4li[teH(2aH ^britipatf^^^ WITH ITS "mm-imMwumw" QfarncU Uniwetattg Blibtarg FROM THE BENNO LOEWY LIBRARY COLLECTED BY BENNO LOEWY 1854-1919 BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY Cornell University Library HS527 .069 American poimcal-anlimas^^^^^^^ 3 1924 030 287 217 olin.anx Date Due -•**iMBi isis* Wf^O h: (A. ^^c-mirtQ i , »^gytrf^ PRINTED IN NO. Z3233 Cornell University Library The original of tiiis book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/cletails/cu31924030287217 ^tneinsati l^oritiear'^ntimasonrtf WITH ITS "g06D-Epa6P M0R§^N.' ^Vith Its "Good-Enough Morgan." * . -ONE OF THE MOST SINGULAR FEATURES IN AMERICAN SOCIAL, RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL HISTORY, AS WELL AS IN THE ANNALS OF THE MASONIC INSTITUTION THROUGHOUT THE WORLD"— A Mode of persecuting Freemasons and Freemasonry unknown in the Old V/orld— this proscription extending to '* all " persons who would not join the Crusade thus commenced by the Ringleaders of Political-Antimasonry. BRIEF NOTICES OF SOME EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF THE POLITICAL-ANTIiVIASONIC EXCITEMENT. WHICH, MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY AGO. Convulsed portions of New York, Pennsylvania and other States, includ- ing New England States. IN A LETTER REPLYING TO INQUIRIES FROM SUNDRY OLD RESIDENTS OF WESTERN NE W YORK — Correcting Sundry Misrepresentations of a Deeply Interested Person — By HENRY O'RIELLY, Editor of the Rochester Daily Advertiser in 1826-30, etc , etc. INCLUDING EXTRACTS FROM AN ADDRESS WRITTEN IN 1828 BY JUDGE WM. B. ROCHESTER, NOMINEE FOR GOVERNOR IN 1826 ; And signed by him and by Gen. Vincent Mathews, then known as the " Father of the Western Bar;" WITH OTHER PROMINENT CITIZENS OF WESTERN NEW YORK, INCLUDING 02n:AS CHURCH, FATHER OF CHIEF JUSTICE SANFORD E. CHURCH. INCLUDING ALSO NOTICES OF Indictments and CiTil Suits for Alleged Libels concerning the " Good- Enongli Morgan " and its ♦' Inyentor." TBADE SlJPPLlED BI THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY, 39 and 41 CHAMBERS STREET, NEW YORK. o 5'^ 7 4, S-V2_/VV. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washing- tOBf D, C, March 1880. q I NDEX. PAGE. Brief Notices Of some Events m |the History of Political Autimasonry— including Congressman Barnard's allusion in 1827 to the "Good-Enough. Morgan" Col. Tal. P. Shaffner's statement about subsequent matters, &c,, &c.., Mr. Thurlow Weed's own accounts of " the Trials and Persecutions he suffered on ac- count of his Antimasonry" i to xvi Moral, Religious, and Political Importance of " the Excitement" which convulsed some portions of New York and other States Senator (afterwards Governor) Seward's remarks about the success of Political-Anti- masonry . . .^ , , 10 European and Historical interest in the " extraordinary American Excitement" 10 Origin of the Chief Morgan Committee in 1826, for Sustaining the Supremacy of the Law, and for Discovering and Punishing the persons guilty of outrage on Morgan 10 Mr. Thurlow Weed, chief manager of that meeting; and how he fulfilled his appointment as a Committeeman 11 Henry O'Kielly's earhest (Editorial) statements concerning the violence of " the Excite- ment" which," seemingly, for a while, partially uprooted Society" in Western New York. 12 Condition of things Social , Keligious, and Political in the region where Morganizing- Antimasonry originated 12, I3 Mr. Weed's " Antimasonic Enquirer " and his denunciation of "all opponents" as Ma- sonic Murderers or " Masons' Jacks" 14 The Rochester " Daily Advertiser " denounced as an apologist for a "hellish institution " and for "Masonic murderers," or for "Masons' Jacks/' who were called "worse than Masons " , 14 The three Inquests over "the Corpse;" and how and where Morgan and Monroe were drowned in 1826 and 1827 15 The " First Inquest " — burying the body as that of an "Unknown man " 16 The " Second Inquest,'' of which Mr. Weed was the chief engineer ; calling the Corpse "Morgan" 17 Previous Statements of Mr .Weed to Dr. John B. Elwood about marks on the Corpse, especially the " hair and whiskers " 18, 19 Mr. Weed's Return from the "Second Inquest," with thanks to Heaven for a Special Providence in thus " throwing a broad light on the dark mystery," etc '20 His Reliance, with Stronger Hope, upon the same Providence, to "provide means tor bringing all the per'petrators of a daring outrage to merited punishment" 20 And how he did it, when the crime was afterwards confessed to him 20, 21 Cotemporaneous Newspaper Comments of Henry O'Rielly on "what was commonly called the Great Fraud " 21, 22 The Third Inquest, held at Batavia, among Morgan's old neighbors, where Mr. Weed did not appear, and where that " Third and Last Inquest " proved that the Corpse was not Morgan, but the Canadian, Timothy Monroe 23, 24 Conclusion and Effect of the Several Inquests — and certificates of Counsellors Ebenezer GriflELn and James F. Mason and Gen. Jacob Gould concerning the "Third Inquest" 26, 26 Some of the "Effects on Social Relations," produced by the operations of the Political- Antimasons 27, 28 Col. George W. Pratt's injunction that " those of us who remain should see that the truth goes down to future generations, who may take an interest in such mat- ters," etc 29 Freemasons declared to be " unfit to Preach the Gospel, or to be members of Christian Churches, or even to sit as Jurors or be Witnesses in Courts," etc.; Col. Pratt's Reminiscences in the Rochester "Union and Advertiser," in 1867 29,30 Jackasses led with votes in their mouths to vote, to ridicule non-Masons, who were de- nounced as "Masons' Jacks," worse than Masons 6,29,30 Address from ^Prominent Residents of Western New Tort, " concerning the troubles of the times,"— Gen. Vincent Matthews, "the Father of the Western Bar;" Judge Rochester, a former nominee for Governor ; Gen. Micah Brooks, Bowen Whiting, Ozias S. Church, father of Chief-Justice Sanford E. Church, and other well-known citizens of that region — whose motto was, "Strike, but hear !" 31,32 Col. G. W. Pratt's Reminiscences of the Violence of " the Excitement " 29 Other Allusions to the then Condition of Things 30 Deceptions practiced on Editors and others about the " Good-Enough Morgan" 33 The New York " Sun " attacked by the " Courier and Enquirer " on the subject in 1841. . 33 Erroneous Statements imposed on the " Courier and Enquirer " 34 Non-Intercourse between Mr. Weed and Mr. O'Bielly for nearly forty-seven years, as Mr. O'R. discontinued acquaintance on account of Mr. W.'s abusive course, as else- where stated, and only consented to renew acquaintance as stated in the letter of Col. Tal. P. Shaflfner, herein published 34 j\lr, Greeley's remarks in the " Tribune " about his •* Recollections of a Busy Life," and the errors about what he called "the Good-Enough Morgan Libel Suits of Mr. Thurlow Weed " '. 36 Statements published by Mr. Greeley from Messrs. O'Rielly and Tncker about the his- tory of those Libel Suits, etc 36, 37 Delays in trial of Libel-Cases — Letter of Mr. O'Rielly in the Albany *'Argus " of 1833— Refusal of Vice-Chancellor Whittlesey's offer, etc 37, 38 Libel Indictment against O'Rielly and Tucker dismissed by the Court, and abuse lavished on the New York " Sxin" for stating the fact 38 More about delays in those Libel-Cases — Mr .Weed's backout from the Suit begun against the Albany "Argus " for pubhshing Mr. O'R.'s articles, etc 39 Other opportunities which Mr. Weed dared not embrace— His ridiculous pretences on that subject 40 Mr. Weed's admission in the " Herald " Letters of 1875 about Collusion with the alleged Murderers of Morgan 41 Concealment for 44 years, till all the alleged murderers were dead 42 Comments of New York, Rochester, and Buffalo newspapers thereon 43 New York " Telegram," Buffalo "Courier," and Rochester " Democrat and Chronicle ". . 43, 44 Mr. Weed's " Last Shots," before bartering his Antimasonry with the National Republi- cans 44 Collapse of Political-Antimasonry, stated by Senator (afterwards Gov.) Seward 45 Parting Comments on Senator Seward's statements about the failure 46 Inventorship of the " Good-Enough Morgan " and other distinguished bodies 46 The "End" of the Political- Antimasonic " Four- Year- War"— 1830 — and the Remarks ol the Albany ''Argus " about the (temporary) letirement of Henry O'Rielly from the Editorship of the Rochester "Daily Advertiser" and Rochester "Republican " 47 Counsel in the alleged Libel-Cases — Governor Henry R. Selden 48 Conclusion of this letter to sundry Old Settlers about the character and results of " the Excitement " 48 APPENDIX. — Sundry articles further explanatory of matters mentioned in the letter 49 NEWSPAPERS REFERRED TO. Rochester Daily Advertiser, 1826-1830, etc. Rochester Antimasonic Enquirer, 1827-9. New York Commercial Advertiser, 1827. Albany Argus, (Edwin Croswell, Editor), 1830, 1833, etc. New York Sun, 1841, 1875, 1879, etc. New York Courier and Enquirer, 1841. New York Tribune and Mr. Greeley, 1868. New York Herald and the Telegram, 1875. Buffalo Courier, 1875. New York Times, 1875, Rochester Union and Advertiser, 1867, 1879. Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 1875. New York Graphic, 1879. LETTER OF HENRY O'RIELLY, Former Editor of the "Rochester Daily Advertiser^' of the City of Buffalo. (Survivor of the Law-Firm in Rochester that first investigated affairs during the Morganizing-Antimasonic Excitement,) In behalf of many OLD FRIENDS IN WESTERN NEW YORK. My ancient Friend Stevens — Even you, who professionally and otherwise learnt so much concerning matters in that extraordinary time: — You who, with your departed associate, Ebenezer Griffin, had some peculiar opportunities for knowing the operations of Mr. Thurlow Weed concerning the attempted Creation of a Political Party on the ruins of Freemasonry, through the perversion of the " Morgan Excitement," under Antimasonic pretexts : — You, who know so well the effects that might have been produced upon the , Uves or liberties of many of your Fellow- Citizens through Six Counties of Western New York, if the peculiar operations at the " Second In- quest" had not been /r(?»i^//l/ exposed by us, amid the Morganizing- Antimcisonic Whirlwind in former times : — You, who have seen Mr. Weed at the Election Polls, practically ridiculing as " Masons' Jacks" * (if not " Masonic Murderers") "«// who were politi- cally opposed" to his remarkable operations in those days : — You, who know well that, when the Third and Last Inquest was held in Ba- tavia, (where the bald and whiskerless Morgan was well known, and from which place he was '" abducted,") — at which Inquest your former associate Griffin and myself were present — Mr. Weed did not dare to appear and contest the decision of that last Coroner's Jury that the Corpse, even though then appearing bald and whiskerless, was not Mor- gan's, as Weed's Second Inquest called it, but the body of the Canadian, Timothy Monroe — notwithstanding the pious declaration in Weed's " history " ascribing the discovery of that ill-fated Corpse to the Special *Tlu8 allusion to Mr. Weed's "pracbml" operations at tlie election in 1827, when Mor- ganlzing-Antlmasonry first took the Political rield, may best be explained by the following paragraph from an editorial page in the New York " Sun :" From the " Sun " of Sept. 1, 1875. Thurlow Weed's Early Style of Electioneering. From a Utter ofB. H. Sievent in the Buffalo Courier. " I have seen Thurlow Weed tie a rope around the neck of a jackass, put a vote or a ballot into its mouth, and lead it up to the polling place and shove its nose into the window— all of which was.done by this would-be statesman to blackguard all decent young men whom he was pleased to call ' Masons' Jacks.' " viii. Americmi Political' Antimasonry — Providence of Heaven in " throwing a broad light over the dark mys- tery " of Morgan's fate : — You, vi^ho also well know that, when an " indignation meeting " was immedi- ately held in Rochester, where Mr. Griffin and myself were also pres- ent, Mr. Weed did not dare to appear in an assemblage of people who aided in appointing him as a Morgan Committeeman, and there ex- plain, if he could satisfactorily explain, the charge then publicly made by Congressman "Daniel D. Barnard, when that distinguished citizen exclaimed that '' Even a widow in her fresh weeds [meaning Mrs. " Monroe] was not allowed to claim the body of her drowned husband, " without fighting off the harpies who had seized it — and for what pur- " pose seized it ? — because it was discovered to be a Good-Enough Mor- " gan for the purposes of the next election :" — You, who know that Mr. Weed never dared to embrace these and several other opportunities, hereinafter specified, for denying or explaining his operations connected with what he called a " Good-Enough Morgan," but which corpse was not such a Morgan as Morgan's former neighbors in Batavia recognized as Morgan, even though that ill-fated corpse became bald and whiskerless after it v/as found lying on the Lake shore with large whiskers and with hair on top of its head, as sworn to by sundry witnesses, whose testimony was conclusive with the " Third Inquest:" — You, who know, as others knew and may know, that then were the proper times and opportunities — while the whole of these important matters were fresh in public memory — for Mr. Weed to explain to the people who appointed him as a Special Committeeman for ascertaining the facts and punishing the abductors or murderers — to explain his transac- tions with ' the Corpse and otherwise; and to deny, z/" he dared then deny, that he had told Mr. Griffin that the corpse was a " Good- Enough Morgan till after election " — substantially as stated then, in public meeting, by the Hon. Daniel D. Barnard — but for repeating which in the papers, he (Mr.Thurlow Weed) now, fifty-three years after- wards, asserts in his "interviews" that Mr. Griffin uttered "a lie," which " lie " was fi.r%t published by " Henry O'Rielly, the Editor of the Rochester 'Daily Advertiser : ' " — You, who know that Mr.Thurlow Weed kept Henry O'Rielly, the Editor, and Luther Tucker, the local Publisher, of the Rochester " Daily Adver- tiser,'' under criminal "indictment" during thirteen years (1828 to 1841) for alleged libels about the "Good-Enough Morgan;" while he (the same Weed) claims to have been the confidant of the Murderers of JMorgan during the last ten years of that time (from 1831 to 1841) — his own "■Herald" letters of 1875 acknowledging that one of the murderers confessed the crime to him in 1831, and that he (Morgan Committee- man as he was !) actually concealed that confession and the names of all the culprits for forty-four (44) years, until all the murderers were beyond the reach of earthly justice ! ! — tViik Its " Good-Enough Morgan." You, as a lawyer,' familiar with the prominent legal proceedings at that time, know, as our counsel (Gov. Selden) well knows, that Mr. Weed's allegation about inability for twelve years to cause trial to be had against us on his "indictment" or other proceedings for alleged "libel," is in itself a libel on our judiciary system: And as for his declaration that he urged the trial, while we had been " swearing it off,"' it may only be repeated by us, that, "it would require almost as "much hard sAvearing to effect such a delay, as to make the public "believe that Morgan's corpse had grown four inches or crept into "Timothy Monroe's breeches a twelvemonth after death:" — You, who, with the other remaining Old Men, recollect the commotion in Western New York, " when the foundations of social life seemed for a while uprooted '' by the operations of Pohtical-Antimasonic schemers — as that shocking state of things is described herein by the venerable Vincent Matthews, "the Father of the Western Bar"; by Congressman Daniel D. Barnard; by Judge Wm. B. Rochester, a nominee for Gov- ernor shortly before ; by Ozias Church, father of Chief-Justice Sanford E. Church, and by other Old Settlers; all substantially confirming my previous Editorial Statements in the Rochester " Daily Advertiser," respecting the perversion of " the Excitement " to the basest partisan purposes : — You, who recollect that, when, in 1831, the Hon. Frederick Whittlesey, afterward Vice- Chancellor, counsel for Mr. Weed, called at the office of the "Daily Advertiser" in Rochester, with a proposition that the indictment for alleged libels should be dropped on our signing a sort of recantation .which he had prepared, and which I now have before