Love affair of Charles Taze Russell

ROSE BALL AFFAIR

 

Rose Ball's older brother, Charles Ball, relocated from Buffalo, New York, to Pittsburgh -- probably sometime in mid 1888 -- and began to work at Watch Tower Society HQ. Charles Ball, age 21, died in March 1889. Shortly prior to his death, Charles Ball had requested and had received permission for his younger sister, Rosa Ball, to join him in Pittsburgh to also work at Watch Tower Society HQ. We believe that Rosa Ball arrived in Pittsburgh in latter 1888, when she was 19 years-old (she was born in 1869). Charles and Rosa lived with some other HQ workers at Charles and Maria Russell's Clifton Avenue home. (At the Divorce Trial, "Pastor" Russell testified that the age of Rose Ball had NEVER EVER come up. Russell further alleged that when he occasionally visited with Rose alone in her room that he thought that she was only around 13 years-old.)

 

After the tragic death of Charles Ball, Rosa decided to stay in Pittsburgh, continue working at HQ, and continue living at the Russells' home. Given the younger, single female's situation of having just lost her "big brother" and her only relative in the city, the Russells probably became quite protective of Rosa. Rosa was allowed to socialize with Charles and Maria in their private study during evenings and weekends. Over time, the Russells and Rosa grew sufficiently close that the Russells began to treat Rosa Ball as if she were their own daughter, and Rosa reciprocated by treating the Russells like her parents. This eventually included the nightly habit of the by then 20 years-old Rosa kissing both Russells before she retired to her bedroom each evening.

 

Rose Ball's relationship with both Charles Taze Russell and Maria Russell apparently changed greatly, but inversely, between 1890 and 1894. However, over that same time period, Charles and Maria's marital relationship declined proportionately. By 1894, the April 25, 1894, Extra Edition of Zion's Watch Tower magazine, lists "Rose J. Ball" as one of the seven Directors ofZion's Watch Tower Tract Society -- quite an accomplishment in a short space of time for a dainty, fragile 25 year-old single female, with limited or no resources, living in 1894. In fact, Chuckie's little "Rose" continued as a member of theBoard of Directors through at least 1898, after the corporate name had been changed to the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, and after Rose had become "Rose Ball Henninges" Rose Henninges and her husband Ernest Henninges both played an active role in Charles Taze Russell's property transfer Conspiracy used to DEFRAUD Maria Russell out of her dower rights in Chuckie's real estate, and its' attempt to DEFRAUD Maria Russell out of alimony.

 

Rose Ball's personal relationship with Charles Taze Russell had grown quite intimate between 1890 and 1894, while Maria Russell's marital relationship with her husband had declined to the point of non-existence. Quite a "rivalry" seems to have developed between the two females by 1894. Whatever was or wasn't going on between Chuckie and Rose sexually, they each were ready for Maria to move on and get out of their way, because an emotional/psychological relationship definitely existed. Yes, Chuckie and Rose were in lust or love of one type or another. (Readers should recall that Chuckie's 65 year-old Father, Joseph L. Russell, had married Maria's 25 year-old sister, Emma Ackley, in 1880, and they had a daughter, Mabel Russell, the following year. Testosterone levels run in the family. If "Old Joe" couldn't keep it in his pants at 65, how do you think that his son Chuckie was living a supposed celibate life? The only person actually celibate in that family was Maria!!!)

 

By 1894, Chuckie and Rose had developed a routine where, instead of returning to the Russells' home at the end of the workday, Rose would stay late at night -- often until 11:00 P.M. -- with Chuckie down at WatchTower HQ. Chuckie's excuse was that he did not want Rose walking home alone with the other male workers who also lived at the Russells' home. The obvious question is why did Rose not return home with Maria (or one of the other female co-workers who occasionally also lived with the Russells -- Laura Raynor, Margaret Land, and others)? And, why would 25 year-old Rose Ball EVEN WANT to routinely stay at HQ late into the evening hours -- alone with the 42 year-old Charles Taze Russell -- unless something was going on?

 

In the Fall of 1894, probably in the hopes of driving the final wedge into the Russells' marriage, 25 year-old Rose Ball went to and"confessed" to Maria that Chuckie had developed a"habit of hugging and kissing her and having her sit on [his] knee and fondling each other", and that Chuckie had "bid her under no account to tell [Maria]". Rose further claimed that these things were occurring "down at the office when she stayed down there with [Chuckie] in the evenings after the rest had gone, and here at home at any time when [Maria] wasn't around".

