SITTING BULL: 'A ROYAL ARCH MASON' CALLED 'PURE BUNK'
Mandan, North Dakota (JFK+50) On September 12, 1925, Associated Press reports that dispatches saying that Sitting Bull* was a Mason and "had been exalted as a Royal Arch Mason**" were deemed "pure bunk" by E.A. Ripley, past grand master of the North Dakota Grand Lodge.
Mr. Ripley said...
"Sitting bull was a medicine man...(and)...could not profess his faith in God. It's just another...wild West yarn--bunk, just pure, unadulterated bunk."
*Sitting Bull (1830s-1880) was a Hunkpapa Lakota (Sioux) leader who fought against US government Indian policies & became a key leader of his people 1868-1876. SB fled to Canada for a time after the Battle of Little Big Horn & returned to surrender.
**Royal Arch Masons are members of an order within Freemasonry which is considered the culmination of the Master Mason degree.
SOURCE
"Story of Sitting Bull As Mason Called Bunk," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., September 12, 1925, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
