Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1877-05-10
From the Corner Stone.
THE MORGAN MYSTERY.

From the Corner Stone.
THE MORGAN MYSTERY.
WAS WILLIAM MORGAN KILLED FOR REVEAL
ING THE SECRETS OF MASONRY?
William Morgan was born in Virginia in
1776. He was a stonemason by trade, but
aftefward became brewer, and for time,
about 1872, he was one of Laftte's piratical
band in Louisiana and the Gulf of Mexico.
He afterwards lived in Virginia and New
York. ..-..,.
There is no evidence whatever that he was
made Mason. At Rochester, New York, he
craftily persuaded his employer that he was a
Freemason, and through his influence, with.
out any certificate or demit. succeeded in be-
ing admitted as member of lodge in that
city. He afterward, emboldened by his sue
cess in Rochester, at the town of Leroy again
deceived the fraternity, and pretending that
he had received the Masonic degrees up to
and including that of "Most Excellent Mas
ter Mason" was admitted in the chapter
there, and received regularly the Royal Arch
Degree. That was the only degree he ever
lawfully received. He was thus perjured
man throughout bis brief Masonic career. In
intellectual character he was naturally bright,
but illiterate, and learned only in the dark
ways of the world. Added to this, he bru-
talized himself with drink. Outside of his
house, in taverns, he was barroom oracle;
in his house he was an intoxicated tyrant, and
treated his wife shamefully, seizing her by the
hair of the head, and dsshing her against the
walls and furniture He soon came, as re-
suit, to want, and was the recipient of both
common and Masonic charity. Such was the
man who conceived the scheme of bettering
his fortunes by publishing pretended expose
of Masonry. An idea of the sum he expect
ed to gain may be learned from the fact that
his contreres who were with him in the scheme
bound themselves to him in bond with a
penalty of $5O0,00O, to pay him one.fourth
part of all sums that should be received from
sales of the book. He owed numerous debts
which were pressed for payment, and led to
his imprisonment several times in jail. On
the last occasion, September II, 1926, he was
released upon two persons paying his debt,
and accompanied by them he entered car
riage, after some high words and persuasion,
and was driven first to Rochester and then to
old Fort Niagara, near Lewiston, on the Nj
agara river-that being the boundary line be-
tween the United States and Canada. There
be was kept under lock and key for two or
three days. From that time until compar-
atively recent period there was no authentic
information as to his whereabouts. The ene-
mics of Freemasonry asserted that he was
drowned by its brethren in the Niagara river,
while dispassionate persons believed that he
had been taken to Canada and liberated.
There was certainly no evidence of death.
His body was never found, nor any one that
saw him killed Had be possessed any estate
no court of probate would have granted let
ters testamentary upon the evidence of his
disappearance.
Now as to the sequel. One account, pur-
porting to have come from Morgan's son, is
that, instead of having been mysteriously
murdered, he lived nearly thirty years after
his disappearance from New York, and final
ly died in opulence and contentment in Van
Diemen's Land, where he was editor of a
newspaper called the Advertiser, which still
survives him, and in which he used to refer
in pleasant way to the stories told of his
murder in the United States. According to
the statement of young Morgan, his father
was released upon condition that he should
leave the country forever. He accepted the
offer, and was accompanied by Masons as far
as Quebec, where he entered the British navy
and sailed for England. BE afterward was
discharged from that service, and sailed for
Van Diemen's Land, where he settled. His
son was resident of San Francisco at the
time when he communicated this information
relating to his father, whom he visited during
his lifetime once every two years.
Another account, given August II, 1851,
by A. T. Rogers of Anoka, Mimi, is that the
elder Rogers, bis father, who died in 1857,
knew VIM. Morgan we'll prior to 1925, and
met him many years after in the backwoods
of Maine: He said that Morgan escaped
from those who had charge of him at Fort
Niagara and fearing for his life, if caught,
he fed to the boundless forests Of northern
Maine, where he built cabin and lived
Wild hunter and bermitslife. When he was
accidentally discovered by Mr.. Rogers, and
recognized, he deeamped, seeking q new and
more secluded home, and was never heard Of
afterward. i !0o1 Jdi tGdi s9hahoj oii -i"1i1
buThe astute reader may take bis choice Of
these stories, or, rejecting both, frame one for
himself Probably the Morgan mystery will
never be cleared up. Certainly interest in it
has ceased in the United States, among anti
Masons as we'll as the brethren. It was
agood enough Morgan" before the elections;
it gave class of political tricksters a pre-
tence of elevating themselves into power for
q time but their rule was of short duration,
and will never be repeated. There is no home
American historian who has the assurance to
gravely charge upon Freemasonry the MUIR
der of Morgan; that thankless and proofess
assertion seems to have been reserved for one
who writes 5000 miles away from the scene
of the history and distance, in this instance,
does not appear to have lent either impartial
ity or enchantment to his view. 9rJ 3a
..;'q...G ,r,e.a CLIFFORD P. MkccALLA.;u
How FAR Will A GREENBAcK Go ?-Mr.
Brown kept boarders. Around the table sat
Mr.. Brown, Mrs, Brown, Mrs. Andrews, the
village milliner Mr.. Black, the baker; Mr..
Jordan, a carpenter, and Mr. Hadley, -four,