The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1882-12-08
The Morgan Mystery.

'"eSU POP1s ~O1 iaotj ohN 'iO hoiio'A'N
vas evidently recently written. Mr..
Weeds story not only re-narrates the
acts about Morgan's taking of which
we're published at the unveiling of a
tatue to Morgan during the past year,
but incidentally gives the history of
he political movement which sprang
ont of the Morgan excitement. The
facts as gathered from Mr.. Weeds reve-
ation and briefly stated are these:
Morgan was about to publish book
revealing the secrets of the Masonic
order; to prevent this, he was put into
Canandaig ua Jail on a trumpcd-up
charge of larceny, removed secretly TO
Fort Niagara, whence he was taken at
dead of night by several Masons in
boat to the mouth of the Niagara river
and there drowned; a body was
washed up on the shore of Lake On
tario, which, largely by MIR. Weeds in
was proved TO be Nor
gan's, his wife before it was examined
having given a description which in
cluded a 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
10 make it believed that the body was
of one Timothy Monroe, who was
drowned in the Niagara some weeks
before the first inquest
1t was not the original intention TO
kill Morgan, it having been arranged
that certain Canadian Masons should
take charge of him after his removal
from the fort, bu. the Canadians sud-
denly refused to have anything to do
with him. The New York Masons then
found an elephant on their hands, and
under sudden impulse, after q cham
pagne supper, he was taken out in
boat, bound and drowned. Mr.. Weeds
statement is based npon and embodies
a 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 disappearance. The story OF
Morgan's final taking of was thus told
by Whitney:
At the supper mentioned the chaplain
was called on for toast. lie respond
ed with peculiar emphasis and in the
language of their ritual: "The enemies
of our ordcr-may they find grave six
feet deep, six feet long, and six feet due
east and west" Immediately after
that toast, which was received with
great enthusiasm, Col. VIM. King, AL
officer in our war of 1872, and then p
member of the Assembly from Niagara
county, called Whitney of Rochester,
Howar of Buffalo, Chubbuck of Lew
iston and Garsidc of Canada, out OF
the of room and into carriage fur
nished by Maj. Barton. They were
driven TO the fort, repaired to the maya
zine, and informed Morgan, who had
been placed there previously, that the
arrangements for sending him to Cana
da had been completed, and that his
family would soon follow him. Nor
gan received the information cheer
fully, and walked with his supposed
friends to boat, which was rowed to
the mouth of the river, where rope
was wound around his body, TO each
end of which n sinker was attached.
Morgan was then thrown overheard.
lie grasped the gunwale of the boat
convulsivelY, and Garside, in forcing
him to relinquish his hold, was severely
bitten.
Twenty-nine years after this contes
sion Whitney asked Mr.. IVeed to have
il put in writing, to be duly signed and
certified by him; but for various yea
sons the dnty was neglected until after
Whitney's death.
Mr.Weed relates how the insertion
by him of short item in the Rochester
Telegraph, with which he was theI
connected, stating the bare facts o
Morgan's disappearance, caused such
Excitement and denunciation that he
left the concern TO save the business
for his partner. One of the most in
teresiing parts of the narrative is tha
in which Mr.. Weed tells how mucl
misrepresentation and even persecution
he had to endure on account of hi
connection with the investigation into
Morgan's death. This paragraph, fol
instance, gives the origin of well
known election phrase:
On the evening of the day that th'
body inferred at Batavia was declared
: by third inquest to be that of Timothy
Monroe, went to the billiard room o
the Eagle hotel TO see friend fron
ClarksoD. When leaving the room
Ebenezer Griffin, prominent lawye
employed as counsel for the Masons
who was playing billiards, turned L
me, cue in hand, saying "Wel., Wee
what will you do for a Morgan no W ?
To which | replied: "That is a goot
enough Morgan for us till you brint
back the one you carried OIL" On th
following morning the Daily Adver
tizer, Masonic organ, contained a
paragraph charging me with having
boastingly said that the body in ques
ton was "a good enough Morgan unit
, after the election" That perversiol
went the rounds of the Masonic an
, Democratic press, awakening mncl
> popular Indignation and subjecing m