EVIDENCE OF BLACK MAGIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 189, 12 August 1933, Page 4 (Supplement)

EVIDENCE OF BLACK MAGIC.

FOUNDERING OF THE AQUARIANS. ' FURTHER ADVENTURES OF BROTHER XII. AND HIS STRANGE SECTFOLLOWER URGED TO KILL BY "SEVERING ETHERIC AND PHYSICAL CODIES- OF AUTHORITIES—UNTOLD WEALTH PAID TO DISCIPLE OF MYSTIC ORDER—PATHETIC STORIES OF DUPING OF SIMPLE CELIEVERS — CULPRIT VANISHES WITH WOMAN STUDENT OF JHEOSOPHY AND THE OCCULT.

(I'y B. A. McKELVIE.—-Copyright 1033 b: Tho following article completes the story of Brother XII., Edward Arthur Wilson, the English master mariner who became the leader of tho Aquarian sect iu British Columbia, and who bccame the defendant in the strangest law suit ever heard in that province. Brother XII. enlisted the sympathy and the wealth of people in all parts of the world, and established a "colony iu the islets off Vancouver Island, which was called Cedar-by-tlie-Sea, before his villainy was detected and he had to flee the country. It was in the year 1920 that the sinister form of Zee appeared in the romantic surroundings of the Aquarian colony at Cedar-by-the-Sqa, over which Brother XII. had ruled. "Zee," she was known to-the disciples, but to the world in general she bore the unromantic name of Mabel Skottowe, nee Rowbotham. She had student <>;' thcosophy and tho occult in I'lorida, and was known to her associates there as a young woman of line ideals. That was before 6he came to Ccdar-by-thc-Sea. Oa lier arrival she was at once taken into the household of the guru as his companion and secretary, and immediately bccame a veritable fiend in her treatment of tho disciples, according to the sworn testimony of a dozen witnesses. "You must obey iher," Brother XII. told them. "She is my eyes, my ears, my mouth, and what she says you are to regard as coming from me/' Brother XII. suddenly decided to visit England, and at the end of 1929 he and Zee left for Europe. They were away eleven months, and this period was pathetically described to the Chief Justice as the only time when there was contentment in Brother Xll.'s domain. Brother XIT. was first and foremost a sailor. His writings were interlarded with references to the sea, so it was not surprising that he decided to return on a vessel of his own command. While in England he purchased a Brixton fishing smack and converted it into a yacht. In this he and Zee set sail, and crossed the Atlantic. At Panama they took on a young Englishman named Agate, and two Indians. When the Lady Itoyal, the fishing smack, with Brother XII. in command, reached the Straits of Juan de Fuea, he did not sail in to quarantine, but hugged tho American shore and cast anchor in a small cove, from where he and Zee completed the journey to De Courcy Island, to be welcomed by the disciples. The guru' had a powerful tug named Klieunaten, after an Egyptian potentate. This was sent across the boundary to tow the Lady Royal to De Courcy. Then followed a strange proceeding, according to witnesses. 1* rom the hold of the Lady Royal the Indian crew unloaded many mysterious packages that were hidden in the woods under Brother Xll.'s direction. None of the disciples was permitted to handle the cargo. Then the empty Lady Royal was sailed to Xanaima to enter for customs. Brother XII. and his mate, Zee, now went to the authorities. By deed poll they changed their names. He assumed tlie romantic appellation of Amiel de Valdes, while Zee became Zura de Valdes. Just before he went away, Mr. Barley told the court, Brother XII. came to his house one night carrying something heavy wrapped up in a towel. "Take