The Project Gutenberg eBook of Faith killer
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: Faith killer
Author: Winston K. Marks
Illustrator: Rudy Nappi
Release date: October 24, 2026 [eBook #79851]
Language: English
Original publication: New York: Republic Features Syndicate, Inc., 1956
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/79851
Credits: Tom Trussel - Stories of Futures Past (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAITH KILLER ***
Faith Killer
by Winston Marks
“Watch this next curve,” the old doctor told him. “We call it, ‘Hell
Bend’. It consigns more souls to the other world than any spot on this
highway.”
Dr. Reed Fassin took the dangerous hairpin turn fast and expertly,
disdaining to glance down the thousand-foot drop-off to his left. At
38, Dr. Fassin needed no advice on his driving. He knew his car, his
reflexes and the laws of motion as surely as he knew his profession. It
was all a matter of hard physics, intelligence and applied reason.
As the rubber stopped squealing and the sleek convertible lurched
back from its tortured springs, Fassin resumed their debate. “It’s
preposterous to tolerate the woman,” he said flatly. “Preposterous and
unprofessional.”
Dr. Coffey, older and white-haired, relinquished his grip on the door
handle and tried to relax. “Sorry I mentioned it if it disturbs you,”
he said softly.
“Faith healers are common enough,” Fassin said, “and I grant that they
thrive on persecution. But a healer who practices witchcraft openly is
dangerous. That’s carrying the power of suggestion too far.”
Dr. Coffey raised his eyebrows in amusement. “Then you agree that they
do have a positive power?”
“They dispense placebos,” Fassin replied. “You know that as well as I
do. Mental placebos, direct suggestions of improvement. A desperate
patient will seize on any hope, believe any lie. These witchcraft
devices verge on hypnotic therapy, and that stuff is tricky even in
professional hands. What’s worse, it breeds superstition in the place
of sensible, scientific attitudes toward medical treatment.
“You’ll rue the day if you condone such a practice in your area, Dr.
Coffey.”
“My dear boy, I don’t condone, sanction or condemn it. I am merely
fascinated with some of her results. This past year I’ve seen four of
my own cases with inoperable cancer live long, long past their due
dates, and in relative painlessness. She treated them.”
Fassin compressed his lips in a cold smile and withheld his retort.
Coffey was getting old, and it was not unheard of that non-malignant
tumors were confused with carcinoma. Yet, it wouldn’t have been polite
to mention the possibility of mis-diagnosis. He shrugged. “They are
your patients, and you’ll have to cope with their attitudes.”
“They’re my people, and I hate to see them suffer.” Coffee said mildly
and dropped the subject.
The mountain road wound down into the valley town, and the old man was
deposited at his clinic. “Thank you kindly for the transportation,”
Coffey said.
“Not at all, doctor. Hardly out of my way at all, and I always enjoy
these conversations with my senior colleagues,” Fassin lied. Had he
known that the conversation would have degenerated to faith-healing
he would never have volunteered to spare Coffey the tiring train
trip returning from the medical convention. The detour had required
a dead-end round-trip through the mountains before he rejoined the
highway to his own city.
“If you take my advice, though, you’ll get the local board of health to
crack-down on this female meddler.”
Coffey waved him on with a laugh, and Fassin drove on up the main
street to the next intersection, where he intended to turn around.
The traffic light halted him, and as he waited a long cue of people
drew his attention to a ramshackle store-front with a huge, unwashed
plate-glass display window. Over the entrance was a long, frayed banner
of cracked oilcloth. In bold, red letters was the unapologetic legend:
“FAITH HEALER.”
The pause for the green light was irritatingly long, and Fassin’s
curiosity had too long to generate. When the “go” signal flashed he
wheeled his vehicle over to the curb and got out to investigate the
burden which old Dr. Coffey had to bear.
The line contained some thirty people including several in wheelchairs,
and threaded its way inside to a sizable room stripped bare of fixtures
except for a table, one chair and one long shelf.
Fassin shouldered his way inside and gained a clear view of the
proceedings. A “patient” was just leaving with a placid expression on
her lined, aged face. The “healer”, a stocky woman in her fifties, was
most unimposing in a cotton print dress with large pockets. Into one
of these she dropped a bill as Fassin watched. She was dark, almost
gypsy-dark, and she wore her black-dyed hair straight, pulled back to
an ugly bun at the base of her skull.
