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"Philomene Schwartz being first duly sworn, deposes and says: T
she is of the age of forty-three years, and resides at 484 Milwaukee
Avenue, Chicago; that her maiden name was Philomene Moffat, that she

knew Father LeBelle, the Roman Catholic priest of the French Catholics
of Chicago during his lifetime, and knows Rev. Father Chiniquy; that
about the month of May, A. D. 1854, in company with Miss Eugenia
Bossey, the housekeeper of her uncle, the Rev'd Mr. LeBelle, who was
then living at the parsonage on Clark street, Chicago, while we were sitting
in the room of Miss Bossey, the Rev. Mr. LeBelle was talking with his
sister, Mrs. Bossey, in the adjoining room, not suspecting that we were
there hearing his conversation, through the door, which was partly opened;
though we could neither see him nor his sister, we heard every word of
what they said together, the substance of which is as follows—Rev. Mr.
LeBelle said in substance, to Mrs. Bossey, his sister:

" `You know that Mr. Chiniquy is a dangerous man, and he is my
enemy, having already persuaded several of my congregation to settle in
his colony. You must help me to put him down, by accusing him of having
tried to do a criminal action with you.'

"Madame Bossey answered: `I cannot say such a thing against Mr.
Chiniquy, when I know it is absolutely false.'

"Rev. M. LeBelle replied: `If you refuse to comply with my request,
I will not give you the one hundred and sixty acres of land I intended to
give you; you will live and die poor.'

"Madame Bossey answered: `I prefer never to have that land, and I
like better to live and die poor, than to perjure myself to please you.'

"The Rev. Mr. LeBelle, several times, urged his sister, Mrs. Bossey, to
comply with his desires, but she refused. At last, weeping and crying, she
said: `I prefer never to have an inch of land than to damn my soul for
swearing to a falsehood.'

"The Rev. Mr. LeBelle then said:

" `Mr. Chiniquy will destroy our holy religion and our people if we do
not destroy him. If you think that the swearing I ask you to do is a sin,
you will come to confess to me, and I will pardon it in the absolution I will
give you.'

" `Have you the power to forgive a false oath?' replied Mrs. Bossey to
her brother, the priest.

" `Yes,' he answered, `I have that power; for Christ has said to all his
priests, "What you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what
you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." '

"Mrs. Bossey then said: `If you promise that you will forgive that
false oath, and if you give me the one hundred and sixty acres of land you
promised, I will do what you want.'

"The Rev'd Mr. LeBelle then said: `All right!' I could not hear any
more of that conversation, for in that instant Miss Eugenia Bossey,
who had kept still and silent with us, made some noise and shut the
door.

"Affiant further states: That some time later I went to confess to Rev.
Mr. LeBelle, and I told him that I had lost confidence in him, He asked me
why? I answered: `I lost my confidence in you since I heard your conversation
with your sister, when you tried to persuade her to perjure herself
in order to destroy Father Chiniquy.'

"Affiant further says: "That in the month of October, A. D. 1856, the
Rev'd Mr. Chiniquy had to defend himself, before the civil and criminal
court of Urbana, Illinois, in an action brought against him by Peter Spink;
some one wrote from Urbana to a paper of Chicago, that Father Chiniquy
was probably to be condemned. The paper which published that letter
was much read by the Roman Catholics, who were glad to hear that that
priest was to be punished. Among those who read that paper was Narcisse
Terrien. He had lately been married to Miss Sara Chaussey, who told
him that Father Chiniquy was innocent; that she was present with me
when Rev'd LeBelle prepared the plot with his sister, Mrs. Bossey, and had
promised her a large piece of land if she would swear falsely against Father
Chiniquy. Mr. Narcisse Terrien wanted to go with his wife to the help of
Father Chiniquy, but she was unwell and could not go. He came to ask
me if I remembered well the conversation of Rev'd Mr. LeBelle, and if I
would consent to go to Urbana to expose the whole plot before the court,
and I consented.

"We started that same evening for Urbana, where we arrived late at
night. I immediately met Mr. Abraham Lincoln, one of the lawyers of
Father Chiniquy, and told him all that I knew about the plot.

"That very same night the Rev'd Mr. LeBelle, having seen my name
on the hotel register, came to me much excited and troubled, and said,
Philomene, what are you here for?'

"I answered him, `I cannot exactly tell you that; but you will probably
know it tomorrow at the court-house!'

" `Oh, wretched girl!' he exclaimed, `you have come to destroy me.'

" `I do not come to destroy you,' I replied, `for you are already destroyed!'

"Then drawing from his portmonnaie-book a big bundle of bank-notes,
which he said was worth one hundred dollars, he said: `I will give you all
this money if you will leave by the morning train and go back to Chicago.'

"I answered him: `Though you would offer me as much gold as this
room can contain, I cannot do what you ask.'

"He then seemed exceedingly distressed, and he disappeared. The next
morning Peter Spink requested the court to allow him to withdraw his
accusations against Father Chiniquy, and to stop his prosecutions, having,
he said, found out that he, Father Chiniquy, was innocent of the things
brought against him, and his request was granted. Then the innocence
and honesty of Father Chiniquy was acknowledged by the court after it

had been proclaimed by Abraham Lincoln, who was afterwards elected
President of the United States.

"(Signed) PHILOMENE SCHWARTZ.[6]

"I, Stephen R. Moore, a Notary Public in the County of Kankakee,
in the State of Illinois, and duly authorized by law to adminster oaths, do
hereby certify that, on this 21st day of October, A. D. 1881, Philomene
Schwartz personally appeared before me, and made oath that the above
affidavit by her subscribed is true, as therein stated. In witness whereto, I
have hereunto set my hand and notarial seal.