Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-03-08
MASONIC LODGE SECRETS.
A Member of the DE Payne Command.
cry on Mrs. Leases Claim.

cry On Mrs. Leases CIafm.
A gentleman who is now residing An
Washington, but a former resident of Fort
Scott, and a member of Hugh De PAYNE
Commandery of that city, the Knights
Templar organization of which Mrs. Lease
says she Is an accepted member, is quite
amused at the prominence which is given
TO the matter by people who know nothing
about Masonry. The gentleman. who IN
quite prominent statesman and politician
OF Kansas, says that the proposition is no
absurd on the face of IL that A. seemed
hardly necessary to try to deny it. 1T Is
good deal like denying that the moon N
made Of green cheese" he said. when he
read in The Star that the recorder of the
Grand Conmandery OF the Knights Tenn
par OF Kansas had ordered the Hugh De
Payne Commandery to INVESTIGATE ana
ueny the truth Of the statements made
Mrs Lease Is fond of notoriety" the gem
ueman continued, land when she thinks
tIat the papers are forgetting her she
springs some new sensation on some guile
Tess reporter. and forthwith the world A
zed by some new act of audacity OF
.hIs always sensational woman. Only O
Exporter who WAS absolutely Ignorant of
.hasofery, or one who was pretty sure of
pelng able to gull the papers and the peo-
PIE would ever have sent the story out in
the nrst place. The idea that a ner.on
could stand at a wicket at the yery 49,
OF Masonic lodge and witness the pro-
Seuuss Is absurd on the face of IL. The
t III 'nst stofy that she saw in that one even
ing the three degrees conferred is too rtdic-
uious TO notice. BY special dispensation
thls can be done in less than three months
put Otherwise IL takes that length Of ttrns
t 70 .ahe the three degrees. and only in ex-
uenely rare cases is the dispensation
granted. Mrs. Lease is not a member Of
hugh DE Payne Commandery. And the
Loekport New York. lodge repudiates her
s 81 zen that she obtained the secrets
OF the order in that city. They do ID very
realty and conclusively by stating that
Tor something over thirty years no Ma.
wicket.
Ludfcious Attempt.
MIS- Leases methods OF getting NJ
masonic secrets reminds me OF an incident
miiich look place In Indiana, where was
iiVing at that time. 1t took place a rood
many years ago and has not been much
exploited, 1 think. 1t happened I'm a little
town in the hoosier state where the lod,e
room was located in a double two-story
frame building. The other building Wa,
used as hotel. One of the boarders a,
thls MOTEL also a woman, made the dis.
coVery that the garnet OF the hotel build
ing communicated with the garnet OF the
loose building and cooked up a scheme
70 get onto the secrets OF the order IN
nhhSh she was aided and abetted by the
landlady of the hotel. There was no noor
IN the garrets, so they dragged a board
up and laid il over the rafters and then
with penknives made holes in the ceiling
and were ready for business On the
night OF the lodge meeting the two women
clambered up TO the garnet 10 get in be-
lore the lodge members assembled The
lanolady was called away 10 attend 70
some household affair before they got over
TO the second garnet, so telling her boarder
TO wait for her she hurried away, promis-
ing TO come back Immediately. She was
a long time away and the woman could
hear voices in the lodge room and feared
that she would miss some of the show she
garnet was uncomfortably low and where
the two roofs came together almost i'm
passable, but she got through despite the
fact that she was a woman of goodly
proportions. In attempting TO keep on the
narrow board. which was all that inter-
vened between her and the plasterfng
she lost her foothold and over she went
She crashed through the ceiling Of the
lodge room with a regular Comanche war
whoop, and, grabbing the rafters as she
fell. hung suspended like Mahomet's sword
before the eyes of the astonished Masons.
1t is no use to try to picture the amaze
much less the feelings of the unfortunate
woman. II was necessary to send for a
carpenter to cut away the laths and other
stuff before the woman could be extrf-
Gated from her dreadful predicamcnt Her
Initiation into the secrets OF the order
were not of sufficiently pleasant nature
for her to make a second attempt, and i
have yet TO hear of a woman who has
made really successful attempt"