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j Sue ~~ ~ $2,00 in advance, or fifitfilggt the end of-thoyem- ? 43,0260 who 'take their papers at! the: otfice, ~ papers at the oflli’e, and pay for 'them m ad vance, $1,50. Alt communications must be addressed to. the Editors, ( patio-v; paid.) , ~rRrarEs or Anvzu'rrsmo BO cent per square for the first i tmemon, and ~ 26 cents for.every subsequent insertion: RXNTCXNG. . - , pamphlets, Haundbills, blanks, cards, it &e. uently-executed—on new type, and in a / manner that will not fail to please. *f acBarps. 'Naurens, Omega go. Martin Bridges Hat-(Wick «€ Nathaniel Pierce. . Gideon.Comnel. M ! :~Ehenezer Sheldon. Oneida co. Wm. C. Rogers. to- FKeq. Blackman. Jabez Green Fort Plain, Mont'y co. 'J. W. Hamilton:: Beot, Courtland co. Zenas Miller. Sullivan, Madison co. Oreb Montague. Cazenovia, _. \> Benjamin T. Clark. *\ Nichols, Tloga Oregon V. Stanton. Esperance, Sc ohane co. Wilbur S. Deuct. Cheslnre Berkshire co. Mass. James Irons. - AN! TI-DIASONIC. m Senate, Jan. 27, 1830 -REPORT _Of the Special Counsel on the subject of the abduction of Willian Morgan. TO THE SENATE. Gentlemen-I have the honor trans- | 2 mit to you herewith, 'the Report of the . Special Attorney,appointed. to prose- _cute the abductors of Wm. Morgan. ~ _E. T. THROOP.~ Albany, Jan. 27, 1880: REPORT, &c. o his Ezeellmqi Enos T. Throop, acting Governor of the-State of New York. The act of the legislature, yaese ___ the fifteonth of April, eighteen hundred and twenty eight, and continued by an - act ofthe last session, by virtue of which / the undersigned was appointed to insti- tute inquiries concerning the abduction of William Morgan, \and his fate sub- sequently, and all incidents connected thorewith,\ sedms to conteuplato, that nu, Una, . Bridgewater, lorgnce, « 3 'have excited great. commotib y [the imeinbers of the fraternity in that . sulmg at Batavia. B part 1ndxgent \In the summer of that yerk. known that he was preparl orls;An-~which-the-obligations > signs and ceremonies 'of\ free-masonty, 'were to. be ' published, This seems to ong articularly among» those re- Consultations were! had among. thein, respectmg the means to be adopted to prevent tlie publi- cation of the contemplated work. Pe suasion and advice were resorted to, in. the first mstange, and hopes seem to have bech entertainkd for a time, that they would be effectual; These expectations, however, were 'scon dissipated, and oth- vicinit William Morgan had been arrested in some civil suit, and had given bail. In the month of August, his- bail in that suit surrendered him to the sheriff of \ the county, and he was closely impris- oned in jail from Saturday until theen- suing Monday, In the meantime, by virtue of some pretended process,search was made at his lodgings for the manu- scripts of the obnoxious publication, | which appears to have been unsuccess-. ful, It was known that some progress had been made in printing the book, and _| violent measures appear to have been determined on to suppressit. Arrange- ments were made for the assembling; at Batavia, on the night of the eighth of September, of members of the frater- mty 'from different ani} distant plac It is dmtmotly proved that a party of fifteen or \twenty persons from Buffalo and-its. vrcwemhlnmatm about four miles west of Batavia, in the afternoon and evening of that day; they remained there until eight or nine o'- relock in the evening, when they went towards Batavia. At the same time a ort |. and its vicinity. It is in proof that this party was composed of persons, some of whom had been selected for the ex- press purpose of going to Batavia, there to assist in measures to suppress the book, and to separate William Morgan from the individual who. was printing it, voluntarily if possibles forcibly if <} two [dollars, - the amount of a tavern er means appeir to heve—been—edeptéé‘ Céleventh-of-Séptem- ber, they sted: William: Morgan, who. was put ftitha stage coach and brought. to Canandaigua. . Inthe ¥ve- ning of that day he was carried -before: the' justice who issued .the warrant, by whom he was examined and discharg> ed. Chesebro then spplied fora war» rant against Morgan, fora debt of about, 'bill that he had \contracted with.one Aaron Ackley, which as Chesebrp-al- 'leged had been assigned to him. '. Judg- ment was entered against Morgan