The daily gazette., 1882-11-28
THE FATE OF MORGAN.
A STORY FIFTY YEARS OLD
n EvIvED.
MR.. WEEDS DYING STATEMENT.
A Strange Recital OF the AliegeI lSiln1g
OF william Morgan by the Msssns, ~
the Veteran Journalist

2sth of ptember asf, giving the full bis.
tory OF the abduction and death Of william
Morgan at Batavia, N. r., 1927, for alleged
revealing CT the secrets of Free Missionary.
The article covers three columns, and c'in-
taius many statements and specuiatictis
already published, aud many others, now
made public ior the first time. 4
Referring TO the Inquest held on the body
found on the shore Of Lake Ontario, which
was first thought 10 be that Of Morgan, aud
subsequently that of Timothy Monroe, Nd.
Weed says sour committee took no part
la tho third inquest, aud the body, hs L.
known, was declared TO be that OF Timothy
Monroe. On the evening of the day thar
the body was uttered at Batavia,
IL was declared to be that Of Timothy
Morgan, | went into the billiard room
of the hotel to see friend from Clarkson-
When leaving the room Ebeuzer Griffin,
prominent lawyer, employed as counsel for
the MasOns, turned to me saying swell,
Weed, what will you do Tor Morgan now Z"
To W hich replied, THAT is good enough
Morgan for US, till you bring back the one
you carried oil"
On the following morning the Daily
Adreniser, Masonic organ, contained
paragraph charging me with having Sosst-
ingiy said that The body Ia question was Q
good enough Morgan until after election.
That perversion went the rounds of the
Masonic and Democratic press, awakine
popular indignation and subjret,ng me 70 de-
nuuciations in speechs and resolutions su
political meetings and conventions.
suffered obiiquly aud repr.'ach from that
wicked peryersion for nearly half a century.
Indeed there is reason To believe that
even ROW, where an personally unkuowu,
generations are growing up, believing that
| mutilaled dead body for political effect
aud when exposed, boasted that IL vas -
good enough Morgan, Till after the electioa.
Mr.. Weed refers 10 an inrciV Vcw held At his
residence one evening in 1881, at which were
preseat Col. Simon B. Jewett, of Clarkson;
Mayor Samuel Barton of Lewiston, ana
John Whitney of Rochester The subject OF
Morgan was then discussed and Mr. Weed
AYERS that Jewett was prepared to testify
that he furnished the carriage for those who
conveyed Morgan secretly from Canandaigua
to Niagara. John Whitney was one Of tho
party. Barton conveyed the party from
Lewiston to Fort Niagara. y
Ia the course of the evening, Jewctt
turned TO Whitney with emphasis, and said.
"Joan what If you make clean breast Of
it." Whitney looked inquirlngly ut Barton,
who added "4os. ahead" WhImey
then related in detail the history of Morgsn's
abduction and fate The idea OF suppressing
Morgans intended exposure Of the
serects Of Masonery was frat sugges-
ted by q man named Johns, who suggested
that Morgan he placed ON iarm in Canada
west. For this purpose he was taken to
Niagara, and placed in the magazine OF the
fort until arrangements for settling him Ia
Canada were completed, but the CAnxfiian
MaRons disappointed them.
After several meetings lodge In CausdH
opposite Fort Niagara made refusal 20
have ANYTHING to do with Morgan. This
left his kidnappers greatly pernlcxed. Op-
portunely the inslaIlmeut OF Royal Arch
Chapter brought large number of enthusi-
astic Masons together
after labor" in Masonic language, they
retired to reireshmGt." Under the eM-
hilaratioI of champagne aud other yiandB,
the chaplain, Rev. +. II. Cummings OF
Rochester, vas called on for a toast. He
responded with peculiar emphasis and IN
language OF their ritual. The enimies OF
our order:-may THEY tni grave six feet
deep, six feet long aud elk feet duo east and
west "
Immediately after tho toast, which waa
received with great enthusiasm, Colonel
William King, an officer of tho war OF 1913,
then member of the Assembly frons
Niagara county, called Whitney OF Roehes.
ter, Howard oil Buffalo, Chubbuck
Of Lcwistown AMI GaFs.de :, OF
Canada, out of the room aud with car
rage, furnished By Major Barton, they wera
Magazine aud INFORMED Morgan that ar.
ranIentnts for sending him TO Canada
were completed aid that his family would
ron follow him.
Morgan received the sinforn alton cheer
fully, aud walked with his supposed friendA
to tue boat. which was rowcd TO the mouth
Of the river, where rope was wound around
bis body to each end OF which sinker was
attached Morgan was tnen thrown over
board.
lie grasped the gunwale of tho boat con-
vulsiye'y Garside in forcing Morgan 10
relinquish his hold was severely bitten.
Whitney, in concluding me narrative,
said he WAS now relieved from a heavy load,
that for four years he had not heard win,
dow curtain russe, or auY other poise 81
night, without thinking the sheriff was after
him.
Colonel Jewett then looking Rxcdly al
Whitney said, ''Heed can hang you now"
s'But he WON'T" was Wnfiney's prompt re,
Ply. Of coorse, the St crct thus coniided to
me, goes ON MIR. Weeds affidavit, was
inyiolably kept, and 29 years afterwards,
vention at Chicago, John Whitney,
tLen residing there, called TO say
Il at he wanted me to writn
out what he once told me about
Morgan's fate, to be signed by him IN the
presence of witnesses, 10 be sealed up and
published after his death. promised to do
30 before leaving Chicago. There waa M
leisure, however, and forgetting what had
told Whitney, hurried To Iowa, returning
by. way of Springfield to visit President
Lincoln.
In the excitement of the CANVASS, which
followed, neglected the important duty OF
writing the confession, which Whitney was
80 anxious to make.
In 1851 / went to Europe aud while in
London wrote a letter to WI iitney asking
him to get Alex. B. Williams, thea a resi-
dent of Chicago to do what had 20 unpar.
doningy neglected. That letter reached
Chicago one week after Whitaey's death,
closing the last and only chauce Tor the rev.
elati0n oi that important event. -
Whitney was mason by trade, honest,
industrious and sober, but excitable. la
all the early stages of the Morgan affair, he
believed he was doing his duty. now look
back through an interval of 56 years with .
conscious sense of having been governed
through the Anti-Masonic excitement by q
sincere desire, first to vidicIte the vioisiNd
laws of my country, and next to arrest khe
great power and dan, ,erUus influences Of
secret societies"
The affidavit of Mr.. Weed Is sworn 10 ho-
fore Spencer G. Do y, Notary Pu ,iic, VI No,