1826: The Disappearance of William Morgan

You are listening to one nation under crime, a chronological true crime podcast. Each week we go through our nation's history and discuss one case from each year, starting in 1800. I'm Kayla and I'm Leah. We are to Thanksgiving. We, and I like him. I won't do Turkey. Do what? I don't. I don't like Turkey like him. Well, oh, I like him, but it's Turkey day. No, I'm good. Traditionally. Well, let's not get into the traditions of all. I mean, just it's Turkey day. That's what you say. We're going. And we're going through all of our history from that time and it makes you really think about it. 

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00:00:44

Everybody does Turkey stuff. Just, just discharging. Well, I it's pig day for me. I like ham. That's probably that's that's my favorite thing to eat for sure. For a sister has an 8:00 AM. She's a weirdo. She doesn't like it. Turkey's always just, I don't know. It depends on how you cook the Turkey because the Turkey can mean to dry. This is true. And I don't like dry Turkey. This is true. I don't want to feel like, like, I'm come, come to my mama's house. She cooks a Turkey. It is not dry. I mean, a lot of people make it where it's not dry, but then you have like that you have like that two years in a row of dry Turkey and you're kind of like, Hmm. 

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00:01:24

Yeah. Oh, but if you fry it, fried Turkey is good. I've had fried Turkey several times and it is very good. So since we are on the subject, because I know a lot of people, you know, last year was a weird time for Thanksgiving. Last year, a lot of people did not get to visit their families for Thanksgiving. If you were like my boyfriend, he was not able to see his family at Thanksgiving or Christmas. So he is now going this year to go visit them. So for a lot of people there, especially if you, you know, live a good distance away from your family, a lot of people are seeing their families for the first time in two years. 

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00:02:06

And we all know that that can be go with a little stressful. It can be, you know, you got some people in your family that we're just going to be honest here. Sometimes you have to have Xanax before you go to your family. I mean, that is true. Sometimes you do have to, you know, make sure that, you know, you gotta have a plan before you go in and trust me to have your friend available on tests. You got it. Well, not even just that. So we got a few different, I got, I found an article and we got a few different ways from all right ideas. 

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00:02:51

Some of them are fine. So let's just go through, we'll just go through a couple of them and then we'll give you our unsolicited advice on what to do for Thanksgiving. So the first, the first idea that they have is take a pass on the cocktails. What not bad idea. We don't have those at my family, my husband's family Thanksgiving. So maybe have a glass of wine with dinner. If that's something that your family takes part of, but maybe just like limit yourself to two drinks. Maybe we don't have any at ours. 

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00:03:31

Sometimes you gotta sneak some with you to be able to do this techie bracelets. Like, yes, it's a blast. I mean, are you kidding me? This is when a wine bra comes in handy. Forget the water bra. Yeah. The one bra, the number one thing that I think a lot of people deal with is having to deflect conversations away from their family. And we all have had to do that. Why are you single? Why have you not found someone to settle down with yet? Having kids? It's literally the next one. How do you feel about the precedent? How, what about your job? You know, maybe here's a few, few different ways somebody asks you, you know, well, why aren't you dating anyone? 

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00:04:17

It's always a really good time. If there is a, you know, someone in your family, just in general that you look up to say, you're speaking to your aunt, right? And your aunt comes up to you. Cool aunt like me. I don't know. I can't speak for everyone's family. So just say that you have a nosy aunt that's coming up to you. That is asking you, why are you still single? You know what said aunt who likely is married, happily or unhappily. That's neither here nor there you just say, you know what? I just really haven't found someone like uncle blank. Oh, nice. Put her right back on them and compliment it. 

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00:04:57

Exactly. And then they take it as a compliment and then they feel good about themselves. And then, then if you're lucky, ish, depending on how you feel about it, that's when you go tell me again, how y'all met, unless you've heard it a billion times, but, or tell me, you know, like come up with something that you, you know, oh, how did uncle so-and-so propose to you again? What, what happened that way? They are telling a story that you don't really have to tune into that much. You can kind of zone out a little, but it also takes everything off of you. 

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00:05:40

So you don't have to worry about, you know, anything like that. Somebody asks you, how do you feel about politics? How do you feel about the government? How do you feel about that's all? And that's always the number one conversation period that anybody needs to avoid at any holiday, because regardless of where you live, what your political backgrounds are, it doesn't matter. You're never going to agree with the other person. You're not going to agree with every single thing that they say, even if it is your soulmate, 

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00:06:14

I was going to say my husband and I don't agree a hundred percent on everything. 

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00:06:17

We're never going to agree a hundred percent of the time. So don't try don't. This is not look like I said, some of y'all haven't seen your families in two years. This is not the holiday to convince uncle Joe, what your ideals are on the current state of the political environment, correct. Is not the time. So somebody does ask you that question and they go, well, how do you feel about so, and so, you know, I would just say, you know, I've just got a lot of very thoughts on it and it's just not really the time to talk about it, or just completely change the subject. You could just completely change subjects and somebody goes, well, how do you feel about, and you just go, wait, did you, did you bring the hash brown casserole? 

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00:07:10

What'd you put in it because I tried to make it before and I couldn't make it as well as you do. How did you do it? You always got to have a way to come back. You gotta, you gotta put it back on the other person. 

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00:07:23

I'm just saying this year, I just may be. May I just say, you know what? I don't really like talking about politics. I really do try to avoid it. Just, just because it's such a, such a way to get people so heated and so hateful to each other. I really just want to enjoy time with my family. And I really just don't want to talk about that. I would really rather talk about what you've been doing this past year. I've seen some pictures of your garden on Facebook, and I want to tell you, I have loved that dah, dah, dah, you gotta 

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00:07:54

Be careful with that though, of because then they're 

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00:07:56

Going to fill you in 

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00:07:57

Because then they're going to, then you get the conversation of they're prying as to why you won't talk about it. They'll start to cry and they'll start to pull in. So you just, can't you just say, you know, it's crazy world that we live in. So how about those Braves winning the world series? You know, 

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00:08:22

Just unless they are a big baseball Sonata, 

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00:08:25

Not make sure that you, you know, but you just say, how about the Braves winning the world series? It doesn't matter if you're a fan of them or not. Somebody is going to have an opinion if they follow baseball. So you just let them go. That's true. 

