THE BUILDER August, 1929

American Army Lodges in the World War
Sierra Madre Lodge (Sin Numero) Mexico, 1916

By BRO. CHARLES F. IRWIN. Associate Editor

SOME years ago while pursuing an inquiry into another matter
connected with the activity of the Masonic Fraternity during the
World War, I came across a copy of the 1916 Proceedings of the
Grand Lodge of Texas, in which I found an account of a Military
Lodge in connection with the Punitive Expedition led by General
Pershing into Mexico in 1916. This story possessed elements of such
unusual interest to the Craft that I made the resolve to follow it
up at a more favorable opportunity.

Several years passed by and once more the matter was brought to my
attention when copies of the 1917 Proceedings of the Grand Lodges
of Tennessee and Pennsylvania came under examination, for in each
of these I found the Texas story repeated, each omitting some
feature, or inserting others, which indicated again that we had a
rich find in this vagrant incident.

With the opening of my present series of articles on the American
Field Lodges in the World War I decided that this would be an
appropriate opportunity to deal with this lodge, for though not
directly connected with American participation in the conflict, it
falls within the same period. After much correspondence with
brethren in all parts of the country, I was enabled to get in touch
with a number of the actual participants in this lodge of a single
communication, and I have decided to give the reminiscences of each
as variants of the same story that nothing may be lost. The latest
of these to come to hand is the fullest. It is from the pen of
Major J. S. S. Richardson of New York City, who at that time (1916)
was a New York newspaper correspondent.

Major Richardson has two photographs of a most interesting
character. These are of a very unusual memento which he had the
foresight to obtain upon the occasion related in the story. He
ripped from his bedding roll a piece of canvas and secured the
autographs of a number of the brothers present at the time. On the
reverse side he drew roughly the Square and Compasses, together
with the name and location of this casual lodge.

I discovered also that Sam Dreben, the scout and interpreter of the
expedition, was a member of Union Lodge, No. 172, New Orleans,
through a list of lodge members obtained from a copy of the 1917
Proceedings of Louisiana. This enabled me to communicate with the
Secretary of said lodge, Bro. H. Waszkowski, who informed me that
he had in the archives of his lodge papers which had been entrusted
to him by Bro. Dreben years before. Bro. Dreben passed on to his
reward some years ago. A copy of these papers, which Bro.
Waszkowski kindly made for me, discloses the fact that they are a
transcript of the minutes of this historical meeting in Mexico.
Thus we have recovered an official record written immediately
subsequent to the occasion.

Further I was enabled to get into contact with W. Bro. W. H.
Faringhy, who was at that time a Quartermaster Sergeant, Q. M. C.,
and who now is the Master of Monterey Lodge, No. 217, Monterey,
California. He was chosen as Junior Warden of Sierra Madre Lodge.
He has sent me his recollections of the occasion.

Through Col. F. W. Clarke, M. C., whom I met by a happy chance, I
learned that Col. Hugh Scott, M. D., M. C., now working under the
United States Veterans' Bureau in Illinois, might have additional
information.

Correspondence with Dr. Scott proved this to be true. He informed
me in his letters that he served in the Punitive Expedition into
Mexico, but that being on duty at an outstation upon the occasion
of the meeting of the lodge, he was prevented from being present.
However, he naturally heard all about it from brethren who
participated.

From these and other sources, then, I have succeeded in recovering
from oblivion a story that deserves to be recorded, and to be made
more widely known than it seems to have been hitherto. It is a side
light on the working of Masonry under unusual circumstances; such
meetings having occurred in other days, not only in our country but
wherever members of the Craft have met the world over. In most of
such cases nothing but a tradition, or a bare reference, remains.
It is seldom that definite and detailed record is made at the time,
and we have to congratulate ourselves on having been able to
recover these accounts before they were lost beyond recall, and it
is to me a source of great pleasure that I have been enabled to
become the agent in putting the story of this lodge upon permanent
record.

