WILY WILSON.

NZ Truth, Issue 63, 1 September 1906, Page 7

WILY WILSON.

TURNS UP IN MELBOURNE

Wordy Windbag "Wilson Wilson."

HIS GLOVES, HIS SILK "TILE," AND H!S "GALL."

Does He Want "Boodle"?

The Mysteries of "Mental Science.'

Wily, wordy, windy, "Wilson Wilson" is, m Melbourne. This Yankee adventurer, "travels" on Socialism. Socialism as a) "game" has not hitherto been regarded as»' something that will enable its professional^' propagandists to fare sumptuously every ■ day; nor, apparently, is it 6uch a "gajne,'*: for Wily Wilson Wilson supplements it with 1 Freethought and "mental science." This) mental science "fake" is a form of charla* , tanry that just suits Wilson, as he styles*, himself, but the- wonder is that his attitu-'| dinising as a protagonist of this precious*! "mental science" did not reveal him, afrj once, as the humbug that he is. He i* said to have raised £50 m Wellington, Newri Zealand, by promising 1 to teach "mental 1 * science" to a class of pupils that he established; but ho delivered only half the lee* tures promised, and then he came to Aus* tralia. In Australia ho called himself "That World's Greatest Orator;" and various peo-* pie attracted by the man's Yankee peculiar!* ties of speech, . > -

AND UNCOMMON "GALL," were' charmed with him, and regarded hint; as a heaven-sent exponent of the philosophy,of Socialism. The local Socialist League*; suspected him at onee — it is the way of thaw local Socialist League, which regards as*, spurious any man 4ihat does not swear by?i the -American Socialist slangwhanger andy strife-monger, Daniel De Leon. Still, -tha* Socialist League was right about Wilson, for* it had evidence from New Zealand thai* showed him to be an adventurer of a dot cidedly conscienceless and rapacious type*' Wilson, however, sailed serenely on, and* started what ho called, "The. . .

BROTHERHOOD OF HUMANITY." ' Out of this he lived for a .time, until he wasvj discovered to be peculiarly unsatisfactory iaf his financial transactions, and then he waa! practically biffed out of the Brotherhood.

After this, Wilson became much more' ofl^ a lecturer on Freethought than on Socialism*; and tho "Athenseum Hall Company" was] started for the purpose of providing a place.! m Sydney at which Wilson could deliver;*' Freethought lectures. Notwithstanding 'this,,; Wilson, some weeks ago, departed'. vfxom>" ( Sydney, and there was much, speculation, as to . ' ■ . . ..:','■;.

WHAT HAD BECOME OF HIM. The mystery has, ai last, however, been, cleared up by tho publication, on the 11th instant, of a letter from the Melbourne correspondent of the "People," which contains the following passage:—

Fakir Wilson, of Boddletjft;ir ! -4s on. the job m Melbourne. So,i|Kfoare! Last" Sunday, the Yankee "GraflpT"— the American for "Boodle-magsm%tf'— iniide hfo appearance on the Yarra Bttnk, and^sUrt,ed out on his old game. With gjovirth hand and shiny belltopper on head^ this notorious "bird of passage"

SPREAD-EAGLED HIMSELF out to snare his prey from the platform of another "Brummagem" humanity saver —"Our Tom Mann." First he used Fleming's platform to advertise a meeting ho was going to address at night m the Temperance Hall, then proceeded -to- 1 T6m Manna platform, aad, m a short -speech, did likewise. But he didn't cbmmaMeer the S.L.P. platform; the faces of some'of> the late members of the Social Democratic Party warned him that the S.L.P. could not be made an advertising medium L>: his

HUNT FOR BOODLE, so with a swift glance at the -flag ha pressed on. ' ' • • .. > Evidently Wilson believes m "living on tha^ game." There is nothing essentially wrong?' about "living on the game"— so long as the-' "game" is a good one, and the "living" -isi done honestly. Even Daniel De Leon, thai People's pet prophet, "lives on the game."'? With regard to Wilson, however, his careec ; is not such as to inspire us with confidence. In the first place, there are those Welling- 1 , ton, charlatanic, "mental science" lectures :. which he was

PAID TO DELIVER,. but did not deliver. . Then there is his aft- I leged extraordinary behavior with regard joy* a typewriter which he was commissioned fcd^ buy, m Sydney, for the "Brotherhood of*, Humanity." He was given £5 for this pur- i pose, but, instead of paying it down a*> , once, he had to be hunted for the money, , He paid it, eventually, by instalments. |. These were paid as follows.— April 12. £2~ April 19, £2 ; May 24, £1. Then there ia his "Gasoline Wool Scour" affair, which, ha asserted, had "millions m it," and his new, "Electric Body ' Belt." This belt was pro- „ bably one with a small battery attached' thereto. Any electrician will manufacture^, such a belt— and charge nothing for "the •< patent."

Wilson says that he was sent on a tour ofr-y the world by the "Pacific Labor Bureau," *. pr "Pacific Coast Socialist Lecture Bureau,"- 1 but rioboSjr aeSSii r to"liave taard-ef-this~^-"Bureau" before. Does Wilson carry it ia_ the •■' ' :.; ■ '' ■ . ' '"' ■■' '■ :

_*" TA|L OF piS FROCK COAT ? little f^ct Wilson is TEaF" Wilson is really not his name. He, ,f oiv . some mysterious reason, travels undor -an, assumed name, the initials of his real -name being "J. M." This is something exceedingly suspicious. Why does he not keep to his own name? Surely there is nothing) about lecturing on Socialism, or Freethought, or > "mental science" that renders it necessary that the lecturer should conceal t his real name? This fact of the conceal-'^' ment of his name is m itself sufficient to' cause one to regard him with considerable' suspicion.