Jack Ryan

There is a quite a difference between a suggestion and a directive. Was the direction given as a suggestion? So delegates were free not to wear it? What would happen if one of them chose NOT to wear it?

@Anna You got me! Really it's because I have issues stemming from decades of mind control from the JW's.... So I am not a good example. Other people should save themselves and future generations from this radioactive titanic religious cult if they don't want their children discussing whether they are allowed to wear beards in 50 years from now. I would rather they study science, medicine or technology and actually do something to help mankind rather than spread hate toward apostates who don't agree with their version / translation of some 5,000 year old camel riding desert sands God's words to an extinct people.

What if you are ordered to do some other crazy thing like.... never use a credit card?

@The Librarian @JW Insider The whole idea of you guys following other men as to what is "permissible" is repugnant to people who have been taught critical thinking skills. Science has left religion and customs of desert nomads from 5,000 years ago literally in the dust. Time to find newer books to spend your days on. Have you considered learning a new skill in coding? Maybe medicine / health? Much more productive than spending your time as a people wondering if beards are ok or why you are all forced to wear suits and ties for walking down the street.

Mollie Tibbitts was murdered by an illegal alien who had been living in the US for 4–7 years. The Iowa family of three was murdered by an illegal alien who was deported twice

DEATH OF JOSEPH L. RUSSELL As noted above, Charles Taze Russell's 65 year-old father, Joseph Russell, married Maria Russell's "younger-by-five-years" 25 year-old sister, Emma Russell, in 1880. Born in 1813, the 84 year-old Joseph Russell must have experienced an inordinate amount of stress caused by the marital discord between his only living Son and his wife Emma's older Sister -- particularly during the last six months that preceded their physical separation in November 1897. Joseph Russell DIED only five weeks after Maria Russell moved out of the Bible House and fled to her brother in Chicago while Charles Taze Russell was on a trip to NYC. The January 1, 1898 issue of ZION'S WATCH TOWER magazine contained the expected laudatory OBITUARY, which contained no hint that things had ever been less than perfect between father and son, and indicated that Charles had been near Joseph's bedside at the time of his death on December 17, 1897. Only three months earlier, back on September 6, 1897, in the midst of some of the most vicious and most public of the fighting between Charles and Maria, Charles Taze Russell MAILED what he himself labeled as "LEGAL NOTICES" to "Mr. J. L. Russell, Mrs. J. L. Russell and Mrs. L. J. Raynor (Maria and Emma's older, widowed sister, who also was a one-time Bethelite)" ORDERING THEM "not to receive, harbor or entertain my wife under your roof under any pretext whatsoever." That is all that we know of the content of those three "Legal Notices", and we know that much only because Charles Taze Russell included that information in a fourth "legal and formal notice" that he sent to Maria Russell at the same time. HOWEVER, on November 8, 1897, after the last round of fighting which preceded Maria Russell's departure, Charles Taze Russell once again sent out a "LEGAL NOTICE" to four friends of Maria Russell (unidentified, but believed to be Emma Russell, Laura Raynor, and two other unknown "friends"), which Charles Taze Russell once again copied to Maria in her own "Legal Notice", in which Charles Taze Russell ORDERED Maria that he did "... prohibit you from having intercourse with them in any manner." We are going to "assume" that the first set of September "Legal Notices" were prepared by Charles Taze Russell's Attorney (but no biggie if that assumption is incorrect). However, in November, Charles Taze Russell states in his letter to Maria that these second set of "Legal Notices" were typed by Bethelite John A. Bohnet (see our Russell Financial Biography page), although we assume that Charles Taze Russell actually composed the content of this second set of "Legal Notices" BASED ON THE CONTENT OF THE PREVIOUS SEPTEMBER "LEGAL NOTICES", including that sent to his own Father. There is no concrete evidence that Joseph Russell was one of the addressees of these second "Legal Notices", but neither is there any hard evidence that Joseph Russell was not one of the addressees. The fact remains, that given the lack of legal rights possessed by females of that era, the second September "Legal Notice" addressed to "Mrs. J. L. Russell" would have been understood to have been addressed to her husband, Joseph L. Russell. Here is the content of the second November "Legal Notices", to which we have "added emphasis" to improve readability: Notably, during the 1894 Schism, Charles Taze Russell published a letter of support from his father, Joseph L. Russell, which condemned Russell's attackers. Notably, during Charles Taze Russell's lengthy battle with Maria Russell, which started long before 1897, and continued to be played out in the media and countered by Russell in the pages of the WATCH TOWER magazine up until and even after Charles Taze Russell's own death, we have not located any letter, statement, quotation, or even indication of any condemnation of Maria Russell or her actions from Joseph L. Russell prior to his death in 1897.

