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Article VOIGT v. TREVOR AND OTHERS. ← Page 2 of 2 Article THE UN-MASONIC TRIAL. Page 1 of 1 Article THE UN-MASONIC TRIAL. Page 1 of 1 Article To the Editor of the FREEMASON'S CHRONICLE. Page 1 of 1
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Voigt V. Trevor And Others.
assured that defendants , instead of obtaining costs , which they now impudently demand , will have to pay both damages aud costs . " Please give us immediate reply . " Yours truly , "J . & T . W . HEARFIELD . " "H . E . Voigt , Esq . "
After this I am content to leave tho point to your readers , and I donbt if , after reading this epistle , they will endeavonr to help a Mason who seeks to uphold the MORALITY of Freemasonry in such a manner . As I fully expect that the Masonio authorities will bring us face to
face in a abort time to investigate this matter , I trust I shall not be considered unmasonic if I refuse to follow the example of your correspondents by divulging the proceedings of open Lodge . I am convinced thab I havo not been guilty of any conduct that will not bear the closest scrutiny , and I ask your readers , as brother Masons ,
not to help mo to pay my costs—but to defer their judgment on the various points of tho case until after the public inquiry shall have been held . I would also suggest that brethren should refrain in tho meantime from helping Brother Trevor till ho has disproved what I
now set before you , and shows clearly and conclusively , if ho can , thafc he himself is nofc responsible for forcing tho whole matter into Court . Yours fraternally , HENRY E . VOIOT . Kingston Chambers , Hull , 20 th Sept . 1880 .
The Un-Masonic Trial.
THE UN-MASONIC TRIAL .
To the Editor of the FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —This is not , in my opinion , one of those cases in which common fairness demands that a correspondent should be called upon " to ratify the good faith " of his letter " by subscribing thereto his real name and address . " Bro . Trevor has appealed to the Craft , of which I am a member , to help him in the unpleasant
position in which ho finds himself placed as the unsuccessful defendant in a certain action for libel brought against him by an exmember of his Lodge . I havo neither said nor implied , anything against him . I havo merely suggested that before any response is attempted to his appeal , the fraternity to which it is addressed has a right to insist on being placed in full possession of all the facts of tho
case . Your editorial footnote is sufficient voucher , of course , for my good faith and the sense of responsibility with which I wrote my letter in the character of " A LOOKER ON . " Nor , it would seem from the letters which have since appeared in your columns , and those of your contemporary , am I alone in the adoption of a pseudonym . For instance "A SOLICITOR AND A
MASON considers Bro . Trevor ' s request for assistance is " premature , " and asks if " it would not look more decent in the defendant to wait " until "the exact amount" of the costs had been ascertained . He thinks " this question should be answered in a satisfactory and explicit manner before any assistance is given , " and ifc strikes him as being " an undignified mode of proceeding , this appeal to charity , after an action at law ( which , by the jury ' s verdict , was evidently
a proper one to be brought by the plaintiff ) has been fairly lost ancl won . " I am no lawyer , but here is fche opinion of a qualified legal practitioner , and I would specially invite the attention of your readers to tho parenthesis in the last quotation , so that they may contrast it with Bro . Trevor ' s view as to the action which , in one part of his appeal to the Craft , he describes as " nn-Masonic " and in another as having " been brought in open defiance of all Masonic principle and law . "
But a letter whic ^ i appeared your contemporary lasfc week from one signing himseff "AUDITOR , " and who describes himself as a lawyer as well as a brother , and as having been present at , though not engaged'iu , the action , gives an entirely different reading from Bro . Trevor's . " AUDITOK , " I should say from the manner in which he writes , has some knowledge of the inner life of tho Alexandra Lodge ,
and is desirous of giving your contemporary's readers " some good and substantial reasons why Bro . Trevor shonld not be benefited in the way he wishes , " and he proposes to do this " from a pure wish that justice may be done between man and man—between Mason ancl Mason . " After this preliminary justification , the writer proceeds thus : —
Bro . Trevor , in his letter , wishes to make your readers believe that Bro . Voigt , and not himself , was the cause of tho case coming before Mr . Justice Bowen at Nisi Prius . This is simply untrue , and evidently intended to mislead your readers . The fact is simply this . After Bro . Voigt had commenced his action , and the defendant had pleaded iu clue course to his statement of claim , tho plaintiff
demurred to the defendant ' s pleadings , and the demurrer was duly heard before Mr . Justice Field in London . After this tho plaintiff , thinking probably that Masonry had been sufficiently exposed to tho public , and letting his personal feelings in tho matter give way to the higher considerations of expediency ancl public good , let the action drop , and if Bro . Trevor had uot forced it on ( by taking out a
summons to show canso why tho plaintiff should not proceed or pay the defendant ' s , Bro . Trevor ' s , costs ) , tho case , according to the evidence , would never have been heard in open court at Nisi Prius . •This Bro . Trevor himself admitted , and , therefore , I say , he seems to rno to be guilty of intentionally and deliberately trying to mislead his brother Masons when he wishes them to believe that tho plaintiff forced the case into court . "
Ifc is nofc my province to decide between "AUDITOR" and Bro . -Trevor ; but here , at all events , as I havo said , is another version of the case presented to thafc public to which the latter is so earnestly appealing for hel p , in which the responsibility for the action at Nisi
The Un-Masonic Trial.
