Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-06-22
SHE TOOK THE OATH.
Curious Adventure OF a Curious Woman
-AstO ossdIng Discovery That Awaited


A young lady Of this city, who was
certainly born with more than the average
share Of feminine curiosity, says Balti-
Raore letter to the Chicago Times, has re-
Gently passed through a rather peculiar
experience in attempting to crafty her
chief characteristic. Ever since she was
a little child she has been very DESTROYS TO
penetrate the, to womankind, impenetra-
bic mysteries of secret orders. She was
exceedingly anxious to know the great
secret's Of Masonry. Odd Fellowship, the
Red Men, Knights Of Pythias, and the
thousand and one other secret societies
which flourish so extensively in this
country. This young lady, whose name
Is withheld Cor obvious reasons, by some
ingenuity known only TO the female heart,
arranged matters so that she was pro-
posed and elected a member, under
masculine name, of a well-knOWn secret
organization, the good brothers OF which,
when they voted for her admission,
thought Of course, il was a simon pure
Sshimc and not a ''her." The night Of the
initiation came last week, and the lady IN
question presented herself in male attire,
with short, curly hair, for the wonderful
mysterious ceremony. She is an amateur
actress. and imagined she could success
fully enact the role Of gentleman for
zone night only" But as the sequel to
this most extraordinary entertainment
proves. she made a great mistake, and
was the heroine of a terrible error. But
her adventures on this occasion can be
best told in her own words.
''You viii please understand, sir" she
exclaimed to your representative, with
sweet smile which surged through him
from his topknot to the toes of his CATERS,
lin telling you all about this l violate no
oaths, nor do / break my word, but the
name of the order in question must re-
more. | am only obligated that far and
no further. Well, to begin. must con-
fess when they lett me alone in the ante
room for a while before the Initiation
began, while lodge was being opened,
did feel little scary. But, oh, pshaW
/ said to myself l know / look like man
and can act like a man for little while,
and they can not do anything to me even
! if they do discover / am woman, and
know they will never discover it. But ali,
my dear sir,0 with another engaging
/ smile which took the soles of the shoes Of
the interviewer, Il did not know what
was coming. l did not know what that
| initiation really was. Well, pretty soon
| two men with black masks on. and each
/ with a lighted wax candle in his hand,
came in this little ante-room and asked
me about one million questions, all of
| which [ answered, and one wrote down
| what / said in a little red book he had.
/ Then they mceremOniously seized me by
| the arms, blindfolded my eyes with
! huge, black, dirty rag, and then, as l
rightly Judge, each placed his lighted cam
( die in my hands, and again taking hold of
my arms they marched me into the big
room. just as we got in there a big organ
4 began to play dismal air, and, to tell you
/ the truth, began to feel awful uneasy.
After / had been led bhndfolded around
! this big rOOm-blindfOlded, remember,
! please honestly couldn't see one wink,
I but then, you know, they put on that dirty
rag themselves, not me, or you may be
sure j would have left one little peephOle
they halted me in front of something
and somebody, and that somebody SAID in
| an awful graveyard kind of voice: SIS
the candidate ready and willing to endure
the fortunes necessary to gain admittance
into the sublime mysteries of our order?
/ Then one of my conductors punched me
and told me to cry out as loud as / could
! Yes which / did. Just then l heard
someone whisper near me, He's rather
| young, isn't hep After this the big organ
began again, and they again began to
march me around. Really, my arms
| ached. holding I'D these candles. but my
| guides would not let me hold them low; and
/ l was really afraid, too, for fear they would
set fire to my dress-nO, mean my pants.
! Pretty soon there came from the corners
| of the room four voices, which said all at
once, Has the candidate light with which
to advancep And they, my guides,
| shrieked back. He has-he has, Let
the chains be prepared and the candidate
be bOund,' someone then cried out from
the same place. Then / heard great
rattling of chains, and some person seized
| me, and, taking the candles out of my
hands, bound them and my figure with
( chains. l was dreadfully afraid they
/ would discover my sex, but they did not,
! although 1 heard one of them whisper:
/ she is a right stout young fellow, amt hep
! Then / was led around some more times
! and then halted, and suddenly the dirty
| black cloth was taken from my eyes. The
/ first thing i saw was grinning, nasty
skeleton, who stood upright and glared at
me from a black recess. Then / dis
covered l was bound with, chains, in a
dimly-lighted room, and surrounded with
a number of black masked and rObed
/ figures, while a man stood beside me
/ completely enveloped in red and with
! huge knife in one hand. He SAID: You
see what will be your fate if you violate
/ the mighty obligation of our secret order
which you are about to take.' l did not
| say q word, for / began to be really,
! aWfully scared. Then another man, also
! dressed in red, came up with a sort of
| pot with blazing fire in it and an iron
/ sticking out of it. And then they all
| shrieked: 'Unbind the candidate and
prepare him for the mystic brand before
! he Is Obligated.' They then took off the
| chains and quickly tore of my coat and
vest and my shirt before / could say a
word, and, while L screamed, one ex-
claimed: sGreat heavens, tits wOmanP
( oh. there was an awful scene took place
there. The lights went ouE, and one old
man-at least l think he was old, but !
could not see his face-threw my shirt
! and coat over me, and while l cried and
fought and screamed they sc0lded me
| terribly and wanted to know why l, a wo-
man, had tried &c join their order, why
had tried to deceive them. tried in my
| fright to paclfy them and beg their for
glYeness, but they would not listen to me.
| One or two of the most eXcitable ones
wanted to kill me en- the spot, but others
said: NO, no; we cannot murder her.
/ Some wanted me to st once take an awful
oath that l never would reveal what l
that night had seen, but several others
said, No; no woman could keep such
vow. Better let her swear something she
will keep Scat last, after about an hour
Of awful talking, they put Bible to my
| lips and made me swear to an oath.
| Thew gave me copy in writing of what l
repeated after them. so, as they said, |
would not forget what / sWOre to. Here
is this wonderfully important oath: Il,
-, do hereby solemnly swear in the
presence of Almighty God, he being my
witness, that I will never write, or
verbally, or in any other possible way
reveal to any living soul as long as l live
what order !, this - night, was partly
initiated in. l will never give TO any one
either the name-title of the lodge or order
which this - night / have been in, nor
by any signs or hints reveal the same.
All of which / solemnly swear, so help
me Cod
sssNow, woman, you have sworn to
something you can keep! Now, get, and
thank God you escaped alive one of them
savagely said, after l mad taken the above
oath. Before went / heard one say to
another one: No, it won't do to make her
swear she viii not tell of what she has
seen, for she viii, wOman-like, tell that to
some one; but if we only have her oath
that she will not tell the name Of the order
we are safe, for there are so many secret
organizations. And if she swears no
more she will keep that; if she swears to
more then she will violate all her oaths,
and the whole thing will leak out, and be
fastened on our ORDER So they let me 60
with that. Yes, / am satisfied now in
reference to secret societies. l don't
want any more limitations. But do you
really believe they would have branded
nv bare back with that awful red-hot