MELBOURNE ORANGE CONSPIRACY

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 29, 20 July 1905, Page 3

MELBOURNE ORANGE CONSPIRACY

A FURTHER EXPOSURE Some years ago, in the course of the Post Office Inquiry, sensational evidence was tendered of the existence of an active conspiracy among Orange lodges in Melbourne to drive Catholics out of the Public Service of the St*ate by systematically concerted and * trumpedup accusations of various kinds. The sensation caused by the publication of the unwilling evidence dragged from some of the conspirators is still well remembered in the Victorian metropolis. For some time the brethren found it convenient to ' lay low and say nuffin' '— like Bre'er Rabbit. But for some time paat the chivalrous Knights of the Saffron Sash have been making sundry attacks, in their customary underground way . upon Catholic women. In our last issue we published the Advocate's ' prompt and telling exposure of the Orange conspiracy of slander against the Sisters of the Good Shepherd at Abbotsford, Melbourne. Our valued Melbpurne contemporary has fallowed ,up its first knockout blow by another crushing one in the latesft issue to hand. It says :— The nefarious scheme was given a prominent place in the Dill Macky organ of Orangedsm, which is published in Melbourne, and was bolstered up by an alleged statutory declaration by the girl Laughton before a mysterious justice of tJ-e peace, who, with that modesty so characteristic of the Orange fraternity, veiled his identity behind the initials, T. A. R. J P As we surmised, this too-retiring J.P. turns out to be T A Rogers, the accredited agent of the Dill Macky publication, so tihat he was privileged to take the perjured declaration of an unfortunate runaway from an asylum where she had received the moat tender care and attention at the hands of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, and then to give the same declaration for the delectation of Ills Orange readers. As we pointed out last week, the statement bristled with falsehood, and this, combined with its clumsy and stupid method, showed unmistakably its Orange origin. We had no difficulty in exposing the Infamous slander which was so greedily availed of by T. A Rogers of the ' Watchman, 1 after it had received the imprimatur of T. A. R., J.P, The magistrate is to be congratulated upon the class of clients who invoke his official assistance as a witness to wholesale perjury, and upon the ready and sympathetic aids he finds in T. A. 'Rogers and the ' Watchman ' for the dissemination of such loathsome slanders. Since we dealt with the matter, some additional particulars ha\c been obtained in connection with this case, and also a statutory declaration from both parents of the girl Laughton, whom she 4 solemnly declared ' before T. A. R. were dead. We also recehed a statement from the police who brought the girl before the magistrates, charged with insulting be"ha\iour. The police say that the girl Laughton, in company with another of her own class, was parading the streets of Richmond In a half-dTunken condition, and created such a disturbance that the constable on duty was called upon to interfere. For this offence she was sentenced, at the Richmond Police Court, to se\en days' imprisonment in Melbourne Gaol. As ' Mrs. Goldspink declared in a statement in our last issue, the girl Laughton, when her sentence expired, was taken by her to the Abbotsfojpd Convent, where she remained for about six months, when she absconded. We now give the statutory declaration of both parents as follows :— ' ' I Catherine Laughton, of No. n Tyrone-sfaeet ■North Melbourne, do solemnly and sincerely declare that I have read a statement that appaared in the " Watchman " newspaper of June 24, 1905, purporting to have been declared "by my daughter, Ella Laughton, before a justice of the peace, in Collingwood, Victoria. I declare that the whole of the statements! in 'the declaration referred to are false in every particular. I met my daughter upon her discharge from the Melbourne Gaol on January 10, 1905, when she bade good-bye and kissed me, saying that she was •aibout to be taken to the Abbotsford Convent by Mrs. Goldspink, at Eer own request. I had previously asked Mrs. Goldspink to Cbta'ln admission for my daughter to the convent, and was well pleased when she was taken there. Both my husband and myself are Catholics, and my daughter, Ella Laughton, fias beten a Catholic all her life. My daughter lias been for some years -past a wayward and intractable girl, and has given me and her father much trouble. She has run away from home on three different occasions, and since her absconding from the convent I have had no know-

ledge of her whereabouts. lam anxious, as is also my husband, to fina oux daughter, with a view to having her placed again in the Abbotsford Convent, or some such institution, where she would be under proper control. I am sorry to say that she is utterly untruthful, and that no reliance whatever can be placed upon any statement she makes. Both my husband and myself are extremely sorry for the slanderous 1 and untruthful "statements with regard to the nuns of the Good SheJpjhbrd, who had treated her with the upmost kindness. I ha\e seen a statement made by Mrs. Goldspink, which was published in tlie " Advocate" of July 1, 1905, and I know tnat the statement iis true with regard to my daughter's admission to the Abbotsford Convent. ' And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously 'believing the same to be true, and by -virtue of the provisions of an Act of Parliament of Victoria rendering persons making a false declaration punishable -for wilful and corrupt pe-jury. 1 CATHERINE LAUGHTON. Declared before me this 4th day of July, 1905, at Carlton. ' H. LONSDALE THOMPSON, J.P.

' I Arthur Jennings Laugh ton, of 4 Tyrone-street, North Melbourne, have read the foregoing declaration, made by my wife, Catherine Laughton, and I declare that I am satisfied a^ to the truth of the statements contained therein. ' And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true, and by virtue of an Act of Parliament rendering persons making a false declaration punishable for wilful and corrupt perjury. 1 ARTHUR JENNINGS LAUGIITON. ' Declared before me this 4th day of July, at Carlton, ' H. LONSDALE THOMPSON, J.P. We ('Advocate') may first briefly summarise"tihe particulars of this incident as it appears in this and last week's issue of this journal. The ' Watchman ' published the declaration of Laughton, to the effect that she was, after taking a tram ride with a distant relation, induced to etn'ter the convent without knowing' it was such, and was prevailed on to remain. The fact is that s|he was taken from gaol by Mrs. Goldspink, at her own and her mother's lequest. She declared that her father was ' drowned in the July flood,' and that her mother 'died in the Melbourne Hospital two years ago. The statutory declaration of both parents, made before a reputable magistrate, who did not hesitate to sign his name^ is a sufficient proof of the lalsehood of 11)4 assertion. 'The ' Watchman ' declaration says that the girl Laughton, being a Protestant, was forced to attend Catholic worship in the convent. The lie in this case was palpable at once, because it is well known that the religious beliefs of the inmates of Abbotsford are s<rupulously as the testimony of such inmates for years can a-bnindantlv prove , hut in this case the parents arc both Catholics, as, of course, is their daughter, and therefore the statement is clearly proved to be false. Various other mattes affecting the gill's credibility are given in tl'e parents' declaration, showing to what lengths the Orange fabricators went in the tuition of 'their protege who had fallen into their ha,nds. From tne foregoing facts it will be seen how completely the malignant intentions of T. A. Rogers and the ' Watchman ' have been foiled. It may be said, however, that falsehood and slander form the entire stock-in-trade of publications of this class, and it is really marvellous that the authorities do not, in the interests of public decency, institute la prosecution against the proprietors of some of the organs of the Orange clique.