Prins having beon brought is iu a measure shifted from the shoulders of Bro . Voigt to those of Tiro . Trevor . In other words , nothing moro would ever have been heard of tho case after tho demurrer " boforo Mr . Justice Field in London , " but for the conduct of Bro . Trevor . In a subsequent paragraph " AUDITOR" writes : —
" Perhaps tho strongest reason , howovor , why Rro . Trevor should not meet with tho help he asks for , is to be found in tho fact that ho acted in tho matter without being in any way called upon to clo sonot being an Officer of tho Lodge—and , further , that ho acted iu a grossly nnfair and nn-Masonic manner . Ho is asked by tho W . M . to draw ont a circular anent Bro . Voigt's conduct , and if ho had originated a reasonably fair and honest epitome of the obnoxious business ,
aud loft it to tho brethren afterwards , in open Lodge , to have decided whether Bro . Voigt's conduct was or was uot to bo condemned , ho might havo escaped blamo ; but ' dressed in a little brief authority , ' ho evidently wished to vent all his spleen against tho offending member in ono virulent manifesto , and in doing so , in my opinion , he either wont beyond his instructions , or ho followed a course of con - duct which ho ought , as an upright man and a Mason , to havo refused to lend himself to . "
If in this paragragh I separate mero matters of opinion from matters of fact , I duel "AUDITOR" affirming that Bro . Trevor " acted in tho matter without being in any way called upon to do so , " though a lino or two further on ho says ho was " asked by the W . M . to draw out a circular ancnt Bro . Voigt ' s conduct . " Thoso statements aro not necessarily irreconcilable , but if they aro reconcilable , and
possess , cither or both of them , any value , they weigh less heavily , in my judgment , against Bro . Trevor than the inexplicable haste with which retaliatory proceedings wero urged by him and others against Bro . Voigt . But still moro important is "AUDITOR ' S" statement , according to which plaintiff's counsel , in his summing up , drew tho attention of the court to tho fact that , " although several members of
the Alexandra Lodge—including tho Past Masters—woro present in court , yet—mirabile dictu ' ¦ —nofc ono of thorn was called to contradict any one statement of the plaintiff ' s . " Another correspondent , "S . E ., " in reference to tho same trial says , " I consider that , so far from awarding him " ( Bro . Trevor ) " our sympathy and pecuniary aid , ho deserves only our severe censure
and reprobation . He mentions what , in his opinion , was irregular in tho proceedings of the Lodge when Messrs . Tew and Casson were blackballed ; he holds that the Circular containing tho libel " reflected on the conduct of Bro . Voigt , because ho had exercised his un . doubted prerogative , " and concludes his letter as follows : — "A Mason has his Masonic redress and his civil ono , and if a brother
makes a cowardly attack on him , by means of such a circular , and then seeks to hide his responsibility by calling it a ' privileged communication , ' the plaintiff was quite right , and every Mason or man of spirit would take tho only course to clear his reputation , by taking the matter to a court of law . " My letter is mere milk and water by comparison with tho lasfc two
from which I have quoted . My proposition that before any response is made to Bro . Trevor ' s plea for assistance , the Craft should be put in possession of all fche facts of the case , needs no argument to enforce it any more than it needs substantiation by my real name and address . But if a reason must bo had , then I say it will be found in the letters which appeared last week in yours and your contemporary ' s columns , which give another aspect to tho unseemly squabble .
