St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-01-07
BEST PEOPLE WIN.
The Famous New York Case of the
Order of ElI1s Is Finally
Disposed OF.
After Three Years the C0nspira-
tors Go Down to ignomin-
ious Defeat.

Allen o. Myers, of Cincinnati, grand
secretary Of the order, this brief mes
sage: I'VE have won the New York
case" Thus ends litigation of three
years standing, which at the outset
threatened to disrupt the order. ,i5
'.The New York case" as it has come
to be known. originated nearly three
wears ago III the city OF New York. For
several years previous to that time, at
the annual session OF the grand lodge,
efforts had been made to amend the con
stitutiOn (Which. as originally adopted.
provided that for ali time the grand
lodge sessions should he held in the state
of New York;. so that the lodge might
become a migratory body. Finally, at
the session of 1889, the constitution was
amended so that at each annual meet
ing the next place of meeting anywhere
in the country might be designated.
At that time Arthur c. Moreland was
grand secretary OF the order. He was
receiving a salary of 81, 800 year. and
the claim has always been made that
the. perquiSiteS OF the office then
amounted to some Sc. 900 or $1,000 i'll adj
ditiOn. Naturally, under these clreum-
stances, Moreland was a candidate tor
reelection. In March, 1890, the grand
lodge Of the previous, year having de-
cided to hold its first meeting under the
new constitution at Cleveland, o., More
land, in his capacity OF grand secretary,
sent to all the lodges official notice that
the next grand lodge meeting would he
held at the place designated at the meet
ing of 1859. At that time Moreland felt
confident that he would be reelected
grand secretary, but after cOmmuncat-
ing with prominent EikS III all parts OF
81 III hnt
were several competitors for the place,
aud that one Of them, Allen o.
Myers. was likely to succeed him, es-
pecially as the coming meeting was to
be Held in Myers own baiiWick, Ohio,
which has a larger number OF lodges
than any other Jurisdiction Ill the coun-
try. 1t was then that Moreland con-
ceived the idea Of defeating The will of
tile grand lodge; and at meeting OF New
York Lodge No. l, or which Meyers
was member, at which less than one
tenth of the membership was present,
scheme was put on foot to resort TO
the courts: and later all injunction was
applied for restraining the lodge from
holding its session outside OF the state
of New York. Simon Quinlan. Of Chi
cago. was then grand exalted ruler of
the order, and he took the bull by
the horns III a vigorous manner which
saved the order from disruption. lie
at once SUSPENDED Moreland from Of
fee. appointed John W. White, of Chi
cagO, as his successor, and at once III
Stituted vigorous policy OF dealing
with treason, which some of the con-
spirators remember to this day. 1t was
his prompt action which prevented tue
secession from spreading. indianapolis
lodge and Brooklyn lodge for time
leaned towards the New York side or
the case. but at Cleveland they were III
line, and the grand lodge meeting was
held there in defiance of the injunction.
The case has been dragging in
the courts ever since. One effort
on the part Of the New York
conspirators was all action i'll the
courts against Brooklyn lodge to re-
! strain 1t from using the name "B. L. y.
| Elks," which is the trademark OF the
association. There have been numer-
Gus DELAYS, all of them inspired by the
| New York crowd, and all OF them
fought by the grand lodge. 1t is i'll this
way that the decision has dragged along
as it has until yesterday, when the case
was disposed of by a decision against
the conspirators. New York Lodge
bers some of the best'known
theatrical people in America. A large
number of them have practically been
outside the pale of the order, because.
as they put it, they Ibid not want to go
back on No. l" until the courts had
rendered a decision. 1t is now probable
that they will be brought back into the
field, and new lodge in New York
city will unquestionably be Instituted
in the near future, In the meantime,
the arch eonspirator, Arthur G. More
| land, has been forever expelled from
| the order.
incidentally it may be mentioned that
| while playing Blue jeans in Wash
| ington recently, Moreland met with an
accident which is likely TO destroy the
sight of one of his eyes. In the scene
| where he is playing with the dog, the
! dog sneezed and the point OF his nose
struck Moreland's eyeball, ruptur-
! ing a blood vessel and making it
necessary for Moreland to withdraw
from the company and enter dark
room, where he has been ever since UNI
derthe care of a specialist. And it is
worthy of mention that many prominent
Eiks have shown a disposition to be
| charitable to him by extending express
siohs of sympathy to him in his mis-
| fortune. Among them was +. b. Hay,
| present grand exalted ruler of the or
| der which Moreland did his utmost to
wreck.