In point of time the first reference we have to Sierra Madre Lodge
(sin numero) is contained in the Grand Master's Address to the
Grand Lodge of Texas in the year 1916. It is found under the title,
"A Unique Lodge Meeting." It is based on a letter, and an enclosure
therewith, sent to the Grand Secretary of Texas by Bro. John W.
Elliott, Secretary of Army Lodge, No. 1105, Fort Sam Houston,
Texas. The enclosure was a copy of an account of the meeting
written by a member of this lodge, Bro. Elmer E. Sampson, who was
with the expedition and who was chosen as one of the officers of
Sierra Madre Lodge. This account is as follows:

THE ACCOUNT OF BRO. SAMPSON

Sierra Madre Lodge ( without number) F. & A. M ., was opened for
social purposes this 14th day of May, the year of our Lord, 1916,
in due and ancient form. The brethren assembled in a pass of the
Sierras, due east of the Headquarters encampment of the United
States Punitive Expeditionary Forces, near Namiquipa, Mexico, the
place of meeting.

Upon examination, being found adequate to be used for Masonic
purposes, the several stations and places of the lodge were filled
as follows:

Major Ellwood Waller Evans, Acting Regimental Commander, Tenth
Cavalry, U. S. A., Annapolis Lodge, No. 89, Annapolis, Worshipful
Master

Quartermaster Sergeant W. H. Faringhy, Quartermaster's Corps, U. S.
A., Monterey Lodge, No. 217, Monterey, Calif., Senior Warden 

Captain John Raymond Barber. M. C., U. S. A., Hiram Lodge, No. 10,
District of Columbia, Junior Warden;

Sergeant Elmer E. Sampson, Company "E" E. C., U. S. A., Army Lodge,
No. 1105, Fort Sam Houston, Tex., San Antonio, Senior Deacon;

Captain W. E. Burt, Twentieth Inf., Ass't Chief of Staff,
Expeditionary Forces, Hancock Lodge, No. 311, Fort Leavenworth,
Kan., Junior Deacon;

J. S. Stewart Richardson, New York Herald Correspondent with the
Expeditionary Forces, Thistle Lodge, No. 900, New Orleans,
Louisiana, Secretary;

Sam Dreben, Interpreter of the Intelligence Department,
Expeditionary Forces, Union Lodge, No. 172, New Orleans, Louisiana,
Tiler

In opening the lodge the Worshipful Master remarked that by meeting
al fresco in a mountain crevice, the brethren of Sierra Madre Lodge
were but following the example of the ancients of the Craft.

Captain Burt suggested that each of the twenty-three brethren
present be presented with a copy of the minutes of the lodge that
he may properly inform the brethren of his home lodge of the
proceedings of Sierra Lodge. This was carried.

Captain William E. W. MacKinley of the Eleventh Cavalry, U. S. A.,
and of Ethan Allen Lodge, No. 72, Essex Junction, Vermont, recalled
a meeting of a lodge of Bermuda, which he attended. The lodge
membership consisted exclusively of officers and enlisted men of
the Second Battalion, D. C. L. I. (46th Foot), British Army.

The Worshipful Master called to the East, Captain Barber who was
directed to proceed to close the Lodge. Sergeant Elmer E. Sampson
occupied the South in place of Captain Barber, and Sergeant
Sampson's station as Senior Deacon was occupied by Lieut. C. D.
McMurdo of the Tenth Cavalry, and of Faith Lodge, No. 181,
Crawford, Nebraska.

The Lodge was then closed in due and ancient form. As Masons the
world over, from the time of the Ancient Operative Grand Master
have done, so did the brethren of Sierra Madre Lodge (without
number) meet, act and part.

The brethren signed the minutes before departing. Those present not
already mentioned were:

Major J. B. Clayton, Medical Corps, U. S. A., Hancock Lodge No.
311, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas;

Captain W. O. Reed, Assistant Chief of Staff, Expeditionary Forces,
Springfield Lodge, No. 50, Springfield, Kentucky.

