Mackey A G - Encylopedia of Freemasonry - The Grand Masonic ...

AKIROP
ALARM 43
Grienemann, to issue a decree, in which they
declared that anyone who should permit a
meeting of the Freemasons in his house should,
for the first offense, be fined 100 florins, for
the second 200, and for the third, be banished
from the city. The mob became highly incensed
against the Masons, and insulted all
whom they suspected to be members of the
Order. At length Peter Schuff, a Capuchin,
jealous of the influence which the Dominican
Grienemann was exerting, began also, with
augmented fervor, to preach against Freemasonry,
and still more to excite the popular
commotion. In this state of affairs, the Lodge
at Aix-la-Chapelle applied to the princes and
Masonic Lodges in the neighboring territories
for assistance and protection, which were immediately
rendered . A letter in French was
received by both priests, in which the writer,
who stated that he was one of the former dignitaries
of the Order, strongly reminded them
of their duties, and, among other things, said
that " many priests a pope, several cardinals,
bishops, and even 'Dominican and Capuchin
monks, had been, and still were, members of
the Order." Although this remonstrance had
some effect peace was not altogether restored
until the neighboring free imperial
states threatened that they would prohibit
the monks from collecting alms in their territories
unless they ceased to excite the popular
commotion against the Freemasons .
Akirop . The name given, in the ritual of
the Ancient and Accepted Rite, to one of the
ruffians celebrated in the legend of the Third
Degree . The word is said in the ritual to signify
an assassin . It might probably be derived
from ]1'r), KaRaB, to assault orjoin battle;
but is just as probably a word so corrupted by
long oral transmission that its etymology can
no longer be traced. (See Abiram.)
Alabama . On August 29, 1811, while
Alabama was yet a part of Mississippi Territory,
the Grand Lodge of Kentucky granted a
dispensation for Madison Lodge, No . 21, in
Madison County . On August 28, 1812, a
Charter was granted to this Lodge, locating it
at Huntsville, and was issued the same day,
and the Master was installed in Grand Lodge.
When the Territory was divided and Mississippi
admitted into the Union in 1817, the
Grand Lodge of Mississippi had not been organized,
so that it never claimed jurisdiction
outside of that State, and this Lodge remained
under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of
Kentucky until the Grand Lodge of Alabama
was formed .
The Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of
Tennessee granted dispensations for Lodges
in Alabama, as follows : Alabama Lodge, No .
21, at Huntsville, April 6, 1818 ; Washington
Lodge at Hazel Green, in 1818 ; Rising Virtue
Lodge at Tuscaloosa, in 1819 ; Halo Lodge at
Cahawba, April 4, 1820 ; Moulton Lodge at
Moulton May 4, 1820 ; Franklin Lodge at
Russellville, October 3, 1820 ; Tuscumbia
Lodge at Courtland, March 3, 1821 ; and Farrar
Lodge at Elyton, March 5, 1821 . Charters
were granted to Alabama and Washington
Lodges, October 6, 1818 ; to Rising Virtue
Lodge, October 5, 1819 ; and to Moulton,
October 3, 1820.
A convention to organize a Grand Lodge
was held at Cahawba, June 1, 1821, and was
in session five days .
The constitution, dated June 14, 1821, was
published by itself ; it was signed by the
Grand Officers and the Representatives of
nine Lodges, viz . : Madison Lodge, Alabama
Lodge at Huntsville, Alabama Lodge at Claiborne,
Rising Virtue Lodge, Halo Lodge,
Moulton Lge, Russellville Lodge, U. D.,
Farrar Lodge, U. D ., and St . Stephens Lodge .
Thomas W . Farrar was elected Grand Master
and Thomas A . Rogers Grand Secretary .
The Grand Chapter of Alabama was organized
on the 2d of June, 1827, at the town of
Tuscaloosa, and at the same time and place a
Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters
was established .
On the 27th of October, 1860, Sir Knt .
B. B . French, Grand Master of the Grand
Encampment of the United States, issued his
mandate for the formation of a Grand Commandery
of Alabama.
Alapa. A Latin word signifying " a blow
on the cheek with the open hand .' Such a
blow was given by the master to his manumitted
slave as a symbol of manumission, and
as a reminder that it was the last unrequited
indignity which he was to receive . Hence in
medieval times, the same word was applied
to the blow inflicted on the cheek of the newly
created knight by the sovereign who created
him, with the same symbolic signification .
This was sometimes represented by the blow
on the shoulder with the flat of a sword, which
has erroneously been called the accolade. (See
Knighthood.)
Alarm . The verb "to alarm" signifies,
in Freemasonry, " to give notice of the approach
of some one desiring admission ." Thus,
" to alarm the Lodge" is to inform the Lodge
that there is some one without who is seeking
entrance. As a noun, the word " alarm " has
two significations . 1 . An alarm is a warning
given by the Tiler, or other appropriate officer,
by which he seeks to communicate with the
interior of the Lodge or Chapter. In this sense
the expression so often used, " an alarm at the
door,' simply signifies that the officer outside
has given notice of his desire to communicate
with the Lodge . 2 . An alarm is also the
peculiar mode in which this notice is to be
given . In modern Masonic works, the number
of knocks given in an alarm is generally
expressed by musical notes. Thus, three distinct
knocks would be designated thus, d
two rapid and two slow ones thus,
and three knocks three times repeated thus,
m
M M, etc . The word comes
from the French " alarme," which in turn
comes from the Italian " all'arme," literally a
cry " to arms," uttered by sentinels surprised
by the enemy. The legal meaning of to alarm
is not to frighten, but to make one aware of the