This Morgan Affair.

Daniel R . Tompkins . Dr . Salem Town , one of the most learned men of the century , whose demise had only lately ( 1 S 64 ) been announced , was Grand Chaplain , and there were but few men of political or social notoriety but what favoured the

Society of Freemasonry , either as members or well-speakers . The abduction of William Morgan , which was made the excuse for a general onslaught upon the institution , originated in an apprehension on the part of certain

members of the Order in Western New York , lest the essential secrets of Masonry —secrets which had previously resisted every attempt of blandishment or terror to draw them forth—should be exposed to the public gaze through a publication

which was preparing by Morgan and a few assistants at Batavia , N . Y . This alarm led the parties into the commission of an act which embittered their own days , and caused a public misapprehension concerning the operations of Masonry , that a

century will scarcely serve to remove . Morgan himself was a man of no repute . As a Mason he was doubtless but an impostor , working his way among the brethren by the grossest impudence and falsehoods . Having succeeded by these

means in gaining admission to the Lodge , he employed the then Grand Lecturer , Blanchard Powers , a resident of Batavia , to instruct him and thus enable him to

play the character of a mercenary dependent upon Masonic charity . He took the Degree of Royal Arch at Le Roy , near Batavia , and began immediately to prepare an " Exposition " of such of ihe esoteric matter as he could remember or as would best serve his purpose .

His purpose getting wind , the Masonic brethren felt and openly expressed their honest indignation at it . That a person , whose family at that very time was dependent upon Masonic charity for support , should propose cooly to betray the trust

they had reposed in him was not to be endured , and certain young and incautious brethren threatened unlawful pains and penalties upon the vidian in case he should execute his purpose . Notices were published in the Batavia and Canandaigua press , denouncing Morgan by name as " a swindler and a dangerous man , " and warning the communit y , " particularl y the

Masonic Fraternity , " against him . These advertisements say , " Brethren and companions are particularly requested to observe , guard and govern themselves accordingly . " On the 25 th of July , 1826 , Morgan

was confined within jail limits at Batavia on a suit for debt . On the 16 th of Sept ., he was arrested upon a warrant for theft and taken to Canandaigua . On the evening of Sept . 12 th he was released , placed in a coach and taken in a carriage

to Fort Niagara , at the mouth of the Niagara river , a distance of 115 miles , This journey was made by his own consent . There he was confined , for a few days , by his abductors in a room formerly used as a powder magazine , and there all traces of him disappear . His fate is

shrouded iu impenetrable mystery , nor until judgement day will it be more than conjectured what became of him . Our own theory , after the patient investigations of many years , and the examination of such testimony as the Whitneys , CheselroAA adsworthTownJeremiah

, , , Brown , Edward Giddens , and others could give , is that Morgan was supplied with money by his abductors and passed over into Canada , the scene of former adventures in his career , where amidst a rough , border population he met the end likely

to befall a drunken , boasting fellow , whose pockets were sufficiently well line to render him a victim to a highwayman . At all events the theory that he was murdered by his abductors will never be entertained by a person who looks closely into the character of those who took him

upon that journey , and the circumstances connected with this unfortunate affair . It has been so long the fashion of the day to take it for granted that Morgan was foully dealt with , that we acknowledge to having felt the prejudice commonly entertained upon this subject

, when we commenced our investigations . But they were soon removed . The fact that the abductors , all of whom were gentlemen of social position , and one ( Mr . Bruce ) a High Sherriff in the AVestern countiestook Morgan openly from the

, Canandaigua jail , by his own consent , then bore him in a coach for 115 miles , leaving a trail behind them that a blind man , almost , could follow—this fact , alone refutes