Sergeant John F. Gleaves, Signal Corps, U. S. A., Hancock Lodge,
No. 311, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas;

Lieut. Henry R. Adair, Tenth Cavalry, U. S. A., Faith Lodge, No.
181, Crawford, Nebraska;

Captain R. Porter, Medical Corps, U. S. A., White Pass Lodge, No.
113, Skagway, Alaska;

Captain I. E. Darby, Medical Corps, U. S. A., Pentalpha, Lodge, No.
194, Gaithersburg, Maryland

Captain W. L. Hart Medical Corps, U. S. A., Philanthropic Lodge,
No. 32, Yorkville, South Carolina;

Captain Charles E. Demmer, Medical Corps, U. S. A., Andover Lodge,
No. 558, Andover, New York

Private Harry L. Heckel, Sixteenth Infantry, Clerk Headquarters
Punitive Expedition, Woodlawn Park Lodge, No. 841, Chicago,
Illinois

Sergeant Warren C. Bailey, S. C., U. S. A., Nebraska Lodge, No. 1,
Omaha, Nebraska;

Sergeant John Hubbel, S. C., U. S. A., McKinley Lodge, No. 631,
McKinley, Kentucky

Quartermaster Sergeant Robert L. Miller, Corps of Engineers, U. S.
A., Harmony Lodge, No. 6, Galveston, Texas


Sergeant Frank W. Towers, S. C., U. S. A., Hiligrove Lodge No. 540,
Brooklyn, N. Y.

Captain J. S. Coulter, M. C., U. S. A., Hancock Lodge, No. 311,
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas;

The Grand Master concludes his narrative with these words:

While I may be criticized for burdening the record with the above
named meeting of our brethren in foreign lands, yet it possessed so
many unusual features, that I believed it would be of interest to
you all. You will notice that these brethren were from lodges all
over our great country, and we can easily imagine their pleasure in
meeting together as brothers, within the tiled precincts of a
lodge, where all rank and distinction were done away, and they met
upon the level and parted on the square.

Our Most Worshipful Brother needed not to apologize, for in thus
recording so unusual an incident he rendered the Craft a benefit
far exceeding many of the conventional addresses which proceed from
our Grand Easts, in which little of permanent value to the Craft is
to be found with much chaff and dust.

The account found in the papers of Bro. Dreben is an exact
duplication of that given by Bro. Sampson with this additional
information in a note at the bottom of the paper: "News has just
been received that Lieut. Henry R. Adair has been killed in
battle."

And in a recent letter from Bro. Waszkowski I learn that Bro.
Dreben himself "died about three years ago (1925) in Los Angeles,
California."

The third variant of the story that has come into my hands is that
of Bro. W. H. Faringhy of Monterey, Calif., who under date of Feb.
1, 1929, writes as follows:

BRO. FARINGHY'S VERSION

I have before me your letter of Jan. 22, 1929, to Secretary of
Monterey Lodge, No. 217, F. & A. M. (of which at the present time
I happen to be Master), relative to my experience with "Sierra
Madre Lodge" in Mexico while serving with General Pershing's
Punitive Expedition. My memory is a little hazy about that matter,
as that Lodge was held nearly thirteen years ago, and I have
thought of lots of other things since that time. However I will try
and give it you as well as I am able to remember.

At the time, the Expedition was encamped at a place called
Namiquipa, in Mexico, where I was on duty as Quartermaster
Sergeant, Q. M. Corps, in the Q. M. Depot established there. One
day a couple of brother Masons, I cannot recall their names, called
on me and asked me to go up with some other Masons up in the
mountains like our ancient brethren did and hold a social Lodge
meeting. I agreed, and so a number of us went up to the top of a
range of the Sierra Madre Mountains east of the camp and formed
what was called "Sierra Madre Lodge, sin numero," on May 14, 1916;
but it was not in the evening as it was too dangerous to be out at
night, that is outside of camp. Some of the brethren rode out to
the foot of the range, I should judge approximately five miles, on
horses and some rode in trucks and light wagons. All were armed as
we were in the heart of the bandit Villa's country. When we arrived
at the top of the range we found an ideal spot and formed our
Lodge.

An account of the meeting of the Lodge I will quote from a copy of
A.A.S.R. Bulletin date at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., in May, 1916, as
follows (here follows an exact copy of the Sampson variant):

As far as I know that was the only Lodge that ever met in which the
officers and members were armed, and the Tiler instead oaf being
armed with the implement of his office, had a revolver strapped on
his hip instead. [See the story of Saxonia Lodge "Somewhere at
Sea," of this series, for a duplication of this point - C. F. I.]

