He Served in Place of Abraham Lincoln

[maharba]

Not Grand High Priest until the 1880s? I wonder was he 'exalted' yet or even a Worshipful Master say in 1864. But about 1886, the 'unexalted' John Summerfield Staples applied for a small pension. Denied. Then, a year later, the (now, fully) Grand High Priest sneered his dismissal of Summerfield --worthless, likely dead anyway. But Summerfield did live another year, dying January 1888. Let's assume that Noble had nothing but charitable thoughts and only the fondest interests in soldiers such as Summerfield. Then, if that was the case, it's odd that Larner didn't know Summerfield was still alive. The timing is interesting. Had the crony actually arranged to have all records of Summerfield's service to be unfindable, just a year or two prior? Old clippings show Larner was indeed interviewed, and made that same preposterous reply, and that later it did get back to Summerfield and his family. Was Noble Danforth Larner a crony of Abraham Lincoln, a useful 'player' in the District of Columbia, and a man to call on for various favors? It may have been pure coincidence that Lincoln somehow had this exalted Master Mason to go fetch him a substitute, and again only happenstance that Larner seemed to profit very handsomely from Lincoln's and later Grant's policies.