Memorandum Number One:

An Introduction to the Secret Cult of the Order
Secret political organizations can be - and have been - extremely dangerous to the social health and constitutional vitality of a society. In a truly free society the exercise of political power must always be open and known.

Moreover, organizations devoted to violent overthrow of political structures have always, by necessity, been secret organizations. Communist revolutionary cells are an obvious example. In fact, such revolutionary organizations could only function if their existence was secret.

In brief, secrecy in matters political is historically associated with coercion. Furthermore, the existence of secrecy in organizations with political ambitions or with a history of political action is always suspect. Freedom is always associated with open political action and discussion while coercion is always associated with secrecy.

There are numerous historical examples to support this premise. Back in the late 17th century the Elector of Bavaria, the constitutional government of Bavaria, banned the Illuminati organization. Accidental discovery of Illuminati documents demonstrated that a secret organization was devoted to the overthrow of the Bavarian state and establishment of a world society run by elitist Illuminati.

More recently in England there have been startling discoveries involving use of the Masonic movement by the Soviet KGB to subvert and infiltrate British intelligence. True freemasonry is an establishment conservative organization, but its organizational structure can be - and has been - used for revolutionary purposes. Masonic aims are publicly stated to be fraternity and charity, but it is also well known that masons help each other in areas supposedly based on talent.

In The Brotherhood 1 Stephen Knight comments that many have suffered because freemasonry has entered segments of society where it has no place:

... there can be no doubt that many... have suffered because of freemasonry entering into areas of life where, according to all its publicly proclaimed principles, it should never intrude. The abuse of freemasonry causes alarming miscarriages of justice" (p. 4).

1 Stephan Knight, The Brotherhood: The secret World of the Freemasons, Granada, London, 1984.

In England at any rate freemasonry has become a self-serving organization always discriminating in favor of its own members when it comes to contracts, jobs, careers and promotions. Moreover, we now know that the masonic movement in England was used by the Russian KGB to infiltrate, take over and finally head British intelligence organizations.

In September 1984 Scotland Yard in London advised all its police officers not to join the freemasons lest its reputation for impartiality be lost. Given this background, The Order, a secret society also known as Skull & Bones, is a clear and obvious threat to constitutional freedom in the United States. Its secrecy, power and use of influence is greater by far than the masons, or any other semi-secret mutual or fraternal organization.

How secret is Skull & Bones?

The most careful analysis of the society is by Lyman Bagg in Four Years At Yale written in 1871, and still the only source of documented information on the cultic aspects of The Order.

According to Bagg, The Order is intensely secret:

"They (the senior societies at Yale) are the only Yale societies whose transactions are truly secret."


"Their members never mention their names, nor refer to them in any way in the presence of anyone not of their own number, and as they are all seniors, there are no old members in the class above them to tell tales out of school."

This intense secrecy even extends to documents printed for internal use. On the next page we reprint an internal circular distributed among Patriarchs which has disguised references as follows: "P" i.e., Patriarch "P---s" Patriarchs. If The Order has this intense secrecy, then how are we able to reproduce its documents and memberships rolls? Simply because secrecy attracts attention. Secrecy creates suspicion of intentions. This in turn generates action to break the secrecy.

This series of books is based on several sources, including contemporary "moles." However, information on the cultic aspects comes from a century-old Yale concern about the operations and intentions at Skull & Bones. This concern generated two pamphlets, one issue of a journal and a chapter in a book, as follows:

An anonymous pamphlet entitled Skull & Bones. This is an account of the 1876 break-in at the "Bones" Temple on the Yale campus.
 

1.- Lyman Bagg, Four Years at Yale

Henry Holt & Co., New York, 1871

 

The chapter "Senior Societies" is reprinted in full as an appendix to this book. An extremely rare document, it is reproduced in full as an appendix to this book.

The pamphlet begins:

"As long as Bones shall exist the night of September 29th (1876) will be to its members the anniversary of the occasion when their temple was invaded by neutrals, their rarest memorabilia confiscated and their most sacred secrets unveiled to the eyes of the uninitiated."

This is reference to a break-in by a group of Yale students, and the pamphlet describes in minute detail the contents of the Temple. For example, it describes the walls, e.g.,

"... the walls are adorned with pictures of the founders of Bones at Yale and of the members of the Society in Germany when the Chapter was established here in 1832."

This sentence becomes of interest when the Illuminati aspect is discussed in Memorandum Five below.

Here's another interesting paragraph from this pamphlet:

"Bones is a chapter of a corps in a German University. It should properly be called, not Skull & Bones Society but Skull & Bones Chapter. General R------ (Russell), its founder, was in Germany before Senior Year and formed a warm friendship with a leading member of a German society. He brought back with him to college, authority to found a chapter here. Thus was Bones founded."

Think about this: Skull & Bones is not American at all. It is a branch of a FOREIGN secret society.

Presumably this is one reason why intense secrecy is vital. It also raises the question of just who and what this foreign organization is and whether its objectives are compatible with those of the Constitution of the United States.
 


2.- The Order, The Fall of Skull and Bones

(New Haven, 1876)

 

This is an anonymous satire published 1876 apparently in New Haven, Connecticut by a group calling itself The Order. The subtitle reads "Compiled from the minutes of the 76th regular meeting of The Order of the File and Claw." The opening paragraphs are as in Skull & Bones cited above (1).

 

However, the text continues with considerably more detail and appears to have been written by another member of the break-in crew. In particular, this book gives the identification of the owner of the human skull found in one of the rooms of the Temple:

"A light is always kept burning in the Jo (D) which is ornamented with a dilapidated human skull ... here is also a tombstone marked SPERRY, seemingly taken from the same grave as the skull."

In brief, it appears this "respected" Order of Yale gentlemen is no more than a coven of grave robbers hoarding skulls, skeletons and tombstones.

