FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS AND SO-CALLED COMPACT OR YORK MASSON.

TO THE MASONIC WORLD: A little more than seventeen years ago, such men as Wm. H. Grey, John H. Johnson, A. L. Richmond, W. John T. Jenifer, H. B. Robinson, Wesley F. Lewis, and others of high standing, members of the Masonic Lodges then existing in the State, met in the city of Little Rock, and in due Masonic form established a Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Mason for the State of Arkansas, and proclaimed to the world that it was a sovereign body. At that time (1873) there existed what was known as the National compact, which had been organized in 1847, in consequence of the existence of a body known as Harmony Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, which claimed to have sprung from the White Grand Lodge of Ohio, by charters issued at a session held at Chillicothe, Ohio. Bro. Richard Howell Gleaves, by authority, went to Ohio, investigated the matter, and found that the concern was bogus - that no such session had ever been held at Chillicothe, and that the so-called warrants were forgeries. To prevent such actions in future, the Grand Lodge formed what they named the National compact, which was to meet tri-annually, obtain full knowledge of their respective doings, and co-operate in squelching fraud. This body, at an early day, had been influential and powerful, but at the time when the Grand Lodge of Arkansas was formed, had sunk into such insignificance that it was almost impossible even to learn who its officers were, or where were its headquarters. The newly-formed Grand Lodge declined to connect itself with the compact, and did then and has ever since asserted its position as a sovereign Grand Lodge, subordinate to no compact or anything else. It at once opened correspondence with the other Grand Lodges of the country, and in due course of time was "accepted" by them all as a sovereign Grand Lodge of Masons. In 1883 a party from Tennessee visited Morrillton and set up what he called a Compact, or York Grand Lodge, in Morrillton, and sent men to traverse the State and make Masons by the dozen at sight, for so small an amount as 50 cents for the three degrees, part cash, part notes; and when a man of some respectability could not be otherwise roped into the den, he could get the degrees for nothing in order to give some character to the fraud and "start a boom." While many of the men who have been inveigled into these so-called Lodges are good and respectable men who have been deluded, the steerers of the machine have been mixed lot. Some were renegade preachers who had been kicked out of the churches for drunkenness and general scoundrelism. One of its Grand Secretaries deserted his wife and ran away with a school girl. One of the so-called Grand Masters, while traveling around setting up Lodges, was accompanied by a woman not his wife, while his own wife was in a destitute condition at home. Another of these traveling agents was a mere drunken vagabond. Another Grand Secretary stole the money that was raised to pay for the warrant of Lodge No. 1, and was afterwards convicted of an infamous crime, and the distinguished brother has been called from labor to refreshments in the penitentiary at Little Rock. It is claimed that all this is done under the authority of the "Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of the United States of North America," and great pains has been taken to create the impression that there is on some part of the earth's surface an organization by the above longmetre name, which is flourishing in beauty and grandeur away off yonder; and which, in the Masonic world, is lord of all. There never was in existence any Masonic body which went by the above name; the "United States" part is an addition to the original name--The Grand Lodge of North America--made by the fellows who have actually become ashamed of much tail and so little kite. A year or so ago, our State was flooded with circulars announcing that this large and powerful organization would meet in Kansas City, Mo., and spend a few millions of its surplus cash--a few hundred thousand to found a Masonic home, a few more to establish a Masonic magazine, and a trifle of a half-million or so would be invested in a National insurance company. It is almost useless to say that all this was most magnificent lying, and that these steerers of the National Compact were perfectly aware of the fact that their "National Grand Lodge" could not get credit for a box of matches anywhere in the wide world. The marvel is that any man could be found so ignorant as to be deceived by such egregious, self-evident lies, but Barnum says that men love to be humbugged. The correct name of the so-called National Grand Lodge is the National Compact. In 1847, sixty-three years after Masonry was introduced among colored men in America, the Colored Grand Lodges then existing met in convention and formed this compact for mutual advice and do-operation. So long as it remained true to the purposes for which it was organized, it accomplished some good and was acceptable to the craft in general. But it first assumed the name, and then usurped the functions of a Grand Lodge, attempting to reduce the Grand Lodges of the various States to the status of subordinates.