JOSEPH L. RUSSELL'S WILL During Maria's and Taze's April 1906 Divorce-Separation Trial, Charles Taze Russell testified that at some unspecified time during the mid-1890s that he had spoken to his father, Joseph Russell, about what Taze perceived as the insufficient amount bequeathed in Joseph's WILL to Taze's sister, Margaret Land. Taze evidently convinced Joseph Russell that he should leave more to Margaret. Taze drew up a new WILL for Joseph, which also devised $1000.00 to the Watch Tower Society -- which effectively was a bequest of $1000.00 to Taze, despite the fact that Taze boasted that he had counseled his father that his estate was too small for such a large bequest, and boasted of the fact that he, Charles Taze, received nothing from the estate of his father. (The obvious question is how had Joseph Russell's estate become so small by the mid-1890s, unless such was because Joseph had effectively already given much of his lifetime earnings to Taze via their intermingled business dealings which had all eventually trickled down to Taze. Interestingly, a note -- evidence of a debt -- in the amount of $1700.00 was given to Charles Taze Russell by Joseph Russell only 15 days before his death. Such memorializations between fathers and sons under such circumstances are often attempts to revive previously paid or even forgiven debts, or simply to concoct non-existent debts, in order to defraud those to whom money will otherwise legally and rightfully flow via a WILL or divorce. Attorneys will even counsel clients to do such. This Editor even has seen this occur multiple times amongst my own relatives.) Emma Russell was very unhappy about the way that her husband was treating her and their child in his WILL after she had married this old, wrinkled codger when she was 25 years-old, and had borne him another daughter. Emma passed that anger on to her sister Maria, who passed such along to her husband. Joseph L. Russell's ONLY obligation was to his relatively young wife, Emma Russell (born 1855), and their teenage daughter, Mabel Russell. Nothing should have been bequeathed to either Margaret Land nor the Watch Tower Society unless there was obvious surplus over and above that which was estimated to last Emma's life expectancy, which was NOT the situation. In fact, when Emma was in her late 50s, she was forced to take employment at Bethany College as an "Assistant Dorm Matron" -- a Campbellite school located in Bethany, West Virginia -- where she lived and worked until about six years prior to her death in 1929.

THE BROOKLYN EAGLE. NEW YORK, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 1912. SAYS "RUSSELLISM" BROKE UP FAMILY ________ Merchant Declares Wife and Daughter Were Lured Away by "Pastor's" Teachings. ________ LAWYER'S ADVICE SOUGHT ________ After Two Months on the Road Selling Russell Books, Women Return, Asking to Be Forgiven ________ (EMPHASIS ADDED BY US. Also, readers should bear in mind that this newspaper article was published during a much more conservative age, and we believe that the editor intentionally chose the occasionally double-meaning verbiage to make certain that the EAGLE'S readers "got it".) The Eagle has been requested by a well-to-do New York merchant to make known his experiences with Pastor Russell and his teachings, which for a while, he says, broke up his home and caused him and members of his family great misery. The man's wife and an 18-year-old daughter had become so attracted by the doctrines of Pastor Russell that they left their home in a New Jersey seaside town and went out on the streets selling books for the Brooklyn preacher. They stayed away about two months, and it was only when the husband and father informed them that he had consulted his attorney about instituting a legal action to get possession of his daughter that they returned home and asked to be forgiven. When they left home last September they took only summer clothing with them, and as the New York business man refused to send them their winter wraps, the cold weather may also have helped induce them to return. They were received back on condition that the girl should be sent to a boarding school for two or three years, and that the wife should give up all relations with the followers of Pastor Russell. In a letter to the husband and father Pastor Russell invited him to come to Brooklyn and turn over his "all to the Lord [Russell]." Should the husband and father refuse to do this he was warned that it might "blight your life and embitter it -- and cost you the future life," which being interpreted in the light of the pastor's teaching would mean that he would suffer the "second death" and have no further chance for enjoyment of the coming millennium, which is a cardinal feature of "Russellism." Wife Comes Home and Asks Husband to Forgive Her. No attention was paid to the letter, and instead the father consulted his lawyer. It was last Monday that the wife, who demanded to be supported by her husband, though living away from home, was informed of this move. She then went away to consult the leaders of the sect, and presumably by advice of their lawyer she came back home next day and asked to be forgiven. The daughter came first in the company of a "sister" from the Russell camp, but her father told her he would have nothing to say to her unless she came alone, whereupon the "sister" was dismissed and a reconciliation followed. The girl is now in an out-of-town school, where her father expects to keep her for a few years. "My daughter is as innocent as a child," said her father today. "She does not know much about other religions, and in some way, through her mother's indulgence, she became fascinated by this 'self-consecration' and 'millennium' idea, until she was unable to do anything but carry out the orders of the leader