A Former Methodist Parson's Latest Misdemeanour

NZ Truth, Issue 1205, 3 January 1929, Page 1

A Former Methodist Parson's Latest Misdemeanour

EACH has suffered the questionable distinction of being unfrocked for misbehavior — Griggs for his immoral associations with a young woman member of his congregation; Irvine, because he embezzled the Home Mission funds of his church — while the character and record of each shows the unmistakable flair for crookedness ahd smooth deception. Their methods of approach are peculiarly alike, too, since each seems drawn to theological atmospheres, where an intimate knowledge of church work and workers provides fertile soil for the practising of doubtful ventures. Both are scoundrels. Smooth unction, and brains which are adept at procuring material that will secure them passports to the homes of any, or at least most Methodist churchgoers m

Blank Certificates

I : Jl towns where they operate, are theirs, and they do not neglect opportunities. There seems no doubt but that Irvine is m New Zealand, still following the warped trail he has chosen, continuing to deceive and defraud religious people by employing bis training for a sacred vocation to extract money from them under what he pretends are business circumstances. About four months ago he fled from Australia and came over to this country, but before leaving Sydney he armed himself with a supply of blank church certificates ; and any other documents which i would assist him m effecting his ! mischievous schemes. ! Shortly after his arrival m New Zea- ( land, "Truth" whipped the mantle from ; his activities m Invercargill and Dune- -i din,. g.nd proved that the certificates he

HE WORMED HIS WAY WITH SILK R.L. Irvine Gets Job As Travelling Salesman and Collects Deposits, Until His Principals Collect Him SCATHING LETTER OF WARNING FROM AUSTRALIA

:h operates from ington was visiturpose of organizh comprises Duning towns, and to i would operate m c allocated there, advertisement m

The labyrinth known as humanity is pock-marked with queer, twisted trails which cross and re-cross each other; sometimes, one seems so much like another, and a similarity m those finger-posts which we have called " personalities" leads travellers to the place of wrong conclusions. It is not surprising, therefore, that the single-hearted church folk of Invercargill and Dunedin, should have been misled by the extraordinary likeness between Ronald Reeves Griggs, arch hypocrite, and one-time Methodist parson m Eastern Gippsland (Australia) and Robert L. Irvine, another minister of the same faith, who was drummed out of two towns m South Australia, and served two months m Wallaroo gaol.

5] All that "Truth 1 said about Irvine was confirmed by a letter from this South Australiar minister, who said: "Dear Sir, — Having noticed an account m your paper of Robert L. Irvine, 1 would like to say that all you have printed as regards hi s character is true. I would also like to state that I entirely agree with the gentleman who said: 'It jj is high time the people of Australia and New Zealand received a public warning about him. "I would also add Tasmania. He will try every State and every place with his plausible tales. While m this town he got up to his tricks and betrayed me, but I was instrumental m bringing him to book for the sake of

showed to the fri Methodist church people m those southern towns, where he attempted to sustain his bona fides as a minister of the. church m Sydney were spurious. He still persists m his old habit of changing his name to "Wilson," although he assumed the incognito of "Bradley" m the transactions with which this story really is concerned. The sales mana- It ger of a certain soft-goods firm whic headquartecs m Welli ing Dunedin for the pi ing. the territory whirl edin and its neighbori appoint salesmen who various districts to b€ In answer to his i

the local daily new sp a pers for salesmen, c a m c a man named Bradley, who said he was staying at the Rugby ho t el, that he had read the advertisenusn t and '#Jaiaf v .fattracte , d;- by it. Bradley was what the Americans probably would be inclined to call a personable sort of chap, nicely - spoken and the type gifted with g that gentle per- I suasiveness which " is supposed to have such a devastating effect upon the susceptibilities of ' potential lady customers. '. •The business to be conducted wag for the most part reliant upon the allurements of time payment, whereby ladies might purchase silken articles through the. agency of small deposits and pendant instalments. The class of trade, m fine, which calls for delicacy and a smooth understanding of feminine psychology. Bradley was assigned to the Milton and Balclutha areas, an achievement which cost him £3 deposit on his case of samples, and on the following day he was driven over his territory by the sales manager, who instructed him m the employment of the more attractive sales talks which had met with profitable results m other parts of the country. Bradley proved an apt appren- ' tice, and two or three days later he rang his sales manager from . Milton, telling him that business was extremely good. Nothing was heard either of or from him for some three weeks after that. Meantime, the manager of the firm visited Christchurch, and while there rang; the sales manager who still was m Dunedin, asking what had become af Bradley, as no orders had been received from him at the Wellington office, a circumstance which appeared to liim as curious, par:icularly as Bradley lad reported fruitful gleanings m ( Milton and Bal- ~" ~ ;lutha. The sales manager replied that le thought Bradley a fairly decent stamp of man, who, no doubt, would >ut m an appearance before long. To what extent, and m what manler his prophecy was fulfilled will :learly be shown. Not many days after the longdistance telephone conversation, the sales manager went to Christchurch, and while looking out through the window of his room m the Ambassador hotel he saw his Milton representative walking along, hatless, on the other side of .the street. Curiously enough, Bradley turned lis gaze m the direction of the hotel windows, but when he caught sight f the sales manager, his comparative aunter changed into one of more huried gait, and by the time the. executive ad descended the hotel stairway, and ained the . street, Bradley. was rankly running along Manchester Itreet. A fast car soon overtook him, and he Doked extremely crestfallen when a ark-green sedan car came to. a standtill a. few paces ahead of him,' and is sales maJlager stepped off the ing-board.*!-"Bradley, come here. Why are you unning away?" was the query. "Oh, I'm not running away from ou," was the response. "I'm just unning away fpom my girl," and with lat he suddenly .dashed towards the ntrance to a garage, disappeared irough the wicket gate of a roar door, over the boards of a fence, nd was gone. ■'.'.- He was soon run to earth, and given > understand that if. the sample case apposed to be m his room at an hotel as not returned by half-past five that

