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Philalethes, Nelson King, FPS, Editor, 2 Knockbolt Crescent, Agincourt
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nking@freemasonry.org or nking@onramp.ca




Strange But True

by Nelson King, FPS

This is a true story that was given to rne on
Compuserve, by Richard Lodge, a Past rnaster
of the Lodge involved It is another of those
Strange But True Stories:

Date Line Missouri.

A member of a Missouri Lodge, both of
which will remain anonymous, had been
suspended for non-payment of dues sev-
eral years ago and desired to be rein-
stated. A committee of Past Masters was
appointed and made-an appointment to
visit the Brother at his home one evening
a week or so later. The Brother then
forgot that he had made the appoint-
ment. The committee members went to
his house at the appointed time (in two
cars) and found the house dark. The
Brother in question is a CPA and is in-
volved in a matter of some sort with some
less-than-nice people, so when he drove
up toward his house and saw two strange
cars in his driveway, he used his car
phone to call the police. While the com-
mittee members were wondering why no
one was home and trying to decide what
to do next, two police cars with flashing
light bars roared up. One pulled into the
driveway and the other parked across the
street. The policeman across the street
took up a covering position behind a tree
while the one in the driveway demanded
to know what the committee members
were doing there. When they explained
they were there to perform an investiga-
tion for a Masonic lodge, the policeman
said, "For a what?" There was much
explaining done, while the policeman
was relaying the information through his
radio back to his headquarters and
thence to the forgetful Brother on his car
phone. Once the man remembered the
appointment and realized what had hap-
pened, he was profusely apologetic - as
was his wife who, it turned out, had been
in the dark house all along. On the drive
home after the investigation, one of the
two Past Masters who had driven over
to~ether was laughing. The other, who
was till pretty steamed about the whole
thing, said, "I wish you'd tell me what
you think is so darned funny about all
this!" The first said, "Of all the hun-
dreds of thousands of Masonic investiga-
tions that have taken place in this coun-
try, I'll bet this is the first one where the
investigating committee was investi-
gated by the police. "

By the way, the committee's recom-
mendation to reinstate was unanimous,
as was the vote in the lodge. The forgetful
CPA is now once again a Master Mason
in good standing.
