Freemasons and the Devil.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 136, 12 June 1897, Page 1 (Supplement)

Freemasons and the Devil.

The meetiag of the Geographical Society in Paris at which ib was aanouneed thab Diana Vaughan would make revelations on Satan worship. ended in great disorder. M. Loo Taxii. opened fcho proceedings by a speech lasting two hours and a-balf, and ended by informing those present fchab Diana Vaaghan is b,ub a myth created by his otvn.brain.aa a practical joke. The Abb 6 Gamier protested violenbly againsß tho whole proceedings, bub was hustled out of the building by a gang of Anarchists.

'Diana Vaugban ' was said to bo bora of ProteubanG parents • way down in Kentucky,' and to have bean made Palhxdian Grand Mistress of the Supreme and Mysterious Lodge of Universal Freemasonry. In this capacity Diana was alleged to have married the devil, Asmodeus, who was commander-in-chief of 70 legions of Satanic spirits. After these monstrosities had been launched other publications entitled * Memoirs of an exPalladist' and * Tho Eucharisbic Novena ' announced that Diana Vaughan Lad boon convorted bo Catholicism. She was pabronieed, although she had never been aeen, by Cardinal Parocchi, and even by tha Popa himself. L2O Taxil published her fame far and wide in religious newspapers and periodicals: bub in spite of all bhia some Catholics began to have strong suspicions, and at an Anti-Masonic congress held last year in Tronb her exisfconce was denied. Sceptic.? and unbelievers who refused to regard D?ana as aught bub a mybhicai personage p6rsiat<snfcly called on M. Taxil to produce her in tfhe flash, and to let her bo soon and heard.? $ This Cho supposed convert promised ,to -do, and he accordingly convoked a meeting at: which he disclosed the in^posturo amid scenes of protestation and uproar. M. Taxil calmly announced thab ho was born a perpefcrater of jokes at the expense of credulous humanity. Fumisterie was the foundation of his character as a Marseilles man, and at the ago of 19 he had terrified hia follow-tovrnsmon by'announcthat the port of the Southern city was invaded by sharks of tho most terrible apsciea. lie also announced that there wag a lost city under the Lake of Gsaava ; and some people believed that they saw cafesohantants, houses and gardens deep down in the recesses of tho blue Lake Lomau. A Polish archceologisb oven went so far as to write a treatise on the matter, in which, he said that ho had perceived something like an equestrian statue at the bottom ot bha inland sea immortalised by Gibbon, Rousseau, Byron and Madatao do StaeL Then Taxil started the Diana Vaughan hoax. lie was prayed for by fervent monks snd nuns, who almost regarded him as a febher of the Church and a candidate for canonisation, eince he unmasked tho Freemnsons and brought over to Catholicity women wedded to devils. At.Romo ho waa received with open arms, and had an audience at tho Vatican : but;, as ho assured his a3boni3bed auditors, he was only a falsa convert, and Diana Vaughau was merely a typewriting young woman whom ha employed as a secretary ab £6 per monfch. In this- capacity she wrote and signed letters dictated by Taxil himself, and addressed to high prelates. All this waa calmly and sardonically ufcfcerod by the speaker, who oaid to the priests and Catholic writers present thab he sincerely thanked them and the bishops for having assisted him in organising the finest hoax of tho century, and ono which crowned hia career. Taxil was vigorously hooted as ha übtered these words, and bhe Abbe Gamier, a muscular Christian and mtlibanb Catholic, who edits a paper, called the speaker most terrible names, and lamented thab he had left his big stick at tho door. On leaving the hall of meeting Taxil had to be protected by bhe police, who wore in strong force, and ho was followed not ouly by angry Catholics, but by parsons who took up the cause of the Freemasons.