Evelyn Arthur See

Evelyn Arthur See
Born	15 April 1863(1863-04-15) Climax, Kalamazoo Co., Michigan
Died	27 July 1942 (79)  Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo Co., Michigan
Burial	Gobleville, Van Buren Co., Michigan
Alma mater	Hillsdale College (1883)
Spouse(s)	Agnes Chester See (m. 1899)

Evelyn Arthur See (April 15, 1863 - July 27, 1942) was an American New Thought teacher and founder of Absolute Life, which was described as being a "Junior Commonwealth," consisting mainly of young female disciples, who studied See's brand of Christian mysticism at 2541 Racine Ave. in Chicago, Illinois.

In 1911, See was arrested and tried for "contributing to delinquency" of two disciples — Mona Rees, a twenty-four-year-old high priestess, and Mildred Bridges, a seventeen-year-old — being ultimately convicted of "enticing an unmarried female (Bridges) from her parents' home for the purpose of prostitution" and sentenced to an "indeterminant sentence of from one to ten years," which he began to serve in February 1913. Rees and the Bridges' petitioned the Illinois courts through 1913, seeking a re-hearing to overturn the conviction and later a pardon, but both these were rejected; after serving forty-four months at the Joliet Prison (as Convict No. 2928), See was eventually paroled in October 1916 and relocated to Michigan (where he eventually retired to a poultry farm in Oshtemo).

See's Book of Truth

• The prosecution at his 1911 trial stated that their experts found a "large portion's of See's book were taken verbatim or almost so, from the Mormon book." https://kansasstatehistoricalsociety.newspapers.com/clip/75484745/east-oregonian/

Press Coverage

1911-'12

• "LIGHT UP TEMPLE ON SEE'S RETURN - Absolute Life Leader, Set Free on Disciple's Bond, Again Among Followers. SAYS HIS WIFE IS WIDOW. Husband She Sues Asserts That His Regeneration Destroyed Old Self.", Chicago Daily Tribune (Chicago, IL): 7, 22 Mar. 1911, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/355168617/ 
• "Who's Looney Now? - CHICAGO JURIST CHARACTERIZES PROPHET AS HARMLESS LUNATIC", Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA): 2, 23 Mar. 1911, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380163532/ 
• "SEE ACCUSES WIFE OF STEALING PAPERS - Leader of 'Absolute Life' Cult in Cross Bill to Suit for Separate Maintenance Charges His Spouse With Conspiracy.", Inter Ocean (Chicago, IL): 8, 26 Mar. 1911, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/34574963/ 
• "SEE ENJOINS WIFE FROM DISPOSING OF CULT PAPERS - Judge Tuthill Issues Restraining Order to Protect Story of 'The Absolute Life'", Inter Ocean (Chicago, IL): 10, 28 Mar. 1911, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/34575027 
• "ADDITIONAL LOCALS", Waukegan News-Sun (Waukegan, IL): 4, 31 Mar. 1911, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/698992550/, "Madison, Wis. March 30. — Secret Service Agent Brennenburg of the department of justice has taken into custody, Agnes Chester See, wife of the Chicago apostle of the 'absolute' life, and Densie Herendenn. The subpoenaes were served by Deputy Marshal C. P. McAssey, and the women were immediately taken to Chicago." 

• "ATTORNEYS FAIL TO FIND 'PROPHET' SEE - Exponent of 'Absolute Life' Object of Double Search; Sheriff in Charge.", Chicago Examiner (Chicago, IL): 14, 5 Apr. 1911, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/667952676/ 

• "PROSECUTOR TEARS THE CLOAKS OF SANCTITY FROM 'ABSOLUTE LIFE'; BRANDS SEE'S TEMPLE 'KENNEL' - Defense Topples as Burnham Pours Vitriolic Attack on Revealer and Women Who Gave Him Their Daughters; Prisoner Is Cool; Jurors Shrink as Life in Flat Is Told.", Chicago Examiner (Chicago, IL): 3, 17 June 1911, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/76479745/ 
• "CULT HEAD FACES NUMEROUS TRIALS - Legal Entanglements Follow Exposure of Habits.", Washington Herald (Washington, D.C.): 6, 17 June 1911, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/75993675/ 
• West, Magda Frances (20 June 1911), "WOMEN FIGHT AT COURTROOM DOOR FOR GLIMPSE OF 'PROPHET' SEE, Girl Who Watched Through Uncurtained Windows Blushingly Bares Life in the Cult 'Temple' - MILDRED BRIDGES' FATHER TELLS HOW 'REVEALER' WRECKED HOME AND TOOK DAUGHTER FROM HIM - The Leader of 'Absolute Life,' Fashionably Groomed, Gazes Unmoved at Accuser; 'Bomb' Threatened by Defense Is Withheld; Plot and Persecution is Charges.", Chicago Examiner (Chicago, IL): 3, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/668118308/ 
• "EVELYN ARTHUR SEE, WHO CLAIMS TO BE 'THE LIVING GOD,' ON TRIAL AT CHICAGO — 17-YEAR-OLD GIRL DEFENDS HIS CULT", Lake County Times (Hammond, IN): 4, 23 June 1911, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86058242/1911-06-23/ed-1/seq-4/ 
• West, Magda Frances (30 June 1911), "See Defense Driven to Bay Prepares for a Final Coup - Testimony Both Sides Would Suppress to Be Introduced - Hard Blow Given to Revealer When Court Rules That the Bridges Girl Was 'Lured' Away by 'Absolute Life.'", Chicago Examiner (Chicago, IL): 3, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/668120670/ 

• "PERFECT WOMAN MONA REES, SO SAYS SEER - Declares Revelation Shows She Has Purified Herself Above Mortal Weakness.", Edmonton Journal (Edmonton, AB): 5, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/472034895/ 

Legal Documentation

• People v. See, Supreme Court of Illinois, 20 Feb. 1913 (Rehearing Denied): https://books.google.com/books?id=JvwKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA260
• Absolute Life on Trial, a Plain Statement of the Progress of Absolute Life Against the Opposition of the Mortality and Perversion of the World. The State's Prosecution as Seen in the Light of the Truths of the New Life., Chicago: Absolute Press, 1911  — the trial from the point of view of Rees and the members of Absolute Life