A Bogus Mason.

A BOGUS MASON .

JACQUES OCHS , the boss of all that portion of the Oriental Rite of lbena of Free and Accepted Masons in the United States , and the head of the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis and Migrain , has been captured in Chicago and put in

a cell . He is accused of operating a bogus Masonic organisation and swindling hundreds of persons out of various sums on the pretence that he was initiating them as regular Masons . A great many Lodges of the order have been formed in different parts of the country , and from all of them Ochs is said to have collected

revenue . The prisoner , who is described as about fifty years of age , is a native of Roumania . He can talk smoothly in six languages , but when he meets a man of whose intentions he is not quite sure , he cannot converse in any tongue that the man knows . When Ochs landed in New York he made his way to the

Masonic Temple in Twenty-third Street , and announcing himself as a Mason , asked for relief . Col . E . M . Ehlers the Grand Sec . looked over his credentials and found them defective , but nevertheless the Board of Relief gave him some assistance . Later , Herman Canter , of No . 41 Murray Street , denounced him as a fraud and kicked him out .

Ochs then went to Coney Island , and got a place as a waiter . His friends say that one day a delegation of members of some secret society , wearing swords and plumes , went to the Island to a clambake . Ochs was very much impressed with the marching men and their regalias , and it occurred to him that thdre was business to be done in this direction . He soon put his ideas into

shape . Accordingly he abandoned the waiting profession and bought a lot of badges and scarlet trousers , and set himself up as ; a ; grand delegate and general representative in North America and Canada , of the Oriental Rite of lbena of Free and Accepted Masons . He claimed to act under a dispensation of the Grand

Lodgeof Spain , and to have a monopoly of the passwords , signs , grips , ' -uniforms , badges and other articles dealt in by the organisation . This body has a real existence , but it is not looked upon with friendly eyes by Masons . They say it is a fraud . Whether Ochs really has any connection with it remains to be

seen . Those who joined the Oriental Lodge and were initiated into the mysteries of the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis and Migrain , say that Ochs told them he was making real Masons of them , and that if they had not believed it they would never have joined . Secretary Ehler , of the real Masons , appeared

before the Grand Jury , and testified that Ochs was a fraud and had no authority to confer degrees of the order . Upon this he was indicted , the specific charge being grand larceny , in obtaining from Marcus Paschkesa , a , butcher , of Tuckahoe , New York , the sum of 125 dollars for the title of Grand Worshipful Master of a Lodge , andthe right to organise a Masonic Lodge . Paschkesa

also had a lot of uniforms and flags , which he bought from Ochs at fancy prices , and some Masonic manuals for which he paid 5 dollars each . He complains further , that believing that he was really a Grand Worshipful Master of a Lodge , he initiated most of his customers into Masonry , collecting dues and turning them over to Ochs . The customers have discovered that they are not

Masons , and are greatly incensed , and refuse to buy any more meat from him . He wants redress and a vindication . Ochs began forming alleged Masonic Lodges on the east side . The first he started was Acacia Lodge , No . 36 , of the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Memphis and Migrain . He went among the Hebrews , for he is a member of that race , and told them

of the advantages of being Masons . He also pointed out the fact that , owing to his special facilities , he was able to offer cut rates in initiation fees . He received encouragement and he opened a Lodge Room at No . 2 Rivington Street , over the Germania Bank . This place he fitted up with properties calculated to strike terror

into the hearts of members . There were skulls and cross-bones on the walls and black crape hangings . One of the appurtenances was the skeleton of a goat , whicn , he said , was the original animal used at the first meeting of his branch of the order , held by the Moors , in Spain , 400 years ago .

" But you will notice , he said , " that it is now dead . For years it ate out of a gold plate and lived at the house of the Supreme Chief of the whole Order . " The dim religious light and weird performances of Ochs greatly impressed the members . They paid from ten to fifteen

dollars initiation fee before they were admitted to the room . Ochs sat on a sort of throne , sometimes wearing a cocked hat , and sometimes a tin helmet and breastplate . He would teach the members to make queer grimaces and signs , which , he told them , were Masonic . Ochs has a sense of humour , and some of the signs were ludicrous .

