The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1916-04-08

W.
crises, though he always held about
hi ma strong support from those who
did not oppose his policies and was
u~nrelentingly watchful of those whom
he found to be to any degree arrayed
against him. Being mildly upositive
he constantly had opposition and it
was this force. which doubtless wear
led him to the point that forced him
to voluntarily retire from the Grand
East.
Grand Master Pelham did not re-
tire, however, without debating the
terms of his retirement. He devised
that his toga should fall upon A. R.
Chinn rather than upon William H.
Jones, whose bold stand against him
had been made the year before, and
he further arranged that he should
fall into the secretaryship which Chinn
should relinquish. There were 12O
proxy votes on hand to perfect this
arrangement even if a majority of
against it. The opposition, dazed by
the sight of the Grand Master step
ping down, fairly held it's breath I'm
til the whole thing was put over to a
queens taste.
At the beginning of the session the
mayor of the city delivered a most
cordial address of welcome and was
responded to by DR.. NJ. o. Ricketts,.
In his annual address the Grand
Master took'note OF ehe loss by death
of Brothers Louis Tut, Felix H. Boil
ton, John Rome and Henry Rowan.
Brother Bolton was a st. Louis mem
Der characterized by a fine presence,
high ideals and Industrious DISPOSE
made a living impress upon Masonic
life in his home city. Brother Rowan
"a a man of much the same spirit
and in the southeast section of the
state where he lived he was justly
honored and beloved. Henry Rome
a a resident of Kansas City and
was a pioneer Masonic workman.
Those who were fortunate enough to
know him still point to the grandeur
of his character and the honest up
rightness of his life.
And that was not the end of sor-
row for the year. For while the Grand
Master was reading his address a mes
sag was received announcing the
death of Brother W. Brent Ousley, a
pioneer christian minister and one of
the very corner stones of the Grand
Lodge. He had been with the organ.
ization almost from its very begin
ming. He had assisted in the estab-
lishment of many lodges, aided in hun
dreds of limitations, corner stone lay
ms, CONSIDERATIONS and funerals of the
brethren. He was in many ways a re-
markable man, always happy, always
hopeful, always --elping. AS a mark
of respect to this beloved brother it
was voted to send a telegram of sym
pathy, a floral offering and the Grand
Lodge was closed for the remainder
of the day.
On the following day the Grand
Lodge settled down to work in earn
est. There was great tension due to
the approaching election of Grand Off
GERS and the partisans of rival candi-
dates were so active that they almost
lost sight of other work to be done.
The proxy lists were a matter of con-
slant concern for those who did not
possess them and a source of great
comfort to those who knew all about
them.
When DR.. Ricketts, asked whether a
proxy could be delegated to a mem
Der other than the one to whom it
was sent, the Grand Master ruled that
1T could not be DONE" not saying at
all that it had not been done, per
haps that very day. So other reso-
lutions were adopted and other
speeches made upon the subject COW
ering exactly the same ground that
had been gone over the year before
and really having little effect upon
the evil complained of. In those days
proxies only looked bad to those who
did not carry them. No one was eve
known to refuse one, no matter how
many times it had been transferred
and credentials committees were new
er very communicative.
How the election came out has al
ready been stated. Upon the new ros
ter appeared also the name of Broth,
err E. w. Perkins, who had for several
years served in most painstaking cler-
zeal wor for the Grand Lodge. He
was a young Mason of unusual devo-
tion both at home and at the meetings
of the Grand Lodge. In this way and