conspiring to defeat the ends of justice. (4) The conduct of those officials and Ministers of the Crown who co-operated to perpetuate the injustice done to me and thwarted, defeated and suppressed all efforts made by me and my friends to obtain justice by means of appeals and petitions.". In so far as it concerns his "wrongful and illegal imprisonment" Lind should recollect some of the evidence tendered at the Dunedin Supreme Court m August, 1923, where the three girls who suffered the attentions of the infamous evangelist showed clearly that he took maximum advantage of their neurotic condition. One girl said he assured her that their "secret was one between themselves and God!"'Another was to be his "second wife" — not under the law, but "under grace" —

"Was Powerless "

and she made the significant observation that a number of these and similar assurances were made. •At this particular time, the pastor was conducting faith-healing and evangelical meetings m Dunedin, and by reason of his position as a missioner was able to, secure the ascendancy over the girls, who, by virtue of impaired health or nervous disorders, readily became susceptible to the distorted philosophies propounded by Lind. Theirs was an unfortunate branch of mental exultation following religious ecstasy inflamed and nurtured by the pastor's outpourings. After the meetings any resistance they naturally Avould have possessed AA r ere swept aAA r ay by Lind's spurious explanations as to the nature of his conduct. One girl said she was "absolutely powerless against him," and when she suggested telling someone of what- had ha'ppenecl, Lind told her** \ "It is between you and' me and the Lord — God has given you to me." Another said that she felt helpless, nnd could not protest because she Avas practically speechless. On one occasion she Avent to his house, and while there felt "an irresistible desire to kiss him, and had -to do so." • . Again, "When Lind looked into my eyes and commanded me to meet him I felt I.had : t'o do: So, although I Avas subconsciously unAvilling." These- quotations are mere shadows of the revolting: details elicited by the Crown Prosecutor*,' but m part they account for the judge's declaration that the pernicious pastor Avas a danger to society, Avho' should go to prison for the maximum term— seven years, with hard labor. Just. before sentence was imposed, the registrar asked Lind whether he had anything to say. "It is a miscarriage of justice," came the answer, but when his Honor asked Mr/ Callan (Lind's counsel) 1 a similar question, he replied: "| don't think" there is anything to y say, under the circumstances, your Honor." "Ybu certainly must have felt very

"Stabbing the Dead"

sick after listening to the evidence. Can yqu imagine any man, believing m God, indulging m blasphemy — In praying to God to make the unfortunate girl submit to his will!" exclaimed his Honor. Referring to the fact that ,he was convicted on only one charge, Lind says m his pamphlet: "The verdict of the jury, guilty on the seventh count and riot guilty on all, the other eight counts, was contrary to law, to reason, and to the alleged facts of the evidence." Lind should count himself fortunate that only one charge was deemed sufficient to send him to gaol for such a term. Lind's brochure seeks to shoAV, but does not, "how the jury Avas packed" and exclaims that "the judge , . . took no cbanpes, but, after brow-beating, cajoling, misdirecting and wrongly instructing the jury and pronouncing the prisoner guilty before the jury retired, told them that they would not be honest men if they failed to convict the prisoner of something." Later m the booklet, Lind says: "It is not my purpose at present to expose the names of those who conspired against me . . . and m deference to the proverb 'Of the dead let nothing be said but what Is good' I shall say nothing, about , the personal interests the late Mr. Justice Sim had m my imprisonment, lest I be accused of 'stabbing the dead.' I only wish to show here m what manner public opinion was misled and prejudiced against me. , . , ." It' that is not stabbing the dead, then the definition of the term has* lost its significance. The names of Lind's three" _yictims: are fully blazoned by the ex-parson; in his publication, notAvithstanding that not a single neAvspaper m the Dominion disclosed their identity. Still later, he again returns to the attack upon the late judge. "Knowing he had been instrumental by his unlawful conduct of the trial m bringing about an unjust and unlawful conviction, he gave me as heavy a sentence as was possible as a matter of self-preservation, knowing very well that I would, on my release, try to expose his maladministration and seek to obtain Justice. "Therefore, not being able to

Notorious Pastor, Released From Gaol, Attacks Trial Judge and Innocent Victims

SENSATIONAL SEQUEL TO SHOCKING CRIME

(From "N.Z. Truth V Special Commissioner.)