Then further down is the following:

"In the Pantry (F) are large quantities of dishes, each piece of crockery ornamented with a picture of a skull and crossbones, each spoon and fork marked S.B.T."

(Skull and Bones Trust)

This suggests a preoccupation with skulls and human bones is built into the cultic structure of The Order.

Then on page 4 we learn that each member of Skull & Bones (as well as Scroll & Key) has an "inside name" and these names bear a remarkable resemblance to those used by the Illuminati, e.g., Chilo, Eumenes, Glaucus, Prisaticus and Arbaces.

The conclusion of this pamphlet is:

" ... we will say that a thorough examination of every part of the Temple leads us to the conclusions that the most powerful of college societies is nothing more than a pleasant convivial club."

This conclusion ignores other evidence presented elsewhere. It is acceptable given only the findings of the break-in crew.
 


3.- The Iconoclast

New Haven 1873

Only one issue of this journal has been found, and only a single copy of that issue exists. It is reproduced as an appendix below. The editor of The Iconoclast considered Skull & Bones "a deadly evil" and emphasized their interest in political control.

 

Moreover, the Iconoclast states that The Order obtained control of Yale, and its members care more for their society than for Yale:

Out of every class Skull and Bones takes its men. They have gone out into the world and have become, in many instances, leaders in society. They have obtained control of Yale. Its business is performed by them. Money paid to the college must pass into their hands, and be subject to their will.
 

4.- Chapter "Senior Societies" in Lyman Bagg, Four Years at Yale

 

This is the reference cited above at the beginning of this chapter. Other sources include an article in Esquire Magazine by Ron Rosenbaum entitled "The last secrets of Skull and Bones" (September 1977).

 

From this article we learn such tidbits as:

"Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart ... dressed up in a skeleton suit, howled wildly at an initiate in a red velvet room inside the tomb"

 

"McGeorge Bundy wrestled naked in a mud pile as part of his initiation."

According to a dossier obtained by Ron Rosenbaum, the 1940 initiation ceremony went like this:

New man placed in coffin - carried into central part of building. New man chanted over and reborn into society. Removed from coffin and given robes with symbols on it (sic). A bone with his name on it is tossed into bone heap at start of evening. Initiates plunged naked into mud pile.

Again, we have a sordid preoccupation with coffins, skeletons and death.

This about summarizes sources of information.

Strangely enough, the long-time proponent of conspiracy theories, the John Birch Society, has made little contribution to our knowledge of The Order. Apparently JBS recognizes its existence but considers it merely a "recruiting ground," which, of course, it is.

This "recruiting ground" interpretation suggests several points.

  • Firstly, the documentary evidence is quite clear: Knights, i.e., the just recruited initiates, spend only one year as Knights. They become Patriarchs after leaving Yale and spend a lifetime as Patriarchs.

  • Second, continual correspondence and meeting as Patriarchs continues after leaving Yale. In fact, the Deer Hand Club is specifically for annual meetings of Patriarchs and the Russell Trust Association is run entirely by Patriarchs.

In brief, the JBS "recruiting ground" theory just doesn't match all the facts.

Furthermore, The Order is the ONLY fully documented example we have of a secret society within the U.S. establishment. JBS has never produced membership lists of any other society and yet seems unwilling to recognize the existence of The Order.

Similarly, New Solidarity, i.e., the Lyndon LaRouche outfit, claims to have exposed The Order back in 1979. Unfortunately, neither Lyndon LaRouche nor anyone else can produce documents dated 1983 and 1984 in 1979. In any event, the degree of documentation in our volumes on The Order has not been matched elsewhere.

The answer is that this author does have - and fully admits to having - clandestine sources within The Order. We understand that for specific reasons these sources are not available to either JBS or Lyndon LaRouche. At that point we will leave our discussion of sources and move on to the ritual aspects of The Order.

 

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Memorandum Number Two:

The Organization of The Order
The Yale Senior society system is unique to Yale University. There is nothing like it elsewhere in the United States or for that matter in the entire world. According to Lyman Bagg in Four Years at Yale,

"the senior societies are such peculiarly Yale institutions that it will be difficult for an outsider fully to appreciate their significance"

(Bagg, p. 142, see page following for full context)

Nothing like them exists elsewhere and according to Bagg, "Harvard is the only college where, under similar conditions they possibly could exist."

There are three senior societies, Skull & Bones, Scroll & Key and Wolfs Head. Each year 15 male Yale juniors are tapped for admission. They spend only one year in the society, an entirely different procedure to fraternal organizations found on other campuses.

Skull & Bones was founded in 1833 and has initiated 15 members each year since 1833 (except for 1945 when only 10 were tapped). Every year during commencement week 15 Yale juniors receive an invitation "Skull & Bones. Accept or reject?" Those who accept, presumably the greater number, are invited to attend the Bones Temple on campus to undergo an initiation ceremony. (See next page) Tap day in modern times is a private, almost concealed operation; it was not always that way.

Before 1953 juniors were herded into a yard and representatives from senior societies would circulate among assembled students, selecting those wanted for initiation.

In those days rejection by a senior society was considered social suicide, so Yale ordered tapping a private affair, to avoid the traumatic wait and fear of rejection by the assembled juniors.

For the ambitious, "tapping" is the magic password to a future career. Wherever he turns, the success of the Yale senior society system is obvious. Yale University President, A. Bartlett Giamatti, was a member of Scroll & Key, while George Bush, Vice President of the United States was a member of Skull & Bones.

The Yale campus student is well aware that the senior society system is geared to the affluent outside world, to the world after graduation. Money and connections flow from membership. Reportedly, Skull & Bones donates $15,000 and a grandfather clock to each initiate. Certainly alumni pay for everything associated with society meetings.

