1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly 3 00:00:14,040 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: Frye and I'm Tracy V. Wilson. So this is part 4 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:20,280 Speaker 1: two of a two parter, and in part one we 5 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:24,440 Speaker 1: talked about the life of William Morgan. He lived in Batavia, 6 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 1: New York with his family in the mid eighteen twenties, 7 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: when he decided that he was going to write an 8 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:33,720 Speaker 1: exposee of the Masonic Order, and as a consequence, gained 9 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: the ire of many Freemasons. He was, according to witness accounts, 10 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: abducted on September eleventh, eighteen twenty six, and was taken 11 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:46,160 Speaker 1: to Fort Niagara, and his friends and family never saw 12 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:50,519 Speaker 1: him again, and his disappearance led to immediate criticism of 13 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 1: the Freemasons, and volunteer investigators sought to figure out what 14 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 1: had actually happened to William Morgan. A body found a 15 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:00,840 Speaker 1: year later was determined to be is but then was 16 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:04,880 Speaker 1: identified as another man. So the mystery remain. So today 17 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:08,000 Speaker 1: we're picking up by talking about Morgan's book and what 18 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:12,320 Speaker 1: secrets it actually held, and the various confessions and accounts 19 00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: of Morgan's fate that were published in the decades decades 20 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: following his abduction, so Morgan's publishing partner, Colonel Miller, did 21 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: publish Morgan's manuscript, although it wasn't as complete as Morgan 22 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:32,000 Speaker 1: had intended. He had planned to include the details on 23 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:36,440 Speaker 1: how a member would pass through the seven first degrees, 24 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: but the manuscript Miller published included only three. The publisher 25 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:45,479 Speaker 1: wrote a lengthy introduction for it himself. Quote, we come 26 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: to lay before the world the claims of an institution 27 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: which has been sanctioned by ages, venerated for wisdom, exalted 28 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: for light, but an institution whose benefits have always been overrated, 29 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 1: and whose continuance is not in the slightest degree necessary. 30 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 1: Strip it of its borrowed trappings, and it is a 31 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:09,240 Speaker 1: mere nothing, a toy, not now worthy the notice of 32 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,639 Speaker 1: a child to sport with. Miller goes on to make 33 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:16,079 Speaker 1: the case that masonry had value when knowledge was held 34 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:19,280 Speaker 1: in but a few places, and the order was needed 35 00:02:19,320 --> 00:02:22,840 Speaker 1: as a quote guide and conductor, but that masonry and 36 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:26,640 Speaker 1: its members no longer had any valuable knowledge which was 37 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: not quote known to every inquiring mind. He points out 38 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: that its origin was with workmen who were joining together 39 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:38,760 Speaker 1: to ensure their trades were regulated, but it became something 40 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: else over the years, noting quote but that there is 41 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 1: anything intrinsically valuable in the signs, symbols, or words of masonry. 42 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:49,800 Speaker 1: No man of sense will contend that there is not 43 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:53,720 Speaker 1: any hidden secret which operates as a talismanic charm on 44 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 1: its possessors. Every man of intelligence, Mason or no Mason, 45 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: must candidly acknowledge. Perhaps the most damning is Miller's passage 46 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 1: quote Masonry is of itself naked and worthless. It consists 47 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:10,080 Speaker 1: of gleanings from the holy scriptures and from the arts 48 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:14,080 Speaker 1: and sciences which shone in the world, linking itself with 49 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 1: philosophy and science and religion. On this it rests all 50 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: its claims to veneration and respect. Take away this borrowed aid, 51 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 1: and it falls into ruins. So if you're wondering what 52 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 1: salacious secrets this book held, prepared to be disappointed. It 53 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: does exactly what Miller says. It starts by laying out 54 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:38,320 Speaker 1: the opening ceremonies of the lodge, starting with the call 55 00:03:38,400 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 1: to Order and the Call and Response, which starts meetings 56 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:45,960 Speaker 1: consisting of the lodge master asking the people in various positions, 57 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: what their duties are, and having them state them. It 58 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: then details the manner in which a new initiate would 59 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: be brought into the lodge, voted on, and initiated if 60 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 1: that vote passed. It includes the various steps of the 61 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 1: same ceremony, which have particulars that make them unique and ritualized, 62 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: but really are generally pretty benign. There's the bringing forward 63 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:11,960 Speaker 1: of candidates to the order, their statements of intent, and 64 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: voting on whether to initiate them. There's a part where 65 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,960 Speaker 1: the candidate's clothes are removed and the candidate wears only 66 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:22,159 Speaker 1: his shirt, a barred pair of trousers that the lodge 67 00:04:22,240 --> 00:04:26,039 Speaker 1: kept for the occasion, a blindfold, a slipper on his 68 00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:28,520 Speaker 1: right foot only, and a rope around his neck and 69 