William Morgan (anti-Mason) - Disappearance

Disappearance

Some members of the Batavia lodge published an advertisement denouncing Morgan. Unknown individuals were reported to have tried to set fire to Miller's newspaper office. A group of Masons gathered at Morgan's house claiming that he owed them money. On September 11, 1826, Morgan was arrested; according to the law, he could be held in debtor's prison until the debt was paid. Learning of this, Miller went to the jail to pay the debt and finally secured Morgan's release.

A few hours later, Morgan was arrested, for a loan which a creditor claimed he had not paid, and for supposedly stealing a shirt and a tie, a charge probably trumped-up. He was jailed in Canandaigua. On the night of September 11, a man claiming to be a friend paid Morgan's debt at the jail, securing his release. The two men went to a waiting carriage, which arrived the next day at Fort Niagara.

There are conflicting accounts about what followed. The most common version is that Morgan was taken in a boat to the middle of the Niagara River and drowned, as he was never seen again. In 1848 Henry L. Valance allegedly confessed to his part in the murder on his deathbed, a story recounted in chapter two of Reverend C. G. Finney's book The Character, Claims, and Practical Workings of Freemasonry (1869). In October 1827, a badly decomposed body washed up on the shores of Lake Ontario. Many presumed it to be Morgan, and the remains were buried under that identification. But the clothing was positively identified as that of Timothy Monroe, a missing Canadian, by his widow. Morgan's wife, however, identified the body as that of her husband. Freemasons deny that Morgan was killed, saying that he was paid $500 to leave the country. Contemporary reports included sighting of Morgan in other countries, but none have been confirmed. Three Masons, Loton Lawon, Nicholas Chesebro and Edward Sawyer, were charged with, convicted and served sentences for the kidnapping of Morgan. Jasper Ridley indicates that Morgan was probably killed by Freemasons, all other scenarios being highly improbable, and Henry Paul Jeffers also indicates that this is the more credible scenario.