 

In one case reported by New York Times (April 16, 1983), the alumni paid for a three-hour phone call from Colorado to Yale by two members of Scroll & Key unable to attend a meeting in the Scroll & Key tomb.

Although the John Birch Society, the long time conservative promoter of conspiracy theory, emphasizes that these senior societies are merely recruiting grounds, in effect the societies are the source of a vast establishment network, a formalized "old boy" network that effectively shuts out the newcomers and the non-Yale talented from the halls of power.

 

Because these are senior societies, the emphasis is not on campus activities but on post graduation ambitions. That is the fundamental difference to all other campus societies in the U.S.

As Bagg points out:

"The statement is therefore again repeated that Bones and Keys are peculiarly Yale institutions, genuine outgrowths of a system that flourishes nowhere else, the only organizations of the kind existing in the country" (p. 183) and the senior society "is an association with no weak members whatever and the history of the matter shows that unless this ideal is adhered to with reasonable closeness, such a society cannot live long at Yale"

(p. 144)
 

CLUBS OF THE ORDER

Each annual class of new initiates forms a club consisting of 15 members. Initiates are called Knights in the first year and thereafter Patriarchs. The annual announcement of new initiates has not varied over the ears. We reproduce on page 194 the

announcement of new members for 1917 and on pages 195-196 those for 1984 and 1985. Each club has a number. This is located in the top right hand corner Of the announcement sheet (i.e., D 115 for 1917 and D 183 for 1984). Further, one member is designated a "club chairman" or agent, with the function to act as liaison with the Secretary of the Russell Trust Association in New York.

  • BOASBERG, James Emanuel, 3136 Newark Street, NW, Washington, D.C.20008

  • CARLIN, William John Carr, Jr., 21 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, New York 11201.

  • CHANDRASEKHAR, Ashok Jai, 120 East 34th Street, New York. New York 10016.

  • FRANKEL, Scott David, 3290 Kersdale Road, Pepper Pike Ohio 44124.

  • GROSSMAN, Jay Alan, 48 Niles Road, Randolph, Massachusetts 02368.

  • KWOK, Wei-Tai, 5 109 Philip Road, Annandale, Virginia 22003.

  • LINDY, Peter Barnes, 105 South Perkins, Memphis, Tennessee 38117.

  • MISNER, Timothy Charles, 1009 Crest Park Drive, Silver Spring, Maryland 20903.

  • MNU CHIN, Steven Terner, 721 Fifth Avenue, New York, York 10022.

  • PATELA, James Gerard, 47 Knollwood Drive, Branford, Connecticut 06405.

  • POWERS, Richard Hart, 21 Haigh 06357.

  • SMOCK, Morgan Robert, 4017 Hope, Minnesota 55427.

  • TAFT, Horace Dutton, 403 St. Ronan Street, New Haventicut 06511.

  • THOMPSON, Gregory Allan, 118 Whitman Drive, Brooklyn, New York 11234.

  • WALSH, Kevin Sanchez, 1030 Clay Avenue, Pelham Manor, New York 10803.
     

THE SECRET CATALOGS

Each member of The Order receives an updated annual catalog of -:embers. At one time it was a single volume bound in black leather.

CATALOGUE
OCTOBER 1983

VOL. I

LIVING MEMBERS
 

The latest practice is to issue the catalog in two clothbound volumes: Volume One for Living Members and Volume Two for Deceased Members. Preceding is the title page of the October 1983 catalog, the latest issued. Volume Two is the same with "Deceased Members" in place of Living Members." Inside the title page is the address of the Secretary of the Russell Trust Association responsible for administration of the current affairs of The Order:

"Please send any corrections or changes of address to: The Secretary RTA Incorporated P.O. Box 2138 Yale Station New Haven, Conn. 06520"

Then follows an alphabetical listing of members and brief information on the following: Name and class year with awarded degrees.

A brief notation of occupation, i.e., law, education, finance, business.

Date of birth is followed by current business and private addresses. Then follows a list of positions held starting with current position. Military and civilian awards and honors follow, usually extensive because The Order "old boy" network can guarantee awards to each other - an excellent means of mutual support to build up collective power and prestige.

The final item is a listing of wives and children.

DEER ILAND CLUB

The Order's retreat is the Deer Iland (spelled Iland after the request of Patriarch G.D. Miller) Alexandria Bay on the St. Lawrence River, New York. The island was donated in 1906 by Patriarch Miller and renovated over the years, but particularly in the 1950s and 1980s.

Here's an extract from the latest February 29, 1984, report to Patriarchs: Deer Iland had another successful year in 1983, the 76th season of the Club since its establishment under the direction of George Douglas Miller, D. 68' in 1907. Was it the best year ever? Maybe. They're getting better and better. The results of the past five or six years have seen the Club become a much more viable enterprise from the years of the late '60s and early '70s when its future was much in doubt.

The positive response made by Patriarchs is seen in the following paragraph from the same annual report: Increased use of the island is not the only factor in its present sound financial footing. Your generosity through your contributions to our annual fund drives has kept the Club going through lean times and supports it today.

 

Most recently, the splendid response to the special capital fund drive in 1981-82, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Club, has enabled us to make major capital improvements to our facilities - a process which is still underway. I should add that those special contributions are not being used to meet current operating expenses but are specially designated for capital improvements.

 

Current income from all sources - guest receipts, the G.D. Miller trust, and the annual appeal - has met or exceeded our expenses for seven years, giving us both welcome security and the means to improve further the island's classic river-style structures. (I don't want to use the word "modernize" except perhaps in reference to the plumbing. You may so inform your wives.)

In brief: the organization of The Order both as Russell Trust Association and Deer Iland Corporation is essentially geared towards the post graduation world, the outside world. It is a senior society. Knights spend only one year as Knights. The rest of their lives are spent as Patriarchs in an active influential organization able to guarantee wealth and ambition.

