Theos-Talk Archives (May 2003 Message tt00171)

I quote BELOW from a WWW document that gives background on some of 
Mr. Crosbie's remarks mentioned in my last posting.
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"Mr Crosbie's Revisionist Account of His Association with Mrs Tingley"

. . . Mr Crosbie wrote----

"As to my part in it [the Tingley 1896-99 affair]--I was in Boston, 
and saw no reason to doubt the [positive] statements [about Mrs 
Tingley] of those [T.S. members] in N.Y. whom I believed to be 
sincere and of good training and judgment. I should have known by 
other means the true state of affairs...."

"The attitude assumed by Mrs. T[ingley] soon began to estrange those 
members who were brought in close touch with her in New York, but 
those at a distance had no inkling of the true state of affairs and 
kept on in full confidence...."

The impression which Mr Crosbie apparently wanted to convey in these 
two statements is that he was not in "close touch" with Mrs Tingley 
in New York. Since he lived "at a distance" in Boston, Mr Crosbie (so 
he contended) "had no inkling of the true state of affairs and kept 
on in full confidence [with Mrs Tingley]."

I've previously quoted several documents that appear to negate Mr 
Crosbie's revisionist account. These documents show that Mr Crosbie 
personally knew Mrs Tingley, worked closely with her, wrote warm,
devoted & personal letters to her, and vigorously defended Mrs 
Tingley in 1898 against the attacks of Mr Hargrove, Mr Spencer and Mr 
Griscom, Jr. There is more evidence to negate Mr Crosbie's post-1904 
assertions of not "being in close touch" with Mrs Tingley during the 
years 1896-1899. The entire evidence will be included in my finished 
paper. I quote only selected items at this time.

(1) In 1898, Mr Crosbie in a letter to Mrs Tingley recounted his 
first personal encounter with her in these words---

"I remember that the day I first saw you, I recognized you as the 
O[outer] H[ead] without hint or instruction as such, and in spite of 
the fact that I was not looking for a woman's form in that connection.
During that day you and I were the only ones in the E.S. room, and 
you came and sat down at the table at which I was working, and told 
me a great many things, saying that you did not know why you told me 
these things but that it was doubtless for some purpose. . . ."

This memorable day in Mr Crosbie's life must have occurred prior to 
the public disclosure of Mrs Tingley as the Outer Head of the 
Esoteric School. Preliminary study leads me to conclude that public 
disclosure of Mrs Tingley's status occurred around May 17 or 18, 
1896. (New York Tribune, May 18, 1896). Also disclosure of Mrs 
Tingley's status as Outer Head was published in Theosophy magazine, 
June 1896, pp 67-69.

(2) On June 7, 1896, Mrs Tingley and the other members of her 
worldwide Crusade attended a meeting held in Boston at the Tremont 
Theatre. According to Theosophy magazine, July, 1896, p 127---

"Mr. Robert Crosbie, President of Boston T.S., presided at the 
meeting, and introduced as the first speaker Mr. A.H. Spencer. . . 
[Later after several other speakers had given their lectures,] Mrs. 
Tingley followed with a paper on the 'Blessings of Theosophy.' This 
was listened to with the utmost attention, and evoked great 
applause." 

(3) The next year, on May 22, 1897, Mr Crosbie and a few other E.S. 
members took pledges of "unquestioning loyalty, devotion and 
obedience" to Mrs Tingley. Did Mr Crosbie take such a momentous oath 
to a person about whom he knew so very little (as he later claimed)? 

The pledge reads----

"I . . . recognizing the person called Purple [Mrs Tingley] as being 
the agent of the Master I serve . . . do hereby unreservedly pledge 
myself, by my Higher Self, to unquestioning loyalty, devotion and 
obedience to her and to her support and defence as such agent, under 
any and all circumstances and conditions to the extent of my 
available means, utmost exertion, and with my life if need be. . . .

So Help me my Higher Self. (Signed) Robert Crosbie 

Witness my hand, this 22d day of May, Eighteen hundred and 
Ninety-seven."

(4) In Mr Crosbie's later revisionist account, he wrote---

"Mrs. T[ingley] took advantage of the situation, and most plausibly 
and shrewdly strengthened her position for two years after her 
advent, then formed [in early 1898] the "UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD" with 
herself as absolute dictator; carrying with her by far the greater 
number of the members throughout the country."

Mr Crosbie conveniently forgot to mention a number of important facts 
which would have thrown a different light on this portion of his 
post-1904 account----

Dr Emmett A. Greenwalt in California Utopia: Point Loma: 1897-1942, 
2nd revised ed. (1978) described an important meeting that occurred 
in connection with the new society "UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD."

"Upon hearing of a plot to challenge her control of the Society, 
Katherine Tingley decided not only to defeat her foes in the 
convention, but to make it impossible for such a situation to arise 
again. Her version of how she came to rewrite the Society's 
constitution is interesting. . . .

"In mid-January, 1898, about a month before the convention, she 
called in ten influential members who had shown no signs of wavering, 
and revealed the constitution in its entirety. It was received, as 
she had hoped, in a devotional spirit. 'Never shall I forget the 
solemnity of that night...,' wrote [Joseph H.] Fussell, one of the 
faithful [at the secret meeting]. 'Although the Constitution of the 
Universal Brotherhood may appear ironbound, yet all who know our 
Leader will realize that her one desire is to give freedom to all and 
to aid the progress of the work.' "

Who were the other nine "faithful" members attending this important 
and private meeting at Mrs Tingley's home?