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00:08:38

That's true. 

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00:08:39

And always, always, always the great here. My sarcasm question, no kids yet. 

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00:08:50

Oh Mike, 

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00:08:51

This is Leah's favorite because I mean, as y'all know, y'all have listened to the podcast long enough. Leah does not have children. And that is 20 years by choice. Leah doesn't want to have children. That's what she's decided. I have a daughter, 

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00:09:06

Children. I love children. I'm the best aunt Leah in the world. I'm called aunt Leah by children who 

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00:09:12

Or not blood related? No, not, not a part of your clan, but they are part of my clan. Well, technically not immediate, but you know, you always have people that ask you questions on why haven't you had kids yet. 

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00:09:27

And after the mental image of me kicking them in their teeth and being self-satisfied And you say, you know what? I'm so happy being an aunt, Leah and I love sleeping all night and sleeping late on the weekends. And you know, being able to just pick up at a moment's notice and go wherever I want to, whenever I want to, because I can put the dogs outside and leave them and DHR doesn't get called. 

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00:09:52

You gotta be careful with that too. Cause then somebody is going to take a fence cause they can't drop everything and pick up and go travel when they want to. So, 

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00:10:03

You know what 

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00:10:03

Causes that look I'm saying, if you don't want, if you're a few 

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00:10:07

Are offended by me saying that that show problem, you got 

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00:10:10

To avoid conflict, you got to develop. 

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00:10:13

Do you know how many times I've had that question asked? I'm aware. So I really, at this point in my life, I give, I give no, well you 

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00:10:24

Just no cares. Somebody asks about it, 

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00:10:27

You know? And when it's the same person that asks that every time you see them, it's really, it really gets more and more difficult to say it kind of, 

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00:10:36

You know, and here's a really funny one that you can do. You go, you know what? We're just so really enjoying the honeymoon phase of our marriage. And then you always have that fed that relative, like Leah's and they go, you've been married 20 years and you go, I know. And isn't it crazy that we're still in that phase together and that's it because they can't say anything about that. They can't say, oh, well, you shouldn't be in that phase. How do you respond to that? You shouldn't be in that phase of your life. 

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00:11:09

You just 

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00:11:09

Say we're still in the honeymoon phase and just leave it at that. And then they, and then they continue asking you. And that's your answer is your standing answer because eventually they'll realize I should. I can't ask, like I get the same answer every year. I mean, always get just, we're still in the honeymoon phase. That's it short and simple. Just leave it. And then, then, then, then if you really want to get them, that's when you make them real uncomfortable. And you're like, do you see him in those jeans? Wouldn't you be in that phase? I mean, and then they're like, that is, that is my nephew. 

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00:11:49

Right? I know. I mean you, him cram that devil deg. You see how look at him? I'm tell you he lost those three pounds this year and man just can't wait. I mean, 

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00:12:08

I do love my husband and he does have pretty leg 

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00:12:11

Whore. Or you just do this one. You have this really good one. I just don't really think I want to share him. Well, I don't exactly. I don't. I just don't think I want to share him. Then somebody can say, well, that's kind of selfish. And then you go on the pretest. I am selfish. And then what do you say to that? Cause 

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00:12:33

I readily admit that I am spoiled and I am treated like a princess or queen, whatever you want to call it. I 

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00:12:40

Readily admit that and I'm 

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00:12:42

Okay with it. So, 

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00:12:45

So a couple of other things that you can do that is always, always, this is the number one way. Number one way to avoid conflict at any family gathering the nod in the bathroom. No. Oh the basement, no units that doesn't involve hiding you can't hide. Cause then people come and find, you always place yourself near the well behaved children. Hmm. Oh wait, because then you can help. You can be like, Hey, do you want to color your, your uncle? Who's about three beers deep. Isn't going to come and try and talk to you about politics. 

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00:13:27

And you're sitting by the kids. He's not going to come and ask you when you're having kids because you're sitting right there beside him. So he's just, you know, you, you keep yourself near the kids. The well-behaved ones, not the crazy ones, not the ones that everybody's like, they're coming this year. Yeah. 

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00:13:45

To say usually if there's a group of kids, I'm usually in the thick of it. 

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00:13:49

I mean, and that's the, that's always the best thing to do. My last tip. Last tip. Don't take any wooden nickels last tip for making sure that you are getting the most for yourself out of your family. Thanksgiving events always make sure one, you drove yourself there. Boom, baby two, that you are not responsible for getting anyone home because you can always come. 

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00:14:30

You know what? My friend invited me to her family's Thanksgiving. Oh. And it starting in about 30 minutes. So I should probably go ahead and go. Cause I don't want to be read and be late <inaudible> and then you just home straight to the bottle of wine or whatever you would like. And that's it just always that's Hey, that's one truly. That's my number one. Tip for life. If you want to be honest, never, never, never, never put yourself where you cannot leave. And that is just coming from somebody with anxiety who I don't want to be trapped in a location or a control freak or something like that. I don't want to be trapped in one specific location. I don't. I always drive yourself and have an understanding. 

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00:15:13

Say, you bring a significant other with you have an understanding that when you look at your significant other and they get that look, it's time to wrap it up. Let's go because you know the look, you know the look from your significant other and it is always a specific look and you get it and you go, all right. And if all else fails, this is probably the family. Sometimes this is the family that you only see like once a year. Cause it's your big extended family. You just sneak away. You just leave. You just ghost them. No, you can't do that. Well, that's why you got to go to an event where you got a lot of people there and you just go, some you go, I'm just going out to the car for a second. 