* D. 68 - It is a practice for members to place their Club identification after their name in writing each other.
 

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 Memorandum Number Three:
The Ritual of The Order

The ritual of The Order is a closely held secret. The most that anyone can do at this stage is piece together some elements of the ritual and their probable meaning.

The extraordinary secrecy is itself part of a ritual. Members are sworn not to discuss the organization, its procedures or its objectives. Presumably, only an FBI or Congressional investigation could break this code of "omerta" (Mafia = silence).

The secrecy is carried to extraordinary lengths. Members may not remain in the room if The Order is under discussion. Words spoken within The Order may not be placed on paper, even in letters to fellow members.

 

For example, witness the following extract from a letter circulated to members by W. lain Scott (D. 171), President of Deer Iland Club Corporation:

But beyond these mere quantitative measures of success, it is the quality of the Deer Iland experience that commends the Club to your attention. There are few, if any, places where the B-n-s life thrives in such luxuriance outside the thick and tomblike walls in New Haven. Our Order is, to use an economic term, very much horizontally integrated. That is, our ties to it are strongest through a very narrow slice of time - one special year.

 

Deer Iland, for me and I believe many others, has expanded these ties vertically through contact with younger and older members. Visitors to the island last summer ranged from D. 124 to D. 182, twelve of them. It serves as prelude to the music of the B-n-s for the "newly fledged exalted K---- ts" and as an endlessly rising canon on that wonderful theme to "the p-tr--rchs."

Notice three abbreviations to conceal internal use of words from any possible outsider who may stumble on a copy of the letter: B-n-s =Bones (cited twice) k---- ts = Knights p-tr--rchs = Patriarchs The reader may consider this juvenile, and it may well be. On the other hand, these "juveniles" are the men today running the United States.

Chapter meetings of Patriarchs are announced using a format which has not changed since the early 19th century. An interesting and significant aspect of these announcements is the manner in which they reflect elements of the ritual: the skull and bones, the periods into which The Order has placed its history and the club numbers.

We reproduce below announcements for the following years:

  1. July 28, 1859 - the earliest year for which we have a copy. Note the Roman letters VI in the center of the sheet.

  2. July 23, 1868 - the last year for which we have a record of the VI appearing. We understand that 1869 was actually the last year with VI.

  3. July 21, 1870 - the first year with VIII in the center. Note that VII appears to have been skipped completely.

  4. June 17, 1936 - note that the format remains almost the same. This one was signed by Potter Stewart, later (1958-1981) Supreme Court Justice.

  5. May 31, 1984 - the latest announcement notice. Note that the Club number D. 183 now appears, but in essence the sheet remains exactly as in 1859. It appears they even used the same skull and bones.

The initiation ceremony itself has been partially described in both the 1876 documents (reproduced below) and a century later by Ron Rosenbaum in "The Last Secrets of Skull & Bones" (Esquire, September 1917).

 

Each year 15 newly tapped members are put through what has been described as a "harrowing" ordeal -presumably to test their manhood - a manner traditional with fraternity hazing. According to Rosenbaum, "one can hear strange cries and moans coming from the bowels of the tomb" during initiation.

Four elements of the initiation ceremony are recorded:

  • that the initiate has to lie naked in a sarcophagus

  • that he is required to tell the "secrets" of his sex life to fellow initiates

  • that Patriarchs dressed as skeletons and acting as wild-eyed lunatics howl and screech at new initiates

  • that initiates are required to wrestle naked in a mud pile.

Undoubtedly there is more.

 

However, the above is enough to warrant branding The Order as based on behavior more suited to juvenile delinquents. Undoubtedly the more serious part of the initiation process is peer pressure, the conversion of juveniles into presumably responsible members of an unelected elite.

 

As Rosenbaum comments,

"the real purpose of the institution was... devoted to converting the idle progeny of the ruling class into morally serious leaders of the establishment."

What happens in the initiation process is essentially a variation of brain-washing or encounter group processes. Knights, through heavy peer pressure, become Patriarchs prepared for a life of the exercise of power and continuation of this process into future generations. In brief, the ritual is designed to mold establishment zombies, to ensure continuation of power in the hands of a small select group from one generation to another.

 

But beyond this ritual are aspects notably satanic.

 

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Memorandum Number Four:
Satanic Aspects of The Order
Even with our limited knowledge of the internal ritual of The Order we can make three definite statements about the links between The Order and satanic beliefs.

These observations should be seen as a start point for further research and consideration.

  • The first link is through photographic evidence of the association of Skull & Bones with satanic devices, i.e., the skull and crossed bones

  • The second link is through satanic symbolism

  • The third link is through the association of The Order with the New Age Movement, well documented in a remarkable new book by Constance Cumbey, The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow
     

THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE

Photographic evidence exists of the use of the satanic devices of a skull and crossed bones in ceremonies of The Order.

We reproduce on the following page a photograph of the "Class of 1869." Fifteen members of the Club, thirteen standing and two seated, are grouped around crossed thigh bones and a skull. A handwritten list of these men is also reproduced.

In the background is a grandfather clock. From 1833 to the present time a grandfather clock is presented to each Knight upon initiation and stays with him throughout his life as a memento of what is called "the Bones experience."

We also reproduce two other photographs of other classes seated around a skull and bones. According to other evidence, at least three sets of skulls and assorted bones are kept within the Bones Temple on the Yale campus. An obvious point is that these bones and skulls are former human beings.

 

Instead of sacred treatment, they are exhibited and used for ceremonial purposes. Where the bones should be resting decently in a grave, they have become the center of a secret ceremony. In brief, the photographs reveal the men portrayed as grave robbers who reject human dignity and decency and use satanic devices.