. . . In his article on "Colonel Arthur L. Conger" in Theosophical 
History (Jan. 1998), Mr Alan Donant revealed more names of the 
persons at this meeting---

"...On January 13, 1898, a constitution for a new theosophical 
organization was presented to a meeting of prominent Theosophists at 
the home of Katherine Tingley. The new organization was called The 
Universal Theosophical Brotherhood, which a month later was changed 
to the Universal Brotherhood. Among the signators were Basil Crump, 
E. August Neresheimer, Robert Crosbie, Joseph H. Fussell, and Arthur 
L. Conger, Jr. . . . . [From the original minutes of the January 13, 
1898, meeting and the Resolutions, Preamble and Constitution of the 
Universal Brotherhood adopted at the Chicago Convention of February 
18, 1898.]"

Mr Donant's account discloses that Mr Robert Crosbie was one of the 
prominent Theosophists invited to Katherine Tingley's home. Mr 
Crosbie's attendance of this event shows his personal involvement 
with Mrs Tingley as well as his intimate knowledge of Mrs Tingley's 
plans and activities.

Some twelve days later, back in Boston, Mr Crosbie wrote a most 
devoted letter to Mrs Tingley---

"ROBERT CROSBIE 
24 MOUNT VERNON STREET
BOSTON, MASS.

Feb. 2d 1898

Dear P[Purple, Mrs Tingley]:

I received your good long letter of Sunday, it was a good one 
indeed. . . . 

I will arrange a "Friends in Counsel" for Boston, and have them get 
to work along the lines suggested and hope to start on Saturday. . . .

I remember that the day I first saw you, I recognized you as the 
O[outer] H[ead] without hint or instruction as such, and in spite of 
the fact that I was not looking for a woman's form in that 
connection. During that day you and I were the only ones in the E.S. 
room, and you came and sat down at the table at which I was working, 
and told me agreat many things, saying that you did not know why you 
told me these things but that it was doubtless for some purpose. . . .

All is well here. We are steady, confident and patient, yet ready to 
act at the word.

With heart's love yours
as ever

Robert"

The Chicago Convention of the Theosophical Society was held some 
sixteen days later (February 18, 1898). At this convention most of 
the members in attendance voted to adopt the new constitution. As Mr 
Crosbie related in his revisionist account, Mrs Tingley carried "with 
her by far the greater number of the members throughout the country." 
She certainly "carried" Mr Crosbie who became one of her staunchest 
defenders in the months ahead. On the other hand, Mr Hargrove, Mr 
Spencer, Mr Griscom, Jr. and a small minority "bolted" the 
convention. Finally they went to court contending that what had 
transpired at the convention was illegal.

In the April, 1898 (first) issue of The Searchlight, a pro-Tingley 
magazine, Mr Crosbie defended Mrs Tingley in an article "The Sifting 
Process". In the course of the article he attacked the motives of the 
"bolters"---linking them to "the dark forces of disintegration." Mr 
Crosbie's relevant words follow---

"The third great Leader, Katherine A. Tingley, established [February 
1898] the organization called 'Universal Brotherhood,' or 'The 
Brotherhood of Humanity,'. . . .

It is not difficult to see what 'An Ark of Safety' the Universal 
Brotherhood is for the work, and to realize the wisdom of the Leader
[Mrs Tingley] in sounding the key-note, when it was not generally 
known that the dark forces of disintegration were so close to us, and 
which aroused us to action, and disclosed the imminent danger. . . .

Foolish are those who are attempting by legal technicalities to hinder
the work. . . who never were workers in the true sense; for all who 
know the Leader [Mrs Tingley] best, who have worked the closest to 
her, are the ones who are most energetic in carrying on the work at 
Headquarters, and the most unswerving in their allegiance to the 
Leader, and certainly their judgment is worthy of the most weighty 
consideration, for no others are so well qualified to judge.

Some names, like those of Messrs. Spencer and Griscom, Jr., have 
appeared in print so often in connection with the New York 
activities, that it might be supposed that they were workers of the 
Headquarters'staff, and being now connected with the disintegrating 
faction, it might appear that the staff was weakened by their 
disaffection, but they were not part of the staff, nor were they 
workers in the true sense, especially since the return of the Leader 
[Mrs Tingley] from the Crusade [around the world]. . . . It seems 
necessary to call attention to this point, for the part taken by them 
in the attack upon our Leader, (for no matter how much it is 
disguised, that is the real issue), might lead members to suppose 
that they were very essential to the work, and person whose opinions 
might appear to be of more weight than they really are. . . ."

Compare these April 1898 statements with Mr Crosbie's revisionist 
account concerning the parts played by Mr Hargrove et al quoted at 
the beginning of this article. . . .
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Quoted from:
http://members.tripod.com/davidgreen_2/revisionist.htm

Daniel H. Caldwell
BLAVATSKY STUDY CENTER/BLAVATSKY ARCHIVES
http://blavatskyarchives.com