The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-02-11
ELKs LET It OUT
James Neill Blames Lodge Mem
beers for Reporting Trouble.
ONE ELK CoNGRATULATEs ACTOR
snys He Has Struck q Note of Reform
The views of Others Who Are
Interested.

. Z a + p
In his trip east James Nei1l, actor, is
busy explaining that he was not seeking
notoriety as q boost to business in re-
fusing to 20 on with the initiation which
was to make him a member of the
Spokane lodge of Elks, week ago Sat
urday. These explanations are almost
necessary to insure him safe conduct
through that section of the wild and
woolly' west, where members OF the ant
Tered tribe are very numerous In fact,
the northwest is the hotbed of the order.
The cities OF Butte, Helena, Spokane and
Tacoma, for instance, boast comparative-
ly larger lodges than almost any other
cities in the country. In Spokane alone
the lodge Of Elks has membership of al
most a thousand. With Elks cancelling
seat purchases along the route, the actor
finds it desirable to put himself before
the public in more favorable light
A Facetious Butte Elk.
In a facetious editorial comment on the
affair the Butte, Inter-Mountain says:
Even if it can be shown that the man who
applied the stuffed club to Mr.. Neills per-
son in the lodge room Violated the customary
formalities Of initiation suppose he should
set up in self defence that he had just come
from one Of Neill's performances at $3.50 pei
ticket and seen him act! Who could blame
the man with the stuffed club in that event:
| It is so seldom that the public has chance
{ to demonstrate effectually with some actors
that the Spokane Elk it is hoped, will not be
driven from the herd for making a rear at
tack on the applicant for membership, even
though it was against the rules.
The Tacoma Evening News quotes Neil
as saying in an interview at Butte, Mont:
"I give YOU nv word of honor as hope
some day to stand before the Eterna
Creator, that there was not the faintes1
Intention of any attempt at advertising
my action in this Elk matter.
| An Elk Who Congratulates Neill.
| Mr.. Neill then pulled from his pockets
bunch of kilograms, and remarked
'These are from all over the country. A
YOU see, they are congratulatory; man!
| of them from Elks Read this one"
read:
Accept my heartiest congratulations. YOU
| have struck a note of reform which will b.
appreciated by Elks throughout the United
States
envy action" Mr.. Neill went on to ex
plain, ''was that of man VINO CONSIDERED
himself subjected to insult. nave
bruise on my arm r1ght mere Wnere wa
struck with a club.
| s'I begged those boys for an hour and
half to let me go back and take the OBJ
| legations in a gentlemanly way; even. 7!
let me put on the mask and go through
any performance that was consistent VIII
manly dignity.
| "Granted that every member of an
fraternal body stands for the actions OF 1T
other members, is it consistent With or
binary common sense to bel1eYe that De
cause one or two men in Spokane over
stepped the bounds of propriety in thei
effort to amuse and be amused, thou
sands of thinking men all over the coun
try would tndorse the action, and censur
me for resenting what l considered an IN
dignity?''
A .Grand Exalted' Gives His Views
DR.. W. H. Haviland, former grand ex
allied ruler of the Butte lodge, says: 4
his pretended expose, Mr. NELL violate
his preliminary obligation, which ever
candidate must take before entering tn
|lodgeroom. His effort Is an insult t
/ every Elk in the United States, and wi
be resented by all fraternity men,,
F. H. Foster, exalted ruler OF the Bill
lings, Mont, lodge, says that Spokane ha
no right to take Mr.. Neill in as he was NJ
; a resident of that city. .'In the secon
place. said Mr.. Foster, "Neill acted>tf
part of baby When he refused to go Q
with the ceremony Also he acted as Z
, gentleman would in speaking of the ma
, ter afterWard."
! Says ElkS Let Matter out.
;, In letter to the Spokesman-Review
Spokane, WASH, Neill further disavov
any responsibility for any publicity whit
3 has been given his collision with Il
Elks. He says:
/ thank you cordially for the opportuni
Y extended in your telegram TO present my sto
: of my declination to submit to initiation
g your local lodge of Elks. I left your ci
: after the evening session Of the lodge and q
S not mention, even to my wife, until we we
n out of the city, that I had not been initiate
h Any disclosures, therefore, must have col
g from the Eks and I consider it more 6i
: nifed to wait until have read their versi
before going into print with mine. I am an
Gus to avoid any controversy, and will not
further in the press than did in the lod
room, in an effort to protect myself in
manly way from personal indignity a
: coarse buffoonery.
Frederick Warde's Opinion.
: Frederick Warde, the actor and prom
J nent Elk,is quoted in the Butte Int
q Mountain as saying:
9 A man must indeed be sensitive who, hs
s ing made application for membership in
Hodge, should act as Mr.. Neill has done.
s know the officers of Spokane lodge we'll, a
s, know many Of the members. I cannot &C
ceive from the personnel of the lodge and
;,,p Mr. Nai11 10 !