 

 

THE SATANIC SYMBOLISM OF THE SKULL

Artist Elizabeth Stucki 1 has commented on the mask and the skull in modern art and the symbolic meaning.

 

Says Stucki:

"The Skull - Mortality Unmasked

The opposite of the mask is the skull. The face of the person is a fleshy skin worn between the two. People who deny the person as made in the image of God directly, and individually created and loved by Him, will seek either of these exits to being truly human - the mask which covers the mortal man or the skull which is left after mortal man has departed. Primitive minds who have not yet found God and sophisticates who have rejected Him, desire the mask and the skull."

Collectivist artist Picasso, darling of New York establishment elitists, was also preoccupied with skulls in a manner very similar to members of Skull and Bones. The preoccupation is portrayed by Leo Steinberg in Art News, October 1971.

 

Artist Stucki comments on Picasso's morbid interest in skulls as follows:

In 1945, Picasso painted "Skull and Pitcher." Leo Steinberg states that in it "the light's character is consistently altered." The light is as hard as an axe-blade, not softly spiritual. Steinberg also gives the painting a Freudian interpretation of sexuality and interprets the pitcher to be the "receiving part in a Satanic annunciation."

 

He refers to Morgenstern's poetry on sex and the skull. In this article he feels that Picasso projected himself into the skulls. He made eight skulls in one week as a method of mastering his fear o: death. In 1930, Picasso was self-projecting into the Minotaur monsters he painted. He had painted skulls all along; an earlier one in 1907, is in a still-life now in Leningrad.

 

In the same year, he discarded the idea of using a skull in his "Demoiselles d'Avignon." In the mid-1940s, he used it as a mask, on an owl, or on a horse face."
 

THE HIDDEN DANGERS OF THE RAINBOW
Constance Cumbey in The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow identifies several organizations linked to The Order and the objectives of The Order.

 

Cumbey identifies Benjamin Creme and the Tara Center based in New York, Los Angeles, Amsterdam and London as a New Age phenomenon. To Creme are linked Unity and Unitarian Church leaders. Unknown to Cumbey, The Order has long-standing and significant links to the relatively small Unitarian Church. In fact, former President William Taft, whose father co-founded The Order, was President of the Unitarian Association in his time.

Cumbey identifies the link between Hitler and the New Age movement and former research by this author linked The Order to the founding and growth of Naziism. Most significantly, Cumbey states that the New Age movement plans to bring about a New World Order "which will be a synthesis between the U.S.S.R., Great Britain and the United States." Finally, Cumbey points out that the anti-Christ and satanic aspects are woven into the cult of the New Age movement.

The period is constant at "2" while the Decade increases by one each ten years, i.e., decade 3, 4, 5, etc.

The "D" number is always less than the class number. Up to 1970 by 2 and after 1970 by 1. In other words the first list of members - the class of 1833 was designated "P. 231-D.31." In brief, the organization started in the United States was in the third decade of the second period.

 

So a sensible question is - where does that place the start? Presumably in Germany.

 

The first decade of the second period would then begin in 1800 and the first period would have ended in the decade 1790 to 1800. That places us in the time frame of the elimination of Illuminati by the Bavarian Elector. 1

 1 Margaret Elizabeth Stucki, War on Light: The Destruction of the Image of God in Man Through Modern Art (Available from Freedom University Press), p. 7.
 

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Anonymous SKULL AND BONES

No date
An account of the break-in "Bones Temple"

1876

Let it be stated in advance that this pamphlet is published solely with a view to clear away the "poppy-cock" which surrounds the greatest society in college. It has no malicious intent.

 

The sole design of the publishers and those who made the investigations, is to cause this Society to stand before the college world free from the profound mystery in which it has hitherto been enshrouded and to lessen, at least in some degree, the arrogant pretensions of superiority.

Table of Contents:
I.   - Methods of Investigation
II.  - Description of the Temple
III. - Histology of the Society

Appendix
Plan of the Building

PART I - METHODS OF INVESTIGATION

Any one who was noticing the Bones men of '77, on the morning of Sunday, Oct. 1st, 1876, was probably struck by the crestfallen air which characterized them all. As long as Bones shall exist, the night of September 29th will be to its members the anniversary of the occasion when their temple was invaded by neutrals, their rarest memorabilia confiscated and their most sacred secrets unveiled to the eyes of the uninitiated.

 

We have thought a description of how this was done might be of interest to the college world. The back cellar windows of the eulogian temple were fortified as follows: First, to one seeking entrance from the outside was a row of one inch iron bars; behind them was a strong iron netting fastened to a wooden frame; behind this another row of iron bars 11/a inches thick; and still behind this a heavy wooden shutter.

 

Formidable as these defenses appear, we determined to effect an entrance. The work proceeded slowly and it was only after many hours of patient work that one of the outside iron bars was cut into. Next, by means of a powerful claw, the long nails that fastened the iron netting to the wooden frame were drawn out.

 

Then the bar was refastened in it place by means of a little putty, and we retired to wait a favorable nigh: for completing the undertaking; 8 o'clock, Friday evening, Sept. 29. was the time selected. First, one of our number proceeded to remove the iron bar and netting; and then, for the sake of more room, he, with considerable difficulty, got out the strong wooden frame to which the latter had been fastened.

 

Pushing head and shoulders into the opening thus made, there still remained a strong row of 11/a inch iron bars. Fortunately, there was no need to file these through. They were fastened above in a thick joist, but below, ran into a brick "damp-wall" that was built up inside and two inches from the stone foundation of the building By the aid of a hatchet, it was the work of but a very few moments to dig away about twenty inches of this wall and thus loosen an iron plate through which the lower ends of the bars ran.