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00:15:58

I can't do that. Tell me I can't do that. I'll do it in two seconds. If I'm, if I'm in an uncomfortable situation, you will not understand the links of which I will go to get out of it. Like I can't, you know, and Hey, and if you got that one real relentless relative, that always just wants to start an argument with you. Just, just, we always got that other one family member that always something's going on with them. And always somebody talking about that one family member, but they're not talking about that one family member. So you have that annoying one that comes up and starts talking to you and you go, did you hear what happened with Angelina? 

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00:16:43

And let them go, let them go. And you just sit there and you just, I it's crazy. Right? And just let them go. I mean, Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. Sometimes in those situations you can not eat. That's your hail Mary. That is your hail Mary at Thanksgiving is just that. There's always that one relative that they're always doing something a little bit, a little bit less than what some people would think say, it's usually like, Hm, you hear that? Her son isn't doing too good in college. Let them go. And they'll just keep going. 

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00:17:24

And then they'll start complaining about everything. It's great. I'm telling you, but always do those things. Make sure, you know, always have an exit strategy. Always, always have a plan. Always have a plan. A plan a through Z is always is always what I like to do. I, I like to prepare for any and everything. So to take us with on your Thanksgiving week, whether you're traveling, whether you are not traveling, whether you are having Thanksgiving at home, I did that last year with my boyfriend. We just had Thanksgiving, ourselves at home. It was quite nice. I enjoyed it regardless of what you're doing this Thanksgiving season. 

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00:18:05

If it's with your chosen family, that too, Hey 

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00:18:09

Friends giving every year, it was two of my best friends. Like the week before Thanksgiving, we have a lunch together and then 

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00:18:16

That's great. You know, if you, if you're getting together, look crack barrels open. I'm just saying, so we're in 1826 to take you on your Thanksgiving travels or non travels. Hey, traveling from the kitchen to the couch, that's a travel. You gotta walk. You got to go somewhere or you don't. I don't care. So we are in the year of 1826, I got an, a rabbit hole of 

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00:18:43

Deer. It's you not get in a wreck? 

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00:18:45

Well, so this episode and next episode, it was a spiral. So I started this episode and I told my boyfriend what the episode was about. And he goes, oh no. And I said, I know we're going to discuss the case of William Morgan and his disappearance. Always an interesting one when it's a disappearance. So our sources for this week, we've got history.com. And then we have a website that was called Jerry walton.com. Got a lot of really good information from that website. So both of these, I can't give you the titles of the articles yet because it'll give away what we're discussing. 

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00:19:31

So I'm going to leave you in suspense a bit longer. Our events in 1826, January 24th, treaty of Washington, between the United States government and the Creek national council in which they seeded much of their land in the state of Georgia was signed February 6th, James Fenimore Cooper, his novel. The last of the Mohicans was published February 13th. The American temperance society was founded in Boston. This is a society that members had taken a pledge to abstain from drinking distilled beverages though, not including wine and beer. It was permitted. It was permitted that the medicinal use of alcohol was allowed as well. 

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00:20:15

It contributed to the abolition of slavery, expanding women's rights, a temperance, which is just consuming alcohol and the basic improvement of society. Essentially, we can drink wine and beer and alcohol. We can drink liquor if the doctor tells us that we can. But other than that, no, April 1st Sam patented the internal combustion engine, July 15th, the Pan-American Congress of Panama concluded without us delegates arriving. So just to kind of go into this, cause it was just interesting. The Congress of Panama was organized by assignment Boulevard, with the goal of bringing together the new republics of Latin America to develop a unified policy towards Spain, who they were trying to break away from. 

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00:21:05

The reason the U S not making it is significant is because the us was only invited due to the pressure by current president, John Quincy, Adams, and secretary of state Henry Clay. One of the two delegates sent died on the way to Panama. And once the remaining delegate arrived, the meeting was already over, oh, because of this, he missed it. They did it intentionally because of this great Britain who was only supposed to be attending as observers, acquired many trade deals with several Latin American countries. Funny how that happened. But the, the Congress of Panama already, they were are, they were not waiting on the U S in general. 

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00:21:51

It wasn't. They just went ahead and had it cause they didn't really care. They didn't want them to be there in the first place. They just kind of force themselves in. So in August, the town of Crawford notch, New Hampshire suffered a landslide. Those killed included the Wiley family, Mount Wiley, which is located in Grafton county. New Hampshire is named after them September. It's like the whole family. Yeah. The whole family died in a landslide. September 3rd, the USS Vincennes commanded by William Finch left New York city and became the first warship to circumnavigate the globe. 

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00:22:32

Hmm, October 7th, the first train operated over the granite railway in Massachusetts, December 21st, American settlers in Mexican Texas attempted to seed from Mexico to establish the Republic of free Donia, which survived for a little bit over a month. And it was called the Fredonian rebellion for Donia December 25th, the eggnog riot. We almost covered this, but I did an eggnog eggnog riot broke out at west point military academy. It was caused by a drunken Christmas day party and the north barracks of the academy. 

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00:23:16

Two days before the riot, large quantities of whiskey were smuggled in to make eggnog for the party. It involved more than one third of the cadets by the time it ended Christmas morning. Oh, ma so for our undated events of this year, this was just an interesting one. We might go into it later, later on sometime for possibly a bonus episode. Like I don't know, sing, sing prison first opened in 1826 on the Hudson river. For those who aren't aware, which Liam I'm is one of them. 

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00:23:59

This is the place for the worst of the worst who commit the most unthinkable crimes. It's not a place I want to go. This is where they go in. Not a place for me. I won't go. Like I said, I won't go into much about it because we might cover it a bit later on. But just to give you an idea of the types of people sent here, Leo will not know who some of these are. She knows who one of them is for sure. I do know that. And that is David Berkowitz. The son of Sam, he was sent to sing, sing Albert fish, not going to go into it. We might cover him later. We might not. It just depends on how brutal that gets. 

