Untitled

NZ Truth, Issue 1185, 16 August 1928, Page 1

MINISTER'S PIQUANT 'PHONE TALKS

Rev. Samuel Robertson-Orr, Formerly of New Zealand, Suspended From Holy Orders

"PRECIOUS ONE, YOU ARE' IN WONDERFUL FORM"

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Commissioner.)

For some months past, the ear-drums of Presbyterians throughout Canada have been a-twitter with one of the most piquant upheavals m church and society atmospheres, encircling the names of Samuel Robertson-Orr and Mrs. Gordon Fleck, wife of a wealthy capitalist^ with a riband of naughty situations and love-ly, lively 'phone conversations. Certainly, the tenor of the story is rather intriguing— there is 1 no' lack of spice.

MOST New Zealanders will remember the Rev. Robertson-Orr as a minister, who, m, 1922 and 1923, found himself m some extraordinary circumstances concerning perjury and trespass actions m. the Wellington courts, as well as being the corner-stone of an action which imputed the writing of a threatening letter — and a mysterious affair it was, too — to a Mrs. Evans, after the jury had awarded her £200 damages against him for trespass. If, as husband Gordon Fleck declares, Robertson-Orr has been a naughty boy, then the divorce court will come along with its duster and clean the slate. Conversely, if he is innocent, then certain elders of the Presbyterian Church and at least two others of its adherents, have been guilty of a vicious scj^m&^f^^aifi^tj|,onj;and ; prevarica-' tion, Avl^ft^hTef^'djtor x>f the i "Bisector," a Vancouver publication dealing with matters ' clerical, spiritual and temporal, has been over- credulous and hasty m. publishing certain affidavits n connection with a priceless parcel of parsoriical pantomine. From what these various sources appear to ihdicate, the intriguing spasm of unwisdom did not commence with the suggested misalliances between Orr and Mrs. Fleck, but with the engagement of a stenographer at" the Central Church. She was appointed to deal with general matters relative to the work of the church, but it was not long before the elders observed a degree of unnecessary familiarity between her. and the minister. Although they did not consider the couple were guilty of anything more than unwonted carelessness m their conception of requisite conduct on the part of its church officers, she was politely advised to leave. Orr, was away for' two months' holiday at the time when the little lady of pothooks and pulchritude forsook the evangelical typewriter at Central Church, taking with her a month's salary m lieu of notice. "You're Too Old" On his return to Vancouver, Orr im- ! mediately re-engaged her as hia own private stenographer, to attend at his own house instead of at the office of the church. : When he had disposed of the elders instrumental m securing her removal, she was re-engaged as official stenographer to the church once more — or so it is said. The little wisp of gossip which blew along m .the wake of this situation was, however, .blown completely out of sight by a hurricane of conjecture, suspicion,, tittle-tattle, finger-wagging and declaration", concerning the subsequent behavior of Orr and Mrs. Fleck. This aristocratic lady lived alone, for the most part, at any rate, m a mansion on Angus Avenue, whilst her husband', though m ot formally separated from her,, lived m an exclusive club m Portland, Oregon. A wealty man, Fleck was perturbed when the 'black clouds tipped the matrimonial horizon and declared his anxiety to prevent any scandal arising out of the circumstance. According to the "Bisector," Dr. Henderson, of St. Andrews' Church, resided close by Central Presby- . terian Church, and was for a considerable period an unwilling eyewitness of the coming and going of Orr and Mrs. Fleck', a condition which caused the worthy divine a great .deal of grief and anxiety. But the piquancy of the story Is heightened considerably by the affidavit sworn before a notary public on March 16 of this year, by a Mrs. Petrie, wife of the church officer. It seems that only one telephone wire joined the church precincts with the outer world, and this wjre was made a party-connection system by three branches, one m the minister's office, one m the church secretary's office and the third extending to the Petries' apartment. ■ ' •■ Mrs. Petrie's duties included the answering of "phone calls during the absence of the stenographer, particularly m the" evening, and on numerous oorc r casions during the evenings she heard a woman's voice speaking to the minister. Mrs. Petrie said she could not avoid overhearing parts of the conversations which -ensued between the two parties and quite frequently she heard the same voice confirming arrangements for. future appointments. By degrees she gathered -that the same woman rang up quite regularly and that she and Orr were m the habit

