MARSEILLES, MOTHER LODGE OF.
A Lodge was established in 1748, at Marseilles, in France, Thory says, by a traveling Freemason, under the name of Saint Jean d'Ecosse. It afterward assumed the name of Mother Lodge of Marseilles, and still later the name of Scottish Mother Lodge of France. It granted Warrants of its own authority for Lodges In France and in the Colonies.
MARSHAL.
An officer common to several Masonic Bodies, whose duty is to regulate processions and other public solemnities. In Grand Bodies he is called a Grand Marshal. In the American Royal Arch System, the Captain of the Host acts on public occasions as the Marshal. The Marshal's ensign of office is a baton or short rod. The office of Marshal in State affairs is very ancient. It was found in the court of the Byzantine emperors, and was introduced into England from France at the period of the conquest. Isis badge of office was at first a rod or verge, which was afterward changed to the baton, for, its an old writer has observed, Thinne, "the verge or rod was the ensign of him who had authority to reform evil in warre and in peace, and to see quiet and order observed among the people."
MARSHALL, JOHN.
Born in Virginia, September 24, 1755; died July 6, 1835. Secretary of State, 1800, then first Chief Justice of the United States, serving for thirty-four years, and had been an officer, lieutenant and then captain, in the American Revolution. He was a famous Freemason, a member of Lodge No. 13 at Richmond and instrumental with Edmund Randolph, Governor of \ irginia, 1786, and also Grand Master, in establishing the two Lodges, Richmond No. 10, and Richmond Randolph No. 19, the latter Lodge performing the Masonic rites at Brother Marshall's funeral. He served as Deputy Grand Master of Virginia and from October °8, 1793, was Grand Master for two terms during which nine Communications were held (see Washington, the Man and the Mason, Charles H. Callahan, 1913, pages 961-9, and New Age, July, 1924).
MARTEL.
Charles Martel, or Charles the Hammer, born in 688, died in 741, although not actually King, was the ruler and reigned over Franee under the title of Mayor of the Palace. He was a notable soldier, defeating the Saracens at Poitiers in 732, and again in 737 driving them from Languedoc. Rebold (History, page 69) says that "at the request of the Anglo-Saxon l;ings, he sent workmen and Masters into England." The Operative Masons of the Middle Ages considered him as one of their patrons, and give the following account of him in their Legend of the Craft (see Grand Lodge Manuscript No. 1, Quatuor Coronati Lodge Reprints, volume iv).
Curious Craftes men walked about full wyde in Dyu's Countries soome to learn more Crafte and conning & some to teache them that had but little conning and so yt befell that their was on' Curious Masson that height Naymus grecus that had byn at the making of Sallomons Temple & he came into ffraunce anal there he taught the Science of massonrey to men of ffraunce And there was one of the Regall lyne of ffraunce that height Charles Martell. And he was A man that Loved well suche A Crafte and Drewe to this Naymus grecus and Learned of him the Crafte And to Nippon him the (Chardges & ye mann's. And afterward by the grace of god he was elect to be liyng of ffraunce. And when he was in his Estate he tooke Massons and did healp to make men Massons yt weare none & sett them A woorke and gave them bothe the Chargs & mann's and good paye that he had learned of other Massons And confirmed them A Charter from yere to yeare to holde their assembly wheare they boulder And churrishe them right muche And thus came the Crafte into ffraunce.
MARTHA.
The Fourth Degree of the Eastern Star; a Rite of American Adoptive Freemasonry.
MARTINISM.
The Rite of Martinism, called also the Rectified Rite, was instituted at Lyons, by the Marquis de Saint Martin, a disciple of Martinez Paschalis, of whose Rite it was pretended to be a reform. Martinism was divided into two classes, called Temples, in which were the following Degrees:
First Temple.
- 1. Apprentice;
- 2. Fellow Craft;
- 3. Master Mason;
- 4. Past Master;
- 5. Elect;
- 6. Grand Architect-
- 7. Freemason of the Secret.
Second Temple.
- 8. Prince of Jerusalem;
- 9. Knight of Palestine;
- 10. Kadosh.
The Degrees of Martinism abounded in the reveries of the Mystics (see Saint Martin).
MARTINIST ORDER, AMERICAN RECTIFIED.
See American Rectified Martinist Order.
MARTIN, LOUIS CLAUDE DE SAINT.
See Saint Martin.
MARTYR.
