Claims

William Morgan's 1826 abductors from the Canandaigua jail received lenient sentences, and his fate was never established

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In September 1826 William Morgan, who had written an exposé of Masonic ritual, was taken from the Canandaigua jail after a stranger paid his bail, forced into a carriage, and 'never seen again, alive or dead.' At the first trial in Canandaigua four Masonic defendants were convicted only of forcibly moving Morgan against his will and given 'lenient terms, ranging from two years to one month in prison'; later defendants such as Elihu Mather were acquitted. Whether and how Morgan died was never established.

Evidence

RelationRecordNote
documentshistory.nycourts.govHistorical Society of the NY Courts, People v. Mather (1830): Morgan kidnapped and 'never seen again, alive or dead'; Mather acquitted after a ten-day trial (Nov 1829)
documentsslate.comSlate (Andrew Burt, 15 May 2015): Canandaigua jail, bail paid by a stranger; four Masonic defendants 'sentenced to lenient terms, ranging from two years to one month in prison'; 'What happened to Morgan in the end... was still conspicuously unsolved'

Sources

SourceRelationAt
Freemasons - dark side (Timeline doc)asserts

Tied from

FromRoleYearsVerdictSource
About 54 people were indicted in the Morgan affairindictment-count clause1826-1831Structural

Claim

In September 1826 William Morgan, who had written an exposé of Masonic ritual, was taken from the Canandaigua jail after a stranger paid his bail, forced into a carriage, and 'never seen again, alive or dead.' At the first trial in Canandaigua four Masonic defendants were convicted only of forcibly moving Morgan against his will and given 'lenient terms, ranging from two years to one month in prison'; later defendants such as Elihu Mather were acquitted. Whether and how Morgan died was never established.

Held separately: About 54 people were indicted in the Morgan affair.