of keeping their tryst m the church buildings. As an^ example, she declared the following conversation to have continued over the telephone: "Did you bring: HER down with you?" the woman would ask, and Orr would reply: "No;" "I'll be right down'," came the re-' sponse — and within fifteen minutes or so the Fleck automobile would draw up near the church, and Mrs. Fleckwould step out, making her way to a door m thesmost remote, part of the building. ■...■■' . ( .';■ Till fong after midnight, the light m Orr's room would still shine v through, even till as late as ;te'rt||;i minutes past two, m somft in-jg stances. „• ' ■'„' .--. .' /•''* >-$^ •:'" :^This-\weritVdh^.thVo.iigiputv^ft^p^i^ of i9V/'declared Mrs;^etrie." '' ' W. I. Walker, .elder anu convenor of the committee responsible for the use of the church, had given instructions that when committee or other meetings were held at night, all doors were to be securely fastened when the meetings had concluded, but on several

jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiniiiiuniiiiiiniiiiiniiiiiniiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiii occasions doors were found unlocked m the morning. Exasperated at the way In which his instructions had been disregarded, Walker instructed Petrie to. fix a bolt to the door, and a six-inch steel bolt, secured by stout screws, was accordingly attached to it. To Walker's amazement, the morning following the fixture of the bolt, the door was found wide open, the bolt having been wrenched right off. The suggestion is that a car was attached to the handle of the door by means of a piece of wire, and that someone rapidly accelerated the engine, completely stripping the door of its bolt. ' Towards the. end of April, 1927, Ondemanded a private telephone line to his own room, a request which was carried out on May 4. On the evening before this was accomplished, however, Walker determined to hear for himself the sort of conversations which Mrs. Petrie had reported to him, so he, instructed her to listen at the receiver m her husband's apartment, whilst he • (Walker) also'listened-in on the other wire. This is what they are supposed to ljave heard: . Woman: "I wish you could see me npwl I am sitting here just as nude as my nose."

Orr: "Precious one! How I would lo^e to see you ! You are m wonderful form." ■;" Woman: "Yes, but you are top old for me, Don!", ,'■■•:. Orr: "Isn't it terrible?" (Both laughed.) "Are you coming to. the social to-moiTow evening?" Woman: "No. I want to be feeling good for our little jaunt." ; The conversation then'y turned to a. proposed trip to Seattle, similar to the one they allegedly took ; together a short time previously, and after fur-ther-discussion the selection of berths was left m the hands of the minister. Then followed the question as to whether the husband would go down to ' itiW iboat. Although he received the lias{sjdra1 ias{sjdra t nee that Fleck would ript^^e •uonaVy measure i. 'of ' renuaining ,out" of sight. • > The result of this conversation was that Walker consulted another elder of the church arid they decided to take a trip by the same C.P.R.- steamer from Vancouver to Victoria. " True to his promise, Orr arrived very

IIIIIIIIIIIUIMMIIIMIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII early and immediately went down to his cabin, from which he did hot emerge all the way down the coast. "Some of Orr's friends have asserted that he was acpompanying Mrs. Fleck merely as a good Samaritan, with the idea of bringing about a reconciliation between her and her husband m Seattle, but- it so happens that Fleck was m Vancouver at the time, living under the same roof as his wife. . "Whatever the reasons she gave him for her trip to Seattle, he was down at the pier, waving her 'Good-bye' as the boat sailed," commented the "Bisector," editorially. - Mrs. Fleck had been assigned a cabin some distance away from Orr's, but it is understood that before the boat sailed she went to the purser and arranged to have the. cabin next to that of the minister. : She then entered his cabin. ... Meantime, the two. elders repaired to the purser's quarters and asked to examine the books, from which they ascertained that the riiinister had sailed under the pseudonym of "Mr. Robertson" — his middle name. ■ When the ship arrived at Victoria, the two elders went ashore, close behind Mrs. Fleck, who, having paid a visit to the city, returned to the ship a few minutes before it ' was due to aail.

