Let's Go Rob a Pyramid!

by Jerome

(Photographs supplied by AW, BK, CG and DB with thanks)

The Pyramids of Egypt were all looted in antiquity, and no doubt originally contained treasures that made the risk appear worthwhile. This article is about a far more prosaic event, the breaking into and robbing an approximately seven feet high pyramid-shaped memorial in United Cemeteries, Ross Township, Pittsburgh.

In early 1921 the United Cemeteries pyramid was completed. It was in the center of four sections of the cemetery reserved for Bible Students who had worked along with Charles Taze Russell. He was buried there in 1916, slightly uphill from the pyramid which was designed as a memorial for all those on site. As people died their names were to be inscribed on the four sides of the pyramid on carved pages of open books. However, only nine names were ever recorded on the monument before the idea was abandoned.

This pyramid was hollow. It was constructed from four triangular shaped sides that were angled together with a capstone holding it all in place. Cement grouting ensured it was designed to last. And it did, for a little over 70 years.

What attracted attention, which ultimately proved most unwelcome, was the news that the hollow interior contained “treasure.” This was mentioned in the 1919 IBSA convention report, while the pyramid was being constructed.  The relevant paragraph was a statement of intent: “Within the structure, incased (sic) in a block of granite, will be a sealed metal box in which is a complete set of Karatol Scripture Studies, the Memorial Tower, and one of every tract, photographs of Pastor Russell, a copy of the Society’s charter, and many other things to interest the people who at some future date may open the pyramid and find them.”

When the monument was completed and the event covered in the New Era Enterprise for February 10, 1920, the plan had not changed. The Enterprise reported:  “Within the monument is a hollowed stone which contains a copy of all the Society’s literature, photographs of the Pastor, a copy of the Society’s charter and other data which some day in the not far distant future may perchance come to light, now effectually sealed up.”

Years later, when George Swetnam wrote the article A Man and His Monument for the Pittsburgh Press in its Family Magazine section for June 25, 1967, page 7, he wrote about this cache of material, “hermetically sealed to await the end of time.”

Well, it didn’t quite wait until the end of time, but it as noted above, it did survive a little over 70 years.

The photograph below dates from November 1991. The visitor who took the photograph found the pyramid still intact, although noted that the grouting was failing in places and water was seeping in. No doubt its integrity was increasingly compromised, and the structural weaknesses may have given the thief or thieves their incentive.

By the fall of 1993 or 1994 the deed was done. The pyramid was opened and its contents disappeared.

The photograph below dates from that period and purports to show the break-in taking place.

In fairness to the subjects, this was a photograph taken by young tourists visiting the site, who found the damaged artefact and posed beside it. As you do. Their faces have been obscured in this picture, because no doubt they are now middle aged highly respectable individuals. There would have to be at least three of them, because someone took the photograph. Unsurprisingly, they found the pyramid empty.

What stands out for me is how heavy the sides were. It would have taken some effort to move the one section, but once moved there was a real danger to life had it toppled over. The damage would obviously need to be repaired as soon as possible.

We travel forward to the second known break-in.  This was around the year 2000. Again, and no doubt for reasons of safety as much as anything, the pyramid was repaired very quickly. But this time someone took photographs of the interior.

Obviously there wasn’t any casket of publications there, just a few granite shards that may have come from it. The person who took these photographs searched near the site in case someone had discarded parts of the “hollowed stone” the historic documents had been in. Nothing was found. He wasn’t to know that the cupboard had been bare for several years.

So we are left with the question – who vandalized the pyramid originally and stole its contents and where are they now?

I obviously have no idea, but as commented in earlier articles, the contents were unlikely to have been unique.  They could only put inside the pyramid what was available in 1920, and the Society’s own library at that time was incomplete. Whatever was inside was probably available elsewhere. The only thing that made it special was that it came from inside the pyramid. But whoever stole the contents could hardly advertise this on eBay. Can you imagine the wording?

I cannot believe any active JW or Bible Student would do such a thing. We are left with perhaps a rogue collector of some sort.

So someone somewhere out there may have a cache of materials; however, nothing that could not have been obtained from elsewhere. But as I write, there may be some sad individual out there still gloating over their hoard. If perchance they are reading this, all I can suggest is that they might consider seeking medical help.