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 1: sometimes left arm. All of these are explained as symbolic 70 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 1: of things like humility and trust and other traits like that. 71 00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: There's a promise of secrecy forever. And then, according to 72 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:43,279 Speaker 1: this document, the men would stand in a circle and 73 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,600 Speaker 1: clap their hands and stamp their right foot, and then 74 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: the three great lights of the order are introduced. The 75 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:52,839 Speaker 1: Holy Bible is invoked as a guide for faith. A 76 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:55,719 Speaker 1: square like a stonemason or a carpenter would use to 77 00:04:55,760 --> 00:04:59,080 Speaker 1: square their actions, and a compass to keep the brothers 78 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,840 Speaker 1: in do bonds with all mankind, but especially brethren. And 79 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: then there are three burning candles called the lesser Lights, 80 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: representing the Sun as the ruler of the day, the 81 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:11,040 Speaker 1: Moon is the ruler of the night, and the Worshipful 82 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:14,840 Speaker 1: Master is ruler of the lodge. All of the language 83 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: throughout this ceremony, as William Morgan wrote, it is about 84 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:22,640 Speaker 1: honor and uprightness, and keeping Christian values, and befriending all 85 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:26,440 Speaker 1: brothers and helping them win in need, etc. The book 86 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:29,719 Speaker 1: then describes the closing of the lodge with a similar 87 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:33,800 Speaker 1: call and response ceremony, including a prayer, and then the 88 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: text goes into detail on all of various symbols and 89 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 1: their meanings, how the lodge is the representation of King 90 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:44,520 Speaker 1: Solomon's temple, and a lot of the passages that members 91 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:49,480 Speaker 1: studied and memorized to participate in these rituals. There is 92 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:52,640 Speaker 1: a section that describes being promoted to the second degree 93 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 1: of masonry, and it's not all that different from the initiation. 94 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: There's more swearing of duty and recitation of call and 95 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:02,159 Speaker 1: response questions and discussions of the meanings of the symbols 96 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:04,919 Speaker 1: and what they represent an even deeper commitment on the 97 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:08,000 Speaker 1: part of the member being promoted. The same write up 98 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:10,560 Speaker 1: of the third degree, the master Mason's degree, and how 99 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:14,800 Speaker 1: it is conferred, is also again pretty similar. This one, 100 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 1: though involves travel. We're using air quotes there, which is 101 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 1: really the promotee leaving and returning to the lodge, and 102 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:23,840 Speaker 1: each time being told it's a new place, and once 103 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:26,360 Speaker 1: again there's a call in response. There's a little bit 104 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:30,160 Speaker 1: of hazing type behavior along the lines of carrying him 105 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: around in a blanket and pretending that he's being buried 106 00:06:32,920 --> 00:06:36,040 Speaker 1: in a play acting farce involving Solomon and the death 107 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:39,039 Speaker 1: of the character Hiram Abraf, who is the architect of 108 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:43,360 Speaker 1: Solomon's temple. All of these rituals involve an awful lot 109 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: of pontificating. Morgan writes of these ceremonies quote, the ceremonies, history, 110 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:51,600 Speaker 1: and the lecture in the preceding degree are so similar 111 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:54,479 Speaker 1: that perhaps some of the three might have been dispensed with. 112 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: The conclusion of the book is almost like a glossary, 113 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 1: a list with all the various grips and hand signals 114 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 1: and words, as well as arrangements of props that are 115 00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: part of the life of a lodge. This book is 116 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:12,200 Speaker 1: really not exactly shocking. It's mostly just a lot of 117 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:16,280 Speaker 1: rhetoric and kind of made up lore. Promises that members 118 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:20,200 Speaker 1: will have each other's backs. Nothing in it seems worth 119 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:23,840 Speaker 1: killing someone to protect. And this is particularly the case 120 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,600 Speaker 1: when you consider that there were already published books that 121 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 1: already told masonry secrets. In his eighteen ninety nine book 122 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 1: A Standard History of Freemasonry in the State of New York, 123 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:39,560 Speaker 1: author Peter Ross notes a handful of similar books that 124 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:42,440 Speaker 1: had been published in England as far back as seventeen 125 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:47,160 Speaker 1: twenty four, and that a book titled Masonry Dissected, which 126 00:07:47,240 --> 00:07:50,120 Speaker 1: was written by Samuel Pritchard in seventeen thirty, had a 127 00:07:50,120 --> 00:07:53,000 Speaker 1: lot of reprints and was very popular in North America, 128 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 1: and no doubt because of this whole abduction and the 129 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: fallout from it, Morgan's book was also very popular. Yeah, 130 00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:05,400 Speaker 1: it's one of those things where you read it expecting 131 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: like some really dark secret will be revealed, and it's 132 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: kind of like, huh, this is just a bunch of 133 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:15,600 Speaker 1: guys kind of telling ritualized Bible stories. This story stayed 134 00:08:15,600 --> 00:08:19,520 Speaker 1: in the public eye for decades after Morgan's abduction and disappearance, 135 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 1: both because