Remembering Brother Houdini

Recently I nabbed on eBay this February 1988 issue of the Masonic journal, Knight Templar, which contains Part 2 of an article about "Brother Houdini" by Sir Knight C. Clark Julius, York Commandrey No. 21, York, Pennsylvania (that's all Mason stuff). The cover features an uncommon shot of our favorite freemason in full Master Mystifier regalia. Nice.

Houdini was a member of the Cecile Lodge No 568 in New York City. He received his Masonic degrees on July 17, July 31, and August 21, 1923. He became a life member on October 30, 1923, and a member of the Mecca Shrine Temple in New York City only weeks before his death in October 1926.

The article in this magazine is called Escape and Survive and is a biography of Houdini with a few curious additions. Among them is the "rumor" that following Houdini's escape from the Siberian Transport Prison Cell in Russia, "several secret police officers were executed as a result." (!)

That's news to me; but who am I to question an ancient Order.