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Article THE MORGAN MYSTERY; ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Morgan Mystery;
but who were the parties within it was unknown—the only person identified was Eli Bruce , sheriff of the county of Eri , who drove the carriage part of the journey . Bruce was arrested on the charge of having forcibly , and without due in-occss of law , held Wm . Morgan in duresse for some time , ancl having secretly and illegally conveyed him to parts
unknown . Bruce made neither explanations nor defence , ancl as no proofs could be adduced against him , he was discharged , and the grand jury for Muuroe county stated " the grand jury have found it impossible to establish , by competent testimony , the unlawful agency of any citizen in this county in that transaction . "
The circuit court ancl court of oyer and terminer , for county Ontario , commenced its sittings on January 1 st , 1827 , the judges being the Hon . Nathaniel Howell , Judges Younglove , Atwater and Brooks , when Cheseboro , Lawson , Sheldon , and Sawyer- , were arraigned on the aforementioned charges , ancl pleaded not guilty . All the leading counsel were retained
on , each side . The first witness called was Miller , who was subpoenaed b y both parties , but to the surprise of all he was absent . It having been satisfactorily shown that he was at home in good health , attachments were granted and the trials postponed . On Wednesday , 3 rd January , the trials were renewedwhen the prisoners withdrew the ] ilea of not guilt
, y , and pleaded guilty to both indictments , reserving the right to move the court in arrest of judgment upon either . On 5 th January , Lawson was sentenced to two years' imprisonment in the county jail ; Cheseboro to one year ; Sheldon three months ; Sawyer one month , imprisonment in the same place . This result was unsatisfactory to all ; nothing was cleared
up , doubt and mystery still enveloped the affair . Miller ' s absenting himself , his apparent indifference , inspired a doubt whether a , mock tragedy might not have been enacted , the denouement of which he was not very anxious to disclose . Why , also , should the prisoners first plead not guilty ancl then , as soon as Miller was not presentlead guilty % Does
, p not this look like a complication—a deep plot to keep up the excitement and thereby profit by it by selling a countless number of worthless books at three or four times their cost % The device succeeded to an extent that coulcl scarcel y have been anticipated by its authors . The fact is the whole thing was a plot b y unscrupulous men , by which they sought to
benefit themselves , obtain revenge , riches , and political agraudisement ; it was a farcical tragedy , in which the several actors certainly maintained their parts with great spirit ancl effect . Morgan , from his bad character , was refused admittance among good Masons ; he wished for revenge to soothe his injured pride ; from his excesses and ill spent life he was
in want of money . Miller was bankrupt in funds and iu political reputation ; they were firm friends and allies ; between them the plot was concocted , ivhich , if worked out successfully , would gratify revenge , avarice , ancl ambition . That such was the case a paper found in Morgan ' s house proves ; it was a bond executed to Morgan bMillerRussell
y , Dyer , and Jno . Davids , his three partners , in the jienal sum of 500 , 000 dollars , conditional for the payment of one fourth part of the money that should be received from the sales of the book . There was also another paper , being a copy of a letter purporting to have been addressed to these partners , by which it appeared they had already had a quarrelin
anti-, cipation of the division of the profits from the sale of the work . And now hear what Stone says : " Aspiring politicians seized upon the opportunity to convert a high aud holy feeling of indignation , to the purposes of their political advancement . The people were stimulated on the one hand to push matters to the extremes of persecutionand persecution in any cause
, begets opposition . The next , ancl a necessary consequence , was to arouse the feelings of the whole fraternity , and , with few exceptions , array the innocent ancl fche guilty in the same ranks . " At a joint meeting of the people of the towns of Batavia , Bethamy , and Stafford , it was resolved "to withhold their support , at elections , from all such men of the Masonic
fraternity as countenanced the outrages against Morgan . At Seneca it was resolved that " they would not vote for Freemasons for any office whatever . " At a meeting of the towns of Pembroke ancl Alexander , the people " pledged themselves to discourage the circulation of any paper , the editor of which so far muzzled his press as to exclude any fact iu relation to these outrages . " Such was the state of
feeling and language of the antimasonic party , of which the result necessarily must be , as it then was , positive evil . Antimasonic magazines , reviews , almanacs , ancl publications of all descriptions , found ready purchasers : the lamentable sight of apostate Masons of all ranks was presented to the public , men as unstable as water who coulcl never excelwho in the
sun-, shine of prosperity boasted of belonging to the Order , but when the storm of persecution arose , ancl the sirocco of calumny assailed the Craft , were the first to desert their colours ancl vituperate the Order of ivhich they were such unworthy members . Many such , calling themselves men , published works in which they openly avowed that they had
solemnly sworn to keep inviolable certain secrets which in the subsequent pages they deliberately jn-ofessed to reveal : they either had never read , or had forgotten that " an honest man is the noblest work of God ; " they p laced themselves on the horns of a dilemma , making themselves , by their own confession , liars , and thus not entitling themselves to be believed by any party .
