There are some quotes of the transcript from The Brooklyn Daily, an afternoon daily newspaper published in NYC from 1841-1955, at one time the largest daily circulating afternoon newspaper in the US. Ross' transcript quotes seem to match the ones in the newspaper. The newspaper cites its transcript source as "taken from the official report of the case on file in the office of Prothonotary of Alleghany County."
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(Published in "The Brooklyn Daily" Volume 72, No. 300., New York City, Sunday October 29, 1911)
"GIRL KISSED PASTOR AND SAT ON HIS KNEE
But Mr. Russell of the Tabernacle Only Submitted to it to Be Kind.
MAY HAVE FELT HER PULSE.
He Sometimes Ministered to the Sick, Locked in Another Girl's Room Innocently.
(Special to The Eagle.)
Pittsburg, October 2 - The suit for a separation brought by Martha F. Russell against Charles Taze Russell, her husband, popularly known as Pastor Russell, who has just entered a libel suit against The Brooklyn Eagle, is remembered here as one of the most sensational court proceedings in the history of Alleghany County.
Pastor Russell's advertising methods had already attracted a good deal of attention to himself, and while many referred to him as "the crank preacher of Alleghaany," his unusual lecttures and effective publicity methods drew good-sized crowds to his Bible House on Arch street. When the fact that Pastor Russell's wife was suing him for a separation became public much general interest was aroused and the courtroom was thronged during the proceedings.
The testimony which elicited the most comment concerned the relations of Pastor Russell with Rose Ball, a young stenographer employed by Pastor Russell in the Bible House on Arch street. This testimony was given by Mrs. Russell on direct examination on Thursday, April 26, 1906. It was ruled out by the Court on the ground that the incidents to which reference was made were said to have occurred on a date which precedes the dates mentioned in Mrs. Russell's bill of complaint. Pastor Russell recurred to the incidents when he went on the stand several days later, and gave his version of what had happened. Rose Ball was not called to the stand, as she left for Australia shortly before the case came to trial.
The verbatim record of this testimony, taken from the official report of the case on file in the office of Prothonotary of Alleghany County, is as follows:
Q. I want you to tell us what your husband did in company with this woman Rose, in your presence and in your home.
A. In the first place, I considered it - (Objected to and witness was no permitted to finish.)
Q. Tell us what you saw and what he said what was done.
A. One evening I spent the evening downstairs, and our library and bedroom were next to each other upstairs on the second floor, and I spent the evening downstairs reading, and I went upstairs about 10 o'clock to my room, and I suppose that he was either in the library or had retired, and when I went up there I found that he was in neither place, and I stepped out in the hall and I found that he was in his night robe, sitting beside Miss Ball's bed and she was in bed. On other occasions I found him going in there and I found she called him in and said she wasn't well and wanted him in, and I objected to this, and I said that it was highly improper, and I said: "We have people about the house, and what kind of a name will be attached to this house if you do that sort of thing?" and he got angry.
Pastor's Wife Tells of His Alleged Nightly Visits.
Q. You state that you found him doing this at other times. How often after that?
A. I found him a number of times; I don't remember how often.
Q. In her room?
A. Yes, sir. And I found him in the servant girl's room as well, and I found him locked in the servant girl's room.
Q. Did he make any explanation why he was in the girl's room?
A. No, he did not; he just got angry.
Q. What did you say to him about his conduct and what did he say?
A. I said to him: "We have a great work on our hands," and I said, "In this work you and I have to walk very circumspectly before the world, and if you are going to do things like this, what will happen? Suppose you are all right, don't you suppose people will talk about things like this?" and I said, "I am not satisfied with it," and he said he wasn't going to be ruled by me. But I felt distressed about this."
Q. What did Rose do at the Watch Tower?
A. She attended to the correspondence.
Q. Where was her desk with reference to the desk of Mr. Russell of the Watch Tower Society?
A. It wasn't near his; it was in the office.
Q. When would he go to the Watch Tower in the morning?
A. I don't remember; he generally went down alone.
Q. Who would return with him?
A. She came with him in the evening and they came about 11 o'clock, and the young men that were in the office - she was the only girl, and the young men would go home, and he wouldn't allow her to go home with them, and she must wait and always go with him.
(Objected to.)
Q. I want the mere fact. Did this girl Rose go home with your husband?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And the young men came home ahead of them?
"Yes, sir.
Q. State to the court and jury what talk, if any, you had with this girl Rose, in regard to her relations with your husband, which you communicated to your husband?
This question was objected to and it was changed to read as follows:
Q. You are to tell what you stated to your husband that Rose had said and his reply to you.
Mrs. Russell Says Girl Told Her of Pastor's Caresses
A. I told him that I had learned something that was very serious, and I didn't tell him right away. I let a day elapse until I felt I had control of myself and could talk and then I told him that I had something very serious to tell him about this matter, and he said, "What is it?" and I said, "Rose has told me that you have been intimate with her, that you have been in the habit of hugging and kissing her and having her sit on your knee and fondling each other, and he tells me you bid her under no account to tell me, but she couldn't keep it any longer. She said if I was distressed about it she felt that she would have to come and make a confession to me, and she has done that.
(By the court.)
Q. What did he say?
A. He tried to make light of it at first and I said, "Husband, you can't do that. I know the whole thing. She has told
Continued on page 3"
(There was a typo in the newspaper and the story actually continues on page 6)
"GIRL KISSED PASTOR AND SAT ON HIS KNEE
Continued From Page 1.
me straight and I know it to be true." Well, he said he was sorry; it was true, but he was sorry. He said he didn't mean any harm. I said, "I don't see how you could do an act like that without meaning harm."