She said, “Hinckel, the basin.” A door in the back partition opened,
and a boy of ten came in with an enameled white pan of water in which
she washed her hands. It smelled of phenol.
The next patient, a middle-aged man, lean of face and pot-bellied, took
his place in the chair with his back to the healer. His scrawny hands
lowered his grotesquely distended belly to his lap. Obviously a late
stage of dropsy, Fassin diagnosed silently. Advanced edema. The man
needed tapping, if possible. If not, he was beyond hope.
The healer dried her hands, and without a word began stroking the
patient’s forehead. Her face was square, gray and emotionless,
straight-lipped and flat-nosed--no wonder she had her patient’s face
away from her.
Her wrinkled fingers were dark and strong, and the man’s face relaxed
under the manipulation. At length the woman spoke. “You are very ill. I
can feel it in my hands. You must cooperate.”
“I will,” the man said, his eyes frightened.
The woman called out to the boy again, “The wax, Hinckel.” The
dark-eyed little boy came in again, hands cupped over a shapeless mass,
and the odor of hot paraffin came to Fassin’s nostrils.
She took the soft glob in her left hand, held it near the base of the
man’s skull and snipped a bit of his brown hair with a pair of child’s
blunt-nose scissors. Then she kneaded the hair into the wax and quickly
shaped it into the crude image of a man.
Holding it before the man she said, “Your condition can kill you if you
fail to cooperate. Have faith in me, and you will be better. Behold
your image which I hold in my hand. It contains a part of you. It
_is_ you. I hold your health in my hands like I hold this doll.”
She took a pin from the collar of her dress. “See, I am about to prick
you, and you will feel it.” She stabbed the wax doll lightly in the
neck, and the man jerked hard, grabbed a corresponding area of his neck
and grimaced.
Next, she poked a fingernail at the doll’s fat belly, and the sick man
doubled over. She said, “This is not your real trouble. The sickness is
up here.” She set the doll on the table and returned to massaging his
head and neck.
Fassin was appalled at the raw, unashamed emotions that washed
successively over the man’s pained face. Now there was repose and
trust, again.
The woman’s voice was flat and ordinary as she droned on. “You are
mortal, and I cannot cure you of that. Some day you will die, like all
of us, but now you will live. You will feel better each day that you
return to me, for I have your life in my hands now, and my hands know
the truth.”
She dropped her arms. “Come back to me tomorrow.” She set the little
image on the shelf behind her, and when she turned, the man was holding
out two one-dollar bills. She took them without comment.
Fassin stepped forward as the woman called for the wash basin. At least
she went through the motions of sanitation, Fassin reflected, as the
smell of carbolic acid drifted from the pan of steaming water once more.
The doctor intercepted the man patient near the door. “Are you under a
doctor’s care?” Fassin demanded abruptly.
The man stared at the well-dressed physician from head to foot and
shook his head slowly. “Not any more. They give me no hope--just big
bills.”
Fassin took the man’s listless wrist and felt of the flaccid tissues of
his arm. “You had better see Dr. Coffey this afternoon,” he said, “if
you value your----”
The man snatched his arm away. “I left a whole hospital full of doctors
two days ago and drove 600 miles to come here. Now I feel better. If
you are a doctor you had better take some lessons from her.” He hooked
his thumb over his shoulder and waddled by Fassin with a scowl.
A cold fury seized the physician. “Fool!” he called after the condemned
man, who ignored him and disappeared. Fassin turned to glare at the
healer. She regarded him frigidly with arms relaxed at her lumpy hips.
Her voice quivered.
“Go back to your broken bones and your chickenpox,” she said. “Doctors
are not welcome here. Not your kind.”
Fassin moved to the long shelf behind her. Several hundred wax effigies
stood unlabelled in uneven rows, one indistinguishable from the others.
Enough patients were represented there to keep Dr. Coffey in a most
comfortable practice. As it was, he knew, Coffey was scraping along on
a bare subsistence level.
His anger mounted, and he whirled to face the line of gullible
sufferers waiting to be mulcted. Their eyes were large and staring and
shocked at his intrusion.