A title bestowed by the Templars on their last Grand Master, James de Molay. If, as Du Cange says, the Church sometimes gives the title of martyr to men of illustrious sanctity, who have suffered death not for the confession of the name of Christ, but for some other cause, being slain by impious men, then De Molay, as the innocent victim of the malignant schemes of an atrocious Pope and King, was clearly entitled to the appellation.
MARTYRS, FOUR CROWNED.
See Four Crowned Martyrs.
MARYLAND.
There are no known records from the earliest Lodge in Maryland but a reference to it among the documents of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts states that it was chartered by Thomas Oxnard, Provincial Grand Master, on August 12, 1750, at Annapolis. On June 17, 1783, the Lodges on the Eastern Shore met at Talbot Court House and determined to petition the Grand Lodge in Philadelphia for a Warrant to open the Grand Lodge of Maryland. Five Lodges were represented by Deputies and the meeting was adjourned until July 31. On that date the same Lodges attended with the exception of No. 37, of Somerset County, which was not represented, and No. 6, of Georgetown, which appeared for the first time. Grand Officers were elected and the meeting was adjourned until December 18, 1783. The next meeting was not until nearly three years later but the subordinate Lodges maintained their allegiance and were not represented at any other Grand Lodge.
Royal Arch Chapters were probably attached to most of the Lodges in Maryland, but the first known was Washington Chapter instituted in 1787 by Warrant of Lodge No. 7, at Chestertown, and attached to Lodge No. 15, afterwards Washington, No. 3. The first Independent Grand Chapter in the United States was organized on June 24, 1897. It became inactive in 1803, but was revived in 1807, when a Convention was held in the City of Washington on January 21 of representatives of Washington, Concordia, Saint John's, Federal, Washington Naval and Potomac Chapters. It was resolved unanimously to organize a Grand Chapter for the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia, and this was opened in Ample Form. On May 9, 1814, Chapters Nos. 1, 2, and 3 met at Baltimore, adopted a Constrtution and elected Grand Officers.. On August 30, 1822, by the authority of the General Grand Chapter, the Chapters in the District of Columbia, with the exception of Potomac, No. 8, at Georgetown, withdrew from the Jurisdiction of Maryland. For the next twenty years these Colurnbia Chapters had no grand authority From 1841 until May 7, 1867, they were put under the control of the Grand Chapter of Maryland. On that date the Grand Chapter of the District of Columbis was duly constituted.
Until 1872 the Select Degrees were conferred by Chapters, but in that year the Grand Chapter made this illegal and independent Councils were formed. Six of these Councils, Concordia, Jerusalem, Adoniram, Salem, Tadmor, and Druid were represented at a Convention which met on May 12, 1874, at Baltimore to organize a Grand Council.
The first Commandery was Maryland, No. 1, at Baltirnore, to which a Charter of Recognition was
issued on May 2, 1814, admitting the year 1790 to be the date of the complete organization of the Encampment. It was resolved on July 12, 1870, to organize a Grand Commandery for the State. Delegates from Maryland, No. 1; Baltimore, No. 2, and Monumental, No. 3, met in Baltimore, Maryland, on December 12, 1870, for this purpose. A Warrant was issued by the Grand Master dated January 3, 1871, and on January 23, the Grand Commandery was dedicated in Ancient Form to Saint John the Almoner.
A Lodge of Perfection was established at Baltimore in 1792 by Henry Wilmans, Master of Concordia Lodge in 1793. On December 9, 1882, the Meredith Chapter of Rose Croix, No. 1, and the Maryland Council of Kadosh, No. 1, were constituted, and on May 15, 1885, the Chesapeake Consistory, No. 1, was opened under the Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction.
MASON.--.
MASON CROWNED.
MASON, DERIVATION OF THE WORD.
MASONEY.
MASON HERMETIC.
MASONIC ARCHEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.
MASONIC BAPTISM.
MASONIC CIPHER MESSAGE.
MASONIC CLUBS, NATIONAL LEAGUE OF.
MASONIC COLORS.
MASONIC GRAND COUNCIL.
MASONIC GRAND SECRETARIES GUILD.
MASONIC HALL.
MASONIC HERO.
MASONIC HYMNS.
MASONIC INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION.
MASONIC LEAGUE, UNIVERSAL.
MASONIC LITERATURE.
MASONIC NEWSPAPER.
