"AND THEIR FAITH ENDURETH-"

NZ Truth, Issue 1182, 26 July 1928, Page 5

"AND THEIR FAITH ENDURETH-"

• .■_''■ ■» Innocence of Rev. Fielden Taylor Emphatically Proved And Palpably Weak Case Collapses "NO JURY WOULD CONVICT ON BOYS' EVIDENCE " '- : /. .- •;./: .v. , .■■ *■■-... ■^■'■■ : ": 'y- •■■ . - , ■ ■ •'', (From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Wellington Representative.) Even as the message rang throughout New Zealand that the Reverend Fielden Taylor had been in* dieted upon the commission of acts With boys; when conjecture piled high upon suggestion or explanation, and the root of argument as to the merits of the police charges was split by amazement on the one hand, and uncharitable comment on the other; so now is the news broadcast that the name of Fielden Taylor, solicitor, cleric, and Samaritan of the slums, has beenswept clean of the suspicion which clung to it after his arrest on May 16. mm ' . -6— : : = r— " ■ : = .•'■•' : 9 ■ — — ~'

BETWEEN that date and last Friday, his wonderful reputation among boys and men, among the soldiers m their battlefields and the waifs and wayfarers who battled with the cities for an existence— this remarkable charter of unbounded public confidence was destroyed and sullied by the most odious charge which . could be ranged against the character of any man..' It has truly been said that those who climb higher have a greater distance to fall, and the remarkable achievements of the Hey. Fielden Taylor, painfully crippled, and. hampered by physical obstables which would have provided ample excuse for the average man to diminish his interest and grasp on life, placed him on such a high peak of public estimation that when thg supposed details of .his temporary downfall were disseminated by the yellow-minded, sneering, mock-cynics who wailed against him, the fainthearted took up the cry of, "Guilty, guilty," long before they had heard one tittle of genuine' evidence. Should not the phrase have been "Malice, malice!" instead? If this is not the correct assumption, why should the magistrate have been so positive m his declarations against the veracity of the five boys who sought to dam a clergyman's reputation ; why should Taylor himself, two days before his case was due to be heard m the lower court, swear: "Before God, I am innocent," when a representative of this paper went round to have a chat with him m his study? ' . . Th'e human, mind is such a spongy, such a malleable substance, absorbing this much, and twisting that way if the exterior influence is sufficiently persistent. ' _ .-. - , Too easily does' it forget the good fibres m the composite, rope, we call a man's, character; all too simply does it grasp the Weaker strands- which unfortunate circumstance holds out, and mankind, possessed of that singular degree of short sight which permits of visualizing only one .thing, apprehending one phase at a time, overlooks past merit and sees only present} suspicion. Glib Suggestion .'.-• '■■■ ■-'' ■ ■ 4 ■"' '/'■ ' ■■' ■' ■ 'J "■ ''■ "•; It was regrettable that so many' > people should have permitted the ; malignant growth to have choked their better feelings, when the news of the Reverend Fielden . Taylor's arrest-was .brought home to. us; that they should so readily "'•' -have' grasped theV .glib suggestion that he, like so* many other: idols, had feet of clay. : In ' a flash; they had forgotten liis vyork .among the hopeless, homeless wrecks who daily trod the short path' between his mission study and the front gate leading: out to Taranaki Street; gone were the memories of his annual endeavors to provide funds that would set alight to many a torch' of youthful ambition, long before, quenched by despair and need. , They had long suspected him, they whispered;' many times had they frowned upon his unorthodox methods, but without avail, and their sole cdn-' s'olation was that some day he must fall, and when they heard his name humbled m the dust, that he had been called to face charges of inconceivable indecencies among the boys of his camps' and hostel, they- knew their flrst impression had firm ground beneath it. But first impressions, like so many other instances of copybook nonsense, do not count for much, and the illnatured ' busybodios who contributed their spleen- to the situation must be dismayed at the overwhelming spirit of censure which Magistrate Page infused into his review of the proceedings, m the Wellington Police Court l__t_st T(_tgglc The five boys concerned, brought eleven charges virtually of mutual abuse against the Rev. Fielden Taylor, one of the boys even going the length of suggesting that the minister had indulged m a certain practice before other boys m the camp hospital at Foxton last Christmas. Save, perhaps, one or two, • the boys faces manifested the character, or lack of it, beneath their exterior. Shifty-eyed, illiterate and m some csises, indisputably deceitful, they strung together some stories of unspeakable incidents, but their' selfconfessed relation of self-perversion, their history as young criminals, even though their ages were between the extremes of (14 and 16 years, their very

