THE AUSTIN PA.PERS. 313 a state that I should be compelled to suspend proceeding untill my recov~ry-from Those Gentlemen I have never heard more on the subject and know not what they [have] done or attempted to do-- on my arrival in St Louis on the 30 th May I was called on by Mr Kennerly and Hanly a Committee appointed by the Lodge to investi- gate the cause of the differance. I gave them a.t once all the informa- tion on the subject in my power and they professed to be much grati- fied at the promptness with which I complied with the request of the Lodge made through them. they then informed me that they would call on Pilcher for an explination of the causes of his conduct-- they did so and he refused to give them, on the 31 May in the morn- ing I sent Pilcher a note by Doctor farrar, a.nd soon after recd· an order from the Lodge to attend at the Lodge room at 3 o elk of that day I accordingly obeyed the order and attended. I was called on to state what I knew of the cause of-dispute, and answered that I knew not the cause of Pilcher's conduct and assured the lodge that I was unconscious of ever haveing done or said anything in my life to wound feelings of Mr. Pilcher Mr. Douglass,then rose as the representative of his friend Pilcher who refused to attend and stated that the ground work of his offence was this-that Pilcher had com- municated to me in Masonic confidence the particulars of an affair he had in Tennessee with a girl, and that one evening in a large com- pany Pilcher an<l myself were joking each other and I asked him if he had lost his heart. he answered no he had it safe and I then answerd yes I presume it is secure as it has gone through the wars in Nashville-this he said was the first cause of offence · the cause he said was of a nature whlch he could not mention without introducing names which delicacy forbid thereby alluding as I conceive to females-John 1V. Honey informed me that the first cause of offence was this, that Pilcher presented Miss F--with a Ticket for the play and walked with her to the Theatre. when the play broke up he says, that I took hold of Miss F.--'s arm and walked home with her·and he conceived it to be his 1>ight to walk home with [her] since he had walked there with her. Honey says that he knows this was the first cause of ofl'ence Pilcher has absolved me from all restrictions as to what he com- municated in confidence I shall therefore state what it was he in- formed me that he had been engaged to a. Girl in Nashville but did not return at the time appoint-ed and therefore the match was broken off-he did not state the name of the Girl or any other par- ticulars and I had heard the same thing before in substance from various sources before he told it to me, but after he told me [the] circumstances I never communicated to any living soul in the world and I defy him to prove that I ever did-I must infer that 25067°-24--VOL 2, PT 1--21
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