Grand Rapids morning telegram., 1885-07-11
CHINESE MASONS
6onz0Ilans Who Have Ridden
the American Goat
rae ,grsa-i ~ Nassslsf Aassag she Heath
ca thLass1-E Ehs -lslosE ~ as1at<Es
~ rhs Ia5Lea states -IuIsrest-
iaz statistics ~ the OrasF.


~ have H. secret societies Tx one,
said Mr. Bars1e. tas Nes 5rz agent eL
ths Chinese societies. sac rscsnrly yisited
~. l. uls. q reporter. All taa1 Is tue
or3er of Freefn as 9us, lodges of - nien e1-
ist Ia I'll ths large cities n the Jnited
states except 81 Lsais- There has been
10 lid ge here % account Vt the slnaliuess
~ me number u Chinese Masoss Ia your
cty. there are act more than three dozen;
these three dozen have been ade one
facs.On all along o. the news papers, aud
calIed Cantonese, while their enemies a" a.
au Lnber over three hun ired, have bsen
sryled Hong k1ugess Tue facE =, how
ever. that al these Cinnamon here came
fr0nl very nearly the same strict Az
China aud the only ference between
them : that some ars Mas0ns and some
are not Here begins tue hostility. Oue
nesssp pa per reporter has made it appear
that rae name. Chyo, Qu0ng, ani 80 GA,
indicated the socleti. q which the o~ a.
srs of these names belOl sed- This Is not
50. Among the Chinese ia 81 Louis there
are -four familiar surnames which
lad cate family Relationship. These arc
Cayo or Gnu Qu1ng Chung and Lyo or
smith. Brown. Jones. and R)bins0n, be-
.ng very common among Chinaman. All
the ChyOs belons 70 the same family, aud
bear near or remote kinship, just as all
lh- Smiths are related, aud 50 with the
QaOngs, the Chiungs, and the -Lyos.
The sur name is, as you see, always placed
hrst, the same as il you were TO reverse
the order Of the English manner OF nam
ing people, and say Smith John, Brown
George, etc"
What kind OF an organization is your
Masonic society,"" the reporter asked.
u he same as the English-speaking fra
ternity," said Mr. Batiste. Masonry
was introduced into China about sixty
years ago By an Englishman Ii now ex-
tends through all our Kingdom, having
lodges and chapters in every principal
city. IL was established among tine Chi
ness in America about fifteen year ago,
aud, as said before, st. Louis IS the only
large city which has no lodge, although
now il will have one very soon. We cali our
selves United Brother Masons, and the only
difference between our ritual and the eau
casians is that one is written in Chinese,
the other in English. In China the thirty
two degrees are administered, but IN this
country we are not allowed 70 take more
than three degrees Entered Appren-
tice, Fellowcraft, and Master degree. /
don't know why it is, but this restr ction
is placed upon US here; in order TO 20
higher than the third degree we must re-
turn u China"
There are" Mr.. Batiste continued,
"about thirty thousand Chinese Masons in
this country In the San Francisco lodges
there are from sixteen thousand TO twenty
thousand; in New York we have a mem
bership OF fully one thousand. The meet
ings are conducted the same as in the En-
glish speaking lodges, the ceremonies,
officers, etc, being identical. Monkey
business? Oh, yes; we make all new can
didates ride the goat Our initiation has
the same delights and terrors for the vic
tim, and we have lots of fun, of course.
Signsy Yes, we have signs, pass word )
andigrips."
Here Mr. Batiste stuck his thumbs in his
ears and gave his fingers the usual gro
tesque wag with which minstrel MasOns
have made the laughing world fam iliar.
There are, / believe, thirteen Master
Masons among US in this country, and we
have chapters in New York and San Fran
cisco. Our object IS entirely benevolent,
and any other use the society is put 10 is
merely a perversion Of its original and
only aim We assist each other in dis
tress, look after each others interests. an d
bury our dead. When an applicant pre-
sents himself rOr admission we examine
thoroughly into his char acter, which
must be good orswe reject MIN II he has
ever committed any ofense, stolen, or
been in prison, we do not accept him, and
if after entering the order he does any
thing wrong we promptly expel him from
membership"
''In the case of bodily injury TO a Mason
does the order attempt 70 punish the Of
fenders"
In all cases of injury OF any kind if the
offender is a Mason be In expelled. IL he
j. utside the order we combine TO pur-
size and apprehend him and turn him over
70 the authorities. They know that as
soon as they commit any great crime
every Mason in the country is informed
and Joins the authorities in running the
Grim nal 10 earth"
"In burying our dead, " said Mr. Batiste
AZ Nho ur'rsi9e't = a Anaopu' anu theiS - a
lolge In his city. he i buried with Ma
sonic honors. In New York we take the
remains 20 the odge-r0om, where it lies IN
state until the time for the funeral; then
it IS accompanied % the grave by the en-
tire lodge, who we.r Grape on their arms
and are att red in their regalia- Johnson
was a Mason. but we have no lodge here
and no suitable room n take his body 20.
80 we arc obliged 70 leave il at the NOR que.
aud instead Of Masonic funeral rites the
Chinese ceremony Of burning joss-paper
vii te gone through"
Chew Prune Nugget. Il is lasting and