THE MASONIC SIGN IN A CRIMINAL TRIAL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 245, 11 January 1878, Page 13

THE MASONIC SIGN IN A CRIMINAL TRIAL.

In London, at present, a remarkable case is on trial of three of the most trusted detective officers for complicity with forgers and swindlers. It has appeared, in the course of the examination, that, in one case, where it was necessary to influence a witness, the masonic sign was the medium. The following is an extract from the report of the London Times. The witness Kurr is relating how Detective-Inspec-tor Froggatt bribed or influenced a witness against Kurr on a former trial : — "I will see FlintofE (the witness to be bribed) myself," said Froggatt, "as Stenning is a fool, and cannot be trusted, and I shall offer him £50." I said, « All right. He will have to say he made a mistake last night." On his return he said that "he had offered fifty ' quid ' to Flintoff, but he did not seem disposed to agree to it." He then said, '• Are you a Mason ? " I said '.' No." " Well, I shall tell him you are, as he is one, and yov must give him the sign when he gets into the box." I said, » All right." He asked me if I knew the sign, and I said, "Yes." He stated that Flintoff, although not quite agreeing, had promised not to do me any harm.— Advocate.

A distinguished Catholic journalist of Wurzburg, in Bavaria, has published a very interesting pamphlet entitled " The Catholic Press in Europe in 1877." Looking over it, we see at once how Catholic journalism has developed and spread wherever the Culturkampf has raged most violently. There are 398 Catholic journals published in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, having an aggregate circulation of 1,218,900 copies, or one copy for every twentyfive inhabitants. They are divided as follows : Austria has eightyseven jonrnals, with a circulation of 143,500 ; Prussia, 140. with 379,900 circulation ; Bavaria, seventy-seven journals, having 383,800 : Switzerland, fifty-three, having 138,600 ; Saxony, three, and 1,700 ; Wurtemburg, eleven, and 42,700 ; Baden, twelve, and 39,400 : AlsaceLorraine, one, with 10,000 ; Hesse, twelve, with 77,500 ; Oldenburg, one, with 800, and Hamburg one with 700. Thus we see that Prussia counts for thirty-five per cent, of the whole number ; Austria for twenty-five ; Bavaria, nineteen ; Switzerland, fourteen ; Baden and Hesse, three ; Wurtemburg, two and three-fourths ; Saxony, threefourths ; and the remainder one-fourth. Comparing these figures with the population, we find that there is one copy of a paper to every three inhabitants in Hesse ; one to eight in Switzerland, one to nine in Bavaria, one to eighteen in Baden, one to nineteen in Wurtemburg, one to twenty-four in Prussia, one to forty-three in Saxony, and one to one hundred and six in Austria. Thus we see that the nominally most Catholic country in Germany has the smallest proportion of distinctively Catholic journals, and that persecution seems to have no other effect than to enliven the faith of the people and make them have recourse to their able journals for instruction, information, consolation and advice. — Catholic Times.

.The Catholic Times, commenting on the proposition of the Episcopal Church to style itself " the Catholic Church of America," says:— "We remember the time when to call an Episcopalian a Catholic would have been considered a gross insult ; but of late there appears to be a charm in the name ; and indeed there is a charm in the name and in the reality itself. We do not chide our Episcopal friends for their admiration and love for Catholicity ; it is a cheering Sl /\ What we criticise them for is their pretence of being a branch of the Church of Christ when not one of those other churches which they recognise as branches of the true Church recognise their title or claimed relationship." The Hospital Saturday collections in London were made recently, when one hundred and fifty ladies sat in the streets invarious parts of the metropolis, with collecting boxes, to receive sub* flenptions, - • ■ ' ' • - • ■*