Thread by @HindooHistory

San Francisco Call, 1911

"INSANE ANTICS SIMPLY STUNTS FOR EXERCISE"

"Witnesses in Burke Case Try to Show that Lu Etta Smith is Demented"

"Attorney Quotes Discussion of Hindu Philosophy as Proof of Unsound Mind"

#HindooHistory

"The mentality of Lu Etta Smith was the subject discussed at the trial of Dr. Willard P. Burke today. Attorneys for the defence did their best to prove her insane. They delved into the realms of the mystic world and hauled forth spooks, swamis and bogie men."

"Then Hindu philosophy was mixed up with a question otherwise immaterial, irrelevant and incompetent..."

"IT was through Charles W. Thomas, an attorney of Woodland, that the great mass of philosophical data was obtained. He met Lu Etta Smith at the sanatorium and friendly association led them to exchange books and discuss the ethical side of life"

"The discussions were far removed from such material subjects as the higher cost of living. According to Thomas they viewed the high life question from different angles and disagreed"

"VIEWED SEEM STRANGE"

"'Well,' he began, 'on one occasion she discused the question of immaculate conception. her views on that subject were exceedingly strange. She had been reading the Yoga literature and she informed that she believed in it'"

"'I argued with her and she replied, not once, but repeatedly, 'You have a misconception of the immaculation.'"

"HINDU IDEAS DISCUSSED"

'"Did she speak to you about her hallucinations?' he was asked.

'Yes; there was an occasion when we were discussing the Hindu idea, and she declared to me that under proper circumstances and psychic influences..."

"'one would arrive at a higher plane and hold converse with birds and beasts. her theory was that the spirits controlled the movements of mankind, and that by arriving at the proper condition we could rise above the ordinary abilities of mankind"