Lieut. Henry R. Adair, 10th Cavalry, was afterward killed in a
fight with the Mexicans.

The variant that merits the closing of this unusual story comes to
me recently from Bro. J. S. S. Richardson (Major), who at the time
of the incident was War Correspondent for the New York Herald, with
the Punitive Expedition. It took quite a period of time to locate
Brother Richardson but at length I found him residing in New York
City and he has proved most courteous and kindly in aiding in the
preservation of this story. He was the Secretary of the meeting and
one of its instigators and hence his story had special value to the
Masonic student. I here give his account veratim:

SIERRA MADRE LODGE (Sin Numero)

By Bro. J. S. S. Richardson, Secretary (Maj. U. S. Cavalry
Reserve).

Outside Sergeant ! Sir ! Salute ! Salaam !

Inside "Brother," an' it doesn't do no 'arm.
We met upon the level an' we parted on the Square
An' I was Junior Deacon in my Mother Lodge out there !
 Kipling.

In the light of a campfire flickering fitfully from the light wind
of the Sierras sat six men. The fire was one of several in a
bivouac of some 5,000 American troops. The location was the sun-
dried plateau of central Chiuahua, 220 miles south of the American
border.

The conversation of the recumbent fire gazers related to many
things. These men had been to the four corners of the earth and
their experiences were numerous and varied. In expressing
themselves more than one had used a phrase reminiscent of Masonic
intercourse. Suddenly the senior of the group, Major Elwood W.
Evans, commanding the Second Squadron, 10th U. S. Cavalry, said: "I
believe all of us around this fire are of the Craft. How about it?"

The other five each answered in the affirmative and it was Sam
Dreben, trained scout, guide and soldier of fortune, who remarked
they were more than sufficient numerically to convene a lodge in
due and ancient form.

That started a real Masonic discussion. The six, after
interrogating one another as to their Masonic woundings,
constituted themselves a committee, with Major Evans as chairman,
to examine other Masons vho might care to attend a possible
meeting. Dreben and the writer were detailed, as a sub-committee,
to find an appropriate meeting place.

All of this took place on a Friday night, in the latter art of May,
1916. The troops were a part of the Punitive Expedition, under the
command of Brigadier General John J. Pershing, which had crossed
the border two months before to exterminate or disperse the band of
outlaws which had raided Columbus, N.M., putting a portion of the
town to the torch and murdering several American citizens.

The units of the expedition hitherto had been farflung and the
marauding banditti now were effectively scattered. The outlaw
chieftain, however, Pancho Villa, had not been captured and the
American Expedition, most of whose elements were now concentrated,
was yet to remain on Mexican soil for many months. This main
concentration of the United States forces was six miles south of
the ancient Mexican plaza of Namiquipa, which is situated on the
plateau between the parallel mountain chains running north and
south, the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Sierra Madre Occidental.

Early the following morning Dreben and the writer, fully armed,
rode into the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental in search of
a "Moot Room" and about five miles from camp we located an ideal
place, such as might have been used by the ancients. It was an
oblong clearing, almost level, set lengthwise due east and west.
Surrounded with flat rocks, it was protected on the north side by
some stunted trees. Dreben and I collected several of the smaller
rocks and fashioned a crude altar. Also, we arranged flat stones in
the East, in the South and in the West. We worked there for about
two hours, then, bestriding our mounts, rode back into camp and
reported to Major Evans.

Circumspectly that day word was passed among the troops that the
following afternoon of Sunday, at two o'clock, a meeting of Master
Masons would be held nearby. Those desiring to attend were asked to
report to Major Evans that afternoon (Saturday) or early the
following morning. Everything went according to schedule.

At one o'clock Sunday a strange cavalcade was seen to leave the
encampment and follow the trail eastward into the hills. All were
mounted and armed and I, as Secretary, carried the necessary Lodge
paraphernalia strapped to my saddle. We draped the rude altar in an
American flag and opened the Holy Bible in place. The Bible was
borrowed from one of the Chaplains of the Expeditionary Force, none
of whom, strangely enough, was of the Craft. On the top of the
Bible we placed a Compasses and Square loaned by Sergeant Elmer E.
Sampson of the Engineers.