This assumption and usurpation led to its downfall. The Grand Lodges at once began to withdraw from the compact. This withdrawal soon reduced the compact to such a condition of dilapidation that, at its triennial sessions, it could not muster up a quorum; and such a state of poverty that it could not publish its minutes. The last minutes published are those of the session held in Louisville, Ky., in May, 1874. These minutes show that at that meeting just fourteen persons were present, five of whom were picked up on the streets of Louisville. By investing some of these strays with the title of proxy for absent States, a so-called quorum was scared up. The Grand Master made an address in which he claimed that everything that had caused the withdrawal of the Grand Lodges had been remedied, and implored those Grand Lodges to again shoulder the poor old compact. But his hopes did not end in fruition; for before the time for the next triennial session, nearly all the rest of the Grand Lodges had withdrawn from the compact; among the rest, that of Missouri, in whose jurisdiction the session was to be held. This left the concern without even a Lodge room to meet in; and since that time the poor old humbug has not had a constitutional quorum, and both its poverty and its fear of exposing its unlawful doings has prevented any publication of its minutes. Even at the Louisville session it had no books or papers; for the Grand Secretary, Johnathan Davis, of Philadelphia, was at that time blind, deaf, and superannuated, and with his books and papers was absent. Since that time the M. W. G. L. of N. A. has published no minutes, and no man knoweth its abiding place. But every once in a while some tramp pops up in some obscure place, among an uninformed class of people, and assures them that he is an official representative of the "Most Worshipful Grand Lodge," which is flourishing in grandeur away off yonder, and that he can make them all Masons for a few pennies. The bait is alluring, and enough suckers bite to make the business somewhat profitable. These men speak of the "so-called colored Masons, F. A. M.," and attach to their own names the initials F. A. A. Y. M., to distinguish their Masonry from the other. The letters F. A. M. stand for Free and Accepted Masons; the other initials stand for Ancient York Masons. Let us look into that point. The original warrant granted to colored Masons begins thus: TO ALL AND EVERY. Our Right Worshipful and Loving Brethren:--We, Thomas Howard, Earl of Effingham, Lord Howard, etc., Acting Grand Master, under the authority of His Royal Highness, Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland, etc., Grand Master of the Most Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons, send greeting: Know ye, that we, at the humble petition of our Right trusty and well beloved brethren, Prince Hall, Boston Smith, Thomas Sanderson, and several others brethren, residing in Boston, New England, do hereby constitute the said brethren into a regular Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, under the title or denomination of the "African Lodge," to be opened in Boston, aforesaid, and do further at the petition and of the great trust and confidence reposed in every of the said above named brethren, hereby appoint the said Prince Hall to be Master; Boston Smith to be Senior Warden; and Thomas Sanderson to be Junior Warden, for opening the said Lodge. We notice two points in the above: (1) the Grand Lodge of England, which granted the charter, was a Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons--no York about it; (2) the Lodge constituted--African, No. 459--was a Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons--no York about it. Where these Compactors and Yorkers get their York blood from, we have never been able to ascertain. The Grand Lodge of England, African Lodge No. 459, of Boston, and Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, were and are Free and Accepted Masons, as any one can easily see by examining their minutes. All these bodies were in existence sixty-three years before the Compact was founded. As one of the most impudent of these Compact York tramps has recently reterred to the Free and Accepted Masons as "nothing but expelled Masons," let us see whom it is he is speaking of. The Free and Accepted Masons are composed of the colored Grand Lodges of the following States, viz: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Liberia, Massachusetts, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ontario, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. All