" On this occasion , " says Bro . Herring , G . Sec . New York , "the whole Masonic fraternity were charged with guilt , the institution ancl its members denounced as dangerous ; churches , families , and friends divided ; the whole social system was for a long time uprooted and dismembered . Every man of eminence in the state known to be a
Freemason was called upon to renounce his connection with the Society , or stand branded as a traitor to the laws of his country . The Grand Loclge was charged with the crime of aiding the guilty to escape from justice by the use of its funds , and no means were neglected to bring the Order to disgrace and ruin , right or wrong . " Listen to the manifesto of the Anti-Masonic State Convention addressed to the
people . " The whole power of public opinion is to bo found in the ballot-boxes ; and these are fche depositories , as we humbly trust , of fche mightiest earthly power which Divine wisdom has ever permitted man to control . If we would effectually destroy Freemasonry , then we have no alternative ; we must call to our aid and persist in the uses of our elective rights . We must unite as a party at the polls . We
must select for all elective officers tho best men opposed to Freemasonry , whether they aro those who have renounced ifc or otherwise , and wc must select them because they aro opposed to it . And these men we must support uniformly , constantly , zealously , always , till Freemasonry , with all its fantastic pageantry , its false pretensions , its unhallowed means , its alarming power , ancl its monstrous crimes , shall be numbered among the past misfortunes of our country . " In the meantime the Freemasons took but little trouble to
counteract the excitement , well knowing that ( he fire of persecution , from the fury with which it raged , must eventually exhaust itself . In one respect , as in all persecutions , ifc was productive of good ; it proved who really were good honest Masons in deed and in truth , and nob in name ancl appearance only ; ifc separated the corn from the worthless chaff ! Thus in 1828 when a motion was made in Congress to bring in a
, bill for the appointment of a committee to make inquiries in relation to the abduction of Morgan , and to prevent extra judicial oaths , the Speaker observed " that this tirading about secret societies and extrajudicial oaths did nofc become sensible men , and they would not pursue it unless they were driven by political fanaticism . He did not care whether
Masonry were put down by legislative enactment or not ; but if it were put up or down by such enactment , it would be acting foolishly . All this cry is to got power or to retain ifc . Some of the members were elected on the antimasonic
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Morgan Mystery;
but who were the parties within it was unknown—the only person identified was Eli Bruce , sheriff of the county of Eri , who drove the carriage part of the journey . Bruce was arrested on the charge of having forcibly , and without due in-occss of law , held Wm . Morgan in duresse for some time , ancl having secretly and illegally conveyed him to parts
unknown . Bruce made neither explanations nor defence , ancl as no proofs could be adduced against him , he was discharged , and the grand jury for Muuroe county stated " the grand jury have found it impossible to establish , by competent testimony , the unlawful agency of any citizen in this county in that transaction . "
The circuit court ancl court of oyer and terminer , for county Ontario , commenced its sittings on January 1 st , 1827 , the judges being the Hon . Nathaniel Howell , Judges Younglove , Atwater and Brooks , when Cheseboro , Lawson , Sheldon , and Sawyer- , were arraigned on the aforementioned charges , ancl pleaded not guilty . All the leading counsel were retained
on , each side . The first witness called was Miller , who was subpoenaed b y both parties , but to the surprise of all he was absent . It having been satisfactorily shown that he was at home in good health , attachments were granted and the trials postponed . On Wednesday , 3 rd January , the trials were renewedwhen the prisoners withdrew the ] ilea of not guilt
, y , and pleaded guilty to both indictments , reserving the right to move the court in arrest of judgment upon either . On 5 th January , Lawson was sentenced to two years' imprisonment in the county jail ; Cheseboro to one year ; Sheldon three months ; Sawyer one month , imprisonment in the same place . This result was unsatisfactory to all ; nothing was cleared
up , doubt and mystery still enveloped the affair . Miller ' s absenting himself , his apparent indifference , inspired a doubt whether a , mock tragedy might not have been enacted , the denouement of which he was not very anxious to disclose . Why , also , should the prisoners first plead not guilty ancl then , as soon as Miller was not presentlead guilty % Does
, p not this look like a complication—a deep plot to keep up the excitement and thereby profit by it by selling a countless number of worthless books at three or four times their cost % The device succeeded to an extent that coulcl scarcel y have been anticipated by its authors . The fact is the whole thing was a plot b y unscrupulous men , by which they sought to
benefit themselves , obtain revenge , riches , and political agraudisement ; it was a farcical tragedy , in which the several actors certainly maintained their parts with great spirit ancl effect . Morgan , from his bad character , was refused admittance among good Masons ; he wished for revenge to soothe his injured pride ; from his excesses and ill spent life he was
