INTRODUCTION.

A brief narrative of the circumstances attending the abduction of William Morgan is here given, taken from the affidavits of a former trial.

Captain WILLIAM MORGAN whose unhappy fate has so strongly excited the public sympathy, was a native citizen of Virginia. At the period of his abduction, he had resided at Batavia about three years. For several weeks previous to that event, it had been known that he was engaged with one DAVID C. MILLER, the editor of a paper published in the village, in preparing a Book revealing the secrets of Masonry, and a violent excitement existed among the Fraternity of that vicinity in consequence. On the 7th of Sept. a convention of Masonic Delegates, representing Six Royal Arch Chapters was held at the house of Ganson in Stafford, for the purpose, as was currently reported, of devising means for the suppression of the Book. The result of their deliberations is necessarily unknown to the public.

The night before the abduction of Morgan, and when those who subsequently took him were in or near Batavia, an attempt, attended with circumstances which evinced much previous preparation, was made to burn two houses in the Village for the apparent purpose of destroying some printed sheets of the aforesaid Book, in which house were sleeping fifteen persons.

On Monday the 11th of Sept. 1826, about sunrise, Capt. Morgan was forcibly seized and carried away in a Stage Coach by Seymour, Holloway, Hayward, Howard, Chesebro and Everton to Canandaigua, where he was examined before Justice Chipman on the charge of stealing a shirt from one Kingsly and acquitted; Chesebro then demanded a warrant against him for a sham tavern debt of $2, to Ackley, for which, judgment was immediately rendered and an execution issued. Upon this paltry concern he was committed to the County Jail where he laid until 9 o'clock in the evening of the next day, when the debt was discharged by one Lawson ostensibly from friendly motives and he was released. But at the outside of the prison door, Morgan was violently seized by Lawson and another in the presence of Sawyer and Cheesboro who afforded him no aid. He struggled and raised a cry of murder, but was overpowered, gagged and thrust into a coach which drew up on a signal from Sawyer. In this coach, driven by Hubbard and filled with other conspirators he was conveyed in the darkness of the night to Handsford Landing three miles below Rochester, through which place they passed about daylight. This was the last trace to be discovered of him prior to the trial now reported. Hubbard subsequently stated that he left the whole party here and returned home. He moreover stated, that his coach was engaged by an unknown person, that all the party were unknown to him, that he has. never rec'd any pay for the service and he does not know whom to look to for it. It also comes out in this trial, that some unknown person hired a coach of Ezra Platt of Rochester at daylight about this time to go to Lewiston and that he dont know who had it, how far it went, nor has any one ever appeared to pay for it. But it is unnecessary to repeat the information elicited by this trial. It was for a conspiracy to kidnap Morgan from the jail of Canandaigua that the defendants in this trial were indited.