it was a horrific event and because as 136 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,880 Speaker 1: members of the Batavia community in surrounding areas wrote their 137 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:30,560 Speaker 1: memoirs near the ends of their lives, they sometimes divulged 138 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:33,559 Speaker 1: their own knowledge of what had happened. Here's the thing, 139 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:36,720 Speaker 1: those accounts are impossible to verify because of both the 140 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:39,200 Speaker 1: time that has elapsed since the accounts and since the 141 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:43,320 Speaker 1: matters discussed, and because everything about who knew what and 142 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:47,920 Speaker 1: participated was intended to be secret to begin with. One 143 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:51,320 Speaker 1: of these accounts was written by Thurlow Weed in eighteen 144 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:55,480 Speaker 1: seventy five, so that was nearly fifty years after Morgan's abduction. 145 00:08:56,480 --> 00:09:00,760 Speaker 1: Weed was also anti Masonic, so there's that contacts there. 146 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:03,880 Speaker 1: He stated that he had originally been asked to print 147 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 1: the manuscript, but had refused on the basis that he 148 00:09:07,360 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 1: felt Morgan was breaking his vow to keep the Order's secrets. 149 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:15,640 Speaker 1: He also stated that the original plan for William Morgan 150 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 1: was that he was going to be transferred to a 151 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:22,160 Speaker 1: Canadian lodge and then moved west in that country and 152 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:25,320 Speaker 1: given a job in a fur company there to try 153 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: to keep him away from the Batavia community and the 154 00:09:28,800 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 1: lodge that felt so threatened by this manuscript. But he 155 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:35,200 Speaker 1: said the Canadian lodge had changed their mind once this 156 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:39,040 Speaker 1: whole kidnapping was in motion, and that was why Morgan 157 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:44,160 Speaker 1: and his captors returned to Fort Niagara. Weed names several 158 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:46,880 Speaker 1: men who he says then as a group were active 159 00:09:46,920 --> 00:09:50,880 Speaker 1: participants in Morgan's end, meaning his murder, But Weed is 160 00:09:50,880 --> 00:09:53,840 Speaker 1: pretty delicate in his language to not come out and 161 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:57,000 Speaker 1: say that they murdered him. He also wrote of these 162 00:09:57,040 --> 00:09:59,800 Speaker 1: men that they were quote all men of correct habits 163 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:03,439 Speaker 1: and character, and all I doubt not, were moved by 164 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:08,480 Speaker 1: an enthusiastic but most misguided sense of duty. He continues 165 00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:11,240 Speaker 1: later in his account, quote, of all the persons connected 166 00:10:11,240 --> 00:10:15,160 Speaker 1: with the abduction, arrest, imprisonment, and subsequent fate of Morgan, 167 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:17,640 Speaker 1: there was not one within my knowledge who did not 168 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:21,920 Speaker 1: possess and enjoyed the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens. 169 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:26,320 Speaker 1: It was not strange, therefore, that facts subsequently established beyond 170 00:10:26,400 --> 00:10:31,000 Speaker 1: denial were at first very generally and indignantly rejected. The 171 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:34,680 Speaker 1: people would not believe that respectable citizens were guilty of 172 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:39,560 Speaker 1: open and gross violations of law. We'd also hinted in 173 00:10:39,640 --> 00:10:42,440 Speaker 1: this book, and many people believed that he would relay 174 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:46,079 Speaker 1: even more specifics of what had happened to William Morgan. 175 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:49,920 Speaker 1: One day. Coming up, we'll talk about a different account 176 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:53,640 Speaker 1: that came out almost fifty years after the abduction. But 177 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:56,199 Speaker 1: before we do, we will take a quick sponsor break. 178 00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:09,360 Speaker 1: So we talked about Thurlow Weed's account that he wrote 179 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:13,960 Speaker 1: in the eighteen seventies. Another decades later account of what 180 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:17,800 Speaker 1: had happened to William Morgan was published in eighteen seventy three. 181 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:22,040 Speaker 1: That was Samuel Green's book titled The Broken Seal or 182 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:27,040 Speaker 1: Personal Reminiscences of the Morgan Abduction and Murder. In the introduction, 183 00:11:27,240 --> 00:11:30,839 Speaker 1: Green writes, quote, I have no intention of writing an autobiography, 184 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:34,920 Speaker 1: except in relation to one feature of my history. Many 185 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:37,720 Speaker 1: years ago, I was brought, in the providence of God, 186 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:41,680 Speaker 1: into strange and intimate association with a series of events 187 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:44,760 Speaker 1: which deeply affected my own mind and for a long 188 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:50,280 Speaker 1: time powerfully agitated society. Green explains that he was in 189 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 1: the same lodge with Morgan and witnessed quote much that 190 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:56,960 Speaker 1: went concerning him, and he says that he is prepared 191 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,959 Speaker 1: to bear testimony on the subject that few other men 192 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:04,200 Speaker 1: could give. He also states plainly that he has come 193 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:08,760 Speaker 1: to believe that Freemasonry is injurious to morality, hostile to 194 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 1: good government, and also hostile to the Christian Church. Green 195 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:16,559 Speaker 1: mentions that, like him, other members of the Freemasons had 196 00:12:16,559 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 1: found it to be corrupt and immoral and were distancing 197 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:24,440 Speaker 1: themselves even before the events related to William Morgan. He 198 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:28,600 Speaker 1: writes about colleagues who, speaking to other Masons about Morgan, 199 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:32,480 Speaker 