Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1875-09-08
MORGAN's FATE.
rnURLow WEEDS DISCLOSURE.


Of and Tuesday, publishes two rcmarkabl
letters from that remarkable man an
veteran journalist, Thurlow Weed, il
reference to the mysterious disappear
ance of William Morgan nearly fit,
years ago. AS these letters are to-
long to reproduce, we herewith Civ
% an abstract of their contents.
1t will be remembered, we may SAY
by way of preface, that one OF the is
sues in the State politics Of Now York
fifty years ago, was Masonry VS.. Anti
o Masonry, and it is safe to say that tn,
campaigns into which that question
/ entered were conducted with degrc,
Of partisan bitterness and persona
fierceness never before or since sur
passed.
In 1926, it became generally known
/. that William Morgan. Of Rochester
who had left the Masons, was preparing
n book whose object was TO disclose all
the secret proceedings of Masonry
Finding no publisher in Rochester,
Morgan removed to Batavia, n. Y, and
made arrangements for the publication
of his book with one Daniel G. Miller.
Naturally enough, the announcement
of such work created much excite
ment. But this excitement became in
tense when, one night during the latter
part of September, before the work was
published, Morgan abruptly disappear
ed, and has never been seen nor heard
of since. The Masons were at once ae
cused of putting him out of the way,
and their constant reply was that they
had no adequate cause" for the muir
der of Morgan, since all the secrets he
could expose would do them no harm
To add to the excitement produced
by Morgan's disappearance, about one
year after that event, or in October,
1897, q body drifted ashore near
small creek which emptied into Lake
Ontario. From the published report
OF the Coroner's inquest, some intimate
friends of Morgan's concluded it was
his body. The investigating commit
tee decided to hold an inquest, and
sixty or seventy people assembled to
witness the proceedings. When the
grave was opened, certain marks were
found upon the body which agreed pre-
clsely withmarlks previously mentioned
by Mrs. Morgan. The jurors unani.
mously declared that it was the body
of William Morgan. 1t twas, therefore,
given overto Mrs. Morgan, and buried
in Batavia.
But about ten days after, there came
a report that the body was that ofI
Timothy Monroe, of Canada, who had
been swept over Niagara Falls in
boat eleven days before the body
was washed ashore. A third inquest was
held, and it was discovered that Mrs.
Monroe had described with so much
minuteness the suit of clothes found
upon the dead body, without having a
chance to see them, that there was no
doubt in that respect But strange to
say, the body found in the clothes did
not correspond to the description of
her husband at ALL There were other
serious difficulties, too, on both sides.
u was quite improbable that Morgan's
body would have remained in such q
tolerable state of preservation for a
year. 1t was equally improbable that
that Monroe's body would have drifted
forty miles eastward in the lake, with
no current, and against a prevailing
wind from the east. Mr. Weed says,
although the other members of the
-. n
committee firmly believed the body to
be that OF Morgan, his own previous
convictions were strongly disturbed,
and after an interval OF nearly fifty /
years he is unable TO say whether the I
body was or was not that of William |
Morgan. And so the disappearance of
Morgan has remained a profound
mystery until the publication of these {
Two letters from Mr. Weed.
Now for the other facts, as detailed I
BY fim. After the seizure of Morgan's
manuscripts, at Batavia, he himself !
was arrested on a pretended charge of !
arceny and confined in the jail at
Janandaigua Then assurances were ,
''eceivcd from a Canadian that Captain ,
brandt, an Indian chief, would provide q
home Tor Morgan in West fur q
company. Accordingly, he was taken '
rom jan 6y night, and secretly con I
eyed 10 Fort Niagara, distance l2O I
niles, ana confined in the magazine of $
ne iort' Then those who brought .
nm there crossed over the river TO ]
with the Canadian lodge by $
vhleh IL was expected that Morgan K
YOU'D DC received. But, at last, this 4