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00:24:39

And Louis Butch halter. He's the head of murder, Inc, which was a kind of like murder for hire company that was running through us. It was crazy. We'll cover murder, Inc, for sure. At some point you live with yourself. So our birds in 1826, March 4th, Theodora to hone Judah, he was a central figure in the promotion, establishment and design of the first continental railroad. This is an important thing is Pisces a May 4th Frederic Edwin church. One of the most famous painters in the United States was born. He is most notable for landscapes and he was a Taurus and July 4th, Stephen Collins, foster, the father of American music was born on the 4th of July, 4th of July, how patriotic he wrote over 200 songs, including oh, Susanna and camp town races. 

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00:25:38

Both of those, he wasn't cancer like me. And then our next one is September 18th, Celia and Burley. She was a women's rights activist. And first woman ordained into the Unitarian ministry. She was a Virgo like you. And we discussed it last week, Unitarian. That's where it's not the Trinity. It's just a singular, but she was the first woman to ever be ordained into it, which was just cool because women being ordained into ministry at that time, just really wasn't a thing. So our deaths in 1826, weirdly enough, July 4th, John Adams, the second president and the first vice president, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, yes. 

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00:26:26

Was our president. And second vice president both died on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the declaration of independence without knowledge like, yeah, like they just, both Dustin Adams say Jefferson, or was it Jefferson that said, Adam survives one of them on their desk, on their dead survives. And they became really good friends. I want to say, Adam said Jefferson survives. That's right. Yeah. But they both died on the same day, July 4th, 50 years after the signing of the declaration of independence. Amazing. And then August 26th, Royal Tyler, which is just a fantastic name, really, he's a famous playwright known for writing the first American comedy play, which was called. 

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00:27:19

I didn't say it was very boring for a comedy flame. So we'll get to September 12th, 1826. Oh dear a stone worker by the name of William Morgan, disappeared from the local jail in Batavia, New York, many believe it was the work of the Freemasons done done. We discussed Genesee county, New York back in episode nine about James McClain or better known as the man who was hanged twice. And I told you back then briefly about a man from the same county who threatened to spill the secrets of the Freemasons and he disappeared. 

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00:28:03

Well, this is that case because I set it back. Then we're going to cover him. This is him. Come back. I'm going to briefly cover the history of Batavia, but I'm not going to cover much of it because this is going to be a wild episode. This is a wild ride. I like a wild ride. Buckle your seat belts. Not only are we your seatbelts, whichever one buckle up. Not only are we going to dig into the disappearance of William Morgan, but we are also going to dive into the history and lore that surrounds the Freemasons intriguing. I put next and my Jake Peralta voice chills, literal chills because I mean, if you've not watched Brooklyn nine, nine, do yourself a service and go binge all of it. 

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00:28:53

This Thanksgiving week, it's one of the best shows ever. Stephanie, the current location of Batavia is located on what the early settlement of Genesee county was. It is located in the farthest west region of New York state in the Genesee valley and also west of the Niagara river lake Erie and the Pennsylvania line. The official village of Batavia was founded in 1802 by resident and land agent Joseph Ellicott under the authorization of the Holland land company. It was named in honor of the Batavia Republic, which was a short lived government in the Netherlands. Alright, today the area is part of the rust belt, which we mentioned in episode 10, when we talked about the borscht belt in the Catskills, think at scale, the rust belt is a region and the north Eastern and Midwestern regions of the United States that experienced major industrial decline beginning in 1980 factories started closing and the buildings became hollow shelves of their once vital existences, hence the rust belt. 

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00:30:03

So sad, fun fact. The town was used as a filming location and the 1987 film planes, trains and automobiles starring Steve Martin and Neil page. So there you go. And that's all we're going to talk about. Batavia William Morgan was born in Colepepper, Virginia in 1774. It could be August 7th, but there's not much proof of that. We don't really know he was a bricklayer and stone cutter and eventually saved enough to open a store in Richmond, Virginia. He claimed to be blamed. And if y'all could see the look on her face when she said claimed and how she cut her eyes to me claimed to be a captain in the war of 18, 12. 

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00:30:49

And while there were who corroborated the story, people were still skeptical of its validity on October in October of 18, 19 at the age of 45, William settled down and got married to 19 year old Lucinda Pendleton in Richmond. Oh, he could have been her daddy. He was 45. She was 19. They went on to have two children named Lucinda, Wesley Morgan and Thomas Jefferson Morgan. The family moved to York, upper Canada and William operated a brewery for a little bit. 

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00:31:29

But when the brewery was destroyed in a fire, the family fell into poverty quickly and they moved to Batavia. New York. William went back to what he knew and became a stone worker again. And from everything I read about William Morgan, it was pretty much agreed across the board that he wasn't really much of anyone he was described in all sources as a drunk, a drifter, a gambler. And according to one source, he quote had moved his family relentlessly through the countryside, hauling his wife, Lucinda, and two children from one failed venture to the next sounds like a winner. 

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00:32:14

I should put ouch at this time. Debtors' prisons were still alive and well in some areas. And William found himself in them more times than he found himself out of them. Local Masonic lodges were to thank for getting William bailed out more than once, but it's unknown whether he was actually a Mason or not. He claimed to be a master Mason when he lived in Canada and he attended a few meetings once he reached New York. So you might be asking yourself, what exactly are the Freemasons ask Ben gates? 

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00:32:55

He knows Raleigh cannon knows I could do an entire podcast, like a whole show just on Freemasonry alone. But we're going to dive into this rabbit hole for just a bit. According to Britannica, Freemasonry are the teachings and practices of the fraternal. So men only order of free and accepted masons, the largest worldwide secret society and oath bound society often devoted to fellowship, moral discipline and mutual assistance that conceals at least some of its rituals, customs or activities from the public while it's called a secret society, the society itself can be known and their existence acknowledged. 