of the sect and his aides." "My wife has always been of a religious turn of mind," continued the husband. "She was brought up in a small town, where she did not get in touch with any broad currents of life, and though her father was one of the finest men I ever knew, he did not take much interest in religion. Consequently, the novelty of extreme religious ideas had a certain attraction for her. "She belonged to the Church of the Disciples of Christ for many years, and was a diligent worker for them. I never hindered her in her church work as long as it seemed to me normal and wholesome. Then she became infatuated with Dowie and Zionism for a few years, but that, happily, did not take any extreme turn. "It was about three years ago that she began to be interested in "Pastor" Russell and his doctrines. I had no idea of the character of the teachings of that cult, and being an open-minded man I even went so far as to accompany my wife to several of their services in Brooklyn, and also donated a little money to them. And what is more, I read faithfully the six books that "Pastor" Russell sells, called "Studies in the Scriptures." "Things went along peaceably as far as I could make out, until last summer, when the "season" opened at the seaside place where we have our house. The Russellites began to invade our home and hold evening "study meetings." That upset my rest and brought a lot of people into the house that I did not want to entertain, so I said the meetings would have to stop. Says Wife and Daughter Were Given Great Quantities of Books to Sell. "The next step came when I found about ten thousand copies of "Pastor" Russell's pamphlets in my house, and a lot of books, which my wife and daughter were sent out to distribute and sell. Instead of keeping house, and taking care of the two younger children, they spent all day tramping house to house among our neighbors, distributing leaflets and selling books. "It was my daughter who made most of the sales, I learned, because she is a bright girl, though unsophisticated, while my wife is not adapted to commercial affairs. She never could sell anything. "This kind of life told on my girl's health, and furthermore, I did not want her to be exposed to the dangers of going in and out of strange houses, so I finally put my foot down, and said this peddling must stop. Thereupon, as I found out later, my daughter sent a telegram to Brooklyn asking what to do. She was told she should leave her home at once. To my wife this was equivalent to a command she did not think of disobeying, but when l was told about it, I said that I would never let my daughter go away unless her mother went with her, to look out for her. "They both left. That was about two months ago, and a few days later I got a letter from "Pastor" Russell in which he invited me to come and join his flock, and practically turn over my business to him. He used a lot of Biblical phrases, and asked me to come and spend Sunday at his house, on Columbia Heights, in Brooklyn. He even went so far as to offer me the use of his own room, as he was going away to Maine over Sunday. "I paid no attention to the letter which proposed that should I not consent to sell me home and join him, my wife would be sent back to me, but my young eighteen-year-old daughter would be kept. I supposed her ability to sell books was the only reason he wanted her to stay [don't bet on that]. "I informed my wife that I would not take her back unless my daughter came back, and that it would be her plain duty to stay and look after the welfare of our child. My younger daughter and son stayed with me, and we kept the house going, but naturally it was not a happy home. I became more and more worried, and at last decided to go to court to get back my oldest child. I intended to ask the court to make me her guardian, so I could do with her what I pleased. Lack of Winter Clothes Helps to Bring Woman and Her Daughter Home. "In the meantime the two women had been sent out to work for the 'pastor.' I heard one of them in Bloomfield, N.J., where they were going from house to house selling the Russell books, which sell for $2 per set. "When they went away they packed up only their summer clothes, as their winter wraps were then in a storage place. When the cold weather came, they sent for their heavy clothes, but I refused to give them up. I'm afraid they had a hard time to get along with the 'pastor,' and now they are back. One of the stipulations of the reconciliation was that my wife would have no further intercourse with the sect, and that my younger children should be spared instruction in the Russell doctrine. "I have hopes that my daughter will grow out of her delusions, and that she will be spared to me. She had already gone so far as to believe that she had become 'consecrated' and that her whole life was to be given up to work for the 'pastor '. While I cannot control my wife's mind, I also expect that she will be glad to remain in her home, where she has every comfort. In fact, she seems very glad to be back. "It has been a terrible experience for me, and I hope other men may take warning." END OF ARTICLE

WHO REALLY IS THE "FATHER" OF THE WATCHTOWER SOCIETY?

