Theos-Talk Archives (August 1994 Message tl00101)

Paul,

PJ>I have gone through 2 volumes of ODL looking for references to
> the letter in which AB was warned of an assassination plot.
> Found nothing, but going back to Nethercot there are some clues
> which suggest that he had more than Marvin Williams to base his
> account on:

     If you find it in ~Old Diary Leaves,~ I'll be real
impressed.  The only other possible, though highly unlikely
source documents that Nethercot mentions to be sources of
information for this chapter is ~Lucifer~ and ~The Theosophist~
for Jan.-Apr. 1894.  Since the "evidence" Besant had against
Judge would not be made known to the members for another year, it
would be ridiculous to expect to find it published here.

PJ> Judge was determined to keep the Colonel and Annie apart as
> long as he possibly could.  She therefore received a Mahatma
> letter by post, warning her that if she went to India Olcott
> was planning to poison her, and suggesting that she come to
> America instead, since there were important matters to be
> discussed there, including a charge of sexual immorality
> against Olcott.  (p. 29)

     Obviously Nethercot is working on the assumption that Judge
forged these Mahatma Letters in the first place.  Such a charge
has never been proven, nor does Nethercot attempt to prove it in
his book.  IMHO, to begin with the assumption that Judge forged
these letters, condemns him to be a fraud before the evidence is
ever examined.  Whether or not the Mahatma letters coming through
Judge were forged by him is still a matter of very hot debate,
and would require a very long and detailed discussion on the
methods of transmission of Mahatma letters, before we could even
begin to explore such an accusation.
     Further, Nethercot is assuming Judge's motivation based upon
his assumption that Judge forged these letters.  To come to a
conclusion based upon an assumption that is based upon another
assumption is in my opinion, damn poor scholarship.  Let's stick
to the evidence.

PJ> Nethercot lists his secondary sources for the chapter, but
> since he worked at Adyar during his research it leaves open the
> possibility of actually seeing the letter.  Perhaps if he is
> still living he could answer the question.

     He already answered that question in the same book you are
quoting from.  Speaking about his trip to Adyar:

     "Some of the things which earlier references in Theosophical
     publications said were there, like H.P.B.'s famous occult
     teacups, were missing.  Mrs. Bernier said she knew nothing
     of their whereabouts.  Perhaps they have been moved to the
     archives.  Unfortunately, however, access to the archives
     was denied me.  No one seemed to know anything, either,
     about the diary which Mrs. Besant kept or about the clipping
     service which she subscribed to. One can only speculate on
     the other disclosures that might have been made in this book
     if its author could have inspected these things." (p. 456
     fn.).

Namaste,

Jerry Hejka-Ekins