charge of this," lie said. "I am afraid of fire. The dutiful disciple did so, without attempting to ascertain the contents of the parcel. Package Contained Gold. "Later," terllfied Air. Barley, "he wrote me from England saying that the package contained gold. He instructed me to put it into a quart jam jar, and to fill the space up with paraflin wax. I was tiion to have a box made to contain the pot of gold, and was to bury it in a big cistern. I did so.'' Under questioning by his counsel, Mr. Barley went on to-explain that Brother XII. had insisted that all money that came to him should be in gold or Dominion of Canada one and two-dollar bills. Other witnesses testified to Brother XII. having other jars and boxes of gold. Bruce Crawford told of transporting the Brother and his golden hoard from place to place. "He would bury it on. one part of the island, and then a few days later he would dig it up again and take it to some other place. I .was running the tug at the time. I could not say how much lie had, for he would not tell me. but from the feel of it, I would say that in one lot I transported 4000 dollars." The disciples were in no position to estimate the total receipts of the Brother. Mrs. Connally's contributions had exceeded 50,000 dollars. Barley said that in three contributions he had given 14,232 dollars, and this represented only a portion. Evidence of Black Magic. R. W. Painter 1 , one time wholesale merchant in Elorida, had quitted a million dollar a year business to follow the leadership of the guru. He did not reveal to the court how much he had contributed, but his addition to the funds was known to be large. It was Painter who gave evidence of black magic. "While Brother XII. was in England," he explained to the astonished Chief Justice," he wrote to me to kill the Attorney General, Mr. R. H. Pooley; Mr. Joshua Hinchcliffe, Minister of Education, Mr. Maurice and Alice von Platen, and E. A. Lueas. I was to sever tlitir etheric and physical bodies through the use of black magic." "Did you try it?" demanded the Chief Justice. "Xo, my Lord, I did not. I did not know how to do it then, and if I did I would not have done it." Destroying by Imagination. In answer to further questioning, Painter explained tha\ he subsequently had been instructed in the magical art. It was the occasion on which Brother XII. wished to destroy George E. Hobart, an erstwhile follower, he said. "The body of Hobart was summoned in spirit," he explained. " He was there —in imagination, you might say —and the brother called <m the powers to destroy him, while he made signs with his hands as if quartering his body." " What was the effect of such proceedings intended to be?" asked the Court. "It was to sever the etheric body, which is finer than the physical body, from that body. Then the physical body would die." Hobart, however, di-l not die. After his return from Europe, Brother XII. found that Mrs. Connally was a problem. He had all her money, and lie did not know what to do with her. " I was sitting in my house at Cedar-by-the-Sea shortly after he came back," she explained. "It was late in December. Suddenly the 'wrecking crew' appeared. It was about six in the evening. They told me tlicy had orders to move me at once to Valdes. I only had time to gather a few of my things. Then I was transported to Yaidcs, and was dumped down on the beach. I had to carry my things on my back up a long hill from the beach to a house about a quarter of a mile away. The house had been vacant for months. There was one small heating stove and a camp stove in the kitchen. Xo explaiiat:- ,i v a made for the move.