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00:33:38

And the practices and beliefs can remain a secret. Traditionally, the group's origin can be traced back to local groups of stonemasons that regulated the qualifications of stone, masonry and their interaction with authorities and clients today, the group can be split into two factions. First is regular Freemasonry who insists that the practices be open in a working lodge that every member, professed belief in a Supreme being that no woman shall be admitted. And that the discussion of religion and politics be banned. Second is the continental free masonry. 

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00:34:20

This is also called liberal free masonry, Latin Freemasonry and ag Dematic Freemasonry, which have the same general beliefs, but some or all of the rules are removed depending on which branch you were at. The status of a free Mason is identified by his degree, which represents the steps taken from lower ranks to the highest degree of free Mason knowledge. There are many different types of degrees systems around the world, and it depends on the chapter as to what they are. However, there are three degrees that are standard among the Freemasons. The concept of names of each degree were adapted for middle age crafting guilds. 

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00:35:06

The first degree is an entered apprentice, which is essentially the introduction to the may Sonic order. At this level, the candidates learn about rituals, symbolism, and beliefs in masonry. They learn the language of Freemasonry, what topics cannot be discussed in the lodge and the actual responsibilities of the lodge to the community and world around them. This degree is meant to represent youthfulness and a time of learning. The next degree is the fellow craft. At this level, the member is exposed to more advanced understanding and philosophy, intellectual enlightenment, and wisdom. This level is to represent the member hood re the member reaching manhood. 

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00:35:49

The third degree is the master Mason, which is to represent maturity and having advanced wisdom and knowledge. The master masons are taught about virtue and morality, along with the duties and tools of a master Mason. This step usually takes several years, years to complete. And at that point he receives all of the rights and privileges available to him as a master Mason. Now I found an article on history.com titled seven things you may not know about Freemasons. And what do you know? We're going to go into all of them. Shaka. 

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00:36:29

They are as follows. Number one, the Freemasons are the oldest fraternal organization in the world with its beginning, going all the way back to the middle ages in Europe. Number two, Freemason symbols. Aren't what you think Freemasons have long communicated using visual symbols. Some of those being the all-seeing eye and the most recognizable being the square and compass, which is a builder's square joined by a compass itself. Number three, yes, there is a free Mason handshake. Several of them actually, there is a handshake that goes along with each degree and each lodge has its own specific handshake as well, because why not only must sorority had a handshake made. 

0  

00:37:16

It makes sense. Number four, the Catholic church forbids members from being Freemasons or marrying Freemasons, the Catholic church first condemned Freemasonry in 1738. This was prompted by concern over a may Sonic temples and the secret rituals performed there. And the 19th century, the Vatican even called the masons quote, the synagogue of Satan, pretty strong words coming from the Catholic church. Number five, Freemasons inspired America's first political third-party in 1828, the anti Masonic party was formed in response to fears that the group was growing too secretive and powerful. 

0  

00:38:04

Some leaders claimed that an infamous disappearance of the time had occurred at the hands of the masons. Hint, it's this one number six. It's still a boys club. Mostly. Yes. The original guidebook to the Freemasons stated that neither a woman nor an atheist could be a member, but there is a quote which said, masons can come from all walks of life provided. They can afford to pay the annual subscription, which is not expensive. I looked it up. It's like $300 a year. I believe if I'm not mistaken, my pop was a Mason. He might have been there's different ones. 

0  

00:38:46

Yeah. I mean, there was one, like my grandfather was an elk. It wasn't, it wasn't. No, it was a Mason. There's daddy has his, his Bible. Yeah. There's a few different. So you can have a Masonic large and not be a free Mason. Yeah. It's, it's very weird. I got no there's all kinds of levels and such, but I mean, I got too deep into the rabbit hole. My grandfather was an elk. That was a rabbit hole I did not need to get into. Anyway. Seven famous Freemasons are everywhere. There are many famous Freemasons, including George Washington, who was a master Mason and Benjamin Franklin, who was the founding member of the first Masonic lodge in America. 

0  

00:39:37

Other masons include president Franklin D Roosevelt, president Gerald Ford, prime minister, Winston Churchill composer, Wolfgang Amadeus, Mozart adventurer, Davy, Crockett, jazz musician, duke Ellington, singer, and Nat king Cole automotive mogul, Henry Ford actor, John Wayne and astronaut buzz Aldrin. Cool. And that's probably, as far as we'll go with the Freemasons for now, there is a lot more that we could cover. Some of it's going to come out in this case as to what we discuss more about the Freemasons. 

0  

00:40:20

We might also cover skull and bones. Eventually. I feel a little bit scared to cover a skull and bones cause they're still alive. And well as my, my boyfriend was telling me the other night when I brought it up, there were two and I don't remember which ones I said, I can't, I'm not going to say, but there were two during a presidential election, both of the nominees running for each party were both in skull and bones and both in it at the same exact time. It was very weird. 

0  

00:41:00

So we'll probably cover them eventually. I don't, I don't want the Clintons to come after me. So no, let's skip that. We'll see. It could be good. Who knows? Freedom of speech. Anyways, as I said before, William Morgan claimed that he had been made a master Mason while living in Canada, as you can see, from what we discussed, even from the lower levels of Freemasonry to a master Mason, it seems takes like 10 years. Yeah. There's no way it takes a minute. Whatever. 

0  

00:41:40

So in 1825, he was awarded the Royal arch Mason, which is outside of the three degrees discussed earlier because this is a rare one that most people do not make it to. And these are some of the most secret degrees that people can hold. I feel like he, she get like, you know, I see the sea king George from Hamilton. So the Royal arch Mason is said to be the most beautiful degree in all of Freemasonry he's king George, you know, makes it this. They had no, they have, the whole point of Freemasonry is you have to be secretive. 

0  

00:42:22

They can't, you can't be like king George who was bougie. But within the thing, no, because even in the thing, it's supposed to be this high to a Royal arch Mason, they're not supposed to know. It's very weird. Anyways, masons who reach this level can go straight to the Knights Templar. Yes. So Morgan receives this degree at LaRoyce Roy's Western star chapter number 33 in Genesee county, New York, after declaring under oath that he had obtained the previous six degrees to get there. 