I must apologise again for trespassing on your space , but thero is ono other matter I would draw attention to . Bro . Voigt , even with tho verdict in his favour , must be money out of pocket . Yet ho maintains a dignified silence , though Bro . Trevor ' s "Appeal to the Craffc " spares him nofc . This is a contrast in the two men which ought nofc to be lost sight of . Fraternally yours ,
"A LOOKER-ON . " P . S . —If a verbatim report of fche whole proceedings were pub - lished , we should be in a better position to judge for ourselves , on which sido the blame rests .
To The Editor Of The Freemason's Chronicle.
To the Editor of the FREEMASON ' CHRONICLE .
DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I see thafc my expostulation of lasfc Saturday has brought two replies ; but my answer to both must be very short , as , like " H ., " I too am enjoying my annual holiday on
the sad sea waves , and do not care to be bothered with letter writinn * I am charmed to hear that my little effort has added in any way to tho enjoyment of " H ., " and trust that the effect of the sea breezes will bo to enable him to regard with more charity thoso Masons who find amusement iu practising "degrees" of which ho does not
approve . Absence from homo ancl consequent inability to refer to books for dates must furnish mo with au excuse Cor nofc going into details' iu reply to "LIVE AND LK . VR . V , " but if ho will refer to Bro . D . Murray Lyon ' s sketch of the Eoyal Order of Scotland , which has just mado its appearance , he will there learn of at least one "degree" which was
iu existence not less than half a century before tho Union . "LIVE AND LEARN" admits that tho '" Side and High Degrees aro eminentl y reputable and interesting . " Quito so ; tint is exactly what I sub - mitted , and that was exactly the reason I objected to the style of the remarks of " H . " regarding them . If he will take tho trouble to
rerend my first letter , he will find that I did not argue that thoy were " Masonry . " On tho contrary , I quoted in-full tho clause iu tho Constitutions which "H . " for his own cuds only quoted in part , aud in which "High Grades" then existing were distinctly recognised b y tho Grand Lodges as lawfully to bo practised by Masons in Lodges . Yours fraternally , ¦ LIVE AND LET LIVE . North Sea , 22 nd September 1880 .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Voigt V. Trevor And Others.
assured that defendants , instead of obtaining costs , which they now impudently demand , will have to pay both damages aud costs . " Please give us immediate reply . " Yours truly , "J . & T . W . HEARFIELD . " "H . E . Voigt , Esq . "
After this I am content to leave tho point to your readers , and I donbt if , after reading this epistle , they will endeavonr to help a Mason who seeks to uphold the MORALITY of Freemasonry in such a manner . As I fully expect that the Masonio authorities will bring us face to
face in a abort time to investigate this matter , I trust I shall not be considered unmasonic if I refuse to follow the example of your correspondents by divulging the proceedings of open Lodge . I am convinced thab I havo not been guilty of any conduct that will not bear the closest scrutiny , and I ask your readers , as brother Masons ,
not to help mo to pay my costs—but to defer their judgment on the various points of tho case until after the public inquiry shall have been held . I would also suggest that brethren should refrain in tho meantime from helping Brother Trevor till ho has disproved what I
now set before you , and shows clearly and conclusively , if ho can , thafc he himself is nofc responsible for forcing tho whole matter into Court . Yours fraternally , HENRY E . VOIOT . Kingston Chambers , Hull , 20 th Sept . 1880 .
The Un-Masonic Trial.
THE UN-MASONIC TRIAL .
