 The "San Francisco News-Letter and Advertiser" then embellished the story by saying that she "claimed to be a mason", having cajoled the younger members of her uncle's lodge into clandestinely conferring the three Blue Lodge degrees on her.This story was rapidly picked up by the West Coast press, and various versions of the story were passed around.While she strenuously denied that she had come by her knowledge in an improper way, in subsequent interviews she refused to be drawn on the source of her masonic knowledge.