Omaha daily bee., 1883-04-05
The Man Who Was a Good
Enough Mrgan For
Weed.
Miss Welby Tells What Her
Father Knew About a
Famous Ghost.
snat ching a Corpse Bald.H loaded.
Nil. Ro,,ba welbv the we'll know

Reilly, who at the time was editor 0
the York Advertiser, and was an asso
ciate of Thurlow Weed. The othe
day she related to a reporter he
fathers explanation of the origin o
the Morgan diff culty as follows:
"The way he related 1t to me, q
near as / can recollect, Is like this
Morgan, after his announcement q
Batavia that he was going to expose al
the secrets Of the Masonic fraternity
suddenly and mysteriously disap
peared, and at q time, too, when thu
Masonic and anti. Masonic f%actionI
began to assume political Importance
Nothing definite was ever heard abou'
the missing man.. About a year after
that the remaius of q maj were founc
on the shore of Lake Ontario. One
day father was sitting In the office
quietly m~editating, when he received
q rather unexpected card from DR..
John Elwood, the leading physician
of Rochester and q prominent Mason,
who told him In q rather excited man.
ner, that he believed Weed and his
followers we're Matching mischief for
them. He said that Weed had Just
dlned with him, and had dwelt at some
length during their conversation upon
the finding Of the body at Oak
Orchard, saying that 1t was the gen.
eral belief that It was that of the miss
Ing William Morgan. He wanted
father TO know all about 1t, as he
thought an attempt would be made to
create political capital out of the find.
Ing Of the mysterious remains.
Morgan, the last time he vas seen
by his friends, was bald. headed, and
no side- whiskers, and was known to
have some particular marks upon his
body. The man founo had q heavy
head of black hair and side.whiskers.
At the inquest, however, which wss
controlled by the same party, 1t was
declared the dead mar was William
Morgan. His remains were inferred,
That evening Weed met DIR. Elwood
at the Eagle Rotel In Rochester, and
asked him for description of Morgan.
The doctor had known him very well,
and imprudently complied with hi,
request.
Hearing of the result of this In
quest, father and his friends determin'
ed upon an investigation. In company
with Ebenezer Griffin, DR.. Elwood,
and q number Of leading Masons, they
went to Oak Orchard by stage coach.
Weed and a number of his friends
we're also present. The body was re-
moved from the grave and an examina.
tion of 1t made. To the establishment
of all but Weed and his adherents, II
was found that the top of the dead
mans head had been shaved, and his
face arranged In exact imitation Of the
description of Morgan given Weed by
DR.. Elwood. Several witnesses were
summoned, and 1t was proven, beynod
. doubt, that the the remains were
those Of Timothy Monroe, a fisherman.
During all this time, the body had
been under control Of Weed and his
partisans, and the manner In which
they had mutilated 1t was we'll oalcu-
lated to deceive. But the wife's
testimony was conclusive. d.
"When the result was reached, Mr..
Griffin turned to Weed and asked, In
q rather haunting tone, What will
you do for q Morgan, nowq' Turning
around quickly, Weed said, This Ia a
good enough Morgan for us until
after the election Father at once
caught him up and took him to task
for his expression. He then tried to
wtiRgle out of 1t, claiming thath he said,
That Is a good enough Morgan until
you bring back the one your party car
ried away Then followed the bitter
attacks and counter attacks In fathers
and Weeds papers. On more than
one occasion each had the other ar.
rested for libel, but their party friends
always came to their rescue and re-
leased them. Father afterward en-.
gagged in connection with his daily
newspaper enterprise at Rochester, In
the telegraph, railroad and canal bust
ness, and was at the head of the larg
est corporations of that day. He wa
q friend Of Morse, and built the frs
line of telegraph over which a messag,
was sent. he accumulated o larg,
fortune, but lost It nearly all through
disastrous business reverses."
'Is there any truth In the CLAIM
made by Weed that he repaid you
father for his bitterness toward hin
by obtaining a position for him In tn
custom housef"
"Yes, under the circumstances
Weed was very rich and he though
he must soon die. About seven year
ego he sent for father to come and se
him, at his residence on Twelfth stree
. on urgent business. Father went
and found Weed confined to his bee
I dropped up with pillows. He tol
\ father that he had heard Of his revel
SEES, and said that he would like to d
something for him in reparation fc
the bitter wrongs he had done hi
4 when thsy were both young men, an
. asked him II he would accept q pos
ton In the custom house that /
would procure for him. The proffsrs
position father took. The two me
were friends from that time on. ]
about two years Weed again sent f
father, who went to him. After /
had been seated by his bed side f.
some time, Weed told him he W,
very anxious to publish his autobioI
raphy, which had been written by h
daughter, at his dictation, but said
would not do so until father ha
promised not to Interfere with 1t. Z
implored him to destroy the reoorC
of the Morgan trouble, which faith,
had prepared In great detail. Amor
them were papers that placed Weed
q most disagreeable light. He kne
that when he could not get father
promise to suppress these, his confer