Richmond daily palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1876-1904, 1901-05-20
KNIGHTS TEMPLAR
Some Idea of the Past Clio.
rious History of the
Order.

The attendance of the knight:
Templar of this city at Grace churcf
yesterday IN body, in accordance
with their annual custom, gives loca
interest TO the following history O
the order which We get from one o.
the members in this city.
The Knights Templar date back t6
very early day. Their first and
original members were the ones who
fought in the crusades, conquered
Jerusalem from the turks, and saved
the Christian religion. While Ma
sonary is the oldest order in the
world, the knights Templar are the
Oldest military order.
There were three great orders
founded fer the Crusades-the
Knights Hospitallers, the Sentonie
knights and the knights Templar,
the latter the most powerful. As
early as the year PA, in the days oi
Constantine, the Christian pilgrims
had been fiocking to the holy land.
The church of the Hcly Sepulchre
had been built by Helena, the moth
er of Constantine. In the year
1865 Jerusalem was sacked by
the oaracens and all Christian
edifices destroyed. The c.usades
were started and in 1899 Jerusalem
was retaken by the crusaders. Hos
pitals and roadside stations were es-
tablished for the protection of pill
grims. Hugh de Payens of the mod
ern knights Templar arose about
this time, and with some other
knights an institute was formed for
the express protection of pilgrims to
Jerusalem. They were the original
knights. Their rules of living were
the most rigid-no wives, no chill
dren, every possession common prop
erty. Over their armor they wore
white cloak with a red cross, giving
rise to the Red Cross Knights. They
were named Knights Templar of the
Knighthood of the Temple of Solo
mon by Baldwin, King of Jerusalem,
in the year 1928. The temple
had been built about i've
hundred years before, by Omar,
on the site of the temple built
lished in Europe in 1l27 by Hugh de
Payens, as proven by a record III
Paris of that date. The Knights
Templar were assigned the posts OF
honor and danger in every battle.
So terrible did they become to the
enemy that in every defeat
the Christians sustained they
were always excepted from
terms of quarter or surrender
While other warriors were allowed
70 hold themselves to ransom, they
were not. As an example of their
valor, eighty of them once defeated
Saladin with great army the fol-
lowing year they fell into the hands
of Saladin, who had them all sawn in
two. A few years later the Chris
tians were defeated at Tiberias and
lost Jerusalem forever. The Knights
Templar were slain almost to man.
The 23O of them who were hptured
we're offered their lives II thAy wou q
! ere ali killed in cold blood. % =e'sa
The crusades being over, the Tenn
plars were subjected to great inlus-
tice. They had become wealthy.
They were accused of all sorts OF
crimes by kings and others who
wished to break their power and take
their property. They were accused
of having betrayed Palestine, of de-
nying Christ, of worshiping idols
and practicing abominable rites in
secret. The celebrated Joques De
Molai was then grand master-in
1904. The persecution was kept up
until in 1913 De Molai and four other
knights, among the last of that BODY
of heroes, were burned to death at the
stake by order of King
Philip of France. So Sc
verely were they tortured by the
inquisitors that thirty-six of them
died in the hands of the torturers in
one batch. Before his death De
Molai designated one John Marn
Larmerius a grand master, who took
the order to Scotland and a nephew
took it to Sweden. The Knights
Templars at that time owned the
temple in London, but it was taken
from them in the year 1916. The
degree was first conferred in Amer
lea in Charleston, S. c., in 1888.
1t is thought to have been brought
here by some Irish members.
Richmond commandry No. was
instituted March 10, 1865. The
charter members were Lewis Burke,
j. r. Mendenhall, T. W Q. Braffett,
Andrus S. Virgins, b. l.. Martin,
f. A. Hardin, Henry Beitzell, j. B.
O'Harra, J. j. Hamilton, John Web
bert, Z. ID. Palmer and John L
Beard. There are now 137 members.
There are 45 communicates in the
state with about q 900 members