Russell the Man Redux

Farkel

In another thread, not related to this one, a poster who goes by "yadda yadda 2", and who gets VERY indignant when it is pointed out that his screen name aptly fits his comments, stated that hardly anyone, especially dubs don't give a rat about WTS history. He basically said that looking into WT history was a waste of time.

I pointed out that the modern WTS is what it is BECAUSE of its history, but yadda just didn't get it. But also, in many ways he is right. The WTS doesn't care about its history, either. Barbara Anderson found that out while rooting through filing cabinets looking for historical information while she served at Bethel. She found a lot of very important information concerning early Watchtower history carelessly tossed into filing cabinets here and there. The only time the WTS does care about their history is when their history comes back and bites them in the ass. That is precisely why the Proclaimers Book was published. It had to deal with issues that were biting the WT in the ass, and that is why it contained far fewer lies and whitewashes than the 1958 Divine Purpose book did. But some of the glaring lies it does contain is regarding Charles "Dazed" Russell the man. Not Charles Russell the "prophet", but Charles Russell the man.

Out of the 4 major leaders during the Watchtower's history, Russell appears to be the most honest and nicest of the bunch. Even halfway informed dubs know Rutherford was a total dirtbag, and that Freddie Franz was probably insane, and that Nathan Knorr was a cold-hearted bastard. So Russell looks pretty good in that company. Or does he?

I am bringing up a topic I posted 4 years ago on Russell the man. Russell the man who has no problems lying under oath in Court. Russell, the manipulative business man. Now I know people like yadda yadda 2 don't care about this stuff, and probably most dubs and apostates don't care about this stuff. But a few people do. A few people might just find it interesting that from the VERY BEGINNING, the Watchtower religion was ruled by people to whom truth is not as important as their own agendas. In fact, that thread had almost 7,000 views, so the topic is at least important to more than just a handful of people.

This is for you few people who do care:

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Russell the Man

This piece will not deal with any of C.T. Russell's teaching and false prophecies. Instead, it will deal with Russell the man.

Many ex-dubs still operate under the misconception that Russell was a kind and honest man. At times, he was. At other times he was cruel, petty, vindictive, arrogant, manipulative and a brazen liar. In that respect, he was much like his predecessor in Watchtower Crime, Fred Franz.

I will leave his lying to last.

Russell claimed that he and his wife Maria had agreed before their marriage not to consummate it. Rather than following the instruction in 1 Cor. 7:2-5 for spouses not to refuse their mate the marital due, Russell justified his forced celibacy by citing Rev. 14:4 which deals with the 144,000 "not being defiled with women." Perhaps this was part of the reason Maria decided to separate from him. No one alive really knows.

In the October 19, 1908 transcript of their divorce appeal much information was revealed about Russell the man. For example, Russell told Maria that if they separated, he would give her the house they were living in. If she refused, he would give her nothing. Nothing? Nothing after 18 years of working full time with him in his pet religion? Nothing after giving up the prospects of having a normal family so Russell to devote all of his time to promoting his fantasies?

Maria refused his offer, and true to his word he gave her nothing. After living with her sister for a year and a half, a house that Russell owned had become vacant and Maria moved into it for four years. She rented out rooms in order to support herself. Although Russell gave her no money, he did provide
some furniture for the house. Maria set out to expose Charles for the mean and vindictive person he was. She did this by circulating a tract which was documented by quotes from letters he had written to her.

When Charles found out about this he and some other men descended on the house without any warning, took possession of it and evicted her. Russell even took her pocket book which contained money she he received as rent for the rooms. As a result, Maria went to court and the court ordered Charles to pay her forty dollars per month. Keep in mind, this order was five and one half years AFTER they had separated, during which time Russell had paid her nothing. He refused to pay the court-ordered support. At the conclusion of their divorce proceedings the Judge ordered Russell to pay Maria one hundred dollars per month. Russell claimed he couldn't do it as he had no money? How could that be? Shortly before the alimony order, Russell had transferred all his personal assets to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. The Court considered this action to be a fraud against Maria and ordered Russell to pay $9,000 worth of back alimony. Rather than paying it out of his own money, he got a group of Bible students to pay it for him.

Was Russell really that poor? The divorce transcript showed that in addition to the Watch Tower Society's assets (valued at $317,000 at the time) and AFTER he sold his clothing stores, Rusell was involved in real estate, rental property, oil and other companies. These included Brazilian Turpetine Company, Pittsburgh Asphaltum Company, Silica Brick Company, and Pittsburgh Kaolin Coke Company.

