The sun., 1890-03-30

A Great SnnnRp OF the Order OF Improved
Red Men Mmrsts In Z nnn Ihcm.

! Great SRnpRp OF the Order OF Improvrt
Red Men Bursts In Z pom Them.
NORWICH, March o9.-An cXtraOrdinnry
incident occurred In tho lodge room Of th,
! Order OF American Mechanics in this city til,
other evening" and all tho secret societOS IL
| Connecticut nro still chucklinG over it. Tn,
| Order Of Improved Red Men is u very popu
lar and lourishing society here Frequently
the sound of revelry by night is heard in theil
lodge room. and big chiefs from all parts OF the
| land drop In to see them and mako merry
| The Red Men used to swarm In "A big wgwanl
| in Uncas Hall in Water street, but recently
they moved into new and gorgeous quarters
in Austns block in Main street. Then the
| American Mechanics hived themselves in tho
hall vacated by the Improved Rod Men. The
extraordinary incident came to pass on ar-
count OF the change of quarters noted.
AT dusk the other night delegation OF local
Red Men went TO tho west side railroad station
to receive the biggest Red chiefs in Connect-
cut, who hnd come to Norwich to inspect the
Red Mems lodge here. In tho party were u
body else. but in some way the Sannap missed
the delegation. May be lie got on on the wrong
side of tho train At any rate. he came into
the Red Men still worshpped in their OLD
temple he made break for Cncas Hal. It
can Mechanics' hail. and IL hundred Knights
ia robes ro6eS5 on Of the order were solemn.
space. enyironod BY tho clitterng array array
one side OF it sat the Commander in formal
and lunercal dtgntty on the, other sido tho
Vice Commander no less sOmbre Of bearing.
Evidently work tmposingly momentOuS and
sol ious was going on. If there Is u society in
the land that Is hreathessly secret It is that OF
tied with anti Catholic sentlments. ana every
body says that entrance to their lodge room j.
guarded against aliens by word and by spell,
like the bower of the Ladye of Brnnksome.
The great Sannap oil Connecticut, his grip
sack under his arm, strodn up the, dimly
lighted staircase to Uncas Hall and haltinE at
u familiar blind door, raped thrice with his
knucklcs and thumpea once with his too on tho
panels. signalling 10 the screened guard with
in that the great Sannap Of the Nutmeg State
was present. Thereupon n slide In an upper
an eye and then an ear came into the @ opening in :.
The Sannap. with the e-and easy air ana
tone that accompany seli.coniIdcnce. ,whis-
cious Of no mischunce. threw open tho
into the Mechanics anteroom. With ease and
freedom, tho Shnnap stepped brlskly to the
unlocked and opened 1t, aud took ont and
donned the glitterng and CORY rega il that
goes with the rank OF high and mighty Sannap
OF Connecticut. The SunnaD was Il handsome
chap and his robe was IL glorious one, hut tho
Mechanics guardsman innocently wondered
why he had never seen II similar ono on an
American Mechanic before. All the. time the
Sannqp cracked Jokes and Erattled on. and
the boys wSrSne rS to.nsht Iun1ng H osfos ar
suppose put the Guardsman stared and said.
" Heyl dunno"
his feet. the great chief stulkcd proudly 10 the
inner door OF the antcroom that orens into
A slide flew back. the Sannap whispered Sec
ond Joss word into tho ear that filed the open-
Ing the Tie do3F opened and the led Man marched
Then followed the oddest episode In the his
tory OF American secret societies, Absolute
Mechanics beheld a tall and majestic stranger
rooed in u scarlet nightEown that was studded
rush silently down tho clear space of the hall
until he halted directly before the Grand Com
mander M of the ,n lodge TheFe hwhou, word
leaped buck on his launches. with II charac- |
,,eristicaly Indian gesture. throw his right
with which he WAS about to cleave tho Com |
manders skull, and bowing his body, back
out in front Of him, he yelled in tho rolling |
voice OF fox hunter calling in his pack from a |
The bears are in the-woods"
AghaSt. the 100 Mechanics -, watched and |
heard the gttering stranger. There was one |
thought uppermost in every ones mind that a |
gorgeous lnnatic confronted them. and that !
notion inspired the surmise that very probably |
now was prepared to vine out ali the %i,I~ers u ~
Tho anti Catholic society. SIN the Knights |
stood spet!bound: no one mado move TO ar
The great Sannap, not having noticed the |
'onsternation his apDearance had caused,
after gazing at the Grand Commander with !
piercing glance for Il moment. stralEh toned |
limself with u Jerk, whrlcd and faced the line
u startled Mechanics, and shouted: Tho
irand Sachnn has come to make you u friendly
;all; prepare to receive him. The great
oAchem Is on the trail" Then he whired
again. and stalking down the arena toward
he Vice -Commnndor OF the Mechanics, halted
\ few leet from that officer. drew himself up,
,lared. and shouted:
The great Sannap has entered vour wiz
yam! am here"
AT this Juncture it suddenly occurred to tho
commander OF the Mechanics what was the
natter with the Eyratng intruder: he was "A
led Man, who mistakenly was trying to work
III some red Indian degrees on the free and !
American Mechanics AS the
'annhp paused once TO get breath. the Com
Iander arose and sUlemnly remarked: :"
hlnk there Is some mistake; guess you've
.ot into the wrong berth"
Mhnt!' Yelled the Sannap.
Well, replied the other Won seem to be
great Red Man. or something OF the sort,
'hile we are American Mechanics and have
othing to do with Bears in the woods or
hat kind of hunting"
The Sannap seemed to be pctrhel for n mo-
lent. then he let out u war whoOp. took three
omersauts across the hall and skipped out OF
he room. the gunrdsmen holding open the
oors to lot him 20 with despatch.