USA > Indiana > A history of freemasonry in Indiana from 1806 to 1898 > Part 17
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ing of Servitus at the stake at the instigation of John Cal- vin, or the Jews, as a people, be held responsible for the crucifixion of Christ. It was the work of ignorant, over- zealous and misguided members at that time of Batavia Lodge, whose actions were then and are still condemned in the most emphatic terms by all true and loyal Masons wheresoever dispersed around the globe.
Several years ago the writer set about investigating the query as to what finally became of Morgan, and the result is here given for what it may be considered worth:
What evidence there is on the subject indicates that Mor- gan was not murdered; that he was not tied in a canoe and sent over Niagara Falls; that his hands were not tied behind him, a rope around his neck with a stone attached, and thrown into Lake Ontario; that he was not put on a mer- chant vessel and sent to some foreign country, as was at- tempted to be shown. Then what did become of him? The most reasonable conclusion is that he was taken into Canada, and, under promise, which he was glad to make, that he would leave the country and never return, was set at liberty and allowed to go.
In a recent interview Brother M. W. Hay, one of the old- est members of Batavia Lodge, said: "About twenty-five years ago Rev. James M. Erwin, from a place north of Montreal, visited the brethren at Batavia, and at that time he related that his own father, who was also a minister, told him that he, the father, had seen with his own eyes William Morgan immediately after his abduction, on his way north through that country north of Montreal. He was known and recognized as William Morgan, and was known to be going north out of the reach of the Masons and civiliza- tion." Brother Hay says he has implicit confidence in this story, and believes this is the true solution of Morgan's end.
About that time the Western country was just beginning to be settled. He undoubtedly turned westward from Can- ada and wended his way by degrees until he probably reached the then Territory of Iowa. Here he must have located, and in course of time succeeded in informing his wife of his whereabouts, as it has been learned upon in-
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vestigation that Mrs. Morgan left Batavia within a few years, and the historian states that "she went to Iowa, where she remarried, curiously enough, a Mason, from whom afterwards she was divorced, and went to Memphis, Tenn., where she died in a Catholic convent in 1865." It is fair to presume that this Iowa marriage was a blind. When Morgan located in Iowa (if such was the case), to conceal his identity he probably changed his name, and when his wife came they were remarried in the assumed name as a part of the plan. It is not at all probable that Mrs. Morgan, with children, under the circumstances, would leave Batavia and travel nearly two thousand miles, all the way by wagon road, as there were no railroads then, unless it had been to meet her husband. The character of the man she is said to have married in Iowa was exactly similar to that of Morgan. Undoubtedly, as time wore on, and brooding over his troubles, he went from bad to worse, until she could no longer live with him, and hence the divorce and her removal to Memphis and death there, as stated.
A few years ago the anti-Masons of Western New York erected a marble monument at Batavia, the inscriptions on which may be worth transcribing here to show to what ex- tent ignorance, hate and passion can be made to go:
South Side .- Sacred to the memory of William Morgan, a native of Virginia, a captain in the war of 1812; a respectable citizen of Batavia, and a martyr to the freedom of writing, printing and speaking the truth. He was abducted from near this spot in the year 1826 by Freemasons, and murdered for revealing the secrets of their order.
East Side .- Erected by volunteer contributions from over 2,000 persons residing in Ontario, Canada, and twenty-six of the United States and Territories.
North Side .- The court records of Gennessee county, and files of the "Batavia Advocate," kept in the Recorder's office, contain the history of the events that caused the erection of this monument (September 13, 1882).
West Side .- "The bane of our civil institutions is to be found in Masonry, already powerful, and daily becoming more so. * * * I owe to my country an exposure of its dangers.
"CAPT. WILLIAM MORGAN."
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The statement on the monument that he was murdered by Freemasons is wholly unsubstantiated by evidence; and the erection of a monument to the memory of a man who acknowledged himself to be a perjurer, and who all the evidence goes to show was a lazy, worthless drunkard, by so large a number of contributors, is one of the mysteries of human action, beyond the comprehension of ordinary mortals.
