INTERESTING BIOGRAPHY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1535, 4 January 1887, Page 2

INTERESTING BIOGRAPHY.

A CLEVER CLERICAL IMPOSTOR

An individual who represented himself as the Rev. Mr Keatinge, a converted priest, has been making a remarkable stir, in religious '.circles in Dublin recently* A Home exchange has the following ;—v On.; tsould think that the,time had comewhen an impudent and audacious fraud of; the kind said to be involved in this business could not be heard of in these islands except in the sensational page* of novelists like Wiikie Collins or Miss Braddon. But i by the affairt Keatinge that view is quite put aside, because if the matters now freely epoken of by those who know them •re true, as to all appearance they are, a • very daring imposture has been effectually carried on and maintained for several months, suspicion, and it is anticipated foil exposure, resulting from mere accident. Some montbß ago the " divine" alluded to called upon the late Mr Thomas H. Thompson, of this city, iod unfolded to him a narrative of persecution. He alleged that he had been a priest of the Church of. Borne, in fact that he was an ex-novice of the Jesuit order, (priests even are not admitted into the Jesuit order without a long uovitute); he added that he had been employed in a secretarial capacity to the late Cardinal Antonelli, who, he said, was poisoned. He had come, he alleged, to such a knowledge of and revulsion against the doctrines and practices of the Church of Rome that be could no longer remain within the Jusuit order, or even within the Catholic community. . He had formed the acquaintance of a nun, lie further stated, who like himself was eager to shake off the bonds, and eventually they determined to get mairied and go away together. Since that day ' he: had been, as he said, pursued with sleuth-hound pertinacity and relentless persecution by the Church of Rome. He wan followed, he said, to America, and ; even the Pope himself had assumed a dis guiße to track him to earth and run him down. He had survived all this, how* ever, and had formally embraced the Protestaot Church, and become a minister of the Gospel in ii, Mt f Thompson introduced him to the / Priests' Protection Society, and the Rev. Mr Mills had great pleasure in showing the neophyte through the schools of the Missions; During his visits to those schools the Rev. Mr Keatinge, for so he called himself, delivered some . addresses to the children,' the beauty of , the diction of which was so remarkable, and the knowledge of Scripture displayed in which was so deep, as to attrtct the : rapt attention of all, old as well an young, who heard the Rev. Mr Keatinge. After, a time be was introduced'to the congregation of the Milltown Chureb, and eventually Lord Plunket, the archbishop, was induced by the fame of hiawloquence to grant him a license to preach and officiate. For several weeks—during tha absence of the rector, the Rev. Dr. Moffatt —he did duty in Milltown Church on *> Sundays, taking the service, administering the Sacrament; and preaching to the congregation with a certain power .that seemed to impress them greatly. After the Rev. Dr. Moffatt's return a majority of the congregation asked him to appoint the Rev. Air Keatinge as- curate, and after some demur—not altogether liking his coadju'or- he consented. The appointment, however, was not made, for this reason:—Mr Keatinge having been spoken to by the Rev. Dr. Moffat about his assumption of authority in Church matters at Milltown, was treated to a reply so insolent and unclerical iu tone and terms as to at once induce the Rev. Dr. Moffat to point-blank refuse to have anything further to do with his rev. "reformed" friend. There being no help for it, the Rev. Mr Keatinge, as he was called, had to leave, and he next turned up as a noted, indeed almost a famous, preacher in the Albert Chapel Molyneux Asylum, Peter street. The Rev. Mr Keatinge, as he jras generally recognised to be, became the centre of attraction. His sermons became the talk of the town,: and he absolutely excited the jealousy of some of the v k established preachers by reason of theVj( novelty of his rhetoric. The Rev. Dr. Moffat, who had looked upon his quasi* curate from the beginning with somewhat of suspicion, now vigilantly looked him up. The lady by whom Mr Keatinge was accompanied was of a rather; frowsy description, and there were other noteworthy matters challenging inquiry. Although he had , the , testimony of several lay Protestants to the exceed* ing Scriptural skill of; the Kev. Mr Keatinge, the Rev. Dr. Moffatt harbored doubts about the antecedents of his coadjutor. Tbecongregation, however, seem to have been decidedly on Mr Keatinge ■ side. They ascribed Dr Moffatt's objections to conservatism if not to jealousy, and upheld Mr Keatinge. ...The two first sermons Mr Keatinge preached.!were de»" livered apparently extempore. : At the commencement of the third operand be* . fore a crowded congregation, he appeared in the pulpit with a .manuscript, -Tho Rev. Mr Keatinge explained his digression in a couple of sentences, to the effect.that with the sanction of Archbishop Lord Plunket he had adopted the practice of reading his sermons, lest in the heat of his horror against the Church of Rome, by which since bis secession he had been bunted from post to pillar, he should say something, the warmth of which.would be derogatory to the dignity of the pulpit. His written sermou was more beautiful still than his spoken one. He occasioned a furore, and one of his subsequent sir. mons, suitable to the season, and entitled " The fall of the leaf," was regarded as a masterpiece of charch oratory.; In the meantime the Rev. Dr Moffat puraued bis investigations, and having learned in conversation vith the Rev. Mr Keatinge that he had been at Stoneyhurat some f ime, wrote to the rector of the Jeiait College to learn if ; he knew of such [Jewish student. The query elicited %P> reply from the lector to tbe effect that from time to time he bad received similar questions, that to each of them lie had returned a similar answer, that there was no , »uch student, and that thire was no such ' Jesuit, and that the police would have to J be communicated with. The affair was as quiet as possible, but Lord Plunket was < Ar' informed of the matter, and an inhibi- t tion was, as announced ,by tbe papers served on Mr Keatinge as bo was about to preach to the enormous congrega* . tion which the fame of his eloquence bed attracted as usual in the church. There were am le grounds for the Juhibition. The Rev. Dr Moffatt went to Worcester l ( r where he was informed he could glean ./