1: found them to be very ready to justify what had 200 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:35,800 Speaker 1: happened to him. We mentioned that there was a rupture 201 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:39,520 Speaker 1: among the Masons in the aftermath of this abduction and disappearance, 202 00:12:39,559 --> 00:12:41,800 Speaker 1: and this was a big part of it. Although the 203 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:46,600 Speaker 1: fracturing had really already begun, many saw this as the 204 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:51,120 Speaker 1: last straw in their association with the group. Green states 205 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:53,720 Speaker 1: that he doesn't think that the men who became members 206 00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:57,600 Speaker 1: of the organization are inherently evil, but they became part 207 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:01,200 Speaker 1: of quote an institution which has its own laws and 208 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:04,160 Speaker 1: its own methods of working, and by it they are 209 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:07,880 Speaker 1: shaped and controlled in ways they know not of. He 210 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:11,199 Speaker 1: makes the case that setting up any society as secret 211 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:14,839 Speaker 1: and separate from the rest of society is just inherently 212 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:18,520 Speaker 1: problematic and is sure to lead to corruption by degrees 213 00:13:18,960 --> 00:13:22,280 Speaker 1: so subtle that its members don't even realize it's happening. 214 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:26,440 Speaker 1: Green lays out the same details of Morgan's abduction that 215 00:13:26,520 --> 00:13:30,240 Speaker 1: we've already discussed, but he also offers a sad revelation 216 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:33,160 Speaker 1: about halfway through the book, which reads, quote, I was 217 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:37,000 Speaker 1: still a Mason in good and regular standing. Some might 218 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: suspect me not to be true to my oaths, but 219 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:43,040 Speaker 1: my secret was not yet out. I still attended the 220 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:45,800 Speaker 1: lodge meetings, for I could not very well do otherwise. 221 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:49,880 Speaker 1: Just now there I heard enough after a little time 222 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 1: to convince me that Morgan was no longer in the 223 00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:55,719 Speaker 1: land of the living. It was just as well understood 224 00:13:55,720 --> 00:13:58,160 Speaker 1: by the members of our lodge that Morgan was dead, 225 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:01,000 Speaker 1: as it is when our families attend a funeral of 226 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:04,520 Speaker 1: any person and return to tell the news. Only the 227 00:14:04,559 --> 00:14:07,320 Speaker 1: Masons did not make the announcement in the same way. 228 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:11,160 Speaker 1: They had a great deal of rough joking over the subject, 229 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:15,720 Speaker 1: implying that he was drowned somewhere in the direction of Canada. 230 00:14:15,880 --> 00:14:20,520 Speaker 1: Green's account states that lodge leadership clearly quote understood well 231 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:23,880 Speaker 1: that Morgan had been put out of the way. By 232 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:27,000 Speaker 1: some accounts, there were as many as sixty nine people 233 00:14:27,200 --> 00:14:30,480 Speaker 1: involved in the plot to stop William Morgan from publishing 234 00:14:30,480 --> 00:14:33,760 Speaker 1: his book from the beginning of the plot, as it 235 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:36,760 Speaker 1: was hashed in a tavern owned by a man named Ganson. 236 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:41,840 Speaker 1: There were Masons from Batavia, Canadagua, Lockport, Lewiston, and other 237 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:45,360 Speaker 1: towns and villages in western New York. So while it 238 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:47,960 Speaker 1: may have been the work of only some of the order, 239 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:51,160 Speaker 1: it was a significant number of people. How many of 240 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:55,160 Speaker 1: them knew that things would escalate from organized harassment to 241 00:14:55,400 --> 00:14:59,320 Speaker 1: kidnapping to murder is really unknown, and it could be 242 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:02,840 Speaker 1: that different pockets of the group knew differing degrees of 243 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:06,400 Speaker 1: the plan and were willing to go to different lengths 244 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:09,720 Speaker 1: to try to secure their secrecy. There's also a theory 245 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:13,520 Speaker 1: that the plot was purposely doled out in pieces in 246 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:18,560 Speaker 1: the interest of maintaining deniability. The remains that we mentioned 247 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:21,680 Speaker 1: in the opening of part one were found in eighteen 248 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:24,880 Speaker 1: eighty one in Pembroke, New York, about eleven miles west 249 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:27,880 Speaker 1: of Batavia. That was during a dig project that was 250 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:32,479 Speaker 1: to precede the establishment of a stone quarry on the site. Initially, 251 00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 1: the men working on that dig thought that they had 252 00:15:34,720 --> 00:15:37,720 Speaker 1: uncovered the remains of a Native American because the site 253 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 1: of the planned quarry was just two miles away from 254 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:44,400 Speaker 1: the Tonawanda Reservation. But there wasn't anything on or with 255 00:15:44,520 --> 00:15:48,120 Speaker 1: the body that supported that idea. That body had been 256 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:51,080 Speaker 1: covered with rocks and dirt. This was not a scenario 257 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:55,160 Speaker 1: where a body had been accidentally buried over time. All 258 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:58,760 Speaker 1: evidence indicated it had been deliberately buried with the intent 259 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 1: to conceal it. This is a case where the unearthing 260 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:05,200 Speaker 1: of the body might make you cringe, because it really 261 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:08,800 Speaker 1: wasn't handled with the sort of careful techniques that ideally 262 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:12,720 Speaker 1: would be used today. The workmen who found the remains 263 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:16,200 Speaker 1: removed the bones. According to the paper, it was carefully. 