ROSE BALL AFFAIR Rose Ball's older brother, Charles Ball, relocated from Buffalo, New York, to Pittsburgh -- probably sometime in mid 1888 -- and began to work at Watch Tower Society HQ. Charles Ball, age 21, died in March 1889. Shortly prior to his death, Charles Ball had requested and had received permission for his younger sister, Rosa Ball, to join him in Pittsburgh to also work at Watch Tower Society HQ. We believe that Rosa Ball arrived in Pittsburgh in latter 1888, when she was 19 years-old (she was born in 1869). Charles and Rosa lived with some other HQ workers at Charles and Maria Russell's Clifton Avenue home. (At the Divorce Trial, "Pastor" Russell testified that the age of Rose Ball had NEVER EVER come up. Russell further alleged that when he occasionally visited with Rose alone in her room that he thought that she was only around 13 years-old.) After the tragic death of Charles Ball, Rosa decided to stay in Pittsburgh, continue working at HQ, and continue living at the Russells' home. Given the younger, single female's situation of having just lost her "big brother" and her only relative in the city, the Russells probably became quite protective of Rosa. Rosa was allowed to socialize with Charles and Maria in their private study during evenings and weekends. Over time, the Russells and Rosa grew sufficiently close that the Russells began to treat Rosa Ball as if she were their own daughter, and Rosa reciprocated by treating the Russells like her parents. This eventually included the nightly habit of the by then 20 years-old Rosa kissing both Russells before she retired to her bedroom each evening. Rose Ball's relationship with both Charles Taze Russell and Maria Russell apparently changed greatly, but inversely, between 1890 and 1894. However, over that same time period, Charles and Maria's marital relationship declined proportionately. By 1894, the April 25, 1894, Extra Edition of Zion's Watch Tower magazine, lists "Rose J. Ball" as one of the seven Directors of Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society -- quite an accomplishment in a short space of time for a dainty, fragile 25 year-old single female, with limited or no resources, living in 1894. In fact, Chuckie's little "Rose" continued as a member of the Board of Directors through at least 1898, after the corporate name had been changed to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, and after Rose had become "Rose Ball Henninges". Rose Henninges and her husband Ernest Henninges both played an active role in Charles Taze Russell's property transfer Conspiracy used to DEFRAUD Maria Russell out of her dower rights in Chuckie's real estate, and its' attempt to DEFRAUD Maria Russell out of alimony. Rose Ball's personal relationship with Charles Taze Russell had grown quite intimate between 1890 and 1894, while Maria Russell's marital relationship with her husband had declined to the point of non-existence. Quite a "rivalry" seems to have developed between the two females by 1894. Whatever was or wasn't going on between Chuckie and Rose sexually, they each were ready for Maria to move on and get out of their way, because an emotional/psychological relationship definitely existed. Yes, Chuckie and Rose were in lust or love of one type or another. (Readers should recall that Chuckie's 65 year-old Father, Joseph L. Russell, had married Maria's 25 year-old sister, Emma Ackley, in 1880, and they had a daughter, Mabel Russell, the following year. Testosterone levels run in the family. If "Old Joe" couldn't keep it in his pants at 65, how do you think that his son Chuckie was living a supposed celibate life? The only person actually celibate in that family was Maria!!!) By 1894, Chuckie and Rose had developed a routine where, instead of returning to the Russells' home at the end of the workday, Rose would stay late at night -- often until 11:00 P.M. -- with Chuckie down at WatchTower HQ. Chuckie's excuse was that he did not want Rose walking home alone with the other male workers who also lived at the Russells' home. The obvious question is why did Rose not return home with Maria (or one of the other female co-workers who occasionally also lived with the Russells -- Laura Raynor, Margaret Land, and others)? And, why would 25 year-old Rose Ball EVEN WANT to routinely stay at HQ late into the evening hours -- alone with the 42 year-old Charles Taze Russell -- unless something was going on? In the Fall of 1894, probably in the hopes of driving the final wedge into the Russells' marriage, 25 year-old Rose Ball went to and "confessed" to Maria that Chuckie had developed a "habit of hugging and kissing her and having her sit on [his] knee and fondling each other", and that Chuckie had "bid her under no account to tell [Maria]". Rose further claimed that these things were occurring "down at the office when she stayed down there with [Chuckie] in the evenings after the rest had gone, and here at home at any time when [Maria] wasn't around". Rose Ball further "confessed" to Maria that only recently when Chuckie and she had arrived home one night at around 11:00 P.M., that Chuckie had stopped her in the vestibule and "put his arms around her and kissed her". Chuckie had called Rose "his little wife", but Rose retorted, "I am not your wife." Chuckie replied, "I will call you daughter, and a daughter has nearly all the privileges of a wife". Apparently, Rosa was not satisfied with just being "a daughter". The context is unknown, but Rose also told Maria that Chuckie had stated to her, "I am like a jelly fish. I float around here and there. I touch this one and that one, and if she responds, I take her to me, and if not, I float on to others." Rose also told Maria that Chuckie had told her that, "A man's heart is so big that he can love a dozen women, but a woman's heart is so small that she can love but one man." When Maria finally approached Chuckie with these shocking disclosures (she had to wait a day to regain her composure), he allegedly admitted some lessor things, denied some, and/or attempted to make fun of the allegations. In 1906, during his trial testimony, Chuckie denied making any of the most damaging statements alleged to have been made in 1894, and attempted to excuse away any "kissing, hugging, and fondling" as explainable, innocent events that had occurred way back in 1889, when Rose was an innocent, naive teenager, whom had just lost her brother, and