The excitement that followed the abduction of Morgan was something remarkable. An anti-Masonic political party was formed the year following-1827-and the lines in every phase of life were tightly drawn on the basis of Masonry and anti-Masonry. Why was this so? It was not because of the fact that the Masonic Fraternity generally were afraid the expose of the alleged secrets of Masonry Morgan proposed to make was likely to damage the Institu- tion to any considerable extent. As many as twenty sim- ilar expositions had been published prior to that time, were then in circulation, and could be had of any of the large book stores. It was not, therefore, the alleged revelation of the secrets of Masonry that caused the country to be stirred with excitement from center to circumference.
Morgan was a worthless fellow of very limited education, and as the ritual or "secrets" that he proposed to publish were not written or printed, but had to be transcribed from memory, it was known that he was so ignorant that he could not write out the work so as to make it "hang together" and be intelligible even to those of only ordinary compre- hension, and so the brethren had nothing to fear on that score. They knew if he published an exposition it would be simply a reprint of one or more already in circulation, because they knew he was not sufficiently well posted to furnish the copy for the printer from his own brain and hand.
Why the brethren, therefore, manifested so much inter- est in making way with Morgan is, in the opinion of the writer, the most profound mystery connected with this most mysterious affair. It was made the pretext to get him out of the way for some other reason.
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The anti-Masons-those who assisted in the agitation and misrepresentation of everything connected with the al- leged abduction-thought they saw an almost unanimous uprising of the people all over the United States, and there- fore conceived the idea that an anti-Masonic party would sweep the country and elect everything from President down to fence-viewer! This was the motive power that. moved them to deeds of such noble daring! The anti- Masonic party was thereupon founded in Western New York, and polled 33,000 votes for its candidate for Gov- ernor, Solomon Southwick, in 1828. This vote rose to 70,000 in 1829, and to 128,000 for Francis Granger in 1830. The excitement gradually diffused itself into other States, and in 1831 a national anti-Masonic convention was held in Baltimore, wherein most of the free States were represented. William Wirt, of Maryland, was nominated for President. Mr. Granger was again the anti-Masonic candidate for Governor of New York in 1832, and was beaten only by 12,000 votes. Joseph Ritner was the anti- Masonic candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, and only failed of an election by a bare 3,000 votes. Anti-Masonic State and electoral tickets were supported in many if not most of the free States, but were successful only in Ver- mont, which cast her seven electoral votes for William Wirt. Vermont remained for two or three years under the anti-Masonic rule, but the party gradually faded out, and by 1836 had entirely disappeared from the political firma- ment.
Indiana was infected with the anti-Masonic virus, and in many places anti-Masonic meetings were held, tickets were nominated, and an occasional officer elected on that ticket. In 1832 Henry Clay, of Kentucky, was the Whig candi- date for President. He was a prominent and enthusiastic Mason, and had been honored by being elected Grand Mas- ter of Masons in Kentucky in 1820 and 1821. An anti- Masonic meeting was held at Hanover, Ind., in September, 1831, and a committee appointed to communicate with Brother Clay for the purpose of ascertaining his views on the question of Masonry. The letter and Brother Clay's
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reply-sharp, incisive, clean-cut, manly and independent -- are so apropos that it is deemed a fitting closing of this sketch to insert them in this connection:
"HANOVER, IND., September 2, 1831. " Hon. Henry Clay:
"SIR-Having been appointed by an anti-Masonic meet- ing in Hanover, Ind., to open a correspondence with you for the purpose of ascertaining your views with respect to Masonry, we take this opportunity of addressing you on the subject. We feel ourselves impelled to this duty, and to the taking of this step, from the consideration that in us is placed a part of the sovereignty of this country ; that on us, as constituent parts of this government, depend the per- petuity of our republican institutions, the character and prosperity of our nation, the happiness of its citizens, and the destiny of millions vet unborn. As citizens of this Re- public, we feel it our bounden duty to watch over the des- tinies of our nation, to guard with studious care our rights, and to detect and exterminate whatever has a tendency to corrupt our republican institutions or set aside our laws. The subject of Freemasonry is one which has of late en- grossed the attention of the people in many parts of the United States. It is a subject which is of vital importance, and demands the serious attention of every Christian, pa- triot and republican. What may be your sentiments on this subject we know not. By some it is affirmed that you are a Mason of the highest order, and a zealous supporter of the Masonic Institution: and by others, that though you were once a Mason, you have of late abandoned the society and are now opposed to the Institution; so that we have been unable, as yet, to ascertain with certainty your senti- ments on this subject. As we are again shortly to be called to choose a man to preside over the councils of our nation; as it will then be our duty and privilege to raise our humble but independent voice in favor of him whom we may deem most worthy of our suffrage; and as you now stand a can- didate for a high and important station, as your friends and fellow-citizens we would solicit from you a frank and can- did statement of your sentiments on this subject. We so- licit this with the more confidence because we believe you have always sustained the character of the frank and affable
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friend and the faithful and undisguised politician, and that you would scorn to obtain the suffrage of the people by con- cealing your sentiments. Yours respectfully,
"JAMES A. WATSON. "NOBLE BUTLER. "JAMES H. THOMPSON."
