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cmCAGO, ILL, 1878,

EZRA A. OOOK &; 00.,CHRISTIAN CYNOSURE OFFICE,

SAM UE L D. Q.R E ENE.

BT

MORGAN ABDUCTiON AND MURDER.

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES

01&,

BROKEN SEAL;

THE

8UREO'l'YPKl)A'l' mB

BQIJ'l'ON ITEJlLEOTYPB POUlfDJl.Y,

19Sprlul lADe.

Entered, uconliDl to AII:t of Congre., in the year 1870,by

SAl\IUEL D, GREENE,

10 tileClerk'i OfDceof the Dilltrict Court of the Diatrlct of MaNachUMtta.

'/ I-i' '.J),/.l- l-t_. \ (\{,.,u<'t.( (£';,r1",.: ..011 ...

r-~\. : l c

• 111W'ILAT BBOA.J(B OJ' 1tI0BGA.lf.

CHAPTER VII.

ATTEMPTED ABDUCTION 01' MILl.ER AND HIS RE8CUE. • 99

CHAPTER VI.

11ABDUCTION OP MORGA.N.

CHAPTERV.

TIIB STORM GATHERING.

CHAPTER IV.

C.A.PTAD WILLIAM MORGAN AND COLONEL DAVID C.

MILLBR. • 31

CHAP'rER III.

• 10dow I BBOAMB A MABON.

CHAPTER II.

INTRODUOTOBY.

CIU.PTE.K J.

•CONT EN'rS.

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST FREEMASONRY. • 300

C01O!'ESSION OJ!' THE MURDERER. OF WILLIAM MORGAN. 296

EXTRACT8 PROM THE PROCEEDING8 OJ!' THE NEW HAMP-

SHIBE ANTIK.A.SONICSTATE CONvENTION. • 281

• 232TORS. •

"ABORTIVE ATT~MPT '.' TO PUNISH THE MORGAN ABDUC-

PERSECUTIONS OF S. D. GREENE, IN A SERIES OF LET-

TERS TO SOUTHWICK'M NATIONAL OBSERVER. • ~15

MASONRY INCONSISTENT WITH A REPUBLICAN GOVlilRN-

MENT. • 211

ANTIMASONIC POETRY. • 206

MR. :MILLER'S TESTIMONY BE~"'RE A GENESEE COURT. 197

How OLD 18 MASONRY? • 188

THB WAY IN WHICH A MAN WA8 ENTICED INTO MA-

SONRY. • 18~

APPENDIX.

• 169My SUBSBQUENT EXPERIENCES WITH MASONRI".

CHAPTER IX.

• 14:6WHAT MORGU ACTUALLYREVEALED.

CHAPTER VIII.

CONTBNTS.4

SENSIBLE that 1 am drawing near the C10S8 oflife, I feel it my duty to leave on record certamfacts connectedwith my personal history, whichmay be of use to those who shall come after me.My life has been a long and eventful one; but Ihave no intention of writing an autobiography,except in relation to one feature of my history.Manyyears ago, I was brought, ill the providenceof-God,into strange and intimate associationwitha series of events which deeply affected my ownmind, and, for a long time, powerfully agitatedsociety. I refer to the abduction and murder ofOaptain William Morgan, for unfolding what hedeemed to be the pernicious secrets of the mason­ic order. I was a memberof the samelodgewith

(I>

INTRODUCTORY.

OHAPTER I.

THE BROKEN SEAL.

him, ·was intimately acquainted with the man,and was an eye-witnessof much that went on con­cerning him. I am prepared, therefore, to beartestimonyon this subject, such as few other livingmen probably can give. To the rising generatio.the story is, in somegood degree, a new one; butforty years ago, the whole land was moved withexcitement in consequence of it.Believing, as I most sincerely do, that the insti­

tution of Freemasonry, in its natural working,isinjurious alike to individual an~ public morality,that it is secretly hostile to good and wholesomegovernment,and still more hostile to the Christianchurch, I feel it my duty, before leaving the world,to tell what I have personally known of thesethings, and bear my testimony in this regard.In doing this I trust I am not movedby 0. sense

of private wrongs, or by any personal animosities.Almost all of those whowere in active life withme at the time the events above referred i() tookplace, are now sleeping in the grave. This is notime for personal griefs and resentments. I havepassed beyond that ;periodwhen the honors andemoluments of this world can greatly affect me.The generation with which I have acted my parton the stage is gone, or fast disappearing. It jtJ

THE lIMKEN BEAL.6

becauseI believe that what I have to relate haaan intrinsic interest and a valuable lesson forothers, that I am moved to tell it.After this long lapse of years, I am aware that

in little things my memory at. times may be atfault. But all the substantial points of this nar­rativewere matters of record at tho time, andthey were, moreover, events of such deep inter­est, taking such strong hold of the thoughts andfeelings,as not to be easily effacedfrom the recol­lection. In small and unimportant details theremay be an occasionalmistake; but in the greatthings of the narrative - the larger outlines- Iam not likely to be mistaken. At my period oflife the memoryis far more alive and fresh withreference to matters forty years ago, than toevents of more recent occurrence. The onlyvalue which such a personal history as this canhave, is its honest and reliable truth. My aimwill be to make this narrative strictly truthful,whatever other elements it may lack. It shall bea straightforward story of what I myself passedthrough.~ In respect to such items of the narrative as didnot actually fall under my own personal inspec­tion, but were yet connectedwith the same geD

7INTRODUCTORY.

era! series of events, I have constantly referredto contemporaryhistory, and have consultedespe­cially Rev. David Bernard's." Light OD Masonry."At the time of the Morgan abduction and murder,Mr. Bernard was a memberof the masonic lodgeat Covington, in Wyoming County, only abouttwenty miles distant fromBatavia. He had beenfor some years a Mason- had been led into itunder the general representation that it was" aninstitution from Heaven; moral, benevolent, ofgreat antiquity, the twin sister of Christianity,possessing the patronage of the wise, the greatand good,and highly important to the ministersof Jesus Christ." Under this general impressionhe was taken, as I was, through the first threedegrees, only to awaken in him the same disgustwhich ~myself experienced after passing over thesame road. "My disappointment," he tells us,"none can know but those who have, in similarcircumstanees,been led in the same path of follyand sin.. I silently retired fromthe institution, andfor three years was hardly known as a Mason."Still, by the representations of others, he wasmade to believe that there was some great goodin the higher masonic degrees, and he startedagain and travelled on his way until he entered

THE BROKEN BEAL.8

the Lodge of Perfection, and took the ineffabledegrees.. After all the experience he had, his opinionofthe institution is summed up in the followingplain, and unmistakable language: he" found itwholly corrupt; its morality,a shadow; its benevo­lence,selfishness; its religion,infidelity; and that,as a system, it was an engine of Satan, calculatedto enslave the children of men, and pour contemptupon the MostHigh."At the time of the Morgan abduction,Mr.Ber­

nard was absent from home. He returned on the16th of September, only five days after the ab­duction, to learn that Morganwas taken off andprobably murdered. He says, "I conversedwithMasons on the subject, and they justified both hisahduction and murder.'" From that moment hebroke with the institution; came out boldly anddenounced it; was, in fact, the first Mason thatopenly took this stand. For so doing he wasthreatened on every hand, and subjected to a longcourse of dangerous and most annoying persecu­tion. But he held his ground, and three yearsafter, in 1829,he published his volumeof six hun­dred pages, in which are carefully gathered up allthe chief records of those exciting times. This

.,...

9nrrBODUOTOBY.

book has been at hand while preparing this littlevolume,,that I might refresh mymemoryupon anypoint about which I was in doubt.I am'not unmindfulof the fact that Freemason.

ry is again popular and wide-spread in the land.In the opposition which arose after the Morganmurder, the institution throughout the countrywas greatly weakened and depressed. For twen­ty years little was heardofMasonry. Manyof thelodges, in all. directions, returned their chartersand woundup their affairs. But in the comingonof the anti-slavery agitation, public attention w~sgradually called away fromMasonryand its evils,and the institution, being left alone in the dark,with its few bigoted devotees, began to revive,until again it assumes a bold front, and stalksabroadwith large pretensions. It is for this rea­sun especiallythat I am induced to tell the story01 the past. Mostmen, in connecting themselveswith J\lasonry,take little thought of the conse­quences. By the peculiar and strange fascinationwhich it has for many people, they are drawnwithin its embraces,and they do not reason care­fully enough upon the subject to comprehendwhat effects are wrought by it upon themselvespersonally, or upon society at large. I do not

THE BROKEN SEAL.10

charge upon members of the masonic order gen­erally, that they have any direct and consciousintentions against their neighbors, or the peaceand welfare of community. They do not sot outwith the. idea of being enemies either of God orman. But they belong to an institution whichhas its own laws and its own methodsof working,and by it they are shaped and controlled in waysthat they knownot of. Working under cover ofsecrecy and darkness, it fo~ifies itself little bylittle, and in a thousandways attempts to securefor its own members advantages over others inthe privileges and honors of life.In a recent public debate on Freemasonry, an

officer in our late army, whowas taken prisoner,and who spent weeks and months in Southernprisons, boldly undertook to defend the institutionby showing the goodwhich came to him person­ally from officers in the Southern army,when hewas known and recognizedas a Mason. This is avery easy and short argument if onewill only con­sent' to stop at ~e proper point. But in stricttruth and honor,what right had others to give, orhe to secure for himself in this way, kind offices,harshly denied to his fellow-prisoners? A soultruly manly' would spurn benefits which' must

11INTRODUCTORY.

"Jme in through such by and forbidden channels,and would choose to suner what others were calledto suffer. How far is this ecret giving and secretsnatching after good from that broad Christianrule, IIWhatsoever ye would that men should doto YOt'., do ye even so to them" r

But the important point, in all such argumentsas this, is, that it opens up a vista far beyond whatthe speaker intends. If Southern officers wouldshow these partialities, and be false to their trust ..., 'under such circumstances, so would Northern offi­cers; and you have a traitorous element in bothcamps, taking and giving without regard to gen­eral orders, or the general good. A man who willconfess that he would accept such advantages inthe dark, does thereby confess that he would givesuch advantages in the dark - that' a Freemason'sgrip would have power and influence beyond thegeneral claims of the nation and of humanity.Take this principle and carry it out into all thedetails of life, and it is a most enormous crimeagainst society. And undoubtedly, if we couldget at the facts, we should find that many things,in the progress of the late war, which seemedstrange and inexplicable at the time, and which"still seem so, would be easily explained by tni'

THE BROKBlf BEAL.

• In the third degree the Mason 8wears to help his brethrenand seek their deliverance under all conditions of calamity,"murder and tre(Uon only euepted." In the higher degreesthis provision drops out, and he promises the like assistance,"murder and treason not excepted." Wherever, then, in all theworld, the Mason gives the" grand hailing sign of distress," byhis two uplifted hands, all true Masons are. expected to govern&pe~Belvesaccordingl,-, and rush to his relief.

principle of individual favoritism working boldlyagainst the general good.*

In war or in peace this can never be any otherthan a most. mischievous and dangerous elementin society. In the course of my life, and from myspecial means of knowledge and observation, Ihave seen the working out of this principle in somany ways, that I cannot but regard it as one ofthe most gigantic crimes against government andour common humanity. Masonry sometimes pa­rades before the world its good and charitabledeeds; its kindness shown between man and man;its care for the widow and orphan; and on the. score of benevolence, dares to make comparisonbetween itself and the church of Christ, forgettingthat even its benevolence, so called, is foundedupon selfishness. It is not, it does not evenclaim to be, that broad Christian benevolencewhich looks upon every man as a brother, andwhich makes the Samaritan neighbor to the Jew,

13INTRODUCTORY.

in, spite of long ages of prejudice and hate. Ma­sonry is something very different indeed from allthis. It gives only iIi expectation of receiving asmuch again. And although this is the commonway of the world, the rule most largely followed"in individual action, yet men ordinar" ,. do not tryto incorporate it into institutions, 0"_" make it looknoble by large combinations. 1- retains its oldnature in spite of organization It is intrinsicallyselfish, and not benevolent, and the more odiousjust in proportion as the attempt is made to lift itinto prominence.

I will not, however, attempt, in this abstractway, to set forth the evils and wrongs-of Masonry.1 have an actual story to tell, - a deeply interest­ing story,-which will show the real workings ofthe institution in a far more graphic way than Icould otherwise exhibit them ; and to this personalnarrative we will at once turn.

THE BROKEN SEAL.14

i,WAS born in the town of Leicester, Mass.,onthe 7th day of February, 1788. My great grand­father, ThomasGreene, was the first Baptist min­ister in that town,and through his agency the firstBaptist meeting-house was built there. In mychildhood,the country was just emerging fromthefatigue and burdens of the longwar of the Revo­lution. It was the day of small things. Societywas in a rude and simple condition,as comparedwith the present. The means and opportunitiesof education were very inferior to those now en­joyed in New England. My education, duringthe early years of my life, in consequence o~thisfact, as alsobecause of the frequent interruptionsof sickness,went on irregularly. But at the age offourteen I was set upon the study of Latin, atLeicester Academy, and was so far advanced ingeneral education, that at the age of seventeen I

ROW I BECAME A MASON.

CHAPTER II.

15ROW I BECAME A IUSON.

was employed to teach a district school in theneighboring town of Oakham. I was examinedby the parish minister, Rev. Daniel Tomlinson. Iwas certainly not very well fitted for my newvocation by reason of the irregularities of myeducation; but some references which I made toLatin, and Latin rules or grammar, rather im­pressed the minister with my youthful learning,and I found no difficulty in obtaining my certifi­cate.This Mr. Tomlinson was a quaint and original

man, and some pleasant stories are told of him. Hewas a native of Connecticut, a graduate of YaleCollege,and was settled in Oakhan, III 17~6,wherehe remained for fifty years. If I mistake not, heis the man about whom the famous church storyof Oakham centres. In the time of a long andobstinate quarrel, when the members in churchmeeting assembled were accusing each other vari­ously, the minister finally rose and said,-'" Brethren, this must be stopped. If the Lord

will have a church in Oakham,he must have it 'outof such materials as we have here." He is .thesame man also to whom a church member oncewent complaining, and wanting a letter of dismis­sion to the church in a neighboring town. Said

THE BaOKEN BEAL.

the church member," There are so many Achansin the .camp here, that I want to get away toanother church." "0," said the minister, "I gues8I wouldn't go. We can take care of the Acha.n8here as wellas they can anywhere,"The following winter I taught school in Thomp­

son, Ct;, and was examined and approved by Rev.Daniel Dow, the minister of the Congregationalchurch at Thompson from 1796 to 1849. He alsowas remarkable for his quaintness and keen wit,afid was a man of much repute in"the ecclesiasti­cal affairs of his state.In the intervals of my teaching I was attending

school at Leicester Academy, and in 1807, at theage of nineteen, I entered the Sophomore class inBrown University. Here I remained for morethan two years, when I was employed as assistantteacher in the principal school of Providence, andtook my dismission from college at the close of thefirst term of my senior year. And here, on the29th of March, 1810, I was married to my firstwife, Miss Susan Gibbs.

I need not stop to detail the varied experiencesof my life for the first few years after my mar­riage. In 1812 began the war with Great Britain.The country was in a ~ery depressed and uneasy

2

17no" 1 BECAME A MASON.

condition. New England, especially, suffered during all that season. Dependent so largely as shethen was upon her commercial enterprises, thosethree years of war were with her years of sorediscouragement and calamity.In the year 1816 I prepared to remove,with my _

family, to Western New York. I had just beforemade a journey thither myself, and had concludedto cast in my fortunes with the new and chaoticsociety then forming in that portion of the coun­try. The only place of much importance in Wes~ern New York had been Buffalo. That wasburned in the war of 1812, and was now slowlyrlsmg again. The region far around was in awild or half-broken state. Accordingly, in 1816,I bought a horse, additional to the one I before_owned, had a pole put into my wagon.instead of thepair of thills, before used, covered the wagonwitha piece of sheeting, put in such things as were mostnecessary, took my wife and two little children,and started for the west. It was a long and toilsomejourney, of about five hundred miles, over 8. roughcountry. Twenty hours would now suffice tomake the journey along our great railroad tracks;but at that time it was a laborious enterprise,requiring weeks for its execution.

THE BROKEN SEAL.18

Our first residence was at Pembroke, abouttwenty-eight miles this side of Buffalo,where, for~ time, I kept a public house, and engaged invarious occupations,such as are natural in a new,rough, and sparsely-settledcountry. Previous tothe war of 1812,and subsequently until the ErieCanalwas built, the merchandise and produce ofthe country were transported to and fro betweenAlbany and Buffalo,a distance of between threehundred and four hundred miles, in large coveredwagons,with wheelsof broad tire, drawn by teamsof from four to eight horses. A number of theseteams would be owned by one man,who usuallyaccompanied them as a general superintendent ofthe journey. He would travel with a single horsein a light buggy, to give direction and assistance, -in times of difficulty, to go forward,and arrangestopping-places for the night, to see that hay andgrain were in readiness for the horses, and provis­ions for the men on their arrival. In such a coun­try the tav~rn was a great institution. Myhouse,called the Brick Tavern, at Pembroke,was a con­venient and natural stopping-placefor these teams;and not unfrequently it would happen that fromfifty to a hundred horses must be provided for atmy barns for the night, and the teamsters taken

19HOW J BECAJO!l A )(ABON.

care of in the house. The life these men livedwas a. rough, hard, and adventurous one, andbrought out the strong and sharp qualities of cha~.scter, rather than the refined and graceful. Thiswas before the days of the temperance reforma­tion, and no small part of the business of thetavern-keeperwas to provide suitable liquors fortravellers, and for the dwellers around.Many unique stories might be told' of what

transpired at my house during those years, illus­trating the character of my guests, and also illus­trating the state of society aroundme. Onenightthere arrived at my house some eighty horses,with a due proportion of teamsters. In companywith them came a foot traveller, with his knap­sack, in which he carried the necessaries of life,victuals and drink. He had overtaken the teamsa little way back, and inquired of the menwherethey were intending to stop for the night. "Atthe Brick Tavern, Mr. Greene's," was the reply." Well," says the footman," I will stop there too."These teamsters were goodand generous custom­ers. Their habits of life lifted them above allsmall and stingy ways.' They had supper, lodg­ing, and breakfast, :iquor and cigars, for them­selves, and feed for their horses,all bought and

T'SE BROEEN SEAL.20

paid for at the hotel. They: did not attempt tocarry any of these things along with them, thoughthey might easily have done so.

On the other hand, all that this foot-travellerwanted was a good nice fire to sit by, and a bedto sleep in. He carried his food and liquor in hisknapsack, and ate his supper from this in my bar­room. I had at that time an energetic man whoserved in the double capacity of barber and boot­black. In the course of the night this man gavea splendid shine to all the boots., the footman'sincluded, as he baa left them out for the purpose.In the morning he rose and ate -his breakfast in

the bar-room, from his own knapsack, just as hehad done his supper. At length the hour forstarting arrived, and the teamsters gathered atthe bar to settle their bills. As the custom thenwas, I set out my decanters of different liquors,that they might take a parting drink-at their pleas­ure. After they had finished, up came the foot­traveller and inquired for his bill. "What haveyou had?" said I. "0, lodging," said he (the boot-.black standing by and giving a most significantglance at his shining boots). " Your bill is sixcents, then," said I, that being the customaryoharge at that time for a bed, in taat part of the

21HOW I BECAKE A )lABON./

,

country. He pai~ the sixpence, and then, lookingat me, said, uLandlord, can't you afford'to treat? ""To be sure," said I; "what will you have?""I'll take a little brandy." I turned out a half­pint tumbler nearly full (the teamsters all lookingon). He took it and drank nearly half of it. Thenstopping, said he, "In fact, I can't drink it all.""Haven't you a little flask you can put it into?"said I.' He took out his flask, and I emptied theremainder of the brandy into it.. " Well," said he,turning to the .teamsters, I don't wonder you stophere. It is the best tavern I ever saw. I shallalways stop here, landlord, when I travel thisway." "Do," said I," by all means," A.fter theyleft my house the teamsters run him hard upon hismeanness. They told the story all the way fromBuffalo to A.lbany, and so advertised my housethoroughly, and gave me a fine run of custom..In 1822we removed from Pembroke to Batavia,

eleven miles farther east, and near the centre ofGenesee County. This was the county seat. Soonafter going there I opened the County House, asit was called,opposite the Court House. In abouta year I admitted into the house a private femaleschool. The Presbyterian minister of the placewa.~ Rev. Calvin Colton, since well known by his

THE BROKEN SEAL.22

writings. His wife, a woman of very superioreducation and character, had charge of the schoolthat was kept in my house. My wife and I con­nected ourselves with Rev. Mr. Colton's church,and our children were baptized by him. In 1823and 1824Mr. Colton's parish was engaged in erect.ing a meeting-house; and when it is stated thatthis was the first real meeting-house built inGenesee County, it will help reveal the new andrude condition ofsociety in Western New Yorkat that time. This house was a good one, and wasfurnished with a steeple and a bell. Batavia atthat time had, perhaps, two thousand inhabitants,and was a place of great importance, as the landofficewas there.· .In Batavia was a Freemason's lodge, known as

Lodge No. 433. Some of the principal citizensof Batavia were connected with it. The oldestdeacon of our church was a strong and enthusias­tic Mason, and was wont to say that he should as~oon think of speaking against the God of heavenas against the institution of Masonry. Dr. Dibble,the physician in my family, was one of our churchsession. He was also an earnest Mason.After accommodating the above-named school

in my house for a time, I found that it interfered

saBOW I BBCAlIB A IUSOB.

with my proper business of hotel-keepi.ig ; and. sothe schoolwas removed. My house was knownnow as the Park Tavern, or County Hotel. Thebuilding stood opposite the new park.About this time an effortwas made, in Batavia,

to increase the interest in Masonry,and to gathernew members into the lodge. Significant hintsand invitations were given me from time to time,and I was at length prevailed upon to allowmy·self to be a candidate for admissioninto the order.Mr.Ebenezer Mix,the then surrogate of GeneseeCounty, resident at Batavia, proposed me as amember,and I was admitted to Lodge No.433 inthe month of December,1825,taking the first, orentered apprentice's degree, and in a week moreI took the second and third degrees the samenight.Everything is so contrived in Masonry, that

there shall be no going back when one is fairlylaunched upon the stream. There are many de­grees .in Masonry; but the mischief is concen­trated in the entered apprentice's oath. At thevery outset, and before this oath is taken, the can­didate is so drawn in and entangled with promisesof one kind and another, that he sees no possibili-ty of turning back. He is put through a course. •

THE BROKEN SEAL.24

• The masonic language, describing the general condition ofthe candidate about this time is as follows: -

Q. "How was you prepared? "...4. "By being divested of all metals, neither naked nor clothed,

barefoot nor shod, hoodwinked, with a cable-tow about my neck,in which situation I was conducted to the door of the lodge."

The reason given in general for putting the candidate in thiscondition, is that Masonry is something of extreme antiquity­that it originated in a rough and primitive age, when the man­Ders of men were rude, and they wish to preserve strictly the., old landmarks."

of "preliminary nonsense, offensive to his' Moralsense, and degrading to his manhood; but he seesno ch~nce of breaking away without raising abouthim a scene which he has not at the time the cour­age to encounter.Before t_!Ieoath is taken, the candidate is di­

vested of all his apparel, - shirt excepted, - andfurnished with a pair of drawers, kept in the lodgefor the use of candidates; the candidate is thenblindfolded, his left foot bare, his right in a slip­per, his left breast and arm naked,* and a rope"called a cable-tow round his neck and left' arm, inwhich condition he is conducted to the door,wherebe gives, or his conductor gives for him, three dis­tinct knocks, which are answered by three knocksfrom within, and a voice calls out three times,"Who comes there?" .The poor fool on the out-

25HOW I BECAD A J(..A.8ON.

Bide is then made to say, or his conductor saysfor him, in answer to this momentous question,IIA poor blind candidate, who has long been desir­ous _of receiving and having a part of the rightsand benefits of this worshipful lodge, dedicated toGod, and held forth to the holy order _ofSt. John,at' all true fellows and brothers have done, whohave gone this way before him." After a dealmore of idle ceremony, including prayers andforms semi-religious, the -candidate is at last'brought in a kneeling posture, ~th his left handunder the Bible, square and compass, and hisright hand upon them, and in this attitude, blind­fold and half naked, and with the assurance thatwhat he is doing shall not affect his politics orreligion, he takes the entered apprentice's oath, asfollows:-

II I, A B, of' my .own free will and accord, inpresence of Almighty God, and this worshipfullodge of Free and Accepted Masons,dedicated toGod, and held forth to the holy order of St. John,do hereby and hereon most solemnly and sincerelypromise and swear}that I will always hail, everconceal, and never reveal, any part or parts, art orarts, point or points, of the secrets, arts, and mys­teries of ancient Freelll8Bonry,which I have re-

TIIJIl BROKEN 8EAL.261

ceived, am about to receive, or may hereafter beinstructed in, to any person or persons in theknown world, except it be a true and lawfulbrother Mason,or within the body of a just andlawfully constituted lodge of such, and not untohim or unto them whom I shall hear so to be, butunto him and unto them whom I shall find so to beafter strict trial and due examination, or lawfulinformation.- Furthermore, do I promise andswear, that I will not write, print, stamp, stain,hew, cut, carve, indent, or engrave it on anything,movable or immovable, under the whole canopyof heaven, whereby, or whereon, the least figure,character, mark, stain, shadow, or resemblance of

. the same may become legible and intelligible tomyself or any. other person in the known world,whereby the secrets of Masonry may be unlawful.ly obtained through my unworthiness. To allwhich I do most solemnly and sincerely promiseand swear, without the least equivocation, mentalreservation, or self-evasion of mind in me what­ever; binding myself under no less penalty thanto have my throat cut across, my tongue torn outby the roots, and my body buried in the roughsands of the sea at low-water mark, where thetide ebbs and flowstwice in twenty-four hour". So

27BOW I BBOA)fE A JUBON.

• Appendix .A..

help me God, and keep me steadfast in the dueperformance of the same."In December, 1825, I took this oath, going

through all the attendant nonsense. Until theoath was imposed upon me, I had no adequate con­ception of its nature. Many a man, 'on goingthrough these first ceremonies, has been utterlyshock-edand horrified at what he has done, and atthe frightful obligations he has taken upon him­self. His first disposition is to draw back, andhave no more to do with an institution which usessuch awful sanctions to cover and conceal what isof no real consequence to mankind.* His 'whole

/

moral nature is shocked at such profane and enor-mous trifling, Many who take this oath, as soonas may be, withdraw from all active participationin the affairs of the lodge, finding that they havebeen deceived, and have embarked upon a coursewhich their moral sense cannot approve. But itis difficult to do this at once, and abruptly. Manymen, however, who have no keen moral sense,who are, in fact, only boys of a larger growth,seem to find great delight in the foolery of thisinstitution. The big words and sentences, .whicl:!

\THE BROKEN SEAL.28

have to be mouthed over so often, exactly suittheir taste. The endless forms and ceremonies,to be gone through with night after night, eon­tinue, to their undiscerning eyes, to wear the sem­blanceof a majestic greatness. As children find •a certain delight in playing with edged -tools, sothey handle these awful sanctions,these oaths andpenalties, with a strange fascination. There isabout the whole institution a certain barbaricglitter and I>0mpexactly fitted to please swellingand half-developedmen; and these will stay fastby the lodge,and make it the great glory of theirlives to manage its affairs, and mouth over itsillustrious names'and titles.Of the thousands and tens of thousands, who,

by one influence and another, are enticed withinits 'folds,notmany are,at once launchedupon sucha wild scene of excitement and terror as it wasmy lot to encounter. Little did I dream,when Itook upon myself the entered apprentice's oath,what was so speedily to follow; that then andthere, in Lodge 433,was to take place that whichwould :fill the whole landwith intense excitement,moral and political,and would bring the institu­tion itself of Masonry almost to the verge ofdestruction. By the act of that night in Decem-

29HOW I BECAKE A JU.8ON.

"

ber, 1825, I had brought myself ·into the midstof a conflict of thoughts and feelings hard to bedescribed,and where, at times, it was exceeding­ly difficult to know what to do, or whither to

• turn.

THE BROKEN SEAL.so

AT the time I joined th~ Masons,Captain WilHam Morganwas my neighbor, and I was in freeand daily intercourse with him, He was a manof fine personal appearance, about fifty years ofage, of remarkable conversationalpowers,so thathe was everywhere known as a good talker. Hewas a native of Culpeper County, Virginia, andwas, by trade, a bricklayer; hut for several yearabefore comingto Batavia,he had been otherwiseemployed. He was a soldier in the war of 1812,~d brought his title of Captain from the armyduring that war. He had served under GeneralJackson, at NewOrleans, and was a man of finesoldierly bearing. He was gentlemanlyand agree­able In hismanners. In later years the Masonscharged him with being a drunkard, but, in myjudgment, without reason. He was doubtless a

CAPTAIN WILLIAM MORGAN AND COLONEL DAVIDC. KILLER.

CHAPTER III.

CAPTAIN )fORGAN AND COLONEL )fILLER. 31

convivialman, and at times would drink freely,according to the fashions of the day. I myselfhave seen himwhen he ,had been drinking morethan was .good for him; but he was not what, inthe general acceptation of the word' at that time,or at any time, would be called a drunkard. Itwas the period of hard and general drinking, andcertainly it illbecomesFreemasonsto chargemenon this score, for no body of men amongus havedone more, from generation to generation,to pro­mote drinking habits than they.After the closeof the war,Mr.Morganremained

in Virginia until 1821,when he went to Canada,and was engaged in the brewing business, nearYork, in Upper Canada. Here he was successful,and was in a prosperous condition; when suddenIy his establishmentwas destroyed by fire, and howas reduced froma state of ease and comfort tocomplete poverty, and was forcedto return to hisold trade of bricklaying. For this -purpose hecameto Western NewYork, settling first at Roch­ester, and then at Batavia,where he was living asbefore mentioned. During a part of the time at. Batavia,while he was superintending the build­ing of a brick house, he, with his men, boardedwith me. J

THE BROKEN SEAL.32

His wife was much younger than himsel£ Theywere married in 1819, when she was not mo~ethan sixteen years old. She was the daughter ofa Methodist minister in Virginia -=- Rev. JosephPendleton. In the deposition which she wascalled to make in September, 1826, she describesherself 88 "Lucinda Morgan, aged twenty-three,the wife of William Morgan, of Batavia." Shehad at the time of this deposition two children,one tWGyears old and one about two months old.Captain Morgan was a prominent member of

Lodge 433, in Batavia, and was what is called lec­turer. He was much at my house at the time Ijoined the Masons,and it was but natural that Ishould be in frequent communication with himtouching matters pertaining to the institution. Infact, he lectured me, as it is called; i.&, he wentover with me, at the dead of night, the long farra­go of nonsense necessary to be gone through within order to advance in masonioknowledge. I wascommitting these forms. of words to memory tobe used at the lodge in taking the second andthird degrees, and he was acting as my guide andteacher. My wife, overhearing the talk betweenU8, and having her curiosity excited by thestrange accents, rose in her night clothes, and

3

CAPl'AIN IlOBGAN AND COLONEL VII,UlB. 38

stood in the dark to listen. After all Wasover,and I retired to bed, she said to me, "Husband,husband, how can you be so great a fool 88 torepeat such stuff as that?"During the winter followingmy initiation, I was

a regular attendant upon the lodge; hut in thespring I began to tire of such performances,andto feel somewhat disgusted with the whoie busi­ness. In fact, in the month of May,'1826,I with­drew quietly, and did not find it convenient toattend the meetings. And so I should have con­tinued to do, except for the remarkable eventswhich SO(_>D followed.. In the latter part of July, af·ter I had absented myselffromthe lodge sometwomonths, I received a special notice and invitationto attend, and was told that business of a veryimportant character was to come before the body.Iwent to the meeting. Mr. Ebenezer Mix, sur­rogate of the county, who had proposed my nameformembershipin the lodge,read a letter in whichit was charged that Captain Morgainwas writingout the secrets of Masonry,and that ColonelDa­vid C.Miller,editor and publisher of the BataviaAdvocate, was about to publish the book whichMorganwas preparing, and that David E. Evans,~ rich man,had been applied to for money. The

THE BROKEN SEAL.

p,.----

matter was regarded as one of the most momen­tous interest. I never saw men so excited in,my life. They seemed to be laboring under thestrongest passions and emotions. Committeeswere appointed to do this and that, and everything went forward with a kind of frenzy. 1could not but be amazed at the fierce passionsdisp1ayed ; but for the present I saw that safetyfor myself, no less than the power to be of ser­vice to my neighbors, depended upon my dis­guising my feelings, and seeming to act cordiallywith the rest. I thus entered upon a policy whichsome, I know, will consider doubtful, and which, attimes, was exceedingly difficult to be carried out.But I believed then, and believe now, that I wasnecessarily driven to this by the circumstancesin which I wa.s placed. Whether justly or unjust­ly, however, that was the course I adopted.A.sI have already said, I had silently withdrawn

from the lodge in the month of May, having be­come fully satisfied of its iniquities by my ownknowledge, and should probably never have vis­ited the place again, had I not been regularly sum­moned in this way. But when told that businessof the utmost importance was to be transacted, Icould not well absent myself without exciting

CAPl'AIN MORGAN AND COLONEL KILLER. 35

SUspIOIon.At this meeting, and after the specialbusiness had been brought forward, I saw enoughto induce me to. believe that it was my dutyfurther to attend the lodge, to learn the wickedplans concocted there against my neighbors andfriends, and, if possible, hinder their exeoution.At this meeting there was a great amount of

violent talk in a roundabout and half-enigmaticalway. Morgan was declared to be a wicked andperjured wretch, who ought to receive upon him-­self the penalties of the oaths which he had takenand "broken; and it was said that" all honest Ma.sons ,,:ould see that they were executed." Al­though no one in particular said he would do ithimself, yet one rich man did say that he wouldfind whips and cords as long as others would usethem. But the most curious talk that went onthere was of a broken kind, one man utteringpart of a sentence, and another taking it up andcarrying it on, and then another, as though, bydividing up the sentence in this way, no one wasspecially responsible for it. An Episcopal minis­ter, member of the lodge, for example, would takeup his parable and begin as follows: "Shouldone of your neighbors kill another, and be provedguilty of murder in the first degree," (then another

THE BROKEN BEAL.36

.__..

person takes up the sentence) uAnd should he besentenced by the judge" (another) "To be hung bythe neck till he i~dead, dead, dead," (another) "Doyou think the country would lay it to heart 1"(another) uNo j would not men rather rejoice thatthe country was rid of the murderer 1" Thenthe minister would begin again. "Morgan hasviolated the laws of the most moral, benevolent,and I had almost said Christian institution," (anoth­er)" And shouldhe-be take-naway," (another) "Andexecuted, wouldMasons lay it to heart 1" (another)"No; would they not rather rejoice that there couldbe found no track or trace of so vile a wretch ,asl.e 1" Then some other train of thought would bestarted, as follows. The lodge was directly oppo­site the office of Mr. Miller's paper, the BataviaAdvocate, and some one looking out of the windowwould begin. "The_:Advo~ate;"(another) "Can thesecrets of Masonry be published there 1" (another)"That which ~as defied the world, and been keptfrom time immemorial1" (another)" It would notbe surprising if you should see the flames of itascend to heaven."These are given simply a~ specimens of the kind

of talk which went on at that meeting. Then,again, the utterances of the meeting would take

CAPTAIN )fORGAN AND COLONEL JOLLBR. 87

another tum. At that time De Witt Clintonwasgovernor of the State of New York, and was aFreemason of the highest order, standing at theheadof the institution in the United States. Fromthis circumstance, the Masonscounted upon doingwhat they pleasedwith impunity. And so, at thislodgemeeting, they wouldsay, "Who is your gov­ernor? Whoare your militaryofficers? Whoarcyour sheriffs? Who are your judges, and yOUljurors, and your county clerks? Who are yourconstables and justices of the peace? What cana mouse (meaning the governmentof the people)do-with 8 lion?" They madegreat accountof theirmeans of communica~inginformation swiftly andsecretly. They talked much of the vast advan­tage they had over peoplewhowere not intrustedwith their secrets.Then, again, the Master of the lodge lectured

the Masons of the lower orders, especially theEntered Apprentices. "Think," said he, u of '!lourpouier, What cannot you do when guarded byour secrets?" This shows the mode in whichMasonsof the higher orders operate upon thoseof the lower degrees, by referring to their oaths.Much was done at this meeting with the direot ~intent of waking a spirit of murder and destrne-

'l'HE BROKEN SEAL.38

"If a ID311, calling himselfWILLIAM MORGAN,should intrude himself on the community,theyshould be on their guard, particularly the MA.SONIC FRATERNITY. Morganwas in this vil­lage in Maylast, and his conduct,while here and

tion in the hearts of all present. The aim W88

unmistakable. The lodge, after a wild and excit­ing session,adjourned to meet again on the 15thof August.Soon after this meeting on the 25th of July,

Morgan was taken in custody by the sheriff ofGeneseeCounty,on the suit of one Nathan Follett,a Mason. He obtained bail, and so was allowedIiberty within the jail limits. At this time he wasboarding at a ~r. Stewart's, in the centre of thevillage of Batavia; but for the purpose of securi­ty, and to avoid interruption, he spent his timemainly in an upper roomof a Mr.Davids, on theother side of Tonawanda Creek, and out of thenoise of the village.As one of the waysof acting on the public mind,

and getting things in readiness for that whichwasto come,the followingadvertisement appeared onthe 9th of August, in a paper printed in Canan.daigua:-

"NOTICE AND CAUTION.

OAPTAIN JrlOBGAN AIm OOLOlOlL IIILLBB. 89

From the meeting of the lodge in July, violencewas so manifestly intended against the personsand property of Morgan and Miller, my friendsand neighbors, that I resolved to remain in thelodge, and attend the meetings for the sole benefitof those who were in danger. The languageof the .above notice,. read by a Mason, couldmean nothing else than violence. The call upon"brethren and companions" to "observe, mark,and govern themselves accordingly," was a dis­tinct summons to acts of violence, and to spreadthe intelligence far and wide, which I, with myinside knowledge, could not fail to comprehend.A.tlength I formed the determination, when theright time came, to make known the doings of the

elsewhere, calls forth this notice. Any infOI'JIlaotion in relation to Morgan can be obta.ined bycalling at the MASONIC HALL, in this village.Brethren and companio'fUlare particularly request­ed to observe, mark, and govern themselves accord­ingly.~ "Morgan is considered a swindler and a.

dangerous man.=a:- "There are people in this village who

would be happy to see this Captain Morgan.u CANANDAIGUA,August 9, 182~."

TBB BBODlN 8BAL.

lodge to some one without, in whom I couldconfide, and who would take measures to thwartthe wicked designs of the Masons. I was sometime in coming to this conclusion. I attended twoor three adjourned meetings of the lodge in themonth of A.ugust. The committees which hadbeen appointed at the earlier meetings wouldmake their reports, not in a clear and detailedway, but in a blind and confusing style. But sothoroughly was I convinced that the action of thebody meant murder and destruction, that, after oneof these meetings, I went home to my chamber,and, kneeling down, asked God what I should do.I bad been brought into a place of great difficulty.I certainly would do nothing to promote thewicked _plans concocted at the lodge. On theother hand, -if I should absent myself from thesemeetings, and take my stand openly in oppositionto these proceedings, I should not only expose my­self to great personal danger, but should lose thepower of helping those who were already in im­minent peril.

A. significant event transpired in Batavia on the10th of A.ugust, 1826. Governor De Witt Clintoncame to the village, and called upon the grandoommander of the encampment,- a political eue-

CAPTAIN- KOBGAN ..um OOLOlUL VD,U"" '1

my,-and, after a short stay..left abruptly. Mor­gan was nowon his bail, living in the village afterthe manner before described. Itbegan to be cur­rently reported among the people ~hat he wassecretly writing out, and that Millerwas about topublish, the upper degrees of Masonryto the Roy­al Arch. Someof the Master Masonswere quitepleased at this, for they thought they should getthe upper degrees cheap. But the Royal ArchMasonswere greatly offended,and said that Mor­gan and Miller would never live to accomplishtheir purpose.As time went on,Morganhimself did not longer

seek to concealhis purposes. He had been deeplyimpressed with the danger likely to befall thecountry through this institution. Twice, at least,he said, in substance, in my presence, that Ma­sonry had been kept a secret quite long enough;that it had become an alarming evil, and it wahdue to the world that it should be exposed; thatif permitted to exist, and go on its wayunchecked,it would undermine the Christian religion, andoverthrow the government. Morganwas, in the­ory, at least, a Christian man. He was deeplyimpressed with the idea, that only through gen­eral intelligence, and through Christian influence,

THE BBODllf BEAL.

couldour free government be maintained. Manytimes I have heard him say, in substance;" Takedown your pulpits, destroy your Bible and yourSabbath, let men feel DO sense of accountability,andyour republican government is at an end."He used to say, that, 8S a Mason,he was well

aware his life was in peril, but if he knew thatthe Masonswould take his life, he should go for­ward, and, if possible,expose their pernicious se­crets. "My life," he would say," is the propertyof my country, and my countrymen have a claimuponmy utmost faculties and powers for the pres­ervation of all that·is dear to intelligent freemen.The bane of our civil institutions is to be foundin•Masonry, already powerful, and daily becomingmore so. If my life must be forfeited, I owe tomy .country an exposure of its dangers. Not thatthere are not goodmen in the order, but there aremany evil ones."He had been especially impressedwith the ac­

tion of a masonic councilthat had recently beenconvened in Charleston, S. C., in which the pur­pose of establishing a kind of oligarchy- an im­perium in imperio, had been openly broachedamong them. He deeply felt-that he had a sol,eum duty to discharge. Be was no vain trifler.

OAPTAIN :HORGAN AND COLONEL KILLER. 4S

who had resolved to do what he was doing be­cause of ~ome fancied wrong or personal alight.It was because the land, in his opinion, ~as indanger from the workings of a corrupt and secretinstitution.As a man born at the south, and having held a mil­

itary officein the then 1atewar, he thought he knewwhat was passing in the southern mind, and hefully believed that a plot was concocting for th~overthrow of our liberties, and that this schemewas secretly fomented under the covering wingof Masonry. It was not very long after this, itwill be remembered, when South Carolina under­took to nullify the acts of the general government,and if we had had a James Buchanan or an An­drew Johnson in the presidential chair, a:t thattime, instead of an Andrew Jackson, no one can _tell what might have happened.- At any rate, Morgan ~as so impressed with thedangers threatening the country through this in­stitntion (whether his impressions were right orwrong), that he resolved, at all hazards, to let inthe free light of heaven upon the masonic lodges.He had fo~medhis plans, and had associated withhimself ColonelMiller-as his publisher ; and whenhis purpose was discovered, he did not deny it. o~

THE BROKEN BEAL.

attempt to conceal himself, but boldly remained athis post, resolved to take the consequences.The Masons on the other hand were resolved

that the revelation should not be made - that thebook should not be published, if it was in theirpower, even by the most extreme measures, to pre­vent it. Soon after the notice, as above given,was published in the Oanandaigua paper, it wascaught up and published in all the masonic paperseast and west. A thrill of excitement had runthrough the whole masonic fraternity. They talkedabout a traitor in the camp, and this language, to amasonic understanding, meant one who had re­vealed the secrets. They called upon all Masonseverywhere to " observe, mark, and govern them­selves accordingly," which was no other t~ asummons to violent and extreme measures.

