“Warszawiak Wants More.” New York Times, November 11, 1899, page 8.

WARSZAWIAK WANTS MORE

Suggests Compensation to Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.

HIS LETTER TO COMMITTEE

Not to Sue, Nor Has He Demanded $50,000, but Believes False Charges Deserve Substantial Reparation.

The Rev. Herman Warszawiak is now fully and formally restored to communion and membership in good standing in the Presbyterian Church, and the right hand of fellowship was extended to him last evening by three Elders of the Fifth Avenue Church, representing that body. This simple reinstatement Mr. Warszawiak apparently regards as but meagre compensation for the injuries that he claims to have sustained by the charges which led to his suspension and for the mental agony that he suffered for three years as an innocent man. He denies having asked for damages in money, but pointed out yesterday that he had hinted at the propriety of indemnification in a letter to the Session on Thursday evening thanking the members for having dismissed the charges of gambling against which he has been fighting.

The letter was addressed to William Irwin, chairman of the committee that had drafted the resolutions exonerating Mr. Warszawiak. In it he says: “I understand that you wish me to ask for a letter of dismission to-night, and I write to say that I can't consider such a step until your verdict of Friday night, restoring me to membership in the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, has first been announced from the pulpit, as was the verdict of suspension, in June, 1897, and your having taken some steps to repair the injuries suffered by me as an innocent man. As soon as this is done I will only be too glad to sever my connection with the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.”

It was reported that Mr. Warszawiak had said that $50,000 would not be too much as a reparation for the injuries he had received, and that he had made a written demand on the Presbytery for money. When asked last evening if the report was true, he denied having made any demands for money. All he had demanded was what he stated in his letter, asking the Presbytery to take some steps to repair the injuries he had suffered as an innocent man. He had spent every dollar he had in defending himself, and the Rev. Dr. James G. Patterson, who had defended him, said that he had lost his place for that very reason. He did not think he would sue the church for damages or that it would be necessary to do so, as he believed the members would see that he was fully vindicated.

Mr. Warszawiak said he would continue to superintend the American Mission to the Jews, at Grand and Attorney Streets, as he has done right along, and the running expenses of which he has himself been paying. As to his restored membership in the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, he did not think he would remain there. The Rev. Dr. John Hall to whom he had been greatly attached, was gone, and, as he himself had been an object of controversy in the church, he thought it would be more agreeable all around if he left. Now that he had been honorably acquitted, he would probably take his letter and join some other church.

At about 6 o'clock last evening, William Irwin, William Campbell, and Ewen McIntyre, the committee that drafted the resolutions exonerating Mr. Warszawiak, called at his house and presented him with a draft of the resolutions and the letter of exoneration. On leaving they shook hands with him cordially and called him brother. Afterward Mr. Warszawiak said, “All that has transpired in this case will never be known outside of the church. It is all over now.”