Followed then the nomination and election of officers of what was
proclaimed as "Sierra Madre Lodge, sin, numero" (without number).
From the Worshipful Master, Major Evans, down to the squad of
Tilers, election was by acclamation. After Major Evans took his
seat in the East, Quartermaster Sergeant W. H. Faringhy of the
Quartermasters Corps and Captain R. S. Porter of the Medical Corps,
were elected Senior Warden and Junior Warden, respectively. They
took their stations accordingly.

The other officers were Sergeant Elmer E. Sampson of E Company,
Engineers, Senior Deacon; Captain W. B. Burtt, 20th Infantry,
Assistant Chief of Staff of the Expedition, Junior Deacon; J. S. S.
Richardson, Secretary; and Sam Dreben, Senior Tiler.

A single Tiler was insufficient in the circumstances for the
customary function of warding off cowans and eavesdroppers. We were
in a hostile country with armed fragments of the bandit group still
at large. Therefore four men, mounted and armed, patrolled the
precincts of the meeting from the time the lodge was opened until
it was closed in due form.

Of course the work resolved itself into an exchange of Masonic
experiences among the brethren, who had first seen the light of the
Craft in various parts of the world and under several
jurisdictions. The interesting discussion was led by the able
Worshipful Master Evans, who had the God-given faculty of making
everyone talk with exceeding ease and to the interest of all
present.

Mother Lodges represented at the meeting were in various states in
the Union, the Philippine Islands, Hongkong, Canada, and Great
Britain. Much that was peculiar to Craft operations in the several
localities provided topics absorbing in the circumstances.

Hardly anyone realized that the meeting had been in session for
nearly three hours until a distant bugle call reminded the
assembled Craftsmen that retreat was being sounded back at camp.
Before closing the lodge, Worshipful Master Evans delivered a short
address in which he stressed the fundamentals of Masonic
relationships, the true meaning of Craft brotherhood and the all-
embracing universal democracy of Masonry.

It was Major Evans who quoted the appropriate lines of Kipling with
which this article is prefixed and it was he who expressed the
fervent hope that in the not remote future the brethren, gathered
as they were from lodges of the three continents, would meet again
under the banner of Sierra Madre Lodge, Mexico, sin numero.

The parting words of the Worshipful Master proved vain however. A
considerable portion of the comparatively small assembly since have
passed to that far country from whose bourne no traveler returns.
Major Evans himself is among that noble company; another is Sam
Dreben, our genial Tiler and soldier of fortune, who was later
decorated for exceptional gallantry in action in France.

Lieutenant Henry R. Adair, of the 10th Cavalry, another of the
brothers, was killed a week or two after the meeting, not far from
that spot, by Mexicans. He and Captain Boyd, his troop commander,
fell with several of their men when they were ambushed and badly
out-numbered by a force of Mexicans at Carrizal. It was that fight
which really inspired the mobilization of the National Guard along
the Mexican Border.

I regret to say that as Secretary of the Lodge I preserved no copy
of the minutes. There is but one record of the interesting meeting
still in my possession. It consists of a square canvas cut from my
bedding-roll. In the center, with pen and ink, I designed the
traditional Compasses and Square and lettered above and below, the
legend "Sierra Madre Lodge, sin numero, Mexico, 1916, A. D." This
was suspended in the East during the session and, after the
meeting, I induced almost everybody present to sign his name on the
reverse side of the canvas with an ink pencil. A few of those who
attended left before this was done, but there are nineteen names
still legible on the fragment of canvas.

The names appear as follows:

Elwood W. Evans, Major, 10th Cavalry, U. S. A. 
Q. M. Sgt. W. H. Faringhy, Q. M. Corps, S. W.
W. B. Burtt, Capt., 20th Infantry.
R. S. Porter, Capt. M. C.