MASONIC POETRY.
MASONIC PROFESSOR.
MASONIC RELIEF ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA.
MASONIC SERVICE ASSOCIATION.
MASONIC SIGNS AND TOKENS.
MASONIC SONGS.
MASON, ILLUSTRIOUS AND SUBLIME GRAND MASTER.
MASON OF THE SECRET.
MASON, OPERATIVE.
MASON, PERFECT.
MASON PHILOSOPHER.
MASON,, PRACTICAL.
MASONRY-
MASONRY, OPERATIVE.
MASONRY ORIGIN OF.
MASONRY, SPECULATIVE.
MASONS. COMPANY OF.
MASON, SCOTTISH MASTER.
MASONS, EMPEROR OF ALL THE.
MASON, SPECULATIVE.
MASON, STONE.
MASON SUBLIME.
MASON, SUBLIME OPERATIVE.
MASON"S WIFE AND DAUGHTER .
MASON, TRUE.
MASON CROWNED.
The French expression is Maçon Couronne. A Degree in the nomenclature of Fustier.
MASON, DERIVATION OF THE WORD.
The search for the etymology or derivation of the word Mason has given rise to numerous theories, some of them ingenious, but many of them very absurd. Thus, a writer in the European Magazine for February, 1792, who signs his name as "George Drake," Lieutenant of Marines, attempts to trace the Masons to the Druids, and derives Mason from May's on, May's being in reference to May-day, the great festival of the Druids, and on meaning men, as in the French on dit, for homme dit. According to this, May's on therefore means the Men of May. This idea is not original with Drake, since the same derivation was urged in 1766 by Cleland, in his essays on The Way to Things in Words, and on The Real Secret of Freemasons.
Hutchinson, in his search for a derivation, seems to have been perplexed with the variety of roots that presented themselves, and, being inclined to believe that the name of Mason "has its derivation from a language in which it implies some strong indication or distinction of the nature of the society, and that it has no relation to architects," looks for the root in the Greek tongue. Thus he thinks that Mason may come from Mao Soon, "I seek salvation," or from Mystes, "an initiate"; and that Masonry is only a corruption of Mesouraneo, "I am in the midst of heaven"; or from Mazourouth, a constellation mentioned by Job, or from Mysterion, "a mystery."
Lessing says, in his Ernst und Falls, that Masa in the Anglo-Saxon signifies a table, and that Masonry, consequently, is a society of the table.
Nicolai thinks he finds the root in the sow Latin word of the Middle Ages Massonya, or Masonia, which signifies an exclusive society or club, such as that of the Round Table.
Coming down to later times, we find Brother C. W. Moore, in his Boston Magazine, of May, 1844, deriving Meson from Lithotornos, a Stone Cutter. But although fully aware of the elasticity of etymological rules, it surpasses our ingenuity to get Mason etymologically out of Lithotomos.
Brother Giles F. Yates sought for the derivation of Mason in the Greek word Mazones, a festival of Dionysus, and he thought that this was another proof of the lineal descent of the Masonic Order from the Dionysiac Artificers.
Brother William S. Rockwell, who was accustomed to find all his Freemasonry in the Egyptian Mysteries and who was a thorough student of the Egyptian hieroglyphic system, derives the word Mason from a combination of two phonetic signs, the one being Mai, and signifying to love, and the other being Son, which means a brother. Hence he says, "this combination, Maison, expresses exactly in sound our word Masons and signifies literally loving brother, that is, philadelphust brother of an association, and thus corresponds also in sense."
But all of these fanciful etymologies, which would have terrified Bopp, Grimm, or Muller, or any other student of linguistic relations, forcibly remind us of the French epigrammatist, who admitted that alp/lina came from equus, but that, in so coming, it had very considerably changed its route."
What, then, is the true derivation of the word Mason? Let us see what the orthoepists, who had no Masonic theories, have said upon the subject.
Webster, seeing that in Spanish masa means mortar, is inclined to derive Mason, as denoting one that works in mortar, from the root of mass, which of course gave birth to the Spanish word.
In Low or Medieval Latin, Mason was machio or memo, and this Du Cange derives from the Latin maceria, a long wall. Others find a derivation in machinoe, because the builders stood upon machines to raise their walls. But Richardson takes a commonsense view of the subject.
