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Edward A. Hunter[1] about Aleister Crowley and Elaine Simpson
19 April 1900
Statement by Fra.[ter] H.E.S. [Hora Et Semper]
Early Thursday morning, Mr. Yeats [W.B. Yeats] and I called on Mr. Wilkinson (the landlord), and asked him how it was that he had allowed anyone to break into the rooms. It seems that Mrs. Emery's [Florence Farr] injunction as to the closing of the rooms had not been reported to him by his clerk, and that Mrs. Emery had not given written instructions to that effect; he knew, of course, that members came and went as they liked. We, therefore, felt that we could not hold him responsible for the intrusion. Mr. Wilkinson said Mrs. Emery was his tenant; she always paid him the rent for the rooms, and he held her responsible for the same.
Mrs. Emery had given us a letter to the landlord authorizing us to have the locks changed, which we had done forthwith.
About 11.30, Aleister Crowley arrived in Highland dress, a black mask over his face, and a plaid thrown over his head and shoulders, an enormous gold or gilt cross on his breast, and a dagger at his side. He swiftly passed the clerk in the shop below, which he had no right to do, but was stopped by Mr. Wilkinson in the back hall, who sent us word upstairs. Mr. Yeats and I went downstairs and told him he had no right whatever to enter the premises. By his request the landlord sent for a constable, who, on learning the situation, told him to go, which he at once did, saying he should place the matter in the hands of a lawyer. A man arrived about 1 o'clock, who showed a letter from Mr. Crowley, asking him to attend at 36, Blythe Road, at 11 o'clock, but he had been all over London searching for Blythe Road. He did not quite know what he had come for, he thought there was some sort of entertainment on. Mr. C.[rowley] had engaged him, he said, outside the Alhambra, evidently in the official capacity of chucker-out. I took the man's name and address. Mr. Wilkinson was interested in the matter of Mr. Crowley's intrusion from the fact that his name was on the black list of the journal of the Trades' Protection Association, to which Mr. Wilkinson belonged. Mr. Crowley gave as his authority for entering the rooms, the Earl of Glenstrae, otherwise Count MacGregor [MacGregor Mathers]. There were numerous telegrams that day for MacGregor, 36, Blythe Road, and late in the evening a foreign telegram. These were all refused, name being unknown. A parcel early in the morning arrived from Clarkson, wigmaker, for Miss Simpson, which was handed to her on her departure.
1—Edward A. Hunter was a member of the Golden Dawn.
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