Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-11-28
WHOKILLED MORGAN?

|WHOKILLED MORGAN?
Thurlow Weeds Ante Mortpm Statement
The r. -rt HI. Took in the Anti-Masonsc
Agitation--A Rather Unsatisfactory o. &C.
ument.
New YORK, Nov. 27.-Tne Buffalo Ea-
press of Monday morning published a
letter OF the late Thurlow Weed under
date, New York, Sept. 8, 1892 and at
tested by Spencer G. Doty, notary public
OF this city, as that of Thnrlow Weed. The
letter was an answer t. an invitation to
the unwilling of the monument to Captain
William Morgan, and is thus prefaced by
the Eapress:,
The following letter dictated by the late
Ihurlow Weed but a short time before his
death, contains his sworn statement of his
knowledge concerning the abduction and
alleged murder of William Morgan, and
forming most interesting chapter in re-
latlon to sensational events which in
their time caused SO great social and DO
litical commissions:
Weed begins-by saying: s:The occasion
tnat recalls an event of startling interest.
arouslng deep popular feeling first at
Batavia, Leroy, Canandaigua and Rochester,
then pervading our own and other states.
After reading proceedings of the meeting
at Batavia, with Hon. David E. Evans as
presiding officer, wrote a six-line para
graph for the Rochester Telegraph in which
l stated that citizen of Batavia had been
spirited away from his home and family.
and that after mysterious absence of sew
eral days, village meeting had been held.
committee of citizens appointed to
investigate, adding, that as it
was known that the Free Masons we're con-
| cerned in this abduction, it behooyed the
fraternity whose good names were suffer
ing to take laboring oar in restoring the
lost man to his liberty. That paragraph
touched dozen Of our most influential
Citizens, who rushed greatly excited to the
ONCE, stopping their paper and ordering a
dlscontinuancs of their advertisements. I
inquired o. my partner, Robt. Martin,
what he had done to exasperate SO many
of our friends. He brought me book
| and directed my attention to an
obligation involving penalties
as punishment for disclosing
the secrets of Masons, iinquiring what /
though of man who, after taking such
obligation, violated it. I replied did not
know any punishment too severe for such
perjuror. By the discontinuance of the
paper by so large number of it's patrons
l saw that my brief and as I supposed very
harmless paragraph would ruin the estab-
hshment. Unwilling that my partner
should suffer, promptly withdrew, leaving
the establishment in the hands of Mr.,
Martin. The paper was doing well, and
until that paragraph appeared my
business future was all i
could desire. At that time
an editor was wanted at Utica, where I had
formerly worked, and where I had man
friends, but my offer to go there was de.
clined. was equally unfortunate in NV
application 80 s-h:or.tu .mDloyment a.
Troy. The objection j.. both cases was
VIA" L Hd1i oScAi too Dosy III getting up the
excitement ahous .,iorgsn. The letter closes
thus: Il now look back through
the interval of ffty-six years with CON
scious sense OF having been governed
through the nti-Masonic excitement by a
sincere desire first, to vindicate the viola
ted laws of my country, and next, to arrest
the great power and dangerous influences
of "secret societies. We labored under
serious disadvantages. The people we're
unwilling to believe that an institution so
ancient, to which many of our
best and most distinguished men
belonged, was capable of not only violat-
ing the laws but of sustaing and protect
ing offending men of the order. A vast
majority of the American people believed
that Morgan was concealed by our COM
mittee for political effect. While we were
being iercely denounced as incendiary
spirits, Judge Enos T. Throop, in charg-
ing the grand jury, spoke of anti Masonry
as blessed spirit, spirit which he hoped
would not rest until every man implicated
in the abduction of Morgan was tried, con.
victed and punished.