whom was experiencing adjustment problems with Maria and other co-workers -- all despite the fact that the "kissing, hugging, and fondling" incidents actually at issue were NOT those earlier 1889 incidents, but were the more serious incidents that had occurred more recently -- in 1894 -- when Rose Ball had been a GROWN 25 year-old woman. Thereafter, in the pages of the WATCH TOWER magazine, Charles Taze Russell repeated his attempts at deception by repeatedly discussing and refuting the incidents that had occurred back in 1889, while ignoring as much as possible the statements and incidents which were the real issue -- the statements and incidents that had occurred in 1894. It was likely the 1894 SCHISM that temporarily drew Chuckie and Maria back together as a couple, and which also forced Chuckie to end his private relationship with Rose Ball. However, by only 1895, Chuckie himself was asking Maria for a "divorce", and he even offered Maria their Clifton Avenue property (which would provide sufficient rental income for Maria to live independently, but spartanly) if she would go quietly. Maria declined Chuckie's meager offer, so Chuckie moved and eventually sold the house out from beneath Maria. Maria moved with Chuckie into the top, fourth floor of the "Bible House", where she remained until she moved out in November 1897. After spending two months with her brother in Chicago, Maria returned to Pittsburgh in January 1898, and moved in with the widowed Emma Russell, and their mother, on Cedar Avenue. At least twice, Maria and Emma went to the Bible House and attempted to retrieve Maria's personal property which remained there. Both times, "Pastor" Russell refused to give Maria any of her property, stating to her once, "You don't get anything. Everything you made while my wife is mine!" By November 1897, Rosa J. Ball had already been married off to Russell's right-hand man, Ernest C. Henninges -- in September 1897. In January1898, Ernest Henninges was "voted" (chosen solely by Russell) as both a Watch Tower Society Director and as the new Secretary-Treasurer (Officer) of the Watch Tower Society -- as the replacement for Maria Russell. Around March 1900, Charles Taze Russell sent the Henninges to England for 20 months to establish a new Great Britain Branch Office of the Watch Tower Society, in London, England, and to reinvigorate the poorly performing recruitment work, after which the Henninges returned to the United States in November 1901. In March 1903, Charles Taze Russell forced Maria Russell to file this Divorce-Separation lawsuit by forcibly evicting her from the rental house he owned in which she had been living and renting out rooms as a means of survival. In mid-April 1903, Russell left on a planned trip to Europe. Coincidentally, Ernest Henninges had left for England about three weeks earlier to look for a new London Branch Office location, and to take care of other business prior to Russell's arrival. Interestingly, at some point in this drama, Rose Ball Henninges also left Pittsburgh and went to visit her parents and siblings in Buffalo, New York. (It is not known whether such occurred before or after the filing of the Russell lawsuit.) However, Rose Henninges also soon left for Europe -- joining Charles Taze Russell and Ernest Henninges in London, England during the last week of May 1903, where they all three promptly left for Germany. There, Russell and the Henninges shopped for a rental location for a brand new European Branch Office in Elberfeld, Germany. Russell left the Henninges behind in Germany to get that new WatchTower Society Branch Office up and going. Around December 1903, and without returning to the United States, the Henninges headed to Australia -- as far away as possible from Pittsburgh as Russell could send them -- to open up a new Branch Office for the Watch Tower Society in Melbourne. In Australia, Ernest and Rose Henninges defected from the Watch Tower Society in latter 1909 (along with several prominent U.S. Russellites), and started their own religious "Society", which had its' own U.S.A. office only two blocks from Brooklyn Bethel in the 1920s.

MARGARET M. LAND v. MARIA F. RUSSELL and MARGARET M. LAND v. EMMA H. RUSSELL. At around 3:00 P.M., Monday, March 16, 1903, Pastor Charles Taze Russell called at the local police precinct and requested police assistance to evict Maria Russell and her six tenants from Russell's apartment house on Cedar Avenue that Maria had been "occupying" for nearly four years. The police refused to get involved at that point. Accompanied by 4 males and 2 females from the Bible House, Russell arrived at the home of Maria Russell and attempted to gain entry. However, Maria locked the doors and refused to let in Russell and his Bible House bullies. Taze called the police, while Maria called her attorney, whom instructed Maria to maintain her resistance. The responding police officers attempted to bluff Maria into unlocking the doors, but Maria stood her ground. After the police left, Taze broke a ground floor side window in an attempt to get in, and reportedly cut his arm sufficiently that it had to be bandaged. Taze and his Bible House Bethelite bullies eventually gained entry and began evicting Maria's boarders and/or their personal property. Russell and his thugs brought along their own personal property, which they placed inside the rental rooms of the large residence. Maria Russell summoned the police for their help, but the responding two male officers refused to stop CTR. As the pathological LIAR always did, Charles Taze Russell LIED to reporters inquiring about the reasonableness of the evictions. Taze told reporters that he had given prior notice to both Maria and her six tenants to quit the premises, or suffer eviction. However, during the later Divorce