in want of money . Miller was bankrupt in funds and iu political reputation ; they were firm friends and allies ; between them the plot was concocted , ivhich , if worked out successfully , would gratify revenge , avarice , ancl ambition . That such was the case a paper found in Morgan ' s house proves ; it was a bond executed to Morgan bMillerRussell
y , Dyer , and Jno . Davids , his three partners , in the jienal sum of 500 , 000 dollars , conditional for the payment of one fourth part of the money that should be received from the sales of the book . There was also another paper , being a copy of a letter purporting to have been addressed to these partners , by which it appeared they had already had a quarrelin
anti-, cipation of the division of the profits from the sale of the work . And now hear what Stone says : " Aspiring politicians seized upon the opportunity to convert a high aud holy feeling of indignation , to the purposes of their political advancement . The people were stimulated on the one hand to push matters to the extremes of persecutionand persecution in any cause
, begets opposition . The next , ancl a necessary consequence , was to arouse the feelings of the whole fraternity , and , with few exceptions , array the innocent ancl fche guilty in the same ranks . " At a joint meeting of the people of the towns of Batavia , Bethamy , and Stafford , it was resolved "to withhold their support , at elections , from all such men of the Masonic
fraternity as countenanced the outrages against Morgan . At Seneca it was resolved that " they would not vote for Freemasons for any office whatever . " At a meeting of the towns of Pembroke ancl Alexander , the people " pledged themselves to discourage the circulation of any paper , the editor of which so far muzzled his press as to exclude any fact iu relation to these outrages . " Such was the state of
feeling and language of the antimasonic party , of which the result necessarily must be , as it then was , positive evil . Antimasonic magazines , reviews , almanacs , ancl publications of all descriptions , found ready purchasers : the lamentable sight of apostate Masons of all ranks was presented to the public , men as unstable as water who coulcl never excelwho in the
sun-, shine of prosperity boasted of belonging to the Order , but when the storm of persecution arose , ancl the sirocco of calumny assailed the Craft , were the first to desert their colours ancl vituperate the Order of ivhich they were such unworthy members . Many such , calling themselves men , published works in which they openly avowed that they had
solemnly sworn to keep inviolable certain secrets which in the subsequent pages they deliberately jn-ofessed to reveal : they either had never read , or had forgotten that " an honest man is the noblest work of God ; " they p laced themselves on the horns of a dilemma , making themselves , by their own confession , liars , and thus not entitling themselves to be believed by any party .
" On this occasion , " says Bro . Herring , G . Sec . New York , "the whole Masonic fraternity were charged with guilt , the institution ancl its members denounced as dangerous ; churches , families , and friends divided ; the whole social system was for a long time uprooted and dismembered . Every man of eminence in the state known to be a
Freemason was called upon to renounce his connection with the Society , or stand branded as a traitor to the laws of his country . The Grand Loclge was charged with the crime of aiding the guilty to escape from justice by the use of its funds , and no means were neglected to bring the Order to disgrace and ruin , right or wrong . " Listen to the manifesto of the Anti-Masonic State Convention addressed to the
people . " The whole power of public opinion is to bo found in the ballot-boxes ; and these are fche depositories , as we humbly trust , of fche mightiest earthly power which Divine wisdom has ever permitted man to control . If we would effectually destroy Freemasonry , then we have no alternative ; we must call to our aid and persist in the uses of our elective rights . We must unite as a party at the polls . We
must select for all elective officers tho best men opposed to Freemasonry , whether they aro those who have renounced ifc or otherwise , and wc must select them because they aro opposed to it . And these men we must support uniformly , constantly , zealously , always , till Freemasonry , with all its fantastic pageantry , its false pretensions , its unhallowed means , its alarming power , ancl its monstrous crimes , shall be numbered among the past misfortunes of our country . " In the meantime the Freemasons took but little trouble to
counteract the excitement , well knowing that ( he fire of persecution , from the fury with which it raged , must eventually exhaust itself . In one respect , as in all persecutions , ifc was productive of good ; it proved who really were good honest Masons in deed and in truth , and nob in name ancl appearance only ; ifc separated the corn from the worthless chaff ! Thus in 1828 when a motion was made in Congress to bring in a
, bill for the appointment of a committee to make inquiries in relation to the abduction of Morgan , and to prevent extra judicial oaths , the Speaker observed " that this tirading about secret societies and extrajudicial oaths did nofc become sensible men , and they would not pursue it unless they were driven by political fanaticism . He did not care whether
Masonry were put down by legislative enactment or not ; but if it were put up or down by such enactment , it would be acting foolishly . All this cry is to got power or to retain ifc . Some of the members were elected on the antimasonic