Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-12-09
THE MORGAN MYSTERY AGAIN.

| by anti. Masonic bigotry upon their time
| honored institution, and it is not as q Mason
| that | now write as l do. It is simply that
| the truth of history may not be pushed out
| of sight and distorted to suit the views of
those who, for whatever reason, may think
they have mission" to assault flor Pc
cunisry gain or otherwise) aD institution that
existed many Thousand years before they were
born and will flourish thGusa nds of years
after their pigny Efforts and themselves have
been forgotten. Now, all / know Of the
frat named brother whose name is attached
to the card referred TO, is the following " per-
sonsl item. which appeared in your evening
contemporary on Thursday evening:
Alvah Strong, of Rochester, N. Y, brother of our
fellow townsman. W. Ii Strong is here a visit to
| MS brother. Alvah Strong was publisher OF the
AHtt Masonic Enquirer after the Horgan abduc-
tion and was one 4 the originators and propretors
| OF the Rochester pemOcrat
! think that item sufficiently accounts for the
| local Importance given to this subj at pres
ent. Your readers may judge from it Of the
! disinterested and unbiased position of at leost
one of the Eigners OF the card. Tae card it.
| self goes on to state that the facts of this
celebrated case are az stated in the article
written by Hon. frederick Whit.lesey, Of
Rochester who died in 1851, and which is
| just published December 2il by the Roches-
ter Union and 4dUertiSer." In the outset it
| is rather singular that an important document
written by a man VINO died in 1851
should not End the light until December 2
| 1882. The card then goes on TO state land
| will give it the benefit CT q literal quotation
for the purpose of comparison) as follows:
During his (Morgan's) residence with US he had a
tooth extracted, which was preserved by his wife.
| His teeth We're very peculiar being all well formed
and all double in both the upper and lower jaws.
! His abduction occurred in September, 1926. In the
nr fall hp5Nr
| the mouth Of Oak Orchard creek, very much decay
ed, and evidently having been in the water of Lake
| Ontario for many months. 1t was generally thought
at the time that this the body of William Nor.
gan, and great efforts were being made at the in.
yestgaton to prove it to be the body of SOME other
| person. Our father and Mrs. Morgan were sum-
moEed to the inquest. The tooth was produced ia
evidence and the peculiar formation OF the teeth of
| Morgan stated by Mrs. Morgan and our father. The
jaw OF the corpse fully answered to the description
and the tooth suited to the vacancy as described.
And TO thu mind OF both Mrs. Morgan and our faith
err as well as of disinterested parties it was flu "
established that this was the identical body of Viii.
| lam Morgan.
| wish tn show you now what strange
mixture q truth and fiction this card ex-
hibits. l have in my possession, and it is at
| your disposal for psrusal flor Can hers quote
from it very briefly work. entitled THE
| True History Regarding the Alleged Connec-
| ton of the Order of Ancient, Free and Ac-
copied Masons, with the Abduction of vii
liam Morgan, in Western New York, in
| 1926; together with much Interesting ana
| Valuable Contemporary History, compiled
| from authentic documents and records bv
| p. G. Huntington. The compiler had ia his
| possession the original records, and he quot 8
| in full the testimony taken before the two in.
quests which were held upon the body which
was attempted to be palmed off as that of
| William Morgan, and which was finally
| proven coaclusively to be that of Timothy
Monro, of the Township of CLARK, in the Dis.
| trict of Newcastle, in Upper Canada. The
! body of stranger was found on the 7Ch of
| October, 1927, in the town of Carlton. In the
c,uaty of Orleans, about forty miles from
| Fort Niagara. 1t was lying at the waters
edge, where it had evidently been cast by the
surf. 4 Coroner was sent for. an INQUEST
! held, witnesses who were personally &C.
! quainted with Morgan were examined. and
the verdict Of jury pronounced il the BODY
of soma person to them unknown, who had
persisted by drowning. Being at that time in
a putrid state, and very offensive. it was i'm.
msdiately buried. 1t will be remembered bv
all who have read any of the history of those
exciting days in New York, that the persecu
tion of Masons had become political issue,
and men who were known 20 belong to the
I Order were "boycotted " in all quarters. a.
we would now express it. Al important
election was then approaching. Uuprincip!sd
| and d. signing men, belonging to the Anti.
! Masonic party, who had witnessed the effect
| of popular excitement on former occasions
saw the necessity of some powerful auxiliary.
| and concerted plan fer bringing this cir
cumstance to their aid. The result was that
certain parties from Roche ster and B atsy;s
| on Saturday, the 12sh of October, 1927. re-
! paired 30 the grave and diainterred the body
| They guarded it until the 18Th, WHEN another
| Inquest was held ia the town IF Carlton
before Robert Nj. Brown, enc of the Coro.
ners of the county. At this inquest there
were sworn and examined: SFiIlmao Hoxia.
| Lester Bsardsley, Thurlow Weed. Lucinda
| Morgan, ID. Q. Miller, George W. Harris.
| VIM. W. Morgan, Russell Dyer, DIR. Ezra
| Strong and DIR. John d. Henry. / wish TO
| make few brief quotations from this test,
mony. simply to show how it accords with
the conclusive evidence" given by the card
| of the Messrs. Strong But in order to show
! the strongest contrast, and as it is brief, let
me quote the testimony of Dr. Ezra Strong.
whom suppose TO be the father of the signers
| of the card:
Dr.. Ezra Strong, being sworn, says that
he knew William Morgan four wears apo
from April to September, in the next year.
Morgan and his wife boarded at my house
| about six months. He was sick mucn of the
time with sore eyes. I attended him two or
three months-sometimes with other physi.
clans. think, from the upper part Of the
head of this body, it is the body of William
Morgan. extracted two teeth for him,
which find charged in my book
against him don't recoliect from which side
they were taken. Morgan had a heavy
beard and much hair on his breast. Oae
other tooth was broken eff. If q body had
been floating about since Morgan was miss
ing, 1t would putrify more tbs this, but if it
had been under water it mi ght have been bet.
ter preserved"
The evidence of the father at the INQUEST il
not near as conclusive" as that of the sons
tifsy-hv years after. DR.. Henry then testi
he'd that he attended Morgan as physician,
and said: :" do not recollect any strong
mark which would distinguish him as this
body" Mrs. Morgan, nor any other
witness testified to the preservation
of any tooth and its fitting into spy
place In the jaw of the corpse Her testi.
mony on that subject is the same as that of
DIR. Strong, SO that much Of it has arisen in
the imagination of modern anti Masons. Ga
being shown the clothes, Mrs. Morgan saws ::
can recognize no part of them as the same
which my husband had on when he went
away, nor the tracts. The handwriting I
cannot swear to, though one or two letters
somewhat resemble his" In her excited
state, however, she was fully convinced that
it was the body of her husband. This iurV
found verdict to that effect, though the evi.
dence, when taken altogether, was very slight
A voice from Csnsd however, soon after.
wards dispeled the general anti Masonic
joy. 1t was that of an sfflcted widow and
her fatherless chisdrea interposiug their claim
to the lsst relics of deceased husband and
father. Their professions for whils were
treated with levity by the snti-Masonic
party, and by some they were personally in.
suited and abused. A notice first appeared
IN the canada newspapers that one Timothy
Monro. of the township of CLARK, ia the Dis.
trict OF Newcastle, left that place in Ssptem-
bsr. 1927, for Newark. in a small b5at and
was drowned in the Nisgara river while at
tempting TO return. A partial description Of
the body found at Carlton, together with
the clothes and religious tracts found
in the poke; of the deceased, hay
ing hasn nuhlishad in tho ,su.a...