264 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:19,560 Speaker 1: They set them aside and then started sifting through the 265 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:23,800 Speaker 1: dirt with their hands. Ideal or not, this method did 266 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:26,600 Speaker 1: turn up some other clues. There was a silver ring 267 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:30,640 Speaker 1: with the monogram WM engraved on it, and then what 268 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:34,360 Speaker 1: was believed to have been an old tin tobacco box 269 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:38,200 Speaker 1: which contained a manuscript. While there was agreement that the 270 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:41,760 Speaker 1: initials WM on the ring were not conclusive because a 271 00:16:41,800 --> 00:16:45,440 Speaker 1: lot of people have those initials. The manuscript was recognized 272 00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:48,320 Speaker 1: as potentially important, and it was taken to a man 273 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,920 Speaker 1: the papers referred to simply as doctor Phillips, who examined 274 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:54,080 Speaker 1: it under a microscope to see if they could make 275 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:57,480 Speaker 1: out any of the very faded writing on it. Basically 276 00:16:57,560 --> 00:16:59,200 Speaker 1: like to the naked eye, you couldn't tell what any 277 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: of the words were, and he was reportedly able to 278 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:08,520 Speaker 1: identify the following words Mason's liar, prison, kill, and the 279 00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:13,240 Speaker 1: name Henry Brown. Henry Brown was a lawyer in Batavia 280 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:17,080 Speaker 1: who wrote a book three years after Morgan vanished, titled 281 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:20,400 Speaker 1: A Narrative of the Anti Masonic Excitement in the Western 282 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:22,800 Speaker 1: part of the State of New York during the years 283 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:25,720 Speaker 1: eighteen twenty six, seven eight and a part of eighteen 284 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 1: twenty nine. This book seems like it's on Morgan's side 285 00:17:30,359 --> 00:17:33,679 Speaker 1: in some ways. It describes him being abducted in great 286 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:37,640 Speaker 1: detail and says it was over zealous Masons who had 287 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:40,320 Speaker 1: done this, but it also asserts that there was no 288 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:43,960 Speaker 1: proof of a murder taking place, And then it kind 289 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:47,399 Speaker 1: of chides William Morgan for having gotten everybody so riled 290 00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:50,640 Speaker 1: up in the first place by writing his book At 291 00:17:50,640 --> 00:17:53,720 Speaker 1: this point. With this new body discovered, at least one 292 00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:57,720 Speaker 1: member of the press hunted down William Morgan's adult daughter 293 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:01,440 Speaker 1: for comment. The New York Times reported on July ninth, 294 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:04,159 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty one, that Missus Smith, who was married to 295 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:07,400 Speaker 1: Captain William Smith and was living in Portland, Oregon. Quote 296 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:10,760 Speaker 1: says her father was drowned by five men who took 297 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:13,800 Speaker 1: him one night into the lake. She states that one 298 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:16,399 Speaker 1: of the five men who assisted in the drowning for 299 00:18:16,440 --> 00:18:19,840 Speaker 1: many years resided in Portland, Oregon, but is now dead. 300 00:18:20,960 --> 00:18:23,679 Speaker 1: Just a few weeks later, on July twenty second, eighteen 301 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:26,680 Speaker 1: eighty one, the New York Times ran a piece titled 302 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:32,280 Speaker 1: Another Morgan Story. It is, in essence an obituary claiming 303 00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:36,040 Speaker 1: that William Morgan had died in Smyrna Turkya known today 304 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:40,479 Speaker 1: as is Mere. This item's subtitle kind of sets up 305 00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:43,639 Speaker 1: the tone for the peace quote, the much drowned and 306 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:48,359 Speaker 1: off killed man dies in Smyrna. The timing of the 307 00:18:48,480 --> 00:18:51,080 Speaker 1: reported death is a little unclear, so one of many 308 00:18:51,119 --> 00:18:54,240 Speaker 1: accounts that claims that this information came from an old 309 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:57,160 Speaker 1: timer who has since passed on, although it does say 310 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:01,159 Speaker 1: that he heard the story in eighteen forty nine, a 311 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:05,320 Speaker 1: year after the eighteen eighty one discovery of remains, William 312 00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:09,159 Speaker 1: Morgan got a monument which was viewed with some suspicion. 313 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:21,440 Speaker 1: And we'll talk about that after we hear from our sponsors. 314 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:25,359 Speaker 1: In eighteen eighty two, a monument to William Morgan was 315 00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:29,480 Speaker 1: erected by an anti Mason group called the National Christian Association. 316 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:33,879 Speaker 1: This group was new, and it incited some suspicious speculation. 317 00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:37,560 Speaker 1: The New York Times wrote of the monument on September fifteenth, 318 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:40,760 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty two. Quote, to most people, the fact of 319 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:44,640 Speaker 1: the existence of a National Christian Association was made known 320 00:19:44,720 --> 00:19:47,280 Speaker 1: for the first time the other day by the unveiling 321 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:50,560 Speaker 1: of a statue erected by the Association in honor of 322 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:55,320 Speaker 1: one William Morgan. This article reflects the negative sentiment that 323 00:19:55,520 --> 00:20:00,159 Speaker 1: still surrounded Morgan fifty six years after his death. It 324 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:05,119 Speaker 1: continues in the language of a smear campaign, sounding surprisingly angry. Quote. 