When Jesus selected his apostles, they all gave up everything they had to follow him. When God "chose" Russell to be his only faithful and discrete slave, Russell continued on as a business tycoon!

Russell The Liar

Charles T. Russell lied several times in Court during his divorce proceedings. He did this to try to hide from the fact he had yet ANOTHER business enterprise going right there at Watch Tower headquarters! It was called the Solon Society, or Solon Association. He was asked about this association in
court:

Q: Well, where was it organized?
A: I really do not remember anything about it.
Q: What is the Solon Society; what does it do?
A: I don't know anything about it.
Q: You have heard of it?
A: I have heard of the Solon Society, yes, sir; but I have nothing to do with it.
Q: Where is its office?
A I do not know; I think it is in Cleveland.

There are FOUR distinct lies in this small piece of testimony and three more that followed. Russell was asked if the Solon Society was organized in the Watch Tower building and run by three "girls" there.

He replied, "I think they do not; I do not know anything about it, I tell you, I do not know anything about it, and how can I swear to what I do not know."

The three "girls" were called to the stand. They were Alice Land, Gabrielle Logan and Laura Whitehouse. They testified that they allowed their names to be used to form the firm "Logan, Land & Whitehouse." This firm was used by the Solon Society to purchase merchandise (household goods, furniture, clothing, etc.) at wholesale prices. All three of these women testified that Russell himself approached them and asked if they would allow their names to be used to create a company.

Alice Land testified: "I understood it was formed for the purpose of purchasing goods at wholesale prices from the manufacturers for an association called the Solon Company or association...Mr. Russell was their representative."

A bit of clarification is needed here. The company who sold the products wholesale would not sell to individuals, only companies. Russell's Solon Society only promoted and sold merchandise. The three girls at Russell's request formed a company using their last names to do the actual purchasing of
the merchandise.

Another woman by the name of Christina Weir who worked in the Watch Tower Annex was called to the stand:

Q: Well, in the (Watch Tower) Annex, what business was carried on there...?
A: During the year 1905 there was some business carried on there by the Solon Society.
Q: And what did the business consist of?
A: The buying and selling of goods at wholesale prices.
Q: Selling them, I understand, to the subscribers to this Solon Journal, is that the idea?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Was or was it (the Solon Journal) not sent out with the Watch Towers?
A: I saw it wrapped there during one issue in the same packages as the Watch Tower and taken over to the post office.
Q: Did you know a firm doing business in that building by the name of Logan, Land & Whitehouse?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: And what business did that firm carry on, if any, and if you know?
A: It carried on the business of the Solon Society.
Q: Then the Logan, Land & Whitehouse firm, was substantially the Solon Society?
A: That was what I understood.

Maria Russell testified in this trial that although she was Secretary and Treasurer of the Watch Tower Society, she never once was allowed to look at the Society's financial records.

Only Russell saw them. How then, could Russell be totally unaware of a business being run in his own property and also not know that his own Watch Tower magazines were being stuffed with promotional material from that business?

Well, he wasn't, because then a MIRACLE happened! He was caught in a pack of lies while under oath and he knew it and had to do something about! So, he magically got his memory back!

Note this cross examination:

Q: Now, to come back to the late firm of Logan, Land & Whitehouse, you say you suggested to these young ladies that they permit the use of their names?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: Who were these people that wanted to use the names of these young ladies?
A: I remember one was Mr. John G. Koehne, of Cleveland, Ohio, and another one was Mr. Clayton J. Woodworth of Scranton, Pa.; they were the two principals.
Q: And they were the men who transacted the business?
A: Yes, sir.
Q: But they did it in the name of Logan, Land & Whitehouse?
A: No, sir they did it in the name of the Solon Association.

Russell then denied that he had any financial interest in the Solon Association and added, "I bought this suit, of which is the coat, from the Solon people for $16.00."

For those of you who don't know, Clayton J. Woodworth mentioned by Russell above was the principal co-author of that marvelously wacky piece of science fiction known as "The Finished Mystery."

There's more. The Solon Association was mentioned FOUR times in the Watchtower Magazine. The WT of December 1, 1904 offered a free four-month subscription to the Solon Journal and stated, "The managers of the Solon are well-known to us as in every way honorable and reliable and we give this announcement without solicitation for the benefit of WATCH TOWER readers,---that they all (as well as the Bible House force) may benefit by the
wholesale purchasing arrangement, effecting large savings in our purchasing yearly."