Mr. David O.Miller (o~OolonelMiller, as he wasfamiliarly called) was living at Ba~via at the timeI became a resident there, and was pursuing hisbusiness as proprietor and publisher of the Re­publican Advocate. . He had taken one degree inMasonry, in the city of Albany, some twenty yearsbefore. The circumstances under which he tookthat degree were these. He lived at Saratoga,_and was known to be publishing a new edition of

CAPTAIN IfORGAN AND COLO.NEL KILLE&. 46

II Jachin and Boas," an old 'book, first publishedin 1762, 'and designed to reveal the secrets ofMasonry. The Masons thought if he could-be gotinto their order it would stop his work on thatbook. .He was accordingly beset with solicitationsto become a Mason, to which at length he yielded.He went to Albany and took the first degree. Assoon as he had taken it, he saw that it was thevery same that he was already publishing. Hewas disgusted, rather than pleased, with the whole

. business. Captain Morgan, therefore, when hewished to publish abroad the secrets of Masonry,found in Colonel Millar a man .ready ~ cooperatewith him.

THE BROKEN SllAL .:46

So matters stood in the village of Batavia, intile middle of August, 1826. CaptainMorganwasboarding with his young wife and two little chil­dren at a Mr. Stewart's, in the centre of the vil­lage, but kept himself during the day, for themost part, at a Mr. Davids'S,on the opposite sideof TonawandaCreek, about a mile out of the noiseand stir of the village. It had nowbecomegener­ally understood that he waswriting out the secretsof Masonry, and it was evident that a storm ofwrath was gathering to burst upon his devotedhead.Colonel Miller was. still pursuing his work of

publishing the Batavia Advocate; but he under­stood that his person and property were in danger,and he was living in apprehensionof what mightbefall himself and his family.About this time I·attended an adjourned meet-

THE STOBlI GATBEBING.

CHA¥TER IV.

TO STORK GATIDIBt5G.

ing of the Master Masons' lodge. Someof the com­mittees asked leave to report. The Episcopalminister, before referred to, objected to any de­tailed report. H~ said this was not the place toreport. They must open these matters in theOhapter; but he would assure the lodge that thecominittees had done their duty,- that the bookshould be suppressed, and their plans carried out;even though Morgan and Miller B1uni/,d, b6lo81 to 80-

ci8ty. It was sought to be impressed upon all Ma­sons that they should take a decided stand in thiscrisis,' that it was an awful crime not to do so, andthat the judgment ofHeaven would surely overtakeall who did not use their utmost efforts to preventthe publication of the book. A letter was introducedinto the lodge, purporting to be a copy of a letterwhich Governor De Witt Olinton h~ written, say­ing, in substance, " You must suppress the secretsof Masonry at the expense of blood and treasure;be careful to observe secrecy, hut if you are de­tected you shall be protected. Ifyou are convictedyou shall be pardoned, for I have the pardoningpower."This Bpiacopa, minister, named altove, was a

great man in the lodge - a kind of oracle, from hisrank and station, among the Masons. He was a

TIDI B:aOXBN SEAL.

man,however, extremely fond (to use the techni.oalla.nguage of the Masons)of " passing from laborto refreshment." He was addicted to the glassand was often assisted home from the lodge, beingunable to make his way by himself.It was evidently the intention of the Masonsof

. the higher degrees not to have matters too muchtalked of in the lodge, for they felt there mightbe spies in the camp. They did not then knowwhat was passing in my own mind, though it wasobserved that I was not so loud in my demonstra­tions 88were most of the member's of the lodge.There were suspicions and anxieties lest someshould not prove true ·to their masonic oaths, andso, as Masonsmet together in the street, it was acommon form of question among them," Do youthink Freemasonry can be published inBatavia?"If the answer was, II No! Batavia would rock toher centre first," or someother answer in a similarspirit, all was regarded as right. I never couldmake quite the right answer to suit them; but acertain Mr. Wood took it upon himself to vouchfor me that I was true.About the middle of August there came to Bata­

via, from Canada, a man by the name of DanielJohns. He professed to have heard what Morgan

4:

'rHE STORK GATHERING.

'\"'\'t

and Miller were about, and to be deeply interestedin the enterprise. He wished to essociate himselfin business with Mr. Miller,and offered to advanceall the needed money for the purpose. He so wonupon their confidence by his flatteringmanner, thathe was taken into partnership. This man, as itafterwards appeared, was a Mason of one of thehigher orders, - a Knight Templar, - and he tookthis method to discover the secrets of Morgan andMiller, and interrupt their designs, so that on bothsides there were wheels within wheels, and mat­ters were beco~ing quite complicated.It was on the 19th day of August, 1826, on 8

Saturday, that three men, residents-of Batavia, ~!ldMasons, in company with Daniel H. Dana, a consta..ble from the neighboring town of Pembroke, sppeared suddenly at the house of Mr.Davids, whereMorgan had his room. There were two familiesoccupying the house, the one already named, andthe other of the name of Towsley. When the fourmen came to the house, they first inquired for ~r.Davids and for Mr. Towsley; and learning theywere not at home, they, without further inquiry orremark, rushed up stairs into the room where Mr.Morgan was writing. Here the constable pre­sented a warrant for Pis arrest. It was upon some

THE BROKEN SEAL.50

cIaim.that a.Mr.Thomas McCullyheld, or professedto hold, against Morgan, that this warra.nt wasserved. It was well understood, however, thatthe case was one got up for the occasion, to givevent to the masonic rage against Morgan. Thesheriff was suspected of being a party in the trans­action. He was seen in company of tho men, asthey were going to Mr. Davids's house, though hestaid back, and did not actually enter the housewith them.Mr. Morgan was in his chamber, writing, with

various papers about him. He was seized withthe papers, and without delay was hurried off tothe county jail. The story of his arrest spreadquickly over the village, and some of his friendsstarted at once to find the officersof the law, andsecure his release on bail. But it was evidentthat the officers of the law were out of the way byintention. The sheriff, who was visible just be­fore the arrest, and who was not known to haveany business calling him from the place, wassought for in vain. Men hastened hither andthither - to his house, and to all his usual placesof resort; but he was nowhere to be found. Thejailer also strangely disappeared immediately afterMr. Morgan was lodged in jail. The motive for

51TJlE.. 8TOlU( GATHERING.

all this was apparent. It was Saturday. If theofficers could keep themselves out of sight untiltwelve o'clock Saturday night, Mr. Morgan wouldhave to lie in jail, at least, till Mondaymorning.In this they succeeded. The friends and .neigh­bors of Morgan were eager to give bail for him,but nobody could be found to transaOt the busi­ness. On the same day, at evening, the men whohad arrested him went to the house of Mr. Stew­art, in the village where Mr. Morgan boarded withhis family, and where Mrs. Morgan then was.They professed to be in search of property onwhich to levy for debt. They asked questions atrandom of Mrs. Morgan; but their chief businessevidently was to ransack among Mr.. Morgarl'shousehold effects, in hopes of finding papers.They searched trunks, boxes, drawers, &c., e~am­ined the contents of letters, and took offwith thema small trunk of papers, saying, if these paperswere useful to Mr. Morgan, they would returnthem. The reason of this, A.S it afterwards clearlyappeared, was, that they had not found at Mr. Da­vids's house the papers they hoped to find; and itwas surmised that these might be found at Mr.Stewart's, where he boarded. They did find 8

part, but not all that they were after.

THE BB~KEN BEAL.52

Mr.Morganremained in jail until Mondaymorn­ing, A.ugust tl,· when he was released on bail.During the Sabbath, many persons visited him.There was much sympathy felt for him by thosewhowere not Masons,and by somewhowere. Imyself went to the jail, and talked with himthrough the grate, telling him that he was in dan­ger. I had becomewell aware, from what tran­spired in word and act at the lodgemeetings, thatboth ~organ and Millerwere in peril, and throughthe grated window I communicatedthis idea toMorganon that 20th of August. He did not be­lieve that he was really in any serious personaldanger. He knew, of course, fromwhat was thenpassing, that there was a dispositionon the part ofthe Masons to vex and annoy him. But he didnot think matters would go beyond this. He ex­pressed the belief that the laws of their countrywould,in the final resort, have more influenceovermembers of the lodge than their masonicoaths. Itold him that I had formerlythought BO too, butthat it was nowmy belief that violencewas in­tended, and that he shouldbe strictly on his guardin referer"" to the' movements going on abouthim.

63THE STORK GATHERING.

As I have already said, I had been long in com-~ing to this opinion. At first I could not think thatmy neighbors, some of whomwere high officers inthe church and state, would, in obedience to theirmasonic oaths, be guilty of actual violence towardsa fellow-man. I thought they meant, if possible,to frighten Morgan, and make him desist fromwhat he was doing. But that they could be soblinded and infatuated as to harbor murder intheir hearts, out of their devotion to Masonry, Icould not for a long time believe. But as I ha~, attended the various meetings of the lodge, andseen the signs and nods, and heard the signifi­cant words uttered, and, more than all, as I had,little by little, become aware of the awful hatewhich was cherished against Morgan and Miller, Isaw how easy and natural it was that violenceshould spring out of it. I saw that the con­sciences of men were warped, and in the conflictbetween masonic duty and public law, th,e formeractually had the supremacy in their thoughts.Moreover, under cover of the darkness ,of a se­cret institution, they somehowdeemed it safe andright to do what they never would have thoughtof doing in the open day.

THE BROKEN SEAL.64

• Appendix B

It washere, and under these circumstances,thatI had the best opportunity of studying :Masonryin its internal tendencies and laws. I had con­nected myself with the institution only 8 fewmonthsbefore, under a misrepresentation. I hadbeen told that it should not militate against mypolitics or my religion; but. I foundit at war withboth. I soon discovered that I was in 8. strangebondage to a"power that I could not respect, andthat imposed upon me services that I could nothonestly render. I soonbegan to go to the lodgeunwillingly,and to return from it with 8. kind ofmoraldisgust. At the best, it was pompous non­sense and false pretension. At the worst it wasdeepJy corrupting and immoral. .It used thenamesand forms of religion only to dishonor andbelittle them. It employed the Bible and prayer,.and semi-religiousordinances; it madeuse of thename of God in a way to make the most holythings and the most sacred wordsonlyas the play­things of an idle hour. It put forth its claimstoa vast antiquity,* and brought into its recordsvenerable personages of the remote past, withoutthe slightest regard to truth. It paraded itself

55TJIB 8TOBJ( GATBEJUlfG.

before the ignorant and unlearned as if the chiefcare of God over this world had been to fosterand keep alive this institution from generation togeneration, as though it were' something far moreancient than the-Ohristian church, and.not secondin importance.As soon 8S I was fairly within the enclosures of

the lodge, I discovered, contrary to all my expec­tations, that I was in 8 place where halfeducated,swelling, and unscrupulous men had an ample fieldfor the exercise of their powers. Such men stoodin the fore-front in the goings on of the masonicorder. Men who delight to be dressed up in alittle brief authority, on however small a seale;men who bustle about in aprons, and feathers, andall sorts of glittering gewgaws; men who have noscruples in letting fiction pass for truth, and pre­tence for reality,-these are the men who find Ma­sonry something altogether to their mind. Theyhurry hither and thither to do its bidding; they -bustle about, on St. John tho! Baptist's and otherdays, under the singular delusion that they areimportant persons - that caps, and sashes, andbands can make men great. A. masonic lodge isa mutual admiration society of the most intAllSf.\

.fIIB BROKEN 8BAL.56

order. It lives, moves,and has ita being upon asystem of the most enormous eelfcomplacenoy,Tried by the touchstone of sober truth and reality,it withers in amoment. Its benevolence,onwhichit 80 prides itself,can never pass as genuine in thehigher courts. It is benevolence1M" a considera­tion. The lawof kindnesswhichChrist lays downfor us is something far above the utmost rangeand reach of Masonry. "When thou makest adimier or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy~rethren, neither thy kinsmen,nor thy rich neigh­bors, lest they also bid thee again, and a rec­ompense be made thee. But when thou makesta feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, theblind: and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannotrecompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensedat the resurrection of the just." Whenmen bandthemselves together to gain and keep for them­selves such earthly advantages as they could nototherwise enjoy, it is often the most concentratedformof selfishness. It is a kind of secret conspir­acy against the rest of mankindin behalf of' theirown set. It is no new thing for men of the worstcharacter to be bound together as mutual helpers;and within a certain range they must exhibit whatis called kindness,and showall the tokens of good

..TIIB &TOO GATBBBIlfG.

-GroI. am01Plt of recei~" for eigbteeD yean,

For moneys received at lodge nights for "makingmembership, visitors' fees, and quarterage," during eigh-teen years, f1926.91Due to the Secretary at the elose of eighteen ye&l'l, 65.60

Dr.Lodge in Boston

• The following document, which was published in the Chris.tian Herald, of Boston, April 14:, 1880,will illustrate the ~""'" of Masonry, about which there is alway •• 0much talk ~-

TaB UST RJDlI'UGBOP MASONRY ATTACKED AND OVBRTIIltOWlf.

The Most Worshipful Grand Master of· the Grand Lodge ofMassachusetts, in his late address, state8, page 4:, "That theessential and legitimate objects of Freemasonry are exceedinglysimple, and may' be stated in a moment. They con.i8t in theestablishment of PUNDS for the relief of distressed Masons andtheir families, certain secret. to protect those :fu,tuls, and securethem to their appropriate fUe, and a code of morals mftweetl bySolBmn Obligations, designed to make all its members upright,honorable, and useful in life; " and page 13, "Freemasonry ianot, strictly and properly, a Sec?·et Society. Th·e appropriateappellation Qf a society is derived from ita essential and promi­nent de~igf&Sand features. What are these? They are, ina word,the relief of the distressed and the inculcation of moral principles. "From these declarations we understand Ohalrityor Bmet:oZenoe

is the last stronghold of Masonry. here, then, 'we meet themon their own ground, and present to the public the following au­thentic statement of the receipts and apenditures of a regularand higlWy respectable Lodge, 'n01D in operation in Boston, Alass.The books have been examined by those who had a legal right

80 to do. We sha.ll not say when, where, how, or by whom.But from a careful inspection of these masonic records for aperiod of eighteen years, the following isfound to be the result :-.

fellowship, else the confederacy formed for selfi.ahand wicked ends will fall to pieces."

..THE BROKENBBAL.68

1

In justice to the members 0(' this worshipful and OAM"'ito.liU. IftItit"'hon, it ought to be stated, that "oZuntary cOntrtbutiofll,"not &8 a lodge," as stated in the records, were made at fourdifferent times, and four only (sixteen members OD an averagebeing present), amounting, in the whole, to forty dollars and~-one cents, for the relief of six individuals, who bad peti­tioned lot relief, and all of whom were men!It also apl'ears from the records, that during the whole of these

eighteen years, ouly one petition from" a poor widow," apply­ing for relief, was presented, and that was referred, to the nextlodge ""gAt, and there is no evidence on the records for tenmonths after, and as far as they have yet been examined, thatthe "poor witlo'll1', petitio." was ever acted on, or even no­ticed.

For the truth of the aiJOtIe,we pledge ourselves to the public.Now, we only ask ~ons, who, no doubt, are great proficients inthe mathematics, to consider that it cost NINBTEENHUNDREDand.-<)RTY-8IXDOLLARSand FORTY-ONBCENTSto distribute THIRTY­I'lVB DOLLARSIN CHARITY1 Is not tbis like the barren fig-tree?ADd if so, why cumberetb it the ground?

1199.2041

By amount of several items paid on the different lodgenights, during the eighteen years, for llEII'REBBKBNT8,WINE, LlQUOR8,&c. 198".9aFor aprons, gloves, some small fees to the Grand Lodge,

printing blank nottilcations, advertising, Secretary's fees,and wax candles, &c., &C. SCM.78For" Tyler's" fees, crafting, &c., &c. • 166.75For Charity! TBIRTT-J'IVBDOLLARS!Yes! The gross

amount of aU tM DONATIOlll'8out of tM TREASURYOFTHEI.ODGBduring eigAteen 1jeDll", .. tM mof"mO'UB Bum of 36.00

Or.

Jn the winter of 1825-6 I had become ful­ly satisfied that Masonry was no iastitution for

6.TBB 8TOBK GATBERING.

me. I had, as before stated, gradually ceased toattend the lodge meetings, just as thousands andtens of thousands of others have done, through 8.

certain inward weariness and disgust, But I didnot wish to signalize my non-attendance by makingtalk about the matter, or by any outward demon­strations. I wanted everything to pass in silenceand quietness. .And if nothing of an unusualcharacter had arisen, I should probably have taken

"practical leave of Masonry in the spring of 1826,never more to mingle in its councils. But &ssoonas the high excitement about Morgan and Millerarose, I could not absent myself without excitingsuspicion, and after a little I did not wish to with­draw, but preferred to remain and study the atro­cious plans which were forming. It was a deli.cate part, no doubt, that I was playing, and WS8

attended with no little difficulty and hazard; butI seemed to be called, by a kind of providence, tostand in that lot, and incur the incidental risks.I was studying Masonry now under new "andpecu­liar conditions. I was learning what it was, andwhat it would do, when"violent passions are kin­dled and a vindictive hate aroused.For a long time I kept my own counsel. I had

...bundant foodfor reflection, but I had Dotdivulged

'1'JD BROKEN BBAL..0

to any person or persons outside what was goingon in the lodge. Ihad 'occasionallyventured, in thelodge, and inmy conversations with Masons,to tryand give things a milder tum. But after a fewattempts of this kind, which only turned attentiontowards me to no purpose, I preferred to hold mypeace, to think: my own thoughts, and make myown plans.As has been already stated, Morgan was re­

leased on bail, after his confinement in jail overthe Sabbath, and matters went on much as before.In the search which was made for papers on theday of Morgan's first arrest, August 19, some werefound, and among the manuscripts taken was the&yal Arcn. Degree, which Morgan was writingout. This is the seventhmesonio degree in order.This was brought up into the lodge room, and 'those Masons who had taken this degree werepermitted to examine the manuscript, I had onlytaken three degrees, and did not share in thisprivilege. This degree was afterwards sent byCharles C. Church to Canandaigua, and fromthence it. was forwarded to New York city byexpress, to the Grand Chapter, which was thenin session.

So matters went on until the morning of Friday

61THE 8TOBll GATBEBlllG.

September 8, 1826, which was an 'eventful dayin my history; and many things in my subsequentlife date from that day. A messenger of the lodgecame to notify me that about three, hwndred, Masonswere in and about the village of Batavia, gatheredfrom all directions, met for the express purpose ofburning and destroying Mr. Miller's printing office,and by open violence preventing the publicationo"fMr.Morgan's book. The cant phrase was againemployed, that this book must be suppressed, ifMorgan and Miller were lost to 80ciety. I hadlearned to know what that language meant. Thenotice was given us in the field, as I have stated,a~d we were expected to govern ourselves ac­cordingly. For my own part, I saw that the timefor action had come. The recollection of all thathad transpired at the lodge for weeks before nowcame back upon me, and I realized that what Ihad feared was really about to take place. Peace­ful and persuasive"measures were no longer to beused ; but violence, even unto death, if need be,was intended by the present movement. Up tothat time I had managed to keep my feelings, inagreat measure, secret from the other members ofthe lodge; and though they had, at times, thoughtme wanting in masonic zeal and energy, they had

THE BBOKEN SEAL.82

not apparently suspected me of faithle88nel1Sto mymasonic oaths, ~r dreamed that I would, in the lastresort, seek to protect Morgan and Miller frommasonic rage.That morning I was in trouble, I saw that it

needed only some slight act, on my part, to revealmy secret, and put me in the same category withMorgan and Miller. Madnesswas abroad upon thewind. The wild elements were let loose. An in­furiated crowd swarmed about Batavia, and thestorm might burst at any moment. To add to mycare and responsibility, Iwas at the time one ofthe trustees, or guardians of the village. ~hiswas one of the methods of civil government andprotection adopted by the young villages of West.ern New York. A board of trustees was chosento guard the village against dangers of whateverkind, external or internal, and also to promote itsgeneral welfare. I held the office of trustee atthis time, and my associates had chosen me super­intendent of the village. Holding this office,andknowing also what had been secretly contrivedagainst the place in masonic lodges, Iwas broughtinto peculiar straits. I called upon the sheriff,whose duty it was to aid in preserving the peac-e.He W88 a Mason in regular standing, and full of

TIlE STOBK GA'1'BBBING.

masonic seal, I cautiously said a few words, indioeating in some measure my feelings in this crisis,when he warned me into secrecy, and remindedme of the binding character of my masonic oaths.This man was a member with me of the Presby­terian church. I called on another Mason,whowas an elder in our church, and tried to open myheart to him; but before I had fairly committedmyself he warned me to take care, and remindedme alsoof my oaths. I turned frommen to God,andmade my appeal unto him. He knew all that waspassing in my thoughts. I remembered his promise,"For in the time of trouble he shall hide me inhis pavilion, in the secret of his tabernacle shall heaide me; he shall set me upon a rock." I gatheredcomfort from this assurance. I committed my wayunto God, and resolved within myself that Mr.Miller should know of the dangers threateninghim, so that he might be upon -his guard, an~ thatI would assist him to escape out of -the hand ofthe enemy.There was in the village of Batavia a manwhom

I knew well, and highly esteemed- Mr. Georgew. Harris. He was by trade a silversmith,and hadR shop in the central part of the village. In himI thought I could confide, Accordingly I went to

THE BROKEN BEAL.64

mydesk, and on a piece of paper wrote out brieHythe information I had that morning received. Imade the request that Harris should transcribemy note, burn the original, and communicate atonce to Mr. Miller the message I had communi­cated to him. I stated also upon the paper, thatas a trustee of the village, I was under obligationto see that the persons and property of the inhab­itants were protected. I wished to have a guardset; but for the present I wished my own namekept a profound secret from Mr. Miller and frollevery one else.Compressing this paper into a shapeless wad, so

small that it might be crowded into a thimble, ]called at Mr. Harris's door, and said to him,"]have important intelligence to communicate toyou, and in doing so I shall throw myself uponyour mercy. If my intelligence is not improperwill you do what I request you?" He hesitateda moment, and I repeated the question. He an­swered in the affirmative. I threw the roll uponhis counter, and left him suddenly. I left himthuswithout any further observations, in order toshowhim that I had put implicit confidence in him.He opened the note and read it, and proceeded atonce to carry out its suggestions. Be acted iu

5

6bTHE STORM GATHERING.

~-------------

goodfaith with me, not revealing in any ~ay thesource from which he obtained his information.The guard was set and measures for safety ~dprotection adopted. It was soon noised abroadwhat was going forward. The village was astirwith excitement. Mengathered in the streets totalkover these exciting topics. Masonswere about,here and there, trying to quiet the alarm, but.more busy in seeking to discover howthe infor­mationgot out. Noone couldtell; onlyMr.Miller·had received the informationthrough the postoffice. The guards were set, and no violencewasattempted that day or night. The next day Mr.Harris called on me secretly to inquire what thisquiet meant, and whether the Masons had dis­persed. I told him they had not, but had beenreenforced,and hemust strengthen the guard. Hedid so,and this day and night all was still. Thisbrings us along to Sunday, September 10. Bythis time it began to be thought that a false alarmhad been given, and that there was really no dan­ger of an attack. The guards were no longer set.Mr. Miller also changed his mind. On Saturda.yhe had armedhimself thoroughlyfor defence,hav­ing placeda swivel so as to commandthe entranceI~ his printing office.and he had armed men witb

THB BROKEN SEAL.66

• r ~,...:

himin the office; but he began-to think he hadbeenneedlessly alarmed. He resolved, therefore,to pa.8sSunday night in his office without &'l1ygnard. When I knew that this was the determi­nation,and that he was to pass the night at hisoffice,I sent word to him through Mr. Harris,oautioninghim not to attempt to leave the officeduring the night, however much he might bealarmed. I knew that nothing would be moreinharmony-with the wishes and plans of the Ma­sons than to catch him in the open street bynight.What we have called Mr. Miller's printing office,

was, in rea11ty,two offices,or rooms, one on eachside of a narrow passage-way, called Primer' 8Nleg. In one of these was printed the Republi­can Advocate, and in the other the work. on Mr.Horgan's book was going forward. These roomswere in the most thickly-settled portion of the.village. They were in. the second story of thebuildings, and stairways led up to them from theoutside. Underneath one of these rooms a largefamilywas living, consisting of a man and wifeand eight children. I was sorry that more credit"aH not given to my information, so that the guardshouldhe kept set, as on the two previous nights.

.7THE STOBll GATHERING.

But as these had passed in such comparative quiet,it began to be thought, even by Mr. Harris, thatI might be misinformed. or that fear had undulymagnified the affair to my apprehension. A.ndso the night of Sunday, the 10th of September,was passed without any extraordinary preoau­tiODS.

That night the attempt was made to set both orthe buildings, in which these officeswere, on fire.Combustible materials were placed underneaththe outside stairways, turpentine was freely usedabout the wood-work,and the buildings were fired -at the dead of night, notwithstanding that thefamily of ten persons were asleep in one of them.This fire was instantly discovered anc! extin­guished in a way that the incendiaries had notcounted upon. Late at night there had come intothe village several teamsters, with their teams, toload with flour early in the morning, and start forthe eanal. The hotels being ail closed, they hadlai~ down to. sleep in their wagons. Thesewagons were standing on the other side of thestreet, directly opposite Mr. Miller's offices. Nosooner were the fires set than these teamstersdiscovered them, sounded the alarm, arousedthe neighbors, and had the Hames extinguished

THE BROKEN SEAL.68\

before t.hey had gained any considerable head.way. So close were they upon the work ottne incendiaries. that they saw the villains run­ning away. They gave chase, and compelled therunaways to drop their torches and the dark lan­tern they had used; but they did not succeed incapturing them.The events of this night satisfied Mr. Barris

that my information, secretly conveyed to him,was correct, and that the quiet of the two pre­vious nights was due solely to the precautionstaken. The Masons,who were banded togetherfor violence,understoodwell that if they attackedMr. Miller's office on Friday or Saturday night,they would be likely, some of them, to come togrief. But as soon as it went abroad that therewas no danger, and care was relaxed, instantlythe conspirators returned to their work.It was on Saturday, September' 9, that Daniel

Johns, before spoken of,whohad comefromOana-.da as a spy, and by Lie uk LIldworked his wayinto Mr.Miller's confidence,and bee~ taken in asa partner in his business,- it was on Saturdaythat he suddenly took himself off, carrying withhim one of the manuscripts of Morgan- Mar;

69THE STORK GATHERING.

---.: -

Master's Degree, which was in Mr. Miller's handsto be printed.So matters stood on the night of Sunday, Sep­

tember 10, 1826, in the village of Batavia. Thefires which had been set had been providentiallyextinguished; hut worse thmgs wer,e immediatelyto follow.

.THE BROKENSEAt..10

THE events of Sunda.y night, September 10,had demonstrated that Batavia was full of theelements of mischief; that the conspirators hadnot dispersed, but were on hand, watching theiropportunities. In the early morning of MondayISeptember 11, while everybody was busy talk­ing over the exciting events of the night before,the rumor ran abroad that Captain Morgan hadbeen seized and taken oft'. He went out of hisboarding-house, a little before sunrise, into thestreet, and not returning, as usual, to breakfast,inquiry was made for him, when it appeared thathe had been taken about seven o'clock, had beenroughly forced into a stage, and carried off in thedirection of Canandaigua. A. man by the name ofN Icholas U. Chesebro, of Canandaigua, who waslrIaster of the m&AOniclod~ in that place, hadobtained from the justice of the peace there a

ABDUCTION OP KOBGU,

CHAPTER v.

.rr'11ABDUCTION OJ' KOBGAJT•

warrant for the arrest of Mr. Morgan on a chargeof theft. It was alleged that Mr. Morgan, whileboarding at Caaandaigua 'some time previous, hadstolen a shirt and cravat from one Kingsley, an .innkeeper. This Kingsley afterw:ards made depo­sition that he had of himself no thought or inten­tion of publicly making any such charge, butwas moved to do it oil some slight grounds ofsuspicion by Chesebro and his associates. Theywished to find some possible ground for his arrest,and this case was worked up out of some old sur­mises to meet the exigency.

Canandaigua was the shire town of OntarioCounty, and was distant from Batavia about fiftymiles to the east. Ever since the "Notice andCaution," published in a Canandaigua paper ofAugust 9 (referred to in Chapter. III.), it hadgrown to be a kind of cant phrase among theMasons, that Morgan "might be seen travellingeast; " and it was intimated that Brant, the IndianChief of the Mohawk tribe in Canada,would attendto his case, and put him out of the way. Manypeople, doubtless, regarded this as the mere talkof an idle hour; but others saw serious intentionslurking under the cover of this style of language.In those days of staging, and in a country, 8tI yet,

~::' a :

comparatively new, the journey to Canandaigua'was an affair of considerable labor and time..As soon ~s I heard that Morganhad been taken in

this way, myworst fears were aroused forhis safety.Captain Davids, the man at whose house Morganhad been writing, came over very soon to see me.He wished to borrow my saddle. I tried to per..snade him to take my horses and saddles, andstart out twenty men on Morgan's track, andnever lose sight of him. Unless this was done,it was my opinion that we should never see himagain.But here the masonicagency and influence came

into full play, to silence suspicion and lull the peo­ple to sleep. Itwas at once the talk over all thevillage, that Mr. Morgan had been taken to Canan..daigna on a charge of theft. The impression wassought to be made that this was something to beregretted, indeed, but could not be helped. Thisrequisition' had come, and he was obliged by lawto_ yield to it, and all others must yield. No intima­tion was given that this was a trumped-up case;but the general idea conveyed was, that it was amatter which had come about in the regular andordinary course of law. Great stress was laidupon the high respectability of the men who were

'faABDUCTION OF KOBOA!'•

prominent in the tran88Ction, and who Iiad goneoffwith Mr. Morgan. The pretence was, that theywere"his friends, and that they had come out to"see that he had fair play. Would such men, per­sons of such high standing in church and state,stoop to do a wrong or mean act? 0, certainly_not. The idea was preposterous. This was thekind of talk that went on all that day in the ,"streets of Batavia, and in consequence of it thefirst excitement and alarm were allayed, and nopursuit of the abductors was made.And here is a. circumstanceworth noting. Mor­

gan's abductors were respectable men, in the com­mon acceptation of that term. Judas-like, theydid pretend to be his friends. They lent him theircompany under the garb of protection. It is a.significantfact, as showingthe corrupting natureof Masonry,and its power to work mischief in thedark, that these men, whowere the leaders in thisplot against Morganand Miller,were men of stand­ing and character. They were at the time holdingthe most important offices in church and state.They were judges and justices, sheriffs and con­stables,military officersof high standing, ex-mem­bers of the legislature, ministers of the gospel anddeacons, members of churches, &c., &0. It was

•THE BBOKD 8BAL.,4:

.. ,

perfectly apparent to me, who knew the inside·working of things, that what was then going on inBatavia was no mad freak of low and drunkenfellows. Everything had been considered anddetermined upon ,by the very highest authoritiesin the masonic councils. The orders were issuedfrom the chief places of the fraternity, and menof all classes connected with the lodges, with hereand there an exception, lent themselves to do thebidding of these upper circles. Itwas one of thecant excuses of the masoaic order afterwards,that these acts of violence against Morgan andMillerwere the work of a few worthless men, whoacted contrary to the true principles of the insti­tution. But can any man be credulous enoughto believe that a few worthless men, acting notonly against the general laws of society, but alsoagainst the rules and wishes of the Masons them­selves, could manage to baffle the whole State ofNew York, cheat justice, and escape the punish.ment due to such atrocious crimes? No; a fewworthless men have no such wide-spread influenceas this. The course of events, for a long timeafter the abduction, showed plainly that there wasa secret power at work against justice, vast andwide-spread in its range, with which it was almost

75ABDUCTION OF HORGAN.

useless to contend. Itwas evident that the JIlS.

sonic fraternity, taken as a whole, justified theseacts of violence,and were determined,at all haz­ards, to save from punishment the men who hadcommittedthem. Whicheverway you might turn,and whatever course you might pursue, to bringthe guilty authors of these wrongs to justice, youwere met by a power in the dark, - a power seem­ingly omniscient and omnipresent,- tireless, andnever sleeping. Judges upon the bench werecorrupted j jurymen failed to see the truth; wit­nesses upon the stand would swear falsely; andhowever just might be one's cause, he was soonready to cry out, " Vain is the help of man."Whatever crimeswere committedagainst MorgaJlland Miller in Batavia in the year 1826,are notto be regarded so much as the crimes of indi­vidual men as of the whole masonicorder, as thenand now existing.But let us go back and trace minutelythe course

of events after Mr.:Morgan'sarrest, on the morningofSeptember 11. Immediatelyafter his seizure,hewas taken to 8 tavern kept in the east part of thevillage of Batavia by a Mr. Danolds, where theparty made a short pause. While there, Mr.Mil- •ler came to the house to insist that Mr. Morgan

THE BROKEN SEAL.\

76

shouldnot be taken away from Batavia,as he wasthere on the jail limits, as has been before stated,and he (Mr. Miller) was one who had given bailthat he should remain within the limits. But-Millerwas violently thrust aside by Danolds, thetavern-keeper,while Morgan was taken into thestage, and the party pushed off towards the east.The companywhotookMr.Morganawaywas com­posedof about thirty persons. When they startedfrom Mr. Danolds's tavern, a. part of 'them,withMr. Morgan,were in a. stage, which had been char­tered for the purpose. Mr. Chesebro, who hadbrought the warrant from Canandaigua,was onthe seat ·with the driver.· The rest of the com­pany started to go on foot out as far ae the ponds,as they were called,a mile or more from the vil­lage, where some carriages were in waiting forthem. The stage had not gone more than eightyrods from Mr.'Danolds's tavern, when the driver,becoming sensible that he was mixed up with agreat, amount of violence of some kind, and not'mowing very well what it all meant, becamealarmed, and refused to go on with his team.Chesebro, fearful of all delay, on the other hand,was urging the driver to make haste anti getout of the county.: The driver was at lengtl

77ABDUCTION OF MORGAN.

prevailed upon to go on 88 far 88 Ganson's t..-.v­ern, whioh was six miles from Batavia.

This tavern of Ganson was a grand rallying­point for the conspirators, who had gathered infrom all directions. It was in the town of Stafford.On Friday before, September 8, Ganson receivedorders from one Nathan Follett, an active Mason'of the Batavia lodge, to have supper prepared forbetween forty and fifty men, who, it was said,would be at his house that night. They did supthere, and at a late hour started for Batavia, ontheir wild errand of burning and destroying Mil­ler's offices,but were deterred from their purposeby the setting of guards, as has been already ex­plained. So, on Sunday night, when this partycame on from Canandaigua for the arrest of Mor­gan, their grand rallying-point, before going to ~a­tavia, was this Ganson's tavern at Stafford. A.ndhere, in the forenoon of Monday, they gatheredback again, with their prisoner in, their keeping.On reaching the tavern, Ganson, who knew the

stage-driver, had a talk with ' him, and gave himsuch assurances of safety that he was induced togo on. So the party.went forward. On reachingLe Roy, several miles farther on, one of the bordertowns, but within the limits of Genesee County,

THE BROKEN SEAL.78

- Hayward, the constable who had served the war­rant, offered to take Morgan before the justice ofthe peace,·who had indorsed the warrant, andallow him to give bail, if he chose. The war­rant, as we have already stated, was made out atCanandaigua by a justice of the peace of OntarioCounty; but as the party had come on to Batavia,they had stopped at Le Roy, and had had the war­rant indorsed by a justice of the peace for GeneseeCounty.One of the noticable things about all 'these pro­

ceedings of the Masons at this time, was their careto keep within the semblances and forms of law,while they were breaking through all law andtliat, too, on the largest scale. But they must havetheir warrant properly made and vouched. thoughfounded on a mere pretence, before they COU1(l goforward and arrest Morgan. And now here. onthe borders of Genesee County, they proposed toadmit him to bail, which they refused to do atBatavia, because. they knew that there he hadfriends who would instantly come forward andgive' bail for him, while here he was a stranger,and the offer of bail was only a solemn mockeryand farce. As Morgan knew that his effort to pro­cure bail here would almost certainly prove un...

79ABDUCTION OF )lOBGAN.

vailing, he declined to make the attempt, statingthat he preferred, on the whole,to go on to Canan­daigua, and that when there, he was confidentthathe could convince Mr.Kingsley that no theft onhis part was intended, and that if the missingarticles had been ta~en by him, it was purely byaccident. Mr. Morgan himself'had not yet hadhis eyes open to know the full meaning of whatwas passing. He still innocently supposed tbat.this charge from Canandaiguawas made in some­thing like good faith, and that if he could con­vince the prosecutor that he was not guilty ofthe charge, he should go free. But those whohad him in keeping had no thought of letting him . I

slipout of their hands in any such easywayas this.They had him on a criminal charge, and if thisfailedwhen the crisis came,as it doubtlesswould,and as they were very willing it should, theyhad other plans in store for continuing their graspupon him.The party, after a hard and wearisome day's

journey, reached Canandaiguaat nightfall.. HeraMorganwas at once taken before the magistrate,to see if there was evidence enough against himto bind him over for trial. There was not, nordid the men who had brought him all the way

THE BROKEN BEAL.80

from Batavia' suppose 'there was. They wouldhave been very sorry to have had him committedon a criminal charge, because his person would.in that case, have been taken out of their hands·The magistrate ordered his discharge. But assoon as he was set free, Chesebro produced aclaim against him of two dollars, due to one AaronAckley, who kept a hotel in Canandaigua, andstated that the said Ackley had empowered himto collect this money. When this new claim wasbrought in so suddenly, Mr. Morgan apparentlyhad a glimpse of what all this business meant.He chose to admit the claim, and pulling off hiscoat, desired the constable to levy on that as se­curity for the debt. Hayward, the constable,however, refused to do this, and at about teno'clock that night, after all the strange events ofthe day, Morgan w8:s committed to jail in Canan­daigua.

Let us turn back now to Batavia, and see whatwas transpiring there during this same day, fromanother point of view. The deposition of' Mrs.Morgan is in itself so clear and touching a docu­ment, and so well calculated to throw light uponthese transactions, that we give it entire.

6

81ABDUOTION OF HORGAN.

"Genesee County, lB. LUOINDA MORGAN, agedtwenty-three, the wife of William Morgan, ofBatavia, in said county, being duly sworn, de­poseth and saith, 'That on Monday last, about,or a short time before, sunrise, her said husbandleft his house, and went into the street of thevillage. .That, finding he did not come home tobreakfast as usual, she made inquiries for him,and was told that he had been forcibly takenaway by six men, and put in a carriage and takento Canandaigua. That during the wholeof Mon­day she remained in ignorance of what way hehad been taken, or who had taken him, except byloose informationthat an officerfromCanandaiguahad taken him. That on Tuesday morning,soonafter breakfast, she sent for WilliamR. Thompson,the sheriff, and requested to know of him if heknew onwhat pretext her husbandhad been takenaway. Said Thompsontold her he understoodhehad been taken under a charge of having stolen ashirt and cravat, and that he presumed it wasmerely a pretext to get him away, or carry himaway. That thereupon this deponent asked himif he thought Mr. Morgan could be got back, orbrought back, if she gave up to the Masons~bepsPt~rs she had in possession. Said 'I'hompsoa

!'IDI nOUN B'!AL.8t

answered that he thought it was very likely thatMr. Morgan would be brought back if she wouldgive them Up; but he would not obligate himselfor undertake to say that he should be broughtback. That thereupon said Thompson proposedthat this deponent should go to Canandaigua, andtake the papers, and give them to·Morgan, orto them, or give them Up; and deponent agreedto go and take the papers accordingly. Thompsonthen asked this deponent if there was any personor friend whom she would like to have go withher. She mentioned Mr. Gibbs (meaning HoraceGibbs), and asked if it would do for him to go.Said Thomson said it would not do for him to go,as he was not a Mason,and added, i~ would notdo for any person to carry her there but a Mason.She asked him twice if Mr. Gibbs was not aMason, and he said he was not, and then askeddeponent if she was acquainted with :Mr. Follett.Deponent said she was not. Thompson said h~was a nice man, and a gentleman with whom shecould safely trust herself. Said Thompson de­parted, and soon returned, and told deponent thatMr. Follett was not willing to go, unless she wouldlet him (Follett) and Mr. Ketchum see the pspers ;he did not want to go on a Tom fool's errand. This

88.A.BDUC~ION OF KOBGAB.

deponent then objected to these papers being seenby them. Thompson then said it was useless; heshould do no more, and he could not send her outthere unless they could see the papers. Deponentthen, with great reluctanoe.vfinally consented tolet them see the papers, if they 'would take her tosee her husband. This second visit lasted abouttwenty minutes; during which time Thompsonurged deponent to let the papers be seen. De­ponent to~d hi~ she was afraid they wouldtake the papers away from her, if she let themsee them. Thompson said they would not. Sheoffered to let Mr. Thompson see the papers. Hesaid that would not answer; they would not takehis word. Thompson then told her he would goto Humphrey's and stay until she had got the­papers, and she must then make a sign to himwhen she was ready. Accordingly, a short time, afterwards, she made a sig\} to Mr. Thompson,then standing on Humphrey's stoop, and immedi-. .ately after, he, with Mr. Follett and Mr. Ketchum,came to her apartment, when Thompson introducedFollett and- Ketchum; and said they had come to

- Bee the papers, which ·this deponent then handedto them. They all looked at them a short time;and Thompson then asked her if she was ready

TH~ BROKEN SEAL.84

to go, saying Mr. Follett was ready to take her.Follett then said he would go home with thepapers and look them over, and told Ketchum tostop for him at his gate. Accordingly, about fouro'clockI in the afternoon of Tuesday, deponentstarted with said Follett and Ketchum, ·ina smallwagon, and proceeded to Stafford, where theystopped at a house, where she was conducted intoa back _room, into which Follett and Ketchumcame,and were joined by one Daniel Johns, andby James Ganson; all of whom immediately pro­ceeded to examine the papers with much earnest­ness, and held much low conversation with them­selves in under voices. Ganson appeared to speakthe most. One of them asked J ohns if those werethe papers that were in the office when he wasthere. Johns answered that there was one de­gree back, and then took a piece of paper, andfolded it up, and said the papers that were backwere folded so. They then held considerable moreconversation in voices too low to be heard. Fol­lett then turned to deponent and said, he did notseethat he could go with her; that Mr. Ketchumwas going to Roche~ter, and would be willing totakeher to Canandaigua to see Mr. Morgan; saidhewas not much acquainted with him (Ketchum),

85ABDUCTION OF MORGAN.

but took him to b.e a gentleman; and Ketchumthen said he called himself a gentleman,and sheneed not be afraid to trust herself with him.Ketchum then took the papers and tied them upin his pocket handkerchief, and took them withhim i~to the wagon in which they rode. Johnsthen got into the wagonand rodeto Le Roy, wherehe got out, and bade Ketchumgoodby, saying, 'Ihope I shall see you day after to-morrow.' Theythen proceeded to Avon,and staid all night. Thenext day they again started for Canandaigua,where Ketchum put the papers into this depo­nent's trunk. They arrived at Canandaiguaabouttwelve at noon, and stopped at a tavern at thecomer of the main street. After being theresome time, this deponent asked Ketchum if hehad heard of Mr. Morgan. Ketchum said he hadnot; that the Masonswould not talk to him; hecouldnot Beethem; they seemed jealous of him ;thought him a friend of Mr. Morgan, and wereafraid he had come to get him away from thatplace. Then he asked her where the papers were; I

he took them, and said he wouldgo and make fur­ruer inquiries for Mr. Morgan; and if he couldfind him, or where he was, or where they hadtaken him,he would let her knowall he could find

\

THE BBOKEN SEAL.86

out. This was about dinner time. He returnedagain a short time before night, and told her hehad heard Mr. Mo~ganhad been there; had beentried for s~ealing a shirt, and clear;d, and hadbeen put injail for a debt of two dollars; and thatTuesday night a man had come from Pennsylvania,whosaid he had a warrant against him for a debthe owed there; that he, the man, had paid the twodollars,and taken him away in a private carriageonTuesday night, and that he had no doubt hewas gone; and asked this deponent when shewould go home again. The deponent then ex­pressed her anxiety to return speedily, on accountof having left her child of two years old, andhaving with her a baby of two months old.Ketehum then went out, as he said, to ta~e a pas­sage in the stage, and returned after candle-light.This deponent was then walking the room in greatdistress, and in tears. She asked him if he couldhear nothing of Mr. Morgan. He then seemed topity deponent, and told her not to be uneasy, andafter looking at her a short time, told her to comeand sit down by him, and asked her if she wouldfeelany better if he told her what he knew. Be.ing answered yes, he then said that Mr. Morganwould not be killed ; that he would be kept COD-

cealed until they could get the rest of the pa­pers. She asked himwhat papers were back. Hesaid there were some sheets of the Mark Master'sDegree back; and they wanted also to see theprinted sheets that Miller had printed on the threedegrees. He then said he wanted to take thepapers which he had received from this deponentto Rochester, and he thought through the meansof them he could find where Mr. Morgan was; itwas a secret where he was. Said he had paid herpassage, and gave her two dollars to bear herexpenses home. He then wrote his name with apencil on a scrap of paper, hereto annexed, as fol­lows: 'George Ketchum, Rochester,' and l'l"om­ised to write to her if he- could hear of' Mr.Morgan. He then told her if she would, by anymeans, get hold of the papers that Miller had, orfind out where they were deposited, so that hecould get hold of them, he WOUld give her twenty­five dollars out of-his own pocket, and he had nodoubt the lodge would give her one hundred ifshe could get what M~llerhad now. Deponenttold him she would not try to get the papers thatMiller had: and would take no money, and wouldnot let him have the papers' 'she had delivered.to him, but on condition he would try and find

t'HE BROEEN' SEAL.88

out where Mr. Morgan was, and let her see him.Hethen repeated his promise to try and find out,aridsaid he would write to her 8S soon as he gotto Rochester, and urged her to write to him im­mediately QU her return, and let him know aboutthe papers, and what the people were doing gen­erally,at Batavia, and whether they were makinga great rumpus about Mr. Morgan. Deponentthen expressed her fears that if she did give himany information about the papers, he would notkeep his promise about letting her see him, butwouldkeep him concealed until they had got allthe papers, and finally kill him. Ketchum thensaid, 'I promise before my God that I will notdeceiveyou, but will do all I can to find out whereheis, and let you see him. I have no doubt whenIget back to Rochester, I can find out more, andI think I can find out where he is.' He thenagain urged her to find out where the paperswere and let him know. In the course of hisconversation, he said, I that if Mr. Morgan hadmanagedrightly, he could have made a million ofdollarsif the work had been published.' Ketchumthendeparted for Rochester, leaving this deponentat the tavern; she, the same day, started for Bata­via. The papers taken away by the said Ketchum

89ABDUCTION OP KORGAN.