Pastor Abraham Alfred Lind, variously described by the late Mr. Justice Sim as '^blasphemer, blackguard and a danger to society," was recently released on licence from prison, where he had been housed for six years, following a hideous sequence of immorality established between himself and girl members of his evangelical congregation. ' Since his return to civil life he lost little time m publishing a 16-page brochure of vilification: and misstatement, impugning the honor of the man who rightly sent him to gaol, and even going the length of questioning the methods of his own counsel. This publication of Lind's bears the inscription: "Let justice be done, though the heavens should* faU.'?

saying: "After waiting m vain for six months and suffering m prison to see if justice would be done, Avithout any apparent result, I have taken a voav that from February 9, 1924, - 1 . shall take no food of any kind m prison until I die as a martyr to and protest against injustice m NeAV. Zealand. "I shall resist to my last breath and my last ounce of strength any attempt made to feed me forcibly. This letter, sir, may appear to be couched m strong language, but I am a desperate man, and have Avashed my hands of life. ..." , However many times Lind washed his hands he cannot cleanse them from the vileriess with which they were stained, while the modicum of food permitted him by a theatrical resolve provided him with sufficient energy, to malign the dead and to slander the very girls who were his innocent victims. One of these girls is now a voluntary patient at Seacliff Mental Hospital — transposed from industry and bright intelligence into a morbid, listless being without interest ih life-«-through the gross hypocrisy and evil-doing, practised by the man she regarded as her spiritual adviser.

"It was after that that the conspirators, including 's mother, became afraid that she might eventually confess and make things very un - pleasant for them, so they persuaded her to go into a mental hospital as a voluntary patient, so that, m future, her evidence would be of no value, eA'en if she confessed to perjury and everything else. "I have good reasons to know that she Avas not insane when she entered the mental hospital is a A'oluntary patient, but that her will and nerves were Avorn out by the pricking of her conscience for having given false evidence against an innocent man, and the opposition of her people." "If she is insane

how, it is as a result of a troubled conscience, for having given false evidence against an innocent man. . . ." Dr. Stuart Moore, a Dunedin medical man, 'holds the opposite vieAV. "I am confident that had it not been for her experiences Avith Lind and with the trial, she would have remained m good health." So much, then, for the man whom "N.Z. Truth" a year ago described as a vulture Avho masqueraded i n clerical garb, and who, after receiving remission of twelve months from his sentence, vilified almost everyone connected with the successful prosecution against him. Hymnals and hypocrisy are complementary terms m the language of Lind.

The teachings of Christianity may trip glibly from the full lips of this pseudo parson, but a catechism of blasphemy and cant was the motive force which impelled m*m to the construction of evil processes, beneath the smooth exterior of the Gospel he so Avickedly twisted. It seems incredible that when he used the quotation: "Let justice be done, though the heavens should fall," he meant Avhat he said. Before a representative audience of about 350 Dunedin men and women, Lind, with his wife acting as chairAvoman, recently conducted the first of what it appears will be a series of meetings to give oral backing to his pamphleted allegations. With a good delivery, Mrs. Lind made a short introductory speech, m Avhich she stated that a certain society for < the protection of women and children, had, during and after the trial, made no effort to assist her and her five children, whereas, Mrs. Lind alleged, members of this society had busied themselves m attention to the Avomen inA'olved m the case. "If the law can be brought into play by wicked women," Mrs. Lind said, m reference to her husband's

case, "no woman present can consider her husband is safe." Lind himself Avent straight to the point by announcing that he was out to attack, without gloves, on the maladministration which he declared was responsible for his having missed six years of freedom. "I want a Royal Commission to make a full inquiry into the ramifications of my case," he said, m a challenging voice, "and I am prepared to do prison for life, or even hang, if I cannot prove my case to a Royal Commission!" The speaker entered upon the matters mentioned m his pamphlet, and m reply to his assertion that he was found guilty before his trial, a woman's faint A'oice whimpered: "That's right!" To the allegations at the time of his trial that he had hypnotised women, Lind declared that such a feat was not within his power. He had tried it while m gaol and found it could not be done. The prison authorities, he said, had received an adverse report from the police", yet he had never previously been before a court. If the authorities thought they could do as they liked, they had "struck a snag" m him. "You have no idea what prison life is like for a person with any sense of refinement or finer feelings," he continued, with a show of emotion. "They, keep you wrell m clothes, they keep you well fed, but they kill yoiir mind! Your brain, your finer thoughts, everything that is human m you — theymake a beast of you. And these breaking - down.: influences, they don't come from the prisoners! "There are not five criminals m NeAV Zealand," Lind declared, with em-phasis,-when speaking of his sojourns m four New Zealand gaols. "The others are imbeciles . . . the real criminals are not m gaol — it's the mugs!" . He then spoke of how he had given his Avord of honor to his solicitor m connection with leaving the handling of the case entirely but :of his own hands. He always kept his word. A voice: Do you ahvays keep your appointments? y Lind maintained that m several instances Avhile m prison his mail had been tampered with and even stolen. One letter, he said, he had received from a lady who would not dream of smoking, yet, Avithin the letter's folds, he allegedly discovered cigar ash! ' "As a man Avho has Availed with God," he solemnly declared, m drawing to a conclusion, "I would prefer to Avalk through Hell than again "see the Avay justice is done m NeAV Zealand." Throughout Jhe meeting, AA'hich last-

