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Show 4 4 f 44444-4 444 4-4-4- r-444 44444444 4444 Sacred- -Pestftieiifs 444444444 444444 4 -r-4444444444444444444 'L ' " ' ' 4 s& Y a 1 1 f r.-1 fin U : PI v :l fiF-''. 4 II It si " " i i ' t"" 1 1 JjrL ' ! fuiWm 4 . ii -fT. , ,J 4 IN PROOF OF THS STATEMENT THAT AMERICAN SOLD- 4 4 LERS ROBBED CHURCHES IN SHE . PHILIPPINES, NUMEROUS 4 4 ARTICLES BROUGHT BY THEM TO SAN FRANCISCO HAVE 4 BEEN DISCOVERED IN THE SHOPS OF PAWN BROKERS FOR J 4 SALE AT EXTRAVAGANT PRICES. (From the San Francisco Examiner, Nov. 13. 'For months past the members of the Catholic clergy have heard the reports repeated nJany times that the churches in the Philippines, have been desecrated and robbed by the American soldiers, and that their booty was being dis-. posed of to pawnbrokens, antiquarians and wemen of the ha'f-world. Investigations have been made, but those who had possesion of the stolen property were shrewd enough to keep it out of sight. This precaution has .been abandoned, however, and in many shops throughout the city a lucrative traffic is. being carried on in the sale 'of cbalic'EG, vestments, host boxes and ether sacred churcli property, to the highest bidders.- The pawnbrokers, who evidently realize that very little plunder plun-der will be brought . from Manila to this city by the regular troops, are taking tak-ing advantage of this fact, and are buying buy-ing all the relics that they can possibly J find. Their business cards have been disxributed among the returned soldiers at the Prcijiaio, and they are bidding to get possession of the most valuable relics. For the past two days the Rev. Father McCourt of St. Mary's (Pauljst) Church- has been conducting a search for relics among the brokers. Under the pretext of a desire of purchasimj several articles, those in charge of the shops have exhibited the property, with j the hope of disposing of it to -the priest at a fancy price. Every article exhibited exhib-ited Father McCourt has taken note of and vividly describes. Although a score or more of shops were visited, there was not one that did not contain a relic of some kind from the Catholic Churches in the Philippines. Philip-pines. The nrice asked, even for the smallest and "leas't valuable article, was fully ten times its worth. From the statements made by the proprietors the property is being rapidly disposed of at almost any price. Purchasers are numerous, nu-merous, and seem to disregard the price entirely in their endeavor to get posr sfesion of the relics. : Although nearly every second-hand store -and curiosity hop in the city has much of the stolen property, the. bulk of it is in the possession of LeoDold Greenbury and lSdward Smith, at 429 Montgomery street 'the Old Curiosity Shop H. Ephraim Benguiat &: Son, with headquarters at room 402 of the Examiner buildmff. and M. Klich,; who conducts a curiosity ehop at 525 Dupont street. Of the three. Benguiat & Son have the most valuable relics. Following is a complete list of the articles In hia possession: A solid silver chalice, gold-plated; gold-plated; silver cenSJr; base of a broken golden chalice; t' odd pieces of a silver sil-ver chalice; sax odd pieces of a solid gold chalice; two silver tabernacle doors that were evidently torn from the main altar of one of the churches; a miniature silver cardinal's hat that 1 was taken from1', the altar of some " ;i ..'-,-. " ' i . - ' ' " ' ' " - -rC church. Scratched on the under s.ide of the rim of this hat is the name Reilly, company D, First Minnesota regiment, M'arch 20, 1S99. Following is the remainder of the stolen articles in Benguiat's possession: Two sections of a golden ostensorium; the last gospel of St. John, inscribed in Latin on a thin plate of solid, silver; a bishop's mitre, inscribed on which is "From the people of Malate and Pasay to Our Beloved Bishop;" a pure gold rosary, valued at $25; a deacon's vestment vest-ment of white silk, ornamented with golden braid; a red velvet cape, bordered bor-dered with a deep fringe of heavy golden lace; three bases of monstrances of pure gold; a white silk stole and a set of black .vestments. The above articles, with one exception, excep-tion, .were sold to Benguiat by James Barre of the Twentieth Kansas regiment. regi-ment. The name of the man who disposed dis-posed cf the property is written on a sheet of paper, together with this remark: re-mark: "Captured from the insurgents by James Barre while the Twentieth Kansas regiment was engaged in an attack on Calumpit." Benguiat. in discussing the stolen church property, said: . "I was one of the first men in this city to - purchase these church relics. When the Oregon regiment arrived I j inspected some of the plunder and knew the value of it immediately. I encouraged the soldiers to dispose of it, and in this way I succeeded in obtaining ob-taining ' these' valuable vessels for almost al-most s nothing. From the soldiers of nearly every returning regiment I bought some article of value for which I will not take any money. I am getting get-ting together as big a collection, as possible, with the- intention of selling it as a whole to some rich Catholic, either in or out of the church." M. Klich, v.'ho "conducts a curiosity shop- , at 525 Dupont street, within a stone's throw of St. Mary's church, exhibits, ex-hibits, many of the relics in his show windows. The articles in his possession, posses-sion, in addition to those displayed to the public, are as follows: Three highly ornamented silver candlesticks, can-dlesticks, which he values at $125; four ivory heads of saints of the church, which have bee-n cut off the bodies of statues erected in the churches Jn the Philippines in memory of the martyrs of the Catholic faith; an ivory image of the child Christ; a silver censor, valued at $25: five pairs of rosary beads; two beautifully adorned reliquaries; reli-quaries; a dozen scapulas; a white silk stool, decorated with gold lace; a brass bell ' that once served with a number of others as the chimes in a Manila church; a brass crucifix; an ivory image im-age of Christ. Leopold Greenberg and1 Edward W. Smith, the proprietors of the "Old Curiosity Curi-osity Shop" at 433 and 435 Montgomery street, displayed an oil painting of the crucifixion, seven feet-, high and four feet wide; three dozen rosaries, a dozen pairs of scapulas, a bronze sanctuary bell and a section of tapestry on which is worked the image of the Virgin. |