the white Grand Lodges are also Free and Accepted Masons--no York. This list includes Prince Hall Grand Lodge, of Massachusetts, the daughter of African Lodge No. 458, and the oldest colored Grand Lodge in the United States. The colored Grand Lodge of Arkansas of Free and Accepted Masons has no York about it, but has ninety-nine subordinates; has held seventeen annual communications, and published the minutes of each, and keeps the world well informed of its origin and doings; paid out last year about $3,000 to its widows and orphans. Among its membership it includes and has included such men as Wm. H. Grey, H. B. Robinson, John H. Johnson, D. W. Ellison, A. L. Richmond, Geo. W. Perkins, G. W. Thompson, Geo. E. Jones, Fred Havis, J. Pennoyer Jones, Wiley Jones, Moses A. Clark, D. W. Robinson, and E. A. Fulton. The men in other States whom these fellows sneeringly

refer to as "nothing but expelled Masons," embrace Bishops Ward, Wayman, Campbell, Hood, Cain, Grant and Turner, all of whom are Free and Accepted Masons and Bishops of the colored churches. Rev. J. T. Jenifer, formerly of Little Rock, is also a Free and Accepted Mason, and was Chaplain of Prince Hall Grand Lodge, as well as our own. Bishop Turner was Chairman of the committee which, at the National Masonic Convention held in Wilmington, Del., May 8, 1878, offered the resolution, which was adopted, that "the National Grand Lodge do wind up its affairs and adjourn sine die." Redmond Faucett, the well-known Grand Master of Odd-Fellows, was a member of the same committee, and Alfred Cassey, of Philadelphia, was the third. At the National Masonic Convention held in Chicago in August, 1887, twenty-one Grand Lodges were represented by their Grand Masters in person. One Lemuel Googins, of Pittsburg, Pa., popped up, claiming to be the boss of the National Compact, and sent a telegram to the Convention, inviting the body to meet the "National Grand Lodge" in a convention to be held in Wilmington, Del. By order of the Convention the following answer was sent to Mr. Googins, viz: Resolved, That this Convention does not recognize the existence of any such body as the National Grand Lodge; and be it further Resolved, That this Convention does hereby and herein vote its denunciation of the act of all persons who, in any manner whatever, aim to resurrect a body which has been dead these many years, and who, by such act, stigmatize themselves as breeders of discord and dissension, and perverters of the genuine principles of Masonry. And be it further Resolved, That all so-called Masonic bodies claiming to be Grand Lodges under the authority of the so-called National Grand Lodge, together with their subordinate bodies, are hereby declared illegal and not entitled to any fraternal consideration from the sovereign and independent Grand Lodges of the Masonic fraternity. The National Compact is, then, a little clique of tricksters representing nobody, which meets once in a while and without any regard for even its own laws as to a quorum, pretends to exercise all the functions of a Grand Lodge. At the so-called session held in Wilmington, Del., there was present some undelegated men from Pennsylvania, Wm. D. Matthews, of Kansas, and one or two persons picked up on the streets of Wilmington. At that session there was only one single person present who was a member of the Compact, besides Matthews himself. This is the statement of Bro. S. V. Carty, of Wilmington, Del., who was elected Secretary of the meeting, but who was no disgusted when he actually saw the "Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of the United States of America, "that he at once withdrew from the Compact, and is now Grand Secretary of Free and Accepted Masons in Delaware. This is the source from which these D. D. Y. M.'s get the papers which they claim are "just as legal papers as ever was granted from any Grand Lodge or Grand Master of Masons on the face of the globe." They cannot show one scratch of an pen or particle of evidence to prove that the National Compact has had a quorum under its own rules, or held a legal election, since 1877, when Richard H. Gleaves was elected Grand Master at Pittsburgh, Pa. Since that time Geo. W. Levere, Lemuel Goggins and Wm. D. Matthews have in turn claimed to be Grand Master, and the world has had to take their world for the truth of what they say. It should be noticed, also that at the Wilmington session the proceedings were in