The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-10-17
A BAD MASON.
An Illinois Mans Scandalous
Behavior and Defalcation.

Chicago Times.
A telegram received by the Times
from Springfield. H., last night,
reads, as follows: "John F. Burrill
late of this city, and late Grand
Secretary Of the Grand Lodge of
Masonry, of the State of Illinois. was
brought to the city to-day under
arrest, from Minneapolis, Mimi, on
a charge of emhezzlement of funds of
the Lodge to the amount OF $4,000.
The complainant is Gen. John Smith,
Past Granl.Master and Chairman of
the Finance Committee. MIR. Burrill
was taken before Justice Kane, when
he waived an examination and was
held in the sum Of SO, 900. and fail
ing to respond, was remanded to Jail.
1t will be remembered that the same
Burrill was defendant a year or two
ago i'm a divorce case instituted by
his wife, about which there was much
scandal. He had in consequence to
retire from his office as Grand Secre-
tary of the Masonic order, and was
succeeded by MIR. Frank Hudson. Of
this CITY. Since then bis embezzlement
of funds has been discovered.
Comptroller T. L Quincy, of this
CITY, was seen at his residence, No.
933 West Monroe street, by repre-
sentative of the Times last evening
and requested to shed some light upon
the subject. II do not know much
in regard to the matter" he began.
shortly. Before l left for New York,
some two weeks ago. [ received a
letter from Secretary Mum stating
that he would begin prosecution
against him. Your dispatch says
Frank Hudson is the Secretary of the
the Grand Lodge. That is inc rect.
L. l.. Mum fills that position, with
Mr.. Hudson, who was Mr.. BurrilRs
assistant, as his assistant. He retained
him. Now, when Burrill went away
he carried off all the books and papers
belonging to the Grand Lodge,
and the only way to find the amount
of bis embezzlement was to 60
through the printed reports and figure
it out.I understand that the amount of
his defalcation is about So 900. 1t was
appropriated in the years 1880
and 81"
How could he have managed to
blind the J., Finance COMMITTEE and the
treasurer {"
well, as understand it, at the
annual meetings of the Grand Lodge
in the years mentioned, he would fur.
nish the Finance Committee his &C.
counts to examine, which they found
o. K. He then would hand over to
the treasurer the funds in his hands as
his accounts would show, and take his
receipt. Everything seemed fair and
square on its face; but after the ses-
ZION came the rub. He would pocket
all the money that came from the
lodges throughout the state between
that time and the publication of his re-
port, and as he dare not leave out the
name of lodge that he had received
money from in THAI report he blinded
us by not footing up the columns. No
one thought to do it until after he had
skipped out with. as / have said, all
The accounts. Mum found the dis
crepancy that way"
"How is it supposed he lost the
money! Have you heard ?"
"VelI, to be frank about it, he lost
1t in drink, and there is general i'm
preston that women bad something to
do with it. and there is reasonable
possibility that he took some away with
him. Details of his escapades in the
divorce courts and in public / have
. not heard. | thought that man of
his habits could not be square. He
was we'll known and liked throughout
the state. and it was hard to make any
of these lodges believe that bis habits
were loose. Now, he was heavy
-drinker, but just before the annual
meeting of the Grand Lodge, say three
or four weeks, he would sober up and
attend to his lodge business, which he
knew to dot, having been under
secretary when III. G. Reynolds, whom
he subsequently succeeded. was secre-
tary. His report to the Finance Com
mittee was passed upon, his accounts
with the treasure square, and they did
not want more. But whisky and
women ruined him. And excess of
whisky and business do not run in the
same direction.