Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1906-11-02
REPORT THAT SHE is SERIOUSLY
ILL IS FIRMLY DENIED AT
CONCORD, N. H.
SENSATION STIRS CULT.
New York Newspaper Declares Substi-
tute Has Been Taking Her Place
to Hide Serious Ailments.
EXCERPTS FROM THE EXPOSE

| science church, who mas Deen reported
as being dangerously i'll at her home
| here. took her usual drive in the suburbs
today.
L. c. Strang, Mrs. Eddy's secretary
| said, concerning her health today: i
/ have not seen her so well or so vigorous
| in months as she is today" Mr.. Strang
refused, however, to permit newspaper
| men to see or interview Mrs. Eddy.
| Mrs. Eddy was observed by an I'M
usual number of persons today. On ac.
| count of the report of Illness. and while
she was absent from Pleasant View
| her home, her housekeeper, Mrs. Leon
ard. was seen at that place
Others Deny Rumors.
The following is the signed statement
in part of Calvin a. Frye, Mrs. Eddy's
coachman and constant attendant Tor
many years:
''Tho report that Mrs. Eddy is ply
! sically and mentally incapacltated, that
| for many months she has not LETT her
ROOM that she does not drive daily and
that she is unprecedented in her carrIege
by Mrs. Leonard or by anybody else Is
unQualitiedly false. She conducts her
own affairs, financially and otherwise,
to-day, as she always has.
Not III with Cancer.
Mrs Eddy, as she herself wrote to
the Boston Herald on October - 1906,
is in her usual good health. She is not
slowly dying from cancer, nor has she a
cancer or any chronic or organic or
functional disease. She has never been
visited by a cancer specialist, doctor
or anybody else, as is stated
Frank S. Streeter, counsel for Mrs.
Eddy and one of the best-known lawyers
of New Hampshire, says the World s
story Of Mrs. Eddy's illness IS entirely
false.
While Mrs Eddy refused to show her
self yesterday, it was asserted that
Mayor Corning called on her. He said
later: This afternoon. less than tour
hours ago, for the first time IN my life,
half an hour. l listened to as bright,
as vigorous, as sprightly a conversatio
as I have ever listened to in my life
Newspaper Accuses Mrs. Eddy.
NEW YORK, Oct. 29.-Members of
the Christian Science church here read
with Amusement the story in the New
| York World Sunday, in which it charged
that Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy is dy-
ing from cancer, that she is too i'll to be
seen in public, that for three years she
has been unprecedented by another WOm-
an, and that her fortune, estimated at
from $15,0O0,0O0 to $2O,OOO,OOO, has dis
appeared.
The Worlds story is told with cur
cumstansial detail, names, addresses, and
dates being given in support of every al
legation, some of them being backed by
atfidavits.
The Worlds charge that Mrs. Eddy is
impersonated by another woman in or
der to conceal her real helpless condition
from the public, is told i'll the following
paragraphs:
Her daily drive through the streets
N11- \ Ire,
Eddy makes this daily public appear
ance. dressed in velvets and ermine, to
show her followers that she is in per-
feet health. 1t is not Mrs. Eddy, but
an impersonator, trained and costumed
for the purpose, who appears in tins
exhibition drive. This impersonator is
known to be Mrs. Parmelia j. Leonard
of Brooklyn, head of the Christian
Science church in that borough.
1.-THE man vino made the Identification
of Mrs. Leonard was John j. Hennes-
sy of Brooklyn, and he has made af-
fdavit that the woman who sat in the
carriage as Mrs Eddy was Mrs. Leon
ard whom he knows well.
Mrs. Leonard was first reader Of the
Christian Science church and head of
the Christian Science institute in Brook
Ign.
Mystery of the Fortune.
The Worlds story, taking up the dis
cussion of the mystery surrounding
Mrs. Eddy's fortune, said by some to
amount to $15,O0O,OOO and by others
$2O,0OO,000, says:
y. Wesley Plummer, deputy state
treasurer of New Hampshire, and treas
urer of the Christian Science church of
Concord, when pressed for one instance
of Mrs. Eddy's charity and generosity,
Scientist, of Cnsord. of which l am
treasurer? Mrs. Eddy gave the land
and building to the congregation, and it
cost S2OO.OOO.'
The World goes. on to say that the
land for the church site was bought by
upon foreclosure. The newspaper AYERS
that Mrs. Eddy's annual profit on the
church is 100000, and the lawyers who
put through the deal have since been de-
barred. The gift of the Christian Sci
ence Journal is decried, it being said that
Mrs. Eddy retains the copyright, which
she got for 81. The World sums up:
'These are the only charities Mrs. Ed
dy or her spokesman can point to, and
their gross cost is $1,000. They yield
an annual income to Mrs. Eddy of near
ly $25O,O0O. If there are other charities.
single or concrete, Mrs. Eddy and her
familiars have not disclosed them.
Gets 81 900 900 Year.
'The income from the various bust
ness ventures for which the church fur
nishes pretext, yield Mrs. Eddy and
her clique of managers about 81 ,0OO,-
600 n year. The membership of the
First church. or Mother church,, in Bos
ton yields 100000. The sale of publ
cations. the rapidly recurring editions
of which are enjoined under pain of ex.
pulsion upon the faithful, yields S25O,OOC
annually, for Mrs. Eddy gets a royalty
of 81 upon each book. Her income from
weekly, monthly and quarterly maya,
zines and from other publications is
placed at fully $35O,000 a year. The in
come from the college is admitted to be
$4,000 a year and contributions OF
members under various invitations swell
the, grand total UP to, if not beyond,
100000 year
Mrs. Eddy Cancer Victim?
The World then charges that Mrs
Eddy is slowly dying of cancer, and adds
that at least twice a week she receives
a Boston cancer specialist at her home
After relating the details of a visit
by two reporters to Mrs. Eddys home
with Prof. Kent of Concord along t.
identify her, and the consequent disclos.
ure of her weak and emaciated condi.
ton. the World story takes up the court
records to show that DR." A. @. Eddy
Mrs. Eddy's husband. was once indicted
with an accomplice Lor hiring a man to
commit a crime.