We have all these visits and almost no comments.

Even a 'thank you' matters.

Some serious help needed

We promised in volume 1 to report on an examination of 2nd Presbyterian Church records. They're on microfilm held by the LDS genealogy library and available on loan for a small fee. At this point we do not have time to search these records. We need a volunteer to do this. It requires a steady eye. Microfilm is not easy to read sometimes. It requires patience. You have to read everything looking for the Russell and the Birney names. We will need a print out of what ever you find. We need this done quickly, as quickly as possible.

If you're a brave soul and want to volunteer, let me know. We will need you to keep your word, to get right on this project. Anyone?

Calista Burke Downing

C. B. Downing was the first Watch Tower missionary in China. She began reading Zion's Watch Tower in 1882. She was originally a Presbyterian missionary and ran a girls' school in Cheffoo. She rescued girls sold into slavery, adopting them as her own. Herewith is a picture of rescued slave children.

Really pleasing ...

Now if just half of these visitors had left a comment, we'd have a more vital community. [Click on map to view entire.]

To our Korean Spammers

Just so you know, and assuming you can read English, google identified you as spammers over a year ago, and none of your posts show up. Keep trying if you wish. Your visits just raise our 'hit count.' But nothing you try to post shows up anywhere on a blogger blog. Which pleases me no end.

The same will happen with the Arabic language spam now that bloggers are consistently reporting it.

Invitation Card to Russell Lecture - Indianapolis, 1913

United Cemeteries Revisited

by Jerome

The United Cemeteries burial plot where CTR is interred has featured on this blog on several occasions in the past. Back in 2014, after visiting the area in person, I was able to write a series of articles covering the cemetery’s history, the history of the pyramid monument (including the infamous break-in) and also the history of the people whose names are inscribed on the pyramid’s sides. Also the claim by conspiracy theorists that CTR was a freemason because - shock, horror – there is now a Masonic temple on the site has also been discussed in detail in the past by both me and others.

However, since finding a couple more photographs hidden away on a hard drive, this article will go over some of this history briefly again. And it may be of interest to new readers who have not delved back into this blog’s own past.

Using the United States Investment Company, the Society purchased farming land formerly belonging to a Margaret Wible in 1904, with the intention of forming a cemetery company. It would be a commercial venture, but a percentage of the profits would go towards their religious work. There was already a cemetery adjacent owned by the Roman Catholic St Philomena Church, so the change of use was logical. Plat maps of the 1890s show a farm and land belonging to Margaret Wible, with the St Philomena Cemetery to the south.

When CTR wrote his last will and testament in 1907 he asked to be buried here. A special area of the cemetery came to be known as the Bethel plot, and was to be reserved for full time workers, either in Bethel or as pilgrims or colporteurs.

Our first picture was taken in early November 1916 and shows a view down the hill across the special “Bethel” cemetery area.

Two small grave markers can be seen on the grass. These are for Mary Jane Whitehouse and Arabella Mann, who were both interred in June 1916. Their graves mark the end of the special Bethel plot. The land in front, while still belong to the cemetery company, was not part of the Bethel plot. Looking further down the hill you can see a large house. This was the original farmhouse, now occupied by J Adam Bohnet, who was cemetery manager in 1916. He’d lived there for some years, and had earlier used the surrounding farmland to grow “miracle wheat.”

In front of the house on the right of the picture you can see some substantial grave stones clustered together. You will not find these today because this was apparently a collection of monumental masonry for purchase from the cemetery company.

So in 1916 CTR died and arrangements were made for his funeral. The next picture shows the grave being dug.

You can just see the head of someone in the bottom of the grave. The group of men include J Adam Bohnet on the far right. Bohnet’s distinctive bald head is covered over by a hat. The small graves stones for Mary Whitehouse and Arabella Mann are shielded in the picture by the group. Below them is the house along with the sample grave markers.

Our next picture takes us forward to very early in 1920. The pyramid monument has been erected in the center of the Bethel plot. This is covered in some detail in the New Era Enterprise newspaper for February 20, 1920, which reproduces this photograph.