me, ( un- signed, of course), I replied to this effect, —as quoted in the Albany "Ar- gus" of 1833, — "that, be the consequences as they might, I would sign '' nothing which should exonerate either Weed or his fellow-committee- '' men from the suspicion engendered by the extraordinary transactions "with the corpse in question;— that the circumstances in which I had " been placed from the commencement of the affair rendered me too " familiar with their proceedings to permit any instrumentality on my " part in silencing discussion respecting their propriety; — and that I ' ' rather thought it the duty of some one conversant with all the facts " to spread before the Public the full history of an occurrence dark' and "damnable enough to warn future generations, in times of high excite- " ment particularly, agzinst the excesses of fanaticism and the arts of " demagogues-" — You, who, with other OLD FRIENDS IN WESTERN NEW YORK, know that, for nearly forty seven (47 ) years, I refused to renew acquaint- ance with Mr. Weed, (his abusive course inducing me in the winter of 1826-7, as elsewhere stated, to terminate my short acquaintance with him, eight months before the "Good-Enough Morgan" was "in- vented") might wonder, if you and they did not know, why I at last complied with renewed requests made through his friends, that I would A merican Political- A ntunaso7iry — consent to revive that long-severed acquaintance, as shown in the gen- erous letter of Col. Tal. P. Shaffner,* given below^-a renewal of acquaintance, after apologies made for his course in the past, and with- our suspecting that his desire for renewed acquaintance with me was stimulated by hopes that I would be induced to say or " write some- thing " contrary to the facts about his Morganizing operations in old times— my refusal to do which^ caused his late assault upon me, as indi- cated in the '^Appendix" of this letter, to which all inquirers are re- spectfully referred — (such matters being thus placed in an Appendix, so as not to interfere with the Brief Narrative concerning Events in the times of Morganizing- Antimasonry: — EVEN YOU, who, like myself, was then led. by professional and other duties to learn so much about passing events in those stormy times, ^ LETTER OF COL. SHAFFNER, ABOVE REFERRET) TO Nos 78 AND 80 [NOW 64 and 661 Broadway, New York, Oct. 17, 1879. Henet O'RrELLT, Esq.: My Dear Sib : At your request, I send you the following statement ; Sometime in the spring of 1873, Mr. John A. Kennedy, an old friend of mine, desired an interview with me. I called to see him. at the City Hall, and he opened the conversation sbout as follows. He said : "An old friend of ours, talking on an old historical question, the other day, remarked that for many years he desired to see a gentleman who was familiar with the circumstances: but, unfortunately, he delayed it too long, and the gei^tleman died about a year or so £go. He was the great telegraph man, Henry O'RieUy." "I told him," said Kennedy, ' that I had not seen any account of his death, and that a man of his wide reputation would certainly occasion somenotice in the press;but that if you [myself] were in the city, I would very soon know whether or not he was dead. Now, how is it?" I told him that if O Rielly was dead, he must have died in a hurry, for he was in my office the day before Kennedy answered, • I am glad of it, and now I want you and him to meet me at the resi- dence of Thurlow Weed, on Sunday morning next." I told him, "All right." When you came to my office the nest day, I told you that I had made an appointment for you to go with me and meet Mr. Kennedy and Thurlow Weed, at the latt^r's residence on the succeeding Sunday. You promptly declined to do so, on account of former long-existing misun- derstandings between you and Mr. Weed. In answer to your declination, I remarked to you that I was sure you would be welcomed by him, and you need not decline on account of his not first calling to see you; for I knew he would do so. if more agreeable. And I also said, that we old people must forget the past ; that we were too near the grave for us even to think about what transpired of an unhappy nature in the far past; and that the ' statute of limitations " had settled all accounts of that age. At my urgent request, in the tone as above recited, you consented to meet us at Mr . Weed's residence. Mr. Kennedy and myself intended a surprise to Mr Weed, and when he eame into the room I introduced him to you, and you must well remem.ber the cordial meeting that you had on that occasion. I hope your relations have continued happily, and that, as old Pioneers of the Press, you will harmonize all conflicting incidents of the past. Since then, Kennedy has gone, and the three living can't, in aU probability, remain much longer. I hope you will live to realize the blessings that belong to your long, eventful and useful life. Yours, faithfuliv, T^L. P. SHAFFNER. But, paramount to all the friendly considerations thus mentioned in the foregoing generous letter, was the fact that the request for a renewal of my long-severed acquaintance with Mr . Weed came to me specially through the agency oi a gentleman like Col. Shaffner— a gentleman who had baen in former times (a quar . er-century before) my most energetic co npetitor while I was extending Telegraph Lines between the Allegany Mountains and the Mississippi River, — between the Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico— (an important portion of the great Tele- graph Range of about eight thousand (8,000) miles, then the largest Telegraph Range in the world, whereby I earliest connected all Sections of the Unit ?d States as they then were, by Private Enterprize and without Governmental patronage)— a gentleman afterwards well- known as a Pioneer in Oceanic Telegraphy,whom I had learned to respect even when our in- terests in some important Land Lines seemed most conflicting — a gentleman, now long resi- dent of New York, whose generous feelings are sufficiently indicated by his warm-hearted language in the foregoing letter. [Old friends who feel any interest in matters which origi- nated in, and closely concern, the true history of " the Excitement " that formerly conyulsed Western New York and other regions, are respectfully referred to the facts stated in thesequel, especially in the " Appendix," about the relations between Mr. Weed and Mr. O'RieUy.] With Its " Good-Enough Morgan." xi might well be surprised, if anything Mr. Weed might do or say about those times could surprise you, at the late efforts made by him in misrepresenting features of the History of the State as connected with the Excitement that formerly convulsed Western New York, and for abusing those who (like your former professional associate and my- self, among others) successfully exposed and nullified the " sayings and doings " about the " Good-Enough Morgan," which, according to his own showing, have haunted him for half a century. You know, of course, that allusion is here made to what purports to be a recent " interview" concerning certain events and consequences of the agitation prevalent in the times above-mentioned — which " interview " was published some time ago, under the remarkable title of — ''Mr. Tkurlow Weed's Story" * * * About " his trials and persecutions on account of his Antimasonry." (//) * -X- * * * Before going further in our remarks concerning the " sufferings" of him- self or others occasioned hy "his Antimasonry," it may not be considered irrelevant to quote one of the notices which New York and other journals occasionally indulge after the publication of some remarkable displays of accuracy in the " interviews" with which Mr. Weed indulges occasionally — as this notice has special reference to his ' ' memory" or imagination — characteristics strongly displayed in the particular " interview" to which your attention is now called. The New York " Sun" (which journal was abused in 1841 for simply mentioning the lact that the Court and District Attorney had ordered a nolle prosequi on Weed's indictment against us for alleged libels about the " Morgan Excitement") furnishes this paragraph about " Thurlow Weed's Meninry. — Mr. Weed was along time ago the chief of the " Albany Lobby.' * * * He "has had some severe lessons of late years. He fought Seward's battle with all the unenviable arts he was mas - ter of, up to the Waterloo of Chicago, after which, as he gives us to under- stand, Lincoln held his office as a mere trustee for Weed. But sometimes it has happened that another old tnan recollected a thing or two, and, rising to a question of historical moment, has set Mr. Weed down rather hard. Mr. Weed, for example, once published a statement that, when he and Mr. Lincoln were getting up their first Cabinet, Lincoln paused and hesitated a long time between Mr. Cost Johnson of Maryland and the late Mr. Gideon Welles of Connecticut. Mr. Weed intimated that Mr. Welles made the landing by the skin of his teeth. Thereupon Mr. Welles showed that at the time when Weed said he and the President were canvassing Cost John- son for the Cabinet; that excellent man had been dead for about three years. It is needless to remark that, after this, Mr. Weed was compara- tively quiet until afier Gideon Welles had been gathered to his fathers. But Mr. Weed is apparently encouraged again. The old men have been going fast, and the chances of contradiction diminishing in proportion ; so the other day he indulged in an ' zW^^-z/zVif' of the old kind." * * » * * * * * * It is well that a tew of the Old Men are now left, who knew much about A merican Political-A ntimasonry — various points in the history of ''the Excitement" that convulsed Western New York in our early days ; and whose joint testimony, like the records of those times, substantially corroborate what you and I say about men and events in that troubled period. You know well that I have looked to you and others to prepare fuller statements than I can at present submit, respecting matters which, as several writers justly remark, have not lost their value as portions of our Social, Religious and Political history — the interest increasing rather than diminish- ing, with the lapse of time. Proctor has well said, in his Comments on the Bench and Bar, elsewhere quoted, that " there was much connected with it of thrilling interest that was indurated beyond the action of time — much that will repay the Lawyer, the Student and the lover of History to review.'' And our lately departed friend, Col. Geo. W. Pratt of Rochester, when sending to me his last long letter of "Reminiscences," said that he "esteemed it the duty of those of us who remain, to see that the truth goes down to future generations, who may take interest in such matters." However, as you and other Old Friends suppose me to be possessed of, and willing to communicate, information requisite for correcting misrep- resentations which Mr. Weed is inventing and trying to manufacture into "history" through the machinery of "interviews," like this to which your and their attention is now directed (and part of which last " interview' is herewith copied), I will comply with the request as far as needful for placing the assertions of that veracious personage in a proper light by a recurrence to facts that will enable readers to judge whether it is Mr. Weed or others who have most reason to complain of "persecutions and sufferings" on ac- count of Antimasonry or Freemasonry. And in thus complying with your and their wishes and requests, in addi- tion to my own impulses for correcting the principal falsehoods which em- bellish that last "interview" of Mr Weed, it may be well for me to add that, supposing and hoping that a full and correct history of the "times that tried men's souls" in Western New York, would have beeo undertaken by you or others, and so averse to needless controversy was 1, that I have scarcely written a line for publication on the subjectyijr more that, fortv-fiv e (i^^) years, except on three or four occasions in letters to Mr. Croswell, of the ''Albany Argus," and Mr. Greeley of the New York "Tribune," correcting some of the principal misstatements of Mr. Weed on the subjects now before us — the further correction of which induces me now to place in consecutive order some of the cases which he has been most industrious in misrepresenting in France and England, as well as in America. With this prelude, I turn now towards some particulars concerning prom- inent incidents of the " Extraordinary American Excitement," concerning which you are now addressed, under circumstances that you particularly can fully appreciate. Many Old Settlers of " The West,'' as Western New York even then was styled, doubtless saw the extract published in a Rochester newspaper, con- With Its " Good-Enough Morgan. " xiii taining Weed's outrage upon the " truth of history'' (as well as upon the course of your former associate and myself), in the commotion commonly known as the " Morgan Excitement." The extract thus quoted as a matter of news in a widely-circulated journal like the Rochester "Daily Union and Advertiser," has rendered Mr. Thurlow Weed's "assaulting interview" known to many veterans as well as to people of the present generation, who would otherwise have failed to see it in its original shape in the "New York Graphic,'' a few months ago. However false and virulent every essential statement of Mr. Weed in that " interview," the infamous thing may have at least the good effect of awaken- ing something like proper public attention towards " one of the most re- markable episodes in American History— Social, Religious and Political — as well as in the Annals of Civilization and of the Masonic Institution throughout the World." Several of those Old Settlers, like yourself, have known me considerably concerning the History and Improvements of Western New York, and other- wise, during the last Half-Century, and can therefore judge, without formal contradiction from me, about the probability of the allegations made in Weed's " Interview'' concerning events of those remote (as well as recent) times - every essential point in which " Interview'''' is hereby declared to be false, as the annexed facts and statements will more fully show them to be FALSE PERSONALLY AND HISTORICALLY. I regret the necessity imposed on us, and on all others who know the facts, for correcting the misstatements of Mr. Weed concerning not merely myself individually and some departed friends, but also concerning the history of one of the most remarkable periods Jn the progress of the State generally, as well as of Western New York particularly. You and other friends know well that, while I have devoted much time to the gratuitous preservation of various important materials for the pub- lic history, (as shown in about 150 volumes of my papers of the last fifty years in the New York Historical Society's Library), 1 have steadily looked to yourself and others to frame such a history as ought to be written about the Political-Antimasonic crusade — about a period and events so remarkable in our State and National Annals, as well as in the history of an Institution prevalent and honored wherever Civilization extends. At my advanced age, even the task I am now forced by Weed's injustice to discharge towards others as well as myself — towards the dead as well as the living — is a labor from which I would have been gladly freed, if you or others would have undertaken it. As elsewhere said, I have written nothing for publication on the subject during the last forty-five (45) years, except when compelled to correct some few of the many untruths industriously circulated by Mr. Weed, as shown in three or four letters to Mr. Croswell of the Albany "Argus," and to Mr. Greeley of the " Tribune," concerning his " Recollections of a Busy Life.' Although the late calumnies of Mr. Weed in the Graphic "interview" xiv American Political-Antimasonry — refer largely to the relations between us, I prefer to avoid interrupting the narrative by controversy or allusions to those personal matters — at least, only seemingly "personal matters;" inasmuch as they originated in my refusal for over forty-six (46) years,(i827 to 1873), to hold any personal intercourse with him — on account of his utterly abusive course when (in his Antimasonic En- quirer and personally) he was kindling the fires of his Antimasonic inquisition in former times — an acquaintance which I only consented to revive after such a long suspense, as stated in Col Shaffner's letter ; and hence I have left to the Appendix a statement of the relation between Mr. Weed and myself, which some Old Friends in Western New York or elsewhere may perhaps examine, when they shall have read, if they do read, the facts which I have now thrown together concerning ' ' American Political Antimasonry with its Good-Enough Morgan." MR. WEED'S STATEMENTS. That no injustice may be done to Mr. Weed, the /«az« features of his present charges are copied from his " interview," in the " Graphic," of Sept 17, 1879, as are also copied some portions of his letter to the New York " Herald" in 1875 : — (matters of a more /«rj(7«a/ character, to which he refers in the said " interview," being left to the Appendix, for whoever may choose to read them, as I hope my Old Friends will read. ) In Mb " Herald " letters of 1875, Mr. Weed thus alludes to the former Editor (Henry O'Blelly) and the former local publisher (Luther Tucker) of the Rochester " Daily Advertiser; " From the^fa» York Herald, 1875. " In looking back upon an event which occurred nearly half a century ago, with the asperi- ties and impressions which it occasioned allayed and corrected, and in view of the embittered feeling existing between the editor and proprietor of the Kochester Daily Advertiser and myself, I am free to admit that ihey had provocations which, from their standpoint, excused the use of such political weapons as they found available. It was a sort of hand-to-hand con- flict, in which I remember to have been unsparing. The term ' Masons' Jacks,' freely applied to all who acted pnliUcaUy against us, was a peculiarly offensive one, and most especially so to the editor and publisher of the 'Advertiser,' neither of whom were Masons. " It may not be out of time or place to add, that in this case it is not too late to ' vindicate the truth of history.' •' The then editor of the Bochester ' Daily Advertiser' is now a resident of this city. He was as actively and warmly opposed as I was devoted to the cause of Antimasonry. He was familiar with the question from the beginning to the end. "I have never conversed with him upon this subject, nor do I know what his impressions Wi^/i Its " Good-Enough Morgan, ^^ are, but if he is in possession of evidence, either that / mutilated the body in question or boasted that it was ' a good enough Morgan till after the election,' he will, doubtless, regard this afitting occasion to produce it," "T. W." August 6, 1875. * * * * K FOUR YEARS LATER. [From an '* Interview" in the Qraphic of September 1879.] MR. THURLOW WEED'S STORY * * * ABOUT ** The Trials and Persecutions which He Suffered as an Antimason." *• May I ask," saiid I, " what is the greatest misfortune that ever happened to you V " The greatest distress I ever suffered ?" he inquired. " O, you must know what that was. Cruel, cruel \ ' The vilest slander that ever was framed — that I was a monster of brutality and had mutilated a corpse for the purpose of helping the fortunes of a party.*' *' I don't exactly remember what you mean," I said. " Why, Morgan I Morgan I" he exclaimed, and his face assumed a pained expression. " I suf- fered untold distress, and was more or less under ban for twenty-five years. Old acquaintances avoided me : even my family was made to feel the disgrace, as if I were a felon. It was cruel I" ** How was it?" I said. " Or perh^jps you prefernot to talk about it V* ** I have no objection. It's an old story now, and belongs to the past. I was living in Rochester at the time Morgan, who had exposed Masonry, was missing. It was believed that he had been drowned by members of the Order m Lake Ontario. A body was found which answered the descrip- tion of his. It was exhibited in public, and was recognized as being him by his family and friends. It was buried by them. Afterwards it was claimed by the friends of another man, disinterred and another inquest held. There was great excitement over the murder of Morgan, and I was prominent as an Antimason. "When this last inquest was pending, the lawyer [Ebenezer Griffin, father-in-law of Judge E. Darwin Smith of Rochester], engaged by the Masons said to me one day, ' What are you going to do for a Morgan now?' 'This man is a good enough Morgan,' I retorted, * till you produce the man that was killed.' He went off and reported that I said the deceased was ' a good enough Morgan till after election,'' This lie was first published by Henry O'Rielly, editor ot the Rochester Daily Advertiser, and it inade such an excitement that he stuck to it and elaborated it. Finally, the lie took this form — that I had pulled out the beard, cut the hair and otherwise de&ced or mutilated the features of the Ontario corpse so as to make them resemble Morgan ! This was m the winter of i826-'27." '* Did people believe such a thing?" "Yes, a good many did. It was a thing I could not disprove to their satisfaction. I was ab- horred by tens of thousands. Old acquaintances cut me. I was pointed at on the street. Strangers would look askance at me — I saw them. Friends gave me the cold shoulder. 1 received threatening anonymous letters. I was made to feel everywhere and every hour that I was a marked man. And my poor family, sir," said he, lifting his hand with a pathetic gesture, " were made to feel the cruel thrusts in ways I cannot mention." "How l«ng did this ostracism last ?" •'Fifteen or twenty years actively, and in some directions a much longer time." '^ It seems strange that injustice should thrive so," said I. " Well, it did thrive. O'Rielly became rich, and that lie was tke foundation of his fortune * I drifted to Albany and at last lived the shockmg calumny down. Finally O'Rielly, who might have been worth millions if he had stuck to the telegraphs, which he manipulated at first, speculated in oth^rjthinjgand lost money. He kept losing. He lost everything he had at last." ^^^ e^C\e) ** Were you glad T' " *' I was grateful that the Lord didn't allow such villany to thrive forever," the old gentleman confessed, " and then I felt sorry for him." ********* xvi American Political-Antiniasoliry . In reference to the foregoing " Story,'' it may only be said here, that, without exchanging epithets with Mr. Weed— without retaliating for his use of such terms as " villany " and " lying," which he freely indulges to- wards your departed friend Counsellor Griffin* and myself, for the course which we deemed proper to pursue in the stormiest times that any portion of our State has ever seen — it is now left, for those who may read the following brief narratives to deterir.ine for themselves '^^ Who is the " Liar" and "Villain." "®a * Counsellor Griffin, thus vilely assailed, lias been dead several years. He was the father- in-law of the present Judge E. Darwin Smith of Western Naw York. With Its " Good-Enough Morgan. " (Part of Henry O'Rielly's letter to Robert H. Stevena of Buffalo and other Citizens of Western New York.) BRIEF NOTICES OF SOME EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF POLITICAL ANTIMASONRY— Referring Specially to the "Good-Enough Morgan" and its "Inventor." Readers who may take the trouble to familiarize themselves with the subjects briefly mentioned in this letter can judge whether the writer is wrong in saying that the commotion concerning Morganlzing- Antimasonry was one of the most important episodes in our National Annals and in the Records of Social Relations generally, as well as in the History of the Masonic Institution throughout the World. If it be said, by a certain class of persons, that this exaggerates the Moral, Religious, Political and Historical Importance ■of the " Excitement'' which convulsed the State of New York and some other States a half-century ago, reference may be made to the assertions of Governor Seward in the United States and to the Histori- cal Department of one of the greatest institutions (the British Mu- seum) in the Old World, &c. For example : In the Autobiography of Gov. Seward, he is quoted as saying in one of his letters, dated about fifty years ago, that, " In all those portions of the State of New York and the other States into which the Antimasonic debate [!) had extended, the insti- tution SURRENDERED — dissolving its Chapters and Lodges — devoting its halls andjtemples to secular uses, and selling its regalia." The New York Herald of Aug., 1875, when speaking of the commo- tion that convulsed the State of New York and some portions of other States that were shaken by that same ' ' Antimasonic Debate" (as Gov. Seward mildly styled it), said, truly, that it is " A subject which has hardly lost any of its profound interest by the lapse of half a century" — adding that light " thrown upon the Morgan mystery is of historical importance." " Thus," says Proctor in his History of the Benchjand Bar, "the reader will observe that, in the affairs of Government, in Social Rela- tions, in matters of Religion, and in Courts of Justice, the Morgan Affair was all-absorbing — pregnant with interest and excitement. Much connected with it was ephemeral, and now forgotten in our pre- occupied age. But there was much connected with it of thrilling in- terest, that was indurated beyond the action of time — much that will repay the lawyer, the student and the lover of History to review." And now for a few words concerning the European historical inqui- ries touching the "extraordinary American excitement," which astonished people in other lands, and which was by them considered as "one of the lo American Political-Antimasonry — most remarkable features of American and Masonic History." Great indeed is the desire of many inquirers in Europe, as well as in Amer- ica, to ascertain facts concerning a movement so remarkable among enlightened nations. It may well surprise many persons even in America, where the effervescence was generated and prostituted to such base purposes, to learn that the Historical Department of the far-famed "British Museum," for instance, contains more records and papers concerning the " Morgan Excitement" and its Political- Antimasonic consequences than is possessed by any one (or perhaps by all) of the Historical So- cieties in America. A brief retrospect of the state of things existing in Western New York half a century ago is indispensable in forming correct judgments about mat- ters now brought in review by Mr. Thurlow Weed's efforts at this late day to distort matters of present as well as former times, so as to escape from the reputation of his Morganizing- Antimasonic crusade for raising a poli- tical faction under pretence of overthrowing the Masonic Institution, &c. : And as, in his letters to the "New York Herald" in 1875, he states that he was "unsparing" in what he styles his "hand-to-hand contest" in those times with the Editor and the local Publisher of the "Rochester Daily Advertiser,'' [Henry O'Rielly and Luther Tucker, " neither of whom were masons," as he also said in that paper], and as Mr. Weed farther acknowl- edged in the same " Herald " letter that the " Editor of the Rochester Daily Advertiser is familiar with the subject from the beginning to the end'' — ^it will " not be considered out of time or place, even now, to vindicate the truth of history," (phrases used in his "Herald' letters and in his Graphic "interview,") by referring briefly to some points in the political and social fljt^^c/j presented by the western counties of this State, as well as in sections of other States, then convulsed by " the Anti-Masonic Debate," — otherwise known as the " Morgan Excitement" and its consequences in that remark- able period. Origin of the Chief Morgan Committee As frequent reference must be made in this narrative to what was called the " Morgan Committee," it may be said here that it was formed at a pubUc meeting in Rochester, in early December, 1 826 — for the ostensible purpose of aiding to sustain the " Supremacy of the Laws," by Helping the public functionaries to " bring to justice" the persons guilty of outrage in the case of Morgan, whose abduction and supposed murder occurred about three months before. I was present in that assemblage, and made some editorial comments in the " Daily Advertiser" about certain peculiarities in its proceedings, additional to the objects avowed by its managers. Mr. Thurlow Weed, the chief manager of this meeting, was appointed as a member of this Committee. References to some of his actions, in that respect, are now rendered necessary, to correct some of his numerous misstatements concerning the ill-fated corpse, which has become known With Its " Good-Enough Morgan." 1 1 world-wide in connection with his noted saying about its being a "Good- Enough Morgan till after election." (How he fulfilled the main object of his appointment as a Committee- man, maybe seen in the sequel of this letter, wherein it will be shown, by his own confession, quoted from the " New York Herald," of August, 1875, that he actually screened the culj)rits for more than forty years, during which time the alleged murderers died, after having long lived unharmed by the disclosures which Mr. Weed now says they made to him in the year 1831 — about which, more will appear in the sequel.) The "Rochester Daily Advertiser," now again violently assailed by Mr. Weed, was the earliest Daily print established between Hud'^on River and the Pacific Ocean, and was commenced in 1826 — the first year of "through' business'' along the whole line of the Erie Canal— when the " Morgan Excitement" began to pervade all sections of Western New York, and when Political- Antimasonry commenced its short-lived existence. As it was' the first effort to establish a Daily Press in those then styled " Western" regions, it had to contend with peculiar difficulties amid troubled times, such as probably never beset the path of any other early newspaper in the interior of our Continent. The principal journalistic competitors of the " Pioneer Daily" were Messrs. Thurlow Weed and Robert Martin, who then printed a weekly paper called the "Rochester Telegraph," but whose establishment was soon after bought by my associates of the " Daily Advertiser;" with whose business it was united about the time when Mr. Weed commenced his " Antimasonic Enquirer," as the organ of the new partisan movement. It will, of course, be understood by intelligent readers that this was sev- eral years before telegraphs and railroads facilitated intercourse, and thus aided in liberalizing sentiment between people of different localities — inter- course which, among other advantages, would render such intense local effervescences almost impossible in these days. Amid the turmoil of the "Morgan Excitement," and the schemes for perverting that agitation to partisan purposes, society seemed for awhile partially uprootd in Western New York, as indicated by statements here- inafter given, under the signatures of some of the most prominent inhabi- tants of that region, sustaining all that I stated when denouncing, in ad- vance, the political schemes of the Morganizing-Antimasons. Reference is here made, particularly, to the language of the address, written after- wards and signed by Judge William B. Rochester, who had been in 1826 the Gubernatorial candidate of the "Bucktail" or "Tammany Party" against De Witt Clinton; which document was also sighed by Gen. Vincent Mathews, then commonly styled the "Father of the Western Bar;" by Ozias Church, father of Chief Justice Sanford E. Church ; and by other per- sons well known in the early settlement and history of that region. While that proscriptive " Excitement" thus pervaded the country, the "Pioneer Daily" and its Editor published the statements of some Morgan Committeemen and others, who seemingly wished to "vindicate laws that 12 American Political- Antimasonry — had been outraged" by a few misguided men striving to suppress Morgan's book about Freemasonry. That journal continued to print impartially such matters as articles of news— just as other newspapers print articles for or against any public movements, for comments by their editors and others — leaving readers to draw their own conclusions ; and just as New York City papers have, even lately, as well as in former years, printed articles concerning Mr. Weed's operations during his Morganizing and other enterprises. But this impartial course did not suit the designing men who labored to pervert the "Excitement" to their own personal and partisan purpo;es. Some prominent Antimasons, who for awhile professed friendship for the "New Daily," called repeatedly at the "Advertiser' office, to urge that that