0  

00:43:02

So if one through three, roughly takes 10 years from what I saw, you did six. So you can go up and above master masonry, but a lot of people don't because you have to devote like all of your time to do it. So a lot of things, while he went into debt, I mean, you know, cause he was spending all his time. There you go. Well, no, he was drunk and he was a gambler. That was why he was losing all of their money. I was trying to make it so you'll, you'll find out no tried. You don't need to make excuses for him. You know me I'm Pollyanna Hayes. Apparently our younger listeners have no idea what that means. So I want to make it pretty clear that Morgan didn't claim to join the free masons so that he could simply be in the organization. 

0  

00:43:49

He joined the Freemasons to gain access to the secret ceremonies and rituals of the masons. And then he wanted to expose them. And Morgan had a friend named David C. Miller, who was a local newspaper publisher who was struggling to keep his paper going. Being of course the charitable pan that Morgan was, he would gather the information he needed from the Freemasons. And then he would help his friend Miller out by using his printing operation to publish the book, see told you in 1826, Morgan publicly threatened to expose the secrets and made his plans to publish the book known. 

0  

00:44:35

This caused a quote excited, great commotion among the members of the group. I would imagine, and something had to be done about it. The members in and around Batavia New York were especially our rate because they had allowed Morgan into their group and quote consultations were had among them respecting the means, which should be adopted to prevent the publication of the contemplated work. The original plan was to simply convince Morgan to not publish a book and just forget about it. But that didn't work. Then the group tried to give him advice in the hopes of changing his mind. 

0  

00:45:15

I can only imagine what that advice was that did not work. It seemed Morgan was more concerned about the idea of possible fame and fortune for the book than let's say his life. I'm sure at the time, Morgan didn't understand the gravity of the situation, but he soon would then quote arrangements were made for the assembling Apatow. Tevia on the night of the 8th of September of members of the fraternity from different and distant places. It is distinctively proved that a party of 15 or 20 persons from Buffalo and its facility assembled at a Tavern about four miles west of Batavia in the afternoon and evening of that day, they remained there until eight or nine o'clock in the evening when they went toward Batavia. 

0  

00:46:06

At the time a party came to Batavia from Lockport in its vicinity. It is in proof that this early party was composed of persons. Some of whom had been selected for the express purpose to assist in measures, to suppress the book and to separate William Morgan from the individual who was printing it voluntarily if possible forcibly, if necessary. It was not just the expression of the book. That was a concern of the Freemasons. Morgan had quote borrowed, we'll say borrowed, some say stole, summed it and say, so air quotes on borrowed. 

0  

00:46:49

Yes, a shirt and crevasse like a neck scarf. For those who don't know from Ebeneezer C Kingsley, Kingsley filed a charge on September 10th, 1826, claiming that Morgan had taken away those items Kingsley's allegation resulted in a warrant being issued for Morgan. Then Morgan was arrested in Batavia, but on the stage coach, and then he was taken to Canandaigua about 50 miles east of Batavia. Well, Morgan did go before a judge and the charges against him were dismissed weird. Then another warrant was issued by Nicholas G Chesbro against Morgan for a debt of $2, which that is, that is a huge debt. 

0  

00:47:35

Well it's around $56. So it's still, which was part of a Tavern bill. This time, the judge did issue a judgment against Morgan for $2 and 69 cents. And he was sent back to the jail and Canandaigua. And this all took place September 11th, 1826. The next night on September 12th, according to the jailers wife or husband was not present at the jail. And she was watching over the prisoners for the night. Lawton Lawson was a local Mason. He came to the jail and asked if William Morgan was there. She told him that he was in Lawson, said that he wanted to pay Williams' debt completely and take him away. 

0  

00:48:21

Jailer's wife came up with an excuse that she couldn't let him go or didn't have really the authority to let him go. Lawson seemed okay with that and asked if he could talk to Morgan for a bit. And she took him to the cell. Lawson told Morgan that he would pay his debt if he left with him. And Morgan agreed Lawson again, tried to give the money to the jailers wife and she, again, wouldn't take it. Something didn't feel quite right to her Lawson, left, angry and went to find the jailer himself couldn't find him. So Lawson came back with another man who said his name was foster, but it really wasn't. His name was John Sheldon interesting loss. 

0  

00:49:02

And again, tried to give the jailers wife money and even wanted to give her more than what Morgan owed. Oh, that's 

1  

00:49:09

Not suspicious at all. 

0  

00:49:11

She again refused. And the two men left the jail. I mean, 

1  

00:49:16

You know, not suspicious at all to try to offer more money to get this guy out. 

0  

00:49:26

Lawson returned twice more with different men. Oh my gosh. One of those being Edward Sawyer demanding that she let Morgan go and each time she refused. So homeboy has been back about six times at this point yet. 

1  

00:49:40

So, Hm. Well, suspicious 

0  

00:49:43

Lawson went and got Nicholas Chesboro. He's the one who initially filed the complaint against Morgan to put them in jail. And the men returned again to the jail that didn't 

1  

00:49:54

Kill her 

0  

00:49:55

Husband. No, they couldn't find him at the moment. Well, I 

1  

00:49:58

Mean, I didn't know if they cool 

0  

00:50:00

Could enough. No, they couldn't. And they used him. Won't kill. I think he was out of town and that's why she was watching them. I think he had to go out of town to get another prisoner from what I could see. Okay. 

1  

00:50:10

Okay. I mean, you know, I didn't know they wanted to spare the woman's life, but I mean, they're getting 

0  

00:50:14

Desperate. Chesboro told the jailers wife again, that they were anxious to get Morgan out of jail. Presumably back to his family. She finally agreed. She got the keys and freed from his cell. She said the men left in quote, a friendly manner, but quote, before she could get the door on Morgan's room unlocked, she heard the cry of murder and she ran out the front door, according to the Middlebury free press. She saw the following quote, Lawson, Morgan and Sheldon were on the side, a short distance from the steps. The jail going to the east. 

