| I have read this thread from last year about Rose Ball, as well as this thread http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/11/51463/1.ashx There are inconsistencies in the accounts that cloud this story. 1. When did Rose Ball come to live with the Russells? Maria first gave the year 1884, but shortly afterwards gave the year 1889. 2. How long did Rose Ball stay with the Russells? Maria said 10, 11, or 12 years. If Rose Ball came in 1889, she would have remained with them until 1899-1901. However, Maria left her husband in 1897. If Rose Ball came in 1884, she would have remained with them until 1894-1896, before the Russells separated. The year 1884 as the year of Rose's arrival would be more consistent.3. Why did Rose Ball come to live with the Russells? Charles claimed that she was an orphan and her brother was living there already, and that the Russells considered Rose their adopted daughter. Did Maria ever confirm this? If Rose arrived in 1889 at the age of 19, she would no longer be a minor, and her adoption by the Russells does not seem credible. 4. Charles admitted that he did kiss Rose Ball. How old was Rose when this occurred? Charles claimed that she was a girl in short clothes, and that at the request of his wife he and his wife kissed her goodnight when Rose left the couple for bed. If Rose Ball's birth certificate indicates her birth in 1869, she would be about 15 years of age in 1884. This would be consistent with Charles' story that she was an orphan and considered adopted. Charles said that he stopped kissing Rose Ball when she began to wear longer clothes for fear he would make his wife jealous. However, Maria claimed that Charles kissed Rose in the year 1894, when Rose would have been 24 years of age, certainly no longer a child, but a grown woman. This would be inconsistent with Charles's account. 5. Charles claimed that by mutual consent he and his wife were celibate in their marriage, and that this was Maria's preference as well. I believe Maria also stated this in the court case. However, Maria claimed that Rose Ball told her that Charles had told her that "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". Maria's attorney claimed that Charles told Rose that "a man’s heart was so big he could love a dozen women, but a woman’s heart was so small she could only love properly one man." Maria claimed that Rose told her that he kissed and fondled her several times. This story seems at odds with their celibate marriage. If he was truly like a jellyfish, with a big heart that could love 12 women, and touch this one or that one, it is very highly unlikely that he would have desired a celibate marriage, and would have used his marriage to satisfy his supposedly excessive libido. 6. If Maria did believe that her husband had an affair, why did she not make it originally the grounds for her case, rather than introducing it at the last minute into the case? 7. If this occurred in the year 1894, Rose Ball would have been 24 years of age, and she would have been a consenting adult in an affair, and would have confessed to the wife that she cheated with her husband. Yet Rose Ball continued to live with them, and seemed to remain on good terms with both the husband and wife. I don't find this a likely scenario. 8. Maria's story of Rose Ball is hearsay, which is not sufficient evidence in libel cases, where the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty. For this reason, and the inconsistencies above, I have not found Maria Russell's story about Rose Ball to be credible. Steve |