Next Friends Suit
The “Next Friends suit” began on March 1, 1907 and ended on August 21. A group of Mary Baker Eddy’s relatives were influenced by persons hostile toward Eddy and Christian Science to bring a suit as Eddy’s “next friends” alleging that she was no longer capable of managing her own person or property and that she was being controlled and manipulated by members of her household and officials of the Christian Science church. The suit failed when it became evident that the changes were false.
The events leading up to the Next Friends suit involved an attack on Eddy beginning on October 28, 1906 by the New York World newspaper, owned by Joseph Pulitzer. Eddy at the time was living in her home “Pleasant View” in Concord, New Hampshire, and was from there directing the Christian Science movement from a home office, assisted by staff members who also lived on site. Even though reporters from the World had interviewed Eddy on October 15, they published false stories claiming that Eddy was senile, ill with cancer, and incompetent. These falsehoods were publicly refuted by prominent persons who knew Eddy as well as others who interviewed her and attested to her health and mental acuity. In addition to the attack by the World, McClure's Magazine began a hostile series of articles about Eddy’s life in December which continued in installments through 1907.
The publishers and editors of the World then set in motion what became the Next Friends lawsuit by hiring ex-Senator William E. Chandler – already a critic of Eddy – to direct the legal proceedings they had in mind. Chandler was able to persuade Eddy’s son, George Glover, to be one of the “next friends” in the case. Glover was living in Lead, South Dakota and his contacts with his mother were limited. When they did take place, it appeared to Glover that Eddy’s secretary, Calvin Frye, was in charge of affairs in his mother’s home and he also came to believe that Frye had withheld from her some of the letters written to her on his behalf by his daughter, Mary. His frequent appeals to his mother to send him money met with some resistance. The suspicions that developed as a result helped prime him to be influenced, first by World reporter James Slaght, and then by Chandler, to ultimately join the suit.
On March 1, 1907, Chandler filled a bill in equity in the Superior Court of Merrimack County, New Hampshire, in the name of Mary Baker Eddy by her “next friends” who were listed as George W. Glover, his daughter, Mary Baker Glover, and his cousin George W. Baker. These were soon joined by another cousin and by Eddy’s adopted son, Ebenezer J. Foster Eddy. The defendants were members of Eddy’s household as well as Christian Science officials: Calvin A. Frye, Alfred Farlow, Irving C. Tomlinson, Ira O. Knapp, William B. Johnson, Stephen A. Chase, Joseph Armstrong, Edward A. Kimball, Hermann S. Hering and Lewis C. Strang.
The suit alleged that Eddy was incompetent to manage her own person or property including her finances, and that she was being manipulated and controlled by the defendants. If the suit was successful Eddy would have been deprived of her own autonomy and would suffer the loss of her financial assets and copyrights. She also would no longer have authority within the Christian Science movement, placing the survival of the movement at risk.
As she did in an earlier case, Eddy counseled her eminent group of lawyers on the strategy to be followed and also arranged to be interviewed by three prominent journalists who wrote articles showing that the charges in the suit were false . And on June 27, Judge Edgar Aldrich was appointed Master of the Court and then joined by Dr. George F. Jelly, a mental health expert, and Hosea W. Parker, a New Hampshire attorney.
The first hearing before these Masters was held on August 13 and on August 14 the three Masters traveled to Pleasant View to interview Eddy in person. The interview, recorded by a court stenographer, left no doubt of Eddy’s health, intelligence, and competence to manage her affairs. Even Chandler, who was present, realized that it would be pointless to attempt to continue the suit, and on August 21 moved for its dismissal without asking the Masters to issue any finding. The Next Friends lawsuit thus came to an end.