Weltmer claimed his method could cure disease through suggestions and hypnosis, a practice he referred to as "magnetic healing".

[1] Weltmer was involved in Nevada in several of the fraternal and civic associations that developed in the late 19th century: he was a Knights Templar (Freemasonry) and Thirty-second Degree Mason, an Elk, an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias, and an initiate in the fourth degree of Atlantian Mystics, although he was not yet bound by oath.

As the number of attendees increased, they bought a building to suit them, providing rooms for patients and also space for their classes in the thought transference and "magnetic healing" that Weltmer promoted.

[1] Within a few years so many patients were attracted from a wide area that the railroad added trains to its schedules to support this business.

[2] Weltmer asserted that a combination of clairvoyance and hypnotic suggestion could cure diseases such as asthma, tobacco addiction and insanity.

Dr. Preston W. Pope wrote "The Expose (sic) of Weltmerism: Magnetic Healing De-magnetized," a 1900 review in The Sanitarian, published by the Medico-Legal Society of New York.

[2] Weltmer traveled to Washington, D.C., during the course of this case, to track its progress at the Court and to attend to his clients among members of the US Senate and their wives.

C. M. Bishop for calling Weltmer and his assistants "miserable charlatans" in print; it eventually reached the Supreme Court of Missouri.

In fact, during this period of claimed treatment, Weltmer was vacationing in Colorado, and his purported letters were prepared and sent by clerks of the institute.

[2] Despite some local objections, the city council was preparing to allow the property to be redeveloped and a video store to be built on the site.