This photograph, taken near dusk, appears to have been taken from the location of CTR’s grave. Looking down the hill, you can still see the two small grave markers for Whitehouse and Mann. It looks like the lights are on in the house.

However, the house no longer belonged to the Society. In December 1917 the whole cemetery, with the exception of the Bethel plot and a couple of other small areas, was sold off to what was now called the North Side Catholic Cemetery Association. J Adam Bohnet no longer lived in this house. After a short spell in Brooklyn he would spend the next decade as a Pilgrim loyal to the IBSA travelling across the country.

Once the pyramid monument was installed, no further names were inscribed on it. Apart from two further burials – Charles Beuhler in 1925 and Margaretta Russell Land (CTR’s sister) in 1934 – the site fell into disuse until the Society started selling off plots in the 1940s.

Our next picture dates from November 1991.

The site looks a little neglected, although that might just have been the time of year when the picture was taken. You can see CTR’s grave, the pyramid monument, and assorted grave markers both inside and outside of the Bethel plot. The two little grave markers for Whitehouse and Mann have now disappeared. So has the farm house. The land opposite is just scrubland, with just a few possible graves near the path.

In 1994 the Catholics (rebranded as the Catholic Cemeteries Association of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Inc.) sold off this waste ground to the Masons. The documents from October 1994 show they sold 42.40 acres of land to the Masonic Fund Society for the County of Allegheny for $610,000. The Masons then built their shiny new Greater Pittsburgh Masonic Center there.

Our final picture (taken in 2014) shows CTR’s grave, the pyramid and the Masonic buildings in the distance.

It must be stressed to any who persist in linking a Masonic conference center with CTR’s grave that the land was sold to the Catholics in December 1917. The Catholics appear to have done nothing with it until selling it on in 1994. So there is absolutely no connection with CTR and the Society’s burial area. But when did facts ever get in the way of conspiracy theorists?

There are numerous pictures of the area showing it as found today. The one reproduced above is my own, but had to be cropped because I appear in the original. Being of a naturally shy and retiring nature I decided to edit it accordingly.

Thomas Emlyn's Message in America

Russell was non-Trinitarian as were many Adventists and Millenarians in his era. The Proclaimers book mentions Emlyn's intensely interesting book. This was published in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1790. From our research collection.

American Age-to-Come booklet - 1866

Literalists and Adventists disagreed about the fate of natural Israel. This is a Literalist tract related to that debate. Russell adopted the views found in this and similar tracts.

Mid-19th Century British Millennialist Tract

This tract was published anonymously, but it is known to have been written by William Kelly. Twenty thousand copies were printed in 1866. We know of no other surviving copies.

Current work ...

Please read the article Human Teachers appearing in the June 1882 issue of Zion's Watch Tower. I will appreciate any observations no matter how simple. But I would like you to put this article in its context. We've discussed this for a few weeks [B and myself, that is.]. We will quote from it, but I'd like additional eyes to read it and minds to ponder it.

More from our research collection: Things you've never seen ...

Reminder

Do not link to this site through facebook - ever.

Aaron Kinne's 1814 Book. See previous post

Aaron Kinne - 1813

Bruce mentioned Aaron Kinne in his essay. This is from our research collection:

The Christian Observer

As with the Literalist mentioned and shown in my previous post, The Christian Observer is mentioned on Separate Identity volume 1 and will be again in volume 2. It was published in England by "Members of the Established Church." It was republished in America issue by issue. It ran many articles on prophecy from the Literalist viewpoint. The image is poor. I can't make a clearer scan without damaging this very fragile bound volume.

The Literalist

We refer to this periodical in Separate Identity v. 1 and again in volume 2. Few if any of you will have seen one. Published in Philadelphia, it republished works by British millenarians. The periodical title is inside the front cover. Nominally, it was published semi-monthly during its short life. However some issues were several hundred pages long republications of major books. These stood for many issues. Below is the April 1841 issue [No. 19]. We have three entire volumes and this stray issue. It is rare to say the least.

This represents the antecedents to the Age to Come movement as Russell met it in 1869-1870.

With a growing readership, you'd think ...

that there would be more comments on our blog articles and photos.