He says, "It appears to be obviously the same word as maison, a house or mansion, applied to the person who builds, instead of the thing built. The French Maisoner is to build houses; Masonner, to build of stone. The word Mason is applied by usage to a builder in stone, and Masonry to work in stone."
Carpenter gives Massom, used in 1225, for a building of stone, and Massonus, used in 1304, for a Mason; and the Benedictine editors of Du Cange define Massoneria "a building, the French Maconnerie, and Massonerius," as Latomus or a Mason, both words in manuscripts of 1385.
Doctor Murray, in the NewEnglish Dictionary, says of the word Mason: "the ulterior etymology is obscure, possibly the word is from the root of Latin maceria, a wall.
As a practical question, we are compelled to reject all those fanciful derivations which connect the Freemasons etymologically and historically with the Greeks, the Egyptians, or the Druids, and to take the word Mason in its ordinary signification of a worker in stone, and thus indicate the origin of the Order from a society or association of practical and operative builders. We need no better root than the old French and Latin Maçonner, to build, or Maçonetus, a builder (see Freemason and Maçon) .
MASONEY.
Used in the Strassburg Constitutions, and other German works of the Middle Ages, as equivalent to the modern Freemasonry. Kloss translates it by Masonhood. Lessing derives it from mosa, Anglo Saxon, a table, and says it means a Society of the Table. Nicolai deduces it from the Low Latin masTanya, which means both a club and a key, and says it means an exclusive society or club, and so, he thinks, we get our word Masonry. Krause traces it to mas mase, food or a banquet. It is a pity to attack these speculations, but we are inclined to look at Masonry as simply a corruption of the English Masonrie.
MASON HERMETIC.
The French is Maçon Hermetique. A Degree in the Archives of the Mother Lodge of the Eclectic Philosophic Rite.
MASONIC ARCHEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.
This was the title of a Society founded in England about 1871. Brother Walter Besant was the Secretary though he was not an original member of the Society which was probably founded by Brother William Smith, C. E., once Editor of the Freemason or Freemasons Magazine. The objects of the Society were the advancement of those branches of archeological knowledge and research which either directly or indirectly bear upon Freemasonry. Besides the study of Freemasonry proper, the Institute was to have papers read and discuss subjects connected with mysticism and allegorical teachings in literature and philosophy; symbolism in religion and art; the development and progress of architecture; the history of secret sects, associations and brotherhoods; and similar subjects. It was understood that no papers would be published whose subjects rendered them unsuitable for the reading of those who were not Freemasons. Later on Brother Besant became Treasurer and R. G. Haliburton the Secretary.
The latter was a Freemason of Saint John's Lodge, Nova Scotia, and was the son of Judge Haliburton, author of Sam Slick. The Society was not of long life but is particularly noteworthy because several of its early members were connected with the founding of Quatuor Coronati Lodge.
MASONIC BAPTISM.
See Bapttsm, Masonic, Clean Hands, and Lustration.
MASONIC CIPHER MESSAGE.
At Cawnpore, India, in July, 1857, occurred the massacre of hundreds of men, women and children. Of this butchery there is a pathetic record in the message of a Masonic character that was written on the wall of the Chamber of Blood. This inscription appearing in a recent issue of the Controlling Officers' Journal, was reprinted in the Transactions, Leicester Lodge of Research, 1912-3 (page 107) and as the Masonic cipher was not understood an invitation was extended the Craft to submit a clue to its meaning (see Cipher Writing).
Brother W. John Songhurst offered in reply the comment that the reproduction corresponded fairly with a photograph in his possession. But there were one or two small differences proving that they were not taken direct from the same original. For instance, the photograph shows that a blot had been erased at the word hands, and that an alteration had been made at the word Post which looks as though it had been first written Past. It is headed "The writing on the Wall in Sir H. Wheeler's Room." Brother Songhurst had been able to trace other copies, all having many features in common, but none corresponding exactly, and with some the differences are important. He proceeded in Transactions, 19134 (pages 71F83) to discuss the circumstances thus:
At the outbreak of the Mutiny in May, 1857, Major General Sir Hugh Wheeler was in command of the Cawnpore division of the Indian Army. He at once ordered entrenchments to be constructed, and by the 21st of May these were occupied by the women and nonconubatants. It is stated that there were about one thousand Europeans in the town, of whom n ore than half were women and children. In a letter written by General Wheeler on 1st June, he says, "I have left my house, and am residing day and night in my tent."
