The "Next Friends" suit of 1907 was a lawsuit instigated by the New York World regarding Mary Baker Eddy, a religious leader from New England.
The suit was an early example of "trial by media", and became one of the largest media spectacles of the first few years of the twentieth century, with at least 2,800 articles written by various newspapers.Voorhees 2021, p. 209. William Upton wrote that the tactics used "foreshadowed the more public litigation style that became commonplace toward the end of the century."Upton 2011, p. 309. The suit is also credited as one of the major influences in Eddy's decision the following year to create The Christian Science Monitor.Geitner 2010, p. 3; Squires 2017, p. 121.
Background
Mary Baker Eddy
Mary Baker Eddy (1821–1910) was an American religious leader and author. According to Susan Bridge, Eddy "sought to return to the unadorned principles of earliest Christianity" including "Jesus' practice as reported in the New Testament of healing the sick."Bridge 1998, p. 22 In 1879, Eddy founded the Church of Christ, Scientist, with 15 students in Lynn, Massachusetts.Kuiper 2010, p. 189. She became an influential but controversial figure, and was often attacked in the press.Gill 1998, p. xviii; Upton 2011, p. 310; Bridge 1998, pp. 22-23. Despite this, the religion was growing rapidly by the early 1900s, and at one point was said to be opening churches at a rate of one every four days.Bridge 1998, pp. 22-23. Both the fast growth of the newly formed church, and the church's founder, were common topics in newspapers of the day.Gill 1998, p. 471; Gottschalk 2006, p. 10. The completion of the large domed extension to The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston and the dedication services on Sunday, June 10, 1906, were national news stories; and thirty thousand Christian Scientists came to Boston to attend its six consecutive dedication services, although Eddy herself did not attend the event.Gill 1998, pp. 469-470; Fraser 1999, p. 132.
Since at least as early as 1899, there were press reports that Eddy had died, and biographer Gillian Gill writes that "proving that she was alive was one of the strangest tasks [she] faced in her last twenty-five years of life."Gill 1998, pp. 328, 475. The problem was compounded as Eddy, who was 86 years old by 1906, retreated from public life to her home at Pleasant View in Concord, New Hampshire, rarely leaving except for her daily drives around town.Gill 1998, p. 475; Fraser 1999, p. 132; Upton 2011, p. 309; Braden 1958, p. 39. In response to questions, she wrote in the Christian Science Sentinel telling her followers not to cling to her personality, and that she had left Boston "to retreat from the world" and seek God.Gill 1998, p. 476; Gottschalk 2006, p. 15. However, the increasing restrictions as to who had access to Eddy fueled conspiracy theories even among Christian Scientists that she was under the control of a "cabal" at the church headquarters in Boston or at Pleasant View, and rumors arose regarding her health.Gill 1998, p. 476; Fraser 1999, p. 132; Braden 1958, p. 39. Despite this, she was still actively writing and was involved in church business, communicating with church officials in Boston through messengers who traveled on several daily trains which ran between Concord and Boston.Upton 2011, p. 309; Kuiper 2010, p. 191; Gottschalk 2006, pp. 12, 15. According to Stephen Gottschalk, Eddy was "dubious" of the value of publicity and disliked it;Gottschalk 2006, p. 9 and Gillian Gill writes that Eddy's message to the church on the dedication shows that she was worried "that prosperity might prove more dangerous for her movement than adversity."Gill 1998, p. 470.
Initial New York World article
In 1906, Joseph Pulitzer, who likely was aware of Eddy's failure to attend the dedication services of her church, sent two reporters from the New York World to where Eddy lived in Concord, New Hampshire, and they spent much of that summer digging into rumors and working with the team from McClure's Magazine, who were also investigating rumors around Eddy at the same time.Gill 1998, p. 472. On October 14, the Worlds reporters came to Eddy's home and told her secretary Calvin Frye that they had heard that Eddy was dead or incapacitated, and demanded to see her for themselves. Frye agreed to arrange an appointment with Eddy the next day, and the reporters brought a neighbor who had known Eddy earlier in her life and could identify her.Gill 1998, pp. 472-473. Eddy met with the three of them for a short time, and after the meeting, the neighbor wrote in a letter that the woman who they met with was definitely her and not an imposter.Gill 1998, p. 473. The reporters did not imminently leave Concord however, and at one point accosted Eddy on her daily ride, jumping up on either side of the carriage to see her face.
On October 28, the World published a story under the heading "MRS. MARY BAKER G. EDDY DYING: FOOTMAN AND 'DUMMY' CONTROL HER: Founder of X Science Suffering from Cancer and Nearing Her End, Is Immured at Pleasant View, While Another Woman Impersonates Her in the Streets of Concord." Gillian Gill writes that the World "was read for sensation, not accuracy, but even by the paper's own standards the claims made in this article on Mary Baker Eddy were extreme."Gill 1998, pp. 474-475. Caroline Fraser called the article "outrageously speculative and wildly inaccurate".Fraser 1999, 134. The story described Eddy as being barely able to stand, speak, or make any sense; it described her as looking "more dead than alive. She was a skeleton, her hollow cheeks thick with red paint, and the fleshless, hairless bones above the sunken eyes penciled a jet black. The features were thick with powder... Her weakness was pathetic. She reeled as she stood clinging to the table. Her sunken, faded eyes gazed helplessly, almost pleadingly, at her visitors..."Gill 1998, p. 474.