It needs hut slight help from the imagination,while reading this affidavit, to find in it a pitifulstory of sorrow and distress -- of labor, weariness,and anxiety, all to no. purpose. How utterly mIseand cruel this treatment was, will appear when

DANIEL H. CHANDLER, J. P."

were numerous, and formed avery' large bundle'they were written in the handwriting of her hue­band, excepting a few, which were written by 8

person who sometimes assisted her husband bycopying, or taking down as he dictated to him.The deponent further says she has no knowledge ofthe place where her husband now is, or what is hissituation, and feels the most anxious fears for hislife; that she was born in Virginia, and 'is astranger without intimate friends or relations inthis county, and is left with two infant childrenwithout any money, except what is left of thatgiven to her by said Ketchum, and has no prop­erty, or any means of supporting herself and chil­dren, her constitution being very feeble, and herhealth being bad most of the time.

L. MORGAN."

"Sworn the twenty-second day of September,1826, before me.

TIIB BBOXD 8BAL.90

we remember that Mr. Morgan had been in jail inJanandaigua, and this Ketchum, without doubt,knew where he had gone. The story of the manfromPennsylvania, who paid the two dollar claim,and took Mr. Morgan away to parts unknown onanother claim, was a piece of fiction, based on cer­tain facts, and worked up to serve the purposesof the moment.Onher Bad journey home, with her infant child,

When she reached Le Roy , James Ganson, beforementioned, who kept the tavern at Stafford, gotinto the stage with her, and told lier that he wasonthe way to Batavia, "to ma.1ee O/ITangfJlRt/llts/orher IfUpporl." He went o~ 'k give her the infor­mation,that her husband was still alive, but thatsheneed not be surprised if she did not see himagainfor 8 year; and, in fact, if she never saw himagain,she should be well taken care of, and herchildren.should be sent to school as soo~ 8S theyvere old enough. When she reached Batavia,Madhad been home only a few hours, she wascalled upon by Thomas McC~y, the man onwhoseclaim Mr. Morgan was arrested in August,and made to pass the Sabbath in jail. He camealso to assure her that he had been appointed by

I the lodge to look after her support, and provide

91ABDUCTION OF MORGAN.

accommodationsfor herself and children. He pro­posed to board them at the tavern of Mr. Danolds,'in the east part of the village,where her husbandhad been taken immediately after his arrest theMondaybefore. Who shall say that Masonry isnot a kind and benevolent institution after this?Mrs. Morgan, however, promptly answered tha.tshe should accept no aid from the Masons, forshe regarded them as the guilty authors of allher troubles, and she should not consent to takethe bread of charity from their hands.Her case, however,was one-that appealedmost

strongly to her oldneighborsand friends. SheW38,

in the truest sense, an object of pity. As far aspossible,her wants were supplied,and everythingdone that couldbe, to sooth and comfort her.' Anagent was despatched on her behalf, to go toCanandaigua,and fry to discover the facts aboutMr. Morgan. He did discover facts, porte~toul\facts, and such as aroused the unmasonicpart of'the population of Batavia, and the region about,to a most unwonted pitch of excitement. ITp tothat time people had been inclined to believe themasonic talk. They thought that Morgan,in thehands of men of such high standing, could cer..tainly receive no wrong.- They trusted in th6.

THE BROKEN bEAL

idea that these men had gone along with him tosee that he was treated fairly at Canandaigua, andthat no harm should Dedone.But what was actually passing at Canandaigua,

just before Mrs. Morgan was there, waiting forMr. Ketchum to try and find herhusband, is madethrillingly clear by the followingaffidavit of Mrs.MaryW. Hall, wife of the jailer at Canandaigua.Thetestimony is long, and we need not give thewholeof it. It goes on to recite that on Tuesday,the 12th day of September, she and her husbandreturned to their horne,-;::which was in the jail,­after a short absence; that at evening of thatdayher husband went.out from the jail, and soonafter a man, calling him~elf Mr. Lawson, calledand inquired for Mr. Hall, the jailer, and findingthathe was not at home, requested permission, tospeakwith Mr. Morgan, then confined in the jail.She told him this was against the rules of' theprison,and that he could s~y nothing to Mr. M.except what she should be permitted to hear.Mr.Lawson talked through the grate of the door,andrepresented himself as a friend who had cometo settle the claim against him and take him outfromjail. Mr. Morgan apparently believed thestory, and was willing to go. Mr. Hall, however

93ABDUCTION OF :HORGAN.

the jailer, could not be found, and Mrs. Hall wasnot willing to take the money and discharge theprisoner, Lawson then inquired if she would doso in case Colonel Sawyer, of Canandaigua, shouldsay it was right and proper. She refused. Law­son then went away, and soon after returnedwith ColonelSawyer. They were quite indignantthat she would not let Mr. Morgan go free, whenthey were willing to settle the claim against him ;they said this claim had -been assigned to oneChesebro, and they proposed to go and find Chese­bro. After a little time they came back withChesebro, and he also urged the liberation ofMorgan, all on the ground of friendship for him.There had also been at the prison during theevening, along with these men, a man by the nameof Foster. The rest of the story we will give inthe words of Mrs. Hall, deposed before JeffreyChipman, Justice of the Peace of Ontario County.They had finally prevailed upon Mrs. Hall to re­ceive the money and let the prisoner go free,although she had been over-persuaded to .thiscourse, and felt that it was an irregular proceed­ing. "This deponent took the keys, and was goingto liberate Morgan; that Lawson spoke to thisdeponent, and said, ' Wait and T will gClwith you; ,

THE BROKEN SEAL.94

,..

that Lawson then stepped t4 the door and whi.tied, and then followed this deponent; that whenthey came to the outer door of the prison, Law­son said to this deponent, ' You need not fastenthis door after us;' hut this deponent said sheshould, for there were other prisoners in theroom: that this deponent and Lawson went intothe hall adjDiningthe room where Morgan was,and Lawsv... spoke ill a low voice to Morganthrough the' grates, 'Get yourself ready to gowith me - dress yourself quick;' that Morganwas soon ready, and th:9 deponent let him out,and Lawson took Morgan by the arm, and wentout of the p1ison to the outer door; that whilethis deponent was fastening the prison door, sheheardat, or near the outer door of the jail, a Dlostdistressing cry of murder; that this deponent ranto the door, and sawLawsonand the man that hecalledFoster, one on each side of Morgan,havingholdof Morgan's arms; that Morgancontinued toscreamor cry in a most distressing manner, atthe same time struggling with all his strength,apparently, to get loose from Lawsonand Foster;that the cry of Morgan continued until his voiceappeared to be suppressed by something put overhis mouth; that during the time that :Morganwu

ABD1JOTIOlf 01' MOBGAB.

struggling, and crying murder, the said ColonelSawyer and the said Chesebro Y.'drestanding ashort distance from the jail door, ...tearthe well,and in fnll view and hearing of all that passed,but offered no assistanceto Morgan,nor did theyattempt to release him from Lawson and Foster;but one of them struck with a stick a violent blowupon the well-curb'or a tub- standing near; thatsoon after this deponent saw a carriage pass thejail inthe direction that Lawsonand Foster tookMorgan; that the eveningwas quite light in con­sequenceof its being about the full of the moon;that she, this deponent,could distinguish fromthejail door the horses in the carriage which passedto be gray; that the deponent supposedthe strik­ing upon' the well-curbor tub by Chesebro orColonelSawyer was a signal for the carriage "..0

come,as it cameimmediatelyafter; that when thecarriage passed,Lawsonand Foster couldnot havegot but a few rodswith Morgan; that immediatelyafter the striking upon the well-curbor tub Colo­nel Sawyer,and as this deponent thinks, Chesebroalso,passed the jail door in the direction that Law­son and Foster tookMorgan,but not apparently torender Morgan any assistance towards.being re­leased fromLawsonand Foster; but ColonelSaw..

'"lIE BROKEN SEAL.96

yer,.",.nr, picked upMorgan's hat, which hadfallenoff in the struggle ; that when Morgan wastakenfrom the jail it-was about nine o'clock in theevening,or a little past; that this deponent hassincebeen informed that Lawson lives about twoor three miles from the jail; that this deponenthas never seen Morgan since he was taken fromthe jail as aforesaid, and knows nothing aboutwherehe was taken to, or where he now is."This testimony was sworn to by Mrs. Hall

before the Justice of the Peace, on the twenty·third day of September, eleven days after thetransactions took place. This was the kind ofnews which the messenger despatched fromBatavia brought back to Mrs. Morgan and hel'friends.Itwill be observed, by noticing the correspon­

dences of time, that Mrs. Morgan reached Canan­daigua the day after her husband was taken outof jail in the manner just described. She hadbeen made to believe that Mr. Morgan had beentaken to parts unknown. She had been in thekeeping of Masous, who told her wha.t storiesthey pleased. A. womanwith a young child, shecould not well go out into the streets of the vil­]age and gather information for I herself, nor did

'Z

91AIDUCTION OF MORGAN.

the people,whowere not Masons,knowwhat wasgoingon.We leave now the events that followed the

abductionof Morgan, whilewe go back again toBatavia, to take a new starting-point, and followout another seriesof events which transpired closealongsideof those narrated in this chapter.

THE BROKEN SEAL.98

IN the afternoon of Monday,September 11, thesameday on which Mr. Morgan had been forcedawayfrom Batavia, I suddenly received a sum­monsfrom the lodge to go to Le Roy, a villagedistantsome ten miles from Batavia. Itwas statedthatthere was to be held there an important ma­sonicmeeting, several lodges coming together, toseewhat further steps should b,etaken to suppressthe publication of the book, and to consider whatshould-be done with MDrganand Miller. I refusedto obeythis summona. Then the use of my horsesand carriages were asked to convey thither theMasonswho desired to attend. This also I refused.I did not intend thai my own hands or my proper­t.y should have anything to do in furthering thewickeddesigns then on foot.'l'he meeting was held, however. 4.t Le Roy,

manyof the Masons going from our village. The

ATTEMPTEDABDUCTION OF HILLER AND HIB RESCUE.

CHAPTER VI.

ATTEMPTED ABDUCTION OF )[ILLD. '99.;

next morning notice was sent to me tha.t I mustappear at the east end of the village, under thebrow of the hill, precisely at twelve o'clock; thatthe Masonswere to rally there in a body; marchin their strength at one O'clock,and in open daydestroy Miller's printing offices,scatter his type,secure his person, and the manuscripts and printedsheets to be found in his office. It was said, formy encouragement, that strangers {rpm abroadwould take the fore front in the attack and de­struction of property - men who could not beeasily identified, if any stir should be made aboutthe matter. The man who came to notify me, re­quested me to be particular to have the bell rung. at twelve o'clock that day (the ke, of the churchbeing kept at my house), so that those lying in am­bush or lurking about the village, might' have thesignal for gathering at the rallying-place. I wasrequested to see the bell-ringer that morning bynine o'clock, so as to be sure and have this matterattended to. They wanted to gather at twelveO'clock,so that they might organize and be readyto march into the village promptly at one.The plan was, as I was informed that Miller, ,

when taken, should be carried at once to Stafford,to the lodge-room, kept there till ni-'tht, then taken

THE BROKEN 8~100\

down to the u ridge road," as it was called, runningfrom Canandaigua west towards Bu1Falo,passingsome miles north of Batavia, and there be keptready to join Morgan as he should be conveyedaway from Canandaigua. towards Canada.The information which I thus received I com­

municated at once to Mr. Harris, and he forthwithapprised Mr. Miller of what was going forward,and of the imminent dangers awaiting bim. Heat once went into his office and prepared a hand­bill, containing these general facts, which he threwout of the window as soon 88 they we~e struck off,to arouse the' people of the village. He purposedalso to send them out into the country to call in his.'friends, and gain their assistance in this crisis.But the people of Batavia who were not Masons,would not believe the story; said it was prepos­terous to suppose that a band of men should comein there in open daylight, to do such work 88 this.They thought Mr. Miller was in a state of need.le8flpanic, and they dissuaded .him from distribut­ing his handbill. About this time I went up thestreet to hear what was said about the situation.No one suspected me as being the author of allthis excitement, and the people told me thalo \,he

A.ftBIlPl'BD A.BDUOTIONO. JlILLD. 101,

man who circulated such stories was a fool; thathey were not for a moment to be credited.This was only one day, it will be remembered,

after Morgan had been arrested and taken ou~ofthe place; but, as has been already said, the peo­ple did not, at that time, understand the real trans­action coneerning Morgan.. They thought he hadheen taken on an honest warrant, and carriedaway for examination. They did not know thatit was wholly a plan and plot of the Masons totake him. Their minds, therefore, W'Jre not pre­pared to trust. this story which Harris had com-1l!-unicatedto Mr. Miller, and he to the people,which came from me. When this outside excite­ment died away, Miller felt that he was in thegreater danger, as he really was.. In passingalong the street, I saw that Miller did not dareto come out of his office. Harris also was fright­ened at the turn things were taking, and he toohad gone into his office,and locked himself hi.My own situation, too, was becoming verJ criti­

cal, and I felt it to be BO. If by the public -com­motion which had' been, made the Masons saouldagain conclude to retire, and not make the attackat that time, nothing would be more natural thanthat Mr. Harris should think I was making false

THE BROKEN SEAL.102\

and exciting reports. .As a reaction from hisfear, and through the chagrin of seeming to- give

. unreal information, he might seek to exoneratehimself and lay the burden upon me, in which casethe masonic rage would turn against me more vio­lently, if possible, than against Morgan and Miller.Things were corning to such close quarters, thatI concluded to go home at once and make a confi­dant of my wife. Up to this time she had knownnothing of what I was doing. I went to my house,asked my wife to step to a chamber-window whichlooked out on Miller's office, Then I related toher what I supposed was about to take place, andtold her my whole position and age!1cyin the mat­ter. I told her frankly that I had disregarded mymasonic oaths, and that my relations to the MasOnswere, consequently, very curious and delicate, andif in any way they should discover what I had done,my life would be in danger. Little as she likedMasonry, and much 88 she had ridiculed its non­sensical forms a few months before, she flOtD

thought I had done wrong in breaking my ma­sonic oaths, that my conscience was troubledbecause of this, and that I was half beside mysel£ .~She asked me, with a look of incredulity, if I sup­poI8d :Masons would come into the villap of

ATTEMPTED ABDUCTION OF MILLEB. loa

i ';.,\,

Batavia in open daylight, and destroy property'I told her I did believe it, just that, and if shewould stay where she was, she woUld probably ~soonsee the thing done. I told her, moreover, a&

she valued my life, to make no mention of my. name in connection with these things; but if Ishould be missing, and could not be accounted for,then that she should publish to the world what Ihad said to her.Hardly had I told her this, when I saw a Mason

coming to my door- a Mr. Merrill. He calledupon me, and said, " Greene, you must be readyto tum out, the Masonsare-coming down. If youknow anything you must know nothing. You canswear one way as well 88 another. (This was aprinciple agreed upon and sanctioned by act of thelodge.) They are coming, you must be ready tohelp." He then started to go; but when a feysteps from the door he nrmed back, and said,"There is some traitor in the camp, and we willfind him out yet. He shall have his house burntover his head, and his throat cut from ear to ear."He then left me, and ran towards Mr. :Miller's

office. Immediately the crowd of lIasoils beganto gt\ther, armed with hoop-poles. They had takena parcel of these poles and _wed them in two,

TRB BBODJN 81U.L.1M

,

making convenient clubs. The men rushed upstairs, burst open the door of Miller's office,seizedhim and Captain Davids also, on warrants, draggedthem down stairs and out into the street, theirhats flying one way and their heads twitched theother. I heard Miller cry out, "Treat me fair Itreat me fair I and I will go with you."The warrant on which Miller W88 arrested was

made out at Le Roy; on the oath of Daniel Johns,the spy before spoken of, by Justice Barton, aMasonMy wife stood at the window spell-bound,look

ing upon these operations, until she saw Millerdragged into the street, when she grew frightened,and came to look after me. She had come to theconclusion that I was not 80 much beside myself88 she supposed, and that there was real cause foralarm.It was well understood that about three hun­

dred Masons were in and about Batavia, bandedwgether for this business. But after the informa­tion got out, only about one hundred and fifty ofthese men made their appearance in the villageat ~e time of the onset, and of these, only aboutforty actually came up to lDake the attack on Mil·lerlolice.

.dTDPTED ABDUCTION 01' JOLLER. 106

As soon 8S Miller was taken he W88 hun ied offwith all despatch to Danolds's tavern, the sameplace where Morgan was taken, and as soon asthe necessary preparations could be made be wasstarted off in a wagon towards Stafford, with 8

motley assemblage accompanying, some in wagons,some on horseback, and some on foot. I at oncerequested Mr. Harris to employMr. Talbot, a law­yer, to make use of all possible forms of law forhis recovery. He consented, and undertook thecase, preparing to follow the fugitives who werebearing away the prisoner. I was surprised thatothers of the villagers did not ";'olunteer to goalong with him and assist him. I sought an op­portunity, therefore, to have an interview againwith Harris. I passed his office, and snipped apiece of paper into it, which said, It Follow me." Ithen passed around some buildings, and went intoan avenue between my house and a brick store,where I stepped into my kitchen, and threw up awindow looking into this passage-way. Mr. Harriscame 'into the avenue, out of sight of the street,and underneath the window. I told him thatsomething must be done immediately; that thewhole community seemed to be paralyzed; that the'MSAons,by their talk, had 80 raised the prejudice"

TIlE BltOXD SIAL.l08

~.~, .

of people against Morgan and Miller, that theycould do almost anything with them with impunity.I told him I thought it was our duty to doall in ourpower to rescue Miller, and that the communitymust, in some way, be aroused. I advised him togoend tell Mrs. Miller to sound the alarm-to goup Genesee Street, and down Park Street, and cry," Murder I" and when she was questioned as toher reason for "so doing, she should declare thatMorgan was taken off yesterday, and her husbandto-day, and unless they.were pursued and rescued,they would certainly be murdered. I did notconsider .this a false alarm by any means, andI advised Harris to make Mrs. Miller believethat it was really true, so that she should cry inearnest,Mrs. Miller caught the spirit of the occasion,

and throwing a shawl over her head, she ran outinto the street on her errand. The first man shemet was a Mr. Cochrane. He questioned herabout the matter, and she imparted to him her ownfears, and roused in him a thorough excitement.He told her to go back into the house and he woulddo the business. Mr. Cochrane ran immediatelyand hired stages and wagons, a11the while 8('.a1-tering the information abroad, and soon about one

ATTEMPl'ED ABDUCTION OP JOLLlm. J 07

hundred men were gathered together, ready tostart upon the pursuit., They overtook the company having Miller inoharge at Stafford, six miles from Batavia. Theyhad made a pause there, and he had been placedfor safe'keeping in the lodge-room,and was guard­ed by what is called, in masonic parlance, theTyler's Sword. Mr. Talbot, the lawyer, demandedentrance, on the ground that Millerwas his client,and the law allowed him to have' intercourse withhis client. This privilege was refused by theTyler; but Mr. Talbot entered, and was followedbysome of his neighbors and friends who had comeon from Batavia. They found Mr. Daniel Johns,tille spy, th~ pompous champion of Masonry, cut­ting a high figure. He was brandishing a swordover Mr. MiHer's head, and telling him that hewas Dot to be tried by any earthly tribunal, butlVasgoing where Morgan was. Seeing the stateof things, Mr. Talbot stepped up to Miller,and saidto him," This is no court of justice; you must'go on to Le Roy, where the warrant was issued."Then taking him by the arm, Mr. Talbot led theway, and, followed by his' friends, went down intotne street, to go on to Le Roy. Here the Masonsrallied and took Miller out of the hands of TalbOt.

TIDJ BBOID 8JU.L.108

and put him on board a wagon, and started againas if for Le Roy. .Itwas manifest that the Masonsdesired to con­

sume the time until night in the vicinity of Stat:ford. They really had no intention of going on toLe Roy with their prisoner at all. Though thewarrant was issued there, and Justice Barton wasresident there, it was obvious that they were re­sorting to all sorts of shifts and evasions to useup the afternoon, and not go to Le Roy. But thecue of Mr. Talbot and his party was, that Mr.Miller must go at once to Le Roy. And underthis pressure, which could not very well be re­sisted, both because of its reasonableneas andbecause of the numbers supporting it, the noisy.assemblage moved on in a somewhat miscellane­ous way towards Le Roy, Mr. Miller sometimesseeming to be in the keeping of the one party,and sometimes of the other.. They reached Le Roy about nightfall, and after

a long time spent in the same evasive policy,Mr.Talbot and his friends finally succeeded in gettingMiller into..the presence of Justice Barton. Itwas evident that there had been no expectationof any such proceeding. The constable and war­rant were called for, but no constable, or warrant,. .

ATTEMPTED ABDUCT~ON OF K~EB. 109

or plaintiff made their appearance; so that thejustice was"compelled to tell Mr. Miller he wasdischarged, and was at liberty to go where hepleased.Itmay be remembered that CaptainDavidswas

arrested at the same time with Mr. Miller. Thewarrant for the arrest of both was issued on the. .oath and at the request of this Daniel Johns, thespy, whohad left Miller's officeonly the Saturdaybefore, taking with him a manuscript belongingto the office. The person serving this warrantwas Jesse French, one of the constables of thecounty. He arrested both Miller and Davids, ashas been stated. But Davids happened to be ont~e jail limits of Batavia, and the sheriff of thecounty informed the crowdwho had the two menin charge that Davids was in his custody, andcould not be taken out of the place.As soon as Millerwas discharged, he, followed

by his friends, was making his ytay towards apublic house,when the constableFrench appeared

I

again, and attempted to re-arrest him on the same.warrant. Johns was present, and the two, Frenchand Johns, called lustily on the bystanders tocome forward and help arrest the prisoner, whobad been taken out of their hands. A rush W3&

THE BR.OKER SEAL.no

made, and Miller was again re-taken, and in the_midst of a large crowdof Masons,was borne intotavern. His pursuers then began to think thetimes serious. It hp.dcome to be a question,no longer of law, but of which party was strong..est. Cochraneand his men then brought a. stagenp to the door of the ~vem, with the driver uponthe seat and the stage-doorwide open, and thenrushing into the tavern-hall, they opened to theright and left, to keep the passage-wayclear,whileothers suddenly took Miller out of the hands ofhis enemies,and bore him towards the stage. Hisfriends instantly closed up behind, and in a mo­ment he was in the stage, and on his way home.A.ta. late hour of the night he was brought backto Batavia.,to the great relief of his wife.Since the company,through my secret agency,

had been started in.pursuit, soon after midday,Ihad not rested for a moment. I was in the street,joining in all the exciting conversationof the day- meeting with every little knot of Masonswhomight happen to be together, that I might in­stantly learn of any change of plan; if suchchange were made. If I had heard of 'any new j Ipolicy- any different method of abducting ~-Ier, or getting him out of the way of his friends

A.'1'TEIlPTED ABDUC1'ION OF kILLER. 111

,"I'

• Appendix D.I Appendix C

• "Some poets sing In epic strama,Of warriors and their fatea,

And some that rUe and some that fall,Of kingdoms and of states;

But hark! the while in loftier .ong,.And more eublimely grand,

I smg to I!llthe list.dning worldThe brave Masonic Band.

..

THE BROKEN SEAL.112

who were pursuing after him, it was my purposeto start out another posse from Batavia that night.But a little after eleven o'clock Mr.Miller reachedBatavia, to my great relief. The stage-driver whobrought him back was instructed to make allspeed, and the ten miles from Le Roy to Bata­via were passed at a rate much more rapid thanusual.'There was a comic side to this day's work as

well as tragic. "The Knights of the Hoop-poles"became a new order of Masons, in the commonlanguage of the people. Some poet thought theoccasion a suitable one to be commemorated insong. He wrote, accordingly, "The Hoop-poleBand," which was afterwards published in a smallpamphlet. We cannot give the whole of it, butwe will give enough to show the spirit of the pro­duction.

"And tben the General Hoop-pole DIDIMtRenownedfor chtvalrJ.

IIepn to feel t'AGt /,atMr pvlY,0111e4 ,."..rUr;

.. Then hell broke 10018, and an the holtOt Jrluon. ~cled round,

To kidnap both, deatroy the book,. -Or burnBataYia down;And fury .. bed on many & brain,And vengeaDC8Hemed to .tan,

In room of Lon ADdChari",FrOmmaDy &Katon'. bean.

" .AndMiller 1W0re to prlDt the ".,-And .pread it tar aDd DeU',

That all the bUM on earth might ....And all the d_/ might hear;

That from the greateR to the 1... "By Scripture rule, forsooth,

That aU .hould come too )mo.. ledp 01The hidden light of truth •

.. The world ...... till, aDd woDden rare,Say. DOW'aDd thea. & mUll

Of 1'&ilrNdI, ADdof aide caul"ADd gu.DI that 10 by .... ;

When Morgan 1W'0re & IIIIP*1oath,In apite of frlendt or toea,

~TbMhe, for cuh or 00DICiea0e' ....Would MuoD1'1 dilClole.

ATTEIIPTBD ABDO'Cl'IO. OP IOLL_ 1,•

I

J"OJ"

•~Upright, above the rest, the Knight,All pale and waving atood,

Just like a DrAb w.shrnb amid.tThe hoop-polel of the wood;

While in the rear, on dapple graY',Bil Sancho leemed to flee,

Wi. lofty pride, from fII4kif&g ...To deeds of chivalry.

"On, on, then rushed the lawless band,Determined, rough, and rue;

Precisely such as Milton sung,Arose from heaven's de8pai~,

And bound their trembling bludgeons on,And waved their hoop-poles round,

As token that the villain shouldBe tumbled to thP ground •

UAnd cried, ' Arise mY'friend., arlee IWith pistols, swords, and dirks,

Hoop-poles and knives, and cudgel. IvoDl,Prepared for bloody worM;

Without regard to powers that be,Or laW. that men devise,

On Miller seize, and seize the book­Succeed, or .acrifice.'

ADd how If he BUceeededweD

ByPl'OWeeI Inthe 1Igh&.

Tbat he .hould be a 8enatGr,

.Ailwen .. leaclfDg KniChtc

THE BROKEN SEAL114

·'.Nay, since the days of Don QUDrose,When windmilla were bia foe.

" On foot, on horse, in wagons stored,They marched ten miles or more,

To guard their __ of """mg_,And triumph in his gore;

The while the people roae in ltrP.ngth,With blood at boilbig heat,

And lent him back to printing boob,And made the band retreat.

" For such another motley bandNe'er rose on earth to vieW'

Since Satan's winged and fiery hostFrom Pandemonium fieW';

Then dre~ul wooden weapons wavedIn battle's dread array,

While Sancho seized on Miller'. throu.As tigers seize their prey.

" But .till the band of Hoop-pole KoighU,.With awful wrath in store,

Rushed in upon Batavia,And made the village roar;

Hoop-pole_, and dirb, and pistol. claahed.And waved around, till all

The dogs and hogs their tll8he. gouhed,And cats be~an to 8quall.

ATTEMPTED ABDUCTION OF KDUUmL 115

~' ... ,~ ..::;"'~' ... ..._- ... __ .. _~ ... _ •• " ... ~_ .... -~-.: _ ... __ ._ .. , • ....L ••• _.~ • • .___ .... _ .... ~ ~

,"

-, f ; _

~..

"1

..... -_ _llk.tIdI.UDl_ID 'below;

ADdna Donwoulclla..... _d sbake

~ .Idee till fa cJIItreM,... he but aeen the "1__ Kalebt.

~a~"""",."

'.l'ID BBOOlf a.u.r11u

TIIBsudden disappearance of Morgan,under air­omnstances such as have been detailed, was theuniversal topic of conversation in all that regionof country. His wife and more immediate friendsand acquaintances were thrown into a state ofpainf'ul suspense. The public mind was full of~onder and curiosity. &rdly anything else W8I

talked about. Day after day passed away, andnothing could, with any certainty, be ascertainedrespecting his fate. Rumors would come in fromonequarter and another, some of DO accollDt,andotherswith a measure of truth. Snatches of in.telligencewere all that, for a long time, came tohand. •Theagent who was despatched .from Batavia to

Canandaigua came back, bringing such depositi0D8tI that of lIrs. Hall, wife of the jailer, of which•• have &iven a portion These showed clearly

W'B.A.T BBO.AD 01' IIOJIG....

CHAPTER VU.

WlUif UO.AD 01' 110..... 11T

"On the 11th day of September,WILLIA){ lion.GAB, a native of Virginia,who had for about threeyears past resided in this village,was, under pre­text of a justice's warrant, hurried fromhis homeand family, and carried to Canandaigua, Thesame night he was examined on the charge ofpetit larceny, and dischargedby the justice. Oneof the persons who took him away immediatelyobtaineda warrant against him in a civil suit, forJD. alleged debt of two dollars,on which he wascommittedto the jail of Ontario County. 0)1 thenight of the 12th of September he was reloasedby a person pretending to be his friend; but di·,rectly in front of the jail, notwithstanding hiscries of murder, he was gagged and secured, andput into a carriage, and, after travelling all night,he was left.(as the driver of the carriage says) atHanford's Landing,about sunriseonthe 13th, sincewhich he has not been heard of. His distressedwife and two infant childrenare left dependent oncharity for their sustenance. The circumstancesof the transactionhave given rise to the most vio­lent fears that he has been murdered. Tt is, how

enoughwhat had been done at Canandaigua,andthe facts were sufficientlyalarming. On the 4thof October a committee of ten of the citizensof Batavia issued the following address to thepublic:-

THE BROKEN BBALlUI

It should be said in passing, that very few print­ers had the moral courage to print the abovenotice, so completely were they in bondage toMasonry.A call like this, issued from the village of Bata.

via, three weeks after Morgan's disappearance,shows how painful must have been the suspenseto those~ost nearly concerned, and how carefully .the abductors had taken pains to leave no clear

"N. B. It is hoped that printers throughout theState, Canada, and elsewhere, will give the abovea few insertions, and thus serve the cause of jus.tice and humanity."

ever, hoped by his wife and friends wt he maybekept concealed and imprisoned in Canada. .Allpersons who are willing to serve the cause ofhumanity, and assist to remove the distressingapprehensionsof' his unfortunate wife, are earnest­ly requested to communicate to one of the com­mittee named below, directed to this place, anyfacts or circumstances which have come to theirknowledge,and are calculated to lead to the dis.coveryof his present situation, or the particular8of .hia fate, if he has been murdered.

"BATA.VIA, October 4, 182~."

[Here followthe names of the committee of ten.]

1 "lid' BECAD OF AlOMAli. 119

and definite traces behind them. For many weeks,ind-eed, everything was obscure and indefinite.Hopes were entertained that he would appearagain - that he was kept somewhere in prisonuntil his book could be effectually suppressed,and. then he would be set at large. But after atime, and little by little, the remarks which weredropped by leading men among the Masons dissi­pated all hopes that he would ever be seen alive.Jt became more and :.:noreapparent that this thilighad not been done in a comer; that a very largenumber of persons, far and wide, had been cogni­zant·of the transactions; and their mannttr of talkabout them 'was often of the most shameful char.acter. It was a great subject of coarse jo~gamong the ::Masonsin their common com ersationin the street, but especiaJIy in their lod68 meetings, The efforts that were made, the DJeaBure&thst were taken to discover where he W8&!, beganto be a matter for ·ridicule and laughter, and eventile distress and anxiety of his wife wlJl!!'j~ked

. about in public places.I WbS still a Mason,be it remembered, m form,

and kept up my connection·with the lodge meet­ings. I felt confident that by the information IMd communicated to Harria, and by the agency I

TRB BaOED 8JU.L.ttO

~.-.

had put forth, I had saved the life of Miner, andthe same, in my opinion, would have been true ofMorgan,if my testimony had been more implioitlybelieved and acted upon. I tried to persuadeCaptain Davids to do for Morgan what Mr. Coch­raneand .his neighbors had. done for Miller, and ifthose most nearly concerned had not been inored­ulousand remiss, they would have roused the vil­lage of Batavia, and obtained a band of men tofollowon and see that no harm was done to Mor­gan. But notwithstanding the part I had playedin these transactions, I was still a ¥aeon, in goodand regular standing. Some might suspect menot to .be tme to my oaths; but my secret was notyet out. I still attended the lodge meetings, for Icould not very well do otherwise, just now. ThereI heard enough, after a little time, to convince methat Morgan was no longer in the land of the liv­ing. It was just as well understood by the mem­bel'Sof our. lodge that Morganwas dead, as it iswhenfour families attend the funeral of any personand return to tell the news, only the Masonsdidnot make the announoement in the same way.They had a great deal of rough jokiDg·-over the8Qbject,implying that he was drowned somewherein the direotion of CaDada. They would -1 of

WllAT BECAD 0,. IIOBOAB. ttl

the men who had him in charge," They caught a. ~ass the other night; " or, "Morgan was taken outin a boat, a stone was fastened to him, and the windblew, and the unfortunate wretch was blown over­board and sunk;" or they would diversify the nar­rative by other fancy sketches of the sa.megeneralcharacter. It was perfectly apparent that the lead­ing men among the Masons,all abroad through theregion, understood well that Morgan had been putout of the way. If I never had had any other evi­dence that Morgan was murdered except what Ihad then and there from the mouths of Masons,it would have been enough.The facts of the case, as they afterwards gradu­

ally came to light, and formed themselves into acontinuous story, were these. Morgan was takenout of the jail at Canandaigua, on the night of the12th of September (Tuesday), in the manner al­ready described. He was bound and gagged toprevent his outcries, and then conv8y,edone hun­dred and twenty miles by stage, through the townsand villages of Western New York, along e, much­travelled road, to the United States fort at Niag­ara. He reached this place in the early morningof Thursday, September 14, having been continu­ously on the road, with such short interru}'tioDa

TIlE BROKEN8EAL.lit

as are incidental to a journey of this kind (chan.ging horses, drivers, &c.), from Tuesday eveningtill this time. It had been a part of the general planin the disposition to be made of Morgan, that heshouldbe handed over to Brant, the Mohawkchief,and the Canadian Masons, and that they shoulddespatch him. Accordingly, on the 14th of Sep­tember,as Boonas possible after reaching the fort,hewas taken out and carried across the river, tobe given up to the Canadians. But they wouldnotreceive him. They were shy of staining theirhandswith this bloody business. When the thingwas looked at afar off, their masonic zeal doubt­less prompted them to say Yes to the proposi-

I tion,but when the time for execution came theircouragefailed them.That Morgan was taken to the fort, then carried

acrossthe river and brought back, was told me asI a positive fact by a minister (a Mason),who waspersonallycognizant of it. He said that he went

· directlyfrom the installation of the lodge at Lew­, iston (only a few wiles off) to the fort, and sawMorgantaken 'out and carried across the river.Thougha minister, this man was such a thorough.goingMason, that when he told me this' (lie was'talkingto a Mason), he contended that. under the

r

. WHAT BROAD OF MORGAN. 128

•

circumstances, it was right and proper to take:Morgan's life. I also received this informationfrom a deacon, who told me that he visited Mor­gan while in the dark hole (he was placed in themagazine of the fort), and there heard him askedwhat death he would prefer to die. He answered,u That he should prefer to die like a soldier; thathe had fought for his country, and as a soldier hewould die for his country." This same deacon ioldme that '-Morgan asked for a light and for a Bible,that he "might prepare his mind for his depart­ure. But this request was refused, and the dea­con said he thought if any man ought to bedenied the Bible in such circumstances, Morganwas the man.I am sensible that there are heavy accusations

to be made against men who held these high officesin the Christian church. But they were not byany means the only ministers, deacons, and pro­fessing Christians who were actually concernedin the condemnation and death of Morgan. Alarge number of church members actually partiecipated "in the proceedings leading to his death,or openly justified these proceedings. This is oneof the most appalling facts respecting Masonry &8

an institution,-that it should have power to W&lp-

•

TIIB BROKEN 8B~124:

•

and pervert. men, otherwise amiable, kind, andgood,turning them into secret 88B&ssins. It wasthe boast of Masonry,at that time, that there wereministers and deacons enough ready to do thiswhole business.When the men who had Morgan OD their hands

couldnot hand him over for execution to the Oa- .aadians, he was brought back to the American sideof the river, and lodged in the magazine of thefort. This .was on the morning of the 14th of Sep­tember. There is reliable .testimony that Morganwas there on Sunday, the 17th of September.There is reliable evidence that on Thursday, the21st of September, he was not there, and hasnever since been seen alive by his friends. Some­where between September' 17 and 21, it is gen­erally understood, he was taken out in a boat. intothe Niagara River, a stone was tied to him, andhe was pushed from the boat into the river.The story of Morgan,fromthe time he w~sseized

at Batavia, September 12, to his' death, about aweek afterwards, is one of strange and peculiarinterest. It has all the elements of wild romance.We have no means of knowing what was the our­rent of his thoughte through those eventful days ;but it seems pretty evident that he did not, at

<,WHAT BECAD 01' MORGU. 125

first, apprehend the terrible dangers encircliDl!him. He was natunilly 8man of 8 generous andconfiding nature, and at the time of his seizure,and through his journey to Canandaigua, and trialthere, he apparently believed, to a good extent,the words of those about him. They professedto be his friends, who were going along with himto see that he had a fair trial, and that justice wasdone him. Even when he was waited UpOlsatevening, at the jail, he was deceived. He thoughtLawson, Foster, and the rest to be his friends. Itwas not until he went out from the walls of thejail, and was seized to be thrust into the carriage,that the scales fell from his ey~s, and the horriblesuspicion of what all this business meant burstupon him.In the investigations which were afterwards S6

'I on foot in regard to this whole affair, when onesthe people were aroused, an effort was made totrace out this. str~,ge journey from Canand~iguato Niagara, step by step. Itwas found impossibleto do this; but such- glimpses of it were gainedthsough the witnesses, willing or unwilling, whocame forward to testify, "that virtually we havethe whole story. And yet the flashes of light bywhich we gain these glimpses are brief and lurid.

THE BROKEN SEAL.126

The first sight we got of the expedition, aftet it) le~ Canandaigua, is late at night, at the town

of Victor, some ten miles or more away towardsRochester. A carriage is driven into the shed be­longing to a tavern, kept by oneDr. ThomasBeach;but soon, lest there should be too much publici.ty in this, or because some. information that waswaited for had been gained, it is backed out anddriven round into the yard of one Enoch Gillis,out of sight of the road, and about forty rods offfrom the public house. James Gillis, who was atthe time living in Pennsylvania, - the brother ofEnoch Gillis,- was active in the affairs of thatnight. He took his brother's horse and went offIon the road towards Rochester. He also helpedto procure another horse for Lawson. Gillis wasseen the next day on horseback in the vicinity ofVictor, after which he disappeared, and when hewas wanted in the subsequent proceedings of thecourts he was not to be found.It may be remembered that Mr. Ketchum, who

went from Batavia to Canandaigua with lIrs. Mor­gan, told her that Mr. Morgan had gone offwith aman from "Pennsylvania, who had taken him fordebt. A shadowy foundation for this st()ry JPaybefound in the met, that this Mr. Gillis, tuen resident

WHA'r BIICAIIII OJ' .ORGAN. 127

in Pennsylvania, was about, aotually participatingin this abduction.The next we see of the party is in the vicinIty

of Rochester, twenty.eight miles off from Ca.na.n­daigua. This is in the early morning of Wedne8-day, September 13. A little after daylight theexpedition reaches Hanford's tavern, about threemiles out from Rochester. But before its arrival(as it came out in evidence) another carriagebelonging to a livel1-stable in Rochester, ownedby a Masonof one of the higher orders, was sentout to wait the arrival of the Canandaigua car­riage. Somewhere in the vicinity of H'ancord's. tavern the party was changed out of the one car-­riage into the other.The next point at which the expedition was

recognized and traced was at Clarkson, some fit:teen miles off from Rochester, towards Niagara.This was about nine o'clock in the morning; andwhat especially attracted the attention of obser­vers was, that though a hot day, the curtains ofthe carriage were closed tightly. The carriagemade a short stop at Clarkson, in-the middle ofthe street, in the front of Baldwin's tavern. Thediiver ran into the tavern a moment, and thenoame out and went directly on. About two mne.

