Los Angeles herald., 1907-08-29

to testify by either, although he sur
prised the entire country by his inde-
pendent stand.
Doctor Hamilton is also known as an
advocate for complete reform in the mat
| ter of expert testimony, and is generally
regarded as one of the few impartial
experts who can be relied upon to give
honest testimony, and who cannot be
bought; for this reason he is respected
by the court and by reputable lawyers
generally.
Doctor Hamilton is IS years old and a
grandson of Alexander Hamilton, and
on his mothers side of Louis Mclean,
who was minister to England and sec
retary of the treasury under Martin Van
Buren and Andrew Jackson.
Doctor Hamilton has written much and
is prominently connected with many med
ical societies, both here and abroad,
and few years ago received a great
honor by being elected fellow of the
Royal society of Edinburgh. He founded
the Psychiatrical society and is regarded
as an advanced student of mental disease.
After Mr.. Chandler made his motion
to dismiss the suit, General Streeter made
the following address:
"If your honor pleases, in behalf of
Mrs. Eddy, my associates, the attorney
general, Mr.. Eastman, and Allen Hollis
join me in the following motion: That the
masters proceed with this hearing and
determffie the questions submitted.
namely: Mrs. Eddy's competency to man
age her business affairs March l. 1907.
Upon this motion 1 desire to speak briefly
and perhaps more temperately than the
circumstances would justify me in speak
ing.
oI1A 10 MO
shall show you that on February IL
Mrs Eddy began to arrange for the en-
tire management of her property during
her life, and to make liberal provision for
her kindred during that time. l will
not go into the details of these matters
excapting to say to you that If your
| honors are not already satisfied, we
should be able to satisfy you beyond a
question, not only of Mrs. Eddy's abso-
lutte competency to deal with her af-
fairs, but that during the last two weeks
of February, the last two weeks before
| this suit was brought, she was dealing
| with those questions with sagacity so
| far as her business matters were con-
| cerned, and as a noble Christian woman,
| so far as her next of kin were con-
cerned Now, your honors, neither Mrs.
Eddy nor her counsel have the power
to prevent her so-called next friends from
trXlnR TO DeTSuduc JudSe ShoiiDNite'-fA
to let them dismiss their bill and get
out of court Neither have we the power
to prevent their unconditional surrender
in the middle of this hearing before the
masters They volunteered to begin TINS
wretched assault upon the person. prop
erty and religious faith of an aged cit
izen of New Hampshire, and now SIX
months later. when their charges have
utterly collapsed. they run to cover Inls
is their legal right, but L speak OF the
legal rights of Mrs. Eddy. Let me tenn
perate,y review the situation.
An Honored Citizen
''She is an honored citizen of this state
entitled to the protection of its courts.
She is the founder and head of a great
religious organization, with many nun
dred thousands devoted followers on
March d, last, she was living peacefully
in her own home surrounded by faith-
full friends of her own choice. She was
possessed of a large property, acquired
almost solely from the sale of her relig-
ious writings 1t will sometime appear
that after providing literally for her own
kin she had devoted much of her estate
to the promotion of the religious views
taught by her. She was a good citizen.
She was and is entitled to the protection
of the law On that day, March i, last,
tllS suit was llSlllulcu ny a SlCuS hSWo
paper, which had hired and paid emf
nent counsel to bring it. 1t was pri-
marily an attack upon the religious
teachings of a great religious leader.
son and an adopted son inconsiderately
loaned the use of their names as next
friends' and the agent of this newspaper.
who visited and persuaded the son at
Lead, November 20. and the adopted son
at Waterbury, VT, March 6, ana per-
suaded them to cooperate, is now writ
ing in the presence of your honors at the
reporters table.
''The suit was brought in her name
against ten honest men, alleging that she
was incompetent to protect her property.
and, second, that these ten defendants
have wrongfully misappropriated her
funds Not one of the ten defendants
had taken a dollar of her money. They
have answered under OATH The truth OF
their answer is admitted. The suit was
based on false pretenses. The situation
was unique in legal history. Mrs. Eddy,
in the eyes of the law, was not de-
fendant, although the proceedings were,
in fact, being directed solely against her.
She was not plaintiff; the suit was
brought against her will. Her trustees,
who held and were managing her estate
under a valid deed, prayed for leave to
intervene. Their petition was denied.
She urged that the maintenance of these
proceedings by said alleged next friends
was an abuse of the processes of the
court and an unwarranted interference
with her constitutional and legal rights,
and that she was entitled to speedy re-
lief
'She represented that under the consti-
tuition and laws she was of right enti-
tied to a determination of the question
~ wheher her property interests have