print should take " general grounds against Freemasonry" (including hos- tility to the multitude of Non-Masons, whom Mr. Weed then commonly called "Mason's Jacks" )- which course, those visitors alleged, would speedily promote its welfare by extending its circulation and influence. But these alluring prospects were powerless for changing the impartial course of the '' Daily Advertiser" and of its editor and publishers. That journal and its editor, with the cordial approval of its two publish- ers, continued, unmoved, in this fair and impartial course, though de- nounced as apologists for an " infernal institution" and for the " murderers of Morgan,'' etc. These publishers were Henry C. Sleight, editor of the Jamaica "Long Island Farmer," (the originator and capitalist of the con- cern), and Luther Tucker, since well known as editor of the " Cultivator" and the " Country Gentleman" at Albany. The firm name of the pub- lishers was " Sleight and Tucker" on Long Island, and " Luther Tucker & Co." at Rochester. The editor, Henry O'Rielly, in the following March, (1827, ) about three months after he witnessed and commented editorially upon the organization of the " Morgan Committee," whereof Mr. Weed was the leading member, took decided ground against the then (to him, at least, o^z'zi'^.f) perversion of the "Excitement" to the basest partisan and personal purposes. As an editorial article which then exposed in advance the political in. trigues, as well as the inflammatory course and persecuting spirit of the Morganizing-Antimasons, together with the condition of things then exist- ing in Western New York, has since acquired special importance for its early connection with the " Excitement," it is here copied, with a few simi- lar mementos, that the reader may, by it, among other contemporaneous commentaries, judge somewhat about the temper of those times : WESTERN NEW YORK. Gondxiion erf things. Social, Religious and Foliiical, in the region where Mbrganizing- Antimasonry originated. (From the " Rochester Daily Advertiser," March i6th, 1827.) " The excitement respecting Morgan, instead of decreasing, spreads its in- fluence and acquires new vigor daily. Scarcely a paper do we open without having our eyes greeted with accounts of meetings, together with preambles IVitA Its " Good- Enough Morgan^ 13 and resolutions, some of them of a cast still more decided and prescriptive than any we have yet published. "To the excitement itself we have no objection. On the contrary, it is commendable in the people, and the surest guarantee that neither State nor individual rights can be trampled on with impunity. But, like everything else human, it may be, and we regret to say it has been, turned to other than the rightful objects. " To discover Morgan's fate, to arraign the guilty and vindicate the law, were the points that in the beginning seemed to engross attention. These were the actuating motives of the County meeting held here in December — a meeting equal in influence and respectability to any ever held in this or any other county in the State. " But this just and temperate course, though pursued for some time with considerable hope of success, has been abandoned by very many ; and harsh words, denunciation and proscription are now visited alike upon the innocent and the guilty. " Printers and Editors are denounced, and a loss of patronage is threatened, unless they compromise their independence, and publish all the inflammatory remarks of fanatics upon/ach which the public have long had in their possession. Even at this day, when presses throughout the Slate groan with the weight of matter on the Morgan affair, resolutions are gravely passed, proclaiming that ' the silence of editors is a just cause of alarm,' and other things of an equally ' alarming ' nature. We use no harsher language than the occasion warrants, when we say that such resolutions are alike uncalled-for and insulting to the good sense of society and the feelings of our brethren of the type and quill. " The Freemasons, too — not only those who took off Morgan, but every one who bears the Masonic name — are proscribed, as unworthy of ' any office in town, county. State or United States;' and the institution of Masonry, which has stood unshaken through the storms and convulsions of ages, and has numbered and still numbers among its members and warmest friends many of the wisest and most pious, virtuous and patriotic men, is held up as dangerous and detrimental to the interests of the country ! " Even the minister of Christ, the very herald of salvation, must, if he be a Mason, close his Bible and hush his voice, unless he violates the precepts of that Bible, and stains his lips with falsehood, by decrying an institution of which he knows no evil! What other interpretation but this can be given to such a thing as the following : '^Resolution, passed at Pulteney, Steuben County, N. Y. ''Resolved. That we will not hear any Freemason preach, unless said preacher shall refuse to meet with any lodge of Freemasons, and shall openly and boldly declare that ttie Institution of Masonry is a bad insti- tution. "B@=This caps the climax, and shows too plainly that even in this free land there are individuals who can improve on the persecutions of the Spanish Inquisition ! 'Are we turned Turkp, and to each other do that ' Which Heaven hath forbid the Ottomites?' " We have but to remark, in conclusion, that, if the object be, as it should be, to redress the wrong society has suffered, something less objectionable and more efficient should be adopted than resolutions, especially such reso- lutions as the above ; and that if, on the contrary, the resolution-makers have a deeper aim, and seek the proscription of Masons and the destruction of Masonry for the purpose of opening to themselves a way to power, they will meet with more resistance than they anticipate from the good sense and virtue of this community. " 14 American Politic^al-Antimasonry — This emphatic annunciation, of course, settled the question decisively, showing that, however ready the paper and its conductor were to publish impartially everything essential in promoting the cause oi public justice, the "Daily Advertiser" would not be an unconcerned spectator of the schemes for prostituting the " Excitement' to partisan purposes ; and the deluge of Morganizing-Antimasonic wrath was accordingly turned against us with redoubled fury. The tenor of the foregoing article from the " Rochester Daily Adver- tiser" of March, 1827, quickly met with zealous responses from sundry editors and other influential persons, not only through the " infected region," but "farther down east." For instance: the "New York Com- mercial Advertiser," edited by Col. Wm. L. Stone, after paraphrasing our statement in the following week, said: "The excitement in the case of Morgan continues to increase at the West ; and where it will end, no mortal can tell. . . . The presses in all parts of the State groan beneath the weight of publications upon the subject, and yet they are denounced in public meetings, proscribed, and threatened with a loss of patronage for their silence! Where IS this excitement to endt Are Freemasons to be exterminated, because a few unworthy men are sus- pected of having committed a heinous crime? . . . One would think, from the Western papers, that the people are almost ripe for a general mas- sacre of I'reemasons. Truly, those who have kindled this excitement, be they Masons or be they not, we fear, will yet have much to answer for." The vocabularies of calumny and ribaldry might be vainly ransacked for epithets more foul and shocking than were for several years steadily directed by Mr. Weed, not only against the "Daily Advertiser" and its Editor,'' who thus fearlessly encountered the storm, but also against Free- masons and the Masonic Institution generally, as shown in the volumes of his " Antimasonic Enquirer" — this bitterness including particularly all Non- Masons, who, like ourselves, would not join this prescriptive crusade, and who were reviled as "worse than Masons'^ — as "Mason's Jacks" — illus- trated by exhibitions of jackasses at the polls, led by Mr. Weed himself in 1827 — as elsewhere quoted from writings of gentlemen (Col. George W. Pratt of Rochester, and Robert H. Stevens of Buifalo), who witnessed some of the disgraceful scenes thus presented when Political Antimasonry first appeared at the elections. Indeed, the files of the " Antimasonic Enquirer" teemed with charges and billingsgate, which might seem incredible to people of the present age, in this or any other country ; and should be preserved as curious specimens of viler abuse than was ever before showered on Freemasons and the Ma- sonic Institution (including aU who would not join the Political- Antimasonic ranks,) by all the despots and bigots that in any age ever cursed any por- tion of the world. The " Daily Advertiser,'' for instance, was incessantly stigmatized by Mr. Weed's paper as " The Conspirators' Advocate," the " organ of Masonry,'' controlled by a "hellish" and "blood-stained Institution ;" — while its editor was constantly lampooned in all the choice epithets with which Mr. Weed was then a ready practitioner ; and he (O'R.) was specially reviled as a. WtiA Its " Good-Enough Morgan^ 15 "Mason's Jack,'' the apologist of Masonic outrages and Masonic murder- trs," with other embellishments that may be found in the thousand columns of the "Antimasonic Enquirer" by the curious " Macauleys" of these and future times, who may perhaps be stimulated to examine the character and results of one of the most remarkable episodes in American history and in the annals of civilization and Freemasonry throughout the world. THE "INQUESTS"— THREE IN NUMBER. As much of this intense yet temporary "Excitement" occurred in reference to the ill-fated corpse, which for awhile some thought to be a veritable Mor- gan, for whose " abduction" many estimable persons had been indicted, it is neither " out of time nor place to vindicate the truth of history," (to quote again the words of Mr. Weed,) by briefly mentioning facts that were so shockingly distorted by the Antimasonic operators in the autumn of 1827, and many of which have been even recently so shamefully misrepresented by Mr. Weed. Morgan was abducted and drowned in the autumn of 1826, and it was said that " ropes and weights were fastened to him, to prevent his body from rising.'' This tragical act is said to have occurred at the junction of Niagara River and Lake Ontario, between our Fort Niagara and the Cana- dian town on the opposite shore. More than a year after Morgan's fate, a Canadian farmer, named Timo- thy Monroe, from a lower point on Lake Ontario, came with |a sloop-load of wood to the Canadian town alluded to. While awaiting sale of his cargo, he, with his shipmate, John Cron, crossed tn a small boat to the vicinity of our Fort Niagara. After concluding his business, he attempted to return to his vessel ^l the Canadian town; but, his little boat upsetting on its return, he was drowned, notwithstanding the efforts of Mr. Cron to rescue him. This fatal accident (the main facts of which are italicized, for reasons that will soon appear) occurred on or very near the route of Morgan when he was drowned, as is said. But, as no " ropes and weights were fastened" to him, as is reported to have been the case with the unhappy Morgan, his body soon rose to the surface, and floated into Lake Ontario; on the shore of which Lake, the corpse was found a few days thereafter, near the mouth of Oak-Orchard Creek, distant about forty miles, (between the Niagara and the Genesee,) where it was cast ashore, as is often the case with objects floating on the Lake from the Niagara River, owing to the course of currents and winds. In refuting some of Mr. Weed's "Stories" about alleged influences in organizing Lincoln's Cabinet and otherwise winding up the machinery of National Affairs, the late Secretary, Gideon Welles (the well-known head of our Naval Department during the War of the Rebellion, etc.), after stating sams. facts and exposing certain ridiculous " stories," concluded that branch of his exposures by alluding to what he substantially termed Mr. Weed's remarkable propensity for '■'remembering things that never happened.''^ 1 6 American Political-Antimasonry — And the worthy Secretary might have found other illustrations of this pro- pensity in the history of Mr. Weed's connection with the corpse oi Timothy Monroe, etc. For instance : Mr. Weed's letter to the ' ' New York Herald" in 1875 gravely says that Monroe was ^' swept in his boat over Niagara Falls" /!.' This alleged catastrophe, ii irue, would have rendered it impos- sible for his corpse to float uninjured to the shore where it was found, instead of having floated from the place where his frail boat (along with Mr. Cron, his shipmate) was actually upset while returning across the stream to his wood-sloop in the Canadian town, at the junction of Niagara River with Lake Ontario. The object of this particular " story " is evidently to strengthen Weed's position with people who know no better. A body "dashed over Niagara Falls" would not be in the perfect order in which it was found when the Morganizing (second) inquest, engineered by Mr. Weed, was held near Oak Orchard, where the body had been first buried uninjured by the " first Inquest," as that of an " unknown man'' — totally uninjured by fl«y violence, such as would have marked itplainly if it had been " swept over the Falls," or even if it had been "tied with ropes and weights [a twelve- month before\, to keep it from rising," as substantially asserted in Mr. Weed's Morganizing reports. Besides, if Monroe was "swept over Niagara Falls," his shipmate, John Cron, would hardly have escaped to give testi- mony at Batavia, "on the Third Inquest;" where, as will be shown, the corpse, uninjured, except by the significant loss oi some hair and whiskers about the time of the "Second Inquest," was disinterred for public inspection. But now for some particulars concerning the results of the "■FIRST inquest:' (Bdd near the junction of Oak Orchard Creek with Lake Ontario, near where the corpse was found.) After full examination, the body was declared to be that of an " unknown man ;" as there was no mark of violence, and nothing in his pockets where- with to identify him. The fact of the inquest, and some memoranda about the appearance of the body, were published by the Coroner, as usual, then, in that quarter. As Morgan and his fate were prominent subjects of conversation in those days, some one said, during this first inqnest, that "perhaps this might be Morgan's body." One of the Messrs. Potter, who found the corpse on the Lake Shore, near the mouth of the Creek above-named, said (as he told me, and as he afterwards publicly testified, and was ever ready while alive to testify) that " that could not be the case, as the corpse was that of a man who was larger than Morgan, and was not bald like Morgan, and had large whiskers, which Morgan never wore during his knowledge of him — that knowledge having been gained when he and Morgan lived together. " The verdict of the Coroner's Jury over this then unrecognized body was as above stated. The corpse was buried accordingly. The clothing, fortunately for the cause of justice, had been taken off, as it might, and did very soon afterwards, serve lax further recognition of the real identity of the corpse, as will be seen. With Its " Good-Enough Morgan." 