The Cultist Behind Bars
Joshua Klein, held in the county jail, claims to be receiving telepathic messages from his followers in Vienna while parents demand their daughters return home.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Sitting behind the steel bars of his cell at the county jail last night, Joshua Klein, who is said to be holding Miss Rose Karasek and Miss Dora Sauvageot under a mystic spell in Europe, received a 'thought message' from Herr Prett, in Vienna, a member of the queer cult of which Klein is leader. Speaking to a Times reporter today, Klein attempted to explain the intricacies of his power. 'It is true,' he said, 'that I can send and receive messages from those who have studied my belief.' Miss Sauvageot is living with a family in Amden, while Miss Karasek is with the Prett family in Vienna; both have given up music to study Klein's 'radio-active' teachings. Their families in Tacoma continue to demand their return, but Klein insists they are at liberty and simply choose to pursue his teachings.
“They have dipped so deeply into the study of my belief that they have even given up the study of music in order to learn more of the 'true life.'”
This story highlights the perennial fear of 'cults' and the loss of youth to charismatic leaders, a recurring theme in sensational local journalism that has echoed through decades of Tacoma history.
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