AN ORANGE FALSEHOOD

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 28, 13 July 1905, Page 3

AN ORANGE FALSEHOOD

A SLANDER ON A CONVENT REFUTED

The Orange organ in Melbourne published the' other day a vile slander on the AWbotsford Convent, which was promptly refuted by our esteemed contemporary, the ' Advocate.' As the slanderous attack^ without the refutation, will probably be reproduced in the ' religious ' columns of some of the New Zealand secular papers, we publish both for the information of our readers. 'It is not so very long sunce the public of Sydney (says the ' Advocate ') were startled by a series of charges against the administration of a charitable institution, conducted under the auspices of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan in that city. It wasi soon made evident that the changes emanated from the Orange clique, whose moving spirit is that malignant assailant of Catholicity, Dill Macky. The charges were, of course, promptly met, and, needless to say, were completely refuted, and the Orange conspiracy exposed. Although hopelessly beaten In their malevolent enterprise, Dill Macky' s followers were not daunted, and the bright thought occurred to them that a change of \enue might enable them to retrieve the disaster that they had sustained in Sydney. Accordingly, it was determined to commence the publication of their organ, the ' Watchman,' in Melbourne, in additfon to the Sydney issue, and, with such help, to initiate a campaign of slonder in this city against the local Catholic institutions. At first, of course, they proceeded cautiously ; but, becoming emboldened by the apparent apathy of the Catholic body, and its contemptuous indifference to the torrent of vituperation and slamder which was poured out every week, they at last ventured ulpnn a bold cjxip, and with! the aid of one of those abandoned d^eatures wihom they invariably 1 enlist for such enterprises, they manat?ed to fabricate a charge against the Nuns of the Good Shepherd at Abbotsford. This appeared the other day in 'the ' Watchman,' In the shape of a string of malignant falsehoods, purporting to come from a former inmate of the Abbotsford in-

stitution. These statements were made in due form before a justice of the peace, who signed the declaration as having beem made before lilm 1 ~b\it who, when publishing the statement tn the ' Watchman,' modestly refrained from giving his name in full, an<d signed himself T. A. R. , J.P. Apart from the obvious falsehood of the girl's story, this circumstance was calculated to arouse susptoion. A representative of this journal was deputed to investigate the case, with the result that the foul conspiracy was exposed, and even the identity of the too modest T. A.R , J.P., was disclosed. The following is the full text of the statement that appeared in the ' Watchman ! of June 24 last :— The Abbotsford Convent, The following narrative of a Melbourne girl's ex-* perionces at the Afofootsford Convent— how she came to be an inmate, and why she escaped— is told by the girl herself, and needs no comment to point any moral. The statement was made to our representative, and subsequently attested by a sworn declaration before a magistrate. Here Is the story :— •I, Ella Laughton, was toom at Penshurst, Sept teniber 2, 1885, a;nd will be twenty years of agie next September. My father was killed In the July flood ( and my mother died, about two years ago ia the Melbourne Hospital. ' I have no relations', only my grandmother's sister, I h,a\e been to service, but this distant relation, as I call her, asked me about ten months ago to go for a tram-ride, and, getting out of the Abbotsfordl trair, escorted me into the convent without knowing it was a convent, until I was told so. I was then asked by the nuns what I could do, so I told them I had always been in service. I was then asked if I would stop there for two or three months, as it would do me good to be there, so I agreed. ' Wnen the three months lapsed I asked permission to go out, and was refused, and told It would do me good to be there, and I received the same answer every time I asked to go out. I did no wrong in thefre, and did no wrong before I was taken in the convent, so I determined to escape when I got" the; chance. 1 I told the nuns that I would try to escape, and did so on Sunday rooming, June 4, 1905. I thought I would go towards Richmond, and try ana find this distant relation, but failed. While In the convent I was informed by a young girl that mentioned she stayed, with an ola 1 lady In Otter -street, Collingwood, and had a daughter named Lizzie. I asked where this street was, as I thought they would allow me tfl do my hair, and give me an old hat to wear, as ■ had none on my head. ™ 'I fountf the stretet, arid, on making inquiries,, I related my story of escape to a young girl. She informed her mother, and vhis kind person received me in her home, and, having been attended to by her, I was kindly asked to remain which I did. Ihiavebeeni asked by this lady to remain in her home as one of her daughters, and to be treated as suoh, or to remain until 1 got a light situation. I consented to stay with this lady, and feel comfortable and happy. " I was working In the convent for nearly nixie months in the ironing room. I am a Protestant, anS was obliged to go to Mass, also to catechism, and also to witness all in their religious service. ' They wanted me to go to the confessional box, and tried very hard to get me to go, but they did not succeed. Many Protestant girls try and escape. Three or four escaped the same week as I did. On© girl in particular, from Kensington, has been In there four or fne years against her will, ana would d|O anything! to get away, and made a number of attempts to escape. There are some girls who are there for life 7 and they are kept constantly on the watch to prevent any getting away, or attempting to escape.' This young woman !s now being well cared for by a member of one of the Orange ladies' lodges. This good sister took her in and gave her a home for as long as? the girl'liked, ana also secured employment for ner. The dress stfie escaped in, and tne little white cap and all the clothing worn at the convent, are numbereaV These will be kept as a memento of her nine months' Incarceration. The Girl's Declaration. 'I, Ella Lawghton, do solemnly and sincerely 'declare/that I was an inmate of the Abbotsford Convent, and that the documents following;, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, consisit 'of thfl statements made by me, and It is a true and faithful account of my experience and treatment during the time I was in such institution. And I male this Solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same'tc l!te true, a*nd by virtue of the proivfsl'ons