He Ran Away

evening, there would bfc the un- . pleasant alternative of an interview With the police. But he failed to keep tho appointment. About 6.15 p.m. the sales manager Avent ouV m hisT.'c'ar to look for the defaulter, and a few minutes afterwards espied Bradle y sneaking round a corner. A slight depression of the car's accel erator and _ Bradley was once m ore overtaken. Before he realized what had happened he was 'swung round by the. coatcollar. whisked into the front seat of the car, and confronted by an irate executive, who demanded the immediate return of the sample case. So as to draw a rein on the elusive spirit of Bradley, the man at the wheel accompanied him to his room, recovered the . firm's property, and after tendering a few words of advice returned to the hall of the small hotel, where he enquired for the proprietor. "Have you a man named Bradley staying here — m room 12?" he enquired. "No, I don't think so," replied the landlady, but when the salesman's description was related to her, she said: "Oh, you mean Mr. Wilson!" She was then told a few things concerning' her guest, with the result that she took her informant's advice ..to "kick this man out." . But the chapter of "Wilson's" exploits was by no means complete, since a week later the firm which had employed him received a, number of complaints from their Timaru agent, who said that a man who answered to Wilson's or Bradley's description had closely raked the local territory, secured a number of deposits for certain articles, and informed the residents upon whom he called that the I local agent was an absolute fraud. 1 n most cases these orders were booked at prices considerably lower than those scheduled by the com- '■ pany, which made !it all the more difficult for the accredited agent of the company, to establish his bona fides. By some trick of good fortune, the sales manager's wife happened to be looking out from the window of the hotel at the same time as her husband, when he saw Bradley passing the hotel, and as soon as she saw the salesman's face she exclaimed: "I've seen that man's face m 'Truth.' I'm sure I have." Access to the files at the Wellington office of this paper soon proved her correct, and when the husband's memory was refreshed by re-reading what he had seen m a previous issue, it» occurred to him that some of his conversations with his Milton salesman suggested .very strongly that the man who forged the signature of a Sydney Sunday school superintendent was the same person who defrauded the people of northern Otago. Everything seemed to point that way. Irvine and Wilson told the church authorities of Invercargill and Dunedin that his wife and children had been killed m a frightful motor sma^h m Sydney. He told the same i story to the softgoods manager. . Most of Bradley's prospects, or a victims, as the case may be, were , religious people, and theological . | subjects were the principal element m his conversations. His description coincided with that given ."Truth" by ''th • man who employed him to- sell <?Ukeu, garments. It alao tallies with tho photograph which appears on this page — a photograph" n sentovejr by "Trutl , 's" Melbourne of- r flee' as the result of.a most illuminating letter received from a Methodist 0 clergyjnan In Australia, C

the community and. the Church's name, and my character also, and as a consequence he got two months m Wallaroo gaol. "I knew him at the Front, and can now understand his attitude towards women and the Church. I produce a photo for your paper which will aid the New Zealand authorities to distinguish him, and enclose it for your beneflt. "Irvine while m South Australia was known as Wilson, and m the town of Clare he flitted away owing a fortnight's board. He did the same m Snowtown. The publicans and parsons were the victims m South Australia — a strange blending. ''As a Methodist minister I feel very much for my Church being the victims of such a condemned liar as this man Irvine.

Going Northward

"Yours for the truth and the Methodist Church." A few days ago Irvjne was seen m Palmerston North, evidently making his way • northwards, though what means of livelihood are his "Truth" has not been able to ascertain. Whatever they are, and wherever, they may lead him, it is extremely likely that if his feet continue to wander from the ways that are straight, the Criminal Investigation Department will take more than a slight interest m his progress. More than that, it behoves every reader of this article closely to study the face of this plausible individual who, his mouth filled with pleasant phrases, may turn his attributes to advantage.