for| s two ilollars and sixty nine cents,-debt ly Issued which was put into the hands: of the shme constable who had brought } Morgan from Batavia, and by-wvirtue of which Morgan was committed to -the, jail at-Canandaigua, on the same eve- ning of the eleventh of September— William Morgan remained in the Can- andaigua jail until the evening of the next day, the twelfth' of September, when he was taken out under the cir- cumstances hereinafter mentioned. It appears from the testimony of Aa- ron Ackley, that on the evening of Manday 'the eleventh of September, between eight and nine o'clock, and which must have been immediately af- ter William Morgan was committed to jail, Loton Lawson told the witness that Morgan—was» 1m]! and he, Law- sunfingT—ung—to Rochester-as soon as possible. Witness let him have a horfe, | | with which he went aw way, and return- ier Feasons. - Gawson, returnedjwith Col. Sawyer, who advis ed . Mrs} Hall to take the money and let the - man go.. . She 'still . refused.= Lawson; asked her if she would' corisent if: Chesebro would.come and say that she (might: let him' got | Lawson, and Sawyer. then went away,and witness soon after- went to the front door to look for Mr. Hall, when she saw Law son and Chesebi-o conversing , near the oor. .. Chesehro-came-up;-to the-steps; he—toltl—lnm‘t‘berfivlze—a—mml are whom Lawson was very anxious to li- te, and asked him whether she Ehould let him got ~Chesebro said 'yes, he did not wantany thing more of him,' or something to that effect. Lawson had told her, and she knew otherwise, that Chesebro was plaintiff in the, exe- 'cution by which Morgan was commit- ted. She returned into the house and took the keys of the prison for the pur- posesgf going into it, and told a little whild that lived with her, to shut the prison door after her.\ Lawson said there was no.need of having the door shut ; she replied that it should be shut,. as there were »other prisoners in the room with Morgan, Lawson then, and before she had opened the prison door, fstePped to the front door and gave a single, whistle. She, followeil to the. door to see what it meant, and- then saw the man Lawson had called Foster, ed the next morning, saying he had been to Rochester ;-and soon after went to bed, telling witness that some gen- tlemen from Rochester would call for him. In the ofterncoon two persons, whom' the witness. said were Burrage Smith and John Whitney, called and jnquired for Lawson, who was called up, and on being informed that two persons had inquired for him, came down coming towards the steps. ,,She and Lawson then went into the prison hall, and the door was fastened after them on the outsides She unlocked the door of Morgan's room and Lawson told him to get himsblf-ready, and he came out: Lawson took Morgan by the arm, and went towards the hall door; by her direction he rapped at the door of the prison hall, and he and Morgan were stairs, and\ A* nilmber \of witnesses show that Burr-age Smith resided in Rochester, were in ,Canan- - the result of those mquimies, and the proceedings lad under the act, should be from time to time communicated to ' to the governthent...Phe'prifetice of my | predecessor, and the interesting nature of the subject, would indicate the pro- priety of such a course, oven if it be not directly required by the act. The nu- merous errors produced by misappre: hension in some cases, and by inten- tional misrepresentation in others, can necessary.\ That his forcible removal was contemplated, would appear from the testimon ram. _B. and EHN-Bro I QLH fies that he was tolrl by Eli Bruce, at a time near the cighth of September, that William Morgan was to be taken from Batavia, for revealing the sacrots of ma- BrHopfifnles 518 let out bythe child. She-dves not 'Te- collect. Morgan's speaking after she | went in the-last'time.. Lawson took him by. the arm very soon after he went went away, and in about ten minuteg re thegrahdfiury-of pears that, during (the ton,. .on . the 14th» William: Morgan had been ca and was at Fort Niagara, tha everal.persons assenjlffififlmre, that senger was'sent by a certain person at | Youngstown to: Lo‘vrston, on that (la) , with directions to tell Col. King, or the ination of any. party f ha ever. And F report to. you Excel cy, tliat this object has g. complished, as far as the frailt rere an the man in the fort