It is significant to note that on December 28, 1923, at St Louis,
Mo., I was fortunate in forming acquaintance with Judge Daniel G.
Taylor, who presided over Division No. 2 of the Circuit Court, to
which division Josie K. Folsom-Stewart, as President, Charles W.
Stewart, Secretary, and Phoebe S. Wolf, as Treasurer, made application
for incorporation of the “Society of Scientific and Religious
Truthseekers,” who claimed that they had associated themselves
by articles of agreement in writing, as a “Society for religious
and mutual improvement purposes.” “The articles of agreement and
association are signed by some forty persons.” As was customary in such
cases, Judge Taylor “appointed J. Lionberger Davis, then a practicing
attorney, now President of Security National Bank, as amicus curiae to
examine into the matter and report whether or not the charter should
be granted.” The outcome of which was evidence of guilt of fraudulent
manifestations of mediumship. In the course of investigation, Miss
Martha Grossman, a member of Mrs. Folsom’s “Development Class,”
testified that Mr. Stewart and Mrs. Folsom were conducting meetings
which she had attended for six months, at which time she saw writing on
cards which Mrs. Folsom said was done by Spirits.
Miss Grossman testified that what Mrs. Folsom claimed to be spirit
photographs were mere transfers from prints in the _Post-Dispatch_,
advertising “Syrup of Figs” and “Lydia Pinkham’s” concoction.
It also developed that Miss Alice C. Preston confessed to having
been a confederate and in that capacity “assisted Mrs. Folsom in
producing, physically, and by natural means, the supposed supernatural
demonstrations.” A reference to this testimony is contained in the
memorandum document on the evidence which is signed by the attorney for
the petitioners and which is in the court files.
As a conclusion, Judge Taylor denied the petition for incorporation,
which in any event could have been granted for the purpose of holding
real estate only, and not for promulgating teachings of a cult.
The Judge acknowledged that he himself was convinced that Mrs. Folsom
was a fraud; and this is the same _Mrs. Stewart_, who appeared before
the Scientific American Committee of Investigation in 1923, wherein she
was detected in her card-trick.
Mrs. Folsom was forced to acknowledge to the court in 1905 that she was
the author of a small book under title of “Non-Godism,” a copy of which
together with documentary evidence bearing on the court proceedings
referred to above are now in my possession.
FOOTNOTES
[1] “Oh, no, Houdini, I never was more serious in my life.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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