17 When the Coroner's report of this "first inquest" was published, how- ever, some persons are said to have fancied that the body " might still be that of Morgan," as it was reported to have some sort of a " mark on a big toe," and had apparently lost " two teeth" — about which teeth, "there hangs a tale," which will shortly be told in connection with THE " SECOND INQUEST." Mr. Thurlow Weed was the chief engineer of the " Second \n(\\xtit" — that by which the body was made to pass muster /br a few days only as a "Good-Enough Morgan," etc. He caused the corpse to be disinterred on the next Saturday, and returned to Rochester on Sunday for some others to assist at a second inquest, to be held on the following day — leaving the corpse meanwhile in charge of "three trusty men," to "guard it against the Masons," ivs was said. Returning to Rochester after this reconnoiter- ing expedition, by stage-coach, (there being no railroads in those days.y Mr. Weed came in to Ensworth's Eagle Tavern, after the usual dinner-hour, when Dr. John B. Elwood, a regular boarder, was at the table, having been delayed by a patient. What occurred there and thereafter, concerning his intercourse with Mr. Weed, etc., I here insert substantially as told me immediately after by Dr. Elwood, whose office adjoined mine in the opposite block. Observing that Mr. Weed seemed rather travel-worn, Dr. Elwood com- menced conversation by saying, "Where have you been, Thurlow?" with the freedom customary between old acquaintance, personal and political The reply, as told me by Dr. E., was substantially that he (Mr. W.) had been out to see a body found on the Lake Shore, near Oak Orchard Creek, where it had been buried, after a Coroner's inquest, as that of an " unknown person" — who some people supposed might be Morgan. (Mr. Weed had previously stated in this conversation that he had never seen Morgan.) Dr. Elwood's statement to me was, that, as a medical practitioner, his professional studies impelled him to learn more about the effect of submer- sion on human subjects, in addition to the interest he felt, in common with people generally, in the case of Morgan, who was said to have been '' drowned more than a twelve-month before, with weights attached to keep the body submerged," etc. Dr. Elwood inquired particularly about the condition of the corpse — es- pecially whether the flesh had been converted into adipocere — if it had not become putrid or partially washed away from the bones. Conversation was next turned by Dr. Elwood on the appearance of the face, head, etc. In reply to his inquiries, Dr. Elwood's statement to me was, that Mr. Weed answered substantially that they were not much, if any, altered from those of a person lately dead, except that the skin was considerably discolored. (Be it remembered that no marks of violence whatever — no marks of " ropes and weights to keep the body from floating'' — and certainly no marks of having been " swept over Niagara Ealls," were mentioned in this conversation.) 1 8 American Political- Antintasonry — " How about the head?" Dr. Elwood then inquired. Dr. E.'s statement to me was that Mr. Weed said one of the whiskers was somewhat chafed, the other whisker being large and apparently perfect. " And what was the condition of the hair on top of the head ?" Dr. Elwood then asked. The reply of Mr. Weed, as Dr. Elwood informed me, was, substantially, that, excepting some slight traces of baldness over the temples, (as is often the case, ) the head was well covered with hair — there being a large patch of hair on top— which feature Mr. Weed illustrated to Dr. Elwood, as the lat- ter informed me, by placing his hand, with fingers nearly fully outspread, on top of his own head. Dr. Elwood further explained the matter to me by laying his nearly outspread hand on my head, while giving me these par- ticulars, within a half hour of the time when this conversation occurred with Mr. Weed. Dr. Elwood said to me that he then told Mr. Weed why his inquiries were so particular about the condition and appearance of the corpse, sub- stantially in the following words: " I was a medical adviser of Capt. Morgan when he lived in Rochester," said Elwood; "and one of his chief ailments concerned the eyes, -vi^ixch. made it necessary for me to place my hand often on his head, so as to turn his eyes upwards towards me, as then I could better examine them. This, and my other acquaintance with him, enabled me to know that he (Morgan) wore no whiskers; and, as' for the top of his head, it was for years utterly destitute of hair. Suchya-c/j, within my own knowledge, along witb what you say about the condition of the body, and especially about the hair and whiskers," said Dr. Elwood to Mr. Weed, ''satisfy me that the body IS NOT Morgan's." Mr. Weed was said by Dr. Elwood to have made a somewhat confused remark, to the effect, substantially, that it seemed so, then — it could not be Morgan's body — and suddenly turned the conversation. These statements about hair and whiskers were corroborated by the tes- timony of several others touching the condition of the body when first found and buried, after the "first inquest,'' and after it was disinterred by Mr. Weed and left in charge of " three trusty men" till he should return from Rochester with others to have a " Second Inquest" held on the following Monday. Meantime (on Sunday at the dinner with Dr. Elwood in Roch- ester), Mr. Weed learnt about the hair and whiskers which made such dis- tinguishing marks on the face of the corpse — marks which would at once satisfy any one who had known Morgan that the corpse could not be his, if it had the head well covered witM hair, and the lar^e whiskers in such unmistakable condition as Mr. Weed told Dr. Elwood in the above-men- tioned conversation — (marks sworn to by sundry witnesses on the "Third Inquest.") Mr. Weed said, in conversation with Elwood, that he (W.) did not know Morgan or his peculiarities, and spoke of the corpse as he first saw it. ( But, singular to relate ! the hair and whiskers, profuse as they were said to be when the body was found and first buried, and when dis- interred by Mr Weed, as stated by himself in the conversation with Dr. With Its " Good-Enough Morgan." 19 Elwood, had marvellously disappeared, when on Monday the " Second In- quest" was held— albeit there were "three trusty men" to guard the body while Mr. Weed was absent in Rochester, with orders to let no one see the corpse till after his return.) On returning immediately to his office, Dr. Elwood called to tell me the substance of his conversation, as above given, especially as it was '' closely connected with the prevalent excitement about Morgan," (Dr. Elwood was for half a century one of the most prominent physicians of Western New York, and for ten years Postmaster of Rochester.) A few minutes afterwards, another physician, Dr. Henry, came into the office where Dr. Elwood and I were conversing (Dr. Elwood's office and mine being next door to each other in the same building, opposite the Hotel where Dr. E. and Mr. W. met accidentally for a late dinner.) Dr. Henry asked Elwood if he would " attend to his (Henry's) patients for a couple of days, as he would be absent from town." " Certainly, certainly," said El- wood, whose intimacy with an old friend induced him further to inquire in what direction Dr. Henry was about to travel. " I'm gomg along with Mr. Weed and others, to be at an inquest to-morrow, in Orleans County over a body lately found there," said Dr. Henry, substantially. Some conversa- tion then ensued between the physicians, respecting the talk just held by Dr. Elwood with Mr. Weed, as already described. In this conversation, Dr. Elwood expressed surprise at what he thought were "queer proceedings" in this matter; and, among other things, referred to the conversation he had just had with Mr. Weed. Dr. Henry said substantially that he "knew nothing about the matter, further than that he had been invited to go out with some of the ' Morgan Committee,' and be present at the new inquest over a body supposed by some to be Morgan's;'' adding that "the stage was to start soon with Mr. Weed and others on their return to Oak Or- chard," etc. Dr. Henry then withdrew, on his friend Elwood assuring him that he would cheerfully attend to his patients during his absence — such being the custom when either was sick or absent. There also went with the Weed party to view the corpse, a doctor or den- tist who had polled " two teeth" from Morgan, three or four years before. ■It is generally known that gaps left by tooth-pulling soon nearly close — so that, where two adjoining teeth are extracted, there will shortly be left scarcely space enough to insert even a single tooth. The " testimony" given on this inquest by that dentist or doctor, and substantially confirmed by another doctor or dentist, who was present, is too curious to be omitted, especially as it is one of the convincing things included in Mr. Weed's remarkable "story" about this equally remarkable affair. Hence I quote the exact words from his truthful " history" : After one of these dentists said he had pulled two teeth from Morgan three or four years before, he added: "Mrs. Morgan handed me the two teeth which she said I extracted ; and they will slide into the places or vacancies in the head of this body quite vs^ell ; though the face is so much swollen. 20 American Political-Antimasonry — that it is impossible to decide exactly whether they were taken from THIS head! !" Another doctor is stated in Weed's "history" to have said: "On ex- amining the body I find two teeth gone, and one broken off — the two teeth which she had will slide into and fill the "vacancies in the jaw pretty well." {/ f /) The value of such "testimony" can be easily estimated by people gen- erally — especially by those who have had the ill-luck to lose a couple of their grinders. RETURN FROM THE "SECOND INQUEST," With thanks for a Special Providence. The return of Mr. Weed from the Inquest which he had thus engineered was followed by the publication of what he, in a public notice, called a "History" of that remarkable transaction (including, of course, the most important testimony about the "two teeth" and the "big toe") — copies of which were scattered broadcast, as well as printed in various newspapers, for the edification of the "faithful" through the "infected regions." And this precious document, of which I have a pamphlet copy, closed with an ascription of praise to the Almighty for His Special Providence in effecting this " wonderful discovery" — (particularly "wonderful" on the eve of the Morganizing-Antimasonic Party appearing for its first campaign at the polls !) But I here quote the exact "words from the conclusion of Mr. Weed's veracious "history" respecting this alleged Special Providence: — " For ourselves," said Mr. Weed, in the " history" signed with his own name and that of three others — "for ourselves, we do conceive that the body discovered on the shore of Lake Ontario has been identified as the body of Capt. William Morgan beyond the shado"w of a doubt. (!) " In this discovery we cannot but trace the hand of an Overruling Provi- dence, who, "when all human efforts "were found too "weak effectually to pene- trate the mysterious secret, has chosen, in His own time and by His 0"wn means, to thro"w a broad light upon this dark mystery. (J!) " This induces us to rely, with a stronger hope, upon the same Provi- dence, to unravel the remainder of this entangled skein, and to provide means for bringing all the perpetrators of a daring outrage to merited pun- ishment." (!!!) (Signed) " THURLOW WEED," (with three others.) (These expressions of hope that "the same Providence" would help them to bring the "perpetrators of a daring outrage to merited punishment,' should be particularly remembered by all who read Mr. Weed's own decla- rations in his " Herald" letters that the murder had actually been confessed to himselfin 1831 by one of the alleged murderers— a fact which he only With Its " Good-Enough Morgan." 21 ■divulged in 1875, a silence of forty-four years; during which long period he had quietly treasured that fact, instead of communicating it to the public until all the alleged perpetrators of the crime were dead ! The comments of various journals at New York, Rochester and Buffalo, quoted herewith, render it needless for me to say more, just now, on this subject.) But the affectation oi piety which influenced this closing remark -in Weed's "history" of the " Second Inquest" — this reference to ''heavenly" aid — which was specially noted by people familiar with the Political-Antimasonic opera- tions of the times — was not sufficient to prevent immediate legal and IMPARTIAL INQUIRY BY US, concerning what was believed to be the hum- bug of this same " Second Inquest" — the very serious aspect of which, if it had not been exploded — quickly exploded — affecting, as it might have affected, the lives, liberties and reputation of many estimable men, besides -adding fuel to the prevalent "excitement" — will shortly be particularly men- tioned. It may well be supposed that this " Supplementary Report" of Mr. Weed (which he dignified with the title of a "history" in his advertisement con- cerning that extraordinary humbug), occasioned instantaneous comment among the community. Those who remembered his verbal statements when questioned by Dr. Elwood, as above described, and as stated by me in the " Daily Advertiser," noticed particularly the assertion of that veracious "history" about the body having been " identified, htyonA the shadow of Jl DOUBT," as the body of Capt. Morgan." (! ! !) The humbug was, of course, well understood by reflecting people gen- erally — especially by those who remembered the former statements of Mr. "Weed about Morgan having been " drowned more than a year before, with ,ropes and weights fastened to keep him from floating" — and also by people who recollected Mr. Weed's admissions to Dr. Elwood about the appearance ■of the corpse, especially regarding the whiskers and the "large patch of hair on top of the head" — points which utterly forbade any notion that the ■corpse was that of the whiskerless and bald and smaller-sized Morgan — bearing no marks of having, a twelve month before, been "tied with ropes and weights to keep it sunk." Cotemporaneous Newspaper Comments. The sentiments of impartial citizens familiar with the facts, concurring with my own judgment, caused me to publish in the " Rochester Daily Advertiser" the following editorial comments on What was commonly called The Great Fraud. "The more we see and hear," I said in the " Daily Advertiser, " "the more thoroughly satisfied are we that there vtss foul play some way or other connected with the 'Second Inquest' over the body recently found. It is utterly irreconcilable with our notions of right in such cases that anything tending to throw light on a judicial investigation should have been witk- ■held or smotheredhy those assisting at its but that something similar to this Jjas been the case in the instance alluded to, is susceptible of positive proof. 22 American Political- Antvnasonry — " It is with reluctance we allude particularly to individuals ; but the nature of the case requires that no false delicacy should interfere to prevent the unmasking of hypocrisy and the exposure of deceit. With this view, we proceed to look into matters generally, and to offer such facts as can at any time be substantiated. " Mr. Thurlow Weed, after returning from his first visit to where the body lay, said, in conversation with a gentleman [meaning Dr. John B. Elwood] who knew Morgan, that the head of the corpse had a ' consider- able patch of hair on top ;' and in subsequent conversation, language to the same effect was used, with the additional remark that the hair growing in that particular place staggered his (Weed's) faith more than anything else as to the identity of the body with Morgan. As this fact, if stated by credible witnesses, must have been as conclusive with the Second Jury as it was with the first, and as the knowledge of it gave rise to misgivings and staggered the faith of Mr. Weed, how comes it that, in his testimony ( !) before the In- quest, [a Second Inquest, managed chiefly by himself] no reference or hint whatever is made to the subject ? If he and others had no particular wish to make the body Morgan\, whether or not, how comes it that he was mute on a matter oi primary moment, and at the same time allowed himself to be lugged in as a witness to ' testify' what amounts to nothing ? How is it, that a fact which would have settled the question at once, was kept out of sight, and not even hinted at, directly or indirectly, in the proceedings contained in the ' Supplementary Report' [Weed's ' history'] so sedulously scattered about by the ' Committee' ? "When these queries are answered, we shall inquire how the whiskers, which Mr. Holden [an honest Morgan Committeeman of Batavia] saw about the time that Mr. Weed saw the hair, disappeared, between the periods of the first disinterment and the second inquest ? There were three trusty men, the Committee [Weed & Co.] say, guarding the body mean- time ; but, were there three-and-thirty, the conclusion must nevertheless be, that the hair and the whiskers were taken off, (by whom we cannot say,) but certainly by somebody, to make it resemble Morgan. " Had the Potters, who knew Morgan, and could best describe the situa- tion of the body when found — had these, or Mr. Holden, or any other of the half-dozen witnesses who swore positively [on the Third Inquest] at Batavia to the facts stated by Mr. Weed to the gentleman [Dr. Elwood], above alluded to— had these been sworn [on the ' Second Inquest,' engineered by Weed himself], there might be some shadow of truth in the statement of the Committee in their report, 'that all persons who it was supposed knew anything connected with the inquiry, were sworn' [on the said Second Inquest.] As it is, until some explanation is given, the connection of the Committee [Weed & Co.] with the 'Second Inquest,' must be looked upon as a one-sided and consequently unfair and shameful transaction." One of the last acts of our deceased Rochester friend, Col. Geo. W. Pratt, (elsewhere particularly mentioned), was to remind us of the time when Mr. Thurlow Weed, as Ringleader of the Morgan Committee, published a With Its " Good-Enough Morgan." 