To the Editor of the FREEMASON ' S CHRONICLE . DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —This is not , in my opinion , one of those cases in which common fairness demands that a correspondent should be called upon " to ratify the good faith " of his letter " by subscribing thereto his real name and address . " Bro . Trevor has appealed to the Craft , of which I am a member , to help him in the unpleasant
position in which ho finds himself placed as the unsuccessful defendant in a certain action for libel brought against him by an exmember of his Lodge . I havo neither said nor implied , anything against him . I havo merely suggested that before any response is attempted to his appeal , the fraternity to which it is addressed has a right to insist on being placed in full possession of all the facts of tho
case . Your editorial footnote is sufficient voucher , of course , for my good faith and the sense of responsibility with which I wrote my letter in the character of " A LOOKER ON . " Nor , it would seem from the letters which have since appeared in your columns , and those of your contemporary , am I alone in the adoption of a pseudonym . For instance "A SOLICITOR AND A
MASON considers Bro . Trevor ' s request for assistance is " premature , " and asks if " it would not look more decent in the defendant to wait " until "the exact amount" of the costs had been ascertained . He thinks " this question should be answered in a satisfactory and explicit manner before any assistance is given , " and ifc strikes him as being " an undignified mode of proceeding , this appeal to charity , after an action at law ( which , by the jury ' s verdict , was evidently
a proper one to be brought by the plaintiff ) has been fairly lost ancl won . " I am no lawyer , but here is fche opinion of a qualified legal practitioner , and I would specially invite the attention of your readers to tho parenthesis in the last quotation , so that they may contrast it with Bro . Trevor ' s view as to the action which , in one part of his appeal to the Craft , he describes as " nn-Masonic " and in another as having " been brought in open defiance of all Masonic principle and law . "
But a letter whic ^ i appeared your contemporary lasfc week from one signing himseff "AUDITOR , " and who describes himself as a lawyer as well as a brother , and as having been present at , though not engaged'iu , the action , gives an entirely different reading from Bro . Trevor's . " AUDITOK , " I should say from the manner in which he writes , has some knowledge of the inner life of tho Alexandra Lodge ,
and is desirous of giving your contemporary's readers " some good and substantial reasons why Bro . Trevor shonld not be benefited in the way he wishes , " and he proposes to do this " from a pure wish that justice may be done between man and man—between Mason ancl Mason . " After this preliminary justification , the writer proceeds thus : —
Bro . Trevor , in his letter , wishes to make your readers believe that Bro . Voigt , and not himself , was the cause of tho case coming before Mr . Justice Bowen at Nisi Prius . This is simply untrue , and evidently intended to mislead your readers . The fact is simply this . After Bro . Voigt had commenced his action , and the defendant had pleaded iu clue course to his statement of claim , tho plaintiff
demurred to the defendant ' s pleadings , and the demurrer was duly heard before Mr . Justice Field in London . After this tho plaintiff , thinking probably that Masonry had been sufficiently exposed to tho public , and letting his personal feelings in tho matter give way to the higher considerations of expediency ancl public good , let the action drop , and if Bro . Trevor had uot forced it on ( by taking out a
summons to show canso why tho plaintiff should not proceed or pay the defendant ' s , Bro . Trevor ' s , costs ) , tho case , according to the evidence , would never have been heard in open court at Nisi Prius . •This Bro . Trevor himself admitted , and , therefore , I say , he seems to rno to be guilty of intentionally and deliberately trying to mislead his brother Masons when he wishes them to believe that tho plaintiff forced the case into court . "
Ifc is nofc my province to decide between "AUDITOR" and Bro . -Trevor ; but here , at all events , as I havo said , is another version of the case presented to thafc public to which the latter is so earnestly appealing for hel p , in which the responsibility for the action at Nisi
The Un-Masonic Trial.