demeanor m the witness-box, was a double-edged weapon . which turned : against themselves. When the Crown case had concluded, King's Counsel A. Gray,, rose to his feet to advocate the innocence of his. client, but Magis- . trate Page intimated there was no need, for this course of action, as he . had already/ heard sufficient. "I propose to dismiss these charges/ hejjaid. "Five boys are involved, and m respect of -two of the boys, there is no suggestion bf .: impropriety — -the . boys themselves do not suggest it." "This, leaves three boys, of whom two are sex perverts, the type notoriously unreliable as witnesses, and as to the third one, there was. a complaint of a sexual practice by him at the home where he lived with other boys* "Two of these boys are convicted thieves. _______ "One _ was dismissed from sue. '. cessive employments for stealing. M One boy's story seems to me so impossible that no jury would give any credence to it. "Another boy, whilst giving^evidence m relation to examinations m the camp hospital at Foxton, admitted that such examinations were done openly ••■■... ." Whenever a boy came within the sphere of the hostel arid its work it was qustomary for the Reverend Fielden Taylor to give the boy -sa lecture on the problem's and significance of sex matters, at the same time examining his heart and chest for any weakness. If . the boy indulged m degrading practices, the minister would warn him as to their physical arid mental effects upon the youthful system, and, according to his statement when the' detectives interviewed 'him, any cases t beyond his knowledge or skill were dispatched to Dr. Usher. Behind his simple denial and its accompanying' explanation, there is a poignant message for '

many a father and mother, who, for some unaccountable reason have blanched at chatting with their youngsters on the most vital situation which will confront them. He said that every boy was lectured about himself, physically examined for rupture or disease, and as the result of these examinations he had discovered three cases, of rupture, one of disease, and another case which, under questioning, admitted habits which could have only one end — physical and intellectual depravity. "Fight it for all you are worth," was his advice to them. > How much agony of mind some parents could have spared themselves had they the moral stamina to chat with their children as the Reverend Fielden Taylor did with those who came within the range of his protection and care! It appeared to be riot so much from inclination, as from evidence of necessity, that these examinations were conducted, when, boys between the ages of 14 and 17 years were on the fringe of adolescent discovery,, and these precautionary measures, were merely units m a system which did not pro- ' , gress by rote. 1 ■ .' In some cases, the temperament of a boy necessitated shock tactics; m others a 'bland, chaffing, attitude that gradually deflected them from tendencies which their : respective environments had built up around their natures. His unorthodox treatment, and what appeared to Borne' ,ari extraordinary attitude .towards, boys, was ,a parallel with -.'.his- associations and methods whilst a padre on, the battlefields, and excited just as, much unworthy criti. cism; ljritil the critics realized their own unworthiness; . and 'the inherent merit underlying his practical ideality. At his slum . hostel -m Taranaki Street, Wellington, the • boys he befriended were _ instructed m subjects which other well-meaning people had not the courage to broach, ,and his frankness, his remarkable faculty for, talking with and to the boys as- another, boy, were a. pattern which educators and parents should , emulate, at least; m; part. Filled with the knowledge that he was blameless, that the most

Poignant Message

Boys' Best Friend

appalling constructions had --been .directed upon his more innocent . actions, he must have endured ex- I cruciating agonies of mind during the waiting period which lay between his arrest and the date of initial proceedings m the lower court. . Added to that was the unfortunate coincidence of his accident scarcely more than fifteen minutes before he was due to appear m court, as the result of which he not only endured the additional torture of a smashed thigh, but also, his faculties must have apprehended the venomous suggestions which had become pendant to the situation, that he had chosen .suicide to quickly obliterate the allegations against his name. Practically all those malicious whisperings had their fount m the spring of wicked falsity, and were negatived by his avowal to the police that had v - he been capable of those hideous things with which he was impugned, he "never would have faced it." ~ "It is an awful thing to have a name like mine, and then get a bump like this," he said to a "Truth" representative, two days before he smashed his thigh on the garden pathway leading to his front gate. • At . the ' time his assistance was solicited m connection with some investigations wllich "Truth" was making m another direction, and the depth of feeling behind his sudden, outburst smashed any doubt as to his innocence. For half an hour before this, "Truth" had been a, silent witness of the stream of human rubble which daily stands, cap m hand, upon the beneficent threshold of a mission, seeking alms, relating specious stories of legendary families on the brink of> starvation, well -knowing that a man like Fielden. Taylor would _ riot say him nay. One old^ lag, his tattered coat and open-toed boots, his purple-veined facei nose, his dilated pupils and "breath','^ all supplied the direct negative to-his