Elmer E. Sampson, "E" Co., Engineers. 
John R. Barber, Captain.
C O. McMurdo, Vet. 10th Cavalry
S. Dreben, Union 172, New Orleans. 
John F. Gleaves, Sgt., Signal Corps. 
Frank W. Towers, Sgt., Signal Corps 
Warren V. Bailey, Sgt., Signal Corps. 
John Hubble, Sgt., Signal Corps.
Henry R. Adair, 1st Lieut., 10th Cavalry
Robert L. Miller, Btn. Q. M. Sgt., Engineers. 
J. S. Coulter, Capt. M. C.
Charles O. Demmer, Capt. M. C
Harvey J. Hecket, 16th Infantry
J. S. Stewart Richardson, Thistle No. 900, N. Y.
William E. W. MacKinley, Capt. 11th Cavalry, Ethan Allen Lodge, No.
72.

By the standards of near perfection reached in most of our Masonic
jurisdictions the meeting of Sierra Madre Lodge might not have been
considered in any sense a finished product. We were Masonic
wanderers traveling on the face of the desert far from our parental
"moot rooms." We had been taught differently one from another in
some details of the work, but we were a complete unit on the
essentials.

One and all "we knew the ancient landmarks and observed them to a
hair." If the Grand Master plumbed the thoughts of that dusty band
of adventurers, he found nothing but the true gold of Masonic
sincerity.

SOME OTHER REFERENCES

Bro. Richardson's account rounds out the story of this remarkable
lodge, and to him we are indebted for photographs of the relics of
which he speaks. Thus after some years of search it has been
possible to combine these versions of the very unusual story of a
gathering of Masons upon a mountain side in a hostile country, who
there exemplified those principles which we have universally been
taught in our several lodges.

I endeavored to obtain an account from each of the officers of the
lodge but though this was unsuccessful it is probable that
everything of value has been set down in the foregoing accounts.
Nevertheless I would be very glad to hear from any other brother
who was present in order that his account could be placed in our
archives along with the others. Should any reader know of one of
the brethren present on the occasion I should be only too glad to
receive his present address, or should any reader know of the
passing on of any of this group in addition to those noted in this
article a notification of the same would be appreciated.

Sierra Madre Lodge sin numero came into being because a group of
Masons around a military campfire, relating experiences drawn from
roving days around the globe, came together in thought and
conversation to that mutual spot where other men have foregathered
in other days and under other circumstances. Masonry once again has
in this story emphasized the universality and the vitality inherent
in the Craft.

In the 1917 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania (page
497) is the following reference to the subject:

"Report was made to him (Texas 1916) of a unique lodge meeting 'in
a pass of the Sierras due east of the headquarters encampment of
the United States Punitive Expeditionary Forces in Mexico,'
commanded by General Pershing. There were twenty-three Masons
present, nearly all of them commissioned or non-commissioned
officers of the Army, representing about fifteen different
jurisdictions. A lodge was opened and closed 'in due and ancient
form.'

For the 1917 Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Tennessee, a like
reference is made to the Texas Proceedings, quoting Bro. Sampson's
account in full. To which the Tennessee correspondent adds:

"This procedure may not be entirely without precedent. During his
service in the Confederate Army, the writer hereof, though not then
a Mason (but wanted to be as soon as old enough), heard that the
Masonic Grand Lodge of North Carolina authorized and recognized
Army Lodges. The Federals, however, kept the writer so constantly
entertained and on the move that he could not get the degrees
during the war."

NOTE

It was with the greatest difficulty that a portrait of Maj. Evans
was found to illustrate this article. Through the courtesy of Bro.
J. Orville Bush we learned that a portrait had been published in
Rat Tat, a college magazine published at St. John's college,
Annapolis, Md. Bro. Evans then Lieutenant, was Professor of
Military Science and Tactics, and Lecturer on International and
Constitutional law. It was found however that Rat Tat had long
since been discontinued and the volume required, that for 1898 was
unprocurable. At last it was found that two ladies, Miss Lillian
and Miss Mable Linthieum, had a copy of this volume of the
magazine, and very graciously made it available for the purpose of
reproducing the portrait, for which kindness I desire to express my
appreciation and gratitude.