0  

00:50:56

Morgan was in the middle and evidently struggling to get free. His hat was off and he was struggling to get away. The other two had hold of him by his arms in two, all appearance were dragging him along while they were passing on the east side. She heard a rap on the curb of the well, and about the same time heard the cry of murder once or twice a search party was formed. And they tried to find William Morgan, but he couldn't be found anywhere soon. Everyone was talking about Morgan. There was such a panic in Batavia that quote public meetings were called inquiries, instituted and measures adopted to ascertain the actors in the scene of the apparent in deep inequity. 

0  

00:51:44

So fancy Sandoz can out and word local authorities charged for men with quote, conspiracy to seize and carry William Morgan from the jail. And Canandaigua said to the jailers wife get in trouble. She'll come back. Okay. I was just curious because bless her heart. She tried. So let's see the men arrested or Lawson. Sheldon saw yer and Chesbro the buzz around the trial was 80 minutes. And according to the Fayetteville, weekly observer quote, the taverns are crowded to excess with counsel witness. 

0  

00:52:25

And those whom curiosity has drawn Heather, a number of persons whose presence is necessary to dispatch a business yet haven't arrived. But unless they obtain a combination in private families, they are not likely to be a very pleasantly situated from the hotel where this is written about 70 applicants were turned away since Sunday, the house being crowded to overflowing. Hence you may guess what a host of sojourners that the business of the court has attracted. So, so many people were in town. They had already booked out the local hotel. Yeah, there were 70 people on the waiting list. 

0  

00:53:07

Goodness. People were begging to stay in families, houses, and when they weren't allowed there, they were just going to the bar and drinking crazy, crazy. The trial began and there were a slew of witnesses brought to the stand. William wife was the first to take the stand. She stated that she hadn't seen her husband after he was admitted to the jail. Richard Wells was a local who was out the night that Morgan was taken from the jail. He heard someone cry for help twice, but when he reached the jail, it was quiet. Richard Wells then saw Chesboro and asked if he had heard the same. 

0  

00:53:46

Chesboro said that a man had been released, but there was some reason to arrest him again. And that was why he heard the cries. So go away, go in nothing to see here, nothing to see here. Willis Turner was called to the stand and stated that he had seen several men carrying a man who was struggling to get away. Turner heard them and taco bell of heard the man cry murder three times. And that a scuffle occurred between the men, which calls Morgan's hat to fall off much like the jailers wife said that would've been a good time to use the word kerfuffle. The witness then said he saw Chesboro stuff, a handkerchief into Morgan's mouth. 

0  

00:54:28

And when a carriage stops near the group of men, Morgan was forced into the carriage and the carriage left. Oh, just no more cries. Everything was quiet because they got in the heck out of Dodge, Hiram Hubbard. He was a local Mason. And the driver of said carriage. He claims that he was only asked to arrive and take a group of men to Rochester. He said, when he arrived, five men got into the carriage and they asked to be let out near the woods. But he said he never saw anything conspicuous. And didn't think there would be any reason to worry the trial didn't produce any answers. The theory that everyone goes with most often is that William Morgan was taken to a boat to the middle of Niagara river, thrown overboard and presumably drowned. 

0  

00:55:15

And he was never seen again. So he wasn't in a barrel. There's a second story. Now that Morgan was paid off in exchange for not publishing the book and then he just disappeared and take the money and find somewhere else to be. Right. Well, the Fayette observer noted quote, the trial of the masons for the abduction of Morgan is progressing. The fate of Morgan is yet a matter of profound and deeply interesting mystery. The better opinion is that he was delivered into the hands of party of traders near Niagara and Canada. And by them carry to the Northwest, get serious fears are entertained that he has been murdered will mean it could have happened. 

0  

00:56:05

This plan to get rid of Morgan, didn't go as planned. I think the idea was that if they get rid of Morgan, then all their problems would just be solved. Sure. They just had to get rid of Morgan quietly. Instead they were too persistent in getting Morgan out of jail and drew too much attention to themselves. You think the Freemasons took a hard blow after this because of this trial, a lot of uproar in the community occurred. Some people quit Freemasonry when they realized what could happen to them. If they also didn't comply, this resulted in 2000 lodges closing and it also allowed a man named Thurlow weed, who was a New York newspaper, publisher and politician at the time to Harbor disdain for the organization. 

0  

00:57:03

I 

1  

00:57:04

Can kind of see that 

0  

00:57:07

The event of William Oregon's disappearance, single handedly created an entire political party, the anti Masonic party. I mean, 

1  

00:57:16

Mean you go and kill somebody cause they gone tell you secrets. I mean, 

0  

00:57:21

Well, all of this was going on outside of the courtroom inside the jury was deliberating on the fate of the four men. The men were found guilty of their crimes, but their punishments for less agreeable with those in the courtroom, Lawson was sentenced to two years in prison. Chesboro to one year in prison, Sheldon to three months and then Edward Sawyer to one month in prison, the sentences caused an outrage and there was still zero evidence of what happened to Morgan. And on April 15th, 1828, the New York governor passed an act that allowed him to establish a special counsel to investigate the abduction. 

0  

00:58:03

Now, the reason that their sentences were not that long is because this was still at a time where nobody no proof. Yeah. Now today you can take someone to court. If you cannot find a body, if there is enough evidence to back up that it occurred, 

1  

00:58:22

But there, there are more ways to have evidence now than there were then as well. There's the DNA evidence, you know, more scientific evidence now. So they, 

0  

00:58:34

We could only really get them for abduction. Yeah. They couldn't really get them for murder. So after Morgan disappeared, his friend who was the publisher that he was friends with actually did publish the book, which told the secrets of Freemasonry. So 

1  

00:58:54

It, all of their 

0  

00:58:54

Shenanigans did nothing. It immediately became a best seller. 