i| some astounding fact*. There evidence was ; placed before bim which seemed to conclusively identify us one person "the Rev. Mr Keatinge," of Dublin, and Arthur H. Moreton, alias Dr Keatinge, convict of Worcester, sentenced to penal servitude for forging qualifications as a clergyman of the Protestant C'h'nroh. A photograph of Moreton in convict garb wasjplaced in his ' hand by the chief of the Worcester police, and the likeness of Keating* was at once fecogniaed. Other mutters of fact, including samples of handwriting, were adduced to sustain the Identity and prove home the case: We think we are justified in calling this a startling incident. As we have stated, the affair ha* occasioned not a little sensation amongst our Protestant friends, with the younger member*' <>f whom ihosoiditant Jesuit pseudn preacher had become a considerable favourite. He was a man of middle age, medium itature, light, spare build, «nd dark complexion. His feature are strongly narked, and Jewish in expression. A few additional mattero may be mentioned. The masterpiece, " The Falling of the leaf," has -ince been found in the •tandard V" 1, mid of Addresses of Canon Liddoo, ol o!. Paul's, London. The Bev. Mr Keatinge began his ministrations at Milltown on Whit-Sunday, aud confinned them until the last week of September. Though he conducted the service,'and led the hymns and read the prayers, asd administered the a»orament of the Lord's Supper, he did not celebrate '•■ marriages. It has been ascertained that while"«• officiating " in Worcester he did marry several couples, and much troubUhas been thereby caused; To authenticate his credentials tojhe •' Priests' Protection Society," the Bev. Mr Keatinge produced, it is admitted, a huge red seal, which he described as the seal of the Roman College at which he was ordained. It is said that he has been at one time an attorney's clerk. The "Bey"T. 0. Keatinge has fled ; from Dublin. This was certain to happen, in view |6f: the detection and exposure which he must have anticipated when he a wa* presented with the Most Rev. Lord Plunket's estoppel almost at the pulpit «r ltaiTs last Sunday morning. If he had " remained a day or two longer he would 'have been asked to explain some entries on the''-official criminal records of Worcester *nd other English towns which there- is not a shadow of doubt properly attach to the recent distinguished pulpit orator at the Molyneux Church, Peter street. These records show that on Ist January', 1858, * Arthur Henry Moreton,' alia* Thomas Keatinge indicted as Thomas Keatinge, alia* Thomas Arthur Henry Moreton, "was convicted a* Shrewsbury of obtaining'money under false pretences, ) and sentenced to three months imprisonment. In the indictment he was described as "clerk in Holy orders.' Again at the Guilford Summer Assizes, 1868, the' same Keatinge,' alia* Edward Manderville Moreton, was a second time 'tried and convicted of obtaining money tinder false pretences, and reoei red a sentence of twelve months' hard labor. Liberated in August, 1859, his history for thirteen years and four months is a blank. . The next entry .on the roll of " crime testifies that on the 14th December 1872, under the name of Arthur H. Moretan, alias Keatinge. the selfsame -individual was convicted at the Worcester " Assizes of uttering and forging documents