convention--not in Grand Lodge form--simply because nothing else was possible. The only two real officers of the Compact who were present were W. D. Matthews, the Senior, and W. N. Caldwell, of Wilmington, Del., Junior Warden. Bro. Caldwell at once withdrew from the Compact, and is now Grand Master of Free and Accepted Masons in Delaware. There are still living a few men who were actually officers of the National Compact. One of these is Hon. Richard H. Gleaves, of Washington, D. C. He was the last legally elected National Grand Master, and is now the Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Correspondence of the District of Columbia of Free and Accepted Masons. Another is Thomas W. Stringer, once Compact Grand Master, but now Grand Master of Free and Accepted Masons of Mississippi. Another is W. N. Caldwell, of Wilmington, Del., the last legally elected Junior Warden, but now Grand Master of Free and Accepted Masons in Delaware. The Masonic condition of the men who allow themselves to be deceived by such men as have tramped our State will be this: They can no more enter a regular Masonic Lodge than a leper could enter the temple at Jerusalem. They cannot find any Compact lodges except in two or three localities. There are some in Kansas and Tennessee, some lately hatched in the Indian Territory, possibly one or two in Delaware, and none anywhere else except in our own State. These go to pieces about as soon as they are formed, for in a month or two the men find out that they have been badly fooled, and leave the den. As soon as one travels anywhere he finds out that his "Masonry" is not worth even the 50 cents he paid for it, and he bolts. Another is converted by observing the fact that while the Free and

Accepted Masons of every State sent out a handsome bound volume of minutes every year, this so-called Grand Lodge, like its mother, the National Grand Lodge, shows no evidence of life but a little taggag of a circular, so nonsensical, ungrammatical and misspelled, that he is ashamed to exhibit it in public. When he seeks to know whence came the Free and Accepted Masons of Arkansas, the answer is prompt: The Grand Lodge Free and Accepted Masons of England formed the African Lodge, No. 459 of Free and Accepted Masons, from whence sprung Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, which formed that of Ohio, Ohio that of Missouri, Missouri that of Arkansas. When he asks the boss whence came the "York Masons," the boss cannot give him a "verse," but is as dumb as a mud-turtle. When he goes abroad and looks around for that grand Masonic Home and that magnificent National Masonic Insurance Company, and beautiful Masonic magazine, he sadly realizes that all the Masonry he has learned is comprised in the tenet: A fool and his 50 cents are soon parted. A party of these men in Morrillton have called themselves "Richard H. Gleaves Lodge No. 1." If they will look on pages 75 and 76 of the proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Arkansas for 1885, they will find a copy of a letter from Bro. Richard H. Gleaves, in which he says: "I consider the National Grand Lodge, for power and influence, DEAD," and declares that he knows nothing of them, or their authority to work. If they will examine the proceedings of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia of Free and Accepted Masons, pages 26, 27, 28, 29, and 30, they will find a portrait and Masonic history of the grand old Free and Accepted Mason, Richard Howell Gleaves, the Masonic father and life-long friend of the writer. They will also see why some things are strictly forbidden. The minutes we have referred to would be bad documents to exhibit in the hall of Richard H. Gleaves Lodge No. 1 of Compact Yorks, because they would at once expose the whole fraud. The Grand Lodge of Georgia was one of the last to withdraw from the York Compact. On page 76 of the minutes of our Grand Lodge for 1885 will be found a letter from W. E. Terry, now Grand Master of Free and Accepted Masons in Georgia. Bro. Terry states that at the meeting of the Compact in 1878, Bro. J. H. Deveaux was present as delegate from Georgia, and that at that time the Compact resolved, "Never to meet again as a National Compact, inasmuch as the purposes for which it was organized had been accomplished." We add some quotations from the Committee of Foreign Correspondence of various States to show in what high regard these Compact steerers are held abroad. L. N. Bell, of Mississippi, speaks of them as "A gang of