p. 731 | RIDING THE GOAT by C. C. L.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Tuesday, November 18, 1884

FromAdvent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 61, No. 46

RIDING THE GOAT.

By C. C. L.

THE INITIAL SERVICES OF ODD-FELLOWSHIP DESCRIBED IN COURT.

A UNIQUE case was tried before Justice Galt at Whitby, a small village twenty miles east of this city [Toronto]. Richard Kinver, a chair-maker, brought suit against the Phoenix Lodge of Odd Fellows, of Whitby, for injuries received at the hands of members of the lodge while he was being initiated into the mysteries of the order. The case is the first of the kind ever brought before a court of justice in this country, and has excited a great deal of interest. The court-room to-day was crowded with members of the Phoenix Lodge and curious outsiders, anxious to learn something of the secrets of the brotherhood. The plaintiff appeared in court leaning on crutches. He was badly bruised about the head and body, and appeared to be suffering severe pain. On the witness-stand he told the story of events on the night of his initiation. He was met, he said, by a committee of the Odd Fellows Lodge, who first blindfolded him by drawing a black cap down over his face, so that he could not see the slightest thing, and then led him into the lodge-room.

His entry was the signal for shouts of derision from the members present. He had hardly got inside the room when he was forcibly seized from either side and whirled rapidly round till he had become so dizzy that he had lost all idea of his surroundings. Then a chain was fastened about his body, and he was dragged roughly about the room, the cap being still down over his head. When the brethren had tired of yanking him about at the end of the chain, he was brought up standing, while a mysterious jargon was gone through. Suddenly the candidate received a rough push from some one behind, which threw him over on his face. His feet tripped over something and he fell headlong on the floor, striking in falling upon a stool which cut a deep gash in his head. He was partially stunned by the fall. He was just conscious enough to hear some one ask in a deep voice: “Brethren, shall we have mercy?” and some one else replied: “Have mercy.” Then he was lifted up off the floor by the chain and was led about the room for a while, with the cap still on, until he had somewhat recovered from the effects of the fall. His initiation was not concluded, owing to his inability to endure more. Since then the witness testified that he had been unable to support his family by working at his trade. Physicians whom he had consulted said that his injuries would trouble him for several years, and that he might never get over them. The defendant Odd Fellows admit the truth of Kinver’s testimony regarding his experience in the lodge-room. They said it was the custom of the lodge to lead around the candidates for initiation with a view to bewildering or befogging them, so that when the cap is removed they can not find the door by which they entered the room. There is no intention of harming the candidates, and the initiation is not rougher than a healthy man can stand. The constitution of the order requires that candidates be in sound health. Plaintiff knew this, and procured his initiation by fraudulent representations and concealment regarding his health. Medical men testified that Kinver had received internal injuries from which he might die. The case was adjourned to a high court at Toronto.—Toronto Mail.

What a spectacle the facts narrated above present! Men of mature age blindfold a fellow-man, whirl him around until he becomes dizzy, drag him about the room with a chain, throw him violently upon the floor and cause him to sustain injuries which render him unable to support his family, and which are likely to trouble him for years, and finally defer the conclusion of his initiation because of his inability to endure more! And these things are not denied, but in extenuation of their crime the lodge declares that this is the usual method of initiating candidates; that there was no intention of harming him; that the initiation is not rougher than a healthy man can stand; that the constitution of the order requires that candidates shall be in sound health, and that the plaintiff knew this, and procured his initiation by fraudulent representations and concealment regarding his health! Odd fellows indeed! Is it any wonder that the secrets of the order are carefully concealed by those who get through the initiation ceremony without receiving lasting injuries? For very shame few men would be willing to publish abroad what fools they had thus made of themselves. Their most natural course would be to look very wise and solemn, and pretend that the ceremonies were highly religious and elevating, and thus get as many decent men as possible to join the lodge and lend respectability to their folly and be their companions in misery.

What if a religious denomination,—the Seventh-day Adventists, for example,—should perpetrate such outrages as are described above upon the members who are received into their churches? How long would it be before the people would rise up in righteous indignation, and drive them from the land? Furthermore, suppose the churches, pretending to be benevolent institutions, should refuse to receive into their ranks those who were not sufficiently rugged to endure without serious injury such a mauling as was received by the poor man alluded to in the preceding extract—what would be thought of them? And yet many a man will laugh at his wife’s religion, intimate that the church will do, perhaps, for women, but can never satisfy strong-minded men like himself, and then go to the lodge, engage in ceremonies that would make a heathen blush for very shame, and tell his wife that it is all very solemn and religious and manly! C. C. L.