Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1901-06-08

Testimony, Told How Qualification
for Membership in the Church Was
Belief in the lnfaIlibiIty OF Mrs.
Eddy, Who Was Believed to Bear
the Same Relation to Christian
Science That Christ Did to Chris
tianity, Which tier Mission Was to
Supersede-No Defence Witness
Examined.
Boston, June CT have examined
| this libel with great care, both while the
arguments were going on and during the
trial. think the plaintiff has SuS-
stained her ease as have already inil-
mated, upon the matlrrui publication.
AS regards the publication IN the
church. there is no evidence that any
one there understood the alleged libel
as applying To the pllintiif, 81 that Sl"
could not recover damages upon This
count, because she had shown no injury
from it.
Taking the libel itself. ! soc nothing
which can in any fair way he said To
Indicate the plainili in the first part
| III lllt llNI lN' bllll lillil- III li'"'i'
il seems to me-. which can by any reason
abb" Interpretation be said to serve as
means Of identification is the word
"widUw." The words "wdoW" and
"widowhood" occur in the latter part of
the message.
II have come to the conclusion that
even that reference does moi absolutely
| ,i,. mi IA ia,
me that the plaintiff has not made out
Il ease here which ! can let 20 to the
| Jury. shall, therefore. he obliged Ia
orlrr verdict for the ,lrf"ndani.'
With these words, in the superior
court. Judge l.rll y">irirln" afternoon
brought to Il sudden and unexpected
close the famous Sl1OOOO libel suit.
brought by Mrs. Josephine Curtis Wood,
bury of Boston against kcv. Mary Baker
Il. Eddy of Concord. y. H.. the founder
and present head of the Christian
Science church.
\ few minutes Later. the jury. which
had been excluded while arguments
were being made. was summoned into
the court room. AflvrrNpainin" brief
| ~ lllt cause lbi llllS 't'lI ~' Ip'ii
ordered the jury To find for the de.
frndunt. which ii accordingly did in hr
usual form.
Counsel for Mrs. Woodbury. filed "N-
crptionS ON all the questions PASSED
| upon. They have not vet decided unol
Il definite course of action. but ali-
thorihrh il to be stated that they expect
L., 1
This extremely important and far.
| reaching decision OF Judge Bell WaE
given in response to uu" Of two motions
offered hy Mr.. Elder. senior counsel for
Mrs. Eddy. at l2:i, O'Clock, at which
time the plaintiff rested her ease. This
was thai Il verdict for til" defendant M'
ordered on the rvi,rnc"HS il stood. The
other motion. which wnS not sustained.
w:S that the two counts in the dtclara
tion. referring 10 the publication in the
two Christian Science prriudicals. b.
stricken out.
During the trial yesterday Mr.. rra-
body argued in support of his offer in
evidence OF II copy of the Boston Herald
containing the alleged lihcllouS commu-
nica,lon to thr First Church of Christ!
Its Introduction was objected to on the
ground that Mrs. Eddy had nothing To
do whatever with the publication Of
| The Herald and, therefore. il was IT.
rrvrlant in this action. Mr.. Peabody
contrndrl that Mrs. Eddy is til" dom
mating power in the Christian Science
religion; that everything is done at her
inStigation and approval. and that there
WAS Il duty imposed hy her upon the
publication society to give the widest
circulation to her communications to her
church, she made them her agents
To publish this communication not only
in their own publications. but in any
others that they might see fit.
In reply. Mr.. Elder said that Mrs. Ed
dy. after having established Il great
society, had in her declining years con
lidrd the great trust in n board of trus.
lo'S. retaining only to herself the power
to remove the first reader of The church
in case he was rrcrran to his trust,
power which she has never been called
upon to exercise.
| In regard 10 the matter of the publ
cation in the Boston Herald the person
| who furnished the copy was not in the
employ ol Mrs. Eddy, WAS not paid by
her and acted absolutely without her
| knowledge or consent. She was. there
fore, in no way responsible for the pub
licalion in The Herald.
The court ruled that the copy of The
Herald could not hc admitted
Mrs. Woodbury. then resumed the wit
Hess stand. and identified letters which
she had written to Mrs. Eddy ana the
replies. which were read 10y cu,lnSrl
The plaimtin waS asked ii she haI ever
prcticrd "naiciuuS animal magnr-
tiSm." rs waS charged in one of Mrs.
Eddy's letters. and she said she had not
Mrs. Woodbury. was asked what was
the belief on the part of members of
the First Church Of Christ regarding
Mrs Ed,ly'S hcnG the diScovcrrr and
founder ot Christian Science and her
relation to them and Sll,. replied:
"rhr inlallihilily of Mrs. Eddy and
the necessity of accepting that doctrine
of infalliblity is Il qualification for
membership in the church"
"What WAS the belief as To her mis-
sion in establishing new rcligion?"
"rhHt she was specially selected by
God as the special object of a special
revelation. that revelation being Chris
tian Science. and that she had the same
relation to Christian Science that Jesus
Christ had tU christianity 1000 years
ago. 1t was also believed that she was
the woman referred To in Revelations.
whose mission il was 10 >upcrSrlc Chris
tianity. she being the author of Il book
which had been prophcsicI."
Nine Cars Piled Up.
| Providence. .Iunc Il. Part Of Il freight
| train on the New York, New Haven aud
| Hart ford railroad was wrecked nj
tranSton last night. Nine ears wcl,
piled ur. The cause of the accident
was the breaking of an air valve on on,
IT the cars. No one was injured.
|