This, on, the face of it, was such a palpable concoction of falsehoods that very Mttle 'difficulty was experienced in exposing the miserable conspiracy of the '■ Watchman ' and its 'Orange backers. Our representative waited upon Mrs. Goldspink, a Catholic lady of this city, whose charitable and philanthropic work on behalf of the abandoned and unfortunate fdm&les who are consitantly brought before the city magistrates' is- well known. This lady, aided by the records which sine Jieeps, and those of the police amd gaol authorities, was enabled to identify Ella Lau'ghton as a young woman whom she had taken from the Melbourne Gaol and placed with the Nuns of the Good Shepherd. We shall let Mrs*. Goldsipink give the details in her own words, as follows. Mrs. Gol&spink says :— ' I fi-rsft heard of the girl Laiighton through a telephone message received from the Richmond police, intimating that a female prisoner was to be charged with some offence, and that the case was one which might be dealt with by spine charitable reformative institution. I was absent from home when the message came, and when I returned the girl had in the meantime been sentenced to seven daysi' imprisonment, and been sent to Melbourne Gaol. I wa,s, therefore, una<ble to do anything further in the matter. Subsequently the girl's mother called upon me at my house, and begged of me to visit her daughter in Ig&ol, whom she said was a Catholic, &md try to get her admitted to the Abbotsford Asylum for Fallen Women. I said I could not do this unless by reqiuest of the girl herself, a nd by permission of the gaol authorities. Later on I received a message, intimating that the girl Laughton was about to be discharged, and that she desired me to take her to Abbotsford. I immediately went to the gaol, and there saw Laughton, who begged of me to take her to the Abbotsford Convent, and said that she was 1 a Catholic When leaving the gaol, her mother met her at the entrance. The girl Laughton then kissed her mother, ana bade her good-bye, saying that she was coming with me to Abbotsford. I took Laughton to the convent, and she exoressed her willingness to remain for a period of twelve months in order tobe taught laundry work. 1 visited the convent several times subsequently, but she never made any com.pl? int nor did she exnress any desire to leave the institution' I learned recently that she had absconded from the institution. I have read the statement in the ' Watchman ' purporting to have been made by Ella Laughton with regard to her admission to the convent, and I declare it to be' a tissue of falsehoods from beginning to end.'

We (' Advocate ') leave oiir readers to form their own opinion as to the foregoing facts, but onfe interesting circumstance remains to te mentioned. We have no difficulty in arriving at the conclusion that TAR J.P., whoso modestly refrained from disclosing his- identity in this unsavory case, is no other than T. A. Rogers the accredited representative of the 'Watchman" in Melbourne, and whose name is so frequently mentioned in the paper in connection with several Orange functions It is just possible that something more will be heard of this shameful conspiracy, which has been bolstered up by the usual Orange methods of falsehood, and in this instance, gross perjury.

Attention is directed to the advertisement of Messrs. James Shand and Co., Wine and Spirit Merchants, and General Importers, Hereford St., Christchurch, which appears in this issue...

Those in qiuetet of bargains in all kinds of drapery should not miss the opportunity of visiting the establishment of Messrs. Brown, Ewing, and 00. Dune«sn whose sale is now taking place. The goods are of that first-class- quality for which the firm is noted, and are placed at the disposal of the public at prices that are sure to meet with the approval of patrons

Messrs. Laidlaw and Gray, Ltd., Rattray street • Dunedm, have on hand a very large and comprehensive stock of household and general ironmongery, including sewing machines, chairs, bedsteads, fenders crockery lam.pware, electroplated goods, grates, stoves carpenters tools, fencing wire, incubators, etc. This firm has been for miany years in business in this city and as thp turnover is "steadily on the increase,- it Is 'proof sufficient that the public are satisfied with the quality of the goods, and especially with the moderate prices