In
June 1918, several members of AMORC accused Harvey Spencer Lewis (the founder
of AMORC) of stealing money, which caused a strong crisis in AMORC, and this event was reported by the New York newspaper The Sun through three articles that I transcribe below.
1. THE FIRST ARTICLE
It was published on June 18, 1918, where it mainly reported the raid carried out by the New York police in the AMORC building.
The text says:
DETECTIVES RAID A MYSTICAL CULT
H. Spencer Lewis, Leader of
Rosaecrucians, Arrested in Lily Langtry Home
BOND FRAUD CHARGED
He is Said Also to Have Suggested
Means of Evading Draft.
Three score or more men and women of
varying ages -the majority of the men within the draft age- were seated last
night in parallel rows in a room on an upper floor of what was the old Lily
Langtry home, and before that the Josie Mansfield residence, at 361 West
Twenty-third street.
Any one who had ever been received
in that room when the Jersey Lily was the chatelaine and who was there last night
would have been impressed with the changes that have taken place since. They
have been peculiarly impressed with the furnishings that were in evidence last
night when Detective Joseph Russo and four or five other men from the District
Attorney's office entered. But more about the detectives later.
About 9 o'clock sixty or seventy men
and women were assembled in what was once Mrs. Langtry's drawing room. From the
front the old place would give the impression of a well appointed private
residence or club. The windows were shaded and the iron fence that fronts the
place had just received a new coat of paint. It was almost a place of
distinction and soldiers and sailors who were strangers in New York looked at
it while passing and inquired of one another what it was. An inconspicous group
of four or five men at a convenient corner were also watching the place, but
were not so ignorant of its character.
Scene in Drawing Room
Inside, in the drawing room, were
assembled the members of the New York branch of the so-called American
Rosicrucians. A feeble light from three candles on a triangular altar in the
centre of the room was the only illumination. On a raised dais at one end, clad
in all the robes of his office as grand master and imperator of the order in
America, Brother H. Spencer Lewis, F.R.C., whatever that means, was giving the
regular weekly lecture to the members.
At the other end of the room in the
sombre setting of a cheap black screen stood a five foot wooden cross, with a
wreath of roses at its base. The furnishings were of the cheapest, and the
floor was uncovered except for a layer of dust. An unprotected heating flue
gaped in the middle of the floor; plaster was hanging from the walls and
ceiling, and the desk from which the Grand Imperator was delivering his lecture
on the alchemy of life was of the cheapest unvarnished pine.
Across the entrance to the room that
once boasted of double sliding doors there hung a cheap orange colored curtain,
through which the light from the three candles softly filtered to the hall
without. Downstairs one or two members, to whom the ceremony in the room above
was no mystery, occupied desks and were busy going through card index and
classifying applications for membership.
Then the officers came and in a
moment the whole place was in a tumult. Detective Russo with his aids entered
and were on the top floor before the bewildered Rosecrucians in the business
office knew what was coming off. A man was placed at the door, and Detective
Russo, thrusting aside the cheap orange colored curtains, stepped into the
dimly lighted lodge room, walked to the dais and announced to the assembled
members that everybody in the room was under arrest.
The Imperator attempted to
expostulate but was told to keep quiet and prepare to go to headquarters. He
quickly divested himself of his robes of office while his followers wondered
what is was all about and while other detectives went to phone for a patrol
wagon.
Lights Show Queer Scene
The Grand Imperator was in the midst
of an interpretation and delineation of some of the occult mysteries in the
unraveling of which he is regarded by his followers as a seer, when he was so
rudely interrupted. When the lights went up a queer scene greeted the officers'
eyes. The assembled men and women who had been absorbing the words of wisdom
from the lips of the seer presented and odd picture in the dilapidated room,
that was not only shorn of its once elaborate furnishings, but which showed
unmistakable evidences of long neglect.
Most of the people in the room were
of German, Scandinavian or Russian extraction. Most of the men were within the
draft age, although there were several older ones in the group. Several of the
women were well dressed and gave evidence of education and culture. Some of
them replied to the questions of the detectives in an unmistakable foreign
accent. But all of them expressed the greatest concern in what was to befall the
Grand Imperator.
After the detectives had questioned
them and served several with subpoenas two or three went to Police Headquarters
to await the arrival of Lewis. Others went to a nearby restaurant to await
developments. Meantime with the appearance of a police patrol wagon a crowd of
several thousand gathered in Twenty-third street curious to know whether it was
Assistant District Attorney Jim Smith instituting a Monday night raid by way of
change, or what kind of an affair was being staged.