325 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:07,800 Speaker 1: At first sight, it may seem rather odd that a 326 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:11,520 Speaker 1: National Christian Association should take pains to honor the memory 327 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:15,399 Speaker 1: of a drunken vagabond whose one claim to fame lies 328 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:17,960 Speaker 1: in the fact that he violated a dozen or more 329 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:21,560 Speaker 1: of the most solemn oaths, or told a large collection 330 00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:25,560 Speaker 1: of ingenious falsehoods to add to the beauty and symmetry 331 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:29,280 Speaker 1: of his moral character. Mister William Morgan always maintained that 332 00:20:29,359 --> 00:20:33,040 Speaker 1: he violated his alleged oaths and betrayed the confidence of 333 00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:36,840 Speaker 1: his associates from a sense of duty. He thus crowned 334 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:40,520 Speaker 1: his moral edifice with hypocrisy, and was as various and 335 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:45,760 Speaker 1: miscellaneous a rascal as our prolific country had produced. This 336 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:49,879 Speaker 1: article then goes on to exaggerate the anti Mason stance 337 00:20:49,960 --> 00:20:53,120 Speaker 1: for effect sort of blaming every ill of the world 338 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:55,800 Speaker 1: on the fraternity as a means to discredit the stance 339 00:20:55,840 --> 00:21:00,200 Speaker 1: of the National Christian Association by noting how utterly harmless 340 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:05,440 Speaker 1: all Freemason's look while talking about their alleged bloodthirstiness is 341 00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:08,679 Speaker 1: kind of an intense read, it really is. It's so 342 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:14,760 Speaker 1: angry for something that is half century old. The discovery 343 00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:18,359 Speaker 1: of the wm Body led to more people asking for 344 00:21:18,560 --> 00:21:21,959 Speaker 1: thurlough Weed to finally tell everything he knew, if in 345 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:24,239 Speaker 1: fact there was more to his story as he had 346 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:28,600 Speaker 1: hinted in eighteen seventy five. At this point he was 347 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:32,600 Speaker 1: the only surviving person with ties to the case, and 348 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:35,359 Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty two he did write another follow up 349 00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:38,520 Speaker 1: to the story. He included the fact that he had 350 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 1: left Rochester and the paper that he ran there after, 351 00:21:41,720 --> 00:21:45,000 Speaker 1: sentiment against him grew in the wake of calling for 352 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:48,439 Speaker 1: Freemasons to quote take the laboring or in the search 353 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:52,880 Speaker 1: for Morgan. Subscriptions to his paper dropped so rapidly after 354 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:55,280 Speaker 1: he had made this statement that he left the paper 355 00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 1: to his business partner and just sought work elsewhere. In 356 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:01,520 Speaker 1: his follow up, we need comments on the fact that 357 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:03,679 Speaker 1: three of the men who were part of the volunteer 358 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:07,560 Speaker 1: committee that formed in Rochester to investigate Morgan's abduction back 359 00:22:07,600 --> 00:22:11,760 Speaker 1: in eighteen twenty six had been Masons themselves, and that 360 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:15,399 Speaker 1: two of them had been involved in the abduction. He 361 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,439 Speaker 1: mentions that the legal efforts to bring the perpetrators to 362 00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:22,119 Speaker 1: justice and multiple different municipalities were all hindered by the 363 00:22:22,160 --> 00:22:25,600 Speaker 1: fact that Masons in each community were protecting each other 364 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:29,640 Speaker 1: and the order, and that obtaining indictments had been impossible 365 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:33,199 Speaker 1: quote in five of the six counties where indictments were needed. 366 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 1: In discussing the evidence, he noted, quote there was every 367 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:39,879 Speaker 1: reason to believe that he was taken from the magazine 368 00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:44,520 Speaker 1: and drowned in Lake Ontario. This, however, was boldly and 369 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:49,560 Speaker 1: persistently denied. Denials accompanied by solemn assurances that Morgan had 370 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:53,040 Speaker 1: been seen alive in several places, divided the public sentiment. 371 00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:57,480 Speaker 1: Weed noted that while this issue led to political positioning 372 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:01,200 Speaker 1: as parties being pro or anti Mason, he and his 373 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 1: committee quote firmly resisted all efforts, urging all who were 374 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:07,800 Speaker 1: connected with us in an effort to vindicate the law 375 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:10,560 Speaker 1: to vote for the candidates of the party with which 376 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:14,640 Speaker 1: they had been previously connected. But he explained that once 377 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:17,760 Speaker 1: it was discovered that Mason's had enough power to control 378 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:21,760 Speaker 1: the outcome of elections and pretty much everything else, he 379 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:26,240 Speaker 1: and like minded colleagues incorporated their anti Mason stance into 380 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:30,040 Speaker 1: their politics. Weed was a politician. He was a member 381 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:33,720 Speaker 1: of the New York State Assembly the year before Morgan's disappearance, 382 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:36,760 Speaker 1: and he was elected a member again in eighteen thirty. 383 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:40,480 Speaker 1: Through an account he attributed to a man named John 384 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:44,439 Speaker 1: Whitney who was involved in the plot, We'd ultimately placed 385 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:47,200 Speaker 1: the blame for the initial idea to stop Morgan's book 386 00:23:47,240 --> 00:23:51,080 Speaker 1: through kidnapping on David John's and then he implicates several 387 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:54,120 Speaker 1: other masons as he described the confession that one gave 388 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,880 Speaker 1: him of the end of Morgan's life. According to that account, 389 00:23:57,920 --> 00:24:00,360 Speaker 1: which we'd stated he never shared because of was told 390 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:03,400 Speaker 1: to him in confidence, Morgan was told he was being 391 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:06,359 Speaker 1: taken to Canada and that his family was going to 392 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:09,639 Speaker 1: be brought to him there. So he willingly got into 393 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:12,600 Speaker 1: a boat, and that at the mouth of the Niagara River, 394 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:15,840 