JACK JOHNSON’S MASONIC CAREER.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 33, 2 October 1912, Page 3

JACK JOHNSON’S MASONIC CAREER.

Jack Johnson’s Masonic career has been brief, but certainly not glorious, and those who were intimately concerned in his initiation—ho went no further in the craft than' entered ap-prenticeship-will not readily forget their indiscretion.

It appears after all that his admission was obtained by certain subterfuges, which have brought clown on the heads of those who were his sponsors the terrors of the Grand Lodge. The Right Worshipful Master of the Forfar and Kincardine Lodge were suspended for two years, and the Past Masters Smith, Ross, and Low, for one year, and the lodge itself was to bo inoperative until November, 1913. An appeal against this sentence was heard at the Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge of Scotland a few days ago. Counsel was heard on both sides. First of all, the question of colour was barred, and it was to bo a question simply of the desirability of the individual. Such was the ruling of the Right Worshipful Master, the Marquis of Tullibardine. The brother who appeared for the lodge said there was no attempt to get behind the back of the members, but the brother who “prosecuted” said that on the day in question a motor car was sent round the town gathering in a number of office-bearers, and a meeting was held two hours’ before

the advertised time. When many of the members of the lodge arrived they were told the ceremony had been performed. Under these circumstances, the sentences were confirmed, the initiation was declared null and void, and Johnson’s fees are to be returned.

Most Masons, we imagine, will find little to cavil at in the decision of the a rand Lodge of Scotland in this matter, for quite apart from Johnson’s colour, profession, and personal attributes, it is grossly unfair to the members of the great brotherhood for men to be smuggled into the craft by hackstair methods such as appear to have been used in connection with Johnson’s introduction to Freemasonry.