story of "No work, can't get work, Mr. Taylor. Knew you'd give me a (hand The padre, who knew his man, replied: "I suppose it's a weak heart, eh?" But the wreck of a man said, m tones of simulated . horror, "Oh, God forbid that — you kn.ow me as a gentleman, Mr. Taylor." "I don't know you from a gentleman or a lady. : "What's your name, anyway?" And so on, until he gives the man a chit to get a meal somewhere, or tells him to "haul out those boots under that table, and then buzz off." Mothers, whose sons have passed through his hostel, came m to see him; shook hands with him, and! their eyes suffused with • tears, blessed him for what he had accomplished. They brought him fruit, and all sorts of edibles which would nourish the rlcketty children who have come Ito recognize him as something more than the man' who reverses his collar; soriiething, more than one who preaches to _^___ them; they know him as a man^who, despite the tortures of his own crippled body, pari .find the irispiratlon to lend the support of his wonderful persoV nality, that he. may hold the. heads of unfortunates above the stream of life. Fresh - faced, honest -Ito - goodness youngsters came to him; knocked upon the panels of his study door, were told to "Hang on. a minute." And when, some ex-soldier, <head bandaged; had concluded his tale- of iriisfortune, ;and ;of a starving household,* he was given a few shillings from a small cardboard box, his farewells hastened, but, yet accompanied by a few words of advice, and when he had passed on through the front doorway, a couple of. boys entered. * ■ "Well, Jim, what is it now? I'm pretty busy, you kriow. Give me your fist, anyway." ■<■' ■ "',, ' • When the boys have each shaken hands .with him, each boy's eyes alight with the flarhe of worship behind them, they tell him they want to start attehding his night classes for "matric" , "All. right," was the simple answer.

"Friday night, at seven o'clock. Clear off, now." Comes another boy. "Afternoon, Mr. Taylor," he says. "What's your trouble, Ben? I didn't see you at the class last Friday." "No, Mr. Taylor. I've got a job notr, youremember, and L have to work on Fridays." (Very proudly he says it, too.) "Oh,, yes! So you have! Well, -what about coming along to-night?" "All right, sir. That'll be fine," and away trots' boy number three, his head filled with the new jbb, his mind eager to leap the hurdle of matriculation, made easier for him by the kindly, brusque minister who has fathered, so many of life's misfits, and moulded them to the pattern of capable professional men. And when the last visitor had gone amj, when . Interruptions were . less frequent, the padre broke down, , his body shaken with sobs, a-twitch with the mental anguish which tortured his mind. The sight of those bright, eager young faces had brought back to his mind the awful shadow of imputation, the nasty traces which, he felt, would remain after his innocence had - been proved, and m his emotion he cried: "Oh, God. Why will those boys shake hands with me?" realizing that al-though-his record of fine accomplishment was being foully besmirched, the boys — his boys— still retained their unshaken faith m him .... The sight of a man whose soul is on the wrack, whose very being seems torn from the roots by the intensity of his crying, is the most , poignant, the .most unforgettable thing which may be witnessed by another man, searing its way through the memory, leaving a track which can never be effaced. "I . know I can prove my innocence, but it may leave a nasty taste behind . . . It's ah awful thing to have a name like mine, and then tp get a b.ump like this . . .But I'm innocent. Bfefdre God, I swear it . ■■ . ." J. X ,..,'_. '.J. .-.■ ".' . ' 1 faith of Public .'. Will it "Leave a : nasty taste?" Will the public allow the awful shadow which has enshrouded the Reverend Fielden Taylor since the . sixteenth; of, ,May to come between? Will they per--mit it tp_ form a barrier- -between^ hispast performances,, and future; endear yors?;-' ':■■ •' .'•'. ; : '- 'y . •-.' -j Xfj'J. Surely not.: Some might be inclined" to the belief that smoke and fire • are ihteirf. communicating; others may raise the objection that his previous physical disability has been heightened by a broken thigh, but they reckon without his spirit, which remains unbroken, and he . will continue to oyer-ride his personal misfortune, and . carry through, undismayed, the spirit 'of human., understanding so brightly kindled by the needs of others.' When he leaves the Wellington public hospital fn a month or so, it is inconceivable that those who remember and appreciate, his achievements m the name of human charity, will forsake him and the cause he represents m. his humble mission midway along Taranaki Street, but' rather it is believed that he will . be^ given the full encouragement to continue his work among those who -never knew .the beautiful significance of the word "Home," but who are. now guided along, the road of opportunity and benign fortune. • ; , A public avowal of loyalty to a friend m trouble is not so* common-, place that it should pass unnoticed. On Sunday night ' week, the Rev. Jasper Calder, the well-known Auck-,. land City Missioner, whose lack of orthodoxy not infrequently somewhat shocks his more ; conventional brothers of the cloth, made reference during his remarks at the Hippodrome, to the unhappy position m which the Rev. Fielden Taylor found himself m having to face a series of charges of a very grave nature: , Having spoken very highly . of the work which the . Wellington missioner had done, and the great respect Yriih which he had always been regarded there, the popular Jasper said: "Whatever may be the outcome of the grave charges which this most kindly of men has to face, I would tell you all that I for one will never be ashamed to. shake him by the hand, and call him, brother."