"ASHLAND, October 8, 1831.
"GENTLEMEN-I hope you will excuse the delay in ac- knowledging the receipt of your letter of the 2d ult., which has arisen from my absence from home and from various engagements.
"Waiving the considerations that I have no knowledge of the existence of an anti-Masonic meeting in Hanover, Ind., other than that which is derived from your letter, nor of your appointment as a committee to correspond with me, other than your statement, nor the satisfaction of a personal acquaintance with you, I will proceed at once to reply to your letter. Its professed object is to ascertain my senti- ments on the subject of Masonry, and the reason assigned by you for this inquiry is thus stated by yourselves: "As we are again shortly to be called upon to choose a man to preside over the councils of our nation; as it will then be our duty and privilege to raise our humble but independent voice in favor of him whom we may deem most worthy of our suffrage; and as you now stand a candidate for a high and important station, as your friends and fellow-citizens we would solicit from you a frank and candid statement of of your sentiments on this subject.
"I do not know a solitary provision in the Constitution of the United States which conveys the slightest authority to the general government to interfere one way or the other with either Masonry or anti-Masonry. If, therefore, a President of the United States, or any other functionary of the government, were to employ his official power to sus- tain or abolish, or to advance the interests of Masonry or anti-Masonry, it would be an act of usurpation or tyranny.
"You have not called upon me for my opinion upon any great practical measure falling within the scope of the fed- eral power; but passing by every question of vital interest within the sphere of its operation, you demand my senti- ments upon a subject with which I humbly conceive it has
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nothing to do, and you place this demand on the ground of the influence which my sentiments might exert upon the exercise of an undoubted and important privilege which you possess as citizens of the United States.
"A compliance on my part with your demand would amount to an implied admission that individual sentiments, on the subject of Masonry, formed a proper consideration in regulating the exercise of the elective franchise in respect to officers of the federal government. I can make no such admission. I cannot believe that whether I am hostile or friendly to Masonry or anti-Masonry, is at all material in the formation of any judgment on the part of my fellow- citizens, concerning my fitness for any office under the gov- ernment of the United States. That elevated office to which you allude should, in my opinion, be filled by one who is capable, unswayed by sectarian feelings or passions, of administering its high duties impartially towards the whole people of the United States, however divided in re- ligious, social, benevolent or literary associations.
"Entertaining these views, I have constantly refused to make myself a party to the unhappy contest raging, distant from me in other parts of the Union, between Masons and anti-Masons. While these views remain uncorrected I must adhere to that determination. If, indeed, you, gen- tlemen, will point to the provisions of the federal constitu- tion which can be legitimately made to operate upon the subject in question, I would not hesitate promptly to com- ply with your request. In the meantime, in declining it, I hope you will consider me as not wanting in proper re- spect to you or to those whom you represent, but as acting from a conviction of the impropriety of blending an alien ingredient with a question, already sufficiently complex, and also from a sense of personal independence.