purporting to be issued by the Protestant Bishop of Bath and Wells. Verdicts'-of «* guilty" were given in both these cases, and the judge passed a sentence of five years penal servitude, with'seven years' police supervision. The jury even then were not done with the clerical rogue. Once more he was called on to plead to an indictment—the •fourth of this memorab'e day in his career-charging him with forging and altering letters of oider*. Again he was convicted, and a sentence of eeven years penal earvitude was pronounced by Baron Bramwell. Some technical points were raised as to the last on the list of convictions, and it subsequently was quashed, the sentence falling with it. The tno other penal sentences, however, remained to be espied, and Keatinge alia* Morer ton, left the of Worcester Courthouse ou the 14th December, 1872, to ; Ypass eighteen months of hard labor in the '!< gaol of that city, and subsequently five years in penal servitude at Portland Convict Depot. • Assuming that he obtained .* a " ticket-of-leave,' which would shorten : his term a little, he may have been liberated about the closie of 1878. He ; Would still, however, be under police surveillance for seven years, which would 'date ftora the month of June, 1879, six a-half years after his , conviction. a matter of fact, w<j believe he was i? free of police control on the 10th of June, 1886.' On Sunday, the 13th of June.i -'■■ three days later, he made his first uppoar- - ance in the pulpit of St. Philip's Church, ; Milltown, as mentioned in our issue yes-. terday. The later incidents connected wittrhjs clerical career in Dublin need ; Bot be repeated. : The police here have no doubt that Heatiigeis an Englishman, and there is reasoa to think that lie lived for some time in America; There is not the / amallest evidence that he waß a Catholic priest or had belonged to the Jesuit "''■' Order. As stated yesterday, the rector of Stoneyhurst, who has ample knowledge, avers that Keatinge never was a member of the English province of the Order. It appears, however, that he was credited f ■■' by the " Priests' Protection Society "in tb'w city as a •• reformed priest" and an T "ex-Jesuit," and, so regarded, Keatinge s'■ waa enabled to practise on the credulity of tbe Most Rev. Lord Plupket and a ■elect Protestant circle—clerical and lay —from the 13tb June last to the 17th of -., Oetober, when his career of imposture ! was closed, at all eveotes in Dublin. The "Rev" Mr Keatinge and Mrs '•■''■ Keatinge resided at No. 4 Dunville ' Avenue, Rathmines—a Bmall two-storey -house, valued at £ll a year. The rent was £2O No female servant was kept, but a »uiall boy assisted Mrs Keatinge in .the domestic duties of the establishment. On Sunday aud Monday last inquirers at the house—they were very numerous—were told that Mr and Mrs Keatinge Were "unwell," and could not be seen. At 4 o'clock on Sunday the " rev.^gealtetleman left in a cab, carrying with him some luggage. He has not since been heard of. Mrs Keatinge, it is stated, occupies the ■ house. • Asa proof of the hold that the selfstyled convert had upon the congregation 'dt'SvPhilip's Church, Milltown, we may .'.i mention that the " Keatinge Presentation '■'• !il l?uud ' was started she weeks ago, and had reached £IOO when the susp oion of tharector wufint axdtecL The money