23 notice in a Rochester paper, saying that " The remains of William Morgan having been finally found and fully identified [!!!], the Committee lose no time in relieving the public anxiety by submitting a history of all the facts and circumstances connected with this extraordinary discovery." " Certainly, it was an extraordinary discovery ! — bordering on the miracu- lous" ! ! said Col. Pratt, " that a human body, floating about in Lake Ontario for a year — [if some of the Morganizing-Antimasonic " stories" of Mr. Weed could be believed] — food for fishes and undergoing decomposi- tion—should be found with hair and head complete, and even loose hair in- side the ears." "But," adds Col. Pratt, " it was said to be a ' Good-Enough Morgan till after the election ; and thousands of the ignorant and credulous fully believed that the body of the murdered Morgan was found. But the managers of this new political crusade must have known better;'' and, con- tinues Col. Pratt in conclusion of his Reminiscences, " the Rochester Daily Advertiser" of October 29 and November i, 1827, FULLY EXPOSED THE FRAUD, and gave the testimony of Mrs. Monroe and her son, iden- tifying the body as that of Mr. Monroe." THE " THIRD INQUEST; ' which proved that it was not exactly a Good-Enough Morgan till after Election — nor sufficient even to hang or iinprison the "Bloody Masons." Next quickly followed the " Third Inquest," in arranging for which, the " Rochester Daily Advertiser and its Editor" (now, as then, so bitterly de- nounced by Mr. Weed), were foremost, along with yourself and the late Messrs. Tucker and Ebenezer Griffen, in urging and immediately effecting successful results, by exposing Political-Antimasonic imposture and vindi- cating the cause of Truth and Justice. In preparing for this new movement, several friends, from different sec- tions of the country, called at the " Daily Advertiser ' office for consulta- tion. I urged the propriety of inviting the Morgan Committtee to be present at the proposed (Third) Inquest, inasmuch as they could then understand more fully the points about which there was most discussion, and give the benefit of their suggestions or objections. If all was as it ought to have been at the " Second (or Weed's) Inquest," there surely could be no reason- able objection to the attendance of some members (if not all) of that Com- mittee, when and where matters might arise which might satisfy those who disputed the accuracy oi their Report (or '* history.") Along with one of the gentlemen present at the consultation (Mr. Barton of Niagara Countyl, I therefore called on a prominent member (Dr. Backus) of the Morgan Committee, and told him what was proposed to be done — that we invited the fullest and fairest inquiry ; and, in evidence of that wish, asked him to be present, and to bear a similar invitation to his fellow- members. Dr. B. not only did not give any encouragement for the proposed investi- gation, but added that he supposed " the Masons and their apologists" were not very well pleased with the decision " about the body being Morgan's." 24 American Political- Antimasonry — The peculiar emphasis laid by him upon the words, "Masons and their apologists" led me to reply substantially that " No men who wish fair dealing, especially in matters of such deep importance to the community as well as to individuals, could reasonably object to such a just and impartial movement as was then proposed to himself and his feUow-committeemen" — adding that " another Inquest would certainly be held, whether he or they attended or not" — at the same time saying that I was not a Mason, nor the apologist of any Masons or Antimasons who conducted themselves im- properly. The decision in favor of another (the Third) Inquest was accordingly ener- getically carried into effect. Preparation for the " Third {and final) Inquest." An examination of the clothing found on the deceased was accordingly made at Gaines, in Orleans County, on Saturday evening and night, when the very intelligent and discreet widow of Timothy Monroe, Mr. Monroe, Junior, and Mr. John Cron, the latter of whom was with the deceased when the boat upset, were examined on every imaginable point by Mr. Bates Cooke, of the Niagara County Committee — who held possession of all the clothing (nailed in a box), till the investigation was terminated for the night, especially the examination of the clothing. The accuracy of the wit- nesses, especially that of the venerable widow, on every point of inquiry (she having made and mended the clothing), excited the attention and respect of nearly every person in the crowd who witnessed the examination, the only exception being in the case of Mr. Cooke, who, when I said, on examining the different articles, that "the answers of Mrs. Monroe were remarkably accurate, even to the minutest point," replied substantially, " O yes, certainly — the description she gave about the clothing was very precise — very correct, indeed" — adding, rather cavalierly, " I wonder who furnished her with that description." The remark neither shook confidence in the truth of her testimony nor increased the respect for her (only) assailant. Returning to Rochester, I prepared for Monday's " Advertiser" an account of the thorough identification of the clothing; and then started with a few others for Batavia, in Genesee County, where the body had been interred by the Morganizing-Antimasons after their " Second Inquest." This "Third Inquest," openly held in Batavia, was attended by a large concourse of people. The Jury embraced several of the most prominent Antimasons of Batavia, and had only two Masons on it. People of all parties were there — the matters of the Inquest were fully discussed— the condition of the body examined pubUcly by Dr. Coates and other prominent physi- .<:ians of the neighborhood. There seemed to be no dissent from the conclu- sion to which the Coroner's Jury unanimously arrived; and this was the more notable, from the fact that Morgan was a resident of their town when "abducted," and that there, if anywhere, the corpse (even though rendered With Its " Good-Enough Morgan." 25 bald and whisker less), might be recognized as Morgan, if it was really Morgan. Conclusion and Effect of the Several Inquests. These brief notices of the Third Inquest may be concluded by the remark that the public mind of all parties quietly settled down in reliance on the facts established by the impartial testimony before thatBatavia Inquest, which showed to the neighbors of Morgan and to the public generally that the corpse was not his, but that of Timothy Monroe. No movement was ever made to disturb that verdict or the corpse ; though, after the " Second (or Weed's) Inquest," it had been proclaimed about the streets for a few days, that "a towering monument would be erected" to commemorate the then supposed facts. The real facts about those several inquests are now, for the first time, briefly told, in consecutive order, and may furnish to future times an instructive lesson concerning investigations of the kind, if there should be another case beset with so many difficulties. In short, this " Third and Last Inquest" proved even to many of those who had been at first inclined to believe the tale, that Mr. Weed s remark- able "history" of the " Second Inquest, ' notwithstanding his pious or im- pious conclusion, ascribing the discovery of the corpse at that particular time to a special Providence, was essentially a humbug of the grossest character — as the iU-fated corpse was proved to be that of " Timothy Monroe," and not exactly a " Good-Enough Morgan till after Election" — a decision important to the public generally, and especially to the promi- nent Freemasons in six counties of Western New York, (namely, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Niagara, Genesee and Erie), who had been indicted for alleged participation in the " abduction,'''' and who would have been imme- diately charged and perhaps punished for privity to the murder, if the humbug had not been promptly exposed by the verdict of this "Third Inquest," held at Morgan's late home, and where almost everybody knew him, with his bald head and whiskerless face — notwithstanding the wonder- ful testimony about the "two teeth" and the "big toe,'' and the still more wonderful assertions of Mr. Weed, about the special agency of '' Heaven" in the extraordinary case. More about the " Third Inquest" which Nullihed Weed's " Second Inquest'' and his " Good-Enough Morgan.'' On the I St November, 1S27, over fifty-two years ago, I pubUshed an account of the proceedings of the "Third" and last Inquest held over the memorable corpse, along with a certificate of the correctness of the state- ment — which certificate, signed by prominent citizens of Western New York, was in the following words : " To the Public : " The following is a brief statement of the testimony taken before the Jury of Inquest at Batavia, on the 29th inst. in relation to a body found on the 7th, at or near the mouth of Oak-Orchard Creek, in the County of Orleans. . . . [Here followed the testimony of the Widow 26 American Political- Ant imasonry — Monroe, which was the same in all material points as that contained in her testimony over the clothing at Gaines, on Saturday night. Her testimony was corroborated, in every essential point, by Mr. Daniel Monroe and by John Cron, who was with Timothy Monroe when he was accidentally drowned]. . . [Then follows the testimony of Hinman Holden, an honest Morgan- Committeeman of Batavia, who saw the hair and whiskers on the corpse,, as stated by Mr. Weed himself to Dr. Elwood ; and also the testimony of Dr. A. H. Vinton, Dr. Hall, James Wood, Daniel English, Dr. Webster and Eiisha Parmelee; with the testimony of Messrs. Potter, [father and son], who found the body on the lake shore, and who also saw the hair and whiskers when it was disinterred and taken by Mr. Weed, while he (Weed) meanwhile went to Rochester on Sunday to prepare for his " Second" Inquest on Monday.] " The verdict of the Jury was, that the body is that of Timothy Monroe, who was drowned in the Niagara River, on the 26th Sept., 1827. We, the undersigned, having been present during the investigation, certify the above to be a correct statement of the principal facts proved before the Coroner's Inquest at Batavia, on the 2gth inst. [Oct.] (Signed) "Ebenezer Griffin. "James F. Mason. "Jacob Gould." In my editorial comments on the proceedings of this Inquest, I said in the "Daily Advertiser," respecting the "detection of the imposition," that the Coroner's Jury at Batavia "Was composed of citizens as respectable as any in Batavia — two only of whom were Masons — the remainder being, as we are informed, of the Anti- masonic Party. The strongest witness in proving the body not to be Morgan's^ Mr. Hinman Holden, is also an Antimason: And, Mason or Antimason, there is hardly a respectable man in Batavia who doubts the verdict. In fact, but few there believed it was what it was reported to be, even before the [third] Inquest; and the fact that neither Mrs. Morgan nor any other person from Batavia appeared on the last inquest over the body she recog- nized so readily on the Lake shore, is believed to be something more than a 'sign' that many who testified to the identity on a previous occasion, [when Mr. Weed got up the "Second" Inquest] were not so certain of it on this.] "Four witnesses were taken from this place [Rochester] — more through form, as it seemed to us, than through any real intention of opposing the claims of Mrs. Monroe." — Conspicuous by his absence from the witness-stand and rom Batavia on this peculiarly important occasion, was Mr. Thurlow Weedj who would have found this an excellent opportunity if he had dared to make an attempt at this " Third and last Inquest," held openly before a Coroner's Jury, composed of Morgan's neighbors, and beside Morgan's late home — an " excellent opportunity," indeed — for vindicating himself, if he could, from With Its " Good-Enough Morgan." 27 the belief engendered among the public by the suspicious manifestations of his ('Second') Inquest. That " Second (Weed's) Inquest' was openly and specifically assailed in the "Daily Advertiser' and by the public; yet he dared not, on this Third and last Inquest,'' attempt any defense (if it could be defended) of the humbug about the " Good-Enough Morgan," which corpse some people imagined would rest quietly in the grave, instead of being resurrected, to prove, before a Jury of Morgan's old neighbors; that Messrs. Weed & Company had "got hold of the wrong man " when piously ascribing the ''wonderful discovery" to a Special Providence from Heaven.'' This " Third Inquest" did indeed " throw a broad light over the dark mystery" of the Morganizing-Antimasonic operations with the corpse at the "Second In- quest. '' Some of the "Effects on Social Relations,"- &'c. You have doubtless noticed the manner in which Mr. Weed alludes to the effect on his " sociiil relations,'' occasioned by the reputation of his Morganizing adventures. Readers generally may estimate these things by considering the manner, in which many respectable "families and their friends generally" were treated by the peculiar operations of the Morgan Committeemen in getting up and managing the "Second Inquest." The burial of the corpse for awhile (until the matter was exposed), subjected the lives, liberties and reputations of sixty or seventy respected Freemasons to the most serious imputations — to severe punishment and lasting disgrace — as perpetrators or accessories in the highest crime against Divine and Human Laws. The summary exposure of this implication of innocent men in wholesale charges and punishment for the crime of murder caused a very prompt revulsion in popular feeling, to a certain degree at least, and procured for the "indicted' men a fair hearing before Courts which acquitted most of them of privity even to the lesser charge of " abduction." With a corpse actually buried as that of the man alleged to have been murdered — with the popular feeling thus aroused by what might appear to be convincing legal proof of the alleged murder -it is not improbable that the lives of some and the liberties of others of the many persons accused (though mostly innocent) of privity even to the " abduction," would have been at once held liable to prosecution and punishment for the alleged murder ! And in this connection, and as indicating what may be done in " excited'' times, it may be mentioned that the first conviction for alleged privity even to " abduction,'' as you of course well remember, was against an innocent man named Sheldon, in Ontaiio County, only a few months before, viz., in the winter of 1826-7. And you also know that every impar- tial man in those days, who was anywise acquainted with the facts, knew that this Sheldon was wholly unconnected even with the abduction. 