"I am, with great respect, your obedient servant,
"HENRY CLAY."
"To MESS. J. A. WATSON AND OTHERS, "Hanover, Indiana."
In the election of 1832 that followed, Henry Clay re- ceived 530,189 votes, while William Wirt, his anti-Ma- sonic competitor, received but 33,108 votes in the whole United States. Andrew Jackson was Clay's principal com- petitor receiving the highest vote, but the election went
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into the House of Representatives, and John Quincy Adams was by that body chosen President. He still con- tinued to be a candidate for President, but he failed to se- cure the nomination in 1836 and 1840, but was successful in receiving the Whig nomination in 1844. His opponent was James K. Polk. The vote was very close. Out of a total vote of 2,636,311, he was defeated by only 38,175. Thus ended his twelve years' struggle for the presidency, and all hope of reaching the goal that had been the ambi- tion of his life.
Eight years later, on June 29, 1852, he died in the city of Washington. His body was conveyed via New York, Cincinnati and Louisville to Lexington, Kentucky, where it was interred with Masonic honors. All along the route marks of respect by civic, military and Masonic societies were bestowed upon the honored dead, and thus ended the career of the most distinguished Mason and statesman this country has produced.
POWERS OF THE GRAND MASTER.
W HAT was at the time (1855) considered the inherent powers of the Grand Master were exercised to a lim- ited extent by Grand Master Henry C. Lawrence in Feb- ruary, 1855, in arresting the charter, arbitrarily and with- out sufficient cause, as was thought, of Tipton Lodge No. 33, at Logansport. The circumstances connected with, and leading up to, this exercise of power, were fully and elaborately set forth in a circular issued to the members of the various lodges of the State by the members of Tipton Lodge, and in the subsequent proceedings of the Grand Lodge in its final action in the matter. The circular let- ter setting forth the grievance of the members of Tipton Lodge is too lengthy to insert here in full, and besides there is much in it of no particular relevancy to the contention. Briefly condensed, it is stated that charges for unmasonic conduct were preferred against a Master Mason, a member of that lodge, notice given and all the proceedings regular up to the time of trial. While the committee was pro- ceeding with the investigation in the regular legal manner, Henry C. Lawrence, Grand Master of Masons in Indiana, sent a dispatch by telegraph, not addressed to the Master, but to another member of the lodge, ordering the lodge to discontinue the investigation of the charges. But the ยท lodge, not having been informed of any reason or cause for the promulgation of such an order, at a regular meeting on the 2d of February, 1855 (the accused brother being pres- ent), received the report of the committee and heard a part of the testimony read. On the 15th of February follow- ing Grand Master Lawrence appeared in Logansport and, in the absence of the Master, on two hours' notice, convened a small number of the members and opened a lodge, but as
(211)
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the Secretary, who had charge of the papers, was also ab- sent from town, the lodge was closed by Grand Master Law- rence without transacting any business. The next even- ing, being the time specified in the by-laws for the regular meeting, the lodge was regularly opened by the Worshipful Master, on whose invitation Grand Master Lawrence was also seated in the east, and the preliminary business of the lodge transacted, when the Master announced that the next business in order would be the consideration of the charges against the accused brother. Grand Master Lawrence then (not being himself invested with any badge or jewel per- taining to the presiding officer of the Grand Lodge) de- manded the jewel and gavel of the Worshipful Master, which were immediately and cheerfully delivered to him. He then ordered the lodge to discontinue the investigation of the charges against the accused brother, and on being respectfully requested to give his reasons and authority for making the order, he peremptorily refused to give either, but announced: "My word is absolute and shall be obeyed!" He also required the Master to promise that the charges should not thereafter be investigated by the lodge. This promise the Master declined to make, unless the lodge should consent, and for thus declining to promise, Grand Master Lawrence, through a special Deputy, who came with him, demanded a surrender of the charter of the lodge. The Master declined to surrender the charter. Brother Lawrence then announced that he would issue a circular to all the lodges in the State, forbidding them to affiliate with any member of Tipton Lodge, or with any non-affiliating Masons residing within the jurisdiction of Tipton Lodge, who should not within three days notify him that they would not sustain the lodge in the position it had taken, thus assuming the highest judicial function exercised by any Masonic body-that of suspending Free and Accepted Masons from all the rights and privileges of the Fraternity. On the same evening, or the next morning, Grand Master Lawrence appointed an agent to take charge of the property of the lodge, with authority to collect all dues and settle all claims against the same.
