THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MYSTERY.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1969, 3 January 1907, Page 3

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MYSTERY.

THE ITiLNEoo OE MRS EDDY. The Now' York World, alter investi-

on October 23 th printed a circumstantial story to the effect that is Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, is at the point of death from cancer, that for the last three years she lias been virtually a prisoner in her own house, unseen except by the inner ring of Christian Scientists, who hold her under complete domination, and that practically the whole of the enormous wealth obtained from the contributions of world-wide believers and sale of her books’has mysteriously disappeared. Scientist pilgrims to Concord, who go there from all parts of the English-speaking globe, are denied access to tho line mansion which is

the high priestess’ shrine, but their faith is encouraged and their curiosity gratified by the daily sight in the quaint streets of the little town of an old-fashioned carriage drawn by two black horses, to whose sole occupant—a dimly-seen, old, whitebailed lady, in an ermine robe—they do reverence as sbe passes, believing that she is Mrs Eddy. It is assorted that it is not x.rrs Eddy, hut a Mrs Paruiolia Leonard, who is made up in a white wig and with her face painted to resemble her. This is done, it is said, because Mrs Eddy being not only tho head of tho Church, but the whole substanco of the Christian Scientist faith, her disappearance would mean the crumbling of the organisation, the stoppage of •contributions, and idio collapse of the whole swindle. fc>o that in order to keep tho concern going tho “dummy” is daily paraded in tho Concord streets, elaborate precautions being taken to prevent inspection close enough to reveal the deception. THE FALSE PROPHETESS.

It is alleged that the head of the gang of designing persons who have gained complete control over the afrairs and linances of the Church from the enfeebled, decrepit old woman who was once the master mind of the whole deception is Mr Calvin A. Fyre, Mrs Eddy's footman, who also acts as secretary, commands the Household, receives pilgrims, transacts business, guides tlie shaking mind with which Mrs Eddy signs documents, and occupies the combined positions of prime minister and gaoler.

AVlien callers come, lie appears in a secretarial black coat, and with bland manner assures them that the prophetess is too occupied to be seen. Put ho affects to act as intermediary,' and delivers mystic pronouncements and receives contributions. In the afternoons, when the supposed Mrs Eddy is paraded for the benefit or the l.uuhful around tile sown, Fyre is dressed in footman’s livery and seated by the side of the driver, it is alleged that his foot rests on a lever whereby he warns the bogus prophetess inside whenever it is necessary to take precautions to prevent herself being too closely scrutinised by some intrusive and overeiii’ious spectator.

Tlie bogus Mrs Eddy, though in a closed carriage with the windows usually closed, with her lace carenilly painted to _ jsemblance, and with a white wig exactly imitating airs Eddy’s striking hair, carries always in lier hand a small parcel, with which when the footman signals the appearance of some unwelcome inquisitor, she shields her face. .Despite all precautions, a Brooklyn mail, who was well acquainted with Mrs Leonard when she became notorious in connection with healing operations in that suburb, succeeded by a ruse ill getting a good, close view of the ermine-robea occupant of the carriage, and has made an affidavit that beneath the wig and paint lie positively recognised the familiar features of Mrs Leonard. Newspaper investigators, by confronting Frye with affidavits bearing upon the finances of the Church and certain incidents in his career, succeding in compelling him to arrange that they snould see Mrs Eddy face to face. They give a pathetic account of the interview with the old woman, who is in the last stage of mental and physical decrepitude. Blie had, they say, to bo stimulated with drugs and by the application of a powerful galvanic battery, in order to give her sufficient strength to receive them She barely managed to stand long enough to be recognised, and to gabble a lew incoherent, wandering words before tho footmansecretary carried her back to the room which is practically her prison.

£3,000,000 MISSING. Of the enormous sum of money Mrs Eddy lias received no trace can be found. Her estimated fortune was three million pounds, and for many years lier income aggregated a q uarter of a million annually. But all seems to have entirely disappeared. One member of the inner ring is her cousin, Mr Frederick Ladd, wlio is secretary of the Concord Loan Trust Savings Bank, and acted for many years as her financial agent. He lias accounted for the disappearance by saying that she expended the bulk of it in charities, but the only record of charitable - expenditure discoverable is about ii hundred a year disbursed in buying new boots tor poor Concordians. The newspaper investigators add lo their revelations a remart.u Id > story of how, while pursuing their inquiries, they were dogged by i 1 rye's emissaries, who endeavored by various means to gain possession of various important' documents bearing oil tlie case. On one occasion they endeavored on some pretext to lure them into an amhusli, where a gang ofc Christian Scientists was waiting to - rob' and perhaps murder them when the reporters were permitted to see her in order to prove that she is still alive:: — ' "‘She was on lier feet in the centre of tlie room, her hands on the eflge of a table. Slie looked more dead than alive, She was a skeleton, the hollow cheeks covered with thick red paint, the tleshless, hairless bones above the sunken eyes pencilled jet Idaok, the features thick with powder. The air of the room recked with powerful stimulants, and in the Corner stood a galvanic battery, with tho sponge still wet from recont use.”