was malumr 'a noise or disturbance, and that some of them must come down. He met Hague at Lewiston and delivered the message ; tal rm saidfe : would, go down there, | id started tf. ---> «--= Before the sare body, the confessions of a person who.has not yet been tried, were proved. Somuch as tends to the implication of himself, is here omitted. This person stated that a man had been brought to the Fort and-confined there, in September, 1826, The man was in' charge of --, until the latter went a- way temporarily; when the man was put in charge of , who had the eare of him for several days ; until one: morning, - (believed by the witness to be nineteenth of September) the mdgn| confined in the Fort was missing ; he| was gone.. The person making the confession denied thaf‘he had any hand A. witness examined before_a_grand jury 'previous to the death of Col. King: |bas testified that some time after the a guction of William Morgan, and h should think at least two weeks, and [not longer than six weeks thereafter, he learnt that the dead body of a man had been found, which had floated upon the beach one or two miles below Fort Niagara, and that a coroner's jury had met Col. King at Lewiston; he was passing to and fro on the stepfl of the Frontier House. He called to the wit- ness, who went to him,. and 'Colonel 'King said, Doctor, don't you wanta subject! The witness said he did fiot. King said there is a nc beach-a coroner's jury is about to be tailor frot: Lockport, (D., Hague) that in gettma- away the 1 person in the Fort. been called to view it. At this time-he|in the western part of this state, to B man nature srould : allo pubhc sentiment in rel ecutions, has undergone a chang The xerish. anxipty and irritat u, would not be eflicrently exerted 'or if exerted, that it would be unequal to a f‘Il‘tI—Iopement Wm case, have yielded to a conviction that all constitutional and legitimate meas- ures which could be adopted, have ’been sedulously employed, -and have result\ ed in throwing much light upon the transhction. 'The public mind has thére- fore become much tranqullrsed and in- stead of vindictive hostility, against those implicated, they are now rather consid- ered as thg mfatpated instruments of’ a [bad institution, than ag culpable mo: agents;. and freemasonty, its obliga- tions and its seerecy, have Become the [Subject of deep andextensive hostrfity. is feeling -of individual sympa- has arisen in Lof wh 1 acquittal, rendered under a 'state of evi- denes, which 'to say the least, would - have afforded véry plausible grounds for a contrary result, I have conceived the statement of the actual condition of the public sentimen k, e demanded as well for the Infomatfin of the government, as to correct the many and extravagant errors prevailing ' on that subject. Notwithstanding much labor an tins havo been devoted to the investigation, it will probably be supposed that its progress has been slow, and, to those daigua on the twelfth of Septemher; that they left Rochester together that person joined them in the stage,\ and came into Canandaigua with them ear- lywin the afternoon of the twelfth of September. . Whitney inquired at Can- out ol the teil? Ife didnot appear to ,but they went out in a friend heta-it wilt -he buried-you can take it to the Fort, you Inow 'there is no- diff Ill“. unsoquatmed with ths tendin it may appear to. i fH tnget the dopg\6f Morga H's, room locked, she hoard thocry of \Murder.\ She went as qhiick as she possibly could to the frort door; and saw Lawson, Morgan und‘the man called Foster, on the side soury, and that he would be sent away: It was thought then, that he would be sent to Niagara through Lockport, and Alluaubud lUl’ @ BNODC w \Um MU wished to employ. The circumstancesunder which Wm the jail, going to the east: Morgan wag.in the middle, and evidently strug- walle, a short distance frogr the steps body 'There but, , and you can \have any. room you please. The wituess re- plied, that the body would not be of any use, as it had been probably spoilt by the water. King said, Uncle Kelly (the coroner,) has summoned me : -told-him had business at Lewiston and could not stay : body of Morgan ;- should it prove to be I I am afraid it is the unnecessanly procrastinated? 