|
Correspondence from Karl Germer to Louis Wilkinson
K. J. GERMER 260 West 72nd Street New York 23, N.Y. Endicott 2-6799
March 22, 1948.
Dear Mr. Wilkinson,
Yours of March 17th came this morning and I am going to make an effort to answer it as well as your two letters of Feb. 28, and 19 to-day.
Hastings Printers: I'll start with this. The enclosed copies of their letter to me and my reply are self-evident. I had to re-write my letter in order to tone down my disgust. The friend I allude to to get in touch with them is Mr. Gerald Yorke whom I wrote last night. I told him that you had a copy of my letter to them of Jan. 13. Sorry I did not make an extra copy of the pertinent passages in my letter to Mr. Yorke. The essence is that if I pay their bill the Official Receiver might impound the books because of "mutual interests", Also, I think the printers should get their bill paid from the cash found. If I paid out now, they might never push for the payment from the Receiver. I want answer to my original questions of Jan. 13, to enable me to judge. With all this said, I want this job completed and will pay if it comes to the worst. Though this will be a strain on my finances.
Stock of books: Thanks for the list: I had been very very anxiously waiting for it. I'll write a separate letter and enclose with this authorizing you to offer £35, and going, if necessary, to £50 (fifty) for the books (this should include the papers and other literary stuff amongst A.C.'s possession.) I am anxious to get this released by the Receiver, yet Mr. Yorke advised not to show this worry. He also advised not to stress the papers, MSS., etc. I'll be guided by his advise and write my letter accordingly. If you disapprove, please return my letter with your criticism and I'll re-write it.
Money: I am seriously disappointed about the delay. It was one of the reasons for not writing you earlier; I expected any day to hear either from you that two sums had been paid out to you; or, from my correspondents, that the arrangements had been made. I have given instructions to pay you one sum of £100 and another of £300. The urgent payments we owe of about £100 should be made at once; further payments should have my consent. Last March 17th I was assured that the £100 had been transferred. I hope you have received it by this time. But I'll keep checking from this side.
Debts: If I relinquish my claim to the £460 completely it seems to me that the Receiver should at least pay the following
Funeral expenses Doctor's bills Freight of books etc. to London Printer
I hope you understand that I claimed the cash for the single purpose to carry out the Will, that is to pay the debts first of all. I still cannot see why I should be deprived of the money which came from me, for definite purposes, with definite instructions, which only due to Mr. Crowley's illness were not paid before. The printer is only one case, as explained in my letter to him. However, I am not going to court. All I would wish is that the Receiver should accept a fair arrangement and not cause legal expense, delay, and trouble.
In case all attempts fail, and I should have to foot the bill, I'll have to reduce Vernon Symonds claim, pay all the smaller debts in full, get the printer to act fairly, and ask the doctors to offer some sort of settlement.
If I transfer a total of £400 to you, it does not mean that this is all for the debts. A.C. left me an injunction to look after another party which will shortly demand payments from me; also some other obligations have to be attended to by me. But I was not going to write about this before you have not confirmed receipt of cash.
Old and Recent Creditors: (paragraph on top of yours of Feb 06, p.2) I hope the Receiver will take the attitude you outline and pay at least the small debts, plus funeral, doctors, Symonds, printer. It will ease my position which is getting bad with the terrific expenses demanding in other directions, and the worsening of the general situation.
To recapitulate, my position as well as I can condense it in a letter is
1) that I claim the £460 outright as my property, see above;
2) that I want this used to pay all debts, obligations, costs and shipping expenses first of all;
3) If the Received insists on claiming it, I am not going to Court for it. But in that case I would try to show him the unfairness of the legal point of view, that I only yield to force or pressure, being unable to pay for legal proceedings; and to get the Receiver to pay the parties under the 5 headings on page 1.
4) I enclose my offer for the books etc.
5) In the very last extreme, if no effort avails, I will have to pay everything out of my pocket. For this I would have to ask a little time.
I hope this position is clearly stated. You are authorised to take any decision within this frame, and negotiate with the Receiver in this sense and strike the best deal.
Please keep the Bank Receipts and return them after they are no longer needed.
Introductory Essay to the Book of the Law: Commentary. Thank you very much for sending it. I had never seen it before.
I am leaving for the West Coast in matters of the Order and will have for the first time occasion to present the whole matter to my friends. They have already written me that they do not understand the reasons for the Receiver’s attitude, and will have to try and show them that I had no other choice but to take that as listed from 1) to 5) above. Please write me to my address there which will be
K.J. Germer Route 1 Barstow, California
Letters will take about one day longer than to New York. I will stay a month or two.
Wishing you the best of success in any dealings with the Official Receiver and a speedy settlement, I remain with kind regards,
Yours sincerely,
Karl Germer
Has the Will been probated by now?
|