, 1870-05-15
7 2 .LI---t Y
WAS MQHGAH-KURDEREnt
An 1nseirsttng FIfssory OF ons OF saS
Famous senkntIas.s OF Old I1sans'


To1sy-.hroe years ago and upTnFds 1le1e es
uaa an Occurrences in Western New YORK o0t
ri which NO considerable e1Gte}ntnt. And no
Trs,ijt different from tho ordinary course Of
such oecu1ences, oould have reasonably bcen
e1psStea il was tha disappearance Of N o9,
sc1,ra individual, under circumstances that LETT
i;ttIs doubt OF furcible st,ducsion. Such x1sirs,
eyen when groaag criminal, do not; e1elte
S,esi communities and States into hoate1 dig
cI,shion md yehenent action; We read q tnaua
almost daily in the papers, and ::the3 ffoonoe
no mere than faint ripple Of e1e1ie1n ensnpon
tie surface Of events. psttsessy eesnI sad t6a Hs
conpzratiY ely little puhEo attention gwen g
tl.etu, tie youth Of klle present 8enesatiou VII
ind It difficult to realize tbs fact that tho dns-
arpc.ta1;ra Of thus one obscure PEARSON, under
circumstances strongly suSgesusc, - mSe Ne
enid. 1t. 60 carly d&te " tho 1istol5 u tno
Commonwealth of New York Is 1926, and wien
tho great western region Of the State Wa
sparsely settled, without tho facilities Q! Fa1~
road aud telegrafhic communication and T1tn
very feu printing presses 70 aid The taEcu~
latinn OF news and opinion, could hava
created Tie intense excitement it did hoS tho
tcnpeat OF public feeling excited BY tbs oc-
cuuerce not only aFoee with astounding Bun~
dennesa, but il continued for six soa1s with
almost uuAhated vigoE; Upon the assumption
that The individual wh' hsd m5steEionsly dis
appeared had been secretly and barharously
nifty. The feeling aroused by the Anair took to
itself the uamo Of anti-Masonry, and, entering
The political Gold, bcca1no = power Of snch
1n1znnituae rs to utterly suspend all other
issues. ILa character and scope Of this article
forbid anything moro than brief Glanco at
e1ciiaueut; and it will suffice upon this
bead to say that At. this time, when tho
politics OF tho n2tnuu weGB IN bitter and
vehement controversy, batween tha adherents
OF General Jackson on the ono side, md the
Ksga1s.3s or sho otG5 sS i Hss b
new party Of Anti Masonry aubdivided And dis
tractcd al other parties, and drew thousands
OF ailhercpts from them ali that in the cleo
ton OF 1873 its candidate for State Senator in
the Eighth District OF New iork{ a waa elected
by tho unprecedented .nsjolity Of 5000 that
in tho general election OF ls30, in a poll OF
ESQ, COO votes, it failed to elevate its candi-
date ~ to the Executive chair By barely a,O00 j;
and In the election Of 1882, in the same
State, In poll of $4,000, it waa de-
feated bY less than 1o,ooo najorisy that it
dinneod itself Ike widdro throughout the
The gubernatorial chair in pennsylraniAin ia 1885,
and developing an astonishing degrees of
strength in previous years in Ohio, Massachn-
! actts, Elodc Island, and Vermont-in which
\ and that. finally, this unprecedented outbreak
Of public sentiment found voice in = Eational
Convention in 1851, putting forth
tho most stringent resolutions against
the Institution Of Freemasoury AZ
q platform. and combining candidates ~
large support, md who in the Electoral Col
I lege had the seven electoral votes OF Vermont,
| It was party, in brief, that for 4 season took
the popular vote by storm, rejecting al the
guidance OF the politicians, increasing in tre-
| mendous ratio Of strength year efter year !;
4 ...x- 50
have been upon national Concerns, had not tho
question Of The National Dank, and different
/ financial problems OF the time arisen to divert
( public attention from it.
But If the political phase Of this tempestu-
GUS sentiment was simply astonishing, its
Iat;vely go. Households, By the hundreds,
were divided against themselves by the angry
| conflict between Mason and aut-Mason; MEM
! bera Of the same family sat at tue sanlo t1blo
md refused to have verbal intercourse with
each other; matrimonial as we'll as bualnesa
cause; the tea-drintngs aud quiltings Of the
women, AZ we'll as tho caucuses and street dis
cussions Of tho men, we're invaded By
the same spirit Of acrimonious difference,
aud for 4 time all tic social institutions
Of Western New York wese threat
| ened with disintegrat,on. So widely didused
through al classes and ages was this contees
that ia many vilsges the boys IN the strusts
took sides according to tho opinions which they
heard most at home, and formed Mason and
anti-Mnsou bands, which inaulged in the pleas-
ant sport Of sSoning each other when occasion
| offered. It was condition Of feeling which,
to tho dispassionate reviewer Of to-day, seens
appalling in its intensity and determination
Que OF those exceptional tumult-tines such as
happily visit . nation only once in 4 century,
and generally with 4 nofo limited duration
| than this.