Let's review again what Russell said in earlier testimony about the Solon Association:

"I really do not remember anything about it."
"I don't know anything about it."
"I have heard of the Solon Society, yes, sir; but I have nothing to do with it."
(Where is it located?): :"I do not know; I think it is in Cleveland."
"I think they do not; I do not know anything about it..."
"...I tell you, I do not know anything about it..."
"...and how can I swear to what I do not know?"

In an article called "Investigating the Investigator" in the Journal "The Continent", September 26, 1912 W.T. Ellis interviewed Charles Russell. He stated:

"I sought a prophet and found a business man! Instead of a humbler seeker after truth, I found the cleverest propagandist of the age -- a man before who John Alexander Dowie, Mary Baker Eddy, Madame Blavatsky, Abbas Effendi, 'Elijah' Sanford and Joseph Smith pale into puerile ineffectiveness."

Indeed. Would the Lord God Jehovah use as his only spokesman on earth a man who would abuse his wife and marriage, a man who would refused Court orders to support his own wife, and man who had a whole portfolio of different business enterprises, a man who hide his own financial records from everyone including his very own wife, a man who would use his Watch Tower magazine to promote a business and then willingly lie about knowing about that business in Court?

If "Jehovah" did choose Russell knowing these things, then "Jehovah" was either stupid or unbelievably desperate.

By the way, all the WT leaders who followed Russell were thoroughly dishonest scumbags themselves. None of them cared the least about kindness, compassion, mercy or truth. It was all about business for them.

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The entire thread from 2004 can be found here:

http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/11/77218/1.ashx

Farkel

sf

sKally

Number1Anarchist

Nice Farkel, I enjoyed reading that. learn something new about the Watchtower every day.

OUTLAW

Farkel..That was a good read..Thanks!..........Charles "Dazed" Russell..?????????????..LOL!!......................... Laughing Mutley ...OUTLAW

jamiebowers

Farkel, IMHO, knowing the history of jws is very important. It's funny, isn't it? Jws say that the history of the organization isn't important, although it's less than 200 years old, yet they'll worry themselves silly about what the pagans did centuries ago.

minimus

I used to think that Russell was basically a
good man" , but I have recognized that he was a "businessman".

Guest with Questions

Thanks for the article. After reading a bit about Russell and Rutherford I wrongly thought that Russell was possibly just a self deluded man; that his heart was in the right place. I thought it was Rutherford that was the ruthless, contemptible and corrupt man. Reading articles, such as yours, I realize that wasn’t the case at all.

I had two aggressive witness women come to door two weeks ago and I mentioned the history of the Watchtower. They had researched their history and they weren’t concerned. The Watchtower has been corrupt since it’s inception. This is their foundation. If the foundation is corrupt from the beginning, how can they possibly think that they can build "truth" on top of that.

Of course they stated that that these men are merely human. I asked why they don’t give "Christendom" the same privilege; that they are only human?

This same couple talked about discernment. I had to ask, how can one have discernment when the society tells them that independent thinking is highly discouraged? When the society tells people that they must leave their God given brains at the door when they enter, and the people comply, it truly amazes me.

Leolaia

Here is more testimony from another trial (RUSSELL v. BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE, 1915):

ATTORNEY FOR DEFENSE: "Why do you not do all your business in the name of the Watch Tower Society; that is, why do you need the dummy corporations?"

WILLIAM E. VAN AMBURGH: "Some people seem to think that a religious corporation should do no so-called secular business whatever."

Leolaia

Hmmm, the IRS in 1954 listed "United Cemeteries" of Pittsburgh PA (which owns the plot where Russell is buried) as a 170 (c) non-profit organization:

http://books.google.com/books?id=xChYAAAAMAAJ&q=%22United+Cemeteries

Perhaps it is still an asset of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society?

ETA: Since it wasn't listed above, I should clarify that United Cemeteries Company was another Watchtower dummy corporation mentioned in the 1915 suit (as Van Amburgh said, "the United States Investment Company and the United Cemeteries were in existence before I ever came to Pittsburgh, and we have continued to use those companies for their convenience ever since").

ninja

the solon society.......hmmmm solon and freemasonry......another clue?

Russell the Man Redux

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