intruders, who have organized a spurious Grand Lodge for Texas, with a notorious swindler and scoundrel as Grand Master." The Grand Lodge of Ohio says: "The whole scheme is one intended solely to filch the scanty earnings of a few deluded men." The Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania denounces "Lemuel Googins and other Revolutionists." Richard H. Gleaves says: "The National Grand Lodge is DEAD." The Secretary of Prince Hall Grand Lodge says that Grand Lodge never had any York about it, and rejoices because only two or three gangs of thieves remain to plunder the ignorant." Mississippi refers to them as the "National Compact Outfit Brigade." Moore, of Illinois, speaks of them as "Matthews and his hungry mob." Pennsylvania decreed December 5, 1881, "That henceforth and forevermore, in all and every, the rites and ceremonies practiced in the M. W. Grand Lodges, or in any of her subordinates, there shall be no allusion or reference made through expression, implication, or otherwise, to the M. W. National Grand Lodge of North America, and all obligations to obey the Constitution, General Edicts, Laws, Resolutions, etc., of the M.W.N.G.L. heretofore assumed or imposed, are hereby declared null and void, and of no further binding effect whatever." The National Compact is not the mother of colored Grand Lodges or of colored Masons. Masonry was introduced among colored men in 1784, sixty-three years before such a thing as the Compact was ever heard of. Prince Hall Grand Lodge F. and A.M., and African Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania soon after were established. No one can show "one verse" to prove that there ever was a "York Lodge" legally established in the United States. As to the Compact, founded in 1847, all the old Masonic veterans--Gleaves, Lawton, Stringer, Martin, Caldwell--they are one and all Free and Accepted Masons; they have all abandoned the Compact, and there is left only Wm. D. Matthews and Lemuel Googins. As to the frauds and tramps who are talking so glibly about the National Grand Lodge, they were never members of the institution, and know nothing about it, except a few "verses" they have been taught by Matthews to enable them to use the name as a blind, and to speculate at the expense of the ignorant. They use that name, as they do that of Bro. Gleaves, to create a false impression. They do not even know the correct name of the body they profess to be members of, but insert in it the words "United States," which do not belong to it. The body dares not publish any minutes, for they would show that at the so-called meetings no one was present but Matthew-not even Googins. For sixteen years no minutes have been published, no one knows who was there, nor what was done, nor how; and yet this poverty--stricken old mummy, whenever it can raise 75 cents to get out a few circulars, pompously proclaims itself to be The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient York Masons of the United States

of America. It has no Masonic standing at home or abroad, it has been repudiated by all honest, intelligent Masons, and consists entirely of a few swindlers and the swindled. The Free and Accepted Masons of Arkansas have and can exhibit to any whom it may concern their correspondence with nearly thirty other Grand Lodges in the United States, Canada and Liberia, because these are all Free and Accepted Masons. She can exhibit letters and correspondence from and to Prince Hall Grand Lodge, and the commission to the representative of that Grand Lodge, Bro. A.J. Gordon, of Arkadelphia. She hangs copies of the original charter granted to Prince Hall and associates in her Lodge rooms, because that charter was granted by Free and Accepted Masons to Free and Accepted Masons. One of her members, Rev. J.T. Jenifer, her Grand Chaplain, on his removal to Boston, is elected Grand Chaplain of Prince Hall Grand Lodge, and assists in the memorial services at Prince Hall's grave. The Grand Lodge of Arkansas sends funds to Prince Hall Grand Lodge to assist in erecting a monument over Prince Hall's grave. The so-called Compacters, or Yorkers, never see any Grand Lodge minutes; they have none of their own, and those of the Free and Accepted Masons all condemn their disorderly proceedings; they never see the original warrant that condemns them; they never see anything but a poor little high-faluting circular signed by Matthews or Googins. J.C. CORBIN, Grand Secretary Free and Accepted Masons. *NOTE--The foregoing circular was issued in 1891.