1-28

beyond Clarkson ne,,: horses were procured fromone Allen. The tired" horses were, taken 011', andthese fresh ODesput on; but the men in the in­side did not get out during the transaction, andthe curtains were all the time kepb tightly drawn.Inthe. subsequent stir of the people, when the menwho had been concerned in these transactions be­gan to be looked up, the drivers from Hanford'son to.Clarkson and beyond disappeared, and could

- not be found.,About twelve o'clock on Wednesday, Septem­

ber 13, a closed carriage drove Into the village ofGaines, passed through without stopping, butabout a mile welt of the village made a halt inthe road, at quite a distance from any house.Here a pair of fresh horses, belonging to JamesMather, waS brought up by his brother, ElihuMather, who, after they were fastened to the oar­riage, mounted the driver's box and drove theteam on some teD or fifteen miles, into the vicinityof Ridgeway. There was a strangeness aboutthe whole transaction, not only in the closed car­riage, but in the fact that Mr. Mather should driveit, 88 he was a D»m of property and standing, andDOt accustomed .to such business. On his way

9

WllAT BEOAKE OF KORGAN. 129

back, he. jokingly said to some one, "I think Imake a good stage-driver ~ do I not..?'~At Ridgeway, a man by the name of J eremiab

Brown, one of the chief men of the town, lately amember of the legislature, brought up a pair ofhorses from the fieldwhere they were working, andafter giv~g them time to feed, they were hitched tQ,

this sameclosely-coveredcarriage, and 88 Mr. Math~·- er had done, so Mr. Brown mounted .the box, and:

turned stage-driver himself. This was along wen:in the afternoon. Just at nightfall the expedition.reached Wright's tavern, a little north of Lockport •.Here a halt wasmade, the carriage, instead of being.driven up to the door, having been taken into thebam. There was considerable delay at Wright's­tavern. There was quite a company of men gath-.ered here. A woman connected with the hotelsaid that supper had been. ordered for a com­pany of Masons. There was to be the installationof a masonic lodge next day at Lewiston, sometwenty miles away; but preoisely what was indi­cated by the stir about Wright's tavern that nightis not clear.Just a little west of this tavern was the turn

pike gate, kept by a man named Maxwell. Abouteleven o'clock that night a mysterio1l8-looking

TO BBOKENBBAL.180

"DAVIDMAXWELL, being SWOrD,saith, that inthe night of the 13th of September last he wasat home attending to the keeping of the turnpikegate 00: the Ridge road, so called, about nineteenmiles distant fromLewiston. About eleven O'clock,P. M., he was sitting in the toll-house,and heard acarriage pass through the gate very slowly; andupon opening the door he saw Jeremiah Brown,of..Ridgeway, standing directly in front of thedoor, and saw the carriage standing in the road,about three rods west of the house. He, Brown,had a s~illing in his hand,'Whichhe handed to him.being the exact amount of the toll on the carriageDeponent said, 'How do you do, Captain Brown?'He made no answer, and turned away quickly, andwent towards the carriage. Deponent called tohim q~ite loudly, and said,' What is the matter?''Brown answered.' Nt)thing.' Deponent took DO-

esrriage came up very quietly, the gate was open,and Maxwell was in the house. He heard thecarriage approach, and thought at first the inten­tion was to steal through without paying fare.The whole scene was so peculiar and unique,that we may as well give the deposition of Mr.Maxwell.

WHAT BECAlIE OF )(ORGU. 181

tice of the carriage, because he had never knownBrownto have anything to dowith a coachbefore,and it struck him 3S a thing out of the usual course.He thinks the curtains were closed. Brownjoinedthe carriage, but whether he got into it, or got onthe driver's seat, deponent cannot say. The car­riage drove oft"quickly, when deponent enteredthe house: himself and his wife had a converse­tion, and expressed to each other their wonder 8.@

to the cause which should take Captain Bro~west with a coach so late at night; he, Brown.is a farmer in good circumetances,residing aboutthirteen miles east of the gate, and well knownto deponent and wife, and passing the gat& fre­quently, and never to the knowledge and -eeol­Iectionof deponent ·with any other carriage thana common two-horse farm wagon. They event­ually concluded that he perha:pl had gone toLewiston to an installation. The next morning, .before breakfast, and nqt far from sunrise, thesame carriage, as he thinks, arrived at the gate,driven by a person he did not then know (Mr.Mather, previously named). The middle curtainswere then up, and deponent distinctly saw thesaid Jeremiah Brown sitting on t.he back seat ofthe carriage, appearing to be asleep, and leaning

THE BROKEN BEAL.182

The next distinct glimpse that we get of thisstrange and mysterious carriage, still travelling on.towards Niagara, with its carefully-guardedload,is at Cambria,six miles west, at what is calledMollineux'stavern. The party reached this placeabout midnight, September 13. Mr~Bruce, thehigh .sheriff of Niagara County,came to the tav­ern first, and called up the elder Mr. Mollineux,desiring him to furnish a pair of horses for takingon a carriage to Lewiston. The request was com­plied with, and a pair of horses furnished thatwere young and spirited. Mr. Mollineux's son,having a pride in the horses, and knowing thatthey were mettlesome and free, requested the

• privilege of driving them to Lewiston himself.To this Mr. Bruce decidedly objected, and said

back: he saw no other person in the carriage.Deponent said to the driver, 'How far did you goout? Did you go to Lewiston?' He hesitated alittle, and said,' No;we did not go to Lewiston.'The deponent and his wife then observed to eachother that they had not gone to the installation.Deponent took notice that the coachwas a choco­late color; it appeared to be a hack carriage thathad been much used."

WHAT BECAKE OF 1I0RGAlI. ISS

,

that he had a trusty driver in the person of Mr.Jeremiah Brown, the same man who had chargeof the team when it passed through the turnpikegate. YoungMollineuxknewMr. Brown. Whilethe carriage was at Cambria,and this change ofhorses was taking place, the curtains were keptcarefully closed, and everything indicated greatsecrecy. The unusual circumstanceof a man call­ing at the hotel at that late hour of the night fora pair of horses, the importancewhich Mr. Bruceseemed to give to the whole affair,the haste withwhich he desired the expedition to set off,- allconspired to make a strange impression uponevery person not in the secret. A servant' girl,belongingto the hotel, asked Mr. Bruce what thematter was. He answered, " You cannot knowatpresent."The distance from Cambria to Lewiston is tb1r­

teen miles. Mr. Brown mounted his box, an \started at about midnight, as before stated, anbefore daylight the next morning returned t<. .Mollineux'stavern, having driven the twenty-sixmiles in about five hours. The horses came backjaded and worn, and young Mollineuxwas in astate of high indignation. Here the horses,whiohhad been taken oft"from the carriage the night

'1'IIB BBOKB1I SIULe184:

"Fox also stated that Eli Bruce, merit" of Ni­apra County (or, .. he called him, Brace), came

before, were replaced, and with Mr. Brown on theinside, seemingly asleep, arid with a Mr. Matheron the box for driver, the carriage returnedthrough the turnpike gate after the manner al­ready described.But we catch also a clear but momentary view

of things at Lewiston, some time during the smallhours of morning, September 14. This same Mr.Bruce, high sheriff of Niagara County, who hadbeen so helpful at Cambria, called at Mr. SamuelBarton's, of Lewiston, one of the stage proprietors, _and together they went to the stage office,to findwhat drivers, if any, were in. They found onlyMr. Fo~ (CoJ:YdonFox), who was asleep in anadjoining room. He was desired to get up a car-_riage immediately, to take a party to Youngstown,six miles distant. Paul Mosher was connectedwith this office, his special business being toregulate the arrivaJ and departure of the stages.The account given of this affair, under oath, is asfollows, Mr. Mosher making the deposition, andincluding in his statement what Fox had toldhim.

In all this journey, the aim was to have only:Masonsemployed, in whatever capacity. But inthe haste with whioh things were done at La...

with Mr. Bartml, when he waa called up. That,after the getting the ·carriage ready, Bruce toldhim (Fox) to drive round to a back street. Hedid so, and found a carriage in the street with.out horses. That there was. something curiousabout it; lie thought there was 8. man in thecarriage who was gagged and bound. That therewere two persons who came out of the carriagestanding in the street, and both, with Bruce, gotinto the one he was driving. Bruce told h~ to.go, or drive, on: he was directed to stop at theresidence of Colonel King. He halted, according­ly, in front of the door, or house, at Youngstown.Bruce got out and called up King... Bruce andKing both got into the .carriage. That he hearda man in the carriage call for water, and Brucesaid he should have some; he also thought heheard King say,' Morgan, are you here?' Thathe (Fox) was directed to drive OD, and when abouthalf way from Youngstown to the fort, Bruce toldhim to stop. He did so, and they all got out, andhe returned to Lewiston."

'l'JIII BBOKD &tiL.181

ton, Fox was called into service, though he was nota :Mason. He had seen and heard strange things~t night, unsuited to any save masonic ears andeyes. It was felt that a blunder had been com­mitted. An effort was accordingly made at onceto bring Fox into, a masonic lodge. Money wasoffered him to pay the initiatory fees, and in aboutthree weeks after' this night's adventures, he was.persuaded into the lodge at Lewiston,

There is evidence, too, of a sudden commotionafter Morgan reached the fort. As has been stated,he 'vas immediately taken over to the Canada side,and it was expected that Brant, chief of the Mo­hawks, would receive him and dispose of him, Buthe would not perform the disagreeable service,and 80 Morgan was brought back and lodged inthe magazine of the fort.Paul Mosher, of Lewiston, from whose deposi­

tion we have just quoted, testifies alao, that inthe aftemoon of the 14th of September (Morganreached the fort in the early morning of that day),"Barton came to the deponent. and directed himto borrow a saddle and bridle. and put them on ahorse as soon as possible, and hitch it by anoth­er horse standing under the shed, pointing that"'y, and whi9h horse appeared 88 if he had been

WJIA'l' BBOJJIB OP MORGU. ",

rode fast: he added, fAat he 1uul leard from tkefort, and mUBtBend a man down,for hefeared therewould be troulile yet. He (Mosher)did as directed,and the two horses were rode oft"soon after; theone put there by this .deponent,by a Mason resi­dent in L~wiston,the oth~r by a person not btownto this deponent. Next morning the deponentasked said Barton if there was any trouble atthe fort; to which he replied,' I guess it is stillenough.'" .We'have one more of these glimpses,or " night

visions," in the deposition of Mr. Josiah Tryon.On the night of the 14th of September, he at­tended a. ball at Lewiston,on the occasionof theinstallationof a lodge- a fact already referred to.He had a friend there whowished to go to Canadanext morning,and for this he must be in Youngs­town to take the boat early in the morning. Inorder to induce his friend to stay and attend theball, he had agreed to take him to Youngstown,with a team. Accordingly,in the emall hours ofthe morning of September 15, they started outfrom Lewiston towards Youngstown. The nightwas clear, and the moonwas shini~gbrightly, sothat it was easy to discern surrounding f)bj~cts,orrecognize faces. About two milesout fromLew.

TBlII DOJDIJI 8JU.L.188

"This building stands on the southerly side ofthe fort, is built of stone, about the height of acommon two-story building, and measures aboutfifty by thirty feet on the ground; is arched over:the side and end walls are about four feet thick; the

iston he met five men walking towards Lewiston,three of whom he knew well. Surprised at seeingthis company on the road, at such an unusual hour(it was then between three and four o'clock in themorning), he reined up his horse, and said to oneof them, whomhe knew," What are yOu here thistime of night lor? " The answer was," We havehad, a Bet dawn (councilor consultation) at Youngs. •town."The fort was st this time unoccupied, except by

the keeper and his wife. .Troops had been sta-. tioned there until the previous May, when theyleft. From that time until August, it had beenunder the general superintendence and care of aMr. Giddins, who lived near, and who kept a houseof public entertainment. In August he had passedthe care of the fort over to a Colonel Jewett, andhis wife, who lived in it. Mr. Giddins, in hisdeposition, thus describes the magazine whereMorgan was confined.

WHAT BECAME OF MORGAN. 189

This is surely a formidable prison-house, andwhen one enters it as a prisoner, he maywell giveheed to Dante counsel, and "leave all hope be­hind." When it was found that Brant and theCanadian Masonswould have nothing to do withMorgan,he was thrust in here..The place had been agreed' upon and arranged

(or beforehand; because there was evidentlya doubt whether Morgan could be dispoeed of'through the Oanediaas, But the plan had notgone so far as to be definite,in case he couldnotbe left on the Canadian side. The place of hisconfinementhad been fixed; but what preciselyto do with him had not apparently been deter­mined. Hence, with this new turn of affairs, a.

wall over the top is about eight feet thick,'and isconsid~redbomb-proof;coveredwith shingle root:There is but one door,around which there is asmallentry, to which there is a door also. Thereare no windowsor apertures in the walls,excepta smallventilator for the admissionof air, and onesmallwindowin each end, about ten feet fromthe

• ground. They are usually kept closed,and lockedon the outside with a padlock."

-TD BBODlN SEAL.

council had to be called, as baa been already inti­mated.It is in evidence that, on the night of the 14th

of September (the evening after the return fromthe Canadian shore), nine men ordered supper atMr. Giddins's bouse, and left his house abouteleven o'clock, Some of these were 'the samemen that MI:. Tryon saw on the road near Lewis­ton, between three and four the next morning.During the evening of September 14, there wasquite a gathering of men about the fort, sometwenty or thirty coming hither in the steamboat.Mostof these staid but a short time, and then dis­appeared. Ten or eleven of them remained alonger time before they scattered. The next even­ing, September 15,a smaller number was gathered.There was much earnest talk, but apparently adivided state of opinion.As has been already stated, it is in proof that

Morgan was still at the fort, locked up in the mag­azine, on the'11th of September (Sunday); butbefore Thursday, the 21st, he had disappeared, andwas never more seen alive. The manner of hisdeath baa already been related.We have gone over the events connected with

this memorable journey, in this minute way, be-

WHAT BEOAlIE OF MORGAN. 14:1

Here this part of our narracive would naturallystop. But by a strange turn of providence, itcame to pass that more than a year after theevents just recorded, - on the 7th of October,1827,-the body of a man, not far gone with decay,was picked up on the shore of Lake Ontario, at aplace called Oak Orchard Creek. It was found bya company of men who were out hunting. A jurywas called, and after a hasty examination, the •body was buried. As soon, however, as the find­ing of this body became publicly known, straage

cause it serves to show that a very large numberof people were informed of what was going for­ward, and to some extent participated in thesetransactions. Intelligence had been conveyedthrough secret channels; and men: rise up andplay their parts by day and by night, just when -and where they are wanted. There is a well-com­p~cted movement going on over large reaches ofterritory, of which the outside world catches occa­sional glimpses, but knows not their meaning. It isonly when the subsequent investigation brings outthe facts more fully, that these broken fragmentsof a plan can p~ pt:t. together and made clear tothe common mind.

TIIJJ BROKEN SEAL.142

stories were told about it, and curious attemptswere made to identify it &8 the body of this per­SOD, or that, who had lately disappeared in all thatpart of the country. The body was taken upagain for further examination, and soon the rea­~D8 began to appear for believing that this wasno other than the body of Captain WilliamMorgan..Men from Batavia and the region round about

went to see these remains, and were satisfied. Mrs.Morgan herself, Mr. Miller,Mr. Harris, and others,who had known Mr. Morgan most intimately in hislifetime, saw and believed. A new jury was em­panelled, and after a more rigid examination, theconclusion was reached, that these were the re­mains of Morgan, and his body was accordinglytaken back to Batavia and buried.The proofs of his identity could no longer be

found, of course, in the fleshly appearances, butmust be looked for in the more permanent andabiding parts of the frame. And here the coinoi­dences were most singular and striking. It waslittle that the height and general structure werethe same; these might be found in many men';but there were other things not to be overlooked.Mrs. Morgan bad told beforehand what proccsofidentity might be looked for.

'WHAT BECAME 01' MORGAN. 1~

Captain Morgan had a habit of whittling at thenails on his fingers. It was h~sfancy to wear tqemunusually long, and to trim them to a point. Inordinary conversation, often, when he was notaware what he was doing, he was thus scrapingand cutting his nails. Itwas something altogeth­er unusual for one to wear his nails shaped in theprecise formwhich Captain Morgan gav_ehis. Butthe body found on the shore of Lake' Ontarioshowed this shaping of the nails, I myself sawthese nails on the dead body after it was broughtback to Batavia, and the sight of them, after hisdeath, was to me the most impressive proof of hisidentity.Then, again, Mr. Morgan had a singular charac­

teristic about his teeth. Even his front teethapproached the molar or double-toothed forma­tion. So it was in this case. Besides, he had lostone of his double teeth, and it so happened thatthis very tooth, drawn by 8 physician in Batavia,not long before, from some peculiarity pertainingtJO it, had been preserved. When brought out, ithad every appearance of fitting the cavity exactly.Then, to make the case still more convincing,

In,;) had received 8 deep wound over one of theeres, and had struck an axe into his foot, cutting

THE BROKEN SEAL.144

.asunder one of his great toes. All these markswere found upon the body.The Niagara River had been dragged to find the

body of Morgan. It was believed, at the time,that the body was started from its fastenings bythis operation, and W8.8 raised to the surface. Oneof the men employed supposed that he caughtsight of the body, but it sank again, and he lostit. The theory W8.8, that it had been swept along,.by the strong current of the Niagara River, intoOalrOrchard Creek, and had been tossed about bywinds and waves, until it washed aahore at theplace where it was found. I myself saw the bodyafter it was brought back to Batavia, and have nodoubt whatever that it was the body of Morgan.Let it be understood, however, that the proof

of his death by violence does not rest upon thisidentification of the body. The fact of his deathwas established on evidence entirely independentof this. That was 8.8 thoroughly believed amongthe people of Western New York before the dis- .covery of the body 8S afterwards. The findingof the body was only a. strange and unexpectedsequel. It serves to make an t:ndi1UJ for the s~rybut its begih'TWng and middJ.e 'had already passedinto history, when this dl~ came.

10

WHAT DC ..... 01' MORGAN. 146

IT might seem strange, at first thought, that theattempt of Captain Morgan to publish the secretsof Masonry should have roused such an intenseand wide-spread excitement among the Masons;for this excitement was intense, as has beenmade abundantly clear by the preceding narra­tive. While this process was going on at Ba.tavia.in the summer of 1826,in all the masonic circlesof Western New York, and more or less through­out the land, there were passions aroused thatamounted almost to a blind frenzy. Men actedas though the heavens were about to fall,or theea.rthto be destroyed. Never were greater emo­tions awakened from 80 small and unimportant 8.

cause.But there was, nevertheless, a philosophyunder­

lying this excitement. It must be rememberedthat Masonryis too sacred and important a thing

WHAT KORGAN AOTUALLY BBVBALBD.

CHAPTER vm.

to be committed to books. The theory is, that itmust be transmitted from generation to genera­tion through the air - that the whole communi.cation of these tremendous secrets must be purelyoral, passing from mouth to mouth, as the illus­trious order lives along the ages. At the veryoutset, in the entered apprentice's oath, the candi­date, under th~ most fearful penalties, is made tosay, " I will not write, print, stamp, stain, hew, cut,carve, indent, paint, or engrave it on anything,movable or immovable, under the whole canopyof heaven, whereby or whereon the least letter,figure, character, mark, stain, shadow, or resem­blance of the same may become legible, or intelli­gible, to myself or 'any other person in the knownworld,whereby the secrets of Masonrymay be un­lawfullyobtained through my unworthiness."If this language _isnot strong or comprehensive

enough,each reader can make it so at his leisure.The idea, therefore, of actually writing out thesesecreta, would naturally fill the minds of thosewhowere foolish.enough to become enthusiasticMasonswith a holy horror.Thiswas not the first time that the secrets of

Masonryhad been divulged, nor was Morgan theonly one that has suffered death for making the

J

WJlAT MORGAN ACTUALLY BBVBALBD. 14'1

attempt. In 1762was published, in England, thebook called" Jachin and Boas," These two ancientwords are the names or designations of the gripsused for the two first masonic degrees, the en­tered apprentice's, and the fellow-craft's. Soonafter the publication of Jacki(n, and Boaz, its authorwas found murdered in the street, of London, his

"throat having been cut from ear to ear. It wasthis book which Miller undertook to republish inSaratoga. After he joined the Masons, and tookthe first degr~e, as has been already related, hemade a discovery. He found that the grip Jac1Wn"which used to belong to the entered apprentice'sdegree, had been transferred to the second degree. .of fellow-crafts,and that the grip Boaa had beentaken for the first degree; 80 that what used toread (in ancient times, before the first publicationof this book) as "Jachin and Boaz," should nowread" Boaz and Jachin." This was done so thatit might be said that Masonry in modern timeswas not what it was before 1762,.and that no onecould tell what it was by reading the· book "J..chin and Boas," This, however, was only a catch,to deceive, as, with the exception of the merelynominal .change just mentioned, all things re­mained just as they were before. Tlie entered

T1D!I BBOltD 8BAL.148

--~

apprentice's degree was the same, being, as ofold, the first degree. But the grip for this degreewas Boss, instead of Jachin.These words are .bronght from afar, even from

the ancient temple of Solomon. In the First Bookof Kings, in the long and minute description of themagnificent temple reared by Solomon, we aretold, " And he set up the pillars in the porch of thetemple; and he set up the right pillar, and calledthe name thereof Jachin; and he se.t up the leftpillar, and called' the name thereof Boas," In theSecond Book of Chronicles we have an account ofthe same thing, though in language somewhat dif­ferent. "And he reared up the pillars before thetemple, one on the right hand and the other on theleft, and called the name of that on the right handJachin, and the name of that on the left Boas,"'Masonry, in its idle and swelling claims to an­

tiquity, owns all Solomon's temple, and most ofwhat is valuable and grand from the creationdown. It is an old adage, that" one may as welldie for an old sheep as a lamb," And when Ma­sonry undertook to get up a history. for herself,and to choose her own grandfathers and grand­mothers, there .was nothing to hinder her fromappropriating to herself what she pleased. The

~T KORGAN ACTUALLY REVEALED. 149

"world was all before" her, and it was just &8

easy to have her first organ~zation take place inthe garden of Eden as anywhere else. Adammighi as well be the first Mason as the first man.And so down through the ages, wherever anythinggreat and venerable is to be found, let Masonrylay hold of it, for" possession is nine points of thelaw." . Accordingly, we find masonic literatureloaded down with names, real names (besidesmany imaginary ones), that never had anythingmore to "do with speculative Freemasonry thanJulius Csesarhad to do in digging the Erie Canal.To connect Solomonand his temple with Masonryis like the prattle of little children who make prosout of mud, and get up a school out of sticks ofwood. And yet, so constantly are these claims putforth, and so grandly are they mouthed over fromgeneration to generation, that the more simple­minded among the Masons doubtless believe thatthey belong to an lDstitution which is 88 old asSolomon,at least, if it be not as old 88 the world.Jachin and Boas, therefore, are the two first pass­words of lfasonry. Throu-ghthis august gatewaythe novitiate enters the wonderful temple.There have also been other attempts to divulge

the secrets of Masonry, besides this of" Jachin

THII BROKJ!INSEAL.150

. and Bou." But we will not dwell upon theseitems of old history.What Morgan undertook to do was, to reveal

the seven first degrees. He actually wrote outthese degrees in fnlL By his knowledge 88 amasonic lecturer, he was able to do this. Itwasthe intention that these seven degrees should bepublished together. This was the book whichColonelMiller promisedto give to the world. Itwas in the hope and expectation of doing thisthat the bookwas so long delayed.On, the other hand, it was the intention of the

Masons,when they began to combine together inthe summer of 1826, to snppress the book alto.gether-to prevent the publication of any partof it. Morgan and Miller, knowing the dangersto which the bookwouldbe exposedwhile it wasin course of publication,meant alway's that thereshould be in existence duplicate copies of eachdegree, so that if one were seized and destroyed,the other might survive. The commotionsamongthe Masons.during the summerof 1826had refer­ence to the suppressionof the book,as also to thepunishment of Morgan and Miller for havingproved faithless to their masonic oaths.

A.t the time when Morganwas arrested, on Sat;.

WHAT .ORGAN AOTUALLY REVEALBD. 151

~y, August 19, and lodged in jail, and keptthere over the Sabbath, the primary object of themovement, apparently, was to make a raid uponMorgan's papers. The p1.&nsfor his abductionwere not then ripe. Papers were seized at thattime, and doubtless the men chiefly concernedthought th~y had accomplished more than theyhad. They did not understand the arrangementabout d'U~ copies. They did, however, findabundant proof that Morgan was engaged in re­vealing the .secrets of Masonry.But the man who really made the break in the

process of publication was Daniel Johns, the spy,and the story may best be told by Colonel Millerhimself. We copy from an account afterwardsfurnished by him for the paper called" The Mor­gan Investigator.""To present occurrences .in a connected order

I must go back to a period of time anterior to thatwhen an attempt was made to bum my printingoffices. About the middle of August last, by par­ticular request of the author, I applied to the clerkof the northern district of this state, at Utica,for a copyright of a work entitled 'Illustrationsof Masonry,' &c. I had ascertained that everYmovement of mine was closelywatched. To elude

'rJIB BBOKDDAL.152

pursuit various means were resorted to. On myreturn, which was by way of the canal, I left theboat at Fullam's Basin, eight miles east of Booh­ester. The boat had passed but a few miles afterI had left it, when the captain was hailed from thebanks of the canal,by a well-dreBsedindividual, whoinquired, 'Has not Mr. Miller been on board thatboat?' and on being answered in the affirmative,demanded my baggage, by authority, as-he alleged, .of a written order from me; but being unable todesignate what my baggage was, he was foiled inthe a~tempt to become possessed of certain prop­erty that was then supposed to be in my charge."On the arrival of the boat at Rochester, which

was between the hours of eleven and twelve atnight, the strongest visible evidence was pre­sented to me that the watch-dogs were on thealert; but on assuring themselves that there waano bone worthy of contention, I was left to theenjoyment of my own reflections.

4( A few days after these occurrences, a man ofgood appearance, about twenty-eight .or thirtyyears of age, well equipped, toith t1unuJanuJ,s offAO'MIJ/ at O&1TI,'mam.d, was introduced to me at Beta- .via, by the name of DANIEL JODS, a Canadian.who was anxious to .IQb~rk, through 'weal o~

WHAT .ORGAN AO'l'UALLY RJlVEALBD. 111

woe,' in the crusade against Masonry. His storybeing plain, plausible, and connected, he wasunhesitatingly permitted to becomea participator.He aided all he could,apparently, in the printingand foldingof 1Il8S0niO books,and became an ao­tive, and, as was supposed,efficient guard against'cowans and eavesdroppers,' as well aa moreprominentenemies. He slept in the printing-room

. with me,with pistols at the head of his bed, andoften expressed his astonishment that I did notsleep. I now can see the villain,with his snakyhead raised from the pillow,inquiring what posi­tion I lay in. He uniformly found me perusinga book or a newspaper. I used to apologizefordisturbing his slumbers by a burning candle,assuring him that there was no danger to beapprehended from it. I had .becomewakeful andwatchful,but not fromsuspicionof him."Thus time passed smoothlyon for about twelve

or fourteen days, enlivened nowand then by someremarks at the expense of our enemies,and nowand then forming the ' U,ving arch,' and repeatingthe distich, ,We three did agree,' &c. During all.this time, however,Johns was extremely anxiousof perusing the manuscript in the upper degreesof Masonry. Thia desire w.s Dot oommunicated

TIDIBBOKDDAL.1M

to me by him, but through another person. Hewas accordingly presented with the MarkMaster's(or fourth) degree. This was on the eveningof the8th of September. The next da.y,at noon;he wasmissing. He was seen last to go into the postoffice of' this village, and although immediatelysought for and inquired after, was nowhere to befound; most conclusively demonstrating that Ma­sons knew how to Becrete 88 well as to keep asecret. ·On this occurrence Captain Morgan forthe first time became alarmed for his personalsafety, assigning as a reason, that the MasoDshadbecome,as they supposed,nowpossessedof all hismanuscripts on the upper degrees, three of themhaving been previously taken from him a shorttime before, under the color of a civil process.Mostof the day of the 10th 1 spent with him inarranging papers and in devising means for hisseclusion and safety."By this statement of ColonelMiller,it appears

that the 5th, 6th, and 7th degrees, as written outbyCaptain Morgan,or, in other words, the PastMaster's, the Most Excellent Master's, and the

• RoyalArch, were seized by the Masons at thetimeof his arrest, oil the 19th of August. He hadthen jH~t finished writing out the Royal Arch

WBAT K088A1r AOTUALLY BEVEALED. 155

• Appenctix B ..

. degree, and there was no duplicate of t1ilia manu.script. This degree, as we have already stated.was Bent at once to Canandaigua, and thence byexpress to the Grand Chapter at New York "'ity.

Tn consequence of these breaks and hinderances,the publication of the work was put oft'. And,finally,when it was found that the original ideaoonld not be carried out, it was decided to publishthe three first degrees only. The volume contain­ing these was issued, in spite of all opposition, afAwmonths after Captain Morgan's death.But the publication of masonic secrets wu

bound not to stop at this point. In-the excitementwhich arose immediately after the abduction andmurder of Mr. Morgan, members of the lodges ofa conscientious turn of mind could no longer standthe moral pressure brought to bear upon them. .Masons of every degree, even from the ineffable~eights, bearing. titles pompous enough to satisfythe most august and glittering * Oriental monarch(a Sennacherib or an Ahseuerus could not havedesired anything more empty and swelling), beganto bow before the indignant protest of public sen­timent. One after another, men came forward and .

THE BROKEN SEAL.156

gave up their impious and high-sounding secrets.The lower degrees, in a moral poi~t of view, aremodest, compared with the upper. In the sixlower degrees one is bound to help a brotherMason in all cases, Cl murder and treason only ex­cepted." But, as we have already said, when o~ereaches the seventh, or Royal Arch degree, theform of language changes, and one binds himselfto help his brother, right or wrong, murder andtreason not excepted. And generally in these up­per degrees there is a defiant and Heaven-daringtone, as if Masonry were sufficient to make lawsfor itself, without regard to God or man.The work, therefore, ofexposing these pernicious

=eoretswent onvery rapidly after Captain Morgan'sdeath. A convention of seceding Masonswas heldtne following February at Le Roy, and they re­solved to make a full revelation of masonic myster­ies. The fourth, fifth,and sixth degrees,' as writtenout by Captain Morgan, were afterwards obtainedfrom Mrs. Morgan; and when Rev. David Ber­uard, in 1829, published his work entitled" Lighton Masonry," the six degrees, as written out byMr. Morgan, were brought together. In the samework will be found almost all the higher degrees,aumy of them, however, not written out with the

WHAT )fORGAN ACTUALLY BEVBALBD. 157

~ ..'-'\

fulness and minuteness of those revealed by Mr.Morgan. The author, speaking of his book, says,"While preparing it for the press, I obtained fromthe highest authority thirty-three of the sublimeand ineffabledegrees, all of which I KNOW TO BE

CORRECT, and I give them to the world verbatimet literatim."In answer, then, to the query suggested in the

title to this chapter, it may be said that Morganwrote out fully'and carefully the seven first de­grees of Masonry; that three of these were pub­lished soon after his death, in the work issued byColonelMillerthat the three next were afterwardspublished in the "Light on Masonry," and thatindirectly, and growing out of what he did andsuffered,the secrets of Masonry were BOOD v~r,generally exposed to the public gaze..

THE BBOXEN SEAL.158

THEcourse I had pursued during the excitingscenesof the Morganabductionwas such as wouldnaturally bring the Masons into bitter hostility tome. It is not too much to say that they hated mewith a perfect hatred. Taking human nature atwhat it is, I cannotmuchwonder at it. I was thefirst to reveal their plans to the world,and to takemeasures to th,!art their infamous designs. Tosay that this made me enemieswhich have neve.rforgivenme, but have pursued mewith the bitter­est feelings, would be to say what every candidmanmust see wouldbe the result of my relationsto the Masonsof Batavia. Masonrywas a greatpower in the State of New York, and in the landgenerally, at the time of the Morgan abduction.It was only by reason of its great strength thatit dared defy public opinion,and do what it theDdid. Ithad got possessionof the place. of power

}lY SUBSEQUENT EXPERIENCES WITH MASONRY.

CHAPTER IX.

lIT 8l1B8BQUBlITDPDIBNOES. 161

.... ,pea....

throughout the state. It bad a mighty sway inmatters oivil and ecclesiastical. It could ruin thebusiness interests of any ordinary person againstwhom it chose to set itself inarray. I~ did speedi­ly ruin my bnainess in Batavia.*In the latter part of the summer of 1~29,having

some business to transact in connection with 8

mortgage on a farm in the western part of Con­necticut, I came back to New England, bringingwith me my oldest daughter, and. taking her for avisit to her grandmother's in ··Providence. Whilestaying a few days in Providence, I was invitedby a :Masonto go with him over to Pawtuoket toattend an anti-masonic meeting that was to beheld there. I oonsented. He did not thenknow of my history, but supposed that I was 8

~ason still in regular standing; nor did I, on myjourney. over, reveal the state of things. Themeeting was a large one. The speakers, in thecours~ of the prooeedings, unfolded the secretsof Masonry. When the meeting was neuly over,and the people were going out freely, some one onthe stand called out and wished to know if therewas any Mason present who would ooDfirm or

TIDI BBODDf 8lU.L.180

deny what had been said. I _rose and said in afull, strong voice, that the ceremonies and opera­tions, a8 'they had 'been described, ac~orded veryaccurately with those in the lodge with which thelate CaptainWilliamMorganwas connected; thatI was a member of the same lodge with him, andwas well acquainted wi~h the method of doingthings there.No sooner were these words spoken than the

most enthusiastic greeting was given me by theassembly. Menabout the doorscalledafter thosewho had gone out, "There is a man here whoknew Morgan, and was. in the same lodge withhim. Comeback! comeback! ", Soonthe housewas packed full again, galleries and all, and I toldthe story of Morgan to most eager and attentivelisteners, and three Masons renounced Masonryon the spot.

Immediately after this meeting, leaving mydaughter at Providence, I started for Goshen, inLitchfi~ld County,Ct., to attend, to the businesspertaining to the mortgage. But tlie report of themeeting at Pawtucket had been noised abroadthrough the papers, and a messenger was sentafter me with letters to persuade me to visit BOA­

top. and deliver a lecture. The :o:aessengerwho11

lIT SUBSEQUENT EXPERIENOES. 161

came was Frederick A. Sumner, and he broughta letter to me from Dr. Abner Phelps. The mes­senger came first to Providence, and, finding I hadgone to Western Connecticut, followed me allthe way thither, to invite me, in behalf of a mostrespectable committee, to give an anti-masoniclecture in Boston. I accordingly consented, andarrangements were made that I should- speak inFanueil Hall on the evening of September' 8.Handbills had been posted all over the city for.days, giving notice of the meeting. I reachedthe city in due time, and stopped at a hotel in Milkstreet. I found Boston full of excitement withreference to the approaching meeting. The Ma­sons were numerous and strong in the city, andthey threatened to break up the meeting. Theanti-masonic party also was full. of spirit, and wasdetermined to resist this attempt. Clubs and bil­lets of wood were- freely carried into.the building,to be used in case the exigency should arise call­ing for them.

When I reached the hall in the evening, I foundit packed. Such was the excitement then pro­vailing about the Morgan affair, that there was themost intense desire to see anyone who had beenmixed up with that business. When I reached

TIlE BROKEN SEAL.162

. -

the door, so great was the press, that I was liter­ally lifted from the floor and borne all the way tothe stage without once touching my feet.But it was evident that the Masonswere there

in great force. I went through the preliminary partof my lecture very well; but when I came to thestory of Morgan and his abduction and murder,the uproar began. The room resounded withcries, "Pitch him out of the window 1" .t Killhim!" "Break his neck 1"&c., &c. I wouldwait a little for the tumult to subside, and thenattempt to begin again, when the same noise andconfusionwould set in in full force. I finished mylecture in the best way I could under the circum­stances. Dr. Thompson, of Charlestown, was thepresiding officer,and he did all he could' to quietthe storm by appealing to' their pride as a Bostonaudience, and in various other ways, but his effortswere unavailing.Then it became evident that we were in some

measure besieged by the Masons. They hadbanded together to block the doors, and preventall egress of the crowd from the building. Theywere waiting apparently .for an attempt to bemade to get the lecturer and the leaders of themeeting out, and this would be the signal fOT vio-

KY SUBSEQUENT EXPERIENCES. 163

lence. It was near eleven o'clock when a carriagewas brought quietly to the back door of the hall,and I was taken out by the stairway behind thestage, and conveyed to my hotel.At three o'clock the next morning I took the

stage to return to Connecticut.So full of rage were the Masons,that after I left

the city, they printed and posted up all over thecity, in connectionwith my name, someverses fromone of the imprecatory Psalms - the l09th psalm."Let his days be few, and let another take his

office."Let his children be fatherless and his wife a

widow." Let his children be continually vagabonds and

beg; let them seek their bread also out of theirdesolate places.

u Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; andlet strangers spoil his labor.

u Let there be none to extend mercy unto him;neither let there be any to favor. his fatherlesschildren." Let his posterity be cut ofT; and in the gen-

eration following let their name be blotted out." I

On my return again to Boston Bornelittle timeafter this, I saw Borneof these handbills which I

j

THE BROKEN SEAL.L64

had spoken in so complimentarya manner of me.They had been preserved by my friends as memo­rials of the anti-masonicmeeting in Fanenil Hall,on the night of September 8, 1829. .This was my first introduction to 8. Boston au­

dience, and there was nothing, certainly, in theeven~s of that night to convince me that it wasbetter behaved than other audiences.It was not until the January followingthe Mor­

gan murder, that I really broke with the Masons,.and renounced the order. I kept my secret untilthat time, though not without falling under con­siderable suspicion. But in January I publiclyseceded, and took my stand openly in opposition.I was.afterwards summonedto attend the lodge;but giving no heed to the call, the Masonstooktheir revenge by expellingme,whichwas just aswell. Between them and myself I was by thattime pretty completelyout of the order.From the fall of 1826 on to 1830,I was com­

pelled, with thousands of others, to be witnessof the abortive attempt to bring guilty men tojustice. Month after month, and year afteryear, the, prosecutions started against the Mor­gan abductors dragged their slow length along.Everything would seem to be in train for a

JIY SUBSEQUENT EXPERIENCES. 165

speedy result; but the hope was always a vainone. Secret hands, out of the darkness, were allthe while working against truth and righteous­ness. If the prophet Isaiah had written someof the verses of the fifty-ninth chapter of his book.expressly to describe what was going on in West-ern New York during those years, he could nothave hit the case more exactly," Therefore is judgment far from us, and justice

doth not overtake us: we wait for light, but be­hold obscurity; (or brightness, but we walk indarkness." We grope for the wall like the blind, and we

grope as if we had no eyes. . . ."And judgment is turned away backward, and

justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in thestreet, and equit.y cannot enter." Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from

evil maketh himself a prey."We will not undertake to tell the weary story

of those four or five years. But in the Appendixwe give the story as it was told, while yet thesubject was fresh and new, by Mr. John C. Spenocer, of New York, in the very able and carefully­prepared report which he presented to the Anti­Masonic Convention in Baltimore, in 1831,having

THE BROKEN SEAL.166

• Appendix G.

been previously ~ppointed for that duty. Thestory is a long one, but we prefer to give itunbroken, that it may be understood by the peo­ple of this generation what a pernicious powerMasonry is, when it is once fairly intrenched insociety.*My own experiences in the courts taught me

how useless it was, in those times, to look for jus­tice by an appeal to law. When the Masons,onevery hand, Betupon me to ruin my character andmy business, I attempted to gain the help of law:but found, by a bitter experience, that no adequateprotection was to be looked for from that quarter.I was compelled to leave it to time to vindicatemy character and motives in doing what I haddone.The great anti-masonic movement was now well

under way, and from my experiences I seemedto be called naturally into the. field as a lecturer.From 1829 on to 1834, I was largely employed inthis way, speaking in a great number of places invarious New England states. Everywhere I went,I had to encounter a strong masonic hate. I couldnot but be sensible that hostile eyes were uponme, watching every movement. Sometimes this

lIY SUBSEQUENT EXPERIENCES. 167

hatred would break out into open abuse and vio­lence, and sometimesit kept a more decorous andsmothered form, but was none the less real. It,was not pleasant to live in such an atmosphere,surcharged all the while as it was wi~ the ele­ments of violence. I knew, by a mostvivid ex­perience,what had been, and I knew that whathad been might be again. The institution ofMasonry,though scotched,was not killed. It wasstill boldand defiant,all the more bitter, perhaps,because its power and influence were now be­ginning to wane. Many stories might be told,many incidents and illustrations given, showingwhat kind of a life a manhad to live, whowas apublic anti-masoniclecturer, between the years1829 and 1834. But I will content myself witha single incident additional,and will take one thathad more of detail in it than was ordinarily thecase,and one that is well fitted to illustrate thewhole subject.I was lecturing in Connecticut,~ had been at

Woodstock,and fromthere to Norwich. I had anappointment at NewLondon,but meanwhile hadturned back to lecture at Hebron,before going toNewLondon. This was in the early mn of 1829.1 spent the night at Hebron, staying at the publio,

TIlE BBOEBN BEAL.168

house. After I had retired to rest for the night,about eleven o'clock, my room was suddenly in­vaded by some ten or twelve men, under the leadof one Taintor, who had come, 88 he said, to servea writ upon me for debt. His manner, and themanner of the men with him, was very peremptoryand rough. There was,a most needless and inde­cent haste in all their proceedings. They wouldnot give me time to dress p~operly, but hurriedme down half dressed into the bar-room. Theysaid I was to go with them that night to jail inTolland. The town of Tolland was some fif­teen miles away. The road leading thither wasthrough a lonely and hilly region, with scatteredfarm-houses here and there. The way was roughand rocky.It was late in the evening. The people of He­

bron had retired to rest, and I seemed to be atthe mercy of these men, who had seized me underthe forms of law, but, as I knew in a moment, ona case artificially got up for the purpose, and with­out a shadow of justice in it. This, however, wasto be shown in the future. Meanwhile they hadme in their clutches, and, for the time being, Iseemed to be helpless. There was sitting in thebar-room,at that late hour, a man whowas troubled

with .asthma,_or phthisic. He was sitting up torest, because he could not well lie down. Seeinghim there, and noticing that he appeared to be aman of character and respectability, I made myappeal to him. I said, in substance, tlThese menhave arrested me on pretence of debt, and proposeto hurry me away at once to Tolland jail. Theclaim on which they arrest me is an old affair,and is all settled. I have a receipt for it amongmy papers at home. But that cannot avail mehere. It is not that for which they have arrestedme. I understand well their motives. My nameis Samuel D. Greene. I am an anti-mason. Iam lecturing on that subject. I was a mem­ber of the same lodge with Morgan, and knewall the arts and devices by which they took himaway and murdered him. These men have ar­rested me because they are Masons, and I amexposing Masonry. If they take me away to-night,I have reason to fear' that they mean violence. Itherefore make my appeal to you. If you sufferme to be taken away without giving any alarm,and if violence comes to me in consequence, myblood will be required at your hands."The man spoke up, and said, ".My name is Hazel

Gott, and I suppose I am worth thirty thousand

THE BROKEN SEAL.170

• I ought to add here as the sequel of this story, that Mr.Gott, though an utter stranger to me until that night, was after­wards one of my truest friends. He sent me, by letter, twentydollars, to help me on in my defence.

dollars. Mr. Taintor, this is a. bailable offence­is it not?""Yes," said Mr. T.," but you would not give

bail for such a miserable wretch as he is - wouldyou ? He is about disturbing society, and stirringup strife continually."

"Yes, I will give bail for him," said .Mr. Gott." How much is the bail?"