The condemnation of The Worlds article, especially in Concord, where Eddy lived and was seen daily, was significant.Gill 1998, p. 477; Gottschalk 2006, p. 16. Despite Eddy's relative seclusion, a number of Concord citizens had access to her; Gill writes that this ranged from "odd-job gardeners and painters,... to local editors and bank managers" who had no connection to Christian Science.Gill 1998, p. 477. Gill continues that: "To these people, the idea that someone was impersonating [Eddy] and that she was a helpless, dying pawn was not merely ludicrous but offensive." This included two of Eddy's cousins, Fred Ladd and Henry Moore Baker, notable Concord citizens who were not Christian Scientists, and who would have been more concerned with Eddy's well being than the church's. After the article, the Mayor of Concord, Charles R. Corning, went to meet with Eddy, and afterwards gave a lengthy interview in the Boston Herald, saying: "I had gone expecting to find a tottering old woman, perhaps incoherent, almost senile. Instead, when she rose to greet me, her carriage was almost erect, her walk that of a woman of forty. I have seen many old ladies, but never one with the vigorous personality of Mrs. Mary Baker G. Eddy. ... We talked with her for half an hour, and at the end of that time, when she rose to bid us good-by, Mrs. Eddy showed no sign of fatigue."Gill 1998, p. 478-479.
Lawsuit
Involvement of the New York World Although it is clear the New York World instigated, organized, financially backed, and promoted the suit;Voorhees 2021, p. 209; Meehan 1908, pp. 9-15; Gottschalk 2006, p. 9; Fraser 1999, p. 135; Squires 2017, p. 121; Kuiper 2010, p. 191. their motivations are less clear, and it was likely a mix of reasons.Canham 1958, p. 15; Geitner 2010, p. 1. One major motivation was likely selling newspapers, and although the suit was eventually unsuccessful, the media circus which it created was indeed good for business.Gottschalk 2006, p. 13; Bridge 1998, p. 24. Amy Voorhees writes that the World "hoped to capitalize on the mixture of notoriety, popularity, confusion, controversy, and sheer name recognition by then surrounding Eddy and her new sect."Voorhees 2021, p. 209. When asked by journalist Arthur Brisbane why she thought the suit had been brought, Eddy replied: "Greed of gold, young man. They are not interested in me, I am sorry to say, but in my money, and in the desire to control that. They say they want to help me. They never tried to help me when I was working hard years ago and when help would have been so welcome."Brisbane 1930, p. 47 She also alleged sexism, saying: "If I were a man, they would not treat me so."Gill 1998, p. 513; Fraser 1999, p. 135.
Another possibly motivation was professional rivalry, and Charles S. Braden called the suit a "controversy between rival newspapers".Braden 1958, p. 40. William Randolph Hearst, the main rival of Joseph Pulitzer, was apparently friendly towards Christian Science, which may have influenced Pulitzer's desire to attack the religion and its founder; as the claim of Eddy's insanity was an implicit attack against the religion she founded.Gill 1998, pp. 471-472, 680n2; Geitner 2010, p. 1. Gillian Gill felt that Pulitzer, who certainly believed his own journalists' report over the backlash in Concord, also believed that newspapers alone were not up to the task, and that "force of law was needed" to remove Eddy from the supposed cabal led by Frye.Gill 1998, p. 481. In addition, rumors that McClure's Magazine was working on a long-form critical biography of Eddy were circulating in the press world by late 1904, and Pulitzer would likely not have liked S. S. McClure getting all the credit for "stemming the tide" of Christian Science.Gill 1998, p. 471.
The lawsuit is declared
The World began by hiring as counsel William E. Chandler, a prominent lawyer and former US senator from New Hampshire who was living in Washington but was born in Concord and considered it his home.Gill 1998, p. 481; Knee 1994, p. 34. Chandler was not friendly towards Eddy or Christian Science, and was eager to bring legal challenge against her.Gill 1998, p. 482; Geitner 2010, p. 2; Upton 2011, p. 310. Since the World did not have legal standing to bring a lawsuit, they sought out those who did: namely family members who would have the standing to instigate legal action supposedly on Eddy's behalf. The World tracked down Eddy's son George Washington Glover II in South Dakota and told him that his mother was mentally incompetent to manage her affairs, and that she was under the control of her advisors. They further convinced him to bring a lawsuit against the advisors in order to gain control of Eddy's estate and fortune, and offered to pay the legal bills.Bridge 1998, pp. 23-24; Gill 1998, pp. 481-487. Later other relatives would join in as well.Bridge 1998, p. 24.