1  

00:59:00

Bring that up. As soon as you said, you know that they were just trying to get rid of him quietly. It was like that didn't his friend already have all the stuff. Yeah. 

0  

00:59:12

Some people claim to have seen William Morgan in other countries, but it was never confirmed in October of 1827, a body up on the shore of lake Ontario, people cleaned. It was William Morgan and the body was actually buried as William Morgan. But however, there was a man named Timothy Monroe from Canada that was missing at the same time. And his wife identified the clothing on the body as belonging to her husband, not William Morgan. So people were still outraged by the disappearance and demanded answers in 1848, Henry valance, who was a Mason allegedly made a deathbed confession that he murdered Morgan. 

0  

01:00:02

A lot of people started to believe this story, but a grave was discovered in 1881, about 10 miles away from Batavia, which is very convenient since the bones were found, right at the time that efforts were being put forward to build a monument am memory of Morgan, many people, you know, said finding the grave was staged to generate publicity around the new monument. On September 13th, 1882, a William Morgan monument was revealed by the national Christian association who opposed secret societies, the inscription read quote sacred to the memory of William Morgan and native of Virginia, a captain in the war of 18, 12, maybe a respectable maybe citizen of the Tevia sarcasm and a martyr, maybe to the freedom of writing, printing and speaking the truth. 

0  

01:01:04

He was abducted from near this spot in the year, 1826, all those things in the year of 1826 by Freemasons and murdered for revealing the secrets of their order, the records of Genesee county and the files of the Batavia advocate kept in the recorder's office, contain the history of the events that caused the erection of this monument. And that is the disappearance of William Morgan. Oh no, that's no good. So we still have no for sure answers. We just know he gone be gone. Nobody has any answers. Nobody knows where he went. 

0  

01:01:45

One body was buried as him, but it wasn't him. Then they mysteriously found these bones very oddly, right around the time they were building a monument for him, random sightings across the ocean, people were seeing him everywhere. Then people thought he had drowned. Then people thought he ran away. No one knows what happened to William Morris, deathbed, confessions, deathbed confession. And no one believed the deathbed confession because he was kind of one of the Freemasons that was left that was kind of involved in that time. Not necessarily in the kidnapping or involved 

1  

01:02:27

In the Mason 

0  

01:02:28

In that area. And so a lot of people thought that he was possibly one of the last remaining ones from that time. And so he just decided he would confess to it to try and just like close out the chapter. And okay, so here's, 

1  

01:02:42

It's nothing. I mean, no, you know, kidnapping slash killing, killing is bad. Killing is wrong. I said this, you know, that's I need a shirt that says killing is bad. That being, that's just, that's my line. How stupid of them to go back to the, the wife to the jail like that many times, you know? I mean she says no. Okay. So I mean to just beat you. 

0  

01:03:15

Yeah. No that wasn't them. I mean, 

1  

01:03:18

You know what I 

0  

01:03:18

Mean? And I don't know if they that stupid. I mean, I don't know if they were coming back as much as they did because they thought that the book was going to be published soon. Like if they knew that he had, 

1  

01:03:31

And there was a deadline that he hadn't given it to. Yeah. His printer friend yet. I'm 

0  

01:03:36

Not sure because I mean, they weren't even going back that 

1  

01:03:39

Many times it's highly suspicious. Well, 

0  

01:03:43

It's just stupid. I think too, because they offered to pay her more. They thought she wouldn't say anything about them being there. 

1  

01:03:53

Well, I don't know. I understand that, but if I'm just, I'm sorry, that's just stupid. I mean, if you, because you know, I'm the goody-goody I'm like I said, no, I said what I said, yeah, 

0  

01:04:05

Get out well. And she probably, 

1  

01:04:08

She agreed to it eventually just because she was tired of him. Like just, just get out of my jail, leave me alone. I'm trying to slip down. 

0  

01:04:14

And I think a lot, I think a big part of it though, too, with her is that her husband was not there. She was only watching over the jail for the night. You have a group of men who keep coming back. You're eventually going to be like, they're going to kill me. If I don't like this guy, 

1  

01:04:30

Like leave me alone. Like, I'll take hard money dealing with you. Right. Like next time he might come back and it might not be money in your hand. I mean, I get that too, but I mean, come on just being nice. 

0  

01:04:43

No, I mean, not what this show's about. 

1  

01:04:45

I know, I know that's not what this show is. 

0  

01:04:49

Yeah. So nobody knows what happened to William Morgan, but his death started an entire political party and single-handedly not 

1  

01:04:58

Disappearance because they could have given him money 

0  

01:05:02

And he could be dead by now. Well, this is 

1  

01:05:05

True, but he, he wasn't dead right then possibly he, he, he could possibly have still been alive. So his disappearance, he holding out hope. So his eternal optimist, 

0  

01:05:17

His disappearance created an entire political party. True. And 

1  

01:05:25

Single-handedly not the Freemasons back by like a hundred years. I mean, I got clothes, a gambler 

0  

01:05:35

And a drunkard 

1  

01:05:37

And a liar and a liar and, and really not a great family man and, and a snitch. I mean, if you wanna look at it that way, I mean, we all know us Dinges 

0  

01:05:47

Get wire. I mean, I mean, and, 

1  

01:05:50

And he ended up being the reason for the formation of an entire political party. 

0  

01:05:58

I mean, it, but I don't think it had anything to do with him specifically. I believe at this point in time, so many people were already harboring resentment for the Freemason, the catalyst that it was an excuse to push everything, the proverbial straw. So, yeah, we don't know what happened to William Morgan. He might have lived, he might have been killed. He might've ran. Who knows? We're not real sure, but we have a website that you can easily find that's not disappearing where you can find any and all Owen you information you could be possibly looking for. 

0  

01:06:40

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0  

01:07:20

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