The first masonic funeral that ever occurred in California took place
in the year 1849, and was performed over the body of a brother found
drowned in the Bay of San Francisco. An account of the ceremonies
states that on the body of the deceased was found a silver mark of a
Mason, upon which were engraved the initials of his name. A little
further investigation revealed to the beholder the most singular
exhibition of Masonic emblems that was ever drawn by the ingenuity of
man upon the human skin. There is nothing in the history or traditions
of Freemasonry equal to it. Beautifully dotted on his left arm in red
or blue ink, which time could not efface, appeared all the emblems
of the entered apprentice. There were the Holy Bible, the square and
the compass, the 24-inch gauge and the common gavil. There were also
the mosaic pavement representing the ground floor of King Solomon’s
Temple, the intended tessle which surrounds it and the blazing star in
the centre. On his right arm, and artistically executed in the same
indelible liquid, were the emblems pertaining to the fellow craft
degree, viz.: the square, the level, and the plumb. There were also the
five columns representing the five orders of architecture—the Tuscan,
Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, Composite.
In removing the garments from his body, the Trowel presented itself,
with all the other tools of operative Masonry. Over his heart was the
Pot of Incense. On the other parts of his body were the Bee Hive, the
Book of Constitutions, guarded by the Tyler’s Sword, the sword pointing
to a naked heart; the All-seeing eye; the Anchor and Ark, the Hour
Glass, the Scythe, the forty-seventh problem of Euclid; the Sun, Moon,
Stars, and Comets; the three steps emblematical of Youth, Manhood, and
Age. Admirably executed was the weeping Virgin, reclining on a broken
column, upon which lay the Book of Constitutions. In her left hand she
held the Pot of Incense, the Masonic emblem of a pure heat, and in her
uplifted hand a Sprig of Acacia, the emblem of the immortality of the
soul. Immediately beneath her stood winged Time, with his scythe by
his side, which cuts the brittle thread of life, and the Hour Glass
at his feet which is ever reminding us that our lives are withering
away. The withered and attenuated fingers of the Destroyer were placed
amid the long and gracefully flowing ringlets of the disconsolate
mourner. Thus were the striking emblems of mortality and immortality
beautifully blended in one pictorial representation. It was a spectacle
such as Masons never saw before, and, in all probability, such as the
fraternity will never witness again. The brother’s name was never known.