Q. What year was that?
A. In the fall of 1894.
(By Mr. Porter, attorney for the plaintiff.)
Q. Did you state to your husband at this meeting any endearing terms?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What were they?
A. I said, "She tells me that one evening you came home - " I asked her when did these things occur. I said to him, "She says they occurred down at the office when she stayed down there with him in the evening after the rest had gone, and at home at any time when I wasn't around."
Q. Now, about the endearing terms?
A. She said one evening when she came home with him, just as she got inside the hall, it was late in the evening, about 11 o'clock, he put his arms around her and kissed her. This was in the vestibule before they entered the hall, and he called her his little wife, but she said "I am not your wife," and he said, "I will call you daughter, and a daughter has nearly all the privileges of a wife."
Q. What other terms were used?
A. Then he said, "I am like a jellyfish. 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"; and she wrote that out so that I could remember it for sure when I would speak to him about it. And he confessed that he said those things.
Pastor Russell's explanation of the above incidents is contained in the following verbatim extract from his testimony given on the stand on Friday, April 27, 1906:
Q. Did you ever at any time undertake to humiliate, or did you ever do any act or say any words, such as using the expression, "jellyfish," or anything that would hurt Mrs. Russell's feelings in any way?
A. Nothing intentional, sir. If I might I would like to explain. We had in our family this Miss Ball that was referred to. Might I mention that?
Q. Yes, if there is anything of that kind.
A. We had a young man in the office by the name of Charles Ball, who came to us from Buffalo, and was deeply interested.
Q. What has that to do with the girl?
A. This was her brother. She wanted to come because her brother was here. After her brother died, she was lonely, and Mrs. Russell and I both thought a great deal of her. She was a very young-looking girl, wore short dresses, and Mrs. Russell and I thought it would be best to have her come into the room - in the same room with us - so she would read in our study in the evening. We had a large study. She kissed us both goodnight when she was going to bed, and we treated her in every way as a daughter, and told her that we considered her such, and she told us she considered us as her parents. This might be considered by Mrs. Russell as being something offensive, but I will explain it. This Miss Ball one evening came to me in the front room - or, rather, I heard someone sobbing, and I turned around to see, and she was crying at her desk, and I inquired what was the matter, and she didn't answer for quite a while, and finally she jumped up and came over and sat down on my knee, and was still crying, and I inquired what was the matter, what could be the matter. She said Mrs. Russell had been overworking her or something, and I tried to show her that she was mistaken, that Mrs. Russell wouldn't do anything of the kind, and I tried to allay her feelings.
"Another time she came and sat on my knee when there was some young man who was giving her attention more than she liked, and had been making himself unpleasant, and she was worked up and was crying. But she merely came to me as a father."
Q. She had been with you for some time?
A. Yes, sir; she had no relatives there, and we told her she could call herself by our name. She said the only reason she didn't do that she was afraid if her father heard of it he would think she had lost her self-respect for him.
Q. You treated her as a daughter in your home?
A. Yes, sir; she looked to be about 13. I don't know how old she was.
Q. She may have been older?
A. I heard someone say that she was only 10. She was a very young looking woman.
Q. Wore short dresses?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And grew up in your home?
A. Yes, sir, I should say that some time later Mrs. Russell told me that Miss Ball had come to her and said that there was one thing she should tell her - that she had kissed me at some time when she wasn't present.
Q. She went to tell her about that?
A. Yes, sir. Miss Ball was very conscientious and she thought that this was something Mrs. Russell should know, and when Mrs. Russell mentioned it to me I said, "That is so, that was all right, there was nothing improper about that," and I explained to Mrs. Russell -
Q. There was no further trouble about that?
A. No.
Q. They have mentioned that matter when you were found in her room.
A. I don't remember the occurrence, but it is very likely it would be true that Mrs. Russell might have come in and found me by the bedside with her hand in mine. I suppose I was feeling her pulse, I don't know anything else. It would be a common occurrence; I gave medicine in the family, and not only to our own family, but Mrs. Russell's sister living in the adjoining place. I used to be the family physician over there; they sent to me always for medicine. I happened to have some knowledge of medicine, but if anybody would get bad we would send for a regular physician.
Q. Anything of that kind that occurred was just in the interest of family health?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. You would just as likely have gone into one house as another?
A. Yes, sir. Another matter Mrs. Russell mentioned to me years ago, when she was intimating that she might bring a suit. This was in 1896, ten years ago, and she was intimating she might bring suit. She said: "It would look very badly for you if I would tell the court that I found you once in the room with Emily." I can't think of the name, Matthews, since married. "And that the door was locked." I said, "Dear, you understand all about that. You know that was the room in which the slops were emptied and the water was carried, and that was the morning that Emily Matthews was sick, and you told me of it and asked me to go up and see her, and when they were running out and in with water pails I turned the key for half a minute until I would have a chance to hear quietly what she had to say, and there wasn't the slightest impropriety in anything that was done." I would just as soon that everybody in this room would be present.
Q. It was simply to keep the people from running in and out?
A. Yes, sir. The slops were emptied in that room, and there was a pump and it made a great deal of noise when they operated the pump.
Q. There was some expression used here about a jellyfish?
A. No, sir, I never made use of such an expression. I hope I don't look idiotic enough to say that. In my opinion, any man that claims to be a jellyfish would have no sense at all. I would like to be given credit for having some backbone.
Mrs. Russell did not resume the stand. She said out of court that Rose Ball was about 18 years old when she entered the Russell household. She denies that any slops were carried through the room in which she found her husband locked in with Emily Matthews."