28 American Political-Antimasonry — As in his present appeals for popular sympathy in the '-persecutions he suffered for being an Aniimaso?i," and as he alludes to the sufferings of some of his friends by reason of the odium following him for a half-cen- tury on account of his " Good-Enough Morgan" operations, it is " not too late to vindicate the truth of history" (to quote his own words) by referring to the sufferings of families and friends of the sixty or seventy respected Free- masons, whose lives and liberties were temporarily jeopardized by opera- tions with the body that was actually buried as the corpse of the murdered Morgan. As to the general respectability of the accused persons, whose lives and liberties were thus imperilled by the operations ot Mr. Weed's " Second Irquest,'' it may be added here, that in his second letter of 1875, in the " New York Herald," he himself confessed that "of all the persons con- nected with the abduction, arrest, imprisonment and subsequent fate of Morgan,'' there was not one within his knowledge who did not possess and enjoy the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens." And yet he, Mr. Thurlow Weed, a committee-man appointed 'o detect the culprits and promote justice by '' sustaining the Supremacy of the Law," prepared and published a "history" of the "facts and circum- stances'' connected with this so-called " extraordinary discovery''^a " dis- covery"' ascribed by him in that "history" to the " Special Providence" of Heaven— which would have wrongly subjected every one of the confessedly worthy men above mentioned to immediate prosecution and punishment for alleged connection with the alleged murder ! And now, the Ringleader, in getting up that " Second Inquest" and his " history" thereof, is trying to defame me because I wiU not say or write something acquitting him oispeaking about a "Good-Enough Morgan,'' etc., when historical records show that he was actually concerned in what (if it had nat quiclily \>ce.n undone and exposed by us and others) would have subjected all the above-mentioned gentlemen to prosecutions as al- leged principals or accessories in the crime of murder — alleged substantially in Mr. Weed's letters to have been committed by them in " discharging a duty" to the Masonic Institution ! Well might the editor of the " New York Herald," when publishing Mr Weed's letters in 1875, say that, "We [the "New York Herald"] do not believe that Masonry authorizes or practises this theory, yet Mr. Weed makes this accusation against the Order fifty years ago." Effects of the Poliihal Aniimasonic Excitenwni through Western Xeio York and elseichere. One of the oldest citizens of Rochester, Col. George W. Pratt — who was lately interred, with marks of respect from journals bf all parties in that city — voluntarily wrote to me last year an account of his " Recollections" of the strange doings during the "Morgan Excitement.'' It was the last long letter he wrote prior to the illness that closed his active life among us ; and it enclosed to me, as a portion of his " Memories," an article he wrote With Its " Good-Enough Morgan." 29 for the "Rochester Daily Union and Advertiser" in 1867, concerning .events at the ejection of 1827. The generous motive for his communications to me was expressed at the conclusion of his letter of Feb. 22d, 1878, in the following words: — '■ Most of the many prominent actors in these exciting scenes have passed away. But Ivsteem it the duty of those of us who remain, to see that the truth goes down to future generations, who may take an interest in such matters. ' ■ Truly yours, "GEORGE W. PRATT." This last communication from Col. Pratt corresponds with those from other sources respecting the course of Mr. Weed during the three-day elec- tion of 1827, when Morganizing-Antimasonry first took the field politically. Col. Pratt further illustrated the violence of the Antimasonic managers and presses by saying, " Freemasons were denounced as murderers, and unfit to preach the Gospel, or to be members of Christian churches, or to sit on juries — their testimony in courts of justice was said to be not entitled to credence!" "To this vindictive spirit — to this torrent of calumny and persecution," says Col. Pratt, "many who were not Freemasons were opposed. You and I were among that number ; and were complimented by being called 'Masons' Jacks,' for all non-Masons who would not join in the Antimasonic crusade were denounced 'as worse than Masons.' These men did not believe that hostility to Freemasons was a sufficient basis for a political party, nor did they believe all adhering masons to be cut-throats and murderers. Nor did they wish to act," says Col. Pratt, " under the leadership of men who would palm off the body of Monroe as a ' Good-Enough Morgan till after election.' " ' ' I enclose herewith, a communication made by me to the ' Union and Advertiser' of this city in 1867, which gives more fully my recollections of the events attending the election in 1827," adds Col. Pratt; "and one of those ' Recollections' said that ' it was charged and very generally believed, that the corpse of Monroe was ' transformed ' so as to resemble Morgan.'" Col. Pratt added a remark about scenes which he personally witnessed at the polls near Rochester — concurring with the Buffalo state- ments concerning Mr. Stevens' recollections of the new-fashioned voters that Mr. Weed led to the voting places, in ridicule of what he was then pleased to call '' Masons' Jacks.'' " It was at Baker's Tavern, on the Chih Road, in the afternoon of the first day of election,'' said Col. Pratt, " that a mule was led to the polls by a long rope which the Anties called a cable-tow. ' The statement of Col. Pratt concurred substantially with those published in 1875 by the "Buffalo Courier," and widely copied over the land. Those Buffalo statements were signed by Robert H. Stevens, who was at the polls in the town of Gates, then including the westerly half of the then village of Rochester, in 1827. Though frmerly resident in Rochester Mr. Stevens has long lived in Buffalo, where he yet lives, and no man knows more about 30 American Political- Antimasonry — the general movements of men and parties in Western New York for the last fifty-three (53) years, during the early part of which period, his profes- sional duties were mainly connected with investigations of the then preva- lent "Excitement," with its causes and effects. From among the " comments '' which Mr. Stevens promptly published on the letters that Mr. Weed printed in the "New York HeraH," soon after the great Masonic Jubilee, when the Masonic Temple was completed in 1875, substantially as he wrote in letters to me, a short extract may here be quoted illustrative of the spirit which influenced Mr. Weed and his satellites at the polls in 1827, when their political crusade was formally commenced. After mentioning Mr- Weed foremost among the leaders of the new Morganizing Party, that gentleman continued his published statements, by saying that : " No epithets were too ugly or too mean for them to apply to all who would not join in their crusade against a whole body of men for the faults of a few of their number. In order to inflame the minds of the community, every device was resorted to. Lambs were brought to the polls having their ' throats cut from ear to ear,' with the approbation of the Antimasonic chiefs, claiming that these lambs were so born; that the hand of the Almighty had wrought this to intimate to mankind the fate of Morgan, rendering the mob almost as infuriate as they were while Mark Anthony was speaking over the dead body of C»sar. " Indeed I have seen Thurlow Weed tie a rope around the neck of a jackass, put a vote or ballot into its mouth, and lead it up to the polling place, and shove its nose into the window — all of which was done by this would-be states- man to blackguard all decent young men whom he was pleased to call ' Masons' Jacks ? '' Other allusions to the condition of things during the " Excitement." The convulsion which Mr. Weed and his associates used for organizing a partizan influence that ere long enabled him and them to " sell out " and become leaders in the "National Republican," or " Whig Party,'' was lately alluded to in the " Troy Daily Times " by Mr. S. J. Masters, of Greenwich, Washington County — who witnessed it as it prevailed in that eastern county : " The exitement at that time was unparalleled," he says. " It swept over the land like a mortal pestilence, confounding the innocent with the guilty, and even entered the temple of God. None who did not themselves witness it can justly appreciate the condition of things at the time nor to what ex- tent the feelings of the people were excited.'' The writer describes it thus: "The Morgan excitement distracted and divided churches; sundered the nearest ties of social life ; set father against son, and the son against father ; arrayed the wife against her own husband, and, in short, wherever its bane- ful influences were most felt, deprived man of all those comforts and enjoy- ments which render life to us a blessing. This is no fancy sketch, but authentic instances can be produced to substantiate all the facts alleged." An article in the "Bench and Bar," by L. B. Proctor, in mentioning certain trials at which Judge Wm. L. Marcy and Judge Addison Gardiner presided, in 1828, said: "At this period, Antimasonry had become an ex- citing element in politics — had, in fact, superinduced the most vindictive political contests known in history." With Its " Good-Enough Morgan." 3^ Addresses from prominent Besidents of Western New York concerning the troubles of the times. Movements among the members of Masonic Lodges in several counties were made for discontinuing their meetings, at least till the prevalent " ex- citement" should have subsided - some going so far as to recommend a per- manent discontinuance, and proposing a surrender of their charters to the Grand Lodge of the State. An address to this effect, from highly respected members of Chapters and Lodges in " old Ontario" County, was signed by Bowen Whiting, Micah Brooks, Chester Loomis, Richard Wells, M. Loveland, Z. Barton Stcut, John Dixson, J. Garlinghouse, Thomas Smith, Samuel E. Ward, Ebenezer S. Cobb, Richard Wells, and others. In unison with the recommendations from those and other respected resi- dents of Ontario, as may be seen in the Canandaigua "Repository," pub- lished by the veteran James D. Bemis, meetings were held in several coun- ties, the proceedings of which, while advising a conciliatory course, were equally pointed in reference to the prevalent denunciations and proscriptive- ness of the Morganizing-Antimasonic managers. The sentiments expressed at and by a Convention in Monroe County, as follows, may be taken as a specimen : — At a Convention held in Rochester early in 1829, an Address was adopted and signed by the delegates present, from which document, (printed by me, in pamphlet form, for the Convention,) I quote a few paragraphs respecting the condition of things then prevalent. The writer was the late Judge Wm. B. Rochester, (who was the " Bucktail" or "Tammany'' Anti-Clinto- nian candidate for Governor in 1826, in opposition to De Witt Clinton,) and one of his principal coadjutors was the venerable Vincent Matthews, then well known as the "Father of the Western Bar," he having been the first lawyer admitted to practice in Western New York. The other signers (among whom was Ozias Church, father of Chief-Justice Sanford E. Church,) were also widely known and respected through that region. After counselling a conciliatory spirit on the part of the section ot society then most bitterly persetuted, the address said — with the motto of '' Strike, but hear!" — " That a virtuous indignation should have been caused by the commis- sion of the offence in question, was both natural and laudable ; nor is it matter of surprise that the impunity and concealment which the offender or offenders have courted, should have heightened that indignation. But the evil to which this feeling has been liable is, to confound the innocent with the guilty — insomuch that a sentiment which owed its birth to the noblest attributes of cultivated humanity, has ripened into a monstrous infatuation, carrying in its train multiplying mischiefs of the most alarming character. " Under its baleful influence, Reason seems to have lost its empire, and Charity to have resigned its seat. The peace and harmony of neighbor- hoods and of society have been disturbed — mutual confidence has been impaired — in some instances, the ordinary intercourse and relations of social life have been interrupted ; brother has been arrayed against brother, and father against son. Churches and religious communities have been 32 American Political- Ant imasonry — distracted — confidence in our judicial tribunals has been weakened — many of our most worthy citizens have been unsparingly vilified and wantonly traduced — honest men in various parts of the State who have been the fast friends of Freedom, of Science and of Literature, have been denounced as malefactors and sunk to the level of outlaws." .... " Until the present epoch, the question has never been asked in relation to a candidate for office, whether he was a Mason or not. Politics have never entered within the walls of our Lodges. As matters of history, we may mention that Washington, Franklin, Hancock, Putnam, Green, War- ren, Lee, Jefferson, Hamilton, Chancellor Livingston, Tompkins, Clinton, Van Ness, Jackson, Clay, Van Rensselaer, and a vast many other distin- guished men, whose names have all been before the American People, were Masons, enjoying the highest honors of the Republic And yet there is no one, however slightly acquainted with past events, who does not know that they and their pretensions were violently assailed by Masons who were politically opposed to them. " If this historical fact be not significant to put down the false charge, of Masonry's being a political institution, we shall despair of being able to pierce the veilof bigotted incredulity. We repeat, that, until this time, the question has never been asked in relation to a candidate for office, whether he is a Mason or not." * * * "At all times, and in all countries, there are unfortunately, some (few in number, we trust, when compared with the great body in civilized com- munities,) whose natural aliment is anarchy and discord, and whose con- sequence is conspicuous when vice prevails. To such, we do not address ourselves. Our appeal is to the Friends of Peace and good Order; and if the waters of strife are to be poured out without reserve, embittering all the re- lations of life — if an unrelenting crusade is to be carried on against a numer- ous and respectable portion of our fellow-men, merely on account of their speculative opinions — the responsibiUty will not rest upon us." * * » " Our popular elections have exhibited a degree of vio- lence, and been conducted with a spirit of acrimony, seldom if ever before witnessed. "As might reasonably be expected, unprincipled men have labored to increase rather than allay the popular excitement, and to bend it to their own selfish purposes. "The wonder is, that, in this age and in this country, so much success should have attended j(7 /zV//« integrity." * » * Signed by William B. Rochester, Simeon Ford, William Brewster, Elias Beach, Ashley Samson, W. E. Lathrop, Willis Kempshall, Vincent Mathews, William Atkinson, Jacob Gould, Ebenezer Watts, Volnev S AUcott, H. Eldridge, Robert Martin [late partner of Mr. Weed, in the "Telegraph" newspaper of Rochester). Ozias S. Church, James Sperry, Lyman Hawley, Roswell Wickwire, Ebenezer Gooding, (ot Henrietta). Sylvester Walker, John Acer, Joseph S. Beach, (of Pittsford). Franklin Clark, Asahel S. Beers, Jacob B. Bryan, Samuel H. Scoville, Abraham Andrews, Daniel Durfee, Henry Ward, (of Penfield). Gustavus Clark, Abel Baldwin, Pelatiah Rogers, Joshua Field, James Seymour, Silas Judson, Daniel Freeman, John Bowman, (of Clarkson and Sweden). Samuel Beckwith, Roswell Hart, John Hatch, Joseph G. Wheeler, Elias Foote, (of Brighton). With Its " Good-Enough Morgan!' 