“This woman is a murderer,” he declared loudly, “and you are her
victims.”
Silence in the room made the muffled street sounds seem harsh and
vulgar. The healer stood motionless now, looking straight before her.
“Some of you,” Fassin continued, “could live long, useful lives if
you remained in charge of a physician. Others of you will die soon
regardless of this despicable fraud’s fairy tales. The only thing she
relieves you of is your money. Save it, or spend it on whiskey. That
will make you feel better, too.”
He knew he was making a spectacle of himself, and the knowledge added
fuel to his anger. He stepped to the end of the shelf and walked its
length, arm extended, sweeping the fragile images to the stained floor
where they broke. Heads and torsos rolled about grotesquely.
He cried, “If you want peace of mind go to church, or better yet, go to
a psychiatrist. This stupid woman can only----”
He had turned to face the patients, and the look of horror on several
faces stopped him. A woman, then three men rolled up their eyes and
fainted to the floor with heavy thumps.
The healer pushed Fassin aside and went to them muttering, “You may
have killed them. To see one’s image destroyed can be fatal.”
It had been an unwise act, and suddenly Fassin rushed from the hateful
place in chagrin. As he pushed the crowd aside he heard the healer’s
voice shrill a command. “Hinckel, come here!” He lost the rest of it
in the angry muttering that followed him, but the boy emerged from the
door saying, “Yes, mam. The right front.”
Fassin got in his car, jabbed the starter button and was reaching for
the shift lever when he noticed Hinckel, the healer’s boy helper,
bending over beside the hood. The physician slid across the seat and
stuck his head out. The boy had a razor and was sawing at the tread of
the tire.
“You, stop that!” Fassin leaped from the car, but the lad escaped.
The doctor kneeled to examine his tire. It was a new, white sidewall
with the treads hardly marked with wear, so it was easy to find where
Hinckel had snicked an inch-long sliver of rubber from the rim of the
tread. It was a mere shaving, and Fassin went over the rest of the tire
for several minutes to be sure the boy hadn’t slashed the vulnerable
sidewall or loosened the valve cap.
One of the penalties of driving fast was the expense and meticulous
attention one must give his vehicle, especially the tires. Fassin took
no chances on his rubber. He always bought expensive brands, insisting
on safety tubes and extra heavy treads. It had paid off in a perfect,
non-blowout record.
Satisfied that he had frightened the boy away in time, he got in,
performed an illegal U-turn and sped from the little city.
Coffey was more than welcome to his precious faith healer and his
starvation practice. Thank heaven, his own post as resident surgeon
insulated him from such incidents as this.
As his high-powered car climbed the smooth ribbon of pavement into
the hills, his anger subsided, and he reflected upon the utter
irrationality of people. He was under no illusion that he had helped
Dr. Coffey or harmed the healer’s practice. The gullible would have
their way if it cost them their lives.
How different this was from the sanity and precision of his own
surgical practice where facts and skills yielded predictable and
substantial fees. His colleagues would laugh over his incredible tale
of back-woods superstition.
The yellow and black caution sign warned of his approach to “Hell
Bend,” and something made him ease off on the throttle as an
approaching car made him take the outside lane only two feet from the
sheer cliff’s edge. He wondered if he had examined that tire closely
enough, and that made him wonder what had been the boy’s purpose in
slicing the scrap of rubber from the tread like that.
He remembered the little wax effigies, and then the tire business made
sense. The woman must believe her own nonsense. Probably that scrap of
rubber was imbedded in a hunk of wax right now. And the hunk of wax
would be a lumpy image of his automobile, since she had been unable
to get a scrap of his hair or a fingernail paring for her vengeful
purposes.
He chuckled at the thought. Now if anything went wrong on this trip
home he’d never be able to shake the incident from his mind.
Funny thing about superstition. Even the completely rational mind
insisted on attaching absurd significances to entirely disconnected
occurrences. Here he was, Dr. Reed Fassin, a scientist, sitting tensely
behind the wheel of a perfectly safe vehicle in top condition, slowing
down to 20 miles per hour just because of old Dr. Coffey’s warning
about all the souls dispatched on this curve--and because of the
missing sliver of rubber.
Deliberately he relaxed and tromped hard on the accelerator. The
convertible squatted and dug around the hairpin, scattering gravel
from the shoulder down into the thousand-foot chasm to his right.
