How to Read The Judge Case

Ernest Pelletier

How do you approach a two part book containing over a thousand pages of material? The Judge Case certainly appears daunting, but it needn't be. The following is an explanation of the contents of the book and how to get the most out of it.

First of all, understand what the book documents. It follows the trail of evidence told in the participants' own words from a time before the first seeds of the conspiracy were being planted to the eventual unraveling of the American-based TS into its various threads. The chronology begins in January 1882 and continues until Fall 2003 with the bulk of the material falling within the fifteen year span of 1884 to 1898. In the first part is the compiler/author's ”Supplement”. The ”Supplement” is the author's analysis of all the documentary evidence found within The Judge Case and contains a photocopy of the infamous ”Exhibit A”, a letter that has never before been published anywhere. This section with this letter is the heart of the entire book and comes complete with its own index. The second part of the book is composed of appendices of rare material as well as those documents and letters that are most central to the actual Judge case.

With this in mind, start your investigation of The Judge Case by studying the various ”Contents” pages. You will notice that Part 1 has its own Contents page and that the section titled ”Supplement to The Judge Case” also has a Contents page. Part 2 has a Contents page as well, detailing the subject matter of the various appendices. Each appendix in its turn has its own Contents page giving the reader even more detail of what is included within the appendix.

After familiarizing yourself with the contents of the book, read the ”Introduction”. This will give the compiler's overview of the book. Next look at the ”Explanatory Notes” as they explain how the tables of the ”Chronology” are set up. At this point you have two options. If you are totally unfamiliar with the case, then you may want to read through the ”Chronology” and watch as history unfolds before your eyes. All the relevant incidents are covered here and you will gain an over-all account of Judge's development within the Society and the battles he eventually had to fight. At this point you can tackle the ”Supplement”. For those who feel they are well grounded in the Judge case, they can move straight to the ”Supplement”.

The ”Supplement” is meticulously sourced. You can consequently read through it, stopping when you want to clarify things by going to the actual source material, just follow the endnotes. By looking at the date of the source material you can flip through the ”Chronology” where perhaps you may find an expanded account. If not, you can go directly to the original source. Some of those original sources (especially rare or important sources) are compiled for your convenience in Part 2.

Perhaps you want to reference a certain aspect of the Judge case, a person or event. If you know the date that is relevant to the person or event, look it up in the ”Chronology”. If not, look in the index to the ”Supplement”. The index will guide you to the appropriate page in the ”Supplement” where you can date the person or event and either follow an endnote for further information, or flip to the ”Chronology” where a synopsis, sources and further links are given.

This may seem obvious, but for those of us unaccustomed to exploring an historical document such as this, the overview may prove helpful.