Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1882-12-01

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the narrative was evidently recently written.
Mr.. Weeds story not only re-narrates the
facts about Morgans taking off which were
published at the unwilling of statue to Nor
gan during the past year, but incidentally
gives the history of the political movement
which sprang out of the Morgan excitement.
The facts as gathered from Mr.. Weeds reve-
lation and briefly stated are these
Morgan was about to publish book reveal
ing the secrets of the Masonic order; to pre-
vent this, he was put into Canandaigua Jail
on q trumped-up charge of larceny, removed
secretly to Fort Niagara, whence he was taxi
en- at dead of night by several Masons in n
boat to the mouth of the Niagara river and
there drowned a body was washed up on
the shore of Lake Ontario, which, largely by
Mr.. Weeds fundamentally, was proved TO be
Morgan's, his wife before it was examined
having given a description which included
number of peculiarities-as double teeth all
around and a scar on one foot-that were
found on the body; subsequently an attempt
was made to make it believed that the body
was of one Timothy Monroe, who was drown
ed in the Niagara some weeks before the first
inquest.
1t was not the original intention to kill Nor
gan, it having been arranged that certain Can
adian Masons should take charge of him after
his removal from the fort, but the Canadians
suddenly refused to have anything to do with
him. The New York Masons then found
Morgan an elephant on their hands, and un-
der sudden impulse, after a champagne sup
per, he was taken out in boat, bound and
drowned. Mr.. Weeds statement is based
upon and embodies q full confession made to
him by John Whitney, one of the four men
who drowned Morgan. This confession was
made to Mr.. Weed in the presence of others
in 1881, only four years after Morgan's disap-
pearance. The story of Morgan's final taking
of was thus told by Whitney
At the supper mentioned the chaplain was
called on for toast. He responded with pc
culiar emphasis and in the language of their
ritual: 1.-The enemies of our order-may
| they find grave six feet deep, six feet long,
and six feet due east and west" Immediate
| ly after that toast, which was received with
| great enthusiasm, Col. VIM King, an officer
in our war of 1872, and then a member of
the Assembly from Niagara county, called
Whitney of Rochester, Howard of Buffalo,
Chubbuck of Lewiston and Garside of Cana
| da, out of the room and into carriage fur
nished by Maj. Barton. They were driven to
the fort, repaired to the magazine, and inform
ed Morgan, who had been placed there pre-
viously, that the arrangements for sending
him to Canada had been completed, and that
his family would soon follow him. Morgan
received the information cheerfully, and walk
ed with his supposed friends to a boat, which
| was rowed to the mouth of the river, where a
rope was wound around his body, to each end
of which sinker was attached. Morgan was
then thrown overheard. He grasped the gun
vale of the boat convulsively, and Garside,
in forcing him to relinquish his hold, was Sc
verely bitten.
Twenty-Five years after this confession,
Whitney asked Mr.. Weed to have it put in
writing, to be duly signed and certified by
him but for various reasons the duty was
neglected until after Whtney's death.
Mr.. Weed relates how the insertion by him
of a short item in the Rochester Telegraph,
with which he was then connected stating the
bare fact of Morgans disappearance, caused
such excitement and denunciation that he left
the concern to save the business for his part
ner. One of the most interesting parts of the
narrative is that in which MIR. Weed tells how
much Misrepresentation and even persecution
he had to endure OF account of his connec
ton with the investigation into Morgan's
death. This paragraph, for instance, gives
the origin of a well-known election phrase
On the evening of the day that the body
inferred at Batavia was declared by a third
inquest to be that of Timothy Monroe, went
to the billiard room of the Eagle hotel to see
friend from Clarkson. When leaving the
room, Ebenezer Griffin, prominent lawyer
employed as counsel for the Masons who was
playing billiards, turned to me, cue in hand
saying "Well, Weed, what will you do fol-
Morgan now?" To which replied ''Tha
is good enough Morgan for us till you brinl
back the one you carried off," On the follow
ing morning the Daily Advertiser, Masonic
organ, contained a paragraph charging mt
with having boastingly said that the body il
question was "a good enough Morgan unit
after the election" That perversion wen
the rounds of the Masonic and Democratic
press, awakening much popular indignation
and subiecting me to denuncations in speech
es and resolutions at political meetings anC
conventions. 1t waE everywhere charged anc
widely believed that had mutilated the bod,
in question so as to make it resemble that OF
Capt. William Morgan 1 encountered pref
udices thus created both in Paris and LondoI
20 years afterward.
Mr.. Weed also tells of the difficulty founC
in procuring witnesses, and relates how, afte
an old man named Adams had been traced t
a log cabin in Brookfeld this state, and Their,
routed out after winters hiding, he refused
to testify a word in court, but denied all knowl
edge of the affair, although on the way t.
Rochester he had confessed the whole story
The reason he afterward gave was that h
had been told by the lawyers on the othe
side that his story, if told in court, woult
send him to state prison, and he was not oblig
ed to oriminate himself.
Mr.. Weed does not state or imply that tn
great body of Masons were responsible 70
Morgans death or counten9nced it. Nor
gan's book was published and other "disolos
ures" have since been made, but with no sucl
dire effect as the Rochester Masons of half
century ago seem to have anticipated. Mr.
Weed says that however his purposes wer
misrepresented or misconstrued, his only mo
tive in the matter was a desire that right an,
justice might prevail