It is known that in Masonry there are thirty-three degrees . Ochs announced , however , that he had the privilege of conferring sixty , twenty-seven more than anyone else in the country . This struck the members as great . They say he assured them that they could enter any Masonic Lodge in the land , either to sell

A Bogus Mason.

goods or for social purposes , simply by waving their arms in a specified way and muttering gibberish which he taught them . Having collected the dues from about one hundred members of Acacia Lodge , No . 36 , and sold them all the badges they would buy , Ochs calmly left them to their own devices . They

met every week , and went through the antics they had learned from him , dressing themselves up and drilling and discussing Masonic topics . They might be going through these performances still had not one of their number boasted to a real Mason how high up ho was in the Order . Then the real Mason began to

ask questions , and finally told the man that the Lodge was a fraud . The members would not believe it at first , but gradually the truth dawned upon them , and they began to disband . Finally their landlord evicted them for non-payment of rent , and that scattered them .

Ochs , meanwhile , was organising Cosmos Lodge , No . 99 , and Liberty Lodge , No . 112 , in other parts of the town . The District-Attorney says that the three Lodges netted the man several thousand dollars . As there were 500 members in the three , that is easily to be believed .

A favourite scheme of the promoter was to get two rival business men in the same Lodge—Smith and Jones , for instance , both in the same business . Then he would go to Smith and say : " You have paid fifteen dollars to come in , but you cannot get

beyond the Blue Lodge for six months . What will you give me to put you through all the rest of the degrees in ten minutes ? Brown has made me a good offer , but I would just as soon sell the thing to you . "

If Smith agreed to pay twenty-five dollars down for all the degrees , so as to have them at once , and get the thing off his mind , Ochs would take him to a dark room , nub some phosphorus on his hands , wave them at Smith , mutter some gibberish , and declare him duly initiated . — " New York World . "

Referring to this fraud , the " New York Recorder " says the prisoner charged from ten to fifteen dollars for a simple initiation , and considerably more for the thirty-third degree . His scale of prices was on a sliding basis , and he rarely let any one escape

because of poverty . The richer the novice the more expensive was initiation . The initiation itself , however , was a very simple affair , soon concluded , and Ochs frequently " put through " as many as a dozen men in a night .

Those wishing to become Masons would meet in a . room that Ochs had hired , and which he would rent to them for much more than he paid . Then he would lead them one by one into a dark hall , rub phosphorus over one of his hands , and with that hand

make some passes about the novice ' s face . Then he would utter a few words in a foreign tongue , give a grip , and tell the other man how to act when desirous of entering a strange Lodge , and —collect the initiation fee .

The man ' s doings first came to the ears of Masons who meet in the Twenty-third Street Temple through the visit there of some recently " initiated " east siders . The latter were delighted at a chance to enter the magnificent structure as those who had a right to be there , and went to the Lodge Room boldly . They

rapped as Ochs had bade them to do , and , upon the door being opened , set their hats rakishly across their heads , and then started to enter . The real Mason pushed them back . Then they put their right thumbs against their right ears and moved the hands backward and forward , but even this was no open sesame . The pulling up of the left leg of their trousers produced

no better result , and then the visitors tried to force their way in . This necessitated the calling of the police , and for a time trouble was imminent . At last one of the strangers who could speak English explained matters , and then all were told that the hocus-pocus they had gone through had noo made Masons of them . More than 100 complaints have been made against Ochs .

The Prince of Wales is to be requested to visit Dundee in May , in order that he may lay the foundation-stone of the new Post Office , which function is to be a Masonic ceremony . It is exceedingly improbable that the Prince will be able to accept this

invitation , as his time is always fully occupied during May , and this year he will be absent from England during the greater part of that month if he goes to Moscow for the Imperial Coronation . — " Truth . "

As mentioned in the report of the Independence Lodge , No . 721 , Brother Richard Newhouse Provincial Grand Secretary Cheshire advocates the formation of a Commercial Travellers Lodge for the county town . We do not know we view with favour any extension of the prevailing system of class Lodge 3 ,

but no doubt so high an authority as Brother Newhouse is capable of judging of the requirements of his particular district . As a consequence we shall be pleased to hear the project has taken definite shape , as we are at all times glad to see the usefulness of the Order extended .