Thanks to Kristy Fallon for this picture of Canon Cafferata
This wasn't the last time in his life that the Canon was
involved in controversy. In 1909 his housekeeper, Annie Dewey, was twice
charged with libelling another woman, Annie Tugwell. The first time the case
was thrown out because Tugwell didn't appear in court and the second time Dewey
was found not guilty. It subsequently turned out that Tugwell had written the
letters and sent them to herself!
She obviously had quite a campaign going
against the Canon and Annie Dewey as, in 1910, Annie Tugwell was tried for
libel against them! The substance of the libel was that Canon Cafferata was
behaving in an improper manner with Ms. Dewey! The libels included posting a
marriage notice in the Daily Express stating that Henry Cafferata had married
Annie Dewey on August 11 1909.
The Times was quite restrained in its coverage of the affair, not revealing many details, but the case was extensively reported, even reaching the papers in Australia and New Zealand. Some of these were much more open in their reporting. The Adelaide Argus of 15th September 1910 made it known that one libel was the accusation of fathering an illegitimate child. A postcard that Canon Cafferata received said “You really must keep up payment for your child. It is growing very much like you.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Mrs Tugwell was found guilty and
sentenced to 12 months imprisonment with hard labour as well as paying the
prosecution’s costs.
These cases were a heavy drain on Canon Cafferata’s resources and a support fund, to assist him financially, was set up by clergy in neighbouring churches of several denominations. (5)
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