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.”
[2] Sir John Franklin was a celebrated Arctic explorer. In 1845 he was appointed to the command of an expedition sent out by the British Admiralty in search of the northwest passage. The expedition sailed from Greenhithe, May 18, 1845, and was last spoken off the entrance of Lancaster Sound, July 26, 1845. Thirty-nine relief expeditions, public and private, were sent out from England and America in search of the missing explorer between 1847 and 1857. McClintock found traces of the missing expedition in 1859, which confirmed previous rumors of its total destruction.
[3] New York World, October 21, 1888.
[4] See [Appendix A].