She went straight down to Orr'a cabin; '■•■- --' The elder who accompanied Walker on the trip pf investigation wished to see for himself whether Orr was really travelling by the steamer, so he ran down to the cabin Orr had booked and knocked on the door. ' When Mrs. Fleck, opened the door, the elder asked whether the Rev. Robertson -Orr was m, whereupon Mrs. Fleck turned to someone sitting up m bed and said that someone wished to see "him." It was the Rev. Robertson- Orr, who, at three m the afternoon, sitting up m bed, his trousers hanging on the footrail of the bunk, met the questioning gaze of the questing elder! The affidavit then, goes on to relate how . ofr^fic!^the,^, Antgr4,cail=< im'nygi'ation ' officers ' aßpe'Sr%affife J the* cabM*cko 6iP arid' asked OJ^ whether his correct name was that shown on the ship's register —also whether the woman m his cabin was his wife. . Orr could riot satisfactorily answei the questions, m that he is said to have admitted she was not his wife, nor had his name been correctly shown. He was then informed that he could not be permitted to enter the United States. The ship was held up for ten minutes while Orr dressed; when this had been accomplished, he and Mrs. Fleck were escorted to the gangway and put ashore. A few days afterwards the subject was brought before the ministers' advisory committee, from which two elders were appointed to wait upon Orr, to whom he is alleged to have admitted that matters were far from right. He was willing to agree to anything they might require of him, eVen to going away and endeavoring to secure a "charge" elsewhere. To this^end, two months' holiday was granted him. Whilst he is said to have admitted making arrangements for the trip, he denied the imputed conversation over the telephone, m which. he 'and Mrs. Nuding Her Nose Fleck are supposed to have indulged m[ a highly provocative stream of badinage. He continued his denials right up till November of last year, when he called a meeting m session. To the surprise of the elders who were present, Orr was accompanied by his wife, who, with her husband, asserted that she was present during the 'phone conversation, and that although certain expressions had passed over the wire, those listening-in had completely misconstrued tnem. Mrs. Orr produced a box of face powder, of a tint known as "nude," and claimed that, this was the powder Mrs. Fleck had been m the habit ot using. According to the statement of Mrs. Orr at the Session meeting, the Orrs and Mrs. Fleck had a little joke among, themselves about her "nuding her nose." The elders, comments the "Bisector," were completely nonplussed that such a delightfully simple explanation was available of an expression which had caused such heart-burning m the congre- . gation for six months. It was almost too good to be true— and those who had brought the charge were silenced! To this the church .organ, replies: "It doesn't seem to have struck them that if 'nuding her nose' were a common joke between the Orrs and Mrs. Fleck, Mr. Orr would never have dreamt of letting a filthy perversion of it pass current for six months, without stating, the plain fact." Meantime, a. special commission of the fashionable Central Presbyterian Church has decided to suspend from holy orders the minister who left Mew Zealand three years ago, to seek flocks anew m Canada, and who is now cited as co-respondent by Fleck, a middleaged financier. • . , The curious part about .the Orrs' explanation of the powdering incident is that Fleck's counsel alleges that the so-called "nude" powder was not on sale m Vancouver until some weeks after the alleged telephone conversation. - So there you have it, and until the action for divol-ce has been satisfactorily effected, the Rev. Robertson-Orr is relieved from the performance of his spiritual duties among the fashionable atmosphere of his moneyed worshippers, whilst the public will be exercising its volatile mind as to whether Orr was really very wicked— or has been the unfortunate victim of dulled hearing and precipitate judgment.