II may be- said in this place, that, although
every man to whom any connection with the
abduction was traced proved to DO Nason-
| and there were not wanting those in the order
| who declared tilat it the victim had mot the
] awful fa,o claimed for him BY the anti -Masous.
il WAS no more than he deserved-yet thoro
w,re very many Masons who opon,y aanoureea
| tho decd, by whom8oever committed, as an
| outage which should be Severely punished.
Most Of this lstte1 clasa, however, were forced
] BY tho violence Of the prescription into tho
Masons; while many othara yielded to tho
storm, r.nounce1 the obligations OF the order,
/ and became strenuous IN their opposition to it,
! The man in whom all this popular frenzy
! centred WAS personally tho smallest character
that circumstances ever raised to the rank OF
martyr. His name, notorious now Wherever
the language Is read OF spoken, was William
Morgan. He was by occupation bricklayeE
and stonenaEon a mon Of little character and
Of no consideration in tho village OF Batavia,
|
tho year 1926, he resided It is well known
| that lio WAS = member Of tho Masonic order,
and poor and needy enough TO venture upon
| desperate and extraordinary me1ns tor the
J sake Of money In The summer Of the year
named it was currently rumored in batavia,
and about the adjacent country, that Morgan,
in conjunction with one David c. Miller, :
printer Of tho same pihce, Was nbont to publish
book diec1oeing the sccreta OF the Masonic
l Order. Upon this intiInation m immediate et-
fort was made to suppress the book. 4 strsn-
ger WIS introduced to Miller, who, under the
pretext Of desiring to purchase m interest IN
the publication. unHucceaafully endeayored to
obtain the manuscript. Following this tho Of
ace took ase " way TINT pointed to tho asen,
On The iath oi September, Miller Was A.
rested at Batavia By Jesse French. q Constable,
upon warrant issued By Mr. Da1tow, Jus
lice Of the Peace OF te Roy. He WAS CON
yeyed by French, sssisted hy Roswell Wileo1
accompanied bY riotous crowd, azaaa viii
clubs, who were supposed to be Masons. Al
StaGo1d, p1aee On the route, he WAS takat
fsom the carriage into the Masonic Lodge
armed escort, and an nttcmpt vas made te
fEghsen him into tho production f,iat Of tnt
largo aud equally determined party
Of 3fillesis friends hsd gathered II
BECAME 50 formidable that tho party insid'
were compelled to bring, out their prisoner
which they un1i1lnEly did. The whole eoTteg
Immediately proceeded to LIE Roy with th
object OF this singular demonstration; an
streets Of that quiet village had never seer
mcnt % Of lis armed friends, aIiller firmly d
! manded to be taken before the Justice. III
demand was uuwiuingly complied viii, an
1.c VIE at unce discharged, nothing OF ~
H. S+Snf htft1
> friends immediaiely crowded about him sa
, , hurried back with him 10 Batavia. On ii
! way an unsuccessful attempt Vas matle to r.
' a1rest lin By the party thlt had befors ha
= him in custody. For their share N these hlsl
, handed proceedings, French, Wlco3, a. ?ia
orisoumeut hot, and assault aud battery, AZ
! were senterced respectively to ono Scaf, ~
" and three months Imprisonment VOL, ,
= This startling occurrence WAS on INC Ae4
september On ths nlsRI or,n OF 1ne sppesres sv
= Tho art Ens not casual and reasonable 81
: sence: he passed forever from the sight
= wife. children, and tHebda, and the Apae
i forty ycszs has Afforded no solution OF II
It is beyond question that on Sunday, Sci
I teuber 10 = warrant Eas obtained by OF
= Chesebro Of Juatice OF the Peace Of C1nAl
daigua, 50 miles from Batayis, fog the at1e
1 OF Morgan, On charge q theft OF snilt IT u
ono Kiugsley. The warrant WAS served !;
! Datavis On TIC following tlay, and tho prison
y vaa forthwith conveyed to caaandaiSua, Wit
y outtsecrecy, in the public stase- Ho was a
q ! raigned before the Justice who fssu'
IS ,s the warrant and discharged, there bei1
% promptly ressrested on complaint Of Chcs
~ bro, in civil suit for The recovery Of the So
Ia of two dollafs, upon an alleged tavern bill :
h. signed 70 the complainant b. one Aekls