Prins having beon brought is iu a measure shifted from the shoulders of Bro . Voigt to those of Tiro . Trevor . In other words , nothing moro would ever have been heard of tho case after tho demurrer " boforo Mr . Justice Field in London , " but for the conduct of Bro . Trevor . In a subsequent paragraph " AUDITOR" writes : —
" Perhaps tho strongest reason , howovor , why Rro . Trevor should not meet with tho help he asks for , is to be found in tho fact that ho acted in tho matter without being in any way called upon to clo sonot being an Officer of tho Lodge—and , further , that ho acted iu a grossly nnfair and nn-Masonic manner . Ho is asked by tho W . M . to draw ont a circular anent Bro . Voigt's conduct , and if ho had originated a reasonably fair and honest epitome of the obnoxious business ,
aud loft it to tho brethren afterwards , in open Lodge , to have decided whether Bro . Voigt's conduct was or was uot to bo condemned , ho might havo escaped blamo ; but ' dressed in a little brief authority , ' ho evidently wished to vent all his spleen against tho offending member in ono virulent manifesto , and in doing so , in my opinion , he either wont beyond his instructions , or ho followed a course of con - duct which ho ought , as an upright man and a Mason , to havo refused to lend himself to . "
If in this paragragh I separate mero matters of opinion from matters of fact , I duel "AUDITOR" affirming that Bro . Trevor " acted in tho matter without being in any way called upon to do so , " though a lino or two further on ho says ho was " asked by the W . M . to draw out a circular ancnt Bro . Voigt ' s conduct . " Thoso statements aro not necessarily irreconcilable , but if they aro reconcilable , and
possess , cither or both of them , any value , they weigh less heavily , in my judgment , against Bro . Trevor than the inexplicable haste with which retaliatory proceedings wero urged by him and others against Bro . Voigt . But still moro important is "AUDITOR ' S" statement , according to which plaintiff's counsel , in his summing up , drew tho attention of the court to tho fact that , " although several members of
the Alexandra Lodge—including tho Past Masters—woro present in court , yet—mirabile dictu ' ¦ —nofc ono of thorn was called to contradict any one statement of the plaintiff ' s . " Another correspondent , "S . E ., " in reference to tho same trial says , " I consider that , so far from awarding him " ( Bro . Trevor ) " our sympathy and pecuniary aid , ho deserves only our severe censure
and reprobation . He mentions what , in his opinion , was irregular in tho proceedings of the Lodge when Messrs . Tew and Casson were blackballed ; he holds that the Circular containing tho libel " reflected on the conduct of Bro . Voigt , because ho had exercised his un . doubted prerogative , " and concludes his letter as follows : — "A Mason has his Masonic redress and his civil ono , and if a brother
makes a cowardly attack on him , by means of such a circular , and then seeks to hide his responsibility by calling it a ' privileged communication , ' the plaintiff was quite right , and every Mason or man of spirit would take tho only course to clear his reputation , by taking the matter to a court of law . " My letter is mere milk and water by comparison with tho lasfc two
from which I have quoted . My proposition that before any response is made to Bro . Trevor ' s plea for assistance , the Craft should be put in possession of all fche facts of the case , needs no argument to enforce it any more than it needs substantiation by my real name and address . But if a reason must bo had , then I say it will be found in the letters which appeared last week in yours and your contemporary ' s columns , which give another aspect to tho unseemly squabble .
I must apologise again for trespassing on your space , but thero is ono other matter I would draw attention to . Bro . Voigt , even with tho verdict in his favour , must be money out of pocket . Yet ho maintains a dignified silence , though Bro . Trevor ' s "Appeal to the Craffc " spares him nofc . This is a contrast in the two men which ought nofc to be lost sight of . Fraternally yours ,
"A LOOKER-ON . " P . S . —If a verbatim report of fche whole proceedings were pub - lished , we should be in a better position to judge for ourselves , on which sido the blame rests .
To The Editor Of The Freemason's Chronicle.
To the Editor of the FREEMASON ' CHRONICLE .
DEAR SIR AND BROTHER , —I see thafc my expostulation of lasfc Saturday has brought two replies ; but my answer to both must be very short , as , like " H ., " I too am enjoying my annual holiday on
the sad sea waves , and do not care to be bothered with letter writinn * I am charmed to hear that my little effort has added in any way to tho enjoyment of " H ., " and trust that the effect of the sea breezes will bo to enable him to regard with more charity thoso Masons who find amusement iu practising "degrees" of which ho does not
approve . Absence from homo ancl consequent inability to refer to books for dates must furnish mo with au excuse Cor nofc going into details' iu reply to "LIVE AND LK . VR . V , " but if ho will refer to Bro . D . Murray Lyon ' s sketch of the Eoyal Order of Scotland , which has just mado its appearance , he will there learn of at least one "degree" which was
iu existence not less than half a century before tho Union . "LIVE AND LEARN" admits that tho '" Side and High Degrees aro eminentl y reputable and interesting . " Quito so ; tint is exactly what I sub - mitted , and that was exactly the reason I objected to the style of the remarks of " H . " regarding them . If he will take tho trouble to
rerend my first letter , he will find that I did not argue that thoy were " Masonry . " On tho contrary , I quoted in-full tho clause iu tho Constitutions which "H . " for his own cuds only quoted in part , aud in which "High Grades" then existing were distinctly recognised b y tho Grand Lodges as lawfully to bo practised by Masons in Lodges . Yours fraternally , ¦ LIVE AND LET LIVE . North Sea , 22 nd September 1880 .