Hendrick, Burton Jesse (1870-1949). American magazine writer, editor, and biographer. Hendrick graduated from Yale in 1895 and worked as a newspaper journalist until 1905, when he became a staff writer at McClure’s Magazine. Cather blamed him for errors in the first serialized installment in McClure’s of a biographical exposé of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science. In 1913 Hendrick became associate editor of the World’s Work, a public affairs magazine founded by Walter Hines Page. Having won the Pulitzer Prize in biography as co-author of Victory at Sea (1921) and author of The Life and Letters of Walter Hines Page (1922), he left the magazine in 1927 to pursue writing biographies and histories, winning a third Pulitzer for a follow-up Page biography. Doubleday, Page, and Company, of which Walter Page was a partner, published all of Hendrick’s books.

Eddy, Asa Gilbert (1826-1882) (“Gilbert” “Asa G.”). Mary Baker Eddy's husband; Christian Scientist. Born on a farm in Londonderry, VT, son of Asa Eddy and Betsy Smith Eddy, Asa Gilbert Eddy worked in a woolen mill before moving to Boston in 1875 as a sewing machine salesman. He met Mary Baker Glover through friends and studied Christian Science with her. They were married January 1, 1877. He was the first to open a practice as a Christian Scientist, and aided Mary Baker Glover Eddy in her work, organizing a Sunday School and, after they moved to Boston in 1879, establishing the first Church of Christ, Scientist. When Asa Eddy died, Mary Baker Eddy attributed the death to “malicious animal magnetism,” the opposite of the healing mental powers she taught, and later feared the same fate for herself. Cather sought a picture of Asa Eddy for her work on Mary Baker Eddy for McClure’s.

Corser, Samuel Bartlett Gerrish (1818-1903) (“S.B.G.”). New Hampshire farmer. Born in Loudoun, NH, son of the Rev. Enoch Corser and Sally Gerrish Corser, Samuel Corser graduated from Dartmouth College in 1841. He taught at various schools before taking up farming in 1850 in Boscawen, NH. As a youth he had known the family of Mary Baker (later Eddy); his father tutored Mary Baker, and in 1902 he wrote a letter, publicized by Christian Scientists, testifying to the high regard he and his father had for Mary Baker’s talents and intelligence when they knew her. In the letter he explicitly said he was not a Christian Scientist, but an orthodox Congregationalist, like his father. Cather probably saw this letter, or the published parts of it, when she was working on the Mary Baker Eddy articles for McClure’s.

Horsley, Albert Edward (1866-1954) (“Harry Orchard”). Canadian-American criminal. Born to a poor farm family in Ontario, Canada, Albert Horsley went west in the 1890s, drifting down into Washington, Colorado, and Idaho in the U.S. Gambling led him to commit a number of crimes—bigamy, theft, and fraud—on his own account, but he confessed to seventeen murders paid for by radical unions such as the Western Federation of Miners. He was arrested after the 1905 assassination of the former governor of Idaho, Frank Steunenberg, and implicated three of the Federation’s leaders, including William (Big Bill) Haywood. The sensational trial was widely reported; McClure’s Magazine gained exclusive access to “Orchard” and his confession, which was serialized in the July-November 1907 issues. The union leaders (defended by Clarence Darrow) were acquitted; Orchard was convicted, with his death sentence commuted to life in prison.

Chandler, William Eaton (1835-1917). American lawyer and senator. Chandler was born in Concord, NH, where, after attending Harvard Law School, he practiced law and began his political career. He served in the New Hampshire state legislature, was appointed Secretary of the U.S. Navy by President Chester Arthur, was elected to the U.S. Senate, representing New Hampshire from 1887 to 1901, and then resumed the practice of law. In 1907, Cather contacted him because of his connection to lawsuits concerning Mary Baker Eddy and her son George Washington Glover.

Wright, Wallace Walker (1847-1884). Bank clerk. Born in Washington, NH, son of Universalist minister Nathan R. Wright and Eliza Clark Wright, Wallace Wright became interested in Christian Science. He wrote Mary Baker Glover (later Eddy) a letter with nine questions about her principles. He then studied with her and briefly set up a practice. In 1871 he reportedly demanded his tuition money back, and denounced Eddy in a letter to the Lynn, MA, Transcript. Eddy’s responses to such attacks led her to write Science and Health (1875). Wright married Catherine D. Hall in 1873; they lived in Lynn, until both died in the shipwreck of the SS City of Columbus.