On the 6th of June the siege commenced, and the defenders gallantly held out for three weeks. The attack was led by the adopted son of the former chief of the Mahrattas, known in history as Nana Sahib, whose claims to succession the British Government had refused to recognize. General Wheeler had with him his wife, who was of mixed blood, his son and two daughters. The son, Lieutenant Wheeler, was his Aide-de-Camp, and being severely wounded during the siege, he was carried to a room in the barracks. Here, in the presence of the whole family--father, mother and sisters--he was killed by a cannon-ball, winch, entering the building, took off his head.
On the 26th of June, Captain Moore, Captain Whiting and Mr. Roche, the postmaster, went from the trenches to arrange for capitulation, and eventually received the promise of safe conduct for all to Allahabad. Preparations were quickly made. Sepoys accompanied the fugitives to the banks of the river, but even before all were embarked in the boats, a murderous musket-fire was opened upon them, and according to one account, only four men eseaped. It seems certain that General Wheeler, his wife and elder daughter were among the killed. About one hundred and twenty-five women and children were carried back to Cawnpore, including the general's youngest daughter, who was taken by one of Nana's troopers some say by Nana himself, and died a natural death in Nepal some years afterwards. The others were put into two rooms, about twenty feet by ten feet each, in a small building formerly occupied bv a native clerk, elose to Nana's house. Meanwhile General Havelock was hurrying to the relief.
He arrived on the 16th of July, only to find that all the prisoners had been massacred by Nana's orders, and hurled, dead and dying, into a well. sir George Trevelyan in his Cawnpore, published in 1865, says that this took place "within call of the theatre, the assermbly-rooms and the Masonic Lodge." Other accounts from which I have taken these particulars are The Story of Cawnpore, London, 1859, by Captain Mowbray Thomson, and A Personal Narrative of the Outbreak and Massacre at Cawnpore, Lucknow, 1879, by W. J. Shepherd. Both of these men escaped from the garrison. Thomson swam from the boats and managed to land lower down the river; Shepherd went out disguised during the siege, and was not able to return until after Havelock's occupation of the town. The cipher inscription is not mentioned in either of these narratives but Shepherd says that during the siege both he and Captain Seppings wrote messages upon the walls of the barracks in pencil. There were two barracks within the entrenchments. One is described as the Thatched Barrack, and it was burned down by the rebels. The other was called the Masonry Barrack, or the Flat-roofed Barrack, and it seems that it was in this building General Wheeler had his quarters, and in which his son was killed. Seppings was also in the Masonry Barrack, and wrote as follows:
"The following were in this barrack on 11th June, 1857, Captain Seppings, Mrs. Ditto, 3 children, Mrs. Wainwright, Ditto infant, Mr. Cripps, Mrs. Halliday."
Shepherd's inscription in the Thatched barrack was:
" Should this meet the eves of any who were acquainted with us, in case we are all destroyed, be it known to them that we occupied this room for eight davs under circumstances so distressing as have no precedent. The destruction of Jerusalem could not have been attended with distress as severe as we have experienced in so short a time. W. J. Shepherd (wounded in the back), his wife and two children, Rebecca and her infant, Elnelina, Martha, old Mrs. Frost, Mrs. Osborne, Daniel, The Khoorranee, Conductor Bethell, his wife and daughter, together with other friends. 11th June, 1857."
The writing in cipher was first brought to Masonic notice in May, 1862, by a copy in the Indian Freemason's Friend, the correspondent asking if any reader could furnish an explanation. This brought a letter signed " Tatnai," dated from Lucknow, 27th July, in which it is said, that the inscription is "in many parts a string of characters devoid of significance." This fact " Tatnai" attributes to errors made by the original writer, to errors made by the copyist, and to chips of whitewash having fallen from the wall, before the copy was made. He then gives the cipher portion of the writing as it had appeared in the Journal, and adds a suggested restoration. The letter mentions "the few lines signed by J. W. Roche, just above R. A. B. Johnstone " written in plain English, and says that these include the words "nasty wound," which in a copy of his possession were written " mortally wounded." These particulars about Roche (called also Roach and Roache) do not appear in the photograph, but we find them in a copy made by R. MacCrea, of the 0. and R. Railway dated 20th July, 1887. Shepherd mentions that Roche had been wounded four times in the entrenchments, but they were only flesh wounds. He was killed on 27th of June. The same journal also printed a translation of the cipher, made by Colonel E. K. Money, which is as follows:
" Dear Jesus send His help soon and deliver us not into
the enemy's hands.
