THE STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE OF WILLIAM MORGAN

Hardback. With Intro' by J. Hugo Tatsch. William Morgan was a resident of Batavia, New York, whose disappearance and presumed murder in 1826 ignited a powerful movement against the Freemasons, a secret fraternal society that had become influential in the United States. After Morgan announced his intention to publish a book exposing Freemasonry's secrets, he was arrested, kidnapped by Masons, and believed murdered. The events sparked a public outcry and inspired Thurlow Weed, a New York politician, to muster discontent and form the new Anti-Masonic Party, which was also opposed to President Andrew Jackson. It ran a presidential candidate in 1832, but by 1835, was nearly defunct. The author, himself a Free Mason, carried out his own investigation 106yrs later, and demonstrates that William Morgan was not murdered by the Masons, but was kidnapped and imprisoned by them and was subsequently paid to remove himself to another country. Illus. (each illus. has its own tissue-guard), Epilogue, Appendix + Index. 302pp. 8vo. h/back. Lightly browned pp., sl. sunned covers o/w Vg.