In presenting to our readers this translation from the Spanish Of the monita secreta (secret monitor) of the Jesuits, it is but due that a clear and truthful statement Of how the work came into our hands should be given. In the month Of August of 1870, the Secretariat Of all the bodies Of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freema sonry in the City Of San Francisco, California, had been placed in our hands, and we then occupied an Office, which had been assigned to us, in the Masonic Temple of this city. Scarcely had we then entered upon our duties, when one morning in the month of September, 1870, a rap was heard at our'door, and, on Opening it, a stranger, feeble in body, with a pallid face bearing the evidence of great suffering and of sickness, inquired if that was the office Of the Secretary of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, which we answered in the affirmative and invited him in and gave him a seat.
