Premises of DeVorss & Co Publishers in 1953

 
Transcript from 
Psychic Observer No. 365 
25 November 1953 Page 2

"The Untimely Passing Of Douglas DeVorss
By James Crenshaw
Los Angeles 27, California

Murder is an ugly word in any language, but often these days it seems to seek victims in all strata of society. Men and women pushed by the various pressures and drives of our tangled civilization more and more seem to have recourse to violence in a turbulent world of human beings without peace in their hearts.

So it is that I report in this issue of the Psychic Observer the violent, tragic death last September 24 of my friend and publisher, Douglas K. DeVorss, whose DeVorss & Company of Los Angeles was known as one the largest publishers of metaphysical and occult books in the country.

Mr. DeVorss was shot to death by an enraged man in the Los Angeles offices of the publishing company after repeated efforts to help the man and his wife straighten out their marriage difficulties. Police investigation showed that the man had made numerous threats against his wife, an employee of Mr. DeVorss, but erroneous first reports of a "triangle" were completely disproved by further inquiry.

The man held on murder charges refused to state why he had fired the fatal shots and attorneys indicated he would enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

The death of Mr. DeVorss came three and one-half months after his young wife, Mrs. Dorothy DeVorss, passed to the spirit world following the birth of a baby daughter last June. She had been associated with him in the publishing company and both were widely known in metaphysical circles.

Services for Mr. DeVorss were conducted in the same chapel — the Church of the Recessional in famed Forest Lawn Memorial Park and by the same minister, Rev. Ernest C. wilson, as those for Mrs. DeVorss.

Mr. DeVorss was born on February 3, 1900, in St. Joseph, Missouri. For a number of years he was an executive in charge of the sale of Unity publications but established his own business in Los Angeles some 28 years ago. He was known as the publisher of some of the most outstanding books on occult, inspirational and psychical subjects in the field, and volumes produced by his firm are distributed throughout United States and many other countries.

In 1950, publication of my own book, Telephone Between Worlds, was taken over by his company, and preparations were under way for its fifth printing at the time of his passing.

Management of the company is now being taken over by Orville Andress, who has had wide experience in the book production field, under the terms of the publisher's will. The baby daughter, Donna, already had been placed in the care of Mrs. DeVorss' sister, Mrs. L. L. Carrier, of Lincoln, Nebraska.

Ironically, I had been warned through the trance mediumship of the noted "instrument" of Telephone Between Worlds, Richard Zenor of Los Angeles, that one of my friends would likely pass from this plane because of a shooting. Fulfillment of the prophecy was no less a shock merely because it appeared to be in the path of destiny."