Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-02-15
GIGANTIC FRAUD.
How a Woman Amassed a
Fortune from Dupes.
IA System Of the Wireless Telegraphy
Of Health.
A Revelation of the Creduiity Of Many
Foolish Mortals.

the mead OF one OF the fllOSt Sl6dAtiS
frauds ever operated in America:
scheme which has the entire world for
its field. and has brought more than
million dollars To her-an ever increas-
ing golden stream from those afflicted
in mind and body. This money has
made q spot in the Florida wilderness
bloom like q well-kept garden and
created a town that is one of the pref
hest in the whole state says the New
York Herald.
Mrs. Wilmans is the high priastoss
OF the Mental Scientists in this coun-
try, whose members include many
earnest minded persons who are I'M
sclfshly seeking the light or truth and
Who probably regard her as a woman
Of rare ami unusual power. Then
there are those, it is said, who have
been healed through her gifts and are
willing TO give testimony in her favor,
but the cold fact is that the govern
ment officials have stopped her mail
on q fraud order. and she. her hus-
band and her brother in law, are to be
tried in December.
She is a remarkable woman in many
ways and SO great is the political pow
er that she can invoke that no less 2
person than the Governor of the State
appeared at Washington when the case
against her had preliminary hearing.
But the postoff1ce officials have
worked increasingly and intelligentiy
| and have among other things evidence
to show that judging from her claims.
she has not only found perpetual life.
| but also the healing well that brings
new life to the sick and diseased.
Not only can the blind be made to
I see, the deaf hear and the cripple walk.
| according TO Mrs. Wilmans, but she
| battles even death. In her book. The
| CONQUEST OF Death, she declares that
| her powers are superior to the grim
| old reaper" and that thousands who
ihaye Thought connection" with hey
and have the right faith can live for
lever.
| Seabreaze is Il beautiful little town
| on Il peninsula between the Atlantic
| Ocean and the Halifax river, 10 miles
south of Jacksonville. The strip OF
| land is a half mile in width and thirty
miles in length, from north to south.
About it is q glamor OF the olden
Itimes-the historic deeds Of the IA
matte, cruel Spaniards; the colonization
II Oh Ilbll.Slth anu tIISll
/ dian allies, and the battle which. re-
II sultinC in the defeat of the Spaniards.
II brought to light a story of romance and
4 heroisn between French nobleman
\ and an Indian princess which has sur
Il vivrd all the stirring events of the last
Il four centuries.
Il Mrs. Wilmans-'I Am the Power" as
she calls herself-was first heard Of
Che 10
about 60 years of age, rather large and
| heshy. full of nervous energy, with a
shrewd face, somewhat laxative, but
| always able to guard her Inns from
giving away secrets
| In 1856 she married DR.. J. c. Baker in
| California, but later on was divorced.
| Years after she married Colonel G. {.
| Post, then engaged in journalism in
| Chicago. About 1889 or 1890 they left
| Chicago and travelled south, settling in
different parts OF Georgia, where Mrs.
| Post began her mental science In
! 1892 they We're in Atlanta, doing n large
business. but, strange to say. not So
!iciting any local business, all patients
being attended 10 BY the absent treat
| mcnt."
| Atlanta becoming unfavorable they
moved to Florida, purchasing large
tract of land. AS the years rolled by.
/ they built themselves a magnificent,
costly home. beautifed the place. build
ing roods, streets, putting UP dwellings,
q college and a convention hail. ETC.,
until now they have an investment OF
lnearly'a million. Al of this money has
been gained in the past six or seven
years from patients" who received
"absent treatment" Mrs Wilmans
made The Thought connection" and her
patients paid for it.
Her mode of business was very sim
pie. She first advertised in newspapers
and magazines in localities far from
Florida as to her ability to cure all
diseases, such rs consumption, heart
disease and all the other ills, including
blindness, deafness, etc. Not only this,
but even poverty could be eradicated.
A person writing for information would
be told her terms for treatment-from
ls3 to So a week and IS to $40 month
Following the first payment they re-
ceived long printed circular with
inmate directions.
Mrs Wilmans il seems. has an ideal
brain" and she is so full of vigorous
life and health that the Overflow
from her is sufficient to cure all that
simply believe in her. Patients" were
| directed. in order 10 make q union OF
thought" to HE themselves to some
otIiet spot ut n designated time, divert
their mind of all cares in the world.
! and center their thoughts upon Mrs.
Wilmans at her home in Seabreeze.
| 1t was not even necessary that they
should know her. All they had to do
was TO try to think that she was send
ling out powerful waves Of helpfulness
"a sort of wireless biography or
health. so to speak--which would NIL
their brains and make them new per-
sons.
There were thousands of patients
] and among some of them, naturally. the
ina ginat ton must have run riot. for
Mrs. wilmans AYERS to have testimon-
ials of some of the most remarkable
cures that the world has known.
Money came pouring in. One entry
in Mrs. wilmans books showed that in
1897 the amounts jumped from an
average of $500 a month to more than
$4,000, which she quantity noted at the
time This is pretty good business"