St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-03-17
The ADELPHIAIS DEAD
Bad Management Drives the
Benefieent Order to the
Wall.
Officers Of St. Paul COnelave
Much Surprised at Rev.
Citations.
Assessments Too Small to
Pay the Large Sick and
Death Claims.
Probability That a New
Northwestern Order May
Result.
The Royal Adelphia is dead.

The Royal Adelphia is dead.
This is the information from MilWau-
kee, which had become the head center
of the beneficial organization. 1t para
lyZed the members OF st. Paul Conciave
No. 113. who got their first intimation
last night from GLOBE reporter. The
Milwaukee Sentinel announces the fact
i'll startling headlines and gives COM
plete story. II. NJ. Stark, Of that city,
has just returned from Detroit after the
old officers were depoSed, and made
detailed report of the proceedings. 1t
had been decided. he said, to remove
the headquarters to Milwaukee and as
sumo the debt of over $4,000 allowed to
accumulate by the old officers. but when
the matter was put to vote at the Mil
waukee meeting it was unanimously
agreed to stand from under, and, there
fore, the life of the society may be con-
Sidered to be ended. That q new order
will grow from the ashes Of the old is
said 10 be assured, but 1t will be essen
TALLY new in name and plan and will he
incorporated under the laws OF Wis
conSin.
1T rs s'Eusted" Beyond Hope.
THE Royal Adelphia is busted, = said Mr.
Stark, and there isn't the ghost of chance
that il VIII ever exist again. We have known
for the last three years that 1t wasn't i'll the
best shape but all inquiry directed TO the
general officers in Detroit brought only
eYasiye replies, and twas but recently, when
press dispatches spread broadcast all over
| the country the information that we were
$50, 900 in debt and no assets to speak of, that
| we were moved to make q thorough inveSti-
| CATION. There had been Il growing feeling
| against the men who were running the head
| quarters in Detroit, and it finally became a
| FIGHT detroit of the
country-and not Detroit either. for three of
| the conclaves in that city Withdrew i'll dis
gust some time ago.
When we arrived in Detroit we found
things III such shape that we were warranted
| in summarily deposing the officers. Instead
| of debt OF S35.000 we found one OF over SO
0)0. and sick benefits ana death claims lapSed
| and no record made OF them. We elected
| new officers and decided to remove the head
| quarters 10 this city and assume the large
! debt. As supreme secretary stayed over TO
| get the Office in shape to move. but | saw at
| once that nothing could be done. IL was In
| such condition that / wouldn't touch it.
| No records had been kept. and even the min
utes Of the last supreme meeting ut
| Grand Rapids, held last September,
| hadn't been written cut. There were
| no records as to policies or APP
| plications for sick benefits. S. Il. Thornton
| was the deposed secretary, and he couldn't
| even tell me how many members the order
| had although ii was approXImated mt $3.50.
| There was 5000 in the treasury, but it was
tied up on a garnishee process. | did hope
| at one time to move the books 10 Milwaukee,
| bat was prevented at the last moment by.
! writ of replevin, sworn out by MaviS. the de-
| posed supreme commander | came back
ana reported, and it was decided TO stand
from under entirely. We won't be response
| bic for one penny of the indebtedness. The
order has been deserted by every one, and as
no one is likely to want to assume the debt,
| ii is dead for all time"
| Results of ElIsnana@einent.
THE whole trouble is due to neglect on the
| part OF the officers. past and present, and as
| near as / can find out the Detroit office has
| never been in businesS-l1kc shape Dr. Carl
| son. of Milwaukee, was supreme commander
some years ago and he tried his best to put
| the order in good shape, but the Detroit peo-
pie fought him at every point. lie got the
| order i'll very fair condition, however, but it
| lost its footing again after his term of serY-
ice expired. Nothing but mismanagement
| would have ever brought OIL the trouble, as
| the order houTished and had nearly the same
| chenee that others had. 1t differed in that it
| was incorporated under the laws OF Michi-
| gan, which required its Offices TO be located
| in that state. This was a bad feature. as no
| report was required by law OF the transac-
| lions, and the control of the order by Detroit
| men discouraged many members. ana they
| dropped out. The loss in members has been
! very great the last year or so, and the stand
| ing of the order was necessarily affected.
The ST. Paul COneiaYe.
A GLOBE reporter called last evening
upon George Lysander, who was COM
mander of st. Paul Lodge 1l3 from the
| time of its formation up the first of this
wear. Mr.. Lysander was very much
| surprised to hear that the order was in
| debted for claims for $4,000, and,
speaking of the affairs of the st. Paul
conclaye, said:
The branch of the order was formed in St.
Paul three years ago, and owing to Il want of
proper supervision on the part of the su-
| preme conciave 1t was disbanded about six
| months after When Alfred Terry was
elected supreme secretary and Dir, Carlson
| supreme commander, they came 10 st. Paul
and as they Informed us that ell the Indebt-
! edness at that time had been met the St
| Paul conclaYe was reorganized with sixty
charter members in August, 1889, | being
elected commander. The conclave flour
ished and soon we had q membership
of $50. Things went along well I'M
til the latter part of 1890, when
the supreme conclaye, who heard all
claims fell behind. Rumors were started
that the affairs of the order were not i'll q
flourishing condition, but as Minnesota did
dot have 500 members, we had no representa-
tive in the supreme conclaYe. ana hali to ac-
cept its statement that the orderwas paying
dollar for dollar. | was reelected command
er last December, but declined to serve, and
c. f. Wilson was elected i'll my place.
ITO what do you attribute the collapse OF
| the order?'
small for the amount Of weekly sick ben
| eits paid and the amount of death claims ::
| also that the order was called upon to pay
| many sick claims last winter owing to the
| prevalent sickness III the country. ! also be-
| lieve that many false claims for sick benefits
! have been paid in the East. The st. Paul
| conclave never presented Il death claim, and
/ only DIRE " out about $500 in sick benefits. III
| the order is reorganized the lodges in this
| state viii join, but they viii never assume q
| cent OF Indebtedness. We have q meeting
| next Friday evening, when the situation will
be discussed, ana we will decide whether we
will go into the order if il is re organized"
The Royal AdeiphIa's History.
The Royal Adelphia was organized in De
! troit some ten years ago and is said TO have
| been started by three men, two of whom were
| railway clerks and the other young doctor
| Local members make no bones of claiming
| that the three OrginatOrs were actuated by
| wholly mercenary motives, and say that they
| have used the order for their own purposes
! ever since. They elected themselves life
| members of the supreme body. ii is said, and
have thus been able to control lis actions
/ since They are charged with having con
| nived in the election OF officers vino would
act as their tools and to have in other ways
used the order fortheir own ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Suits are limited at, and it is probable that
some effort will be made to get the men into
the courts. Two suits for claims are already
| pending in the courts, one in Racine, but
| what effect the breaking I'D of the order viii
| have on them is not known. The society {
| membership has been more largely in the
West than in the East and its stronghold has
| been in Michigan, Wisconsin,, Illinois, Min
! nesota and Iowa, Wisconsin alone having
| 1,S00 members.