St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-12-08
The Morgan Mystery Revealed
Again by the Late ThIIrlOW
Weed.

One of the ThurlOw Weeds legacies
| is Il full narrative of the Morgan mys-
terry of half century ago, with an
affidavit appended to it. The affidavit
is dated September 2S, and the writin q
is evidently recent. The story is not
il revelation by any means, much of its
incident has been used by Mr.. Weed in
his conversation of late years, and in
deed the whole narrative was pub
lished in pamphlet form at the time of
the dedication of the statue to Capt.
William Morgan, within year-that
ceremony, in fact, being the immediate
prOvocation of the narrative, which is
a sort of political justification of him
self rs well. The facts referred to are
these That Morgan was about to
publish book revealing the secrets of
the Masonic order, that in order to
prevent this he was put into the Can
andaigua Jail on ii trumped-up charge
of larceny, removed secretly to Fort
Niagara, whence he was taken at dead
of night by several MasOns in Il boat to
the mouth of the Niagara river and
there drowned that body was
washed up on the shore of Lake On
tariO which largely by Mr.. Weeds in
strumentality was proved to be Nor
gan's, his wife before it was examined
having given II description which i'll
cluded several peculiarities double
teeth all around and Il scar on one foot.
that were found on the body that
subsequently an attempt was made to
make it believe that the body was of
one Timothy Monroe, who was drowned
| III the Niagara some weeks before the
first inquest. 1t is IL matter of history
that the affair became Il political cause,
dividing the state of New York, and
first brought into prominence many
notable men besides Mr.. Weed, among
them Seward, Fillmore and Edwin b.
Morgan. The public feeling against
the Masonic order was so strong that
it dwindled to small proportions, not
only i'll New York, but all over the
country, and was many years, perhaps
quite quarter of a century, in recov-
ering itself. Mr.. Weeds narrative
now gives his full statement of Il direct
confession by John Whitney, one of
the four men engaged in the work of
putting Morgan out of the way, made
to him (Weed) in 1881, only four years
after the disappearance. According to
| this confession IT appears that while
the abduction was the work of the
order, it was not at that time intended
to do more than exile Morgan to Cana
da, and leave him under surveillance
of the Canadian Masons, but as the
latter refused to have anything to dc
with him, he was IL sort of elephant
on their hands. While he was confined
i'll Fort Niagara a Royal Arch chapter
was installed at Lewiston, and ut the
festivities afterward, amid the cham
pagne drinking, the darker thought OF
his death occurred to several of the
Masons, and was at once acted upon.
That the fact was known generally t.
the MasOns afterward, and that they
became accOmpliccs after the fact 10y
preventing the detection and convic.
ton of the murdercrs, there can be ne
doubt. 1t was futile murder anyway
for MOrgan's book, or one purporting
to be his, appeared some time after hi'
death, and since then there have beeI
good many exposures from time tC
time, and it is generally understood
that the "secrets" amount to very little
more than pass words and harmless
ceremonies. - Springfield Republican