THE SECRETS OF MASONRY.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3173, 30 August 1881, Page 3

THE SECRETS OF MASONRY.

Fifty years ago John Morgan, a Freemason, published at Batavia, in the State of New York, a book which was supposed to reveal the secrets of Freemasonry. Shortly after the publication some men, who wore masks, entered Morgan's house, carried him away, and he was never seen afterwards. It was reported that the masked brothers had earned him to Niagara, and thrown him into the river. For a long time the affair caused a great sensation throughout the States, and for more than ten years entered into the politics of the country, especially in New York State, which divided itself into two parties—one Masonic, the other antiMasonic. A. general election coming on, the anti-Masons discovered what they alleged to be the body of Morgan who had been murdered on the shore of Lake Ontario. The Freemasons investigated the matter, and denied the identity of the body. Thurlow Weed, who was then living, said, ' Anyhow, it is a good enough Morgan body until after the election ; ' and this became a stock phrase for anything that was started as an election cry. After all these years the mystery of Morgan's disappearance has come to light. The New York correspondent of the Standard states that his remains were found on Tuesday near Batavia, together with the manuscript of his book. A full account of the discovery was published in New York on Wednesday. The place where the remains of Morgan, who was murdered, presumably, for making these revelations, were found is in the little town of Pembroke, eleven miles from Batavia, in tbe State of New York. Workmen were engaged on Tuesday in opening a stone quarry, when they found a skeleton under thick layers of rock. They also discovered a ring bearing Morgan's initials, and a tobacco-box containing a paper which, under a microscope, was seen to bear the words c Masons,' ' liar,' ' prison,' ' kill,' and the full name of Henry Brown. Brown was a lawyer, and a fanatical regarder of Masonry; and in 18.9, two years after the tragedy, he published a so-called ' Narrative of tbe anti-Masonic Excitement.' The belief is now that Brown was one of Morgan's murderers. The men who abducted him—whose names were Chesebro, Sawyes, Sheldon, and Lawsons—did so on Morgan's discharge from prison, where they had confined him on a petty charge. They forced him into a carriage, and passed from place to place. Eventually they took him across the Canadian border to Fort Niagara, where he was seen blindfolded and manacled. From that time he disappeared. His abductors were tried, convicted, and sentenced to short terms of imprisonment. The discovery of his body has created much excitement.—From the St. James' Budget.