was not parted with ; it will, it is stated, bo reclaimed by the befooled subscribers. A Worcester; correspondent furnishes the following particulars of the Rev. Mr Keatinge : In the Police Gazette for March, 1882, among tbe persons wanted for various offences figures the namea of Thomas Keatinge, alias Henry Arthur Alexander Moreton, alais Arthur Mandeville Moreton, who v, '.is gazetted for failing to report hitnseir to the Worcester Police, as he should have done, being then under supervision, for comparative purposes. The description of him given in the illustrated circular issued from the Criminal Investigation Department may be interesting. He ia described aa follows: Age 47, height 5 feet 6 inches, sallow complexion, grey eyes, light brown hair tinged with grey, burn mark on back of right band, cuts on first right finger and iM'tween thumb and forefinger, division mark upper part nose, proportionate lined square face. It is added

This man's career has been most extraordinary. He passes himself off as a clergyman by means of false orders, and by them obtained genuine ones from the Archbishop of Canterbury, and he actually uppears in this year's (1882) clergy list. He has been convicted in America, Australia, and in several English counties. He is accompanied by a woman who passes as his wife, but is known as " Polly ;" she has been convicted abroad, and is an excellent forger. He is also wanted for cases of fraud on gentlemen in Worcester districts. Keatinge is further said to be a well educated man, able to apeak several languages, including Hebrew, and to be a fluent speaker and eloquent preacher. : In view of the suggestion that this man and the Rev. Mr Keatinge, who has jufct quitted Dublin, are identical, some sketch of his sensational life will be interesting. Where Keatinge's boyhood was spent is hot exactly clear, but in 1845 he was living in London with his parentsr In this year his mother died, and he was deserted by his father, of whom nothing has been heard since. In 1847 he was sent with his sister to the parish of Mounttield, in Sussex, and maintained for a time by a maternal ancle, and finally became an inmate of the Battle Union Workhouse. While there he expressed a wish to embrace the Roman Catholic religion, in consequence of which be was removed by Father Melia, and having been received in the Reman Catholic Church he was sent for a short time to where he wbb kindly treated by Mr Stillwell,a friend of Dr Melia ; thence to Hastings, so as to be near that gentleman; and finally, after passing some time ia London with Dr Faa, he was transferred to the Mis»ion College at Rome, where he became so troublesome that in about a year he was sent home. On his return to England he called upon the gentleman who bad befriended him at Graveseni and informed him that he felt he had no vocution for the life of a religieuse. Seeing that he was without means, this gentleman took lodgings for him with a view to getting him employment, not having yet heard of his conduct at Rome; but he was soon obliged to get rid of him, owing to his behaviour, and Keatinge (then called Crouch) then applied for relief to the overseers of the parish, and summoned his benefactor before the magistrates on a charge of assault. Some time after this by some means he got to Rome, and became tutor to tbe son of an Italian prince ; but feeling that occupation of this nature did not accord with his ambitious aspirations, he resolved to become a Cardinal, at least in bia appearance. To accomplish this it became necessary to obtain a Cardinal's dress, which by some means he succeeded in doing, and thus decked out he strutted stately about the city, receiving more than ordinary murks of respect owiug to his supposed superior merit, arising from the circumstance that one so young should have attained to so exalted o position. One day, observiog a number of carriages going to and returning from a Cardinal's place, at which there was a conversazione, he stopped one of them and, having by some means induced the coachman to allow bim to enter it, he was driven in state to the palace. To leave equally in state he was unable to do, and thus attracted more thtn ordinary attention. He was recognised and next day summoned before a high official, by whom he was informed that unless he left Rome within twenty-four; hours he would be incarcerated in Castle St, Angelo, Accordingly he " made tracks" for Florence, when he attracted sufficient notice to warrant an escort to the frontier. From this time to the close of 1857 nothing is known of his movements, except that he visited Marseilles, where lie manifested that disposition to "bilk the landlord, which became so highly developed in after life, but it ia supposed that be visited Jerusalem and other parts of. Palestine. At, the period last mentioned he appeared in Bridgenorth as •• Piofesaor Morton," and was announced to delivtr a lecture in the Bluecoat School, but he did not do so. From Mr Edkins, a printer, he obtained 19s by pre- | tending that the Rev. Mr Fletcher, of Bilston, was his friend, and had money belonging to him, and then hastily left ibe town. In January, 1878, be was indicted at the Bridgenorth quarter sessions in the name of "Edward Arthur Augustus Morton "■ for having so obtained the 10a, and sentenced to three months' imprisonment with bard labor. While in Shrewsbury gaol be wrote a poem and some sermons. The first stanza of " The Prisoner's Complaint" ran thus.: — Stay memory, stay, the aching thought of joy for ever past and gone, My life is now with misery fraught, in my Bad cell I weep alone. And the "Complaint," which consists of five stanzas, is followed by the " Reply of Religion,' which commences— Child of sin and sorrow, wherefore repine At God's most holy, meroiful design To save as well as punish for thy sin, And lead thy careless heart to Him ? Afterwards be got twelve months' hard labor at Guildford Assizes for false pretences. Oh being released he migrated to Helmden, where he informed the Rev. Dr Foster that he was thoroughly con. vinced infant baptism was unscriptural, and expressed a desire to be baptised. The conversion of a man of his supposed standing in the Church caused" considerable excitement at Stoney-Stratford, and Mr Foster was* so charmed with his new convert that he allowed him to preach in his church. He soon beoame a favorite, and took advantage of the circumitance|to make himself the-idol||of

