New York Mason Failed Initiation - Shot Dead
- from The Insider Information Bulletin -
(Posted here by Wes Penre for www.illuminati-news.com , March 19, 2004)
Disclaimer: I decided to post this article although I don't particularly like the headline.
There is no proof the initiate was killed for the above specific reason.
- Wes Penre, Illuminati News -
- - -
A Freemason was killed during an initiation ceremony at a Masonic Lodge in
New York earlier this month.
Apparently the Masons were only trying "to frighten the new member." The
incident is being treated as an accident.
Mr James was shot in the head by Mr Eid at Southside Masonic Lodge,
Suffolk County. According to police, "the Masons had sat Mr. James in a
chair and placed cans on a small platform around his head." We have no
details about what happened next, but one only has to use their
imagination. If Mr James was aiming at the tin cans, evidently he missed.
Mr Eid owns two guns. The gun that he used to kill Mr James was a .32
calibre pistol, but police say "it was not clear why he took it to the
ceremony".
According to Grand Master Carl Fitje of the New York State Freemasons,
guns are not used "in any officially sanctioned lodge ceremonies".
If the gun that killed Mr James was not part of a genuine ceremony, why
was it brought to the Lodge that night?
SOURCE
Washington Times (US), "Mason fatally shot in initiation ritual", 10 March
2004.
[ http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040309-112637-4114r.htm ]
PATCHOGUE, N.Y. (AP) — A man was killed during a Masonic initiation
ceremony when another member fired a gun loaded with real bullets instead
of the expected blanks and shot him in the face, police said yesterday.
A 76-year-old man accused of firing the shot was charged with
manslaughter.
William James, 47, was shot while participating in an induction Monday
night at the Southside Masonic Lodge, Suffolk County police said. He was
pronounced dead at the scene.
Detective Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick said the ritual that went "tragically
wrong" involves making a loud noise to frighten the new member.
"The ceremony was designed to create a state of anxiety," he said.
The lieutenant said the Masons had sat Mr. James in a chair and placed
cans on a small platform around his head.
The man accused of shooting, Albert Eid, had been standing about 20
feet away holding a gun, Lt. Fitzpatrick said at a news conference. When
the gun was fired, a man who had been holding a stick out of sight was
supposed to knock the cans off the platform to make the inductee think he
had been struck by bullets.
Mr. Eid had two guns — one with blanks and one with real bullets — and
apparently pulled the wrong one out of his pocket and fired, shooting Mr.
James in the face, the lieutenant said.
"We believe it was completely accidental," Lt. Fitzpatrick said. Mr.
Eid was quite "stunned and distraught" at Mr. James' death, he said.
Mr. Eid, of Patchogue, had a permit since 1951 for the .32-caliber
handgun, but it was not clear why he took it to the ceremony, police said.
He pleaded not guilty to a manslaughter charge, and bail was set at
$2,500. His next court date was scheduled for April 27.
Mr. Eid's lawyer did not return a call seeking comment.
Carl Fitje, grand master of the New York State Freemasons, issued a
statement yesterday denying that guns play a role in any officially
sanctioned lodge ceremonies.
"We don't use pistols," Steve Mayo, who described himself as a senior
deacon of the lodge, told reporters yesterday. "This is not a Masonic
ceremony where we bring pistols."
Lt. Fitzpatrick, however, said members told police that the rite
involving a gun goes back at least 70 years.
Mr. Mayo said the Monday night ceremony was an initiation into the
Fellow Craft, which is the second degree within the multilevel Masonic
system.
Mr. Mayo said Mr. James, of Medford, had been a member of the lodge
for a few months and Mr. Eid had been a member for many years.
"This is very upsetting, very upsetting that one of our brothers was
accidentally killed," Mr. Mayo said.
Mr. James worked for the planning department of the Long Island town
of Brookhaven, spokesman Dave Kennedy said.