Ed the best part of one and a-half hours, the gathering was orderly, and gave the speaker a fair hearing. The next night, Avhen Lind was to answer questions, conditions were hardly so tranquil. About 400 citizens Avere present, together with six burly policemen and .a few plain-clothes men. For the greater part of his second address, Lind was engaged m expounding a better system for prison control. Occasionally he referred to the many- decent fellow convicts he had come m contact with during the serving of his six years, a line of narrative which hardly fitted m with his previous night's reference ,to gaols full of imbeciles. He told his audience that m the first instance neither the police nor the Crown Prosecutor would take up his case until later, when it was . placed ' m the hands of the Solicitor-General and "manufactured." No person, to-day, he declared, no matter how conscious he might be of his OAvn law-abidene'ss was safe while the administration of justice m the / country stood as it did. Ninety per cent, of the cases which came before the courts, he alleged, were tremendously exaggerated by the prosecution. The personnel of gaol staffs he dis.missed as so many lying, inhuman creatures,, with an odd exception. Prisons, he said, were not places of

Pertinent Queries

reformation, but "places of damnation." He attributed his early release to the recent appointment to the Prisons' Board of a lady member. In\'iting questions, Lind was happy to receive the suggestion of one man m the audience who proposed that a petition for a Royal Commission be circulated for public signatures. Lind said he would be glad if those interested inisuch a movement would see him after the meeting. ■ ->v,w, „ „ ! The storm burst when a member of the audience, Mr. McFarlane, himself a preacher of the- Gospel, rose and m concise language placed the first direct question. Mr. McFarlane : "I ask you, sir, do you tell us m all sincerity that two or three Avomen deliberately went out of their way to take you away from your home, your wife and your children? If that is true you certainly must have a Royal Commission, but so far I cannot see that 3 r ou have convinced vs — you certainly haA'e not convinced me — that you were not guilty of the charge." The question drew expressions of favor from the audience, and it Avas some time before- the speaker was able to make himself heard. Lind stated m reply: "In th*' first place, certain religious sects m this city hired three women to join my mission; they were- sent into my mission m order to get me intrigued and involved. One of these women — -and I have proof of it—tried to compromise herself with me, and I had to order her out of the house. They have received money, and I'll prove^that they received money from the Crown!" Lind went -oh -to say that when things were being . said about him, a vote of confidence m him ,was heartily accorded atya v Tspecial,nieeting of his mission. .It was then,^he: alleged, that his "conspiratqr^.'y or, at any .rate, two of them, tried to get the young AA'omen to go to the : police. T* y ,; "A Avoman of ;. that class thinks that by such mesans yshe.is reinstating herself — she is proud of it." Mrs. Lind remarked that one Sunday

"You Are Quibbling"

morninjg a second woman interested m the case came to her place and said: "I don't know -what has gone wrong with Miss , but: she has turned against Mr. Lind. "She has something very importa.it to say to Mr.TLind and wants him -to go down and see her." Lind asked his -wife if he should go down, and she had replied that as her mother Avas sick, ne had better go. "When Mr. Lind returned, he was covered m perspiration, and I told him he had not been long. He then told me all about it." Mrs. Lind followed this up by narrating what her husband had told her, and concluded by asserting that she had once seen this girl "steal a kiss" from her husband. A voice: If you say that these girls Avere no good, why did you go to meet them at Jubilee Park? Lind: I deny that I ever met them there. That's what they were taught to say — that's what they were paid to say!* > Healthy female voice {from back of hall) : That's a lot of rot! Mr. McFarlane: I have no idea to sway this meeting, sir, but you are quibbling a lot without showing, us whether you were guilty or innocent? Lind: This is not the place to give evidence I am holding for a Royal Commission. There will, I hope, be a place and time for that. Nothing will make me give .out my evidence until the right time to speak. Lind refused to ' attend to other questions, as the time he had allotted had more than expired. The meeting then broke up. Throughout the address there was a good deal of applause, both for and against the speaker,. but there was no sign of dangerous disorder. The police posse mingled with a large crowd which waited outside after the hall was cleared, but Lind and his wife departed by another exit. In his pamphlet, Lind appeals to "every intelligent and fair-minded man and woman m New Zealand," but even though he may have some sort of a case for a Royal Commission, this man has no right to be circulating the wild allegations against everybody connected with his trial. Such tactics will have but one result and that will be to embitter the public against him.