 

Rose Ball further "confessed" to Maria that only recently when Chuckie and she had arrived home one night at around 11:00 P.M., that Chuckie had stopped her in the vestibule and "put his arms around her and kissed her". Chuckie had called Rose "his little wife", but Rose retorted, "I am not your wife." Chuckie replied, "I will call you daughter, and a daughter has nearly all the privileges of a wife". Apparently, Rosa was not satisfied with just being "a daughter".

 

The context is unknown, but Rose also told Maria that Chuckie had stated to her, "I am like a jelly fish. I float around here and there. I touch this one and that one, and if she responds, I take her to me, and if not, I float on to others." Rose also told Maria that Chuckie had told her that, "A man's heart is so big that he can love a dozen women, but a woman's heart is so small that she can love but one man."

 

When Maria finally approached Chuckie with these shocking disclosures (she had to wait a day to regain her composure), he allegedly admitted some lessor things, denied some, and/or attempted to make fun of the allegations. In 1906, during his trial testimony, Chuckie denied making any of the most damaging statements alleged to have been made in 1894, and attempted to excuse away any "kissing, hugging, and fondling" as explainable, innocent events that had occurred way back in 1889, when Rose was an innocent, naive teenager, whom had just lost her brother, and whom was experiencing adjustment problems with Maria and other co-workers -- all despite the fact that the "kissing, hugging, and fondling" incidents actually at issue were NOT those earlier 1889 incidents, but were the more serious incidents that had occurred more recently -- in 1894 -- when Rose Ball had been a GROWN 25 year-old woman. Thereafter, in the pages of the WATCH TOWER magazine, Charles Taze Russell repeated his attempts at deception by repeatedly discussing and refuting the incidents that had occurred back in 1889, while ignoring as much as possible the statements and incidents which were the real issue -- the statements and incidents that had occurred in 1894.

 

It was likely the 1894 SCHISM that temporarily drew Chuckie and Maria back together as a couple, and which also forced Chuckie to end his private relationship with Rose Ball. However, by only 1895, Chuckie himself was asking Maria for a "divorce", and he even offered Maria their Clifton Avenue property (which would provide sufficient rental income for Maria to live independently, but spartanly) if she would go quietly. Maria declined Chuckie's meager offer, so Chuckie moved and eventually sold the house out from beneath Maria. Maria moved with Chuckie into the top, fourth floor of the "Bible House", where she remained until she moved out in November 1897.

 

After spending two months with her brother in Chicago, Maria returned to Pittsburgh in January 1898, and moved in with the widowed Emma Russell, and their mother, on Cedar Avenue. At least twice, Maria and Emma went to the Bible House and attempted to retrieve Maria's personal property which remained there. Both times, "Pastor" Russell refused to give Maria any of her property, stating to her once, "You don't get anything. Everything you made while my wife is mine!"

 

By November 1897, Rosa J. Ball had already been married off to Russell's right-hand man, Ernest C. Henninges -- in September 1897 In January1898, Ernest Henninges was "voted" (chosen solely by Russell) as both a Watch Tower Society Director and as the new Secretary-Treasurer (Officer) of the Watch Tower Society -- as the replacement for Maria Russell. Around March 1900, Charles Taze Russell sent the Henninges to England for 20 months to establish a new Great Britain Branch Office of the Watch Tower Society, in London, England, and to reinvigorate the poorly performing recruitment work, after which the Henninges returned to the United States in November 1901.

 

In March 1903, Charles Taze Russell forced Maria Russell to file this Divorce-Separation lawsuit by forcibly evicting her from the rental house he owned in which she had been living and renting out rooms as a means of survival. In mid-April 1903, Russell left on a planned trip to Europe. Coincidentally, Ernest Henninges had left for England about three weeks earlier to look for a new London Branch Office location, and to take care of other business prior to Russell's arrival. Interestingly, at some point in this drama, Rose Ball Henninges also left Pittsburgh and went to visit her parents and siblings in Buffalo, New York. (It is not known whether such occurred before or after the filing of the Russell lawsuit.) However, Rose Henninges also soon left for Europe -- joining Charles Taze Russell and Ernest Henninges in London, England during the last week of May 1903, where they all three promptly left for Germany. There, Russell and the Henninges shopped for a rental location for a brand new European Branch Office in Elberfeld, Germany. Russell left the Henninges behind in Germany to get that new WatchTower Society Branch Office up and going. Around December 1903, and without returning to the United States, the Henninges headed to Australia -- as far away as possible from Pittsburgh as Russell could send them -- to open up a new Branch Office for the Watch Tower Society in Melbourne.

 

In Australia, Ernest and Rose Henninges defected from the Watch Tower Society in latter 1909 (along with several prominent U.S. Russellites), and started their own religious "Society", which had its' own U.S.A. office only two blocks from Brooklyn Bethel in the 1920s.