trial, deep into questioning and after Taze had finally stopped LYING then and there, Taze admitted that he had not given Maria nor her six tenants prior notice of the evictions. When Maria's attorney asked Taze if he was at least ashamed of his eviction of the innocent six tenants without giving them prior notice, the ego-manic Taze responded, "I was not!!! I never do anything that I am ashamed of, or that I would be ashamed of!!!" Taze also LIED when he repeatedly told reporters that he was not evicting Maria from the house. Taze also DECEIVED reporters when he failed to inform them of the "conditions" under which Maria would be required to to live in order to continue to live in the house. Neither Russell informed reporters that Margaret Land had lived with Taze and Maria previously, and that the two women had not gotten along, and that Maria previously had even asked Taze to ask his sister to move out. Maria Russell later informed reporters: "So, could any woman live in her own home under such conditions? I told my husband that I would never recognize Mrs. Land's newly acquired authority nor would I ever eat a bite that had been prepared by any of his friends." Around 9:00 P.M., Monday, Maria went over to Emma's house to eat a late supper, but when she returned to her own house, Maria discovered that she had been locked out. Sometime later that night or Tuesday, Maria and Emma apparently gained entry to the home in an effort to obtain some of Maria's property and money. Undoubtedly at the instruction of Charles Taze Russell, Margaret Land immediately filed legal charges against both Maria Russell and Emma Russell for "forcible entry and detainer". Margaret Land also filed the same charge against one of Maria's boarders whom had also gained entry to his room through a window in order to remove his personal property. Outcome of that case unknown. However, on Wednesday, the two court cases against Maria and Emma were dismissed by the magistrate's court, with court costs assigned to Margaret Land. Charles Taze Russell also DECEIVED reporters when Taze insinuated that along with the Bethelites who were moving their personal property into the house that he also would be moving into the house. Taze told reporters that his sister, Margaret Land, "had returned from Florida to run his household for him". That story quickly changed to Russell "renting" the house to his sister Margaret Land as the situation became "legal". Thereafter, Russell even had the gall to tell reporters that the apartment house had been constructed on "leased ground", on which he paid annual rent, which Russell interpreted for reporters as legally eliminating any dower right to a wife. Taze Russell did not identify this "alleged" legal owner of the "ground" on which sat 79 Cedar (next door to 80 Cedar -- the first house purchased by Joseph Russell in 1877/8, which by 1903 was owned by his widow, Emma Russell), but this assertion makes Pastor Russell out to be and even bigger Conman than previously thought. If true, then that would have meant that Russell had been scheming against his spouse for years -- long before Maria and he had marital issues -- to screw Maria out of every cent that he possibly could if such ever became necessary -- as if under 1800s Pennsylvania law pertaining to the legal rights of "wives" such was even necessary. In reality, just like the last-minute financial "note" mentioned in the Joseph Russell's Will section below, this alleged "lease" was likely just another of a series of legal concoctions intended to screw Maria out of every penny that Taze could if an when such became necessary. (CTR was a REAL POS behind the scenes where and when he thought noone could see what he was doing. To think that this SCUMBAG fathered one international religious cult, along with multiple insignificant personality cults, makes a significant statement about human society.) *** PENNSYLVANIA v. CHARLES TAZE RUSSELL. On Wednesday, March 18, 1903, one of Maria Russell's boarders filed criminal charges of "assault and battery" against Pastor Charles T. Russell. That tenant stated that he had been a tenant in the house for more than a year, and that when he returned home on Monday night, March 16, 1903, that Pastor Russell "laid violent hands on him and tried to throw him out into the street". Outcome unknown, but given the fact that Russell left for Europe only a few weeks thereafter, the outcome is predictable. *** MARIA RUSSELL ROOMER v. CHARLES TAZE RUSSELL. In March 1903, one of Maria Russell's former tenants filed a civil lawsuit against Pastor Charles T. Russell claiming $1000.00 damages (approximately $32,000.00 in 2016 dollars) to his personal property that Russell had illegally removed from his rented room. Outcome unknown. This litigant is believed to have been a different roomer than the one above who filed criminal assault charges against Pastor Russell. *** PENNSYLVANIA v. CHARLES TAZE RUSSELL. Having her only means of financial support unexpectedly ripped away from her, on Saturday, March 21, 1903, Maria Russell swore out a warrant for her husband, C. T. Russell, criminally charging him with "non-support" of his spouse. Maria requested immediate temporary support until the matter could be established permanently at trial. The Allegheny County Criminal Court was unable to schedule trial until June 27, 1903 -- after Pastor Russell had returned home from his trip to Europe. At trial, Pastor Russell claimed that he had donated all of his assets to the Watch Tower Society, and that his only income was the standard Bethelite $10.00 per month, plus expenses. Pastor Russell was court ordered to pay Maria Russell $40.00 support per month. As noted elsewhere on this page, the $40.00 monthly support was actually paid by the Watch Tower Society -- not Pastor Russell.