'The casion seems therefore to require (hit the causes of the defay should be stated. From the members of the masonic fraternity, who still adhere to it, and who consider themselves included \in the warfare of which an account has been given, no assistance whatever has been received, although the occasions be effectually corrected only, by accu- rate and authentic accounts of the facts elicited. 'The deep and commendable interest felt by our fellow-citizens in the vindication of the laws; which have been so grossly violated, seems also to require a public-report of the measures which have been adopted to obtain that ' object. And it would be vain to at- tempt a concealment or evasion of the dact, that an institution, veiling itsell) in socreoy and mystery, which has long Existed T this and othor countries, 'and \ which counts among its members a large proportion of our fellow citizens, many | of whom are among the most respecta- | ble in society, is directly implicated as having, by ita obligations, and the very [Bruce desired him to prepare a cell in the jail for the reception of Morgan, which was prepared accordingly. He then distinctly understood from Bruce, that there was a plan laid for the remo- ; val of Morgan. His testimony is sub-] stantially corroborated by. that- of Eli Bruce. There is evidence that communica- tions were had, previous to the 10th of September, botween members of the fraternity at Batavia and their brethren at Rochester, respecting the means to be adopted to suppress the manuscripts of Willian Morgan, and to prevent his threatened publication. On the evening of the cighth of Sep- tember already referred to, a large party | nature of its organization, Who—mm tes-east-of outrage in question. It :s, therefore, . -due-to-the-num members of that institution, as well as | those who do not belong to it, that the | / facts and cireumstances which are sup—declared purpose of seizing the manu- | gan if he would go honfa with him, if posed to establish its connexion with' the violence practised on William Mor- gan, should be fully and accurately , known. It has appeared to me, that; Batavia. Theso persons came from Mgrm and other_places cast of Morgan was taken out of the jail at Canandaigua on the evening of the twelfth of September, as related by Mrs. Hail, the wife of the jailor, on the various trials on which she has been oxamined as a witness, are these : The- jazlorhzmsclf eas absent during? the evening, in the village. Soon af- tor dark, Loton Lawson came to the jail and asked if Wilham Morgan was, there? After hcmg informed that he |« was, Lawson told witness that he want- od to pay the debt, and takoMorgan away, but sho evaded him by saying she had not the key of the desk whore the execution was. Lawson and Mrs. Hall went into the prison part of the building, and Morgan came to tfBsiidor ofhis cell. > ~Lawsom said th ed-to havo some private conversation. with Morgan, _and asked if he might “fig glmg to get free;- Ins hat was off and ha yas struggling to get away with all hismight; the other two had hold of hire by his arms and to all appearance were dmggrng him along. While they were passing on the cast, she heard a the same time heard theofy of murder once or twice, the last time in a sup- pressed tone like one attempting to say 'mirder' who was prevented The im- ion sho had when'alm heard the ty of murder, was, 4bat it was stopped by something put suddenly a- cross the throat or mouth, or somethin of that kind. Soon after she heard the rap, a carriage, which she knew per- fectly well, and 'was said to belong to i8hi- menu \usually daven hy Pnhlu‘ hou Batxvxa in the course ot the might they proceeded to Batavm, with the What other pur-} | scripts of Morgan. poses were contemplated, if any, are to be inferred from the other circum- «Kances. go into his room? which Mrs. Hall re- fused to permit. Lawson asked Mor- pass ad on in the same direction which Law- | son, Morgan and Fost he would pay the debt and take him 80, we shall hear to might. You must go to night and take it up and hide it, and take care of it; you must put it where it never can be found. King was extremely agitated, and the wit- ness was alarmed for him, as he evi- rap-omthe curbcof the well, and about {dently believed it was the- body of Mor- gan. Witness answered, if 'you have} got into any difficulty, you must work your way out, I will have nothing to' do with it. King turned to the wit-, ness, and said ho mus! go. ing to do with it. way, 1 guess it is Morgan, and laughed | | son. demanding it have been frequent.