Bond Fraud Charged
The raid followed information that
for several weeks has had the attention of the District Attorney's interest in
the case comes through the allegation that Lewis and his associates in the
so-called American Rosae Crucis were selling fraudulent 6 per cent gold bonds.
The interest of the Federal
authorities is in the allegation that Lewis and his associates were soliciting
membership in the order on the representation that such membership
automatically exempted men from the draft and gave them a legitimate right to
profess conscientious scruples against war. The interest of the Masonic
officials was aroused by the representations of Lewis that he was a Mason.
Lewis is not a Mason. But the first
question he asked Detective Russo when he appeared on the scene last night was,
"Are you a Mason?"
According to the story of the career
of Lewis and his attempt to organize his American Rosae Crucis, as it was told
to a reporter for THE SUN last night, the movement has made headway. There have
been several branches of the so-called order established in Western cities, but
through the instrumentality of men who were watching his movements attempts in
other places failed.
In New York City the affairs of the
cult seemed to reach a crisis last Friday night. A.B. Brassard, Lewis's former
secretary, and the man who finally gave the District Attorney the information
on which he acted last night, became suspicious of the genuineness of the 6
percent bonds that Lewis sold to prospective members.
Brassard and some of his fellow
members went to the Twenty-third street headquarters Friday night and accused
Lewis in the presence of several other members of making suggestions by which
men of draft age could get exemption. Brassard's signature appears on some of
the bonds that Lewis sold. On Friday night, according to the story, he accused
Lewis of certain irregularities, including the violation of another Federal
statute.
Lewis Asked for Proof
It is said that Lewis invited
Brassard to return on Saturday night with proof of the charges he made.
Brassard accepted the invitation, and it is said, presented Lewis with
documentary proof of the alleged irregularities and demanded his withdrawal as
head of the Rosaecrucian order, whereupon carding to Brassard's story. Lewis
tore the documents up and challenged Brassard to go ahead if he wanted to in
the face of what Lewis thought was destroyed evidence. Brassard claims to have
kept originals of the documents in question and to have handed Lewis only
copies.
Another failure of the case, and the
one that is most interesting the Federal authorities, is the statement that at
a recent meeting of the members of the organization Lewis is said to have addressed
his disciples as follows:
- "I hold in my hand a letter from President Wilson guaranteeing exemption
from the draft to members of the Rosaecrucian Order in America."
At the headquarters of Local Board
158, where it was said certain of Lewis's followers had claimed exemption on
the ground of membership in the order, officials were not able to trace the
records of any such cases without the names although the three members of the
board said they recollected that such claims had been advanced.
Initiation Fee and Dues
Apart from the sale of bonds, one of
which a former member of the organization showed to a SUN reporter last night
declaring at the same time that she paid $100 for it and to which was attached
a receipt signed by one L. Lawrence, as secretary of the organization, new
members were required to pay an initiation fee of $5 or $10 and member dues of
$1.
The organization is also said to
have published a secret paper called the "Cromaat," the letters of
which backwards are the first letters of the title the cult has assumed - The
Ancient and Mystical Order (of) Rosae Crucis. Another monthly magazine called
"The American Rosae Crucis," carries on the first page the names of a
number of associate editors in various parts of the world. These, it is
represented, make up the Supreme World Council of the order.
Among the dozen or more are such
names as these: Emanuel S. Camilleri, Upper Egypt; Prof. C. Magala Desa,
Bombay; Mohamed Ismail, I.G.O.H., Ceylon; Sir N. Irnathellickerjo Lemindar,
Bengal; Lady Brooks, Shangai, China; Sir William Samuel Grant, Natal, East
Africa; Lady Florence Burgess, London, England; Raynaud E. de Belcastle-Ligne,
Toulouse, France, and several others.
A more definite address is not given
in the copy of the magazine, but THE SUN reporter yesterday saw a dozen of more
such letters that had been sent to addresses furnished by a former member of
Lewis's organization, all of which came back with the notation "No such
person known," or "No such address."
(p.14)
2. THE SECOND ARTICLE
It was published on June 19, 1918, where it is mainly reported that Harvey Spencer Lewis was arrested and imprisoned:
The text says:
GRAND IMPERATOR GRIEVED AT ARREST
Prying detectives want to know about those gold bonds and things.
SPENT NIGHT IN A CELL
Cult leader asserts purpose of organization had no taint of money
getting.
Half a dozen detectives attached to the District Attorney’s office were
exam feats –meaning sateen sasher, robes and other regalia– taken in the raid
of the headquarters of the so-called American Order of the Rosae Crucis.
While they were still going over the papers, books and other
paraphernalia of various kinds collected in the raid that was described
exclusively in The Sun yesterday, H.