The following excerpt from one of Maria Russell's trial testimonies in 1907 is highly revealing as to how Pastor Russell came to be estranged from Maria Russell, and how he subsequently treated Maria. To fully understand the context of such, readers should have first read our FINANCIAL BIOGRAPHY OF CHARLES TAZE RUSSELL webpage. *** Q. Mrs. Russell, after you separated from your husband in November, 1897, where did you go live? A. I went to my sister's. [80/1006 Cedar Avenue] Q. And how long did you live with your sister? A. A year and a half. Q. Did you receive any support from your husband during that year and a half? A. None whatever. Q. At the expiration of the year and a half, which would be about April, 1899, where did you go live? A. The house next door to my sister [79/1004 Cedar Avenue], which was owned by my husband, which was left vacant, the tenant moved out and I went in and took possession of it and notified Mr. Russell I was there. Q. How long did you live in that house? A. I remained there for four years. Q. During those four years, did Mr. Russell contribute anything to your support, outside of permitting you to live in this house? A. Nothing. Q. And during those four years, how did you make a livelihood? A. I rented furnished rooms. EDITORS NOTE: Maria Russell testified at the first support hearing in late June 1903 that she netted around $30.00 profit per month from rental of rooms and providing "board". Q. I believe during this time Mr. Russell gave you some furniture? A. Yes, Sir. Q. And that would bring us down now to April, 1903? A. Yes, Sir. Q. And did you leave that house on Cedar? A. On April 16, 1903, Mr. Russell and these men who are with him today came over to my house, and with some others from the office, they were persons connected with the Watch Tower Society and also the [United States] Investment Company and they came over and took possession of the house, and turned me out of the house; he kept the furniture and even retained my pocket book which carried the money that I had received from the rent of rooms. EDITORS NOTE: Maria Russell either misspoke when she said, "April 16, 1903", or the court reporter got it wrong. The correct date was Monday, March 16, 1903. See Section below to see what all occurred during the week of March 16, 1903 between Maria and Taze Russell. OBJECTION Q. And then I believe shortly after that eviction from this house you instituted these proceedings for divorce? And also proceedings in the [C]ourt of Quarter Sessions for non-support. (See following section.) A. Yes. Sir. Q. In which the court sentenced him to pay $40 a month? A. Yes, Sir. Q. Which has been done from that time down until the present? A. Yes, Sir. Q. Have you had any financial aid from your husband except this $40 a month which you have received since about April 1, 1903, down to the present time? A. None whatever. Q. Mrs. Russell, have you any means of your own? A. I have no means of my own, excepting a very small legacy from my mother, just a few hundred dollars, and that has helped to eke out life with that $40 a month which I have been living on since that time. Mother just died just before I was evicted from that house. Q. Mrs. Russell, prior to the time you left your husband, did he ever propose a separation? A. Yes, Sir. Q. When was that? A. That was just before we moved down to the Bible House. It was in 1895. Q. And at that time you were living on Clifton Avenue, Allegheny? A. Yes, Sir. Q. Did or did not Mr. Russell at that time make any threat as to what he would do with his property unless you acceded to his demands? A. Yes, Sir. Q. What were they? A. He proposed that on the ground of incompatibility that we agree to separate, and if I would do so he would give me that house in which we were living, and when I broke down at the suggestion, he said if I did not agree to it, that I would not get anything. Q. After this proposed separation and threat, Mrs. Russell, where did you go to live, you and your husband? A. We moved down to the Bible House. Q. At whose suggestion? A. Mr. Russell's. Q. And I believe you continued to live there until the final separation in November, 1897? A. Yes, Sir. Q. And I believe you continued to do work in the Bible House for Mr. Russell? A. Yes, Sir, down to the time I took sick; and after that I kept on with the work all the time I was there.

Here is an informative article published by the BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE on October 31, 1911. (Emphasis Added) *** PASTOR RUSSELL SILENT TO HIS WIFE FOR MONTHS ------------ Would Address Her Only by Letter, and Then in Terms of Reproach. ------------- ORDERED OUT OF SICKROOM ------------- Wife's Counsel's Brief in Separation Suit Charges Husband With Sending Offensive Messages by Rose Ball. (Special to The Eagle.) Pittsburg , Pa., October 31 — Surprise has been expressed here by those who know Pastor Russell at the assertions contained in the last issue of the People's Pulpit, of which many copies are being circulated in this city. One feature of this issue is Pastor Russell's explanation of his trouble with his wife. He makes in this issue the same charges against his wife for which the Superior Court of Pennsylvania has declared there was not a syllable of justification in the evidence which Pastor Russell presented in court in his vain endeavor to prevent his wife from getting a separation. Some of the specific statements about Mrs. Russell in Pastor Russell's paper, which have aroused comment here, read as follows: "She came under the influence of what is popularly known as 'Woman's Rights,' and, because she could not have her own way and write what she chose for the columns of my journal, The Watch Tower, she endeavored to coerce me and took one step after another, apparently determined that, if she could not coerce, she would crush and destroy my life and influence." To those here who recall the Superior Court's characterization of Pastor Russell's conduct toward his wife as evidencing "insistent egotism, extravagant self-praise and continual arrogant domination," and the same court's reference to Mrs. Russell as a "sensitive Christian woman," Pastor Russell's present explanation of their difficulties is not convincing. A review of this part of the testimony in the separation suit which called forth criticism of Pastor Russell's conduct by the court is contained in the libellant's brief, prepared by Congressman Stephen G. Porter, who was Mrs. Russell's attorney throughout the long court proceedings in which Pastor Russell was repeatedly defeated. In this brief, which was submitted to the Superior Court, to which Pastor Russell carried the suit after the jury in the Court of Common Pleas had rendered a verdict against him, Congressman Porter says: "The testimony clearly shows that the relations between libellant (Mrs. Russell) and