Two or three members of the Pioneer editorial staff procured a
charter from Pittesburg in 1858 and instituted a lodge in St. Paul.
It was a grand success from the start. Merchants, lawyers, doctors,
printers, and in fact half of the male population, was soon enrolled
in the membership of the order. There was something so grand, gloomy
and peculiar about the initiation that made it certain that as soon
as one victim had run the gauntlet he would not be satisfied until
another one had been procured. When a candidate had been proposed for
membership the whole lodge acted as a committee of investigation,
and if it could be ascertained that he had ever been derelict in his
dealings with his fellow men he was sure to be charged with it when
being examined by the high priest in the secret chamber of the
order--that is, the candidate supposed he was in a secret chamber from
the manner in which he had to be questioned, but when the hood had
been removed from his face he found, much to his mortification, that
his confession had been made to the full membership of the order.
Occasionally the candidate would confess to having been more of a
transgresser than his questioners had anticipated.
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