Spencer Lewis, who had been variously described as the main works, the grand
Imperator, the most perfect master profundis, and illustrious brother of the illuminati
of the world, was explaining to The Sun
that his arrest, detention and examination taken altogether comprised one of
the greatest outrages ever perpetrated upon a real and regular Rosae Crucian.
Grand Imperator Lewis was arrested on Monday night in a spectacular raid
on the headquarters of his organization in the old Lily Lantry house at 361 West
Twenty-Third street. Two or three dozen of his followers tried to get ball, but
the Grand Imperator had to spend the night in a cell.
Gold bonds figure in charge
Lewis was arraigned yesterday in Jefferson Market Court before Magistrate
Blau on a short affidavit sworn to by Detective-Lieutenant Joseph Russo, alleging
suspicion of larceny of money through the sale of bonds of the so-called
American Order of the Rosae Crucls. Lewis was later released under $5’000 for
examination to-morrow.
Lewis gave his name as Harvey S. Lewis, although he is known among the members
of hit cult as H. Spencer Lewis. The charge against him is based on statements
of Miss Elisabeth Meeker of 70 Fifth avenue, who at one time was a member of
Lewis's organization, and who, when the financial affairs of the so-called order
was somewhat strained, declares that she handed over a hundred dollar bill,
subsequently receiving one of the per cent, gold bonds of the Ancient and
Mystic Order of Rosae Crucis.
Miss Meeker explained yesterday that her contribution had been given
with out solicitation In October of 1916. That she received the bond with a
receipt for the money paid, and that she had also received $6 interest. She
admitted, however, that after attending several meetings of the organization
she felt compelled to withdraw as a member.
From his home In Flushing last night Lewis told a reporter for The Sun
that at no time had his organization –the Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae
Crucis– ever clamed to be operating as a branch of the Rosae Crucis organization
in France. "We have never claimed to hold any warrant, charter, patent or authority
from any foreign country," he said over the telephone.
Studies of the Occult
The allegations against Lewis are that he has disposed of several
thousand dollars worth of bonds upon the representation that his organization
was a recognized branch of a worldwide institution devoted to studies of the
occult.
Among the papers seized in Lewis' desk on Monday night is a piece of parchment,
headed "Pronunziamiento R. F. R. C. No. 987601". The document is adorned
with a number of crude seals, dated Toulouse, France, September 20, 1916, and
signed by one Jean Jordin.
After the signature follow a series of hieroglyphics. In the body of the
document addressed to Le Secretaire-General, Thor Kiimalehto, appears the
announcement that a separate jurisdiction of the Rosae Crucls order has been
established in America under the supreme pontiff High Ancient Shekah El Morla
Ra of Memphis and that the official seal is being forwarded to the Most Perfect
Master Profundls, H. Spencer Lewis at New York.
Honors for American Master
In the February, 1916, number of the American
Rosae Crucis, which is described on the first page as a monthly magazine
devoted to science, philosophy and religion, a picture of Lewis in his robes of
office appears, and in reference to him is this statement:
"In 1909 our Master Journeyed to France and England to complete his
preparation for the Rosaecruclan work –which always seemed to be his goal– and
he was given several honors and titles by the French R. C. order. By agreement with the supreme council in France and Egypt the permission,
long sought by scientists and earnest philosophical students, was given unto
our Master to establish the R. C. Order in America in the year 1915."
When he was arraigned in court yesterday Mark Ellison, counsel for Lewis,
declared that the District Attorney had produced no proof to show that Lewis ever
received a dollar in cash for the bonds he is alleged to have sold.
(p.14)
It was published on June 23, 1918, where it is reported that Harvey Spencer Lewis was exonerated.
The text says:
LEWIS FREED BY COURT
Harvey S. Lewis, lecturer and
alleged agent for the Ancient and Mystic Order of Rosae Crucis, was discharged
yesterday by Magistrate Groehl in Jefferson Market Court. The prosecution asked
for an adjournment in order to work up the presentation of the case. The
defendant’s counsel asked for Lewis’s dismissal on the ground of insufficient
evidence. The motion was granted. Lewis was arraigned on a short affidavit
sworn to by Detective Russo of the District Attorney’s office, charging
suspicion of larceny under false pretences.
(p.14)
OBSERVATIONS
It
should be noted that Harvey Spencer Lewis was not declared innocent but that
the evidence presented was considered insufficient to be able to
formally accuse him of stealing money from his followers.
In
the end, this matter and what happened to the money was never fully
clarified, but many AMORC members in New York resigned their membership
and Lewis had to go to California to continue his manipulations.
I detail more about this crisis that AMORC had in 1918 in this other article:
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