Nervelessly, he rode out the high speed skid and bore into the next
easy curve and the next with increasing velocity. Nothing had happened,
and why should it? He knew his car, his reflexes and his tires.
He was still chuckling when the right front tire exploded and snatched
the wheel from his relaxed grasp. His lightning response caught the
wheel and wrestled the car back from the very brink, but the light
guard rail peeled up over the slanting hood, pierced the windshield and
skewered Dr. Fassin’s handsome skull as easily as poking a pin into a
soft wax doll.
Transcriber’s Note:
This etext was produced from Tales of the Frightened, Spring 1957
(vol. 1, no. 1). Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.
Obvious errors have been silently corrected in this version, but
minor inconsistencies have been retained as printed.
New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the
public domain.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAITH KILLER ***
Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will
be renamed.
Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
States without permission and without paying copyright
royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™
concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following
the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use
of the Project Gutenberg trademark. If you do not charge anything for
copies of this eBook, complying with the trademark license is very
easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation
of derivative works, reports, performances and research. Project
Gutenberg eBooks may be modified and printed and given away—you may
do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks not protected
by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the trademark
license, especially commercial redistribution.
START: FULL LICENSE
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™ LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg™ mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg”), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
Project Gutenberg License available with this file or online at
www.gutenberg.org/license.
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg electronic works in your
possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
Project Gutenberg electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person
or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. “Project Gutenberg” is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg electronic works if you follow the terms of this
agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg
electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation (“the
Foundation” or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
of Project Gutenberg electronic works. Nearly all the individual
works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
that you will support the Project Gutenberg mission of promoting
free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg
works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
Project Gutenberg name associated with the work. You can easily
comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg License when
you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
other Project Gutenberg work. The Foundation makes no
representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
country other than the United States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg License must appear
prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg work (any work
on which the phrase “Project Gutenberg” appears, or with which the
phrase “Project Gutenberg” is associated) is accessed, displayed,
performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg™ License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws
of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg electronic work is
derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase “Project
Gutenberg” associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg
trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
will be linked to the Project Gutenberg License for all works
posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg work in a format
other than “Plain Vanilla ASCII” or other format used in the official
version posted on the official Project Gutenberg website
(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original “Plain
Vanilla ASCII” or other form. Any alternate format must include the
full Project Gutenberg License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg electronic works
provided that:
• You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
to the owner of the Project Gutenberg trademark, but he has
agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
Section 4, “Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation.”
• You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg™
License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg™
works.
• You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
receipt of the work.
• You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
distribution of Project Gutenberg™ works.
1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
Gutenberg™ electronic work or group of works on different terms than
are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
from the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the manager of
the Project Gutenberg™ trademark. Contact the Foundation as set
forth in Section 3 below.
1.F.
1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
Gutenberg™ collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
contain “Defects,” such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
cannot be read by your equipment.
1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the “Right
of Replacement or Refund” described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg™ trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg™ electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.
1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
without further opportunities to fix the problem.
1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you ‘AS-IS’, WITH NO
OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
remaining provisions.
1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg™ electronic works in
accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg™
electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
or any Project Gutenberg work, (b) alteration, modification, or
additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg work, and (c) any
Defect you cause.
Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
from people in all walks of life.
Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg’s
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg collection will
remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg and future
generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org.
Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non-profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service. The Foundation’s EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
U.S. federal laws and your state’s laws.
The Foundation’s business office is located at 41 Watchung Plaza #516,
Montclair NJ 07042, USA, +1 (862) 621-9288. Email contact links and up
to date contact information can be found at the Foundation’s website
and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation
Project Gutenberg™ depends upon and cannot survive without widespread
public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine-readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.
The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular state
visit www.gutenberg.org/donate.
While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.
International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
Please check the Project Gutenberg web pages for current donation
methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.
Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg electronic works
Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
Gutenberg concept of a library of electronic works that could be
freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
distributed Project Gutenberg eBooks with only a loose network of
volunteer support.
Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
edition.
Most people start at our website which has the main PG search
facility: www.gutenberg.org.
This website includes information about Project Gutenberg,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