The bail was fixed at three hundred dollars. ~h.Gott promptly recognized for me to that amount,and when he had done 80, generously said to me,-

"Now, Mr. Greene, go your way, and keep onwith your work. Yon need not trouble yourselfor give a second thought to that -three hundreddollars." *

I thanked him for his great kindness, but intimat­ed that I should not cause the bail tu be forfeited,but should appear in due time at the court in 'I'ol­land, and answer to the charge. By the terms ofthe bail I was called to appear in December fol­lowing; but afterwards, in consideration of thefact that my residence was out of the state, the

llY SUBSEQUENT EXI'ERlENCES.· 111

time was extended, as was required by law, untilMarch, 1830.When the time came for the session of the court

in March, I appeared at Tollandjand gave myselfup to the proper authorities, and was locked up injail to await the coming on of the case. Dur­ing the first night I was in jail, the wife of thejailer came into the prison, and spoke to me in a

. low voice, through the grate, asking if my namewas Greene, and then telling me that they wereplotting to take me out of prison and carry me off.When this intelligence reached me, it was 80muchlike Western New York, four years before, that Icould not fail to understand the meaning of thetransaction. Through her I had i~telligence atonce conveyed to Elisha Steams, Esq., my lawyer,living in Tolland, to come and take me out,of jailon a writ of habeas corputJ. Accordingly, hecame, and in the early morning I was taken outof jail.I was prepared to make a legal defence against

the claim brought against me on the writ by whichI was first arrested; but so decidedly illegal anddisorderly had the whole proceeding been, and soevident was it that the affairwas merely a masonicpersecution, that ll!-Y counsel thought best to .pui

THE BROKEN SEAL.172

in a plea of abatement. The forms and documentsused against me were vitaJIy deficient.To show how this had come about, it is neces­

sary to go back a little and explain. This suit. was begun by Benjamin Salsbury, of Stafford, Ct.A note, which I had given many years before, in1816, in Pembroke, N. Y., had come into the hands

Iof Salsbury through. his wife. The note was forthirty-eight dollars, and had been settled. I hadthe receipt for it; but somehow the note had beenoverlooked, and had not been given up or de­stroyed. Salsbury expected to find me at NewLondon, where he knew I had an appointment tospeak. Accordingly, he went to New London,and had the writ drawn there, and directed to thesheriff of New London County. Then he heardthat I had turned off to Hebron, and was not com­ing to New London directly from Norwich, as hehad supposed. Not wishing to lose time, andbeing -eagerly bent on working out his masonichatred, he came up to overtake me at Hebron.The town of Hebron is in Tolland County, and thesheriff of New London could not execute the writ.SoMr. Salsbury stops at Colchester, the neighbor.ing town to Hebron, and gets A. D. Scovil, Esq. to .empower Newell Taintor to make the arrest.

KY SUBSEQUENT EXPERIENCES. 178

Here was the fatal defect in the writ. In this'-transferof authority none of the rul~s had beenobserved which were required, in such cases, bythe laws of Connecticut. We need not attemptto specifyall the points wherein the papers weredeficient. But they were openly and obviouslyso to every legal mind. They had been-prepared,not with legal calmness,but in the hurry of ma-sonichatred, which couldnot wait to complywithlittle forms. My counsel,therefore,moved a pleaof abatement. Something like this result was akind of legal necessity from the premises. Yet,notwithstanding these fatal defects, so strong wasthe masonic zeal animating the lawyers on theother side, the judges, &c.,that there was still amanifest disposition to press on with the case.My lawyer, seeing the tendencies, thought thesafestway,therefore,was to movethat the case beerased from the docket; for, in truth, there wasno case. The writ had not been served (in thetechnical sense).Even in this state of things, one of the lawyers

on the other side had the audacity to move thet Ishouldbe called,and should be defaulted. Whenmy lawyer saw what Masonrywould dare to at­tempt to doin a court ofjustice,-for he had never

THE BROKEN SEAL174

" Received of Benjamin Salsbury, Jr., NewellTaintor, Amherst D. Scovil, Esq., and EphraimHyde, by the hand of the said BenjaminSalsbury,Jr.,_sixty-nine dollars and fifty cents; and in con­sideration thereof, I do hereby release and dis- .charge them, and either of them, and all othersacting by or under the direction and authority ofthem or any of them, fromall manner of action or

before soclearlydiscovered'its character,-he roseand said with earnestness, "What I oblige us toanswer or be defaulted, and have judgment ren­dered against us without any precept (or writ),and whenwe have a just legal defence, too I Ren­der judgment upon your peril."The court could not have the face to go farther

in this direction, and the case was quashed. Thencame the time for the other side to look after itsinterests, Those concerned in the case wishedto come to a settlement with me. I had it in mypowerto make them suffer; that is, if justice couldbe obtained through the courts, which was doubt­ful. However, not being disposed to render evilfor evil, 1made a settlement with the parties, andthe followingis the receipt, word for word,whichI gave on that occasion:-

"

MY SUBSEQUENT .EXPERIENCES. 175

I was employed in those years, not only as alecturer, but also as an editor and publisher. In1827 I had charge of the MasonicInvestigator,published at Batavia, and which continued forsome years, until the masonic trials were ended.In this paper was gathered up almostall the anti­masonicliterature of those early years.

In 1880 I took charge of the Anti-MasonicChristian Herald, in the city of Boston. This

actions,cause or causesof action, claimor claims,and demands,which I ever had or nowhave againstthemor either of them, or against any other per­son or persons acting for and in their behalf,orunder their authority, or either of them, for anyassault and battery and false imprisonment com­mitted onme by them or either of them, or by anyother person or persons acting in their behalf orunder their direction or authority, or either ofthem, up to this date. In witness whereof, I havehereunto set my hand and seal, at Tolland,thistwenty-seventh day of March,in the year of ourLord one thousandeight hundred and thirty ..

SAJIL. D. GREENE. 8{ELISHA STEARNS,

Attest, AHOLIAB JOHNSON."

TJIB BROKEN BBA.L.

11• AppeDdb: H.

missiles.However, the w:orkwent on gloriouslyin spite

of all opposition.* There was .. great satisfactionin helping forward the movement. The anti-rna-

paper was designed to be a religious newspaper,with a special guardianship and support of theanti-masonic cause. I kept my connection withthis paper until 1835. One of my SODS, whowasvery young' then, but who served as a carrier todeliver the papers to subscribers in on~sectionofthe city limits, remembers to this day how full.grownmen used to send their provoking remarksat him; and someof them forbadetheir childrentoplay with him, because his father edited and de­livered an anti-masonicpaper.As already ~tated, many other facts might be

given illustrating the hostilitywhich I everywhereencountered amongthosewho still held fast to themasonic institution; but I will not prolong thenarrative by their recital. A man in my positionduring those years need not be surprised, whenhe undertook to lecture against Masonry,to findhimself in the midst of a mob,and to receive asalute' of eggs, brickbats, and other convenient

KY 8UB8EQtrEN'1' EXPERIENCB8. 17'1

sonic cause gained ground with rapid strides.There was an uprising of the people against thehaughty assumptions of Masonry, such as was nolonger to be trifled with. It was a question ofmighty import, whether a free people was to beruled by a set of Freemasons working in the dark,- concocting their schemes in the seclusion of thelodge-room,- whether "justice was to be turnedaway backward" bl: the arts and contrivances ofa set of men who were bound together by secretoaths of the most impious and shameful character.The work went on, year after year, until Masonrywas an utterly dishonored institution ill this freeland. The great body of those who had taken itsoaths had either publicly seceded, or had ceased toattend upon its meetings. States came forward andpassed laws forbidding extrajudicial oaths. Thecharters of the lodges, in a majority of cases, werereturned, and the lodges utterly broken up. Notmany years ago, in the State of Massachusetts,only five masonic lodges remained out o( somefive hundred. The institution was believed tobe dying, and as far as any outside influence wasconcerned, was practically dead.But of late years Masonry is growing again, and

that rapidly. During the fierce anti-slavery ex-

TIDI BRODIN SEAL.178

citement through which the land has been passing,the dishonored institution again saw its chance to..rise and spread. The public mind had becomethoroughly absorhed with other interests. Mason­ry embraced its opportunity. Little by little it.has been fortifying itself in the dark, gathering inits numbers, until, now and then, it makes someoutward demonstration calculated to impress theworld with its great strength. A day like thatwe had in Boston, a few years ago, when the newMasonicTemple was finished and dedicated, andwhen President Johnson was invited on fromWashillgton to grace (?) the occasionwith his au­gust presence, was fitted to make men thoughtfulwith reference to the growing power of this in­stitution. Masonry showed a great procession onthat day. The sight was anything but. pleasing to

one who remembers the past, and who knows themischievous and corrupting power of the order.But for all this, Masonry is not yet back again

where it was in 1826. As compared with herpresence and influence then, she is even now a dis­honored institution. The class of men who werethen prominent in her councils are no longer illher councils at all, and cannot be drawn there atpresent. They are shy of all approaches looking

MY SUBSEQUENT EXPERIENOES. 179

to such a connection. The history of Masonry, inthis respect, has been a little like the history ofintemperance. The drinking habits of society, 88they were forty years -ago, have been dishonoredand abolished. There is plenty of hard drinkingnow; perhaps it is on the increase. There aremultitudes of men in our cities and towns who....call themselves very respectable; and who usewine and strong drink freely themselves, and offerit to their guests. But the great body of trulyreligious and strictly moral people, throughout theland, do not do this, though they once did it. Itmay be possible to prove that there is more spiritused now than there was forty years ago; but itis not possible to prove that drinking is as repu­table now 8S it was forty years ago, or that thesame classea of people give themselves up to it.

.So with Masonry. The institution is not yetreinstated. It does not hold its old place in thepublic estimation. Formerly .Masonry drew its.active supporters from the ministers, deacons, andmembers of every denomination of Ohristians.Now it is comparatively rare to find church mem­bers, and especially ministers of certain of ourreligious denominations, in its ranks. We db notknow precisely how the case stands in the 0011-

TIlE BROKENBtiL.180

gregational churches, but of the more than threethousand ministers of that order in the land,wewill venture the guess, that not somany as one ina hundred is a Mason.There is one large and growing denomination

of Christians in this 'countrywhere we are sorryto see a different tendency prevailing. We hearit said that the ministers of this denomination,inlarge numbers, have connected themselves withmasonic lodgeswithin a fewyears. Their initia­tory fees are paid by others, as an inducementfor them to come in. After all the light whichhas been shed on Masonryin these latter days,and when one considershowall sacred and divinethings are turned to sport in the masonic litera­ture, how any minister of the gospel can thinkhimself in the way of duty by confabulatingwithMasons·is more than we can understand. We,believe the plea commonlyurged is, that it willgive them greater facilities for usefulness. Butthis is" going down into Egypt for help" with avengeance. We should as soon think of joiningsomedri/1lJ~ng club, in order to gain the meansofpreaching the' gospel more effectually,as to joinwith the Masons. It is very certain that no de­nominationof Christians can stand the moralinflu.

KY SUBSEQUENT EXPERIENOFB. 181

ence of sucn a connection a great while, withoutthe most serious inroads upon its piety.Masonry is not back where it was in 1826, but

it is gaining strength in a way that is alarming.The foundations of great .public structures haveto be laid "with imposing masonic ceremonies,"and in numeroua ways it is manifest that theinstitution is on the watch to extend itself onevery side.I am an old man, and I shall soon be gone. But

I leave it as my last injunction to my countrymen,that they watch this institution with a jealouseye. It is an old enemy to. their liberties. It hasno thought of the general good. It is 'not foundedand worked upon any such idea. It is built uponthe principle of tyranny in all ages," the good ofthe few at the expense of the many." Wheneverand wherever Masonry is asserting her claims, andpushing herself forward, one may be perfectlysure that such are her secret purposes and aims.

THE BROKEN BEAT...182

40' Soon after I commenced the service of Christ.Freemasonry was commended to my attention as aninstitution from heaven- moral, benevolent, of greatantiquity, the twin sister of Ohristianity, possessingthe patronage of the wise, the great, and the good, andhighly important to ~e ministers of the Lord Jesus,Wishing to avail myself of every auxiliary in promot-,J.'

THE way in which a man was enticed into theembraces of Masonry, in old times.rand before pub­lic attention had been called to the moral characterof the institution, is very finely described by Ber­nard in the introduction to. his book..': Light onMasonry." We have copied some sentences of itbefore, but we here give the passage not only toillustrate this point, but also as a most graphicpicture of what was going on in all the surround­ing lodges at the time of the Morgan abduction.

A.

APPENDIX.

ing the glory of God and the happineu of my fellow·men, I readily received the three first degrees. Mydisappointment none can know but those who have, insimilar eirenmstanees, been led in the same path offolly and sin. I silently retired from the institation,and for three years was hardly known as a Mason. Iwas not, however, without my re:flections on the sub­ject. I considered what I had taken as frivolous andwicked, but was unwilling to believe that there ex­isted no substantial good in the order; and this ideawas strengthened by the fact that many of my friendsof a higher grade in Masonry taught me, that what I 'had received was not the' magnum bonum' of the in­stitution, but that this was yet to be obtained. Notbeing able to advocate its cause from the knowledge Ihad derived of its principles, and supposing that theobligations I had received were morally binding, Icould not say' pro nor con' concerning it, without aviolation of my conscience. With these views I em­braced an offer to advance into the higher orders ofmysticism, and reached forward to attain the desiredend. In the reception of the chaptersl degrees myembarrassment increased."When I came to the oath of a Royal Arch Mason,

which obligates to deliver a companion, 'fight 0'1'tlJf'ong,' I made a full stop, and objected to proceed­ing. I was then assured,in the most positive terms,that all would, in the end, be explained to my fullsatisfaction. But no such explanation took place.Thought I, is this Freemasonry? Is this the ancientand honorable institution patronized by thousands ofthe great and good? Upon my suggestingsome que­ries to a masonic friend,he gravely informed me tha'

the first seven degrees were founded on the Old Tes­tament, and were but a shadow of good things to come;that if I wished to arrive at perfection, I must pro­ceed to the sublime and ine:tl"abledegrees. Theseassurances, the" awful oaths I had taken, with theirpenalties, and the vengeance of thitl most powerfulinstitution, combined to deter me from renouncing itas evil. Mer much deliberation, hoping to find some­thing in the-higber 'orders to redeem the character ofthe institution in my estimation, I entered the lodgeof Perfection, and took the ineffable degrees•. "About this time I learned that Morgan was writ­

ing :¥asonry for publication. My informer was then.a Baptist minister, in high standing, and a Royal ArchMason. He remarked that Morgan's writing Masonrywas the greatest piece of depravity he ever knew; thatsome measures must be taken to stop it; that he wouldbe one of a number to put him out of the way; thatGod looked upon the institution with 80 much com­plaeeuoy, he would never bring the perpetrators tolight; that there had already been two meetings onthe "abject; and that he expected there would beanother on that day; and finally attempted to justifyhis murder from Masonry and the word of God."'fbis conversation took place in Covington (where

1 then lived), five weeks before Morgan was murdered]and I should at this early period have infonned him ofhis danger, had I not understood that he was on his'guard, and prepared for a defence."The next week I le1\ home for my health, and was

absent some weeks. I returned on the 16th of Sep­tember, and soon learned that Morgan was kidnapped,aDdprobably murdered. I conversed with Masons OD

185

the subject, 8n~ they j'U8tf/l6d 'hoth hi8 alJdvction andmurder / • • • A meeting of the lodge in Coving­ton was soon called, the object of which was to con­cert measures for an agreement, among the fraternity,in what they should say in relation 'to the outrages,and to attend to memberswho were disaffected withtheir proceedings, I attended for the purpose of free­ing my mind. When the lodge was duly opened andthe subject introduced, I arose, and in the most deci­sivemanner disapproved the conduct of the fraternityin their violation of civil and moral law. The meetingwas long and horrihly interesting. The true spirit ofthe institution was peculiarly manifest, especially to­wards me, . . ." The murder of Morgan was justi­fied,and everything said that was calculated to harrowup the feelings of a patriot or Christian. Elder A., D

Knight Templar, being present, boldly asserted that ifhe should see any man writing Masonry, he shouldconsider it his duty to take measures to stop him;that as cities and churches had their laws, with a rightto indict their penalties,so Masonshad their laws,withthe right to inflict the penalties to them; and that thelodge was the place to try a Mason; that if Morganhad been writing Masonry,and his throat was cut fromear to ear, his tongue torn out by the roots, and hisbody buried beneath the rough sands of the sea, atlow-watermark, where the tide ebbs and flows twicein twenty-four hours, he could not complain in not.havingjustice done him. Amen, amen, amen, was theaudible response around the room."At the next meeting of the lodge, by request of

the }faster, I attended. Here a scene passed whichlanguage cannot describe. Several hours were em-

THE BROXD SEAL.186

-._

pJoyed in abusing and making charges against me, theprincipal of which were,I had spoken against the insti­tution. Many questions were asked and insults offeredme. I told them frankly I bad spoken against theprinciples of the order; that the right of opinion, thefreedom of speech,and the liberty of the press, wereprivileges given to me by God; purchased by the bloodofmy fathers; that I had inhaled them with my firstbreath, and I would only lose them with my last; thatif they could remove my objections to the institution,which I then exhibited, well- if not, they could expelme; but if they proceeded to further abuses,they mustsuffer the consequences. My objections were not re­moved, and I requested permissionto withdraw, Soonafter I left them, they expelled and immediately com­menced a most wicked persecution against me. Theprofessed ministers of ,Christ, infidels, and drunkards,from Buffalo to Albany, were united to destroy mycharacter. I was admonished by oral and epistolarycommunications to be on my guard, to can'y arms; andso great wasmy personal danger, that myfriends wouldnot suffer me to ride alone from one town to another.In short, they opposed my interest, deranged my busi­ness, pointed me out as an unworthy and viciousvaga­bond, an object of contempt, and transferred.thi.If char­acter after me; and it ·would·seemthat they intendedto do it during my natural life. The united effortsofthe -fraternity to injure me have, however, proveduna vailing,"

187APPENDIX.

We copy also from his article the followingprecious tidbit of history:-

"Masonry appears to have found great diftibulty inerossingthe flood. Noah and his sons were Dot inif.i..

I

WE have made frequent reference in the bodyof our narrative to the claimsof Masonryto a vastantiquity. John the Baptist, Solomon,and Hiram,king of Tyre, and even Enoch,and the early patri­archs of the world,are made to figure. In the.American .Ami-masonic and BiblicaZ Review (May,l868), published in Newbern, N. C., Rev. J. C.Bigham,in an article entitled MasonicTradition,goesover the ground of these mighty pretensions.Some of the time he used Webb's FreemasonMonitor,which was first published in 1796, andis still regarded as a standardwork amongMasons.He first 9.notes fromthe Monitoras follows:-

"In the instruction given in the second degree, thecreation of the world is described,and many particu­lars recited, all of whiohhave been carefully preservedamongMasons,and transmited fromone age to anotherby oral tradition."

BOW OLD IS ;MASONRY?

B.

THE BB()XEN SEAL. r188

ated, and the ineffable secrets could not be intrustedto their care. To meet this emergency,says the Moni­tor in the history of the 'ninth arch' degree, Enochbuilt a temple under ground, according to a patterngiven him from heaven, which was also the originalpattern of Solomon's temple, containing nine arches,one above another. He then caused a triangular plateof gold to be made, each side of which was a cubitlong, enriched it with the most precious stones, andengraved upon it the ineffable characters, includingthe sacred name of God,whichnone but Masonsknew,and deposited it in the deepestarch. He made a doorof stone and put a ring of iron therein, by which itmight be raised, and placed it over the openingof theupper arch, that the matters enclosedtherein might bepreserved from the impending destruction. He thenbnilt,two great pillars,the one of brass, to withstandwater, and the other of marble to withstand fire,andengraved on the marble pillar hieroglyphics,signifyingthat there was a most precious treasure concealed inthe arches under ground, and on the pillar of brasstheprinciples of the liberal arts, particularly of Masonry.. • • Here this precious piece of tradition closes inthe copy of the Monitor before me of the editionof 1864. Stearns, in his letters on Masonry,quotes theremainder of the story from an edition of the samework published in 1802. It is as follows: 'Fourteen.hundred years afterwards,when Solomonwas about tobuild the temple, his workmen,in digging for a foun­dation, discovered the ruins of' an ancient edifice: betherefore declined to build upon that spot. Somedaysafter this, he sent three master architects to make fur­ther search among the ancient mines. One of them,

189APPENDIX.

Thus it will be seen that Masonry had rather atough passage from the antediluvian days on tothe time of Solomon; but .whenwe reach the ageof the building of the temple, according to masonio literature, all is plain sailing. In the fifth chapter of the First Book of Kings, we are told that"Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that.bare burdens, and fourscore thousand hewers inthe mountains; besides the chief of Solomon'sofficerswhich were over the work, three thousandand three hundred, which ruled over the people

in working in the rubbish with his pickaxe,found aniron ring, fixed in a large, square stone. "Vith muchdifficultythey raised the stone, when the mouth of adeep and dismal cavern appeared. This proved to bethe first arch of Enoch's temple. One of the men de­seended into the ninth arch, and there discovered thetriangular plate of gold, richly adorned with preciousstones,just as Enoch had left it. There was the sacredineffablename of God, which, during all that time hadbeen unknown,and even yet is known only to Masons.This wonderful prize was taken up and presented toSolomon,and Hiram, king of Tyre, who, on beholdingit, were struck with amazement. They afterwards ex­amined the sacred characters with attention,and Solo­mon declared that 'God had bestowed upon them aparticular favor in having permitted them to discoverthe most preciousjewels of Masonry.' With all haste,Solomon proceeds to reorganize the long-suspendedinstitution."

THE BROKEN SEAL.190

Masonry revels in Solomon's temple. Historyno farther back than that - only about three thou­sand years ago - is quite modern to,au institutionof such tremendous antiquity. Masonry is perfect­ly at home here, even in thEf"most holy place."Coarse and red-nosed fellows of this nineteenth.century talk about Solomon, and Hiram, king ofTyre, as if they were old cronies of. theirs, withwhom they used to go to school, and sit on thesame bench.Of course, an institution that sweeps over an­

cient times 'so easily, taking in the antediluvianworld, and the age of Solomon,need make slight.pause at John the Baptist, and all the ages of chiv­a.lry. St. John the Baptist's day - the 24th ofJune - is a great day with the Masons. Whatprecisely he did on that day, we do not clearlyunderstand, whether he ate "locusts and wildhoney " in larger measure than usual, or whether

"There were employed in building the temple threegrand masters, three thousand and three hundred mas­ters, eighty thousand fellow-crafts, and seventy thou­sand entered apprentices,or bearers of burdens."

that wrought in the work." All this· force theMonitor at once appropriates for Masonry, anddescribes it as follows:-

191APPENDIX.

J

with all the rest of the marvellous tales about"Old Mother Hubbard," and "There was a manin our town," &c.,&c. But many of the weakerbrethren do actually believe these stories aboutSolomon,Hiram, John the Baptist, and the like.They are really carried away with the idea thatthey belong to a community of the utmost re­spectability, and of the most immemorial an­tiquity.Now,as a 'simplematter of fact, Freemasoniy is

-of quite modem origin, only reaching back intothe earlier part of the last century. Our ownBenjamin Franklin was born in the city of Boston,

" There w.. an o1d woman tOBBedup in a blankei,Seventy timeB .. high .. the moon,"

he had his head cut off to please Herodias. Butit is not to be doubted that he did something re­markableon the 24th of June, old style, and thatthe Masonsare the peoplewhoown John the Bap­tist, and have the right to celebrate the day calledafter his name.We have no idea, of course, that the better in­

formed among the Masons believe these greatswelling words. They repeat these legends justas children tell over, from generation to genera­tion, the wondersof MotherGoose,~--how.

THE BROKEN SEAL.192

several years before this institution had any exist.ence in the world. Its history is easily traced.The year and day of its origin are known. Itbegan in the city of London on the 24th of June,1717.For two or three centuries before this date,

there had existed in Engla.nd societies represent­ing different trades and professions. In all, therewere more than ninety of these unions, composedof men of the various trades and handicrafts, thestone masons among the rest. These men metprofessedly to improve themselves in their employ.ments, to secure themselves' against frauds' andimpositions, and to gratify their social naturesSometimes they were secretly at war with government; and attempts. were made to suppressthem. But none of these organizations had thename or the marks of Freemasonry up to the dategiven above - 1717.

In 1666, it will be remembered, occurred thegreat fire of London, by which so large a part ofthe city was burned to the ground. After this, &8was natural, the trades, and especially the maaons,grew to an unusual importance. Various compa­nies of th~se masonshad beenassociated in rebuild.ing the great structures of London. These com-

IS

193APPENDIX.

panies had their separate halls, or places ofmeeting, their separate charity funds,&c. Timepassedon,and these societieshad comeinto ratherslow conditionmorally. They were more conviv­ial than useful. At length, in 1717,on the 24thof June, four companiesof these stone masonsmet .st the Appletree Tavern, in London, and agreedto give up their separate organizations,to throwby their working tools, and combine themselvesinto a new order. This was the beginning ofspeculative Freemasonry. .The leading men inthis movement were worthless and abandoned.They had sunk down into a kind of idle and cor­rupt state, were reckless and dissatisfied, anddesired to organize themselves into somesocietywhichshouldgive exercise and play to- their mor­bid passions.Three years after, in 1720,they burned all their

paperi!, so that the origin of tho society might,if possible, be shrouded in mystery. But thewholeaffair lies so near our time, and within theera of well-attestedhistory, that this beginningcould not be concealed. In 1723 came ont whatis called the Bookof the .Oonstitutions ofMasonry_In this bookw~ have the lofty claims and preten­sionsof Masonry,Botforth in that boldand lying

. THE BROKEN SEAL.194

The more intelligent and sensible Masonsarenowabandoningthis claimto an immenseantiqui-

" From the time of its birth, the lying wonder beganto run to and fro in the earth wherever British com­meree could convey it; and charters for holding ma­sonic lodges were everywhere sold at a cash price, andan annual stipend by jhe Grand Lodge of London. Tothat grand lodge the inhabitants of most parts of con­tinental Europe, of the East and West Indies, of Afri­ca, and of America, paid an annual tribute for the rigbtto confer the three degrees ofMorgan'8 Masonry. .A. D. 1729 Freemasonry was first introduced into theEast Indies; 1730, the Grand Lodge of Ireland wasfonned; 1731, a patent was sent from England to erecta lodge at the. Hague; 1733,Freemasonry establisheditself in North America, at Boston."

spirit which has been current ever since. If hissatanic majesty himself had undertaken to givethe history of Masonryin this world,he couldnotpossibly have mingled more falsehoodwith thenarrative than is foundin allour masonichistoricalliterature. A society can hardly hope to impressthe worldwith its moral excellencewhen it is sorotten and false in its very foundations. Nothingwhich is intrinsicallygood could ever dare, evenin sport, to iterate and reiterate such unfathoma­ble lies about its OWl' nativity. Mr.Henry DanaWard, in his brief History of'Freemasonry,8a1s,-

19:1APPENDIX.

While Mr. Studley might not agree with us In

reference to the exact year when speculative, Ma­sonry began, yet he concedes all that we desire toclaim, viz., that speculative Freemasonry is some­thing of comparatively modern origin.

"It is not a pleasant task to disturb the complacencyof men who are determined to enroll Nimrod, and Mo­ses,and Solomon,and the King of Tyre, and his name­sake, the.widow's son, among the actual past membersof our order; but I am constrained to believe that'those distinguished men were not Freemasons, exceptin the Pickwickian intimationsof our ritual."

ty. Rev. Mr. Studley, in his address in 1867, atthe time of the great masonic .gathering in Boston,said,-

THE BROKEN SEAL.196

"David C. Miller sworn. Between the hours oftwelve and one o'clockof the 12th of September last,witness heard a voice at his door, demanding admit­tance; the door was opened,when Jesse French seizedhim, as he said, by virtue of criminalprocess,roughly;was ordered to speak to no person, and told no personhad a light to speak to him. Was taken into a backroom of Danolds's,put under a guard of two personsarmed with clubs, and detained one or two hours; re­quested to see the precept (or warrant); was told hehad no businessto see it. Then askedwhat magistrateIssued it; was told it was none of his business. Frenchprofesses to be an ofticer. These requests repeated,

WE have given the account of what took place.in Batavia on that memorableTuesday, the 11t1:of September, 1826,from our own stand-pointofknowledge and observation. But it may interestthe reader to go over the same ground again, rap­idly, from the stand-pointof Mr. Miller's experi­ence and observation. The followingis the testi­mony which he gave before the Genesee Courtof Oyer and Terminer, some weeks after, whenFrench, the constable,and some of his associateswere indicted for riot.

c.

19'1APPENDIX.

but conduct of officercontinued perverse, austere, andthreatening. Witness demanded what crime he wasseized for? answered,he would see. Was at lengthordered into a wagonwith nine persons,.of whomWiI­COlt was one. All had clubs, as witness thinks. Inthia ~anner proceeded to Stafford, six miles, towardsLe Roy. Some persons were before on horseback.Stopped at Prindle's inn; was ordered to go into anupper roomof a stone building, and taken there. Nearby witness requested to go into a room in the tavern;was denied. In the room in the stone house,the .guardwas increased, armed as before; thinks Hurlburt wasone of the guard; Wilcox was one. Was detainedthere some time ; repeatedly.urged to be taken to themagistrate,havingby this time incidentally learned thathe wasat Le Roy; was repulsed. At length orders weregiven by French to take witness into the street. Onarriving at the street, was ordered into a wagon, oneguard being on each side of him, as was uniformly thecasewhen he went out. Wilcox and Hurlburt guard­ed him principallyat Stafford,with new hickory or oakclubs, appeared to be cut from hoop-poles; were fromthree to three and a half feet long, and about an inchand a half in diameter; from forty to sixty were mostlyarmed in this manner; some might have left them.Was not in fear; wbile in the lodge-room at Stafford,was told by a stranger in the presence of Hurlburt,Wilcox, and some others, ' You arc not going to LaRoy; y~u are not to be tried at Le Roy; you are notto be tried by an ordinary tribunal; you are goingwhereMorganbasgone.' Witness then asked 'Where~ Morgan? ' the answer was, ,You will see.' , Witnesa''''Bt thought the object of his arrest was to ransack h'B

THE BROUN 81UL.198

office,but, from the transactions at Stafford, becamesatisfied that they intended to 'put him out of the way,as a prisoner or otherwise. Remained a fewminutesin the wagon, say eight or ten; was then ordered outto return to the lodge-room; witness peremptorily re­fused. Wilcox then had him by the arm, and hethinks Hurlburt; they insisted on his going back;some person, at all events, had hold of his arm on theother side. Some of witness's friends had arrived bythis time; got into the wagon again with the usualguard. Remained a fewminutes, and was orderedoutagain by French. Remained out a few minutes, andordered in again; remained a fewminutes, saw theywere not going on, requested to get out, and was al­lowed to, guarded as before. Again went into thewagon, at the instance of Mr. Talbot; after somemin­utes the wagon was ordered to pass over the bridge tothe next tavern; then ordered to halt for supper. Dur­ing all this time, however,Mr. Talbot, his counsel,wasurging French to go on and do his duty by taking wit­ness to the magistrate."On the wagon going to the other tavern, and before

witness had got out, Talbot came up and told witnessto get' out and go home, and let him see who dareddetain him, saying he was satisfiedthey did not intendto take witness to the magistrate. Expressed his sur­prise, and remonstrated repeatedly. Witness accord­ingly got out and "moved towards home,got beyondthe tavern where they first stopped,Wilcox and Hurl­burt by his side; after having passed the first taverna little, French pursued on, and there overtook andrescued him; was then returned to the crowd, and awarm conversation ensued between French and Tal-

199APPENDIX.

bot; several others made remark&. Talbot agaiJ! demanded the motive of the process (having repeatedly

. requested it before). French said it was trespass onthe case. This was the first time he would consent togive the character of the process. Bail wasthen offered;witnessthen said he would ride with his friends in theircarriage; that he, French, might have as many guardsas he chose. Had got into their carriage. Frenchattempted to get him out; did not succeed, HeardJames Ganson say, 'Miller must not go or ride in thatcarriage.' Witness's counsel then advised him to getout and walk on towards Le Roy; he did so, followedby a numerous retinue, some in wagons, and some onhorseback,and Hurlburt and Wilcox at his side, as hethinks, though his keepers were sometimes changed.Passed about three quarters of a mile in this way,whenhe was ordered to get into another carriagewith a veryfleet spanof horses. The whole cavalcade then movedon at a rapid pace; French sometimes in front, some­times in rear. Seemed under the influence of strongfeelings and uncommon ones. Proceeded with con­siderable noise to Le Roy. On arriving at Hall'stavern, at Le Roy, all got out, and witness startedimmediately for the magistrate; was seizedby French,and told he could not go; he must go in there. Aconsiderablecollectionof persons gathered about him,a majority of whom witness took to be friendly.French, after several attempts to get him into thehouse, left him; this was about sunset, as witnessthinks; at length was taken by the arm by witness,and told he was going to carry him to the magistrate;the crowd crowded them along towards his office;theyarrived there, when Frenoh again put witne. lIIld..

TIDII BBOKD SEAL.too

"Between the hours of two and three o'clockon themorning of the 10th, I was alarmed by the 0rJ o~

A few weeks later, Mr. Millerwas requested tofurnish for publicationa more detailed account ofwhat he passed through during that memorableweek of the abduction of Morgan. From thisaccount we take some further extracts, beginningwith the attempt to burn his offices on Sundaynight, September 10.

the keeping of Hurlburt and Wilcox, and disappearedhimsel£ He was, after sometime,called for,and soughtafter, but could not be found. The magistrate, Mr.Barton, was asked how long he would detain him; re­plied, 'Only a reasonabletime.' After some little timeBarton remarked they did not seem intending to ap­pear, and he could then be discharged. Talbot replied,'they did not wish to be hasty.' Witness was dis­charged. On returning, -snd nearly opposite Hall's,was seized again by French. Witness proposed pass­ing Hall's and going to Walbridge's, a little distancebeyond. French seizedwitness violently behind, andhallooed a rescue. Witness's friends parted him fromFrench. French seizedhim in this mannerthree times.Witness was rescued. At Walbridge's French arrestedhimagain on a newwarrant, issuedby Esquire Skinner,Witness's friends saved him fromarrest -again, put himinto a carriage, and he camehome. It was after darkbefore he left Justice Barton's. Thinks it was as lateas eight or nine when he was arrested the last time byFrench, at Walbridge's."

201APPEBDIX.

"In the morning I found that the fire had.been com­municated to the building I was in, as well as to theone adjoining. The intention of the incendiary was,to make thorough work, if we may judge of the com-

-He here refers to the advice which I myselfhad Benthim,through Harris, as detailed in thebodyof the narrative.

, Fire r' My windowsbeing closed,and a lighted can­dle in my room, prevented me from discovering itanearness. I awoke Captain Davids, who was asleepin an adjoining bed, and informed him of the alarm,and immediatelyrepaired to the west window of myroom, which overlooked the adjoining building, inwhiohwas my newspaper office,distant about fifteenfeet, the width of the alley, and saw that the fire wascommunicated to that building, under the flight ofstairs which led to the upper room by an outwardpassage. This discovery, and the dashing of waterupon the fire by a person who had been roused bythe alarm,were almost simultaneous. At this point oftime, my companionwas in the act of unbarring theoute! door.. I requested him. to desist- the advicethat I had receivedwithin the preceding six or eighthours, from a man of deep and thorough penetration,not, in any event, to unbar my door at the dead hourof night, ft.ashingacrossmy recollection. ' N0 means,'said he, 'will be left untried, and no trick nnresortedto, to gain access to your room and papers. Be pre­pared for all sorts of alarms, and# guard against themost cunning stratagems."

THE BROKEN8JUL.202

" From. the presumed source of this information Igave full credit to its contents, and immediatelycom­mencedwriting a handbill,warning the public of thethreatened danger, and put the manuscript into the

This also was the message which I had sentthrough Harris:-

Then followsthe general account of what tookplace on the morning of the 11th, pertaining tothe abduction of Morgan. The narrative withregard to himse1fthen goes on.

"The 12th of September opens a scene in which Iwps compelledto be somewhat conspicuous. At thehour often in the forenoon,I receiveda note, couched,as nearly as can be recollected, in the following lan­guage: 'Be on your guardI Between the hours oftwelve and one o'clock,at the ringing of the bell, yourofficesare to be destroyed. The party will consolidatetheir forces under a hill east of the village,and willapproach in solid column.'"

bustible materials used. Straw, spirits of turpentine,cotton wicking wound round and impregnated withpitch, was the fuel for the quickening flame. ThatProvidence' which compassethall things' is visible inthis transaction. Its shield was thrown over us. Twostrangers, residents in an adjoiningcounty,whosebusi..ness brought them to' this place at an hour when thepublic houseswere closed,gave the alarm,and hailedthe incendiary, who dropped his dark lantern, andfled."

203APPENDIX.

,

hands of the compositor, to be printed and circulated;but I was' dissuaded from this by some of our citizensof the first respectability, alleging, as they did, theirdisbelief that so daring an outrage could for a momentbe harbored in the bosoms of free American citizens,and at the same time naming the effort that Masonshad made to impress the belief that I,or some of myfriends, had, the morning before, set fire."

THE BROKEN SEAL.204

No great exoitement can spread and prevailamong a free and educated people, which does notsoon show itself in song. We have given a partof the famous " Hoop-pole Song," which was quitepopular in the time of it, and did its work amongthe people. But our readers may like to see otherspecimens which were called out' by the prevailingexcitement.To understand the following, and as an illustra­

tion of the kind of intellectual food upon whichMasons feed, it must be borne in mind that Jubela,J ubelo, and J ubelum are the three atrocious villainswho murdered Hiram Abiff, Grand Master of thelodge at Jerusalem, 'becausehe would not tell thema wonderful word which was the Master Mason'sword. He, faithful fellow that he was, wouldn'tdo any such thing, but preferred to die first.Accordingly he did die, and with him, as was longsupposed, died that wonderful word which hewould not·tell. But after four hundred and seven-

Am'I-)USONIC POETRY.

D.

205APPENDIX.

ty years, by somewonderful interposition of Providence, that marvellous word was re-discovered.However, the word Mahrhah-bone had been, in themeaa time, substituted for it, and so it was thoughtbest to continue this latter word, as is done downto the present ages.But after the murder of Hiram Abiff, King Solo­

mon at once sent out twelve men,- three east,three west, three north, and three Bouth,-to hunt,up the murderers. They were found at last, bythe hearing of their voices issuing from a deepcavern in the depths of the earth, each one wish­ing that he had already received upon his person.the horrible punisaments, in such cases made andprovided. This shows a very active state of con­science on their part. Each one of them claimedto be a great deal more guilty than the others, andthe messengers of Sol?mon gratified them bytaking them back to Jerusalem, and putting themto death after the most approved masonic fashionAnd this was the tragic end of " J ubela, and Jubelo, and also Jubelum,"

THE BROKEN SEAL.206

" 0, strike your throats with gaugu, and beat your hearts with'quat'u,

And with gatJez, thump your pates, till you drive out all yourcares;

Our noble Jlader battered was, nor mysterie. would unfold,But we live on so,abject when every secret's told.

0, Jubela, 60.

"E'en OktbiJelum, the worthy! must vanish with the rest,And the five points of fellowship become an idle jest;No more ..,e'n raise up Hiram, the widow's cunning son;.Alas, my loving brothers, our craft it near undone I

0, Jubela, &c.

" Farewell to brother Boas, farewell to JacNin, too,Our grip. and word.are all exposed; 0, what shall Maaons do?Poor Tvbol-OtH'II and 81Kbbo'kth! their days are almost done,And, 0 I the hardest cut of all, is loss of Jlah-MA-bOfU I

0, Jubela, &c.

'One night, at a late hour, 'twaa twelve o'clock or more,I heard the Masons in a lodge most violently roar;Their playthings round they rattled, and one thu•• ighing .aid,lOur ""aft, it is in danger, I am very much afraid.'

CHORUS.

" 0, Jubela! and Jubelo I and also ,Tubelum!We're in a peck of troubles now, the times are troublesome;Half-naked we must wander, Ilip,kod. forever go,Or each true Mason hang himself in hit own cabl,..'Iott1.

!b.,....eo/-" ODe mOrning nry early,

One mol'DJngin the .prlng,I heard a maid in Bedlam," &0.

"A MASONIC LAMENTUK.

207APPENDIX.

IfAnd ligna and grips, and idle W'0rd8,And chisels, mauls, alld gauges;

"Alas, poor Jachin! ia it trueThat MuoDry' ia gone

To the dark Ihadel, with all hil crew,Boaz and Mah-bah-bone -

" Clinton the great, standll snivelling by,Hi8 dying eyes to ClOS8,

While Root and Bucklin heave the 8igh,And wipe each mournful noee,

DMtII tmd bvnal of the old offender, commOfllyellllMFreemasonry.

TUNE. - Puneml Dlsge.

" Mourn, mourn ye mystic SODSof woe;In sadness bow the head;

Bend every back in sorrow low;Poor Masonry .is dead!

. "SONG.

The following has. less genius;' perhaps, but it"Wellsuited to its purpose: -

" Let each one give the 8ignalof trouble and ~t pain,For very much 'tie doubted if here we meet again; .We'll dol" our BhMpBkitJ tJprOM, and it them for our patea,To tum U8into plummete, 10! JU8tice ready waite.

CBOBU8.·" 0, J'UJIlA I and J'UJelo I and also J'liMl'IIIfA I

We're in a peck of trouble8 now, the time8 are troublesome]Hall-ff4kItl we must wander, Blip,/r,od forever go,·Or each true Muon hang himself in hill own eaIJle-tow."

THE BBO)[BN SEAL.20b

"They vaun', and say, 'Our craft begunIn reign of wise King Solomon,When Hiram there, the widow's son,

First built the brazen altar.'They pass between Jachin and Boa.Stripped off is every rag of clothes,Nor boot nor shoe to guard t~eir toet,

Led by a hempen halter.14

uPromiscuously, through every state,There is dispersed a certain sect,Who call themselv.es the Son8 of Light,

Bu' darkened is their college;They seldom meet by light of sun,But wait until his beams are gone,And shades of night are stretched along,

To hide their bouted knowledge,

We will give one specimen more,which is a littlemore stately in its flow.

•

"Now, to the dark and .ilent tombWith BOrrow"e re8ign him;

And with the cypre88 covered o'er,To infamy consign him.

" There 1Mhim lie beneath the loadOr h18 own imperfection;-

And, 0 Iwe pray a gracious 004.Grant rum no resurrection."

"0, muat we go to that dread bourn,With all his mY8tic pothering,

!'rom whence, alul there'. no return,Until the final gathenng?

With sheepskin aprons, wooden sword8,Which we have worn for age8?

209APPlmi'DIX.

\.

" They use no post, or beam, or stud,No stone, nor brick, nor loaded hod,Nor yet a single ounce of mud

Is found in all their labor;When all is said, or learned, or dOD..

No architecUs yet begun,They pusn ..bout the bOwl of I'll"

Till scarcelY ODe .. 10..... ••

" The imprecations they invokeWould make an Algerine half choke,No savage e'er such language spoke,

As they have packed together;When brought to where they see the Ugh&.They're furnished with a sheepskin white,Whicli round their waist is belted tigh~

A. simple badge of leather.

THB B80ltEN SEAL.210

"I shall, in this number, show that the titles givento the officersin our institution have a very bad effectupon republican principles. Our ancestors, oppressedby the aristocratical principles of Europe, having en­dured for a long series of years the oppression of'kingtJ,lords, and dukes, and no choice left them butslavery or flight, resolutelychosethe latter ; and break­ing asunder the bonds which bind friends together,and sufferingthe hardships of a tempestuous passage,sat themselves quietly down in the savage wilds ofNorth AmeIica. No lords or dukes, no grand highpriests nor grand kings were there to extort the hardearnings of the laboring poor,bound together by mu­tual wants, and asking'no privilege from others whichthey were unwilling to bestow, they here sowed thefirst seeds of equal rights and privileges,which'havesprung up and yielded an abundant harvest; theyhere taught their sons to prefer death to slav.ery. At.

ner:-

SOON after the abduction of Morgan,a secedingMason,writing in the Le Roy Gazette, shows theinconsistency of Masonry with a simple republi­can government, in the followingstriking man-

!

E.