Speaker 1: a rope was tied around him with a sinker attached 395 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:20,080 Speaker 1: to him, and he was dumped. In a particularly sad detail, 396 00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:21,720 Speaker 1: he tried to hold on to the edges of the 397 00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:25,200 Speaker 1: vessel but was pushed away, and he managed to bite 398 00:24:25,200 --> 00:24:28,359 Speaker 1: one of his killers in the process. Weed gives a 399 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,720 Speaker 1: complicated story about why he did not obtain a signed 400 00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:35,400 Speaker 1: copy of this confession. He said that Whitney wanted once 401 00:24:35,400 --> 00:24:37,639 Speaker 1: to be made to be shared after his death, but 402 00:24:37,680 --> 00:24:40,760 Speaker 1: that Weed was so busy he forgot to do it. Yeah, 403 00:24:40,800 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 1: there's a whole weird side track story where he's like, oh, 404 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:45,760 Speaker 1: I was in town for a convention and I told 405 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:47,240 Speaker 1: him I would go do it, but I got so 406 00:24:47,359 --> 00:24:49,480 Speaker 1: busy I forgot about it. And then I went to Iowa, 407 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:51,879 Speaker 1: and then I remember like it's a very like here's 408 00:24:51,960 --> 00:24:56,080 Speaker 1: the overly complicated, a detailed explanation of why don't have 409 00:24:56,160 --> 00:25:00,240 Speaker 1: a signed version of this? The Whitney account was not 410 00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:03,560 Speaker 1: the only late in life confession to the murder of 411 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:07,439 Speaker 1: William Morgan. There were others, but they created new problems, 412 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:09,959 Speaker 1: as in some cases the details did not match up 413 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:15,359 Speaker 1: among them. Additionally, and frustratingly, the remains that were found 414 00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:18,840 Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty one never seemed to lead to any 415 00:25:18,880 --> 00:25:23,199 Speaker 1: sort of conclusive revelation. That story just sputters out in 416 00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:26,600 Speaker 1: the papers. So if people were hoping that Weed's second 417 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:29,439 Speaker 1: writing on the matter, one of the confessions, or the 418 00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:32,680 Speaker 1: investigation of the body and its accouterment would lead to 419 00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:36,080 Speaker 1: a final resolution, they did not get it, and there 420 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:40,520 Speaker 1: never has been one. Even modern tellings of Morgan's story 421 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:45,320 Speaker 1: disagree deeply on what kind of man he was, Whether 422 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:48,399 Speaker 1: this entire thing was a sinister plot, a case of 423 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:51,000 Speaker 1: a handful of people getting carried away by their zeal, 424 00:25:51,520 --> 00:25:54,679 Speaker 1: or even a stunt created by Morgan and Milner two 425 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:58,320 Speaker 1: bolster sales of their book, But the majority seemed to 426 00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:00,800 Speaker 1: chalk the whole thing up to zeal. It went too far, 427 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:04,040 Speaker 1: as it agitated among the men responsible for the abduction 428 00:26:04,600 --> 00:26:08,720 Speaker 1: and likely end of Morgan's life. In a standard history 429 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:11,000 Speaker 1: of Freemasonry in the State of New York, which we've 430 00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:16,000 Speaker 1: quoted in this episode previously, author Peter Ross, who we 431 00:26:16,160 --> 00:26:19,280 Speaker 1: could not call a fan of William Morgan by any measure, 432 00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:23,520 Speaker 1: makes the case for why this entire scenario escalated to 433 00:26:23,560 --> 00:26:27,080 Speaker 1: such a tragic end. Quote. Had it been proposed to 434 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,800 Speaker 1: issue the illustrations of masonry in a large city, it might, 435 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:34,719 Speaker 1: if we judge by previous instances, have created no comment. 436 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:38,040 Speaker 1: But in a little country place it was different. Quite 437 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:41,720 Speaker 1: an excited sentiment against the proposed work was aroused, and 438 00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:46,000 Speaker 1: the feeling was intensified by the worthlessness of its real 439 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:49,800 Speaker 1: or reputed author. Had it been a work of an 440 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:53,480 Speaker 1: honest man, which is difficult to realize, of an educated 441 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,280 Speaker 1: man or a thinker, it might have been viewed differently 442 00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:59,560 Speaker 1: and with some degree of respect. But for a graceless, 443 00:26:59,640 --> 00:27:04,040 Speaker 1: good nothing scamp to propose selling secrets he had sworn 444 00:27:04,119 --> 00:27:07,280 Speaker 1: to conceal for the prospect of a few dollars was 445 00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:10,040 Speaker 1: too much to be regarded lightly. And as the matter 446 00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:14,480 Speaker 1: was discussed, the rumors gathering in clearness of the nature 447 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:17,880 Speaker 1: of the work ascribed to it a merit far beyond 448 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:23,560 Speaker 1: its due, and intensified the excitement. So this is both 449 00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:26,640 Speaker 1: an insightful commentary on small communities in the way that 450 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:30,280 Speaker 1: strife can impact them, and a pretty biased description of 451 00:27:30,320 --> 00:27:34,959 Speaker 1: William Morgan, also pretty victim blamey oh one hundred percent. Uh. 452 00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:39,359 Speaker 1: Samuel Greene, who was far more sympathetic to Morgan, makes 453 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:43,119 Speaker 1: a similar statement in his book quote never were greater 454 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:48,080 Speaker 1: emotions awakened from so small and unimportant a cause. He 455 00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 1: then adds quote, but there was nevertheless a philosophy underlying 456 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 1: this excitement. It must be remembered that masonry is too 457 00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:58,800 Speaker 1: sacred and important a thing to be committed to books. 458 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,240 Speaker 1: The theory is that it must be transmitted from generation 459 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:05,680 Speaker 1: to generation through the air. That the whole communication of 460 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:09,359 Speaker 1: these tremendous secrets must be purely oral, passing from mouth 461 00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:17,920 Speaker 1: to mouth, as the illustrious order lives along the ages humans. 