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“Membership,” then as now, was a priority order of business and before adjourning
the group “ordered the Secretary to procure additional signatures to the application for dispensation”.
Secretary Gillison moved rapidly and in less than a month the
new group had more than doubled in size.
The Temple was officially recognized “Under Dispensation” on February
25. Their
first requirements were for a more permanent hall in which to meet and for purchase of robes and paraphernalia.
Including this first meeting in February and the last pre-charter
meeting on June 9, the U.D. Temple met only eight times, a far cry from the present day Shrine system in which
a petitioning Temple, with substantial initial membership may be granted a Dispensation at an annual Imperial Council
Session and be considered for Charter at the next Annual Session.
Teed was Potentate when Al Malaikah was chartered, but was ill
and not in attendance at the first formal meeting of the chartered Temple, at which time his successor was elected. Four years
to come, he was an active and influential member of the Temple, and was a leading figure in the York Rite as well.
Twenty-one Al Malaikhans attended the second “U.D.” meeting and
for the first time elected a full complement of officers: Chief Rabban Ward, Assistant Rabban Higgins, High Priest
Dupuy, Oriental Guide Guillson, Treasurer Whitson and Recorder John VanDoren, “Grand Potentate” Teed appointed
Nobles Dunsmore and the King as 1st
and 2nd
Ceremonial Masters, Osborne as Captain of the Guard and McIllmoil his Lodge’s Tyler as Outer Guard. (The Outer
Guard functioned much as does a Masonic Lodge Tyler, and it was subsequently ordered that he be paid $5.00 for
services when the Order is conferred and $1.50 for other sessions.)
After Grand Potentate Teed was obligated by Noble H.O. Weller
of Islam Temple, he installed the newly-elected officers and announced that the Temple was “Legally Organized.”
The Temple had moved to the Hall of York Rite’s Council of Royals
and Select Masters in Los Angeles at a monthly rental of $7.50, and set a budget of $1,500 for Paraphernalia and
appurtenances.
Enter the “Secret Committee” in adopting their first By Laws at
the March 10 meeting, the budding Temple decreed that immediately after election of officers each year the Grand
Potentate must appoint a five man “Secret Committee” membership of which was to be known to no one other than the
Recorder. Their duty was to examine fully into the charter and qualifications of each applicant for the Order
or for Affiliation and report their findings to the Grand Potentate. Unanimous ballot was required to elect. For a starter,
the Application fee $10.00 There were no annual dues.
By April Al Malaikah was thinking “big” and appointed the Potentate
and two others as a committee to invite the Imperial Potentate to visit the Temple. In May Wells Fargo collected $78 express
charges for delivering the first ritual robes.
A steady flow of Applications had started from men ranging in
age from 28 to 54, mostly in their 40’s. Their occupations included business college student, capitalist, banker,
merchant, dentist, tax collector, broker, physician and contractor, with residence as far as San Bernardino and
San Diego.
Social life got started with a banquet at the May 31 meeting that
cost the Temple $20.00 plus $3.00 for cigars.
But a cloud appeared on the horizon in the form of illness which kept
the Potentate away from his duties all the month.
He returned on June 9 and presumably led the Nobility to Toronto for
the Imperial Council Session at which Al Malaikah was chartered on June 25.
Noble Teed continued in office until the Temple’s next meeting,
it’s first under Charter, on August 11, 1888, when the “permanent set of officers” was elected. He was absent from that meeting however,
and his letter resigning his office because of illness was read and accepted. His status as “Past Potentate” was confirmed
in the minutes of the August 24 meeting, at which he presided and installed the new officers headed by the Potentate
Myron Higgins.
The following month the Temple switched to the Board of Trades
as its meeting place; its first disaster, the loss by fire of its robes and paraphernalia had occurred. A move
back to the Masonic Hall, arrangement for proper storage of Temple property and prompt insuring of all Temple goods
and paraphernalia was ordered, though records fail to disclose the details of loss or reason for the move.
This was a time when the York Rite was flourishing and most of
Al Malaikah’s candidates were Knights
Templar, and the importance of the Ladies was recognized for the first
time with a formal reception for them on January 18, 1889.
It was recorded that on Monday, June 10 “a general good and social
time was enjoyed by our invited lady guests,” but it later developed that the Temple’s first problem of Noble decorum
occurred at that time. With Noble Teed in the Chair, a communication from Potentate Higgins was read and preferring
charges against (Noble X) for unbecoming conduct (intoxication) at the Ladies reception. Following a “guilty with extenuating circumstances”
plea, the wayward Shriner was required to appear before the Altar for “public reprimand.”
The time had come for Almalaikah’s first pilgrimage, and the heads
turned toward the southerly climes of San Diego-but not without prudent eyed on the economics.
An appointed committee developed assurances that would be at the
least 19 candidates for invitation in the Pilgrimage city, and expenses were to be limited to money actually received. The Grand
Banquet would cost $1.50 to $2.00 per plate.
Goal for the traveling Al Malaikahans was the brand new Hotel
del Coronado, the largest electrically lighted building in the United States, outside of New York (and in 1988 still one of the world’s
largest wooden buildings). Thomas Edison had supervised the electrical installation and Coronado had the state’s first
electric power plant.
Al Malaikah, led by Potentate Higgins and accompanied by Coeur
de Lion Commandry No. 9 Knights Templar, and guests-in all, some 500 pilgrims-rolled into San Diego railway station
at 10 a.m. Thursday, August 9, 1889.
Many took side trips to the Mexican border and elsewhere and the party
checked into the hotel in the late afternoon.
The “Hotel Del” was an exciting place. There were the “birdcage” elevators, and the turret over the Grand Ballroom towered an astonishing
10 stories. The 66x156 foot Crown Room was America’s largest pillories room. Each guest room had it’s own fireplace, safe and electric guest-call, and notices cautioned
occupants not to light the lamps with matches. The hotel’s historical archives record that Potentate Higgins was lodged in room 368, “Mr.
Teed” in room 50, Chief Rabban and Mrs. Ward in 29.
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