211APPEImI%.

ter the struggle ofthe Revolution,and DO enemynear todisturb their deliberations,a government was foundedon plain, simple,republican principles. No high-sound­ing titles found a place in the government; no highpriests were exacting tithes; no grand kings, withtheir royal robes,were demanding the admiration ofthe people. All were reduced to a common level, andthe man that held the highest and most enviable sta­tion mortal ever held, was styled simply President ofthe United States. Such was the government foundedby a Washington, a Franklin, a Jefferson, and thepatriots of the Revolution."Now let us examine our institution, and olearly 8R­

certain whether it is founded upon as pure a basis asthat of our commonoountry. If it is as -pureand welladapted to our oircumstances,we had better ingraftwith it our political government; if not, and if it doeshave a tendency to inoulcate aristocratica1principles,then abandon Masonry,and adhere to the government88 founded by our ancestors, for it i, true, in ehe 'Van-0tIB requirement, of life, we cannot ftilfll ()'tW duty eoboth at the same time. The government was foundedin open day, with all the light of heaven shining uponit, its principles open and equal to all men. Masonryis the child of darkness, and nothing but seorecy cansustain it. Its principles are partial, and its ultimateaim is the benefit of the fetD at eM eqJem6 of eM many.All its ceremonies are anti-socialand anti-repubhoan;the titles given to its officersI do not believe are veryrepublican. I will rehearse them, that you may at asingle glance see the bearing they have on the purerepublican. In the Grand-Lodge they have their

THE BROKEN BEAL.212

The titles in the Grand Encampment are

Worshipful Grand Sword Bearer,Worshipful Grand Standard Bearer,W orshipful Grand Marshal"Worshipful Grand Recorder,Worshipful Grand Treasurer,Worshipful Grand Wardens,Worshipful Grand Captain General,Worshipful Grand Generalissimo,Worshipful General Grand Master.

Excellent General Grand Mastel',Excellent General Grand Chaplain,Excellent General Grand Treasurer,Excellent General Grand Secretary,Most Excellent General Grand Scribe,Most Excellent General Grand King,Most Excellen~ General Grand Hig~ Priest.

And In the General ~rand Royal Arch Chapter thereBan

Grand Lecturer,Grand J nnior and Senior Deacons,Grand Master of Ceremonies,'Grand Marshal,Grand Secretary,Grand Treasurer,Grand Chaplain,Worshipful Grand Junior and Senior Wardens, 'Right Worshipful Deputy Grand Master,Most Worshipful Grand Master.

218A.PPENDIX.

gave to their officers,I do not know; but thus much Ido know, that every officer,in the long catalogue of •titles, had some emblem of royalty affixed to him.This being the case,my brethren, and it being equallytrue, that the great end and aim of Masonry is to cre­ate distinctions among mankind, and secure to thefew the rights of the many, will any of you blindlyadhere to Masonrywhen its comes in contact with theleast of those equal lawa which were secured to youby the blood of YQurfia.tllel'A?If you wUL.then rmust bid farewell to you ADdJANAJ).ry,"

What titles the

Knights of Tutons,Knights of Calatrava,Knights of Alcantara,Knights of Redemption,Knights of Christ,Knights of the Mother of Christ,Knights of Lazarus,Knights of the Star,Knights of the Band,Knights of the Annunciation ofthe VirginMary,Knights of St. Michael, .Knights of St. Stephen, andKnights of the Holy Ghost,

THE BROKEN 8EAL.214'

" Since the lodge passed censure on me for not ad­hering to the bloody laws, they called my conductunmasonic. The main object of all their proceduresseems to be, that justice may be hoodwinked,and lib­erty bound in chains. Means are resorted to by everycunning device, that the order may stand before theworld in a fair and flourishingappearance. They haveattempted to secure all the uninitiated who, in theleast had any knowledgeof the outrages, in their ma­sonic shackles, and in some instances have succeeded.In the institution there are some' .leakyvessels,'andfrom such sources I know that the fraternity are ad­monished and enjoined to withhold intercourse anddeal with all who have left them, to detect the inform­ant, and to make no communicationsto the suspectedbretbren; evidently drawing a line between Anti-rna-80DS and themselves, emblematical .of their supposedlordly power. But under a free government, where

MANYyears ago, when this whole subject wasfresh upon my mind, Iwrote out for Southwick'sNational Observer the story of my persecutions ina series of letters. I cannot do better than givesome extracts from that account, that the readermay see exactly the course of events tht:oughwhich I passed.

F.

215APPENDIX.

we breathe (unbiasaed by masonio oaths) no BUob air,the honest are discovering the wiokedness of the craft;and when the opposers of law and religion secure one,the dear and sacred principles of liberty and law en-­couraged others to pursue a different course. Manyof the chapters and lodges are in a tremendous quarrel,and some have voted their charters back to the motherfountain of iniquity. 1say' fountain' of iniquity; forreason, without the aid of religion, teaches me thatarson"kidnapping, and murder are crimes of the dark­est dye, and the fountain which feeds them must be COf­

rupt at its source. The lodge and chapter in this andothes places acted in concert and 'Underthe directionof the Grand Lodge of the State, and the said GrandLodge DID CAST LOTS WM 8hou/,d come out andD.ESPATOHMORGAN and MILLEll ifnece88aryto.8'UJYP"688 the development of masonic 8ecrets. My au­thority is from 'the best sources, and is unquestionable.When the acts of the chapter and lodges were known,they refused to aot as bodies on the deed of death, butfrequently met in knots of eight or ten to contrivemischief; and even then admitted to their confidencenone but those who had been actually engaged in theconspiracy for aiding and abetting; but so black andhorrid were their plots, that among these few despera-

. does several shuddered and revolted."1have thus far given a brief account of what actu­

ally passed at the commencement of the outrages com­mited on Morgan and Miller in order to snppress thepublication of the secrets of Masonry. Also, the ma­sonic punishment inflicted on me for objeoting to suchprocedures. Were 1 to give a full account of all thefacts in mv nos8ession relative to the C&Be, and all

THE BROKEN BBAL.216

"In this paper will be found the first number of Cap­tain Greene's letters, addressed to the editor of theNational Observer,which will be continued from timeto time, until they are all published.'"In the developmentofthe masonicoutrages,no man

has been placed in a more delicate and difficult situa­tion than CaptainGreene,and but few would have metand overcome the toils and snares of his enemieswithgreater facility than he has done. SUrroundedby falseand foul brethren in the lodge and in the church, hishas been a state of the severest trials for t'be last ~f­teen months, but, single-handed,be has triumphed overthe wiles of closely-combinedenemies determined onhis ruin. Naturally warm and ardent in his feelings,and young in the knowledge of its mysteries,he was,11Daskedand unsolicited, made the depository of ma-

From this effort I received momentaryrelief.Mybusiness revived, and to appearance I wasabout to receive the reward of a grateful publicfor daring, in time of peril, to do my duty. Buton the ~5th of Janna!y, 1828, the BepublicanAdvocate, published at Batavia, and edited byDavid C. Miller, inserted my letters, with theseremarks:-

" BATA.VlA., October 2, 1827.""S~D. GRlmNB.

the abominable.persecutioas and hellish machinationsagainst me personally (yet by them truly masonic), itwouldbe devoting more time to the subject than I feelwilling,a.tpresent, to spare.

!1'lAPPENDIX.

• "Our readen will excuse U8 for indulging in epithete adnames, when they are made acquainted with the fact, thatseveral individuals of our village drive a considerable trade atIlandering certain characters, amonr whom Btand pretminentlJconspicuous, Det1.CO'A Dibble, Grand Commander Sir aem,Brown, General Towner. and EbeDUer Mix."

sonic InfAmtioru and masonic POtIJ(!)f". Ifhe shrunk fromthe horrid picture of meditated violence, arranged inthe Grand Cliapter of the State, commanding itS sub­ordinates, with fire, fagots, poison, and blood, to stopthe publication of the .secrets of Masonry, he did nomore than any honest man should hsve done. Butwhen he dared to give teaming of danger to the vie­tims of masonic wrath and power, he showed that henot only ft>1t but dared to act."In proportion to the value placed upon property and

life, the public are indebted to Captain Greene. Butfor his timely caution our dwellings would have beenwrapped in flames,and our streets drenched with blood.It was thi8 that called upon his devoted head theanathemas and continued curses of such men as Doc­tor Dibble (sometimes called Deacon Dibble, and bythe very irreverent, Deacon Devil).· It was this dea­con that took him to task, and put him through aI:levere masonic drill, when he discovered that he re­coiled from the view of arson and murder; it was thisdeacon also, who told him that' there are, belongingto the masonic order, sufficient numbers of deacons ofthe church and minister8 of the gospel who standready to tear Miller's printing offices to the ground;'thus endeavoring to inspire him with the strength andterror of the order. It was thi8 deacon, too, who re­marked to him in the same conversation, 'should you

TIIl!I BROKEN BEAL.J18·

see them [the Masons] tearing down Miller's buildings,or even taking his life, lift not 'your hand or voice in op­position.' And. it was this deacon .who told Mr. andMrs. Otto that the-Grand Lodge of the State had senton orders to suppress Morgan's work, cost what it may,even to the shedding of bloodI

"Under the discipline of such a drill-master, with allthe terrors of the hell-engendered order spread beforehim, few would have dared to have been just. It isfor this doing and daring that Captain Greene is vis­ited, in character and property, with continued masoniccurses. To illustrate this, we need only name a recentoccurrence: the hero of the occurrence will be foundto be one of the most mischief-making,meddling bipedsthat ever stood upon two feet; one for whom Masonrywas made, and he for it; we here scarcely need nameEbenezer H'tZ. True to his sworn fealty to his lovelyMasonry, which enjoins upon him' to malce its enemieshi8 enemies,' in a late peregrination to Buffalo, Miztook it into his head to stop the stage at almost everypublic house between this village and that, not to payhis devoirs at the bar, but to berate the character ofCaptain Greene and his family, and advise the kindlylistening landlord. to warn his travelling customersagainst Greene's house, giving it a character of kno­nese and looseness. Discovering, by a word which fellfrom some one, that one of his fellow-passengers wasGreene's bar-keeper, MIX, with an assurance andeffrontery for which he is unsurpassed, turned' to him,and inquired,' Have you a wife?' on being answeredin the affirmative, he continued, , What J and left herat Greene's?' 'Yes.' 'Then I advise you to goimmediately back, if you r~gard your own honor; set-

~19

" TlJmy Personal Friends and the Public."The witnessesarc numerousand honorablethat Ma­

sonry is worthless; that it is a curse to a free,thinking,moral people; lodges are returning their charters, andthe best membersof the fraternity raising their voicesand pens against it; embodyinga multitude of faults,without a single virtue to soften its vices,he must in­deed be a visionarywpo can cherish a lingering hopethat the order can be sustained. With these views ofthe subject, and when it is considered that the struggles I have been compelledto make l!aVQ been arden'

These remarks seemedto give a new impulse tothe Masonsgenerally,whowere implicatedin con­sequence of fellowshiping the conspirators andmurderers, but .more especially the conspiratorsthemselves,and new exertions were made,and not8 stone left unturned to bring me to utter ruin.ColonelMillertook leave of the Advocate,as edi­tor, and in his address to his personal friends andthe public he observes,-

tIe with him, leave him, and I will look you up SOlUe

rupectahle place.'"Such facts as ~e foregoing,in connectionwith hun­

dreds of other masonic efforts to destroy that mightbe named, has called forth these remarks. And wecan assure the traveller, who has occasionto stop atour village,that at Greene's he will find good accom­modations,ready and willingattendants, an intelligentlandlord,surrounded by an interesting family."

THE B.ROKEN SEAL.220

\ "With these few remarks I take my leave of you,and I hope forever, as the conductor of a public jour­nal; and as sincerely wishing you social and politicalhappiness,as I believe in the ultimate downfall ofMasonry. DAVID C. MuLERo"

A!tel:"ma~y more remarks of a general nature,he closes 8S follows: -

and intense, I think the public will agree with me,thatI may, with propriety, withdraw from the field,moreespecially as I have never been anything further thana simple instrument in originating this moral revolu­tion. In this I have not claimed,neither do I claim,any other merit than that of daring to do my duty;and even in this lowe all to the support and moralfirmness of a few dauntless individuals,whose nerveswere strung with an energy equal to the danger andjustice of the cause.

"In this great struggle, the names of George W.Harris and SamuelD. Greene, of John Hascall, JamesBallard, Herbert A. Read, and Elder David Bernard,stand conspicuous in the great moral daring. Theywere Masons,and 8S such perilled all that is dear toman to promote the great controversy. To some ofthem the public are indebted for the exposure andsuppressionof intended violence,by their untiring vigi­lance and timely warnings, and to all for their variousindependent and manly effortsin unveilingthe hideousdeformitiesof a moral monster. I speak particularly ofthese gentlemen, because they were in the ~eld at atime that called for more than ordinary daring. If toany in this sectionmuch is due, it is to them."

221A.PPENDIX.

"HAVINGfor a long time kept Public House, the subscriber hasthe assurance to observe that he is competent and qualified forthe task. He has removed from the house called the CountyHotel, or Park Tavern, to the Old Stand, known as the Russeli.or Gibbs House, in the central part of the Village. He has agood house, welllltted up, good attendants, and a plenty of goodvictuals and drink, and (in the recent outrages upon Morgan andMiller, for which the country is broug"" ~ t1le blush); happen,to be on the good side of the question Gentlemen, call and seethe 1I:orlt man in all the country- 80 8ay the ~fMonB.

"S. D.GRS......

"BATAVIA HOTEL.

This roomwas a place of much resort. Infor­mationwas obtained,confidencewas restored, andmy business and custom increased; and on the14th December,1828,I put the following adver­tisement into the Republican Advocate:-

tL Weare pleased to observethat a number of Anti­masonic editors have complied with Mr. Greene's re­quest in sending papers to his Anti-masonic reading­room; and trust others will followtheir example. Mr.Greene derives no advantage from this, having onlyestablishedthe roomfor the publioaccommodation."

Still:determined to act only in defence for thepreservationof life, and that of my family,I com­menced diffusing more' universal information onthe subject of Freemasonry, by establishing anAnil-masonicreading-room,which the Batavia Ad­VQ ste, of December5, 1828,notices thus:-

"

THE BROKEN SEAL.122

"BATA.VIA, January 20, 1829.

"DEAB SIR: The guardian care with whioh youobserve every part of .theAnti-masoniocause deserveswell of an enlightened community. Noone with whomthe'masonic party is at war but the editor of the FreePress, like a faithful sentinel upon the watch-towerof freedom, observesand defends him. With due re­spect and grateful acknowledgementsI tender you my

. hearty thanks for the notice you have in this instancetaken of me. Sir, I left not the masonic ranks forhonor or profit, but to satisfy my consciencein regardto that duty lowed to my God,myself,and country.Such sentiments as are expressedin the "Free Press,"not only revives the drooping, but animates them toonward achievements in the noble cause of virtue.Your notice of the reading-roomis gratifying. I keepit up fur the public goodr it is a master engineto throwlight abroad. It makesthe Masonstremendouslymad;they sometimes comein,when I am ab8ent from home,and tear up the papers. They are sure to tear theBoston Free Press and the Anti-Masonic Enquirer.This looks like Masonry. New Year's mom was ush­ered in to me rather unpleasantly. They had (agreu,-

In consequenceof my success,or the advertise­ment, "vengeance" was visited upon me by b&smearing or painting my house and windows onthe night of the last day ofDecember,1828,whichgave rise to the followingletter to Frederick A.Sumner, of Boston, and published in the BostonAnti-MasonicFree Press:-

228APPBlfDIX.

ble to their usage), the night before,markedmy housewith printer's ink in large letters and obscenewords,the whole length and one end (the end in which thereading-room is), and the pillars in front they stripedround like barbers' poles,a crosson every pane of glassin front of the house and the end of the reading-room.My name OD the sign was blotted out. The lilies andthe scrolls on the sign were tied about with tailor'slist, nearly two hundred yards, and fastened to mypillars in front and door-knobs; and in the act totake down my bell from the top of the house,they got alarmed and fled; as yet they are not dis­covered. Public feeling is aroused on the subject;the streets were crowded with masonic spectators,jacks and doughfaces shrugging up their shoulders,braying and grinning,whiletwo hands andmyselfwereengaged in defaoing,with spirits of turpentine, theirvulgarity. With patience I bear the indignity. for 1know that the destruction of the order is to advancethe cause of religion and liberty. Every insult theycan bestowon me is the test howmuch to love,or howmuch to despise others in propostion as others defendand remain quiet in relation to me. Every meritedcontempt they bring on themselves,they tum and say, This would not have been so were it not for Greene,he has brought us into this difficulty;' thereforepartiallyattributing to me what God has guided me in the wayof truth, and this annoys them in their diabolicalplanaI am not sorry, but glad.

" I am, dear sir, yours with due respect,"SA1UUELD. GREENB."

TIlE BROKEN SEAL.-224

"Re801vea, That the cold-blooded and deliberatemalice exhibited by the masonic fraternity, and theirmore contemptible associates, towards Samuel D.Greene, a seceding Mason,and a member of the Pros-

15

Numerous other equallybase eft"ortswere made bythe Masons to destroy me, and totally ruin my busi­ness. Outrage followed outrage in quick succession,which I forbear-to notice here, lest I should make thisAppendix too long; but suchwere the bitter hostilitiespursued by the Freemasons against me, that a Sena­torial conventionfor District No, 8, convened at Bata­via, N. Y., on the 28th of January, 1829, passed thefollowing resolution:-

."WANTED,IN the village of Batavia, a butcher, who will regularly supplythe market, daily, with fresh meat during the year. A good,substantial man, destitute of the freaks incident to Masonry,will find good encouragement."

At the ~anuary term of the court, 1829,myhouse was well-filled with boarders and custom­ers; and the next resort of the craft was to hirethe butcher, whowas a FrUJTTUison, to sell me nomeats for my table, which caused the followingnotice to be given in the Republican Advocate;and after grea.t exertions, I obtained a butcher,who answered the advertisement, and furnishedme with meats.

225APPl!:NDIX.

My creatures were killed; my dog was taken downto the brook, his throat cut from ear to ear, and buriedat low-water mark; the windows of my house werebroken; the furniture of my bar destroyed, and myliquors spilled. Masons putting up at my house wouldsteal their own cloaks and blankets from their carriages,then prosecute me for the value, from a distant part ofthe county, putting me to great expense and trouble tononsuit them, and sometimes not till after they had,by some means or other, obtained two or three adjourn­ments, and caused me and my witnesses to. travel thedistance over as many times. This was done to bringmy tavern into disrepute; and the story was industri­ously circulated that travellers' things were not safe atmy house. My furniture injureCl,and in my attemptto save it from destruction, I have been choked in myown house, till my family were alarmed. lest my lifeshould be taken. All this done with the avowed inten­tion of tempting me to commie assault and battery, orHek redress by Iawsuit, that theT mi~ht avaU them-

·byterian church, in Batavia, who, at an early day, em­barked in the present glorious struggle for equal rightBand privileges, and against whom a series of outrageshave been continually directed, with a purpose steadyas time, and appetite keen as death; and from whichit would seem nothing but his entire ruin and prostra­tion, both in character and property, or the grave itself,could rescue him, has excited the general sympathyof this convention, and ought, and we have no doubtwill, receive the most decided and marked disapproba­tion of every honest man in the community."

THE BROItEN SEAL,226

selves of the law to destroy me effectually. My helphired to leave me, others sent, who, after hired, wouldget in debt, and prove unfaithful. Sham sales of stage­horses made to unprincipled drivers, who would keeptheir teams at my house; OIi usual contracts, and whena quarterly bill was presented against the ostensibleowner, it would be shoved off upon the driver, whowas irresponsible, and .WOuldabscond, or, if sued, paythe deht upon the jail limits. Merchants with whomI had dealt would divide my accounts, and sue me onevery day's trade, eausing me to pay unnecessary costs.Thus I was annoysd ; and one specimen more, out ofmany endured, shNI suffice at this time, lest I makemy Appendix too long. During the sitting of one oft.he courts, and my house full of boarders, an evidencein L'OUrtbrought a large iron-bound box to my houseeontaining twentr-tive rattlesnakes, which he had takenin Michigan, for a man in the city of New York. Af:­ter speakmg for his board and lodging at.my house, heobtained permission to store his box in my granary tillthe close of the court, or the case, on which he was anevidence, should be disposed of. Certain Freemasonsfound out that there was such a box containing theseanimsls in my possession, and they contrived to alarmthe neighborhood, and frighten the women and chil­dren with the story, which was circulated in all partsQf the village at the same time, that' the snakes hadescaped, and they were in danger of being bitten. .Thewindows flew up, the women called in their children,while the Masons, followed by the boys and a rabble,simultaneously, rushed into my house and yards, shedsand barns, bearing' all kinds of weapons, to kill the

227APPENDIX.

-snakea, thickening the air with screechingand screamiug, loading me and my housewith curses and all man..ner of epithets, because I had suffered the box to beleA,and the snakes to escape. When, 10 I the :makeatDereall this time safe in the boe. This was done tofrighten away some of my custom; but finding thisplan had failed, they went immediately to the mothersof my hired girls, and said to them,« Greene would

j not part with your girls on any account." «Why,"said the mother. «Because," said this Mason," Greenehas got twenty-four rattlesnakes in his cellar wall, andyour girl is the only one who dares visit his cellar."The mothers, half frightened to death, hastened to myhouse to persuadetheir daughters to run no more risks,but to leave my house immediately. This derangedmy business, and delayed my cooking, while my do­mestios were engaged to allay the excitement j butnothing would satisfy the mothers until their girlswould leave the house. By thus deprivingme of help,and spreading such a report, I had to incur great ex­pense, and for it, unnecessarylabor, to replacemy help.And when myhousewas full,in the recessof the court,the Masons, headed by Johnson Goodwill, the per­jured witness fromBatavia, when partly drunk, wouldride up their horseswithin my piazza,and call for rat­tlesnake soup; and lighting from their horses, travelthrough my bar-room,pretending to knock the snakesfromtheir heels.

Finding it impossible to pursue my business 88 apublic taverner in Batavia, I disposedof my establish­ment in the spring of 1829; and for the purpose of I

obtaining the avails of a small mortgage I had in Con-

THE BROKEN SEAL.

Eight years have now passed away. The murderersr,f Morgan and their numerousaccessoriesscattered over

oectiout, I took a journey to that State, and during mytravels visited Boston, where I received some proposi­tions which induced me, if I could settle my businessin Western New York, to embrace, and move to Bos­ton. I returned to Batavia, and settled my affairs inthe best manner possible, and returned to Boston inDecember,1829. Believing it a duty to do all in mypower to destroy so great an enemy to religion and.law, and religiouslybelieving that Freemasonry is theman of sin spoken of by the Apostle in tho secondchapter of Second Thessalonians,I commenced travel­ling and giving publio lectures on Freemasonry, andspreading information by obtaining subscriptions toAnti-masonic newspapers,and had much success; whilethe Boston Masonic Mirror, the organ of the masonicinstitution in Massachusetts, published by Moore &Sevey, and the New York Batavia Times, publishedby Frederick Follett (a notorious witness,who camefromBatavia to Boston to swear against me), kept upagainst me a constant routine of masonicslanders; andone'of those articles published in the Times, and thenin the Mirror, I-was induced to notice, and in behalfof the Commonwealth,complained of Moore & Seveyfor a libel, of which, for want of testimony that wasimpossible to obtain at the time, the defendants wereacquitted. Notwithstanding the determination of theMasons to destroy me and my family, and bring dis­grace upon religion and the church of Christ, of whichI am, though unworthy, a member, I have made mydefenoe and published this my Appendix.

229APPENDIX.

a great extent of country, still live. Murderous Free­masonry throws over them its effective-shield, andprotects them in its foul embrace,unscathed by thefaithful executionof the laws. And even in this cityof Boston, distinguished as its citizens justly are fortheir intelligence, love of order, justice, and" the 'su­premacyof the laws,"so late as 1888,a knownand self­acknowledgedMorgan conspirator had. the effrontery _to present himself before a Boston jury as an unim­peachable witness, to swear down my character, andattempt to affixsuch a stigma to it as suited him and .his brother conspirators to give me, in obedience totheir masonicoaths. Let no one hereafter sayMasonryhas had no influence in the courts in Massachusetts.And where is the security for life, liberty, property, orcharacter of its citizens,when masonic jurors and ma­sonic witnesses are secretly arrayed against them?Masonry,whoseobject and aim is to exalt itself abovethe laws of God and man, whose existence is a viola­tion of every principle of the social compact,destrue­tive to the. fundamental principles of law;justice, andequal rights, and is treason against any governmentof law, still is able in the State of New York to set theexecution of the 'laws at defiance, and trample themunder foot. And it is only by the disseminationof thetruth respecting the nature, principles,and spirit of themasonic institution among the citizensof the UnitedStates, and the consequent political action at the BAL­LOT·BOX, that we will ever be able to extirpate this foniexcrescence on the body politic, and save our repub­lic from the most degrading despotism that ever itpleased God, in his righteous displeasure,to aftliot apeople. If by any humble exertions of mine this is

THE BROKEN SEAL.230

/

SO.TOll, Se~tember 18. 11M.

S.ulu:BL D. GBBBNB.

eft'ected for our country, that it may remam the "hom~of the brave, and the land of the free," I shall feel COD­seious of doing my duty, and amply repaid for all myexertions, sacrifices, and su$acings.

281A.PPENDIX.

,.~,.,~\'

REPORT, &c.The President of the Convention (Mr. John C. Spen­

cer), from the committee appointed on that subject,remarked,t)l~t.the convention had done him the honor,by a special resolution, to place him at the head of thecommittee, probably from the circumstance .that hisofficial connection with the prosecutions in questionhad given him ampleopportunity to becomeacquaintedwith the proceedings,respecting which the conventionhad desired information; and that a report had ac­cordingly been prepared, which would now be sub­mitted:-"A history of the judicial proceedings had in the

State of New York, to discover and punish the offend­ers concerned in the kidnapping and murder of Wu­liamMorgan,seemsat this time to be required, in orderto preserve, in au authentio shape, facts of the utmostimportance in the history of our country; and to pre­sent in the most simple form that series of evidencewbiohestablishesthe agency and combination of .......

INthe bodyof our ~rrative we have spoken ofthe effort made to bring the Morgan anductors topunishment, 8.8 an" abortive attempt." We can­not better justify the use of that language, thanby giving in full the report which follows:-

TO BBOJD!IN 8JllL.282

G.

bers of the masonic fraternity in impeding inquiry,batlling in vestigation, and defeating the ordinary ad­ministration of justice. It is a melancholy picture offolly and crime; but the sooner and the m<?reexten­sively it is known, the speedier and more effectual willbe the remedy which the intelligence and public spirit­of a free people will apply. 'ffhose events are rapidlyreceding from our minds, and giving place to others' ofgreater novelty, but of inferior importance; and ofthose which remain, many become confused and indis­tinct in our memories. The very difficulty which hasbeen experienced in collecting the facts now presented,is an admonition of the duty of preserving them intheir original features, and before an opportunity isaft"orded by the lapse of time to deface or distort them.

"It is already too well known, that in September,1826,William Morganwas forciblycarried fromCan­andaigua to Niagara Fort, a distance of one hundredand twenty miles,through a well settled country, and·directly through five populous villages; was confinedin that fort, and finally murdered. So well had theplan been digested, and so faithfullywas it executed,that not a citizenalongthis extensivetract was alarmedby any' appearance of violence, and not a suspicionwas awakened along the whole route. Five changesof horses were made, and three differentcarriageswereemployed; more than six persons,besidesthe ill-fatedMorgan, were. to be provided with food and refresh­ment; numerous drivers and agents to provide relaysof horses must have been employed; and yet not asuspicionof the dark deed which was transacting wasawakened along the whole route. This single factspeaks volumes respecting the capacity of an organized

body, like that of the masonic fraternity, to carry intoeffect9JIY project.,}loy~yerilliquitous,and even in theheatt of our country to immolate its victim withoutinterruption. It is a fearful fact, and furnishes a keyat the very threshold, to explain many otherwise in­credible and mysterious'circumstances. To accomplishsuch a deed in such a manner must have required aperfectionof organizationand of discipline,and a com­mand of means,that may challange comparison withany system ever disclosed to the world. When werecollect that this occurred in a season 'Of profoundpeace and fancied security, and that it seems to haverequired but the application of the ordinary means ofthe society,we may look back with amazement at theperil we have passed, and may look forward with someapprehension whether that peril be indeed entirelypassed." The first.intimationwhich the public reoeived,that

a crime hitherto unheard of in our country - that ofstealing a free citizen- had been committed, camefrom the publication of sundry affidavits,which hadbeen procured by an active and patriotic individual,who had gone from Batavia to Canandaigua to makeinquiries for Morgan. These affidavits, which weretaken on the 28d of September, and published a fewdays afterwards, aroused the public attention in thatquarter; meetings were held in differentvillages, andcommittees of citizens appointed to inquire into thefate of a citizen,who had been lawlesslytorn from hisfamily and his country. Proclamationswere issued bythe executive of New York, in the month of October,enjoining upon all officers the duty of apprehendingthe offenders,and"offeringrewards for their conviction,

THE IBBOICEN SEAL.

and for authentic information of the place to whichMorgan had been conveyed. But to all inquiries andefforts difficulties and obstructions of every kind wereinterposed. The press, so loud-mouthed and so hastyon every similar occasion of public outrage, was eithersilent, or sounded false notes with a view to misleadinvestigation. It is not the purpose of this report todwell on this part of the subject, but it is conceivedthat no opportunity should be neglected to bring torecollection the shameful defectionof the public pressfrom its most sacred and pecdliar duty, and the num­berless falsehoods,which the newspapersof every partyinvented and circulated,~obaftleand misdirect inquiry.At one time, the victim ofmasonicvengea9cewas sell­ing his Illustrations of Masonry in Boston, and reapinga harvest from the speculation; at another, he was inVermont, employed in the same business; again, hewas at New Brunswick, in the British domigions,en­gaged in the :fisheries;again, he was.at Smyma, in thecostume of a Turk, where, notwithstanding his dress,he had been discovered by an acquaintance, and he. had kindly sent messagesto his anxious friends in thiscountry. This course of wilful misrepresentation andof equally deceptive silence,when the press was boundto speak, was produced either by masonicinflaenees 01'by a dread of masonic power. In either case, whatstrong proof does it furnish of the tremendous powerof a society, which could thus subdue the whole publie press of the country! These, and a thousand simi­lar publications, did, for a time, serve to distract thepublic mind; but they never fbr a moment divertedthose high-spirited men who had undertaken the in­quiry, from pursuing their object with limited and in-

235A.PPBNDIL

8~fticient means, but still steadfastly and vigorously.A delegation from di1fetent committees met at Lewis­ton, in the winter succeeding the murder, fur the pur­pose of making examinations on the spot. Abuse, andevery other species of intimidation, were employed, butin vain. The celebrated Lewiston committee, as thatdelegation has been called, collected a great variety ofmost important facts, and published them under thesanction and responsibility of their names. This docu­ment, in all respects worthy the notice and considera­tion of a people jealous of their liberty, and anxious topreserve the lives of their fellow-citizens, was nevercopied, either in the whole or in substance, by a singlenewspaper of any party, except some two or three in­dependent presses in the immediate vicinity. But stillthe report received some notice from the newspaperpress. It was calumniated as an ez parte statementof political zealots; it was represented as 8 fabrica­tion of its most important facts, and a distortion andmisrepresentation of others; and its authors were lam­pooned as a set of knights-errant engaged in an enter­prise of folly. Will it be believed, that this characterwas given, by the universal newspaper press, to a docu­ment which was at the time so much entitled to respect,as well from the facti it exhibited, as from the calm,dignified, and respectful manner in which those factswhere presented, and which has since been confirmedby judicial evidence, in every, the most minute particu­lars of its statements? It is a circumstance reflectingthe -bigbest honor on the authors of that report, that itcontains at this moment the best account which hasyet appeared of the leading facts in the kidnappingand removal of Morgan, which were then known; and

THE BROKEN SEAL.286

that if a history of that transaction should now becompiled from judicial evidence, its most importantfeatures could not be more faithfully or more accurate­ly given than they have already been presented by. theLewiston committee. For this reason, among others,the history of the removal of Morgan from his familyby the abuse of legal process ; of his being betrayedunder the guise of friendship; of his being stolen inthe night time, and forcibly transported to the banksof the Niagare:; of his crossing that river and return­ing, blindfolded and guarded] of his removal to a cita­del of the United States; of his confinement in adungeon over which floated that :flagwhich is thenation's pledge of protection to every one of its citi­zens, and of his foul and cowardly 8888ssination;­the history of these events will not be given in the nar­rative which is now presented. It is confined to thepurpose, first, of detailing, with exactness, the judicialproceedings which have been had, and of the effortsmade to institute such proceedings, for the detectionand punishment of the offenders; and, secondly, ofpresenting, in one connected view, such facts 88 oc­curred in those proceedings and efforts which exhibitthe difficulties that were encountered, and expose tothe naked eye of all who look at them the radicalcause of those difficulties.«The first grand jury that assembled in the county

of Ontario, after the removal of Morgan from the jailof that county, met in November, 1826; and beingcomposed of citizens. of the greatest respectability,earnestly and zealously engaged in the necessary in­quiries into the atrocious crimes which had been com­mitted. The Lewiston committee bad not yet assam-

237APPENDIX.

bled, and the only information in possession of thepublic was derived from the publication of the affida­vits before mentioned. The witnesses examined bythis grand jury were, therefore, those only who residedin Canandaigua, and were knowing to the single factof Morgan's removal from the jail. The deliberationsof the jury resulted in their finding two bills of indict­ment; one against NicholasG.Chesebro,Edward Saw­yer, Loton Lawson, and John Sheldon,for a conspiracyto carry offand kidnap Morgan, and for actually carry­ing him to parts unknown, and for false imprisonment;the other was against Nicholas G. Chesebro, HarrisSeymour, Henry Howard, Moses Roberts, and JohnScofield,for a conspiracyto charge and accuseMorganof stealing a linen shirt and a silk handkerchief;andto subject him to punishment therefor; and in prosecu­tion of such conspiracy,the obtaining a warrant froma justice of the peace. The defendants, excepting Sco­field,were arrested, and held to bail for their appear­ance to answer. N. G. Chesebro was, at the time,master of the lodge in Canandaigua. He was a re­spectable mechanic, sustained a fair character, had afamily,a good business, and was generally esteemed.Edward Sawyer was also a respectable mechanic,witha family,of good character, held a commissionas colo­nel of militia, and was among the most respectableinhabitants. Loton Lawson was a farmer, not of muchproperty, but of good character, particularly among hismasonic brethren, being, as is understood, quite highin the masonic degrees, and having been a lecturer ofthe lodges. John Sheldon was a poor and dissipatedman, at the time confined on the limits of the jail fordebt. Harris Seymourwas a young man of great rea

THE BROKEN BEAL.288

spectability, and connected with the first families'inthat vicinity; he had been a merchant, but had failedin business. Henry Howard was a very respectablemerchant, lately emigrated from' England. MosesRoberts was a journeyman hatter, in the employ ofChesebro; as was John Scofield. This man, Scofield,absconded Boonafter the transaction, and has neverbeen heard of since that time, at least not by the offi­cers of justice. The characters and occupations ofthese men are given, in order to enable those to judgefor themselves,who have repeatedly inquired whether .the persons implicated in the outrages upon Morganwere of the lowest classes in society, and of such a .

~ description that they would have committed thoseoffences,without the stimulants of masonic oaths anddiscipline. The materials,in the courseof this nsrra­tive, will be found abundant to' afford a satisfactoryanswer to these inquiries."In 'the month of December, 1826, a grand jury

assembled in Monroe County, the county adjoiningOntario, in which the village of Rochester is situated,and through which Morgan was carried. They wereparticularly and strongly charged by the presidingjudge to inquire into the subject. They called.all thewitnesses before them, who, in that state of informa­tion, 'were known. Among others, Ezra Platt wasexamined by them. This man, it will be recollected,furnished the carriage at Rochester,into whichMorganwas removed from that which brought him from Can­andaigua. He testified that his carriage had beenengaged by some one for the Masons, and that hecbarged the hire of it to the Royal Arch Chapter; but8e did not know who engaged it, or who wen' ill h.

239APPENDIX.

Edward Doyle testified that he knew nothing aboutthe transaction to which he could testify without crim­inating himself ,The same answer was given byanother person, whose name it is not proper to men­tion. The jury could not find any bills of indictment,but they made a presentment, in which they state thatthey had ascertained that ,Morgan had been carriedthrough their county, and add: 'From the great cau­tion whioh seems to have been observed' in keepingboth Morgan and the place of his destination from theview and knowledge of all but such persons as mayhave been confidentially intrusted ~th the design, and

. who would decline giving evidence, upon the groundthat it might tend to criminate themselves, the grandjury have found it impossible to establish, by compe­tent testimony, the unlawful- agency of any citizen inthis county, in that transaction.'"This result only stimulated an enlightened and

patriotic 'People to greater exertion. A county meet­ing was immediately called and held to devise meas­ures to ferret out the hidden workers of iniquity. Alarge Dumberof Masons attended, among them BurrageSmith and John Whitney. At this meeting a com­mittee of investigation was appointed, upon which

. were placed several Masons. The other members soonascertained that all their prooeedings were divulged bytheir masonio associates, notwithstanding an honoraryobligation to the contrary, entered into by them; andthose who did not belong to the fraternity, determinedto act without the knowledge or assistance of anyMasons. Up to this time, the outrages on Morgan hadbeen considered the work of a few'misguided and un­important individuals; but the eouduet of MaaoDI,

THE BROKEN SEAL.240

generally, and particularly of those who had beenplaced on -the committee, excited the suspicions ofthe observing, that the masonic ti'atemity was in someway connected with those outrages. It was long, andwith great difficulty,that this suspicion ripened intobelie£ Men couldDotbelievethat their fellow-eitisens,with whom they were in habits of daily intercourse,and whom they had been accustomed to respect, be­longed to an. institution which made the concealmentof the most atrocious crimes one of the most solemnobligations of the order. But <layafter day added newproof to the suspicion. They beheld the very com­mittee who had been appointed indiscriminately fromali parti~s, and byeitizens of all parties, vilified andtraduced for a faithful discharge of their duties. Menwho had DOpossible motive but the ascertainment oftruth, and the detection of the guilty (for as yet DOparty had been arrayed, and no political objects hadeven been surmised), for discharging a public trust, ofthe most solemnnature, with fidelity; these men wereridiculed, misrepresented,insulted, and traduced dailyby the members of the masonic fratemit}. '1nat evi-.dence which can be deduced only from a .longcourseofobservationofmillor facts and circumstances,and which,in its nature, cannot be communicated to others, wasfurnished to an intelligent and observing people; andthe conclusionwas soon produced,that the laws of thecountry could not be enforcedso long as Masonry heldits sway over the minds of men; and that submissionto its secret and irresponsible power, or an open andavowed war of extermination, were the only alterna-

" toivea. Although somewhat foreign from their presentpUrpcl&e, your committee cannot forbear from here

16

241APPENDIX.

pausing, and asking,whether to .their distant fellow..• citizens, there is not furnished strong moral evidenceof the baneful nature of the masonic institution, in thefact, that more than half a mil1ionof free, enlightened,and intelligent inhabitants of that section of countrywhich has afforded the best opportunity for judging,have, in language that cannot be mistaken, expressedtheir deliberate convictions that Freemasonry cannotexist consistentlywith our institutions. •Why are theynot witnesses in the same sense in which the reputation of an individual in. a community is proof of hiamoral worth? And why is not their testimony equallysatisfactory?"In December,1826, a meeting of the ~itizen!tof

Niagara was held at Lewiston, at which a committeewas appointed to inquire into the circumstances ofMorgan's abduction, and to endeavor to bring theoffenders to punishment. Having ascertained thatMorgan had been taken to Canada,one of the commit­tee crossed the river early in Jannary, 1827,at the timea grand jury was in session. He went before the grandjury, and proposed to furnish them with the names ofwitnesses residing in Canada, if the grand jury wouldagree to investigate the matter. After consulting to­gether, they resolved to do so; and they were accord­ingly furnished with the names of several Masonsresiding in the town of Niagara, which is more com­monly called Newark, who were believed to be impor­tant witnesses. The jury adjourned soon after. Thenext day the complainantwas informed that after theadjournment of the jury the witnesseswho had beendesignated had been conversed with; that after theusembling of the jury in the morning they had con-

T1IB BBOltIN SEA.L.242

suIted the district judge, and, thereupon, had resolved.to do no more in the premises. The complainant as­certained that the district judge was a Freemason, andthat the foreman and a portion of the jury were alsoMasons. This relation is derived from the gentleman·Rhowas the complainant. It needs no comment."On the 29th of December, 1826, Eli Bruce was

arrested and brought before a magistrate of Niagaracounty, on a charge of falsely imprisoning Morgan,and of secreting him,&c. There was no legal proofbefore the magistrate that anyone had been forciblybrought from Canandaigua,and Bruce was discharged.But, on the examination,one fact a}?pearedwhich de­serves to be noted. Bruce had requested Samuel Bar­ton to furnish him a carriage, to proceed down toNiagara from Lewiston. The next morning, Bruce,having returned to Lewiston,was asked if he went toYoungstown the night before. He said he did. Hewas then asked if he took Morgan down. He said hedid; and observed that' Barton was very imprudentin sending Fox (the driver of the carriage); that hehad told him his business,and he ought not to havesent any but a M~on.' 0 It was the gradual disclosureof such facts as these that excited the. suspicions,andultimately produced the belief,of the participation ofthe masonio fraternity ill the transaction; and thatthere was something in the nature of the institutionwhich justified its members in relying on each otherfor assistance and secrecy in the commissionof crime."The next event of importance in the history of

thesejudicial proceedings,was the sitting of the courtof Oyer and Terminer, for the county of Ontario, inJ41JIuary, 1827. Nicholas G. Chesebro, Edward Saw-

243APPENDIL

yer, and Loton Lawson, being called OD to proceed tothe trial of the indictment against them, which is p~viously mentioned, pleaded guilty to that indictment,. •and the two first named filed affidavits explanatory oftheir agency in the transaction. These have beenextensively published, and are well known. Lawsonmade no attempt to explain or extenuate his offence,and was sentenced to imprisonment in the county jailfor two years. Chesebro was sentenced to a like im­prisonment for one year, and Sawyer for one month,Sheldon went to trial on the' question of his identity,expressly admitting the crimes alleged in the indict­ment to have .been committed; thus excluding allproof of the main -{acts,which the public had antici­pated would be developed on these trials. He was,however, found guilty, and sentenced to three monthsimprisonment. In passing sentence upon the defend­ants, the circuit judge, who is now governor of NewYork, descanted, in terms of great severity, upon thenature of the crimes they had committed; and, at therequest of several citizens, -fumished a copy of hisremarks for publication. They were published accordingly, and have been extensively circulated in that partof the country. Still, a few extracts, it is believed,will not be unacceptable. The judge says,' Our con­stitution shows it, and the declaration of our indepen­dence declares, .that the unmolested. enjoyment of lib­erty, and the pursuit of happiness, are the unalienablerights of man. So sacred do we hold personal liberty,that even the impressment of a seaman from one of ourshillShas been considered a sufficient cause for nationalwar•••• Your conduct has created, in the people of thissection of the country, a strong feeling of virtuous

THE BaOlCEN SEAL.244

indignation. The court rejoioes to witness it, - to bemade sure that a citizen's person cannot be invaded bylawless violence, without its being felt by every individual in the community. It is a blessed spirit, and we dohope it will n<?tsubside; that it will be accompanied bya ceaseless vigilance and untiring activity until everyactor in this profligate conspiracy is hunted from hishiding-place, and brought before the tribunals of thecountry, to receive the punishment merited by his crime.We think we see, in this public sensation, the spiritwhich brought us into existence as a nation, and a"pledge that our rights and liberties are destined to en­dure.' The point of these remarks wi1lbe better under­stood from a knowledge of the fact, that the counsel ofSheldon, in their addresses to the jury, had cautionedthem against being influenced by the excitement thatprevailed; had represented that excitement to have beenproduced by ambitious demagogues, who hope to ' ridethe whirlwind and direct the storm;' and had depre­cated the attempt to conneot the masonic institutionwith such foul acts as were charged. The remarks ofthe judge were intended 8S a rebuke for this language;and the praise which he lavished on 'the blessed spirit'was thus intended and understood as an encomium onAntimasonry. The truth and force of his observationsare not diminished' by the circumstance, that when heceased to be an independent and' impartial judge, andbecame ~ political partisan, associated with Masons,and dependent on them for success, he himself soughtto discredit this' blessed spirit,' to check' the cease­less vigilance,' and to rebuke and paralyze' the untiringactivity' which he had commended. Its only effect is,to establish most conclusively the contaminating Influ-

245APPENDIX.

ence of Freemasonry, and its vast power, which couldcompel a public officer thus to proclaim hifl,own incon­sistency, and repudiate sentiments which found theirecho in the bosom of every American who was.neither'hoodwinked nor cable-towed.'"In the month of February, 1827, a grand jury for

Ontario county again assembled at the Court of Gen­eral Sessions of the Peace, and renewed the inquiriesfor the detection of the offenders against Morgan.They found a bill of indictment against seventeen per·sons, for a conspiracy to kidnap and carry away thatperson, and for falsely imprisoning and carrying him toparts unknown. These persons were James Lakey, aphysician, Chauncy H. Coe, a stage proprietor, HiramHubbard, the keeper of a livery stable, John Butter­field, whose occupation is unknown, James Ganson, aninnkeeper, and formerly a member of the state legisla­ture, Asa Nowlen, an innkeeper, Harris Seymour,Henry Howard, Joseph Scofield, and Moses Roberts,.who have been before mentioned, Halloway Hayward,a constable, James Gillis, a respectable farmer, JohnWhitney, a respectable stone-curter, Burrage Smith, agrocer, Simeon B. Jewett, an attorney and counsellor atlaw, ana Willard Eddy, whose occupation"is unknown."At the same court, the indictment against Harris

Seymour, Henry Howard, and Moses Roberts, for con­spiring to charge Morgan with stealing, which had beenfound, as before mentioned, was brought to trial. Itwas in proof that these persons had go,!e with Chese­bro from Canandaigua to Batavia, to arrest Morgan onthe warrant which had been fraudulently obtainedagainst him, issued by the justice, Chipman, for steal­ing a shirt and handkerchief; 'that he had been takea

THE BROKEN SEAL.246

in Batavia, and hurried off with great severity andrudeness, and without giving him an opportunity toapprise his friends of his situation. But it was lieldby the court, that the warrant was evidenceof proba­ble cause, and that the defendants could not be con­victed. They were accordinglyacquitted.\ "In March,1827, another grand jury assembled inMonroe county, at the court of Oyer and Terminer.A majority of them were Freemasons. Very fainteffortswere made to obtain testimony, and no indict-.ments were found.