the fair sex, and proposed a marriage with several young ladies, and was near being accepted by one of then. From he went to London, where he imposed upon the Rev. Newman Hall, Mr Re.nington Mills, M.P, and Others. Early in 1860 he went to Brentford to lecture on " London Life." There he was married in the name of Arthur Henry Montague Moreton to a widow in whose house he lodged. The marriage took place in the parish church on the 23rd June, 1860. A few months after he with his wife went to York, and it was there that she discovered that his real name was Crouch. Subsequently he deserted her. Mr King recommended him afterwards for a chaplaincy on board the Boanerges, bound for Austmlia, but he appears to have behaved badly on board, and to have been dismissed. On the arriva' of the vessel, however, he soon imposed on one of the bishops, but, unfortunately for himself, what promised to be a pleasant occupation—viz., the duties of a clergyman—ended in his being condemned, some say, to a term of imprisonment on the public road. Whatever may have been the duration of his imprisonment, it is clear that on the 25th May, 1865, he arrived in London from Tasmania in the ship Rifleman, Captain Norie, acting as tutor to the sons of a Mr M'Quaide, one of the passengers. Shortly after this he entered father Ignatius's monastery at Norwich, taking the monastic name of Brother Manus. The disturbance he created there and the manner in which he left are well known. There is no need to refer to his sojourn there beyond stating that as a result of the rebellion which he was accused of having fomented he left, and at once entered the Roman Catholic monastery at Claphara. Next he agreed with the Rev. Mr Vincent, of Stafford, to become his temporary curate. The negotiation took place through Mr Brisson, clerical atrent, who lent £3, but Moreton never appeared at Stafford. At this period he bad in bis possession the following certificate, written ou paper bearing the aims of the .University of London : University of London, Burlington House, W., February 11th, 1885.

1 hereby certify that Mr Arthur 6. H. A. Moreton, of University College, obtained the degree of Master of Arts in this University in 1859, and . Bachelor in 1845.

(Signed), WiILUM D. Carpbntbr, M.D. "if this certificate were genuine he would have obtained his degree of Bachelor when he was from fourteen to sixteen years of age. He was also in possession of testimonials purporting to be signed by the Bishop of Ripon, the Bishop of Brisbane, Lord Ebury, Lord Auckland (the Bishop of Bath and Wells), and other distinguished people. Next he turned up at Worcester, obtaining, through the medium of a London agent, an appointment as curate of St. Martin's. He appeared before the Bishop of Worcester to have the appointment confirmed, but the state of his paper credentials attracted notice, which he attributed tc the action of sea water. He performed the duties which usually fall to tbe lot of curates, murrping, baptising, and so on. The rector, the Rev. T. L. Wheeler, says— During the time he was staying at my house I advanced him money. I gave him a cheque for £5 (which he said he wanted for his landlady in London, and which I made out in her name) and £5 in cash to supply his immediate wants. Once, in consequence of a communication 1 received, 1 went U Moreton's lodging* at Green-hill. I saw him and said to him I was anxious to see the letters of orders he produced before the bishop. He handed them to me, and the sight of them confirmed my suspicions. I made an appointment to go with him to the bishop (who waa then in Worcester) in a quarter of an hour, but he did sot keep the appointment, and I did not see him again until after he was apprehended. Mr Wheeler, on a close examination of the letters, could distinctly trace the came of Lyne, over which the name of Moreton appeared to have been written. After his flight from Worcester in 1862 he imposed on the Bev. J. B. Owen, obtaining the curacy of St. JudeV, Chalsea, and disappearing after borrowing £lO and obtaining a suit of clothes. Trying his fortunes in the New World, he made himself very prominent in America in 1870, when he lectured, wrote essays and pamphlets, preaohed in New York, Boston, and other places with great success, was patronised by the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, whose pulpit he ocoupied, and was licensed by Bishop Potter, of the Episcopal Church. Ultimately a Catholic priest, the Bev. Mr Hacker, showed bim up as as impostor, and Mr Beecher withdrew bis patronage and Bishop Potter his license. " Polly," his reputed wife, acoompaaisd him to the States.

An Amerioau newspaper, writing of him,> said —" The atench that has arisen from the .corruption and the calumny left behind him is unparalleled, and he may rest assured that he will always be known through it in this locality." Finding himself in a hornet's nest, he went to Montreal, where he played the touchstone with great spirit, and finally he is said to bare opened a correspondence with a Jesuit clergyman named Hamlin in Quebee with a yisw to entering the Order. " Polly " was an impediment to the consummation of b)B wish, as Mr Hamlin insisted on his separation from Mrs Keafcinge, who it may be added, passed as a daughter of an English clergyman from Canada.

He returned to England, landing at Bristol in June, 1872. There he and Polly stayed at the Guildhall Hotel for some time, finally leaviog without paying their bill of £23. Thenoe they went to Cheltenham, next to London, and in the Autum Keatinge .vat arrested by the Worcester police for defrauding the Ber. Mr Wheeler. Baron Bramwell sentenced him at the winter assizes, Woroester, to eighteen months' hard labour, fiye years' penal, and seven years police supervision, a variety of charges being proved against binh He is still wanted by the Worcester police for frauds on eUrgymen in the district and for failing to report himself. Among the inhabitants of Worcester he his still familiarly spoken of as the sham clergyman of St. Martin's, _^__________