 

Upon pushing this plate inward, the bars all fell out of their own weight; the flimsy wooden shutter was then wrenched from its position, and, at just half-past ten, an entrance was effected. Passing in through the window, we broke open the wooden door at the top of the cellar stairs, opened the two iron shutters which close the back windows of the main hall and proceeded to examine the temple at our leisure.

A WARM SUMMER'S NIGHT witnessed the other entrance and the fuller investigation which enables us to enlighten the hitherto mystified college world about the interior of the recent addition. It also supplied the missing links in the history of the society and the mode of working it, which the previous investigators neglected to secure.

One day in the Spring, a young man happened to be passing Bones hall, late Thursday night, and noticed a gleam of light from the skylight in the roof. Reasoning that where that ray appeared there must be some entrance, sometime afterwards several public spirited under-graduates made the exploration we chronicle.

They got a ladder, which the painters who were rejuvenating the old brick row were using, some stout rope, a dark lantern, a small crow bar, a hatchet, cold chisel and jimmy. One Sunday night, about eleven o'clock, they carried the ladder across the campus and placed it against the rear of the building. One man was stationed across High Street to act as watchman.

 

The others ascended the ladder; previously, however, they took the precaution to remove their shoes and went up in their stocking feet, to avoid all noise. Going over the roof to the skylight, they easily pried it open with the crow bar. The opening would admit them, one at a time. The rope was tied to the skylight.. Separately, with joy and trembling, the investigators slide down. They were now in the mystic recesses of Bones.

As the result of their investigations is summarized with the result of prior research, we need not go into it more at length here. Suffice to say that shortly before dawn they climbed the rope, refastened the skylight, descended to the ground and put the ladder back where they had got it.

 

It may be safely said that no hearts in the whole college were more Joyful and no sincerer thanks went up in chapel that morning, than from chose daring men, who had taken such great risks to disclose the inner parts of our Yalensian Juggernaut.
 


PART II - INTERIOR OF SKULL AND BONES HALL

Besides the cellar the temple is divided into two stories Fig. 1 is a rough plan of the cellar:

  • a a a a - Windows

  • A - Entrance

  • B - Furnace

  • c c - Stairways to first floor

  • D - Jo

  • E - Kitchen

  • F - Storeroom

There is always kept burning in the Jo a lamp which is ornamented with a dilapidated human skull and a framed set of "Directions to new Eulogians." The kitchen is well appointed, and the furnace a new one. Each dish on the kitchen shelves is ornamented with the skull and bones. Each spoon and fork is marked S.B.T.

On ascending the stairs from the cellar, you find yourself, after bursting open the door C, in a entry, from which a winding staircase (M leads to the upper floor. The door C is of wood, but broken open easily.

H is the outside iron door covered on the inside with a pair of light frame doors. 8 is a small toilet room. D opens into the lodge called 324. is fitted up in black velvet, even the walls being covered with that material. A glass case here holds quite a quantity of memorabilia -among which may be seen a hat said to belong to Pret. Pierson, a number of base balls and several textbooks.

 

G contains two side-boards of mahogany and one large table in the center. Besides these the walls are adorned with pictures of the founders of Bones at Yale, and of the members of the Society in Germany, when the Chapter was established here in 1832' There are also two smaller tables. The glassware, decanters; & c., on the side-board, all have the skull and the bones blown into the glass.

Ascending to the next floor, we come into a long hall (F) . Entering room A immediately on the left is seen a book-case which contains the Bones library and which is very complete, containing about every book of note ever published at Yale. Hanging on the wall toward High street was a handsomely-framed cushion of velvet on which were fastened the pins of every society ever in Yale University.

 

On the south side of the room is a handsome open fireplace and above this a marble mantel a: and a mirror. On the mantel were two casts of the pin; one in silver and the other in bronze - the first about two inches in diameter, the second about three. Several mystical engravings hung on the walls. The room a handsomely furnished. Tobacco, pipes and cards are abundant.

Room B, called 322, is the "sanctum sanctorum" of the temple. Its distinguishing feature is a facsimile of the Bones pin, handsomely inlaid in the black marble hearth, just below the mantel, and also inlaid in marble is the motto: "Rari Quippe Boni," in old English text. This room is furnished in red velvet, and is very luxurious. On the wall is a star with a finger pointed towards it.

 

On the walls of the long hall F are hung groups of pictures of each Bones' crowd. H is an old plain lock safe. but contained nothing save a knife covered with blood stains. C is memorabilia room, and contains the old college bell, old boating flags old mss.,&c. D contains two Brunswick & Balke combination tables (billiard) and a 'bouffe', beside cue racks &c. E is a Jo and toilet room.

 

PART III - HISTOLOGY OF THE SOCIETY

Bones has no constitution. Its grip &c., are handed down from fifteen to fifteen. The records though, which are made at each meeting, show all anybody could want to know. These records are profusely illustrated, making an interesting memorial to future Eulogians. Some well-skilled amateur has evidently spent much time illustrating them. The motto "Boni bonis adpacunt" constantly appears.

Bones is a chapter of a corps in a German University. It should properly be called, not Skull and Bones Society, but Skull and Bones Chapter. General R--, its founder, was in Germany before Senior Year and formed a warm friendship with a leading member of a German society. He brought back with him to college authority to found a chapter here. Thus was Bones founded.

 

The 322 on the pin has been commonly supposed to mean, founded in '32 and 2nd chapter. But the Bones man has a pleasing fiction that his fraternity is the descendant of an old Greek patriotic society, dating back to Demosthenes 322, B.C. .he Bones records, 1881 for example, with huge pride, are headed Anno-Demostheni 2203. A secondary date is from the time of the fire in the hall or anno conflagrationis, as the records style it.

Immediately on entering Bones, the neophyte's name is changed. He s no longer known by his name as it appears in the college catalogue, but, like a monk or knight of Malta or St. John, becomes Knight so and so. The old Knights are then known as Patriarch so and so. The outside world are known as Gentiles and vandals. We have tried to prepare this brief sketch without injuring the feelings :r susceptibilities of any PERSON.

