ather Crippen's Problem

aron Von Lodge was the head of a small country known as Lilliland near Switzerland. The time was the early 1900s.

The Baron was pleased that Lilliland was represented by a number of major religions. The people of Lilliland had a wide range of religions to choose from or they could choose not to be active at all.

Professor Hamblin, the chief advisor to the Baron on matters of state, lived by himself in a chateau atop one of the Alpine Mountains. When he came down from the mountain it usually involved a meeting with the Baron and his fiancée, Lady Angela of Alpine Castle.

Widow Sally Pinewood liked to watch for the Professor when he walked around town and stopped him for a chat. Usually she liked to talk about almost anything to keep the Professor’s attention. But the latest conversations were about what was happening to some of the donations that she had made to the church for some building projects.

Mrs. Pinewood told the Professor that she and some other ladies of the church donated large sums of money to get the new building program going. Father Crippen was in charge of the program and he kept assuring the contributors that everything was moving along fine and that the building program would begin on a certain date. That date kept changing and Father Crippen kept asking for more contributions to keep the project on schedule. But there was no schedule, Mrs. Pinewood kept telling the Professor.

The Professor mentioned this matter to the Baron. A confidential investigation was started. It turned out that Father Crippen was an imposter who sent some of the church project money to a bank in England. The bank informed the investigators that the depositor, Father Crippen, was buying race horses with the money in the account.

The church authorities were part of the confidential investigation and got all the donated money back. The money was returned to Mrs. Pinewood and her friends to keep or re-donate as they desired. Professor Hamblin reminded Mrs. Pinewood and her friends not to invest in anything without first becoming aware of the accountability of the funds.

They all agreed and were very thankful to Professor Hamblin.