462 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:21,800 Speaker 1: Mm hmmm, always so disappointing. So for listener mail, I 463 00:28:21,840 --> 00:28:26,080 Speaker 1: have one that's a correction. This is from our listener Jenny, 464 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:30,920 Speaker 1: who writes about our Mad Gasser of Matoon episode. Jenny writes, 465 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:32,800 Speaker 1: Dear Holly and Tracy. I've been listening to the show 466 00:28:32,840 --> 00:28:35,160 Speaker 1: for years now and love the broad array of topics 467 00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:36,879 Speaker 1: you bring to lay. I can proudly say that I 468 00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:39,280 Speaker 1: have my PhD and stuff you missed in history class, 469 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:42,120 Speaker 1: although it is an ongoing job to maintain that degree 470 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:44,360 Speaker 1: and I am now a couple of months behind. We 471 00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:47,800 Speaker 1: always say this, but it bears repeating again. That's cool. 472 00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:53,040 Speaker 1: I never want anybody to feel like, you know, listening 473 00:28:53,040 --> 00:28:55,800 Speaker 1: to something they enjoy is an obligation and not something 474 00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:58,400 Speaker 1: that's actually enjoyable. I was about to say, there's no 475 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:02,600 Speaker 1: obligation at all. No, we love, we love our listeners, 476 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:04,360 Speaker 1: and we love that you're listening. But like we get 477 00:29:04,360 --> 00:29:06,240 Speaker 1: behind on the media that we love all the time, 478 00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:08,840 Speaker 1: it happens. Life are thing that it is full of 479 00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:13,880 Speaker 1: activities and needs and responsibilities. Your entertainment should never feel 480 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:17,760 Speaker 1: like a responsibility. Jenny writes, I have wanted to write 481 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:19,120 Speaker 1: in for a long time, and I hate that I 482 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:21,120 Speaker 1: finally got around to it. By pointing out a minor 483 00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:25,240 Speaker 1: correction in the Mattoon Gaser episode, you mentioned the Alton Railroad, 484 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:28,800 Speaker 1: pronouncing Alton as it looks like how it should be pronounced, 485 00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:31,480 Speaker 1: like the Food Network host Alton Brown. As this is 486 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:33,760 Speaker 1: my hometown, I feel compelled to let you know that 487 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:36,920 Speaker 1: it is actually pronounced all ten. All ten is in 488 00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:39,840 Speaker 1: fact an interesting little rivertown that could provide material for 489 00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:42,200 Speaker 1: the show someday. It is the site of the seventh 490 00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:45,440 Speaker 1: Abraham Lincoln Douglas Debate, the hometown of the record holder 491 00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:48,120 Speaker 1: of the tallest man in the world, Robert Wadlow, the 492 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:51,120 Speaker 1: home of Elijah P. Lovejoy, the first martyr for the Press, 493 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:54,800 Speaker 1: the birthplace of Miles Davis, site of Piazza bird legend, 494 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:58,960 Speaker 1: and unfortunately, the home of Philish Slafelyy. Yeah, I would 495 00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:01,239 Speaker 1: not have known all ten pronounce that way, so thank you. 496 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:05,640 Speaker 1: Finally attached to the obligatory pet tax. The reddish brown 497 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:08,240 Speaker 1: guy and black brown girl are my current babies, Ziggi 498 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:12,200 Speaker 1: and Melusine. I also feel I must include my pets 499 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:14,760 Speaker 1: who have sadly passed on, as they too heard plenty 500 00:30:14,760 --> 00:30:16,880 Speaker 1: of hours of stuff you missed in history class with me. 501 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:20,560 Speaker 1: The smiling black dog is Achilles, so cute, the brown 502 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:23,280 Speaker 1: rabbit is Summer, also so cute, and the black one 503 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:26,040 Speaker 1: is Autumn. Bunnies make great pets and are really fun 504 00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:28,120 Speaker 1: and loving. However, they can have a lot of health 505 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:30,239 Speaker 1: problems and are not as easy to care for as 506 00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:33,480 Speaker 1: people expect. Unfortunately, this leads to people setting them free, 507 00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:37,560 Speaker 1: which domesticated rabbits are not prepared to handle. But I digress. 508 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:39,000 Speaker 1: Thank you for all you do and keep up the 509 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:40,880 Speaker 1: good work. So we got a correction and a PSA 510 00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:43,280 Speaker 1: about rabbits. If you want to adopt a rabbit, they're 511 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:47,640 Speaker 1: very cute, but yeah, they're all animals are worked. You 512 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:49,560 Speaker 1: got to be prepared for the commitment of an animal. 513 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:53,160 Speaker 1: Thank you for that correction. Sorry all ten, didn't mean 514 00:30:53,200 --> 00:30:56,640 Speaker 1: to do it wrong. If you would like to write 515 00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:00,600 Speaker 1: to us with minor corrections, pet pictures, or your thoughts 516 00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:04,560 Speaker 1: on unsolved but kind of solved murders, you can do 517 00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:07,959 Speaker 1: that at History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. You can 518 00:31:08,000 --> 00:31:10,600 Speaker 1: also find us on social media as Missed in History, 519 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:12,440 Speaker 1: and if you have not yet subscribed, you can do 520 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,480 Speaker 1: that on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to 521 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:23,120 Speaker 1: your favorite shows. Stuff you Missed in History Class is 522 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:27,480 Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 523 00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:30,960 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 524 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:31,880 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.