New-York tribune., 1912-03-19
Mrs. WhippIe Says Mental "SCI'
enlist" Drove Her from House.
WROTE OF POISON PLOT
She Accuses Practitioner and
Woman Secretary of "Freez-
ing" Her Out.

Leander Edmund Whipple, mental heal
er OF No 10 East 66th street, who operates
in exclusive sections Of the city. Is the de-
fendant In a suit for separation brought by
his wife Mrs Hattie L. Whipple who al
leges cruelty. one Of the papers in the
case Is q letter written by Whipple. In
which he accuses his wife Of trying to
poison him.
Mrs Whipple complains that harsh and
tyranniCal treatment by her husband began
soon after they were married, in 1854 III
Southboro Mass She is a member of. the
Fairbanks family. we'll known In that Sec
ton. Whipple said last night that his side
of the case would be told when he filed his
answer. Mrs. Whipple says her husband
installed in his house Mrs. Elizabeth Ste
phenson as houSekeeper and secretary, and
had given the woman full authority In the
household, the servants being instructed to
take no orders from Mrs Whipplc.
While Whipple and Mrs. Stephenson 1sed
the library, Mrs. Whipple says she was
compelled to conline herself to her own
room Her objection to this, she says, was
met with violent language, and also the
mental healer told her that his association
with Mrs. Stephenson was essential to sue
cess in his profession. Another woman,
one May Nichols, a nurse, also Is mah-
toned
All the time that Mrs. Whipple heroically
stood this treatment. she says, she treat
ed him with great forbearance and loving
patience, hoping that he would see the
error OF his ways" And now that she no
longer lives in the home where her life
was made so bitter Mrs. Whipple wants
the healer to support her independently, as
she needs his support. She says that her
husband has an income of $4,000 from his
practice as mental healer and lives in
luxurious style.
One form OF cruelty which the wife says
her husband and Mrs. Stephenson practsed
on her was the silence treatment" abso-
lutely ignoring her in the conversation ar
table. Then. finally, on January l las,
Whipple ordered his wife from their home
and handed her letter. which read:
1t is now full time for you to be moving
on the plans laid out in my previous letter.
There Is no law whatever by which you
can remain. Pack your goods to-day and
will express home prepaid | have the
ticket for you 10 take the tomorrow morn
ing train. You may remain tonight, bui
must go tomorrow morning. This Is also
for your best good.
The preliminary warning that Whipple
gave his wife that size must leave, and 10
which he refers in the foregoing note. was
dated December 2S, 1911, and read:
have been carefully considering affairs
between us and especially as regards oc-
Currences shortly before you went away
last July Certain circumstances that
arose at that time and with which you are
thoroughly conyersant, go TO snow tha'
shortly before you left here ! received a
dangerous dose Of deadly poison, evidently
administered with the intent of some one TO
destroy my life. The main facts and cir
cumstanCes, az well as others that have
happened at times and in various ways
during my close and careful investigation,
all lead to the inference that you were the
person that placed the poison I'm my way.
In consideration Of such actual facts as are
before me ] can reach no other possible
conclusion. and now believe II TO he 50.
have been very thorough careful and
serious minded about Il throughout the In
yestigatiOn. Knowing the gauge Of your
mentality. as / do, | can easily see how
YOU might have been deluded 10 do this.
and l am exceedingly sorry for you In all
ways. / cannot, however, take any more
chances i'm such lines. ! believe that YOU
are under the advice and influence OF per
sons of wrong intent and therefore that
you are a menace to the household. ] have
therefore, after deliberate thought and un-
der authoritative advice, determined that
under no circumstances whatever can con.
sent 10 live longer under the same ROOF
with you. For many reasons, which you
also know, II is manifestly impossible fo-
us 10 agree or live comfortably together.
Whipple formerly lived at No. S2s Madi-
son avenue, where he conducted school
for mental healing. II wac his assertion
that the presence Of the patient was not
x.o...ioI 60 ,ba oefactInU NJ cure He gave
treatment by telegraph at 81 treatment.
He also promised to turn out practitioners
I'm eighteen lessons, at a cost Of 800.