Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-08-12

speeches and wine, Col. William King, q
LOckpOrt, invited four men (Whitney
Howard, Chubbuck, and Garside) from
their seats at the banqueting table INTO al
adjoining apartment, where he informe,
them that he had an order from the Gran,
Master Ode Witt Clinton the execution o
which required their assistance. This part
was then driven to Niagafs, reaching thl
fort little before twelve O'Clock.
THE MURDER OF MORGAN.
| Upon entering the magazine Col. Kin.
informed Morgan that his friends had com
pleted their arrangements for his remova
TO and residence upon a fam in Carada
Morgan walked with them to the wharf
where a boat was held in readiness fol
them by Elisha Adams, an invalid soldier
into which the party passed and rOWed
away, Adams remaining to warn the boat
of by signal if on its return any alarm
had been given. II was nearly two O'Clock
in the morning when the boat came back,
having, as Adams expressed it, lost one
man, only five of the six being on board
when the boat returned. When the boat
reached point where the Niagara River
| empties into Lake Ontario, a rope being
wound around Morgan's body, to either end
Of which sinker was attached, be was
thrown overheard. Il is due to the memory
OF Gov. Clinton 10 say that Col. King had
no such order and no authority to make
use Of his name. Il is proper also, TO add
that none Of these men survive. John
| Whitney, Of Rochester, whom knew well,
| related all the circumstances connected
with the last act in that tragedy to me at
Albany in 1881, in the presence Of Simeon
b. JeWett, Of ClarksOn, and Samnel Bar
ton, OF Lewiston.
FINDING THE BODY.
In October, 1927, more than a year after
the abduction Of Morgan, q body drifted on
shore near a small creek which entered into
Lake Ontario. A coroners inquest was
held, and a verdict rendered that it was
the body Of an unknown person. The
coroner wrote out a minute description Of
the body, and published 1t along with the
finding Of the jury in an Orleans county
newspaper. That description, attracting
the attention Of persons well acquainted
with Morgan, excited considerable Interest.
The widow and several intimate friends Of
Morgan seemed so confident that it was his
body that the committee appointed 70 in
vestigate the abduction determined TO hold
another inquest, Of which public notice
was given. On the day appointed some
sixty or seventy people assembled az the
mouth of Oak Orchard creek, where the
body Of the unknown man was inferred.
Before opening the grave Mrs. Morgan and
DR.. Strong described certain marks upon
Morgan's body, BY means Of which it could
be identified. When the rude coffin was
opened the body it contained disclosed the
peculiarities described, and after deliberate
examination, the jurors declared it uDani-
mOusly the body Of William Morgan.
From this verdict no one present dissenJed,
and for a week or ten DAYS the question
seemed to be settled.
THE BODY CLAIMED AGAIN.
Late in October there came a report thai
tie body declared to be that Of William
Morgan was claimed by his family TO he
that of Timothy Monroe, a Canadian. who
was swept in a small boat over Niagara
Falls eleven days previous 70 the time that
the body was washed ashore at the mouth Of
Oak Orchard Greek. The remains in the
meantime had been taken by Mrs. Morgan to
Batavia. A third inquest was now TO be
held for the purpose Of establishing the
claim of Mrs. Monroe. A large C0nCOurse
Of citizens was in attendance. Mrs. Mon
roe appeared, and gave q description Of her
husbands person and Of the clothes in
which he left home on the morning Of the
day he was drowned. Previous to her eX-
animation Bates Cooke, chairman Cf the
Morgan Investigating Committee, examined
the clothes taken from tie body and care
fully preserved by the Coroner with great
minuteness. This enabled him 10 test the
accuracy of Mrs. MoDrOes knowledge and
memory.
Neither Mrs. Monroe nor any person
sympathiZing with her or interested in the
Identification Of the body as that Of Monroe
had access to it or had seen any Gf the
wearing apparel Of the deceased. And yet
Mrs. Monroe not only, gave general de-
scTiptiOn Of each garment, but underwent
rigid crOss-examinatiOn by Mr.. Cooke of
more than an hour, in which she described
with singular accuracy every rent and patch
found in each garment. She indicated but
tons she had sewed on the pantalOOns TO
replace those lost which did not match the
others. She also described one stocking
that had been darned with yarn Of differ
eIt color. In a word, her description Of
the clothing was so accurate in every par
ticular as to leave no doubt that each arti
Gle had been under her special care. But,
wonderfully accurate as she had
been on this point, she was most
strangely wrong in her description Of the
body, Monroe being at leasJ three inches
taller than the corpse. She described her
husbands hair and Whiskers as coarse and
black, adding that his hair had been cut
quite short a few days before he was
drowned, while that upon the head Of the
deceased was long, silky and Of a chestnut
color. MOnrOe's son confirmed his moth
er's testimony relating both 20 the clothes
and the body. No attempt was made to
impeach either, nor was there any doubt
that Monroe had been drowned, as alleged.
It was difficult to reconcile these conflict
ing statements. Mrs. Monroe was as
clearly right about the clothes as she was
wrong about the body found ia them.
THE THIRD INQUEST
resulted in finding that the body previously
adiudged TO be MOrgan's was that Of Tim
Otby Monroe. There were other circUm-
stances connected with the disappearance
of both Morgan and Monroe, assuming that
both had been drowned in Lake Ontario,
calculated to cOmplicate the questions Of
identity. The body was found at Oak
Orchard Creek full year after MOrgsn's
disappearance; Of course il could not have
Dccu uiiiLAil5 aDOus sLat 81 - IAA-Of II
was known, however, that Morgan was
weighted heavily when thrown into the
lake; and, two months before that body
was found, the mouth Of the river and that
part of the lake where Morgan was sup
posed to have been thrown overheard, had
been thoroughly reked. In this way it
was supposed that the body had been
released from its weight, risen to the sur
face and drifted 20 Oak Orchard
Creek. Monroe was drowned on
the 25th or 9th Of September. The body
AZ Oak Orchard Creek was found on the
SJh day Of October, leaving but eleven or
twelve days TO drift a distance Of forty
miles, where It was found. Il is under
sfOod that drovvDad rsarsona remain several