The General's daughter is in this corner.
May God reward them according to the bloody deeds
done to this innocent girl.
This is the corner General Wheeler occupied in his distress.
The General's wife is in this corner.
The P.M. in this.
This is the place where two soldiers (unintelligible)
Remember the innocent."
As both of the General's daughters survived the siege there must be some mistake in this translation, on which a critic, possibly " Tatnai " himself, writes: " Colonel Money has misinterpreted the gender of the symbol, it was the general's son who was wounded, when a cannonball. in passing through the room, carried away the head of lieutenant Wheeler in the presence of his parents and sisters. Colonel Mowbray Thomson states this . . . and Colonel Williams, the special Commissioner, states that Lady Wheeler and her two daughters were brought down to the Ghaut on an elephant. One of the daughters was carried away by a Sowar. The remark 'unintelligible' . . . must refer to the spot where the two soldiers laid Lieutenant Wheeler down. Mr. Shepherd says that the two daughters occupied the adjoining room when he saw the General on the 24th June, 1S57."
I have mentioned that MacCrea's printed leaflet is dated July 1887- It purports to have been "copied by W. J. Shepherd in July, 185d," and it contains the following which I have not found elsewhere, though in part it is referred to by "Tatnai":
"T. B. Roach wounded in right foot, shin bone fractured by shell, knee cap fractured, musket shot behind, nasty wound, musket shot in right breast. 9 th June, 1857.
Adjutant Halliday, With N. I-, killed by a round shot, 9th June, 1857."
Only three lines of cipher are given, and these with all else which could not be printed in type, are inserted with pen and ink. Some notes are added, but they are not reliable as they contain, for instance, the statement that the translation by (Colonel Money appeared in the Masonic Herald for 1808, while as a matter of fact that periodical was not in existence until about l870, and as I have said, the translation was printed in the Indian Freemasons Friend in 1862. While I cannot say that I am satisfied with Colonel Money's translation, I am not able to supply another. The absence of the original writing, or an authoritative copy, renders any serious attempt at deciphering practically impossible. We do not even know for certain where it was written. If, as seems most likely, it was on a wall in the Thatched Barrack, it could scarcely have referred to General Wheeler and his family, and we know that this building was burned during the siege; while the Masonry Barrack in which General Wheeler had his quarters, was destroyed soon after Havelock's entry. "Tatnai," writing within five years of the massacre, says that the building was not then in existence, and his suggestion is that the writer had concealed something in a certain place, and hoped that after his death some Brother might be able to recover it.
There were two English Lodges at Cawnpore at the time--Sincerity, constituted in 1819 and erased in 1858 and Harmony, constituted in 1836, which still exists as No. 438. It seems likely that Johnston may have been the Master of Sincerity, but unfortunately no names were registered at Grand Lodge after 1845. Shepherd mentions a Mr. A. R. Johnston, of the E. I. Railway, who with his wife and children was killed during the siege. James Williamson Roche, postmaster, was initiated in Harmony in December, 1806, and his is the only name I am able to trace in the lists at Freemasons' Hall. It is quite possible that the Brother who wrote the cipher was a Scotch Mason. Thedevieeattheheadundoubtedly indicates the Red Cross of Babylon, which the second line ends with letters referring to the same Degree (Red Cross Knight), and one would not expect this to have been put forward prominently, in an English Lodge, at so late a date.
On the other hand a Scotch Master would probably have been described as R.W.M. The interlaced triangles which appear sometimes at the foot, and sometimes in the centre of the copies, may be taken as referring to the Royal Arch, but it is not impossible that they may also indicate the key to the cipher. Colonel Money's translation seems to imply that the prayer was also written in cipher, while MacCrea's version points to a senes of inscriptions in the form of a diary, or record of events, during the siege, and Shepherd's statements rather bear out this view. It may be merely a coincidence that on the 17th of June, the date given on the photograph, a daughter of Shepherd was killed by a chance musket shot. If Colonel Money was right in his translation of "daughter" there is just a possibility that this u the incident referred to. In any case it seems that the mystery will not be cleared up, unless and until we have before us a correct copy of the writing as it originally appeared Only one thing can be stated with certainty: that it had no reference whatever to either of the two massacres but to occurrences which took place before the attempted escape by the boats.
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