"In April, 1827,a grand jury assembledat the Oyer'and Terminer, in Niagara county, and a complaint wasmade to them against Eli Bruce, then sheriff of thatcounty, by one of the county committee. It s,eemstohave been anticipated that this grand jury would enterupon an investigation of the subject, and preparationswere made accordingly. . It is stated by Hiram B.Hopkins, a Royal Arch Mason,and at the time deputysheriff,that he was instructed not to summonany grandjurors but such as were particularly friendly to themasonic institution. At that time grand jurors wereselected by the sheriff from the citizensat large. Thejury were accordingly packed, pursuant to these in­structions,- twelve of them being Masons,and theothers friendly to the order. Mr. Hopkins says, 'Thedistrict attorney wa~a Royal Arch Mason,who knewall about the Morgan affair, in my opinion] and- theforemanof the jury wasone of the '!Varmestzealots ofthe Q.1'derin the county.' One of these grand jurors I

has furnished a statement of the proceedings before Ithem, fromwhich the following is taken: The fore-man claimed the right to examine the witnesses hilD- ~

,...

247. APPENDIX.

sel£ After several had been exammed by him in IIICIl.a way as to give no information,one of the jurors putquestions to a witness. When that witness bad retired,this juror was called aside by the foreman,and private­ly solicited to refrain thereafter from asking questions,and to leave it with the foreman. Tbe juror, however,persisted; and, on one occasion,insisted that a witnessshould answer what-he knew of the matter. The wit­ness objected,because,he said, he considered his testi­mony irrelevant, and because he was a poor man, whogot his living by labor; and if he should testify,·itmight prove a serious injury to himselfand bis family.A large majority of the jury decided thai the witnessneed not answer; but the pertinaciousjuror insisted onhis right, and finally obtained his point. The witnesswas called back, and testified that Bruce had acknowl­edged to the witness his agency in carrying Morgan toNiagara. Witnesses were introduced and examined toimpeach the credibility of the last named witness.Another witness testified that he had been informed,by a respectable inhabitant, that Morgan had beencarried to Fort Niagara, thence to Canada shore, andthence returned to Fort Niagara-; that he had beensubsequently put to death; that his body was in thebottom of the Niagara River, and might be found ifsearched for immediately,and he (the informant) couldtell the place where it would be found. The witnessstated that he derived this information from a manwho said he was.a Mason,and insisted that· his Dameshould be kept secret, for that if it were known his lifewould pay the forfeit. The pertinaciousjuror required .the witness to give the name of his informant, with aview to have him called as a witness,which he refused

TIlE BROKENUJ.L.248

to do; and nearly, if not quite all the other jurors,sustained the witne88in his refusal. During the pend­ing of the inquiry before th!, jury, the foreman W&8seen to leave the jury room, and retire to a privateroom with Bruce, and there remain for a considerabletime. Among the witneues examinedbeforethis grandjury. W&8 Corydon0 Fox, who has at all times, whenproperly asked, testified to the fact of Bruce's ridingwith him on the driver's seat of the carriage,whichFox drove, and which contained Morgan while he wasconveyed fromLewiston to Niagara; and it must haverequired great ingenuity to prevent this witness fromstating that fact. Among other witnesses examined,were SolomonC.Wright, Ezekiel Jewett, the keeper ofFort Niagara, Elisha Adams, the ferryman at Youngs­town, Edward Doyle, Parkhurst Whitney,Noab Beach,and SamuelM.Chubbuck. These namesare mentioned,because they are familiar to those who have read thetrials, as the very individuals who must have knownall about the transaction. It does not appear that anyof them, on this occasion, refused to answer on theground that such answer might criminate themselves.By what device they satisfied their own consciences,and avoided disclosing the truth, may, perhaps,be ex­plained by what Edward Giddins says, in his Almanacfor 1829, at p. 45: 'During the winter,' he says, , I hadfrequent conversationswith Masonaon the same sub­ject, all of whom used the same argument, and con­cluded by urging that they bad agreed to testify,whencalled on, that they lcneuJ nothing alJO'Ut the affair '"that they thought themselves justified in doing so bythe nature of their masonic oaths, which they neveroould think of breaking.' 'And,' be says,, that in order

to ·dispelhis doubts he was particularly referred to thatclause of the Royal Arch Mason's obligation, whichbinds them to rescue a companion, whether right orwrong.' The unsullied character of this man for truthhas lately been so thoroughly tested, and so trium­pliantly established, that nothing need be said to im­press anyone with the absolute verity of any relationhe deliberately makes."The conduct of this grand jury and of the wit­

nesses has been dwelt upon with some minuteness, 88furnishing evidence which no dispassionate mind canresist, of the awful prostitution of the most sacredoffices of justice, and of the dreadful suppression oftruth, produced by masonic obligations. The cap-stoneof this edifice of guilt and infamy yet remains to beexhibited. Seventeen of this grand jury made a for­mal representation to the governor of the state, that,after a long, laborious, and' particular examination of allthe witnesses, it did not appear that Eli Bruce, or anyother person named, was guilty of, or accessory to, theabduction of William Morgan;' and they make knownto the governor the result of their inquiries, 'that blamemay not rest on the innocent!' It would scarcely bebelieved that the Eli Bruce, here referred to, is thesame man who has been proved, over and over again,by the same witnesses who were examined by thatgrand jury, to have been the chief actor in conductingMorgan through Niagara county, who hired horsestwice, and a carriage once, for the purpose, and whobas himself, in open court, sworn that he did sol" The next grand jury that assembled in Niagara, in

May, 1827, consisted of nineteen persons, of whomfourteen were well..known Mason.. It was 80 palpably

THE BROKEN SEAL.250

uselesa to make uy further effortswith such a grand. jury, that no complaint was made to them. A law,however,was passed by the legislature this year, direct­ing grand jurors to be selected by lot from lists to bereturned by town officers. As soon as this law wentinto effect impartial grand jurors were obtained, andin Niagara county ~omplaintswere made before them,in the latter part of the year, and indictments foundagainst William King, Ezekiel Jewett, Elisha Adams,SolomonC.Wright, Jeremiah Brown, Parkhurst Whit­ney, Noah Beach, Timothy Shaw,William Miller, andSamuel M. Chubbuck. William King was esteemedone of the most' respectable citizens of the county,having represented it but a short time before in thestate legielatnre. Ezekiel Jewett was very respectable,and was employed by the government to take chargeof Fort Niagara: he and King were both colonels.Elisha Adams was the ferrymanat Youngstown. Solo­mon C. Wright was a respectable innkeeper and apostmaster. Jeremiah Brownwas a respectable farmer,in good standing. The others were all respectablemen, and regarded as peaceable and orderly citizens."In August, 1827, at the Ontario General Sessions,

Halloway Howard, James Ganson, Harris Seymour,Henry Howard, and Moses Roberts were brought totrial on the indictment against them for conspiracyandthe abduction of Morgan,and were acquitted. Withregard to all of them but Ganson,the proof consistedin their having gone with Chesebroto Batavia to arrestMorgan, and having brought him to Canandaigua; andwith respect to Ganson, the proof consisted in hIShav­ing aided them on the way. Chesebrowas examinedas a witnesss, and testified that those personswere not

251APPENDIX.

l

informed by him, and did not know, to his knowledge,of nny ulterior design with respect to Morgan, after heshould be brought to Canandaigua. This testimonyproduced their acquittal. Chauncy H. Coe, HiramHubbard, and James Lakey were tried at the samecourt, upon a similar indictment. With respect toCoe, the chief testimony was, his having engaged thecarriage and horses of Hubbard, with which Morganwas carried off; and Hubbard was implicated, from thefact of having furnished, and himself drove the car­riage. Lakey was implicated in consequence of hisinterference in I procuring the warrant for the arrest ofMorgan. The proof, however, did not establish thatprevious knowledge of the purpose for which the car­riage was wanted to justify a conviction, and they wereacquitted."At this time, Edward Sawyer, who had been sub­

poenaedas a witness, did not appear, and an attachmentwas issued against him. Whether his appearance andtestimony would have varied the result in any of thetrials before mentioned, it is impossible to say; al­though, from his testimony on subsequent occasions, itis presumed it would not.

"At the S8Dleterm an indictment for conspiracyand for kidnapping was found against Eli Bruce, DavidHague, Orsamus Turner, and Jedediah Darrow. Bruce,as is well known, was sheriff of Niagara, and in highstanding in the community. Hague was a tailor atLockport, and died before he could be brought to trial,Turner was the publisher of a newspaper at Lockport,of respeotable charaoter. Darrow was also a respecta­ble man, but his occupation is unknown. He wasafterwards appointed postmaster.

TRB BROD:N SEAL.252

"At the Ontario General Sessionain February, 1828,an attachment was ordered against Jeremiah Brown,who had neglected to appear as a witness, accordingto a subpcena,and against Isaac Farewell, for the samecause. It afterwards appeared that Farewell had atthis time been sent into Canada,where' he was kept,while his family remained in Niagara county. Noproceedings were had at this term upon the indict­ments pending."In the winter of 1828,the acting governor of New

York called the attention of the legislature to thealarmed state of the public mind in relation to thefate of Morgan, and to the inefficiencyof the ordinarymeans to bring the offenders to justice; and he rec­ommended the appointment of a special attorney, totake charge of the investigation. A law to that effectwas passed, notwithstanding a vigorous opposition;and Mr. Moseleywas appointed the special attorney.In August of that year, the indictment against Bruce,Turner, and Darrowwas brought to trial at the OntarioGeneral Sessions. In order to maintain the indictmentfor a conspiracyin Ontario, or for the kidnapping inthat county, as the defendants had not been personallyacting in the matter in that county, it becamenecessaryto prove a pre-concert to re,moveMorgan fromCanan­daigua. With regard to Turner and Darrow, no suchproof existed; what they did in relation to the trans­action occurred after the arrival of Morgan at Lewis­ton, or while he was at Batavia. They were acquitted,and Bruce was convicted; but sentencewas suspendedto-take the opinion of the Supreme Court upon somelegal exceptions that had been made, in reference,chiefiy, to tbe point whether he had been guilty of any

258APPENDIX.

oft"encein Ontario. On this trial, Solomon C. Wrightwas examined as a witness, and testified in such a man­ner that he was afterwards indicted fbr peJjury. Ed­ward Doyle, who had entered into a recognizance toappear as a witness, failed to do so, and forfeited hisrecognizance, which was estreated at this term."In November, 1828, an indictment was found at

the court of Oyer and Terminer, of Orleans county,against Elihu Mather, for the conspiracy and kidnap­ping. Mather was one of the most respectable citizensof that county, and was very generally esteemed.Soon after this indictment he removed to Vermont,where he was beyond the reach of process to compelhis appearance as a witness on the trial of other persons.

"In the same month new indictments were foundin Niagara against the same persons already mentionedas having been indicted in that county, the formerbills having been found defective. In the succeedingwinter, Mr. Moseley, being appointed circuit judge,resigned the office ot special attorney, and in March,1829, J. C. Spencer was appointed in his place,Jt thesolicitation, as is understood, of members of the legis­lature from the western part of the State of NewYork."In March, 1829, preparations were made to try the

indictment against Elihu Mather, in Orleans county,at the court of Oyer and Terminer which was then'held. But it was removed by the defendant, by cer­tiorari, into the Supreme Court, which operated as apostponement of the trial for about six months."In the same month, a vigorous effort 'was made

before the grand jury, which assembled at Rochester,inMonroe county, to penetrate the cloud of darkness

THE BROKEN SEAL.254

which rested on the transactions at that place, and to \deteet the otren~ersthere. A great number of witnesses"Terecloselyexamined,but very little in the shape oflegal testimony was elicited,while a clew to many im­portant facts was' obtained. Among these witnesseswas Isaac Allen, with respect to whom the grand jurymade a report to the court, that he had refused to an­swer questionsput to him, touching his knowledgeofthe facta,whether a carriage had stopped at his houseon the 11th,12th,or 13thof September,1826; whetherany personhad appliedto him to furnisha pair of horsesto draw a carriage to the west about those days; andwhether a certahfperson,whowas named to him,wasathis house on either of those days, at a time when a car­riage was going to the west. And the jury reportedthat the reason assigned by Allen for his refusalwas,that the answersmight tend to implicate himself Anelaborate argument was made before the court by thespecial attorney, and by the counselfor Allen, whowasthe same counsel that has appeared in behalf of thepersons indicted on almost every occasion. The court. decided that the witness was bound to answer thequestions; but he persisted in his refusal,and wascom­mitted to prison. The purpose of making an exampleof a contumacious witness having been thus accom­plished, he was discharged after a few days, with theconsent of the prosecuting officers. This grand juryfound an indictment against Simeon B. Jewett, anattorn.eyat law, and Burrage Smith, for the conspiracyand kidnapping. They had been previouslyindictedin Ontario, but the overt acts charged against tJlemhaving been committed in Monroe, as alleged,it be­oameexpedient to indict them in that county. BIU'..

265

. -_ ...

rage Smith had previously gone out of the state, withJohn Whitney, to the South-western States. Messrs.Phineas P. Bates and Joseph Garlinghouse - the oneof them then sheriff; and the other the former sheriffof Ontario - went in pursuit of them, and of WilliamK~ng,who had gone to Arkansas, leaving his family inNiagara. They were clothed with authority from thegovernor of New York to demand the fugitives andbring them to that state. The history of their expedi­tion has been published by those gentlemen under thesanction of their names; and it discloses the fact thatthe same cause operated to defeat their purpose, andsuccessfully baftled their enterprise, which has beenfound invariably obstructing the march of jUAticethrough all the proceedings connected with this wholetransaction. Twice did they pursue the fugitives intothe remotest corners of the Union, and in each instancethey failed. They have unreservedly given the factswhich justify the belief that them failure was owing tothe interference of Masons in communicating intelli­gence to the persons for whom they were in search.After penetrating to the western boundaries of Mis­souri, and traversing the country to New Orleans, thesegentlemen returned, with a solemn conviction that, ifthey had succeeded in arresting any of the fugitives,they would have been utterly unable to return withthem to the State of New York; and that their prison­ers would have been taken {rom them, either by theperversion and abuse of legal forms and process, or byopen violence. It should be remarked, that one ofthese gentlemen was Ii Royal Arch Mason, and thatwhat he witnessed during these journeys, so entirely.atisfied him of the dangerous nature of the institution,

TBB BBOKBNSEAL.258

and its adaptation to the commission and concealmentof crime,that he has abjured all connectionwith it, and.oas united his voiceand his effortswith the great mul­titude of his fellow-citizensin that quarter, to exter­minate it from the soil of America. Burrage Smithdied in New Orleans eome time after the pursuit forhim. William King returned to his familyin Niagara,and published a blustering notice to Messrs.Bates andGarUnghouse of his having come back to stand histrial. In:imediatemeasures were taken for his arrest,and he was put under heavy bonds. The next day,after bearing that Bruce had testified to the fact thatKing accompaniedhim in the carriagewhich containedMorgan,and had crossed the Niagara River with him,ColonelKing suddenly died, as was said, in an apoplec­tic fit. John Whitney also returned at his leisure, andwas afterwards tried." "At the February Sessions of Ontario County, in1829,an attachment was issued"againstLyman Aldrichfor not appearing as a witness upon the indictmentagainst Gillis' and Whitney, pursuant to a subpoena;and his recognizance, entered into for that purpose,was forfeited. He was arrested and committed toprison, and by that means his attendance at the ensu­ing court was secured. Attachments were also issuedagainst Nioholas G. Chesebro, Edward Sawyer, andThomas M. Boughton, who had been subpamaed aswitnesses on the same indictment."In May,1829,inquirieswere renewed by the speoial

attorney before the grand jury of Niagara county. Amultitude of witnesses were examined, and, althoughmany important collateral facts were elicited, yet thegreat point-.the murder of William Morllan - ('n"l,l

17

257APPENDU.

not be legally established. At this time, an irregularitywas discovered which might prove fatal to the indict­menta found in that county, and new bills were pre­pared and found against the persons who had alreadybeen indicted."Previous to this time efforts were made to procure

the attendance of Ezra Platt as a witness. This wasthe individual who had hired his carriage to a personhe did not know, which had been employed in thetransportation of Morgan, and for the hire of which hehad charged a Royal Arch Chapter. He had removedto the city of Albany, where he was publicly employedin a stage.oltice. His previous conduct had been suchthat good oause existed to procure a warrant for hisarrest, with a view to bind him over to appear as a wit­ness. Application was made to Judge Duer, the thencircuit judge of that district, who granted the warrant,which was put into the hands of an officer. Plattsuddenly and immediately disappeared. False and de­lusive information was given. of the place of his con­cealment, all'} search was there made for him in vain.The fir~t authentic account received of him was, thathe had gone to the State of New Jersey, where heremained so long as his testimony as a witness wasrequired."N otwithstanding these difficulties at the Ontario

Genei'al Sessions in May, 1829, the indictment again~tJohn Whitney and James Gillis was brought to trial.Whitnf'Y bAd returned, as before mentioned. Gilliswas in ~,boState of Pennsylvania.' Whitney was con­victed, iJnt the jury could not agree as to Gillis, theynot ha,';ng time to deliberate on the subject before theeXDirafiou of +he term of the court. Whitney was

THE BROKEN SEAL.258

sentenced to one year's imprisonment. On thistrial,Lyman Aldrich, the witness who had been the causeof much trouble and delay, was offered as a witness,and was objected to, on the ground of his want of re­ligiousbelie! The question was elaborately discussed,and he was bally admitted. On this triai, Eli Brucewa~ produced as a witness on the part of the defend­ants. "He testified to the. fact of Morg:m'Rhavingbeen transported to the Niagara River, blindfolded,ofhis having been carried across that river, returned andshut up in Fort Niagara, with the assistance of Brucehimself At this term, the opinion of the SupremeCourt having been obtained upon the case (If the sameEli Bruce, he was sentenced to imprisonment.'in thecounty jail for two years and four months. Previousto his sentence, Hiram B. Hopkins was examined,andtestified that be was the deputy of Bruce, and kept thejail of Niagara county; and that while Morgan wasat Batavia, a plan was on foot to bring him acrossthe country to Lockport; and that, in obedience toBruce's directions,he had prepared a cell in the jail inwhich to confineMorgan while on his way to meet hisdoom. This shocking perversion of a building, con­secrated to the purposes of justice, justly enhanced thepunishment of Bruce. During the whole term of hisimprisonment he was visited by Freemasons fromevery part of the United States, who repaired to' hiscell 8S that of a martyr suffering for the conscientiousdischarge of some high and imperative duty, Not­withstanding the atrocity of his guilt, so dearly estab--lished by .the testimony of his deputy aud his ownevidence, yet crowds daily-thronged around him, testi­fying their sympathy and their respect. Every com-

259APPENDIX.

• fort that the laws would allow was provided for him;and even ladies of character waited upon him in per­son, with delicacies prepared by their own hands. Thesame jail has often contained Freemasons, imprisonedfor debt, who were never cheered by the visits; orsolaced by the sympathy of their brethren!«At the same court, an attachment was'issued against

James Mather for refusing to obey a subpeena to appearas a witness on the trial of Whitney. Edward Sawyerwas fined twenty-five dollars for his contempt in notappealing at a former court as a witness, John Voor­his was indicted for dissuading Lyman Aldrich fromattending a former court as a witness, and for carryinghim off to prevent his appearance. These p~rson8 .were all members of the masonic fraternity.«In June, 1829, a grand jury assembled at the Court

of General Sessions, held for the county of Genesee,at Batavia, and an effort was made to disoover the per­sons in that county who had been engaged in theconspiracy against Morgan. Exertions bad-been madeat an early period in that county, before grand juries.to develop, the transactions at Batavia. But all at­tempts having been baffled, they were not reneweduntil this time. Persons had been indicted, tried, andconvicted for a riot in the outrages upon David C. Mil·ler and his printing office,in which the Illustrations ofMorgan had been printed. But no bills had been foundagainst any persons for the offences against Morgan,and of course there were none pending. One of thestanding counsel of the persons indicted in other coun­ties, however, attended. The purpose must be left toconjecture, except so far as. it is -explained by subse­quent occurrences. Eli Bruce was brought, on a ~

TBE BROKEN SgAt •266

eorpw, from the jail of Ontario, to testify before thisgrand jury in Genesee. While on his way to the juryroom, and before he reached it, a letter was put intohis hands from the counselso attending: Upon Bruce'sbeing brought before the grand jury, he peremptorily'refused to be sworn as a witness. A great number ofMasons from distant parts had collected at Batavia;and they, together with their brethren of the orderresiding at that place,were much elated at this refusalof Bruce, and complimented him highly for what theywere pleased to call his constancy and fidelity." Numerouswitnesseswere examined,and anewscene

in the drama was developed. Indictments were foundagainstWilliam R.Thompson,Nathan' Follett, Blanch­.ard Powers, and William Seaver, for a conspiracy tokidnap William Morgan, and carry him from Batavia1fo parts unknown. Thompsonwas the sheri1fof thatcounty; the others were all respectable citizens."In July, 1829,a court of Oyer and Terminer was

held in Niagara county, at which it was intended tobring on the trial of the indictments that had beenpreviously found in that county. But they were allremoved, at the instance of the defendants, into theSupreme Court, by certiorari. The examinations be­fore the grand jury were resumed. Among others,James Mather was examined, and gave siIch unsatis­factory and equivocal answers, that the jury reportedhim to the court, by whomhe was admonished; but alle1fortsfailed to obtain from him such answers as thejury deemed satisfactory."Between this and the next courts that were held,

eft'ortswere made to obtain some witnesses who had.kept secreted, and 1vboseplaces of residencewere 09"• I

,,'.' ...

discovered. Upon satisfactory proof being made tothe first judge of Monroe county, a warrant was ob­tained from him for the arrest of Prior Harris, in orderto hold him to bail for his appearance as a witness.'This man was the driver of the stage which had goneto the west of Rochester on the same day that Morganwas carried through that place. The warrant was ob­tained with great secrecy, and put into the hands of aconfidential officer, who proceeded to the county ofMontgomery to execute it. While riding in the stagethrough that county, he met and passed Harris, whowas driving another stage. The officerproceeded im­mediately to the sheriff of the county, to obtain adeputation ,which would authorize him to execute hisprocess there. On his return to the place where Har­ris had stopped with his stage, the officer discoveredthat he had suddenly fled, leaving his stage and horses.All attempts to discover him were fruitless. The of-6cer is of opinion that he was followed from Rochester,or accompanied by some one who gave the alarm, orthe sign of distress, to Harris."Hannah Farnsworth, a relative of Solomon C.

Wright, who was believed to be an important witness,had" for a long time, baffled all efforts to compel herattendance at court. At length a warrant for, herarrest was obtained, and a vigilant officer succeeded in'taking her. On bringing her before a judge to givebail for her appearance, she and her friends refused togive bail, and she was committed to the custody of thesheriff of Ontario."In August, 1829, at the Ontario General Sessions,

an attempt W88 made to bring on the trial of the in­'1;otment against Solomon C. Wright, for peljury com~

THE BROW SilAt.

mitted on the trial of Bruce. But from the absenceof important witnesses it was impossible. HannahFarnsworth, the witnesswhobad been detained in orderto testify on the trial of Wright, was discharged bythe court, on her entering into a recognizance for herappearance,and making a promise, in open court, t~atshe would appear. She never afterwards appeared, orcould be found."At the same court, Elijah J. Roberts, the editor of

a newspaper called the Craftsman,was indicted .for alibel on the jury who convicted John Whitney. Thispaper had been established by contributions ofMasons,and was patronized almost exclusivelyby them, for thepurpose of vindicating their order. Its editor hadwarmly espoused the cause of the indicted persons,andrepresented them as innocent and persecuted men,while his paper overflowedwith abuse of every publicoffice}'and private citizen who had taken any part inthe exertions to bring to punishment the kidnappers ofMorgan. He was tried on this indictment in January,1830,when the jury could not agree on their verdict.It was afterwards ascertained that the disagreementproceeded from four Masons who were on the jury.He was again tried in June, 1830, when be did noteven call a witness to prove the libels he had published,and he was convicted without hesitation, and finedfifty dollars. Tbe history of this case is introduced inconsequenceof its connection with the main trials, andto exhibit one of the instances of the operation ofmasonic feeling in the jury-box,"In August, 1829, a court of Oyer and Terminer

was held for Monroe county; and, as this was the lastcourt at which a grand jury would be assembled ill

268'" •APPENDIX.

that oounty before the statute of limitations wouldattaoh upon prosecutions for the oonspiracy and kid­napping, preparations were made for a more thoroughinvestigation than had yet been had. Orson Park­hurst, the driver of Platt's carriage, which conveyedMorgan from Rochester, had absented himself fromthe state immediately after that transaction. His placeof concealment had been changed from time to time,but at length it was discovered. An agent was em­ployed to go in pursuit of him, and to bring him to theState of New York. The agent succeeded in·finding

, him in a sequestered part of the State of Vermont,and brought him to within forty or fiftiymiles of Roch­ester. He had been watched at Albany, on his returnthrough that place, and was followed on his way to thewest. At night a stranger came on board the canalboat, in which the agent and Parkhurst were, and inthe course of the n~ght Parkhurst disappeared, and notidings have since been heard of him. It is believedthat this man could have identified many persons atRochester as having been engaged in the carrying ofMorgan through that place."Inquiries, however, were pursued before the grand

jury; much information was obtained; and an indict­ment for conspiracy and kidnapping was found againstthe Rev. Francis H. Cumming, a settled clergyman atRochester, who had been regarded as among the mostrespectable of his profession."At this court, the indictment against Simeon B.

Jewett was removed into the Supreme Court by thedefendant."In September, 1829, a further examination of wit­

l1_el was had before a grand jury inNiagara oount1i

r."iI<'

THE BROKEN SEAL.264

- ADdbills of indictment were found agaiost Henry Max·well, Norman Shepard, aod aoother, whose name is notrecolleoted, for a conspiraoy to remove Morgan fromBatavia, and kidnap him. An attachment was issuedagainst John W. Beals, who had been duly subpcenaed8S a witness to attend this court, and had refused toattend. He is a Mason of high grade, as is understood,and a very respectable citizen. He was taken on theattachment, and gave bail to appear and answer for hiscontempt. He did not appear, and his bonds wereforfeited."In October, 1829, Simeon B.1ewett made a motion

to the Supreme Court to quash the indictment foundagainst him in Monroe county, on several. grounds;­that the -town officers, in selecting grand jurors, hadevinced partiality in not taking any Masons, and re­turning many Antimasons; and that some of the grandjurors had expressed opinions unfavorable to his inno­cence. The motion was denied. The court held thatthe disoretion of selecting grand jurors was vested bylaw exclusively in the supervisors; and the only powerthe court had was to inquire whether any of those actual­ly returned possessed the qualifications required by law;and ~ the contrary had not even been alleged, therewas no ground for the objection. With that latitudeof remark which judges are sometimes apt to indulgeupon matters; in respect to which they previously ad­mitted that they had no power, some of the courtthought proper to express disapprobation of the super­visors' excluding any set of men on the ground of theirbelonging to any partioular association or fraternity,"':"although it had just been admitted that the discretionrested wholly with the supervisors. This remark,

26&

.' .

which was entirely extrajudicial, is therefore as liableto observation as if it had not been made on the bench.Can any unprejudiced man seriously think that mem­bers of a fraternity should be placed upon the inquiringand accusing jury which had in charge an accusationthat vitally affected that fraternity? Apply the princi-ple to any benevolent society, to a church, to a banking "Iicompany; would anyone, in his senses, select themembers of such societies or companies to investigatea charge, which, if true, ought to destroy the society?But the objection applied with tenfold force to theselection of Masons to detect and prosecute the persons.engaged in the offences against Morgan. The factsdetailed in this report show how far they had madecommon cause with the offenders, and how little theywere to be trusted. A thousand corroborative factsand circumstances, which were daily passing before theeyes of an intelligent people, evinced the close connec­tion between the Masons and their general defence ofthe outrages. Add to this, that the horrid obligationsof the fraternity to conceal each"other's crimes, to flyto the assistance of each other in every extremity, savethat of endangering life, and to espouse the cause of abrother, whether right or wrong, had been revealed,and repeatedly confirmed,by judicial evidence. Wouldit not have been a dereliction of duty to, appoint men,under such circumstances, to determine whether theirbrethren should be punished for aa offencecommittednnder the sanction of masonic obligations? The flub­ject might be more amply discussed, but thus muchseemed due to a body of honest and independent citi­zens, who have been traduced beyond measure for theoerformanee of a sacred and solemn duty, aecoPding tol

THE BROKEN SEAL.266

the dictates of their consciences,and for giving a de­cision si~ilar to what has been had in the highest courtof the state, for the trial of issues of fact, and by oneof the judges of its Supreme Court."At the court of Qyer and Terminer, held for the

county of Orleans, in the month of November, 1829,Elihu Mather was brought to trial, on the indictmentagainst him before mentioneo, for conspiracyand kid­napping. The then special counsel determined to test,in the most solemn and formal manner, the' question,whether Freemasonswere competent jurors on the trialof issues ill which a brother Masonwas a party. Thefirst juror called, who was known to be a M'ason,wasRobert Anderson. The specialcou.nselchallengedhimperemptorill' on the ground that he belonged to thesame society and corporation with the defendant. Itwas admitted that the Royal Arch Chapter was incor­porated, that the juror and defendant were both mem­bers of it: and the English authorities were adduced,which declare that it is a sufficient ground for peremp­tory challenge, that the juror belongs to the samesocietyor corporation with a party. The circuit judgeoverruled the challenge; and the juror was then chal­lenged for favor, as it is called, on the ground that hewas not impartial; that he belonged to a secret society.called Freemasons, of which the defendant also was amember, and that they had taken oaths which boundthem to assist each other in every extremity. Trierswere appointed by the eourt; witnesseswere called toprove the masonic obligations,and among others thejuror himself was examined. After a long investiga­tion and discussion by counsel the juror was rejected.Another·juror, by the name of John Dolly, was 800n

267APPENDIX.

after called, and ohallenged for favor on the sameground. A desperate effort was made by the counselfor the prisoner to procure the admissionof this juror.The triers were agreed upon by the counsel on bothsides,and appointed by the court, The masonicoaths.and obligations,up to and including that of the RoyalArch Companion,were proved by the most respectablewitnesses; and they appeared to be precisely thoserevealed by William Morgan,and the Le Roy conven-,tion of seceding Masons"and which are contained inBernard's Light on Masonry. In order to impair theeffectof this testimony, the counsel for the defendantcalled William W. Ruggles, a master of a lodge, anadhering Mason, and one of the counsel for the de­fendant, and endeavored to show by him that lectureswere given in the lodges explanatory and qualifyingthe obligations. This attempt was an entire failure;but the witness was compelled, in the course of histestimony, to repeat the oaths; and he confirmed thewitnesses on the part of the prosecution,particularlythat the MasterMason's oath contained an obligationto keep the secrets of a brother, with the exception ofmurder and treason; and that the oath of a RoyalArch Companion contained a promise' to espouse thecause of a brother engaged in any quarrel or difficulty,so far as to extricate him fromthe same,whetherbe-was, right or wrong.' After a severe-and obstinate contest,this juror was also rejected by the triers. The trialproceeded; and the fact that Mather, the defendant, arespectablefarmer, had himselfturned haok-driver,anddrove the carriage containing Morgan through thecounty of Orleans,was abundantly proved. From thedifficultyof extraCtinJ the facts from tho witnesses. the

THE BROKEN SEAL.268

point that Morgan was forciblycarried away.with theknowledge of Mather, depended on the circumstancesof the case, which, although they were strong, andwould have been abundant in an ordinary cause, weredeemed not conclusive. In addition to this, the judgecharged the jury erroneously on a point of law, aswas afterwards determined by the Supreme Court, and ..the defendant was acquitted. In the trial of the cause,a witness,who was • Royal Aroh Companion,and whoresided ~ a distant and remote part of the state, testi­fied that after someof the proseeutionahad been com­menced,Mather applied to the chapter where the wit­ness resided for funds to relieve and defend Bruce andhis associates, The witness could not, or would not,relate the result of the application. In the course ofthis trial, William P. Daniels was examined as a wit­ness. He was a Freemason, and came into court at­tended by counsel,to whom he resorted, when a ques­tion was asked him, to advise him whether to answerit or not. He several times declined answering ques­tions; and, on one occasion, persisted in his refusal,until the order for his commitment was nearly com­pleted, when he relented. But he wu excused fromanswering some important questions, on the groundthat by answering he would criminate himsel£ At onetime, he referred to a written memorandum,and readfrom it his answer to a question that had been pressedupon him; upon inquiry, he stated that the memorandum had been prepared for him by his counsel!"At the ensuing term of the Supreme Court, il'

January, 1830,the exceptionswhich had been taken tothe charge of the judge in Mather's case were argued,and in the ensuing May, that court decided that th..

269APPENDIX.

judge \}fd been in error; but for some reason, whichit would be difficult to state, the court refused to directa new trial, and Mather bas thus escaped. At thesame term of the Supreme Court, Simeon B. Jewett,who had been indulged with that time for pleading tohis indictment, interposed a plea, that one of the grandjurors who found the bill had not the requisite propertyqualification. A motion was made to overrule thisplea 8S frivolous. The court expressed its impressionthat tho plea was bad, but refused the motion to over­rule it, for' the purpose of enabling the defendant toplace it upon the record. It was then demurred to;the demurrer was argued in the succeeding May term;and nine months afterwards, in January, 1831, the courtformally decided that the plea was bad. In that statethe indictment still remains."In April, 1880, preparations were .made for trying

the indictments in the county of Niagara, but the judgerefused to try them."In May, 1830, J. C. Spencer resigned the office of

special counsel, alleging, in a letter which was pub-1ished, that his confidential communications to theexecutive, under whose authority he acted, had beendisclosed, so as to reach the counsel for the accused,and enable them to paralyze his exertions; and that,instead of leaving to the executive and the accountingofficerof the state, as the law had originally provided,the adj~l\tm~nt of the compensation of the counsel,according to the services actually rendered, a law hadbeen passed, fixing it at a sum so grossly inadequate as

,. to imply a reproach in the officer and a want of confi­dence in his exertions, or an opinion that the prosecu­

. tions ana their object were unimportant. During the

THE BROKEN SEAL.270

preceding winter, the senate of the state, of whom alarge proportion, if not a majority, were Masons, hadpassed a resolution, calling on the comptroller for adetailed account of all the expenses incurred by thespecial counsel, with all the vouchers for the items.The accounts and voucherswere accordinglyfurnishedand published, and thus disclosedto the world and theaccused the name of every witness who had been ex­amined on the finding of the several indictments, andwho was relied upon to sustain them. Every facilitywas thus given to the operation of the causes that hadso often prevented witnesses from being found whenthey were wanted; and, when found, had preventedtheir attendance ; or, if they attended, had produced"short and imperfect memories. The efforts of an of­ficer of the government were thus repudiated by thegovernment itself; something worse than indifferencewas exhibited at the success of his exertions; and,instead of being sustained by the countenance of thegovernment, he was left to contend agaiust the largebody of indicted individuals, and against tho wholemachinery of masoniccombination,including the libelsof the press, singly and unaided. That officer declaredthat, under such circumstances, he could he of nofurther use in conducting the prosecutions; and heresigned his station, that it might be occupiedby someone possessing,in a higher degree, the confidence ofthe executive. The usual and customary weapons ofthe fraternity were resorted to and employed to pre­vent the impression which such occurrences wouldnaturally make upon the public mind. The mostatrocious calumny was heaped upon the officerby -themasonic press. The ebcutive added to the charge of

271A.PPENDIX.

..\ .,s .... ""

violating officialconfidential communications,by pub.lishing officialletters of the most sacredly confidentialcharacter, in which the special counsel had inquiredwhether a proclamation of a previous governor, offer­ing a reward and pardon for the discovery of the mur­derers of Morgan, was still in force? and asking theadvice and direction of the executive whether a directapplicationof the promisesin that proclamation shouldbe made to a particular witness? The moral sensibili­ties of the associatesand defendersof man-stealersandmurderers were aroused,and they were shockedat suchattempts to bribe witnesses. The governor, who hadofferedthe reward, escapedall censure; but the agent.who proposed to obey the directions of his superior.received the full measure of masonic indignation.Perhaps a more stinging rebuke of such glaring hypoc­risy could not be furnished than that which the samegovernor, very.shortly afterwards,himself exhibited, inofferinga reward and pardon for the discoveryof thepersons who had set fire to a powder-millf Mr. V.Birdseye was appointed specialcounsel,and entered onthe duties of the office."On the 15th of June, 1830, a special circuit was

held in Niagara county, by Mr.Marcy, then one of thejustices of the Supreme Court of New York. Thefirst indictment tried was that against Ezekiel Jewett.Orsamus Turner was called as a witness; but, beforeanswering any questions, desired to consult with hiscounsel. This was refused,and the examination pro­ceeded. He was presently asked whether the defend­ant.;Jewett, was one of the persons consulted with inrelation to separatingMorgan fromhis friends in Bat&­via," as a means of suppressing the contemplated publi-

THE BRO~ SEAt.27~

cation of a book containing the secrets of I'reemuonry.He declined answering it, on the ground that it would

• implicate him in a prosecutionfor the murder of Mor.gan, The court told him that he was bonnd to knowthat he was guilty of the murder of Morgan, and thathis answer would afforda key by Whichhis guilt wouldbe exposed, beforehe could refuse to answer on thatground. The court overruled the claim of privilege,and told the witness he must answer; to which heanswered, 'I will not answer.' He was then sentencedto imprisonment for thirty days, and to a fine of twohundred and fifty dollars. He was then askedwhetherhe knew that Jewett was applied to for a place in orabout Fort Niagara, for the purpose of confiningWil­liam Morgan. This he refused to answer, and wassentenced to imprisonmentin the county jail for thirtydays. He was then asked whether he was presentwhen the subject of preparing a place for the confine­men",of Morgan was discussed,in the presenceof thedefendant. This, also,he refused to answer, and wassentoneed to imprisonmentin the county jail (or thirty.days. During his confinement,this witness was sup­plied by his masonicfriends with every luxury that thecountry could furnish,and that money could procure;he was constantly visited by his masonicbrethren, andtheir wives and daughters; and, at the expiration ofhis term of imprisonment,was conducted from the jai!to his residence in R coach and four, with attendingMason~ shouting at the triumph of crime over justice!" But to return to the trial. Eli Bruce was called to

the stand, and refused to be sworn, saying, 'I was onoebefore swom and examined,and no good came of it.'He ..... HDteBcedto imprisonmentin the jail of Onta-

II

273APPDJ.)tt.

rio county for thirty days. John Whitney was nextcaUed,and he also refused to be sworn. He was sen­tenced to thirty days imprisonment,and to pay a fine •of two hundred and fifty dollars."Upon the same trial, William P. Daniels was ex­

amined, and refused to answer whether he was atSolomonC. Wright's house on the evening before theinstallation of a chapter in Lewiston, and deliberatelyswore, that the answer to the question 'would involvehim in a crimemore serious than a misdemeanor- anindictment against him as an accessary,before the fact,to the murder of Morgan.' He was warned that hemust know more of the fact that Morgan was mur­dered than the public generally did before he couldmake such an excuse,and he was cautioned as to theconsequencesof his swearing falsely; but he persistedin his refusal,and in the reason assigned for it, and ofcoursewas excused frO!1i answering the main question.He, too, was attended by counsel,whom he consultedas questions were propounded to him."After such refusals,and a thousand prevarications

of other witnesses, the defendant was acquitted, al­though not an individual who heard the trial had adoubt of his guilt."The indictment against Jeremiah Brown was also

brought on to trial, and the same solemn farce wasgone through, which resulted.in his acquittal." During these trials, Judge Marcy rejected one Ma­

son as a juror, on the ground that he had voluntarilyentered into obligationswhich were incompatiblewiththe impartial discharge of his duty. He admitted an­other Mason as a juror, between whose case and that ofthe former no difference could be perceived but this-

\'1111 BROKEN 8lUL.274

that the latter juror declared he did not himself thinkhis masonicobligationswould sway him."Much had been expected from this COUtt, from the

circumstance that one of the highest judicial officersof the state bad been taken from his appropriate dutiesand sent to hold the circuit. It was supposed that hislearning, talents, and energy would have commandedrespect and deference,and would penetrate the thickcloud that hung over the deeds of darkness respectingMorgan. But masonicobligationswere found superiorto th~ arm of the law, and Justice was vanquished inher own temple. The court adjourned, after a sessionof more than three weeks,without accomplishingany­thing."At the Ontario Sessions,in February, 1830,James

Mather was fined twenty-five dolla~ for his contemptin not appearing as a witness at a former court." In November, 1830,at the Ontario Sessions,James

Gillis was tried.on his indictment, and acquitted. Thethen special counselmade no objectionsto Masonssil;ting as j urors,"In March, 1831,another special circuit was held in

the county of Niagara, by Judge Nelson, then recent­ly appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court. Theindictment against Elisha Adams was brought to trial,and after \a long examination of numerous witnesses,which established in the minds of all whose mindswere susceptible of the impressions of huth the un­doubted guilt of the defendant; yet one of the jurors,by the name of William Willson, who was a Mason,­refused to concur with his ~leven brethren, expresslydeclaring that he would not believe witnesseswho hadviolated their masonic obligations. The jory were

275APPENDIX.

accordingly discharged. The miserable Adams haasince been called to another bar, where no mystio tisaand no impious oaths will screen him from an All·seeing eye." Parkhurst Whitney, Noab Beach, SamuelM.Ohub­

buck, Timothy Shaw, and William Miller were alsobrought to trial. Whitney, Beach, and Miller wereacquitted; the jury could not agree .88 to Shaw andChubbuck,and they were discharged. Norman Shep­ard and Henry Maxwell were also tried and acquitted,the witnessesnot remembering,on the trial, facta thatthey acknowledgedthey had sworn to before the grandjury, or remembering them in such a manner 88 ren­dered them nugatory. Nothing worthy of speciaJnotice occurredcat these trials besides what has beenmentioned. After a session of some weeks, JudgeNelson adjourned his court, leaving the investigationvery much where Judge Marcy had left it. It was im­possible to obtain convictions ifMasonswere on thejury. In' other caseswitnesses absconded,or refusedto answer, or answered so equivocallythai no reliancecould be placed on their testimony. One of them, bythe name of Murdock, purposely absented himself in aneighboring county until the trials were over."During all these trials, of which an account has

been given, beginning with that of Elihu Mather, thesamecorpsof counselappeared for the defendantsindis­criminately. They were gentlemen of distinguishedprofessional character, who were not in the habit

" of bestowing their services gratuitously. They spentmonths in this service, absent from their families andtheir business. The enormous expense which musthave been incurred in their employment could not.

