Duncan's Ritual of Freemasonry.pdf - FatimaMovement

A. Our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff, who was
slain just before the completion of King
Solomon's Temple.
Q. Was his death premeditated?
A. It was, by fifteen Fellow Crafts, who, seeing
the Temple about to be completed, and being
desirous of obtaining the secrets of a Master
Mason, whereby they might travel in foreign
countries, work, and receive Master's wages,
entered into a horrid conspiracy to extort them
from our Grand Master, Hiram Abiff, or take his
life; but, reflecting with horror on the atrocity of
the crime, twelve of them recanted; the other
three persisted in their murderous designs.
Q. At what hour was our Grand Master, Hiram
Abiff, slain? A. At high twelve. 1
p. 138
Q. How came he to be assassinated at that hour?
A. It was his usual practice at high twelve, while
the Craft were called from labor to refreshment,
to enter into the unfinished Sanctum Sanctorum,
or Holy of Holies of the Temple, and there to
offer up his adorations to Deity, and there to draw
his designs on the trestle-board. 1
Q. Who were the murderers?
A. The three Fellow Crafts who persisted in their
murderous designs, knowing this to be his usual
practice, placed themselves at the south, west,
and east gates of the inner courts of the Temple,
and there awaited his return.
Q. What followed?