the North American Newspaper Alliance.) " I had never dono any manual labour before, but 1 was compelled to work hard packing great loads up from tho beach. A guard was put over me, Mrs. Leola Painter, and she was instructed to make me work and to do nothing for me. I had hardly become settled in tiie big house before I was moved again. This time to a hut with a gaping hole in the roof and cracks in the walls. Here I had a straw mattress to sleep on. Lost 281b at Work. "Then I was moved again, and I was told I must disc and harrow and cultivate a three-acre field. I was brought up in ease and luxury, and was not accustomed to farm work, and was getting along—l am a grandmother, your Lordship, and am 62. I had to work in that field from daylight till dark. I lost 281b. Mrs. Painter corroborated the story. " I had to do it," she explained. " Zee told me I was not to even give her a glass of water, and I had to make lier work. My heart cried out for her, and I would gladly have helped her if I could." " Why couldn't you?" asked the Court. "Because I was afraid. Zee tcld me if I did so I would lose my own soul."

Mrs. Connally described conditions on the Aquarian farms as being " worse than any penitentiary; worse than any penal colony, and worse than any slave compound. Wo were slaves," she said. Witness after witness took the stand to affirm tho condition of slavery—slavery at tho price of losing theif immortal souls.

Driven from daylight until long after dark these men and women worked frantically in abject fear, while Brother XII. ancl the sinister Zee cursed them. " I never knew that any woman could blaspheme as Zee did," said Mrs. Bruce Crawford. Bruce Crawford was a business man in a small way In Lakeland, Florida. He and his wife longed to work for humanity. They heard of the teaching of the great guru in British Columbia. They became interested, and were instructed to sell out all they had and bring the proceeds to Brother XII. They did so. Mrs. Crawford was immediately set to work as a goatherd. Her husband was placed on the tugboat. "I had to tend fifteen goats," the woman explained. " One day I fell and hurt my knee. It was very painful. I could no*t take time to attend to it, and it was soon swollen to twice its size, but Zee would not let me rest. She cursed me, and called me lazy and drove me out to attend the goats. , " I was hobbling along one day and fell and injured my .knee for a second time. I was an hour late in getting back to tne farm. Zee swore at me and cursed me, and banished me to Vaides Island. there was a boat going there that afternoon. She would not let them carry my baggage on the boat. I was compelled to put it on my back and travel over the bush trail for several miles. I fell every three or four steps. Then I had to row from The Point to Yaides. My working day was from 2 a.m. until 10 j).m. Parted From Husband. "Another time I was compelled to paint an outbuilding that was built over a cliff. It was twenty feet to the stones of the beach below. I had to hang over the cliff with one hand while I painted the back of the elied." . "Why did you stand for it? asked hip Lordship. . , . , , "Because, sir, I did not want to be parted from my husband again. 1 Had been parted from him six weeks before— and I did not want my soul destroyed. William Lowell, a six-foot Nevada farmer, told of being forced to dynamite a tree so that it would fall between Link Island and De Courcy Island to block navigation. When the charge only removed the earth, from the roots of the tree and it still stood, he was cursed by the delegates of the gods. Lowell watone of the fort guards. Bruce Crawford told of another case. Carlin Rudy, a young man of 30, and his wife, a pretty little woman of 25, had been invited to leave their United States home and visit the settlement. When Brother XII. saw the young woman, recently a bride, he wanted her near him. He advised her that the divinities wanted her to start back with her husband, but in Seattle she was to quarrel with her husband and return to De Courcy Island. She did so. The husband sought for her in Seattle, and finally traced her to the Canadian side. He obtained a boat at Chemainus, and rowed the ten miles to the colony. The guards in the fortifications saw him coming. He was captured and held captive all night, and next morning was taken on the tug to Yellow Point, where lie was dropped. Rudy went to the provincial police, and returned with an officer. Brother XII. swore that the woman was not there, and the frightened disciplcs were forced to corroborate his statements. Then, alarmed at the intrusion of the authorities, Brother XTI. had the unfortunate woman transported in the dead of night on the tug to a lonely beach ananv miles away. There she was anarooneu. No one knew what happened to her. She -was in a strange country and' f .Ithout fund?

, Lashed by Fear of Losing Souls. Sho may have gone insane. "It is a wonder that any of us retained our reason," commented Painter. "Three of our number did go insane," he paid, and he gave tho Chief Justice the names. Being driven as slaves, lashed by the fear of losing their souls, robbed of their (money, and forbidden to communicate with the outer world, these poor wretches were given only enough .food to keep life in their bodies, while the prophet and Zee lived luxuriously. Early in 1932 Zee announced sho was going to get rid'of tho lot. She tried to induce Mrs. Painter to stay with lier, but she refused, and so twelve of the "slaves" were banished. They seized the original settlement at Ccdar-by-the-Sea and held on to it. Here, for the first

time, they were able to plan concerted action. Previously they had been kept separated by insiditous warnings and propaganda. When action was started Brother XII. and tied disappeared aboard the tug Kheunaten, converted into a yacht. Once they were seen in hiding in a cove several hundred miles up the coast. But after the Court action started, a raid was made on the De Courcy and Valdes properties. Farm buildings were ruined; fruit trees were uprooted, machinery was stolen or rendered useless, and the Lady Royal was scuttled with a charge of dynamite. Airs. Connally and Barley won their actions, but how they will realise on them is a mystery, for the farms have been rendered useless and Brother XII. and the charming Zee are missing—and so is the gold.