-> With but few exceptions; witnesses who still belonged to the institation, at court, and apparently indisposed to testify Difficulties which never occur- red in- any other prosecution, have been met at every step. Witnesses have lbecn secreted, they have been sent into Canada, and into different states of the Union. 'They have been apprised of Witness' | process being issued to compel their at- said he should not, he would have noth-! tendance, and have been therohy ena- Upon this the man-' bled to evade its service. In one in- ner and appearance of King became : stance after a party implicated had been changed, and he said, as if in a jocose ;| arrested and brought into this state, he | was decoyed from the custody of the «quite. heartily, as if he had passed a individual having him in charge, and joke upon the witness. The. witness | Anally escaped. hlmrcame from the lwery stable or | did not th-mk it was a joke by any | have been so numerous and various, as These occurrences the belief. No farther direct judicial evi-tresult of individual effort alone, and oster had gone, in a dence has come to my knowledge res-' they have evinced the @oncert of so few minutes the same carriage returned | pecting the fate of William Morgan, many agents, as to indicate an exten- | to the west;. this was about 9 o'clock | except the testimony ofa witness given ' sive-combination to screen from pun- out! To which Morgaie answered that ) in tficvemng; it was a bright moon-| before a grand jury, who has been ex-: ishinent those charged with a partici- he would. Lawson said to Morgan | light evening ; she did not see the car- This formidable assemblage t that he did not know as he cbuld take riage turn, bcmgl prevented by the in- a detail of the material parts of the' of so large a number of persons from 'him out that night, as Mr. Hall was terposition of a house at the east of ber. evidence which has been discoveredand Buffalo, Lockport, and various places ' gone, and Mrs. Hall had not the keys wotmmog rt to the ish a clear and distinct view of the whole | matter. Justice to those persons im-} plicated, who have not already been was voluntarily abandoned by those en- on part, which is separated from the tried, requires that their fames shonld‘gaged. there is no evidence to doler-,dwell|ng part of the building, mot be exposed unnecersarily. The names of such individuals, and citcum- stances of no other importance than as . they affect those individuals, have there- from Batavia to Canandaigua is forty- take that man out very much, and been omitted. Where evidence in the following statement is not given in fall, it is* referred to, and the testi- mony of the witness as delivered: in some public trial, is annexed in an ap- pendix to this report. Minute circum-. , collateral to the : produced befors grand juries, and on the | east of Batavia, seoms to have eventu- | of dxfi‘erent tnats commencing wnth the ' ated m no posmvo acts of nolence— mmd then, let it be till morning,\ or tembe'r exghteen hundred and txventv i present mo- scnpts had collected some t'nends and I that he wmhed to take him out that ment, would be bestcalculated to fiurn- ; weapons for defence; whether this cir-! night, for he had been running all day cumstance deterred any further prose- cution of the enterprise, or whether it I . mine. The assemblage dispersed, and lthe persons composing it returned to | their respective \homes. The distance eight miles; and which, by the ordina- | ty means of Cnveyance, would require the day of the ninth of September for , any of the party that were at Batavia to travel to Cananflargna On Sunday mommg, the 10th of Sep- tember, between nine ten A. M., N'dxclisc. Chesabrae x mag history of the principal transaction. In the spring andsimmer of the year cightean hundred and twenty-six, Wo. Morgan, n of this state, resided at Rochester and at Batavia, but chiefly at the lafter place His occupation was yer a children, and His citcamstances were accompanied by a constable, and three sisted in refusing, 'Heausked whether pluggwflédzv With Ebenezer C. “Kingsley, who made a complaint against William Morgan for baving taken away a shirt anda cravit, which he had borrowed of Kings ley. Upon Kingstey's