A young Thai girl who came to New York to attend the Society's Gilead School in upstate South Lansing, New York, had a mental breakdown
. Staff members pleaded with President Knorr to send her home by plane, under supervision. He adamantly refused and gave instructions to send her home alone, "the cheapest way possible"
. She was sent to San Francisco by train and had passage booked for her on a ship to Thailand.
Evidently suffering another breakdown, she jumped overboard. The ship circled but never found her in the shark-infested waters
. The captain sent a radiogram to the headquarters in Brooklyn. The switchboard operator, Arthur Barnett, recieved the message and receptionist Russell Kurzen also learned of the tradgedy. The distressing news was then relayed to several members of the staff. When Knorr heard the news was being circulated amongst the headquarters personnel, he was furious. Both men were repremanded, and removed from thier positions for revealing the contents of the radiogram
.
The strategy for dealing with this was painfully familiar. "Sweep it under the rug. Pretend it never happened. The membership, in gerneral, must never know"
There was no announcement at Gilead School or at Bethel headquarters about the incident. The staff of both institutions live in fear of being reported for just talking about the person in casual converstation
Like thousands before her, she was just a "worthless speck of dust," pronounced so by the Watch Tower Society, to be used and then swept aside
after "enjoying" service in Rutherford's "theocratic organization." The young girl from Thailand was never mentioned again. The author called several sources at Brooklyn headquarters in an attempt to obtain the young girl's name, but so effectively was the incident hidden that he was unsuccessful.
TAKEN FROM THE BOOK: THE FOUR PRESIDENTS OF THE WATCH TOWER SOCIETY by EDMUND C. GRUSS
Evidently suffering another breakdown, she jumped overboard. The ship circled but never found her in the shark-infested waters
The strategy for dealing with this was painfully familiar. "Sweep it under the rug. Pretend it never happened. The membership, in gerneral, must never know"
There was no announcement at Gilead School or at Bethel headquarters about the incident. The staff of both institutions live in fear of being reported for just talking about the person in casual converstation
Like thousands before her, she was just a "worthless speck of dust," pronounced so by the Watch Tower Society, to be used and then swept aside
TAKEN FROM THE BOOK: THE FOUR PRESIDENTS OF THE WATCH TOWER SOCIETY by EDMUND C. GRUSS