THE BROKEN aEAL.276

have been defrayed by the defendants in all cases,forthey are known to be utterly unable to do 80. Specu­lation, of course, has been afloat as to the sourcewhence their compensation was derived. After theevidence whiohwss given on one of the trials of ap­plioation being made to a distant chapter to contributeto the defence of the persecuted Masons in the westof New York, and after the developementswhich haverecently been made of appropriationI by the GrandLodge of one hundred dollars to Eli Bruce, and by theGrand Chapter of N~wYork of one thousand dollarsfor an indefinite charity, which has never been ac­counted for 01' explained; it is not a very irrationalconclusion that the masonic body, 38 such, have fur­nished the means of defending these criminals, Itshould be known that the laws of New York makeample provisionfor counsel for those prisonerswho are .unable to employ them." Immediately after the termination of the last trials

at Lockport, beforementioned, in April, 1831,the stat­ute authorizing the appointment of a special counselexpired by its own limitation, and the majority of thecommittee of the .Assemblyof New York, to which thesubject was referred, refused to recommenda renewalof the law. There remain four or five indictments stillundetermined. With the insufficient meane of thecounty attorneys, who are the public prosecutors, tocontend against such obstacles as are constantly inter­posed, and with the general impression that all at,.tempts to obtain a fair administration ofjustice in these.cases will be fruitless, it is presumed that no furthertrials will be had. The sword of justice has fallenpointlesa &Rdblunted a1;the feet of Freemasonry.

277APPENDIX.

" In May, 1831,SolomonC. Wright was brought totrial on the indictment against him for perjury, at theOntario General Sessions. He.had sworn that no sus­piciouscarriage had arrived at his house in September,1826,and had denied other circumstancescalculated toidentify the persons and the carriage conveyingMor­gan. On his trial it was abundantly shown that histestimony in these respects was false; but the courtheld that the materlslity of.these facts, in the originalcase,was not sufficiently shown,and he, too, was ac­quitted. This is the last trial that has taken place,growing out of the abduction of William Morgan."It is not inappropriate to the subject of this report

to state"that the five personswho have beenconvicted,either upon their own confessions,or upon the mostconclusiveproofs,of a participation in the forcible ab­duction ofWilliam Morgan,- to wit, Chesebro, Saw­yer, Lawson, Bruce, and Whitney, - remain in fullstanding and fellowshipas membersof the masonicor­der,and havenot, in any way,beenproceededagainst bythe lodges or chapters. Oneof those under indictment,SimeonB. Jewett, has been elevated to high and dis­tinguished honors in the, fraternity, and notice of thefact has been publicly advertised in the newspapersofNew York. Probably such an impudent defiance ofthe public authority has no parallel in our history."It is also proper to remark,in connectionwith this

subject, that in the winter of 18~O a petition was pre­sented to the Assemblyof New York, praying that aninquiry might be instituted by that body into the con­duct of the Royal Arch Chapter of that state, particu­larly in appropriating money to assist the kidnappersin escapingfromjustice, and that the act incorporating

THE BROKEN· SEAL.278

the chapter might be repealed. This petition wasshuffled off,' by a reference of it, on the order of theHouse, to the attorney-general, who was himself a mem­ber of the same Royal Arch Chapter."The·duty imposed on this committee has now been

discharged. .It is regretted that so much of detail be­came necessary in order to present the facts and inci­dents required by the resolution of the convention.Although many of these details are familiar to most ofthe members, yet many of them are presumed to benew. Their collection into one mass, and their arrange-

- ment in the order of events in which they occurred, willgive to everyone, however familiar with the generalhistory of the case, a more clear and distinct perceptionof that body of evidence which, in the judgment ofyour committee, establishes beyond the. possibility ofcontradiction, the systematic interference of the ma­sonic fraternitj' to defeat the regular administrationof justice. It remains for an intelligent people toweigh these facts, to compare them with the terms ofthe masonic obligations, with' the whole object andspirit of the fraternity, and with the fundamental basisof the compact between its members, and then deter­mine whether the existence of such an order of men iscompatible with that equality of rights and privilegespromised by our constitutions, or whether it can be tol­erated consistent with a maintenance of the SlTPREM·

A.CT OF THE LA.W."

219APPENDtX.

~-

HIS EXCELr.BNCY ENOS T. THROOP, Acting Governor.SIB: I have just received a copy of an act passed at

the last session of the legislature, entitled" An act di­recting a special circuit to be held in the county ofNiagara, and for other purposes," the fifth section ofwhich declares that" the act to provide for the employ­ment of counsel for the purposes therein mentioned,passed April 15, 1828, shall be continued until the firstday of May, 1831; but that the compensation to beallowed to the special counsel appointed pursuant tosaid act shall not exceed one thousand dollars over andabove his necessary expenses."As this act proposes a continuance or renewal of my

appointment, upon terms different from those containedin the statute under which the appointment was madeand accepted, the question is necessarily presented tomy mind whether I wiD accept the Dewproposition ,

May, 4" 1880.J. C. SPBNCB&

MB. SPENClI:B'S RESIGNATION.

MESSRS. DAY AND MORSE: Having declined to act.as special counsel under the act of the laRt session of thelegislature, I am desirous that my reasons for doing 80

should be known to my fellow-citizens. I thereforeenclose a copy of the letter to Governor Throop on thesubject, for publication.

In this connection we .give also the letter ofMr.Spencer, stating his reasons for resigning hisofficeof special counsel This is a very instruc­tive epistle.

280

To determine thililquestion, it is necessary to advertto the nature of:the employment,the relation in w'bichIt places the incumbent to the government of the state,and the circumstances under which the offer to renewit is made.The government, by a special law, took into its own

hands the investigation of the fate of William Mor­gan, and all the incidents connected therewith; it wasnot content to leave that investigation to the ordinaryofficers of justice, but directed the employment of aspecial agent for that purpose by the executive, atwhose pleasure the appointment was to be held. Thegovernment thus became the prosecutor, and in that,as in every other executive function,it was representedby the governor. The special counselwas not to be aprivate prosecutor, but the agent of the executive. Assuch it is most evident he was entitled to the aid, ad­vice, direction, and support of the executive and of theother branchesof the government. In order to exhibitthe urgent necessity of such aid and support, it cannotbe necessary to refer to the nature of the investigation,the large number of persons accused, their connectionwith a powerful society, and their individual influence:for your Excellency and the whole communitybut toowell know the magnitude and amount of the obstaclesto be encountered. Whether the whole constitutionalpower of the government would be sufficient to over­comethem, was problematicel; that anything short ofthat power would fail,was certain. Nothing but thisconviction could have justified the law directing theemployment of a special counsel. Under that convic­tion, and with full and entire confidence,not only inthe formal concurrence of the executive, but in his siD-

281APPENDIX.

cere and hearty cooperation, I entered upon the dutiesof the employment to which Governor Van Bureninvited me. The only inducements to this step werethe hope of allaying the tears and anxieties which pre­vailed respecting the sufficiencyof the laws to punishthe outrage which had been committed, and the beliefthat a faithful and thorough investigation would satisfyan alarmed community, whether it resulted in the pun­ishment of the guilty or not. Your Excellency suc­ceeded to the executive chair, and I had no reason todoubt but I should receive fromyou and from the legisla­ture the same sincere support, t.he same official counte-.nance, which had been expected from your predecessor.In this I have been disappointed. Positive aid, beyondthe performance of formal duties from which there wasno escape, has in no instance been rendered me. Andinstead of receiving any countenance or support, I havebeen suffered to stand alone, an isolated individual, car­rying on the most laborious and difficult prosecutions,as if they were private suits instituted by me, and with­out any participation of the responsibility by the mem­bers of that government which employed me. Indeed'their responsibility has been disclaimed by every meanswhich the circumstances would allow. Without dwell­ing upon the omission to notice, in any way, the BUg

gestions contained in my report to your Excellency, orupon other evidences furnished during last winter bythe debates and other proceedings in the legislature ofunfavorable sentiments towards the 'prosecutions andtowards me, as their conductor, it is sufficient to referto the very act which proposes a renewal of my em­ployment, as indicating anything but approbation, con­currence, and support. Its terms are recited above;

THE BROKEN SEAL.282

the original act is continued,but the compensationshallnot exceed so much. The original act provided thatthe expense should be paid on the order of the gov­ernor, after being audited by the comptroller. It canscarcelybe supposed that there was any want of con­fidence in those officersentertained by the last legisla­ture. In another case (the Astor controversy) therewas an unbounded discretion vested in the governoralone, in respect as well as to the number of counsel tobe employed,as to the amount of their compensation.That discretion has been left unrestricted. It is diffi­cult to account for the difference between the twocases, without ascribing it to a design to give offence,or to a wish to evade the responsibilityof sanctioningmy proceedings. In either view, it seemsto be a merepermission to continue, for a compensation no longerto be fixedat a fair and just rate, depending upon thecircumstances,but for a stipulated sum by the job, asit were; and the inadequacyof which sum marks theestimate put upon' the value of my services by thosewho offerit. lowe it myself to say, that the amountof the compensationwould not deter me from continu­ing in the employ of the government if the circum­stances justified, and duty required that continuance,It is not in that view that I regard the matter as wor­thy of a moment's thought; but it is, that the amountproposed,the manner of the proposition,and the cir­cumstances under which it was made (which are aswellknown to me as the other citizens), furnish to mymind indisputable evidence of the unfavorable senti­ment entertained respecting the prosecutions, or theagent conducting them, or both. The act presents thesingular paradox of disavowing,as far as possible,the

·APpmmli:.

agency it proposes to renew, and of inviting the agentto proceed, in such repulsive language, as to render hisacceptance incompatible with the least self-respect. IfI have not fulfilled the intentions of the government,I should be displaced; and if continued, I should besupported and sustained by that government.I have to complain, also, that my officialcommunica­

tions to your Excellency have been divulged, so as todefeat my measures, and bring undeserved reproachupon m'. Those communications related to the meansof discovering evidence of the fact of William Mor­gan's death; they were not only in their nature strict­ly confidential, but the success of the measures sug­gested depended entirely upon their being unknownto the parties and their friends. Yet they becameknown to a connsel of/the persons implicated in theoffencesupon William Morgan. I cannot comment onthis fact in such a manner as to do justice to my feel­ings, and at the same time preserve the respect whichis due to the chief magistrate of the state. It 'mustbe left to the consideration of all impartial men, withthe single remark, that it imposes an insurmountableobstacle to all further communications of a-confidentialoharaoter with your Excellency. I should thus bedeprived, as special counsel, of an aid altogether in­dispensable to further proceedings. That the re­proach which the revelation of that correspondencehas brought upon me is undeserved, may at least bepresumed from the fact of your Excellency's havingcontinued my employment for more than a year afterthose communications were made to you.For the reasons whioh have now been given to your

Excellenoy, at such length, the hope of being any:for-

TIll!: BBOKd SEAt..

ther useful in conducting the prosecutions against thepenons implicated in the outrages upon William Mor­gan has failed. The conviction is forced upon mymind, that if the laws are to be vindicated against theoffenders in that transaction, it must be done by someone possessing more fully than myself the confidenceof those administering the government, and who willbe better sustained by them than I have been. Pub­lic duty, therefore, does not require me to forfeit myown self-respect .and the esteem of others, by continu­ing in a situation where I should be exposed to treat­ment like that already received, and where I am practi­cally disavowed and disowned by my employers,

Whatever inclinations Imay have had to resign theappointment. of special counsel before the' passage ofthe act of the last session, they yielded to the beliefthat it would be rendered unnecessary by the refusalof the legislature to renew the original law. I think., may be safely affirmed to have heen a very g:eneral,if not universal opinion, that It .wOUl<lnot be renewed.A resignation under such circumstances would hardlyhave been deemed voluntary, and would have subjectedme to reproaches to which Iwas unwilling to submit.There were some cases in hand which required theattention of one who had been familiar with them, andthere were Romematters connected with the prosecu­tions which could not well be regulated ~y another.Notwithstanding the unpleasantness of my situation,in relation to the government, it seemed a duty to pro­ceed 88 well as I could under the circumstances, untilI should be released by the refusal of the legislatureto renew the aot, or until, by the passage of a new law,the option should be presented of continuing or retir-

285APPENDIX.

;.....t- ..; .. ,

ing. Everything has been done, therefore, within mypower, to accelerate the proceedings, and among others,was the recommendation to a member of the judiciarycommitte of the Senate to provide for a special circuitin Niagara. This measure will tend much to expeditethe proceedings in that county. Issues are joined uponall the indictments pending there, except as to onedefendant, who is out of the state, and everythingwhich could be prepared by counsel is in readiness forthat circuit.In conclusion, I have only to say, that there are

numerous facts and voluminous papers in my posses­sion relating to the pending prosecutions, which willbe cheerfully communicated to my successor,and everyother aid in my power, which he may desire, will berendered to him.

Yonr Excellency's fellow-citizen,\

.ToHN C. SPBNOKL

EXTRACT FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THlII NEW

H.A.l[PSBIRE ANTIMA.SONIC STA.TE CONVENTION.

S. D. Greene's Reasons for 8eceding from .MaBonry.The hour designated baying. arrived, Mr. Greene ad­

dressed the convention, notwithstanding the severityof the storm. The room was well filled with an atten­tive audience, when, at the close, a Royal Arch Masonpresent arose, and asked if there was any seceding •Mason present; and if there was, he wished to knowwhat reasons he would offer for having seceded. Mr.Greene again took the desk, and gave his reasons in amild, but convinoing, most powerful, and interestingmanner; that not only thrilled the whole audience,and was satisfactory to every one present, and ac­knowledged so even by the gentleman himself. Withthe following apology, Mr. Greene presents his rea­IOn8·-

.As an illustration of one of the pleasant thingsconnected with the business of lecturing in thoseyears, I give the following. The Royal ArchMason, who asked me the questions, was after­wards governor of the State of New Hampshire;but what was more gratifying to me, he after­wards came out and renounced.Masonry: -

I--I .

287APPEND:a.

"MB. PUSIDBNT: The gentleman has asked myreasons for seceding from Freemasonry. With yourleave, sir, I will briefiy state them.

-,My firl1t TeUOll for aeceding, is, because I could notkeep and obey the laws of God and my country withoutabandoning the designs of my masonic oaths. The~'were imposed upon me without my knowledge or con­lent, for I eould not know what they would require.And at the time of taking the Entered Apprentice'soath, and ev~ry other oath, the master assured me that'the oath should not militate against my religion orpolitics.' He then-gave me the first oath, which was, 'tohail, conceal, and never reveal, any part or parts, art orarts, point or points, of the secrets of Freem~nry ; ,and if called upon afterwards, in a court of justice; andIworn to tell' the truth, and the whole truth,' in rela­tion to the truth of Morgan's disclosures, I could Dot

"The members of the convention manifesting a de­sire that my reasons for seceding,oft'ered before themand the Royal Arch gentleman, should be written outand published with their proceedings, I have consented,and offer the' following. Though undoubtedly fallingfar short of the original, and it is not unlikely thatmany have' escaped Ply recollection, for, it will be re­collected that they were given after an address to theconvention, and in the hearing of the gentleman, whenI·had supposed that I had already oft'ered reasonsenough why every Christian and honest republicanshould not only (if they were Freemasons) secede, butarise in their strength to abolish Freemasonry fromtheir embrace, and from the earth forever. The fol-lowing were o&ered,if not all. S. D. G."

THE BROKEN SEAL.288 •

do it, and- at the same time observe the words ofmy masonic oath. Being under superior obligation toGod and my country, I was forced to renounce thewicked design, which would oblige me, if I obeyed it,to lie to the Holy Ghost, and perjure myself before mycountry. Therefore I renounced the design, and keptmy oath. To be a seceder, then, is to scrupulouslyobserve your oath, as you understood' it; that it should.be in accordance with your religion and politics, anddespise the cheat, for God requires it; man requires it,and your country requires it. There is not one oathof Freemasonry which can be observed, agreeable toits letter, without violating every obligation I am underto God and my country." My second reason is, because I could not know the

principles of Freemasonry when I was only acquaintedwith what Freemasons said they were in their consti­tutions, charts, and monitors, and with its initiatory ritesand forms. I could only learn them, as above, in thefulfilment of its' laws, usages, and customs.' These'laws, usages, and customs' were, when known or putinto execution, diametrically opposed to every moral,religious, and political principle; consequently, Free­masonry is opposed to a free government, as it wouldbreak down every moral restraint, and tend to estab­lish infidelity and anarchy."Third, because, if I acted the part of a free man,

and exposed that which was wrong, my life was indanger. I must have my throat cut, my left breasttom open, my heart and vitals taken from thence, ormy body parted in the midst, to satisfy the demand ofthese unlawful, and extrajudicial oaths, at which sav-

19

APPENDIX. 289•

agee would blush, if tendered to them understandin,ly,and which cannibals knowingly would never take."Fourth, because it teaches another way to heaven

than that which is taught by the Holy Bible, and themallet is to do the officework of Christ and the HolyGhost. For Freemasonry teaches that the 'mallet isused for knocking oft"the superfluities of the conscience,and to fit the soul as a living and lively stone for thatIpiritual building, that house not made with hands,eternal in the heavens.' This is awful blasphemy, 88well as the levelling of the Holy Bible with the squareand oomp&88."And also its initiatory rites are in direct opposi­

tion to the command of God, 'Thou shalt not take thename of the Lord thy God in vain;' yet this is prac­tised in the farce of stamping the foot, clapping thebands, and tearing the bandage from the candidate'seyes, to show him three burning candles, and God'sHoly Book disgraced with the square and compass.The Worshipjid Hasler at the same time making aprofane use of a greater figure than was ever used byman: 'God said, let there be light, and there was ~ht.'"Fifth, because Free~asort8 perform 'lyi~g mira-.

oles,' in that they pretend to raise the .dead 0; ~ in thecase of Hiram AbitJ; after he has been dead and bu.riedtwo days under the rubbish of the temple, and tw~lvedays at the hill of Joppa, and is so putrid that theflesh cleaves from the bone, when in fact the candidatelies then, instead of being dead and rotten, laughing illa blanket. And also because the pretension of Free­masons is false. And instead of Freemasonry beingold, it is young. That the history of Hiram's death byJubela, Jubelo, and Jubell1m, at the building of &,,10-

•TBB BBOuar SBAL.I

290

mon's Tempie, is a lie, proved 11& by the word of God,in the Scriptures, which asserts that Hiram was aliveafter the temple was completed;' and examined thevessels thereof; which he had cast. The use of the Lat­in terminations, Jubela, Jubelo, and Jubelum, provesFreemasonry an impostor, and contradicts its pretendedantiquity, as well as the faint letter G, found upon thenaked,putrid, rotten left breast of Hiram, when historyproves that the Roman letters were not known, nor theLatin language spoken, tillhundreds of years afterwards.~'Sixth, because, upon the ancients they have very

heavily laid their yoke. They have showed them nomercy. They have taken their characters to buildup an institution fraught with all manner of iniquity.They have injured the church, and brought a stain.upon the religion of Christ, by claiming Adam, Nim­rod, Noah, Elisha, Elijah, David, Solomon, Hirams andJohns, and a host of others, who lived in former, aswell as later ages."Seventh, because they pretend to be above all that

is 'called God, or is worshipped,' for they not only de­clare in their heart, , I am,' 'and none else beside me,'« I Al[ THAT I AM,' but tlie master is called MOST WOR­

SBlPFUL, And also, Freemasonry is after the workingof Satan, because it not only claims high antiquity, butmorality, benevolence, and charity, cardinal virtuesof religion, and lays its burden upon the good andwise of former and latter times, but it shrinks notto adopt and organize into a system the 'mysteriuof iniquity,' practised by the wicked in the days ofEzekiel; for, in the Royal Arch they. have a vault, andwith a crow-bar, piok-axe, and spade they dig in thewall, aud behold a door,_illto which they descend ad

bring up the things deposited there,-the Key Stone,the Pot of Manna,Aaron's Rod, the Ark of the COyenant, Book of the Law, and Masonic Squares. Theydo as the wicked do, stamp with their feet, wink withtheir eyes, and make signs with their fingers. Theyblush not to declare that the Eleusinianmysteries formcomponentparts of their order, and their book of con­stitutions holds out as an inducement to become aFreemason,' that it will introduce them to the fellow­ship of corsairs,pirates, and marauders,who will treatthem as a brother.' They also affirmthat it i!l thehandmaidof religion; and that prophets and apostles,kings and potentates of the earth, have never beenashamed to grace their assemblies. _"Eighth, because their ceremonieslessen the sanc­

tion of 'the important lessons intended to be enforcedby the exhibitionofmiracles. Yet the most profligateattempt to perform them in the resurrection of thedead, in the preservationofmanna,since it rained fromheaven to the children of Israel in the wilderness,asthey marched from Egypt to Canaan. They cast tJ1erod upon the ground, and pretend it turns into a ser­pent; taking it by the tail, it becomes a rod in theirhand. They thrust their hand into their bosom,andtake it out, and say, It is as leprousas snow; put it in,and take it out again, and it is restored whole as tl-eother."Ninth, becausethey pretend to be God, and stand-

ing in the place of God,showing themselvesthey areGod, by taking a bush, and putting gum camphireupon it, they ignite it. and while the gum burns, andthe bush is not consumed,they stand behind the bush,tbe blind candidatel are brought up beforeit, when the

TlIII BltOlCD SEAL.

personbehind the bush cries out, and says, 'Mo8Bs,Mo­SES, MosEs! !! ' The conductor answers,, Here, Lord,am I.' The person behind the bush continues, andsays, 'Draw not nigh hither; put offthy shoes from offthy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holyground.' The candidates pluckingoff their shoes,kneeldown, while the Mason behind the bush declares, 'Iam the GOD of thy FATHEBS, the. GOD of ·ABIU.BAM,

the GOD of ISAAC, and the GOD of JAC(,)B.' The con­ductor raises the bandage from the candidate's eyes,and puts it down again, saying, 'Moses hid his face,for he was afraid to look upon GoD.'"Tenth, because it is a conspiracyagainst the moral

and civil law,an inroad upon the unalienable rightsguaranteed to us by our free institutions, in that itgran~ indulgencesnot sanctioned by either. To swearand keep an oath that is hid from him, for the Scrip­tures say, 'If a soul swear, pronouncing with his lipsto do evil, 01' to do good, whatsoever it be that a manshall pronouncewith an oath, and it be bid from him,when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in oneof these.'~,And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of

these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinnedin that. thing."To obey all signs and summonses handed, thrown,

or sent from a brother, to apprise him of all approach­ing danger, if in his power, giving him facilities toescape,though it might go to destroy the lawful rightssecured to others. ' Not to violate the chastity of thefemalerelatives of a Mason,knowing them to be such,but enjoining no such restraint towards other females.'To 8y to the relief of a brother..Mason,when he giv~

198~PPENDIX.

die grand hailing sign or distrels, or bean the :wordaccompanying it, and rescue him from the same, ifthere is a greater probability of saving his life than oflosing their own, though it might be to clear a cnlprit,or weaken the arm of the law. To espouse the caU88of a brother, and extricate him from difficulty, whetherhe be right or wrong. To keep his secreta, murder andtreason ezcepted or not ezcepeed."Eleventh, because, in the Templar'B degree they

take a human skull and a lighted candle, and personi­fying the Saviour, use the words' of his prayer, offeredin consequence of our sins, in the Garden of Get...semane, they drink wine &01110 the human skull, andinvoke double damnation upon their own souls." Taking the skull, with a glass of wine in ft, they

swear, 'This pure wine I now take in testimony of mybelief in the mortality of the body and the immortalityof the soul; and may this libation appear as a witneBSagainst me, both here and hereafter; and as the sins ofthe world were laid upon the head of the Saviour, somay all the sins committed by the person whose skullthis was, be heaped upon my head in addition to myown, should I ever knowingly or wilfully violate ortransgress<any obligation that I have heretofore taken,

\ take at this time, or shall at any future period take, inrelation to any degree of Masonry, or order of Knigbt,..hood, so help me God;' after this, repairing to.the tombof the Saviour, pretend he rises from the dead, by bring­ing up a transparency, representing' Christ 'rising fromthe grave, and pointing to the image, they sin. Theyperform a mock ceremony of the Lord's Supper. Pass­ing into the council, they swear to trust their everlast­ingwvatioD on the Oro. and hk of Masonry;' for,

tay they, 'I do now, by the honor and power of theMark of the Holy and Dlustrious order of the Cross,which I do now hold to Heaven in my right hand 88

the earnest of my faith, and in the dread presence ofthe most Holy and Almighty God, solemnly swear anddeclare, that I do hereby accept of and forever willconsider the Cross and Mark of this degree 88 my onlyhope.'"And they last remark, 'Should you ask me what are

the requisite qualities that a Freemason must posseeato come to the centre of truth, I answer, you .mustcrush the head of the serpent of Ignorance concerningthe reigning religion. Behold! my dear brother, whatyou must fight against and destroy before you can ~meto the knowledge of the true, good, and sovereign hap­piness (of Freemasonry): behold that monster whichyou must conquer, that serpent which we detest as anIDoL, that is adored by the idiot and vulgar, under thename' of RBLIGION.'

"Thus I have shown, from personal knowledge, andsatisfactory evidence, a few of the many reasons whyI should renounce Freemasonry. If they are not sat­isfactory and sufficient, I will take the desk again andoffer you more. But with your permission, Mr. Presi­dent, I will ask the gentleman if I have offered himgood reasons; being permitted, he answered, ' Yes, goodreasons enoush.'"

"The following account of that tragi cal scene istaken from a pamphlet, entitled, 'Confession of theMurder of William Morgan,' as taken down by Dr.John L. Emery, of Racine County, Wisconsin, in thesummer of 1848, and now (1849) first given to thepublic."This confessionwas taken down as related by Hen­

ry L. Valance, who acknowledges himself to have beenone of the. three who were selected to make a finaldisposition of the ill-fated victim of masonic vengeance.This confession, it seems, was made to his physicians,and in view of his approaching dissolution, and pub­lished after his decease." After committing that horrid deed, he was, 88might

well be expected, an unhappy man, day and night. He

The murder of William Morgan, confused by the manwho, with his own hands, pushed him out 0.( the boarinto the river.

CONFESSION.

IN the work recently published by Rev. Dr. Fin­ney, entitled, "The Character, Claims,and PracticalWorkings of Freemasonry," we find the followingconfession,which is taken from a work we do nothappen to have at hand, "Stearns on Masonry."

I.

THE BBOKEN BBAL.298

•

• .. much like Cain,' a fugitive and vagabond.' To'use his own words, 'Go where I would, or do what Iwould, it was impossible for me to throw off the con­sciousness of crime. If the mark of Cain was not uponme, the cline of the first murderer was, - the blood­stain was upon my hands, and could not be washed .out.'

" He therefore commences his confession thus: 'Mylast hour is approaching, and as the things of this worldfade from my mental sight, I feel the necessity of mak- ,ing, as far as in my power lies, that atonement whichthe violator of the great law of right owes to his \fel­low-men.' In this violation of law, he says, 'I alludeto the abduction and murder of the ill-fated WilliamMorgan.' .

"He proceeds with an interesting narrative of the \proceedings of the fraternity in reference to Morgan,while he was incarcerated in the ma!f_szineof FortNiagara. I have room for a few extracts only, showingthe final disposition of the alleged criminal. Many con­sultations were held, many plans proposed, discussed,and rejected. At length, being driven to the necessityof' doing something immediately for fear of being ex­posed, it was resolved in a council of' eight, that hemust die; must be consigned to a confinement fromwhich there is no possibility of escape - THE GBA.VE.

"Three of their number were to be selected by ballot,-to execute the deed. Eight pieces of paper were'pro­cured, five of which were to remain blank, while theletter D was written on the others. These piecesofpaper were placed in a large box, fromwhich each manwas to draw one at the samemoment. After drawing,we were all to separate, without looking at the paper

whi~ each held in his hand. So soen 81we batt atrived at certain distances from 'the place of rendezvous}the tickets were to be examined, and those who heldblanks, were to return immediately to their homes;and those who should hold the marked tickets, were toproceed to the fort at midnight, and there put Morganto death, in such a manner as should seem to them­selves most fitting. Mr. Valance was one of the threewho drew the ballots on "hich was the' signal letter.He returned to the fort, where he was joined by his twocompanions, who had drawn the death tickets. Ar­rangements were made immediately for executing thesentence passed upon their prisoner, which was to sinkhim iJ'(the river with weights; 'in hope,' says Mr. Val­anee, 'that he and our crime would thus be buriedbeneath the waves.' His part was to proceed to themagazine where Morgan was confined, and announceto him his fate; theirs was to procure a boat, andweights with which to sink him. Morgan, on beinginformed of their proceedings against him, demandedby what auth.ority they had condemned him, and whowere his judges. He commenced wringing his hands,and talking orhis wife and children, the recollectionsof whom, in that awful hour, terribly affected him.His wife, he said,' was young and inexperienced, andhis children were but infants;' what would becomeof them were he cut off, and they even ignorant of hisfate? . What husband and father would not be ' terri­bly affected' under such circumstances, to be cut offfrom the living in this inhuman manner?"Mr. V.'s comrades returned, and informed him that

they had procured the boat and weights, and that allthings were in readiness on their part. Morgan wastold 1Ihatall hiBremonstrances were idle; that die hemust, and that soon, even before the morning light.The feelin~ of the husband and father were stillstrong witthm him, and he continued to plead on ·be­half of his family. They gave him one half hour toprepare for his 'inevitable fate.' They retired from·the maguine and left him. ' How :MorganpUlled that

THE BROKD 8IAtu

time,' 88YS Mr. Valance, 'I cannot tell, but eve~bingwas quiet as the tomb within.' At the expiration ofthe allotted time ~heyentered the magazine,laid holdof their victim, 'bound his hands behind him, andplaced a gag in his mouth.' They then led him forthto execution. 'A short time,' says this murderer,'brought us to the boat, and we all entered it. Mor­gan being placed in the bow, with myself along sideof him. My comradestook the oars, and the boat wasrapidly forced out into the river. The night was pitchdark, we could scarcelysee a yard before us, and there­fore was a time admirably adapted to our hellish pur­pose.l Having reached a proper distance from theshore, the oarsmen ceased their labors. The weightswere all secured together by a strong cord,and anothercord of equal strength, and of several yards in length,proceeded from that. ' This cord,' saysMr.V., 'I tookin my hand [did not that hand tremble?', and fastenedit around the body of Morgan, just a1)ovehis hips,using all my skill to make.it fast, so that it wouldhold.Then, in a whisper, I bade the unhappy man to standup; and after a momentaryhesitation he compliedwithmy order. .He stood close to the head of the boat,and there was just length of rope enough from his per-80nto the weights to prevent any strain while he wasstanding. I then requested one of my associates toassist me in lifting the weights from the bottom to theside of the boat, while the other steadied her' from thestern. This was done and as Morgan was standingwith his back towardsme, I approached him, and gavehim a strong push with both my hands, which wereplaced on the middle of his back. He fell forward,carrying the weights with him, and the waters closedabove the mass. We remained quiet tor two or threeminutes, when my companions,Withoutsaying a word,resumed their places, and rowed the boat to the placefrom.which they had taken it." .

The Declaration, signed by about twelve hundred Freema­sons "of Boston and vicinity," denies, unequivocafiy, all theallegations against Freemasonry and Freemasons that have beenmade during the last five years. Some of the most material ofthese allegations, which the State Committee are prepared toprove, are the following. We allege. - \1. That the kidnapping, and consequent murder of William

Morgan, was preconcerted in lodges and chapters, and carriedon with their knowledge and cooperation, and that none but Free­masons were concerned in that outrage.2. That the only motive for this crime, was the disclosure of

masonic secrets by Morgan.s. That the penalty imposed for a violation of masonic oaths

is death, and death only.. 4. That the masonic construction of masonic penalties isdeath for a violation of masonic law; and that no ceremony,lecture, or injunction in Masonry, previous to 1827, explainsaway this plain, literal construction, but that the whole tenor ofall such authorities enforce it in the strongest terms.5. That the manner of the infliction of death imposed by t.hese

penalties, in eight of the degrees, beginning with the flrst, iscutting the throat and tearing out the tongue; tearing out theheart; severing, quarterlng..and disembowelling the body, andburning to ashes; learing the breast open, and throwing theheart on a dunghill to rot; smiting the skull off, aIftl exposingthe brains to the sun; pulling' down the house of the offender,and hanging him on one of its timbers; striking the head off,and placing it on a lofty spire; tearing out the eyes, choppingoff the ,hands, quartering the body, and throwing it among .therubbish of the Temple. •6. That Freemasonry, by the legitimate operation of her prin­

ciples, and the literal construction of her oaths, has preventedthe detection, indicting. and conviction of kidnappers and mur­derers.

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST FREEMASONRY.

INthe year 1831,a Declaration wasput forth by twelve hundredFreemasons in Massachusetts, denying the charges against theirorder. The Antimasonic members of the Massachusetts legisla­ture for 1832appointed a committee to answer this paper. Thatcommittee reported at the Antimasonic State Convention, heldin Worcester, September, 1832. The following is their report,and we give it for its compact and convincing character:-

SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE.

THE BROKEN SEAL.&00

1. That masonic jurors have refused to indict or to connct;masonic offenders, and that masonic witnesses have refused totestify against them,8. That in the contest of five years, between the legal tribu­

nals of New York and Freemasonry, but two verdicts and three.pleas of guilty have been obtained against the kidnappers andmurderers, though well known; and the whole amount of punish­ment that has been inflicted for these outrages, committed by alarge body·of men, has been five years and five months impris­onment in county jails, distributed among five convicts!9. '.lI'hatno " partial and Inflammatory representation" of these

offences, committed by Masous, has been made, beyond what thefacts, as judicially established, fully warrant.

10. That these offences grew out of the legitimate construc­tion and application <U the oaths, principles, and engagementsof Freemasons.

11. That the five Masons sentenced for participation in thecrime, eighteen indicted, and many others implicated, have everremained in full fellowship with lodges and chapters, and thatsome of them have been since advanced to high masonic honors.12. That these convicts and kidnappers are held in full com­

munion by Masons in Massachusetts, because the principles ofMasonry require all lodges and chapters to receive' and fellow­ship Masons, so long as they retain membership in any lodge orchapter.

18. That the perpetrators of the violence on Morgan werenot" a.few misguided men," but were men comprising the mostactive occupations and professions, as respectable in the com­munities where they lived, as the twelve hundred signers of theDeclaration are in this community.

14:. That at least three hundred and fifty Masons were acces­sory to the outrage, pr principals in the crime, and that it becameknown masonically to at least five hundred more Masons inNew York, soon after it was committed, and as there is no doubt,to acting masonic bodies generally, throughout the United States.

15. That lodges and chapters concealed the criminals, con­tributed money to protect them from justice, and to enable oneof the actual murderers to escape from the country.16. That forty-three of the most active criminals, whom we

('an name, were men of high respectability and standing, com­prising officers of justice, and belonging to almost every occu­pation and trade, and to three of the learned professions, andthat the murderers themselves were men of no mean considera­tion.11. That masonic principles, oaths, and engagements, are, in

every essential particular, the same in Massachusetts as in NewYork.18. That a knowledge of the crimes of Masons in New York,

by :U:u.achuaetta Masons, soon after those oft'ence8were co~

801APPENDIX.

mitted, iI fairly inferred from the introduction of • check-tenor oath here from New York, established to exclude -from thelodges those who studied the disclos~. made by Morgan.

19. That the Masons of Musachusattl, when called upon for­mally, in 1830, by the State Antimasonic Convention, to disfel­lowship the masonic bodies in New York, which cherished theMorgan conspirators, declined to do '0, or to deny, as a masonicbody, the truth of the disclosures against Freemasonry, or torenounce the system, or to disapprove the murder. _20. That masonic newspapers, masonic officen, and Masons

of great respectability, embracing even ministers of the gospelin this state and in Rhode Island, have justified the murder orMorgan, and declared he had met his just deserts for a viola-tion of his masonic oaths! .21. That in repeated instance. masonic oaths have proved to

be .wonger and more binding on masonic consciences, thancivil oaths in trials and examinatioIl8 before judicial and legisla-.uve tribunals. .

22. That masonic oaths, as administered in New York andMusachU8etts, impose solemnly upon those who take them the fol­lowing, among other obnoxious and criminal obligations, viz. : -

1. To conceal and never reveal, except to a brother Mason ofthe same degree, any of the secreta of Freemasonry, under anycircumstances.2. To obey all masonic signs and summonses, given by one

Mason to another, or by a masonic body. ...8. To obey the grand hailing sign of diBtress, at the hazard or

life. ,~. To keep a brother Mason's secrets of every description,

when communicated as such, murder and treason only excepted,and t)ley left to the election of the Mason receiving such secrets;and that this specific exception of only two crimes which may bedisclosed, plainly enjoins the concealment of all other crimes.6. Not to violate the chastity of the female relatives of a Ma­

son, knowing them to be such, but enjoining no such restrainttowards other females.6. To keep till secreta communicated by. Royal Arch Mason,

- or all secreta without exception, - or murder and treason notexcepted. _1. To assist a Royal Arch Mason, espouse his cause, and ex­

tricate him from difficulty, whether he 00 rignt or wrong.8. To travel forty miles barefoot, and on frozen ground, it

required; to relieve the necessities ofa worthy ~night Templar.9. The drinking of wine out of a human skull, and imprecat­

ing the sins of the person whose skull that once was, upon thebead of the candidate, as the Savio1U' bore the sins of the wholeworld, ahould the per.on who _a. ~ oa~ ,yer vj.o~w.-., fit1m lIJIUonic oaSbi.

TIIB BBOl[EN8tiL.102

18. That the Master Mason'. oath extencU to the concealmentof all crimes but t'IIJO i and, therefore, if an oath to conceal allHcreta, murder and treason not excepted, be indefensible, anoath to conceal all other crimes but these two is not less so.

24:. That if adhering Masons can construe away their oathawhich enjoin the concealment ot each other's secrets, except, orincluding but two crimes (murder and treason), then, by thesame process, they can construe away the fnjunction in the sameoaths, to conceal any of the secrets of Freemasonry; and hence,that if an. adhering Mason discloses such secret of a brother Ma-.80n, he is just as guilty of violating his oath as the secedingMason is who discloses all the secrets of the craft.25. That these facts prove Freemasonry to be "at variance

with the fundamental principles of morality, and incompatiblewith the duty of a good and faithful citizen."26. That the Declaration of the twelve hundred Masons is

not only false in its denials, but false in its assertions, because, -21. The candidate is not "made acquainted with the nature

of the obligations he is required to assume" previous to takinghis oaths, but he is required to promise to conform to the uaagesand customs of Freemasonry, without knowing what they are;and, by the Massachusetts book of constitutions, he is only per­mitted, before taking the oath, to see the charter and by-law.of the lodge and a list of its members, all of which contain noreference whatever to the oaths and obligations he il requiredto assume.28. Because, the intimation from the Master, that the oath.

will not interfere with religion or politics, is a deception, and no.explanation of their nature, because it is not a part. ot the oath;and because the terms of the oaths, if they are to have anymeaning at all, do interfere directly with religion and politics,and are nowhere explained, by any equally binding and concur­rent authority, to mean anything different from their plain, lit­eral import.29. Because, if under such circumstances, Masons who profess

to regard their oaths as binding at all, can explain away the lit­eral import of their masonic oaths, they may, by the same reason­ing, explain away the literal import of their civil oaths.

30. Because, obedience to the civil magistrate, and being trueto the civil government, and just to the country, are not requisiteto retain masonic fellowship and membership of a lodge, inas­much as the book of constitutions lays down the maxim, thatthough a brother be a rebel against the state, yet" if comlUtMof no ot""'" crime, they cannot ~pel JWm from the lodge, and 1Urelation. to it remains indefeasible."81. Hence, that by masonic law and practice, U'etUOft and

murder are not offences which are deemed of .u8lcient magni­sude to authorize expulsion from the lodge.82. Tha&it 11aot we that i'reemuonq .ewre. is .embel'l

APPBNDI%. ,

in the fre,a,om, of ,puc1&, because ahe tetter. and hoodwinksthem, and makes them swear to bave their t1woo,t. tm'l, and theirtongue, torn out, if they indulge in freedom of .peecA, touchingany of the mysteries taught them by this pretended patron offreedom of speech j and because her boeD of constitution,monitors, and orators enjoin It"lence and ,eGf'ecy j to be " cau­tious in'words," to mano,ge a discourse, and to " be voluntarilydutmb," in order to avoid freedom of speech.88. That these exo1.usiveand selfish oaths, and the whole prin­

ciples and practices of Freemasonry, do necessarily interferewith the dictates of conscience and the acts of Masons in mattersof religion and politics, and disqualify men, under their infiuence,from conducting towards the rest of mankind with the same im­partiality. in the capacity of jurors, judges, officers, or legislators,as can be exercised by men who acknowledge no other than civil,moral, and religious obligations.

34:. That jf Masonry does disdain the making of proselytes,Masons, nevertheless, have repeatedly urged men to join thelodge.35. That so far from admitting only those whose character.

"are unspotted by immorality and vice," one of the inducementaheld out in her books of highest authority, to become a Mason,is, that it will introduce you to the fellowship of corsairs, pirates,and marauders, who will treat you as a brother.86. That she not only admits men of the vilest character into

her lodges, but retains in full fellowship the proftigate, theabandoned, the worthless, the intemperate, the profane, and doesnot expel men guilty of kidnapping, murder, and treason.37. That so tar from being the handmaid of religion and vir­

tue, she is the offspring of scepticism and vice, excluding revela­tion and the name of the Saviour from her seven first degrees;admitting the Bible of the Pagan and Mohammedan to a concur­rent authority with the Bible of the Christian, as "holy writings,"and practising secret rites and ceremonies, tending to bring theresurrection and the miracles of revelation into contempt.38. That the pretended" charitable uses" of her "accumu­

lated funds," received" in sacred trust," is deceptive; because noperson likely to require charity, is, by her constitutions, per­mitted to be initiated; because her system of charity is merely'a scheme of mutual assurance, rarely, if ever, paying out incharity what is received in fees, and appropriating to paradesand processions, idle ornaments and gorgeow temple" the veryfunds pretended to have been received in sacred trust for char­itable uses. •

THE BROKEN SEAL.304

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