cath, the justice [pany with another,. whork he called a! tut the 4 said, | for him and was very tired. Mrs. Hall and Lawson then went out of the pris- by an iron door which intersects a ball that runs through the whole building. Law- sen then told her that he wanted to | wanted her to take the money debt for which he was confined iyhich Iri she declined on the ground that she ; could not get the execution and didnot}? ' know its amount. He then went away saying he would try to find Mr. Hall. After a short time he returned in com- ihmrh? veas a ** never That mi | { ground of his religious disbelief, and, cluded from testifying on the trials of pation in the offences upon T‘Vllllam some of the parties implicated, on the, Morgan, 1t should not be inferted that the tes- By the testimony of Surah Wilder it which therefore does not seem proper; timony which has been detailed in: (kn ep- 6 be embodied in this report. ~~ {report, The fict has appeared m,the various trial. Some of the witnesses have es- ond the r h o gal process; to Capt. Alten's, who was ln‘mg at! conducted that all the persons who others peremptonly refuse {o testify, Clarkson, about twenty miles west of | Rochester on the Rldge Road, and had some conversation with him. 'That in| its commencement at Batavia to its ter- gal means of coercion. | have been in any way implicated in the and they are in such a situation, that outrage upon William Morgan, from they suppose { themselves beyond thele- Facts and vir- ten or fifteen minutes afterwards, a) mination at Fort ‘iravara, betonged at | cumstances which have been fullyp-rdfi hack drove up to the door, the horses | the time to the masonic fraternity, WithI ed on a pre\ Toos trial by direct testimo- were taken grom it, and Capt. Allon‘s'the of Hiram Hubbard and' ny, require therefore to be established | Corydon Fox ; ; and that those who are' on other occasions, by circumstantial hitched to it; they were taken from the orchard ples; the péson who came in the sul- Lay helpi The t there, went on with it to the west, This was about ten orelev- en o'clock, A;M. The next day, a- bent 5, P. she saw the same carriage ”min {mm the west; there were no cl gm with BETH!\ ER en T where they» were drawing ap-{ char; 15:30 harness therm. The car- | k brown, and was closed ; ' ed this fact, it appeared to be a solemn stood in the road ; no person got out oigduty to object to any royal arch com- st 0!th in ; thednv'er who came with | pamona sitting as jurors upon the trial mach time. , | of any anflwtmems against their breth- | At the last of prescribed by law, forcommnencing those trials the thjection was accord- secutions, I have attended all the courts [ingly made, in two instances, Vaufifm in thedifferent counties where indi¢t- t royal arch roasons. ren, for that offence. he most} evidence. active part, belonged to the degree of ety of tha witnesses to be examitied; Having ascertain- | and the tomplicated nature of theques« From the number and van- trons to be determined, The investiga- tions and the trials necessarily octupy | Until the expiration of the péried ants-could a \be fourd, ana Ban exami- about three dblfar®\ But sho pereinp- torily refosed. He went away ard re- - esved a warrant for Morgan. His fimflywaszstzd of a wife ged two With this warrant N. G. aaebrofithld take the tohay, which sho per- ‘keep‘a public house. It was a very \turned reiterating quest that she ' on hoth \the verdicts of the friers wore a-! Fera C- s-hof CHC apr umzmmrby the sme pemrm vhf: drova it west the day ~ Captain AlleS horses were taken from it, and % tbwélflmzh had come from the east, id. in the \meanwhile at Allen's wer ‘wm harnessed to it, and drove | m Rochester. Alien d’ifi wot] Smut-y thr-indifterenay -of challenged. were mppased to bear apon tion at issue, were developed and prov-. edbyw'fmmmfi' om In the trial of thosechal- lenges, the nature of the masonic m—llfimn what-has stitution, and the secret signs apd ob-: wil} be seen how much wooden-t Eigations of its members, 50 far as they ' have been required to discover testimd- M to collect the necessary witnesses summoned at such courts respect-nay ' and to secure their aflefldunee m Wood te snciets, as well as by qne' ent coairts, where trials were Ill-3A e | who fit. afhered \to i Emmott!\ were expected. mol have been reluctant in their attendance -_
