is supposed to arrive at the Temple at this juncture),
and calls to order, and asks the Senior Warden the
cause of all that confusion; the Senior Warden answers,
“Our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff, is missing, and
there are no plans or designs laid down on the Tressle-Board
for the crafts to pursue their labor.”
The Master, alias King Solomon, replies, “Our
Grand Master missing; our Grand Master has always been
very punctual in his attendance; I fear he is indisposed;
assemble the crafts, and search in and about the Temple,
and see if he can be found.” They all shuffle
about the floor a while, when the Master calls them
to order, and asks the Senior Warden, “What success?”
He answers, “We cannot find our Grand Master,
my Lord.” The Master then orders the Secretary
to call the roll of workmen, and see whether any of
them are missing. The Secretary calls the roll,
and says, “I have called the roll, my Lord,
and find that there are three missing, viz.:
Jubela, Jubelo and Jubelum.”
His Lordship then observes, “This brings to
my mind a circumstance that took place this morning—twelve
Fellow Crafts, clothed in white gloves and aprons,
in token of their innocence, came to me and confessed
that they twelve, with three others, had conspired
to extort the Master Mason’s word from their
Grand Master, Hiram Abiff, and in case of refusal to
take his life; they twelve had recanted, but feared
the other three had been base enough to carry their
atrocious designs into execution.” Solomon
then ordered twelve Fellow Crafts to be drawn from
the bands of the workmen, clothed in white aprons,
in token of their Innocence, and sent three East,
three West, three North, and three South, in search
of the ruffians, and, if found, to bring them forward.
Here the members all shuffle about the floor awhile,
and fall in with a reputed traveler, and inquire of
him if he had seen any traveling men that way; he
tells them that he had seen three that morning near
the coast of Joppa, who from their dress and appearance
were Jews, and were workmen from the Temple, inquiring
for a passage to Ethiopia, but were unable to obtain
one, in consequence of an embargo which had recently
been laid on all the shipping, and had turned back
into the country. The Master now calls them to
order again, and asks the Senior Warden, “What
success?” He answers by relating what had taken
place. Solomon observes, “I had this embargo
laid to prevent the ruffians from making their escape;”
and adds, “you will go and search again, and
search till you find them, if possible; and if they
are not found, the twelve who confessed shall be considered
as the reputed murderers, and suffer accordingly.”
The members all start again, and shuffle about awhile,
until one of them, as if by accident, finds the body
of Hiram Abiff, alias the candidate and hails his
traveling companions, who join him, and while they
are humming out something over the candidate, the three
reputed ruffians, who are seated in a private corner
near the candidate, are heard to exclaim in the following
manner—first, Jubela, “O that
my throat had been cut across, my tongue torn out,
and my body buried in the rough sands of the sea at
low-water mark, where the tide ebbs and flows twice
in twenty-four hours, ere I had been accessory to
the death of so good a man as our Grand Master, Hiram
Abiff.”