respondent (Pastor Russell) had become somewhat strained prior to the year 1896, about which time respondent ceased speaking to his wife, and holding all his communications with her by letter. Letter of Pastor Russell to Wife Key of Situation. "His letter to her of July 8, 1896, may be fairly considered the key to this case, as it shows respondent's notions of marital life, and his treatment of his wife is in harmony with the spirit of that letter. In the letter he states (Exhibit 3): "'I am convinced that our difficulty is a growing one generally; that it is a great mistake for strong-minded men and women to marry. If they will marry, the strong-minded had far better marry such as are not too intellectual and high spirited, for there never can, in the nature of things, be peace under present time conditions where the two are on an equality.' "Later in the letter he states: "'For the past three years you have been cruelly forcing upon me the evidence that we both erred when we married; that we are not adapted to each other. The last month has fastened this conviction upon me much against my will.' Pastor Sulked for Weeks at a Time. "While professing at all times to be guided by the Word of God the undisputed evidence is that he would sulk for weeks at a time and not speak to his wife, and would resort to the pen to have any communications with her; instead of approaching her personally to try to secure reconciliation of their differences and praying with her as a godly man would have done, he went about among her associates and told them she was under the hypnotic influence of Satan in the form of her sister, who was his father's second wife. "It will be noted here that Mr. Russell in this letter of July 8, 1896, in stating his conviction that they made a mistake in getting married, and that that conviction had been growing on him for three years, which would make it begin in 1893. The dispute about the editorship of the paper began in 1896; therefore it could not have been the dispute about the same that forced the conviction upon Mr. Russell that their marriage was a mistake, and which conviction he says had been growing on him for three years. "During the letter writing period Mr. Russell refrained from either bidding his wife good morning or good night; and though he denied this on the witness stand, his letter of July 9. 1896 (Exhibit 2), clearly contradicts him, for in that he states: "'To avoid misunderstanding, let me say, under the circumstances it properly devolves upon you to make the advances on the line of social amenities between us. It would be improper for me to take the initiative in the matter of amenities such as, 'good morning,' 'good night," etc." "The atmosphere of this home from July 1896, to the time when she withdrew from it in November 1897, was filled with unbearable silence and utter neglect. This, of itself, was an indignity of such a character as to render the condition of a woman of Mrs. Russell's delicacy of feeling intolerable and her life burdensome. "Nagging and Cutting Sarcasm." "To this, libellant testified, was added nagging and cutting sarcasm. 'You are my wife only in a legal sense' (Exhibit 14, page 6), and by stating to her: 'A wife has no rights which a husband is bound to respect,' and calling her a blasphemer, as testified by libellant in describing a scene that occurred in the Watch Tower office, where the respondent took her by the arm and forcibly ejected her with the statement: 'Get out of here, you blasphemer.' This is not contradicted by the respondent; in fact, it might be said that the case is somewhat remarkable for the great number of failures to contradict the libellant by respondent when he had amply opportunity to do so. "Another incident in the fall of 1896, to which libellant testified, and was uncontradicted, by the respondent was: When leaving home for the far West she helped him get ready, and then putting her hand on his arm, she said: 'Husband, you are going far away. There are lots of railroad accidents, and we might never meet again. Surely, you don't want to leave your wife in this cold, indifferent way.' In reply, he pushed her back, slammed the door in her face, and departed on his journey. '"Again, libellant testifies, that in the latter part of December, 1896, she was taken sick with a severe form of erysipelas. When she had been ill for about two weeks respondent went to New York, was gone nearly a week, and when he returned he did not so much as enter that sick room and see his wife; but after taking his breakfast in their apartments, he goes to his office and remains until night, and then between 9 and 10 o'clock goes to the sick room, not to comfort and cheer; but to order libellant out of the room. As a direct result of this treatment, libellant testifies, and it is not denied, that she was thrown into a violent fever that night and a heavy backset followed. The erysipelas, which had been confined to head and face, thereafter involved the whole person, and was most distressing and dangerous. "Even if defendant did attend to her himself at nights when at home, in preference to hiring a competent nurse, it is evident from the testimony of libellant that he did not do it in a way becoming to a kind husband, for libellant testifies that in the midst of a nervous chill he told her himself that it was a judgment of God upon her, and that if she could not control her nerves he would leave her alone, for it was not his duty to attend to her. Sent Offensive Message to Wife by Rose Ball. While respondent denies that he ever told the libellant directly that her sickness was a judgment of God, he admits that he did say this to Rose Ball, with the intention of having her repeat it to his wife. This Rose Ball is the same girl that the respondent admitted was in the habit of sitting on his knee and kissing him, and would naturally be the most offensive messenger by whom he could send a message to his wife. And she didn't fail to carry it to the bedridden wife. "Finally, however, she did recover, after about nine weeks illness. She was again about the duties of her home in the spring and summer of 1897, when one day, in the presence of this same Rose Ball, he demands of his wife an itemized statement of her outlays. Something he had never required before, probably because he realized that she had made more of his money than he did. Such a demand at any time would be inexpressibly humiliating to her, and when made in the presence of Rose Ball would be inexcusably and utterly intolerable." In rendering its decision against Pastor Russell, the Superior Court recurs to many of the above matters and partly bases its decision on the facts which they disclose. END ARTICLE ***At the Divorce Trial, Maria Russell also testified that her husband had moved a picture of her father and mother to behind a door.