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"Tipton Lodge," the circular stated, "was among the old- est lodges in the State, and they believed could show as bright a record as any of its cister lodges," and added: "This lodge, through its representative, assisted in framing the Constitution and By-Laws and Rules and Regulations of the Grand Lodge, and for the government of subordinate lodges, and has cheerfully acquiesced in all the decisions of her sister lodges in the Grand Lodge assembled, and given a ready support to the Constitution and edicts of the Grand Lodge.
"We recognize, according to the Constitution, that its enactments and decisions on all questions shall be the su- preme law of the State, and if that Constitution, or any edict of the Grand Lodge, had authorized its Grand Officer to interfere with the proceedings of lodges when in the reg- ular and constitutional discharge of their Masonic avoca- tion, we would, of course, obey, even to the surrender of our Masonic privileges, our charter and property, however humiliating it might be to the members to obey an order made with supercilious arrogance, accompanied with a dec- laration that his 'word is absolute and shall be obeyed!'
"The present presiding officer might, perhaps, plead cus- tom, to a certain extent, to sustain such an exercise of power, for we understood him to announce that he had re- cently arrested a large number of charters of lodges and 'had not yet got through"
"We can but regret that we have been forced into a col- lision with the presiding officer of the Grand Lodge. Men of spirit may yield to a request when courteously made, which cannot for a moment be listened to as a command, delivered with repulsive rudeness. Indeed, we have a right to expect, as Masons, that high official position will be united with the courtesy, urbanity and intelligence of a gentleman. We trust the time has gone by, or nearly so, when official station confers the right to violate the cour- tesies and amenities of social life. Our first Masonic les- sons teach equality, and all our laws and precepts inculcate that our Masonic Institution is based upon brotherly love and fraternal kindness, and that its government is not, in
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brother against whom the charges had been made. Your committee are of the opinion, without very special and urgent reasons, the Grand Master cannot interfere with or arrest the proceedings of a subordinate lodge in the trial of an accused member. We think, with great deference to and respect for the opinions of the Grand Master, that he ought not to have prevented Tipton Lodge from proceeding with the trial of the accused brother, and that the refusal of that lodge to allow him to do so did not furnish good reason for suspending its functions, and that they ought to be re- stored. We are of opinion, however, that as the determina- tion of the Grand Master was a settlement of the question till the meeting of the Grand Lodge, that the action of the brethren in disobeying the order of the Grand Master was unmasonic, and that the proceedings of Tipton Lodge in trying and suspending the brother charged, after the func- tions of the lodge had been suspended, are void."
The committee recommended, therefore, that the func- tions of the lodge be restored; that the trial and suspension of the brother was void, and that it was the duty of the lodge to give a new notice and again proceed to try and dis- pose of said case.
A minority of the committee also submitted a report, which throws some additional light on the subject. The minority found the following facts: That said lodge, on December 4, 1855, preferred charges against one of its members: that the Grand Master was subsequently ad- dressed by letter from one of the members of the lodge, en- closing also a copy of the charges, requesting his presence and aid in conducting the case to an equitable issue, in which many members of the lodge, at a subsequent stage of the proceedings, acquiesced, evincing an almost unanimous desire that he should have charge of the case; that the Grand Master gave due notice to the lodge that he would be present as desired, but failed in fulfilling several successive appointments to meet the lodge, through sickness and death in his family: that on February 15, 1855, he dispatched an order by telegraph for the lodge to meet on that evening, with the assurance that he would be present to conduct the case: but that no action was taken in the premises on said
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