33 Deceptions practised upon Editors and others in ^' explaining'' the remark about the '■'■ Good-Enough Morgan.'" You, Robert H. Stevens, have, of course, observed that while Mr. Weed, at this late day, half a century after the event, slanders the memory of your former associate, Griffen, (which he had never dared to do during Grififen's life-time,) by attempting a denial of the latter-half oi Xh& remark about the " Good-Enough Morgan till after election," he is forced to admit that he actually used the notorious phrase in this modified form, to wit, "a Good-Enough Morgan till you produce the man that was killed P This last phraseology, by the bye, is only one of the half dozen ways in which he has striven to mitigate the force of his r^^a/ saying to Mr. Griffen, (of which fact, see a striking instance of his inconsistency hereinafter quoted from the " New York Courier and Enquirer" of 1841) ; while it is equally worthy of remark that this noted phrase was said while Mr. Griffen and yourself were co-operating with the " Daily Advertiser and its editor," in successfully exposing the humbug of Mr. Weed's " Second Inquest." The deceptions practised on the "Courier and Enquirer" and on the former editor of the "Tribune" may be taken as specimens in their way: In exposing the false accusations now made by Mr. Weed again-st Mr. Griffen for alleged perversion of his remark about the " Good-Enough Morgan till alter election," (a remark quoted by speakers like the Hon. Daniel D. Barnard at the indignation meeting held in Rochester at that time, 1827, and which was "published" first by the ''Rochester Daily Advertiser" and its editor, now so grossly -calumniated), the reader may remember the old proverb about the necessity of a certain class of "story tellers" for having " good memories." Mr. Weed has told his "story'' in so many different ways at different times, that a retrospect of some of his vera- cious vagaries on this Morganizing subject may be useful in this connection. Tim New York Sun attacked in Courier and JEnquirier of 1841. As an example — In 1841 the New York "Sun" published a brief and correct notice of the fact that " the indictment against certain editors," for alleged Ubel on Thurlow Weed, has been settled by the District Attorney entering a nolle prosequi^ merely adding that the action " had been pending for about twelve years." After an attack upon the " Sun" for its statements, some writer furnished the editorial columns of the " Courier and Enquirer" with" comments" on the " Sun's" paragraph. These comments show plainly who wrote or inspired them — replete as they were with Mr. Weed's usual fabrications concerning sundry matters in the Morgan affair— with the additioii of a gross misstatement, which strikingly shows the singularity (to say the least) of his present charge against Mr. Griffen for uttering what this same Mr. Weed now declares to be "a lie." For instance speaking about the Good-Enough Morgan, the writer in the " Courier and Enquirer'' said: 34 American Political-Antimasonry — "Over twelve years ago, Thurlow Weed, then editor of an Antimasonic paper at Rochester, was charg.ed by the antagonist paper at that place with mutilating the body of Timothy Monroe in order to pass it off for that of William Morgan. The charge was made in the midst of an excited and ferocious party contest, and was founded on an ironical remark made to ONE OF THE LIBELLERS by Mr. Weed himself, which was perfectly understood, at the time not to be serious. Mr. Weed had been out to Oak-Orchard, to see a body cast ashore there by the action of the water, and believed to be that of William Morgan. He was 7net and accosted on his return by the rival editor, O'Rielly, with, ' Well, Weed, have you manufactured the body into Morgan's ?' ' I guess,' was Mr. Weed's reply, in the same bantering spirit, 'you will find it a Good-Enough Morgan till after election!' This casual repartee, perfectly understood at the moment, was made the basis, and it is the only basis, of a serious charge against Mr. Weed," &c. The reader may here observe that Mr. Weed did not then deny that he actually used the language ascribed to him about the " Good-Enough Mor- gan till after election" — although he now alleges that the conversation occurred with Ebenezer Griffen, a distinguished lawyer of Rochester, who has been dead many years — Mr. Weed now (1879) saying his words were, that it is a "Good-Enough Morgan till you bring back the one you took away." And he now charges that the dead Mr. Griffen was guilty of "a /«ij'' in «//m«g- (repeating) what he himself said, " till after election." And he also charges the " Daily Advertiser, edited by Henry O'Rielly,'' with first " publishing" that " lie" ! ! ! The veracity of the late Mr. Griffen was never before questioned in Rochester; and the people among whom the transactions occurred, fully believed and believe that there was " more truth than poetry," more fact than "banter," in what Mr. Griffen always averred that Mr. Weed told him. Besides, in these "comments" in the "Courier and Enquirer" of 1841, it is not only not denied but expressly admitted, that Mr. Weed said it was " a Good-Enough Morgan till after election^'' but that Weed actually said it directly to "the rival editor, O'Rielly," though in a "bantering way." ' Ink/rcmxse, between Mr. Weed and Mr. O'BieUy. And beside all this, may be repeated the fact before stated, that Mr. Weed and Mr. O'Rielly had not then spoken with each other for some time, as the abusive course of Mr. Weed in his "Antimasonic Enquirer" and otherwise induced Mr. O'Rielly to discontinue personal acquaintance about eight months before — which non-intercourse continued for over forty-six (i^d) years — from the winter of 1826-y till the year 1873 — when, at the urgent request of some of Mr. Weed's friends and by his own desire, as stated in the foregoing letter from Col. Tal. P. Shaffner, Mr. O'Rielly, after objecting to any renewal of the acquaintance, did finally consent after those friends had stated Mr. Weed's regrets at the manner in which he had treated Mr. O'R. editorially in early years. This renewal of acquaintance seemed, for awhile, to be dictated by good motives on the part of Mr. Weed. Mr. O'Rielly, however, would never say or write anything which might With Its "Good-Enough Morgan." 35 serve to change Mr. Weed's record in the Morganizing transactions — about which Mr. Weed said in his " Herald" letter that the editor of the "Daily- Advertiser" (O'Rielly) "knew all about the matter from the beginning to the end ;" and hence the gross abuse with which he was lately assailed in an " interview" reported in the " Graphic" as having been held with Mr. Weed. After reading the foregoing and following statements, any one can judge for himself about the facts of the case thus falsified by Mr. Weed ; and the people in France and England, whom he says he met, as well as in this country, heard trom him "stories " like those whereby the Courier and En- quirer 3.xt& N. Y. Tribune were deceived, concerning his connection with Morganizing operations and the "libel cases" resulting therefrom. But, after all this hubbub about the phraseology, it is obvious from the 'acts of the extraordinary case that the cause of the uproar was not the mere saying about a " Good-Enough Morgan," but the actual doing of "all that tfiat phrase implies."? Recollections of a Busy Life, and the New York Tribune. Mr. Greeley's remarks when correcting errors into which he had been led about the Weed " libel-suiis" and " libel indictments." The only matter published by me for nearly fifty (50) years about the Morgan Excitement were two or three letters published in the Albany Argus in 1833 and 1840-1, to correct certain misstatements of Mr. Weed about his indictments against us for alleged libels ; and also a statement for Mr. Greeley in 1868 on the same subjects. Part of my letter to the Argus in 1833 is elsewhere copied herein. The statement for Mr. Greeley is here- with copied entire, along with his introductory remarks. This statement or analysis was written at his own request, after he examined the documents and other matters which I showed him, (including certain statements from Ex-Lieutenant Governor Henry R. Selden, alluded to in our letter, ) to enable him to correct, or be more explicit, about "libel-cases," before his " Recollections of a Busy Life," then undergoing publication in the N. V, Ledger, should be printed in permanent book form. But it was too late for this correction in the forthcoming volume, as that part of the book had been printed. Hence, Mr. Greeley, without solicitation from us, printed in the Tribune, with an editorial introduction, the matter which we merely de- signed for privately correcting misapprehensions into which he had been led by Mr. Weed's assertions respecting legal controversies concerning alleged libels connected with the history of the Morgan excitement — about which, neither Mr. Tucker nor myself had any taste for controversy. The facts set forth, however, may be useful to people who wish to know something about matters so grossly misrepresented by Mr. Weed, and so proper to be rightly understood in connection with one of the most remark- able features in the history of the State and of Society generally in this and other lands : 36 American Political- Antimaso7iry — Mr. Greeley's Explanations about Mr. Weed's '* Good- Enough Morgan" Libel Suits. IFrom the New York Tribune of 1S6S.] We print, on another page, a very interesting reminiscence of the politics and personalities of forty years ago, by Messrs. Henry O'Rielly and Luther Tucker, who deem themselves aggrieved bv a. certain account of the " good-enougk Morgan" lihel suits of Mr. 'Jhurlt w Weed, given by Mr. Greeley in his "Recollections of a.Busy Life." Of course, there is no ground of claim that the Tritvne ought to print bhis reminiscence ; but zVf interest is its sufficient recommendation. We oiFer no comments, and neither affirm npr dispute the correctness of Mr. O'Rielly's version of the matter in controversy; we simply observe that our "Recollections" are not in accord with Mr. O'Rielly's, as will be seen ; but thsrc arc strong intrinsic probabilities that his understanding of the facts is better than ours. LIBHL-SUITS CONCERNING THE '* GOOD-ENOUGH MORGAN," &C. To the Editor of the Tribune: Sir: In the thirty second number of your " RecoUeclionsof a Busy Life," as published in the New York Ledger, allusions arc made to the alleged libeis concerning the means whereby Timothy Mon- roe's corpse was temporarily represented as the body of Capt. William Morgan in 1827, 41 years ago. Although you allude particularly to some suits J or da-mage '\T\'^'6x\i\.^^ by Mr. Thurlow Weed against several editors for alleged libels concerning his connection with that affair, your remarks are under- stood by some persons as covering all the legal proceedings concerning that extraoidinary case. Though you have not named the undersigned, your censure beemingly includes us ; as we first pub- lished particulars and strictures on that subject, for some of which strictures we were indicted, before other editors were prosecuted in civil suits for damages by Mr. Weed. The documents and other papers lately shoinn you prove that it was not an ordinary civil %yx\\. for libeJ which Mr. W. instituted against us — the one as editor and the other as publisher of the Roches- ter Daily Advertiser, at that time. Mr. Weed was then editor of the Antt-Masonic Inquirer^ and one of the " Morgan Committee," which disinterred that corp>e for a second inquest, alter it had been buried under the yfr^i^ inquest as "the body of an unknown man," found on the shore of Lake Ontario, near the mouth of Oak Orchard Creek, about midway between Rochester and the Niagara River. The further investigatiQn, caused by what was supposed to be unfair transactions on the part of some managrers of the second inquest, which represented the corpse to be that of Capt. Morgan, led to another disinterment of the corpse for the purpose of holding a third inquest— which lasf inquest was held openly in the grave-yard at Batavia, where it had been buried, and the verdict of the Coro- ner's jury was that the corpse was the body of Timothy Monroe, who was accidentally drowned a short time before in the Niagara River. Our reports of and comments on those Mr/f inquests ever that ill-fated corpse, particularly on the manner m which the second inquest, was conducted, furnished the groundwork for the indictment against us. and for the civil suits/or damages which Mr. Weed instiiuted against two or thrfe othei journalisls. , -■„ The importance of our reports and strictures concerning the aforesaid inquests was shown in ref- erence particularly to the lives and liberties of probably f fly tfzen. and to the cause of truth and justice generally. Had it not been for the MiVt/ aw.^ /aj'/ inquest, ■which we were instrumental in causing to be held, all those men then accused of connection with the abduction would have been liable to prosecution for alleged privity to the murder of Morgan, if this corpse had been allowed to remain undisturbed as the reputed body of that celebrated personage. The grounds of controversy were thus ynost serious. Allegations, frequenlly made, that all these controversies and libel-cases arose from the perversion of a jocular remark of Mr. Weed about '• a good-enough Morgan till after election." are utterly false, as the records of the extraordinary transac- tions, now before U'; sufficiently prove. The records of the courts, the proceedings of inquests, and the statements of newspapers during several years, in regions where most of the transactions were tolerably well understood, show that neither of the undersigned was responsible for the strange delay of thirteen years in bringing the in- dictmentagainsl us to a final issue. That indictment was procured against us by Mr. Weed in 1828 and It was not brought into Court for final action till 1841—3 delay as extraordinary as was the alteged cause of the indictment. Ex-Lieut,- Gov. Henry R. Selden, yet living, and honored wherever he is known, was one of our counsel in this important case ; and his abstract of the records of the courts for several years is now before us, along with the testimony on which the Court at Rochester, in 1841. decided that neither of us should then be held answerable Ibr an alleged libel under the indictment found so long {thirteen years) previous ; especially as we showed that, during that long period, we had early been prepared for trial, and tl.at, durina the long delay, several of the most im- portant witnesses had died, and others removed beyond the jurisdiction of the Court and beyond the knowledge of the defendants. As a'lusion has been made to the partisan character of judges, as tending to counteract justice in these ma tiers, it maybe well to add that no political influence operated ; for a majority of the judges who quashed the thirteen-year-old indictment against us were the political friends and associates of Mr. Weed. Injustice to the subject generally, as well as to ourselves, I should add here, that I have now before me. in the handwriting of ex-VIce-Chancellor Whittlesey, a distinguished political a.ssociate and friend of Mr. W^ed, a form of recantation, prepared by him, to which he askfd our signatures, with the assurance that if we would sign the paper m favor of I\Ir. Weed, the indictment, which had then been pending against us for five pr six years, should b? annulled or never brought to trial, and wc With Its " Good-Enough Morgan." 37 thus freed from further expense or trouble, But neither of us would sign that recantation; we assert- ing then, and at all other proper times, that we had been, then were, and would continue fo be, ready to vindicate our course on a trial of the indictn.ent, whenever properly notified, with sufficient time for collecting witnesses, and if ill-health (which in one case prevented us irom attending Court) did not again interfere. As the pro--ecution against us was by iljdict»uni,th& p blic, and not Mr. Weed, would have had to pay the expense of kis vindication, if Mr. Weed had brought the mat- ter to trial at any time before the main witnesses died — an advantage that we defendants could not enjoy. It was. of course, beyoj.dowr power to delay for thirteen years the trial of that indictment, if the prosecution moved for trial in the ordmary way, and with something like the usual speed. Without going into partiulars, at least for the present, we respectlully submit to you these brief explanations. Having long forborne from reference to these controversies, we write now to request that, for the abovo-mentioned and olherreasons, we may not be considered as included in 3'OUr gen- eral allusion to defendants in libel-cases where editors are concerned. 1 ww Respectfully yours, Henry O'Rielly of New York and Luther Tucker of Albany. Formerly connected with the Rochester Daily Advertiser. Delays in trial of libel cases — ^' sui/s/or damages'' as well as "indictments." When confronted with the fact that the " indictment" against Messrs. O'Rielly and Tucker for alleged, libels concerning certain Morganizing operations, had not been brought to trial during many years, Mr. Weed in his Albany Evening Journal made his usual flourishes about his readi- ness, [" the People,'' of course, paying all his expenses of witnesses,'' etc.] but falsely ascribing delay to the defendants — one of whom, myself, pub- lished a reply in 1833, through the Albany yirg'aj, from which I quote as follows: After referring to the history of the case and to the fact that 'ze/