William Quan Judge

Irish-American lawyer, the third of the three founders, and the one who built the American section. After Blavatsky's death he was accused by Olcott and Besant of forging letters from the Mahatmas; in 1895 he took most of the American membership with him and split the Society in two.

The schism is the point. A movement whose authority rests on letters from hidden Masters has no procedure for adjudicating a disputed letter. The charge could not be settled then and cannot be settled now, and the organisation broke along the crack.