 

It has been done through an earnest belief that Bones, as at present conducted, is a blight on Yale College. It makes bitter the time when all should be pleasing. It forms emities and creates discussions when all should be harmony. But, above all, it lowers our standard of honor and detracts from that manliness which is our pride.

 

 

APPENDIX

 

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Anonymous THE FALL OF SKULL AND BONES

Published by The Order, New Haven 1876

Satirical essay

 

BABYLON IS FALLEN

Anyone who was noticing the Bones men of '77 on the morning of Sunday October 1st, 1876., was probably struck by the crest-fallen air which characterized all of them. At any rate there were those who observed that during the church services their eyes suspiciously scanned the faces of one neutral after another, and invariably dropped if their glance was returned.

 

The reason for this is a simple one. As long as Skull and Bones Society shall exist, the night of September 29th will be to its members the anniversary of the occasion when their Temple was invaded by neutrals, some of their rarest memorabilia confiscated, and their most sacred secrets unveiled to the vulgar eyes of the uninitiated.

We have thought that a description of how this was done might be of interest to the college world. The back-cellar windows of the Eulogian Temple were fortified as follows:

First, to one seeking entrance from the outside, was a row of one inch iron bars; behind them a strong iron netting fastened to a wooden frame; behind this another row of iron bars, one and one quarter inches thick; and still behind this a heavy wooden shutter.

 

Formidable as these defenses appear, the Order of the File and Claw, having procured a supply of files, skeleton keys, etc., determined to attempt to effect an entrance. For reasons that need not be rehearsed here, the work proceeded slowly, and it was only after many hours of patient and cautious labor that one of the outside bars was cut in two.

 

Next, by means of a powerful claw, the long nails that fastened the iron netting to the wooden frame were drawn out. Then the bar was re-fastened in its place by means of a little putty, and we retired to await a favorable night for finishing the job. Eight o'clock Friday evening, September 29th, was the hour selected.

First, one of our number proceeded to remove the iron bar and the netting, and then, for the sake of more room, he, with considerable difficulty, got out the strong wooden frame to which the latter had been fastened. Pushing head and shoulders into the opening thus made there still remained a strong row of one and one quarter inch iron bars Fortunately there was no need to file through these.

 

It was found that they were fastened above in a thick joist, but below ran into a brick "damp-wall" that was built up inside, and two inches from the stone foundation-wall of the building. By the aid of a claw and a hatchet. It was the work of but a few moments to dig away about twenty inches of this wall, and thus loosen an iron plate through which the lower ends of the bars ran.

 

Upon pushing this plate inward, the bars all fell out with their own weight; the flimsy wooden shutter was then easily wrenched from its position, and at just half past ten o'clock an entrance into the cellar was obtained. Passing in through the window, we broke open the wooden door at the top of the cellar stairs, opened the two iron shutters which close the back windows of the main hall, and proceeded to examine the Temple at our leisure.

 

For the benefit of future explorers, and as a directory for new-fledged Bones men for all time, we will now give a brief description of
 


THE INTERIOR OF SKULL AND BONES HALL

 

Besides the cellar, the Temple is divided into two stories. Fig. 1 is a rough plan of the cellar:

A light is always kept burning in the Jo (D), which is ornamented with a dilapidated human skull and a framed set of "Directions to Freshmen," signed Thomas Clap, and dated Yale College, 1752. Here is also a tombstone marked Sperry, seemingly taken from the same grave as the skull.

 

On the west wall of the kitchen (E), which contained the ordinary conveniences, hangs a picture of Napoleon Bonaparte. In the Pantry (F) are large quantities of dishes, each piece of crockery ornamented with a picture of a skull and crossbone and each spoon and fork marked. S.B.T.

On ascending the stairs from the cellar, you find yourself, after bursting open the door C, Fig. 2, in an entry (A), from which a winding staircase (K) leads to the next floor. The door C, which is of wood, we found locked, but broke open without difficulty. H is the outside iron door, covered on the inside with a pair of light frame doors. B is a small toilet room.

 

The door D, which is without a lock, opens into the main hall (F), called by the initiated "324". The floor is of colored tiles; the walls are rather gaudily frescoed, mainly in red and black, somewhat like those of D K hall. A few settees, resembling those in Linonia Hall, and a table, make up the furniture of the room. The wood work is painted white, and, like the walls, is in many places scratched and dirty.

 

EE are two narrow windows, guarded by strong iron shutters. The latter are concealed from view by some light wooden blinds stained to look like walnut. The only objects of interest in the room were a glass case in the southeast corner containing a large number of gilded base-balls, each inscribed with the date, score, etc., of a university game, and a well-thumbed text-book, either a Physics or a Human Intellect, on the fly-leaf of which was inscribed the autograph of Bones' irrepressible annoyer, Arjayjay of '76.

 

Thus far we had found little to compensate us for our trouble, but on ascending to the next floor, and passing, on our right a little store-room and draw-bridge which extend over the front entrance from High Street, our pains was rewarded.

Entering the room C, Fig. 3, immediately on the left is seen a bookcase, which contains the Skull and Bones library, including a complete set of the Yale Lit., handsomely bound college catalogues and books published by Bones men. Here, too, was the Constitution of the Ph Beta Kappa and a catalogue of Scroll and Key Society, containing a list of members down to 1868.

 

It was bound in black, and had on the front cover the letters C.S.P. and on the back C.C.J. In Old English text. For -he year LI only eleven names are given, and for XLII only twelve. It contains several typographical errors, as for instance; D. Cady Eaton's first name is printed Samuel. Opposite the names of the first two Keys men for LXII, some one has written, in a bold hand, the mystic symbol "Ass".

