River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1918-08-15
Relic Is Unearthed
In ArmOry Grounds
Springfield Daily

When the employees of the Cas-
per Ranger Construction Company
removed the foundation stones at
southeast corner of the office and
ordinances torres building a t h e
United States Armory recently, pre-
paratory to beginning work on the
new addition, they came upon an
ancient green bottle, reposing in a
neatly chiseled niche in the sand
stone, which has served to interest
and greatly puzzled the Armory of
ficials. as we'll as many leaders in
local Masonic circles.
The bottle. which closely resem-
bles the old-time rum bottle in the
days when each man carried his own
and therefore p ri d e d himself on
having one of an Individual charac-
ter, is completely covered with Ma
sonic characters, and there has been
considerable speculation as to i t s
significance, whether it was placed
there by workman without author
ity, or was placed with official cere-
mony when the building was dedi-
Gated, if it ever was.
There is reason to believe that the
green bottle removed from t h e
niche in the stone, where it must
have rested for at least a century,
was placed there either by Col. Lee
personally or under his direction. 1t
was found in the stone directly at
the corner of the building, the top
of which rested on an exact level
with the ground. A neat niche had
been carved in the stone the
proper width, depth and shape to adj
nit the bottle, and over it had been
placed, sheet of zinc, which also
was found intact when workmen re-
moved the stone.
The bottle itself is an interesting
object. It's characters are easily rec
ognized by Masons, although two or
three of the characters are either
too crude for Identification or had
special significance only to the origi-
nal owner. Two faint traces, how
ever, seem to form the initials "R.
[" and have led to the supposition
that Col. Lee himself placed the
bottle or directed the work of plac-
ing it there. What the bottle origi-
nally contained is not known, for
when found only portions o the
cork stopper remained.
The records Of Hampden Lodge of
Masons, the oldest local lodge, offer
no explanation of the placing of the
bottle, nor do the Armory records
make any mention of it. The char
acters are blown n the bottle,
which is of the "cast" type, or one
which was blown into carved mold.
In those days the use of liquor
was general, and the man who did
not possess his Individual rum bottle
was not strictly to date. According
ly it is possible that the bottle was
the cherished possession Of one Of
the workers. Col. Lee, it is known,
was "teetotler," and therefore the
b t e, if it originally contained
rum, did not belong to him. The
scratched characters, nevertheless,
seem to indicate that he at least at
tempted to identify the bottle, and
was responsible for its being placed
there.
1t is the present intention of Col.
Jay E. Hoffer, commandment of the
Armory, to have the bottle placed in
the Armory museum as a curiosity,
although it has been suggested to
him that it would be appreciated if
it was presented to Hampden Lodge,
or to the Masonic Association. 1t is
Col. Hoffer' opinion that it's proper
place is in the museum, and it is
there, probably, t h t it will be
placed.