 

And at the top of the page which give the men of LII, is written, "Croud packed by Boies," and Boies is the name of a Keys man of that :ear. From the catalogues we learn that the President and Secretary of Scroll and Key are known "inside" as Chilo and Eumenes, and that, as n Bones, each member has a nickname given him. Some of these are handed down from class to class, of these Glaucus, Prisaticus and Arbaces appear to be the favorites.

Hanging on the wall towards High street was a handsomely-framed cushion of dark velvet, on which were fastened the pins of all the societies which have existed in college, including Spade and Grave, Bull and Stones, and the like.

 

On the south side of the room is a fireplace, and above this a mantel and mirror. Upon the mantel were a Skull and Bones of silver, the skull about two inches in diameter, and engraved "32 from the S.E.C. of 1858;" another of bronze, a little larger than the silver one, and various other insignia relating to Skull and Bones.

 

On the west wall hung, among other pictures, an old engraving representing an open burial vault, in which, on a stone slab, rest four human skulls, grouped about a fool's-cap and bells, an open cook, several mathematical instruments, a beggar's scrip, and a royal crown.

 

On the arched wall above the vault are the explanatory words, in Roman letters,

"We War Der Thor, Wer Weiser, Wer Bettler Oder Kaiser?"

and below the vault is engraved, in German characters, the sentence;

"Ob Arm, Ob Beich, im Tode gleich"

The picture is accompanied by a card, on which is written, "From the German Chapter. Presented by Patriarch D.C. Gilman of D. 50" The room is handsomely furnished; tobacco and pipes were abundant, and packs of well worn cards served to indicate how the society manages to fill five or six hours every Thursday evening.

 

The pipe-bowls, which are representations of skulls, and bear the stamp of M. Gambier, Paris, nave the Eulogian name of the owner and his decade written upon .hem with red ink; for instance the one belonging to the present Member from Bath" was marked "Trim, D. 75."

Room D, the Bones name of which is "322," is the sancta sanctorum of the Temple. Its distinguishing feature is a life-size facsimile of the Bones pin handsomely inlaid in the black marble hearth. Just below the mantel, and also inlaid in marble, is the motto:

Bari Quippe Boui

...in old English text. This room is even more richly furnished than "323", but contains no book-case, and no pictures of special significance.

On the walls of the long hall B are hung a couple of score of photographs, about 12x20 inches, each representing fifteen Bonesmen grouped around a table, on which rest a human skull and crossbones. As the finish of these pictures is poor and of an antiquated style, it is probable that they are taken each year with the apparatus belonging to the society.

 

H is an old-fashioned plain-lock safe, size about 20x26 inches, and 15 inches deep, set in the wall. It is probably used as a place of deposit for money and valuables, but on the night of the 29th contained only a bunch of keys and a small gold-mounted flask half filled with brandy.

K is a small closet in which are kept unbound sheets of the Bones Society catalogues and a set of handsome memorable books, one for each year. Some of the old memorable is quite curious, and the collections relating to recent years are very complete.

The Bones catalogue is essentially as described in Four Years at Yale.

The doors to E and F, which are used as general storerooms, are protected by plates of sheet-tin, but the locks were not "what we may call" proof against skeleton keys. The memorabilia in these rooms was noteworthy for amount rather than quality. However, in the midst of a good deal of rubbish we found four or five boating flags, and a number of old Greek, Latin and German works in MS. None of these were society records, but works of well-known authors; into the genuine antiquity of the MSS. We have not as yet been able to examine.

In conclusion, we will say that a thorough examination of every part of the Temple leads us to the conclusion that "the most powerful of college societies" is nothing more than a pleasant convivial club.

 

The kitchen contains the materials for serving refreshments for the inner man; there are neither billiard tables nor any kind of musical instrument in the building; there is a total absence of all the "machinery" which we had been led to expect; the bell heard on initiation nights is not "the old college bell;" Skull and Bones has no secrets beyond a few that may be handed down annually by word of mouth, and no written constitution beyond -a few directions similar to the suggestions appended to the Delta Kappa by-laws.

 

Before leaving the hall, it was asked whether we should inform other members of the college of what we had done, and throw open the hall to the public. We think no one will deny that we had it in our power at one stroke not only to take away forever all the prestige which her supposed secrecy has given this society, but to make her the laughing-stock of all college, and render her future existence extremely doubtful.

 

But while we had no consideration for the mysterious poppiecock of Skull and Bones Society, we nevertheless remembered that some of the Bones men of '77 are our warm personal friends, and therefore we preferred a less radical course. To Bones as a pleasant convivial club, we have no objections. Let her live on as long as men enjoy good suppers and quiet whist. But her mystery and her secrecy are at an end, and we hope her absurd pretensions and her poppiecock are dead also.

The burglary was not discovered until the following evening, at about eight o'clock. All day Saturday the great Skull and Bones lay at the mercy of any one who might notice the back window.

How thoroughly the society was frightened can be seen by the way they have sealed up the window through which we entered, as well as more recently all of the other five basement openings. We have no idea that Skull and Bones will deny that their hall has been entered, for we are not without proofs that our tale is true. We have above spoken of different manuscripts, trinkets and memorabilia as existing in the Temple.

 

In several cases we should have written "existed" for the place that knew them shall know them no more forever. In short, while robbery was not our errand, on the principle that the second thief is the best owner we helped ourselves to a few pieces of memorable, which can be put on exhibition, and a few documents which can be printed, should any authoritative denial be made to any essential point in this statement. Nor will Bones usual policy of silence avail to throw discredit upon our story.

 

Part of our memorable has been seen by Senior neutrals, and the remainder will be put where it will do the most good, as soon as the protection of a sheepskin has been placed between us and the Faculty and the law.

YALE COLLEGE

1877

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