tures in this country, may be interesting to Masons and to Anti-masons.*

This murderer, and brother Mason, after defrauding and purloining the funds of a society of book-binders intrusted to his care, suddenly decamped to avoid arrest, and came to America. In Philadelphia he introduced himself by the name of Richard Howard, and by intrigue and villany, insinuated himself into the favor and friendship of a respectable family, married a Mrs., with considerable property, spent it in dissipation, ruined his wife, went to the western part of the state of New-York, and was there employed at the book-binding business, by a brother Mason.

About this time the contemplated kidnapping and murder of Morgan was agitated in the Lodges, Chapters and Encampments, for the crime of revealing their secrets; this rendered the services of a bravo necessary. Howard entered into the plans which were laid for the execution of Morgan, with his whole soul-in the last scene of which awful tragedy, lots were cast between Howard and six other ruffians, to see who should be the executioner: the lot fell to Howard, who soon inflicted the vengeance of the craft upon the defenceless victim, whose bleeding penalties paid the forfeiture of his inconsiderate pledge to CHARITY.

Howard's companions and accomplices in guilt, secreted him for a time near the place of these outrages; but the "excitement" beginning to move the people, the craft were compelled, by imperious necessity, to use every stratagem for self-protection, and that by assisting the

* This Howard is the man who attempted to burn Miller's office, at Batavia, in Sept. 1826-to destroy the manuscript of Morgan's book—and who threw the dark lantern into the face of his pursuers, as he fled. The building in which the manuscript was kept, was of wood, in which were about thirty souls, all of whom must have perished in the flames, had the incendiaries succeeded in the attempt.

escape of all concerned in the "last scene," lest they should be used as witnesses against them.

The vigilance of the "Lewistown Committee" had already shook the very sanctum sanctorum of every masonic Golgotha in the country, making the knees of her most valiant Sir Knights to smite, like Belshazzar's of old. Howard immediately fled to New-York, where, by the assistance of his masonic friends, he arrived in safety, filled with secrecy and brotherly love, and where he subsequently drew very largely upon the CHARITY FUNDS. He stopped at the York-House, No. 5, Courtlandt street, then kept by Capt. Young, a high Mason, with whom he demanded an immediate conference upon the "five points of fellowship," which, after retiring to a private room, was granted. Capt. Young then called in one of his boarders, a Knight Templar, and introduced him to Howard, and all being sworn to profound secrecy, Howard made a full confession of his participation in the murder of Morgan, and of his then perilous condition, and requested to be protected in Capt. Young's house; this, however, from the location of the house, was thought to be unsafe, and he was immediately taken by the Templar to a more secluded place, where the prying eye of the profane is not allowed to intrude; and in due time he presented himself before his masonic brethren, in St. John's Hall, and, the door being well tyled, introduced himself exultingly, in substance as follows: That he was one of the principal agents in the death of the traitor Morgan; and that with his own hands he had awarded the penalty so justly merited, on the violator of their secrets—and then demanded protection, which, by the rules of the order in such cases, he had a right to expect. On deliberation, his demands were promptly granted; and after making a collection for his benefit, he was provided with

lodgings at Mr. De Flon's, a Mason, keeper of the Military Garden in Brooklyn, in whose house one of the Brooklyn Lodges met: he was taken there by one of the St. John's Hall Masons, who had long lived under the droppings of its sanctuary. On their arrival in Brooklyn, they were joined by another brother, one of the leading Masons in that place, and after the necessary introduction, Brother Howard was taken to Mr. De Flon's, and introduced to him as one of the Morgan murderers, and a brother Mason, &c. &c. They engaged lodgings for him, for one, two, or three days, or as the exigencies of the case might demand. Mr. De Flon kept a public house, and was willing to accommodate strangers with a private apartment, and in this particular case did it without charge. Howard's trunk was soon brought by his first Brooklyn brother, who, by the by, was a former Master of one of the Brooklyn Lodges. After one day and one night, he left this place, for one on the banks of the East river, that overlooked New-York harbor, where a stranger would be less likely to be noticed or suspected. From this place he made frequent visits to the Lodges, Chapters, &c. &c. of New-York, but always in the night-time. In the mean time, active preparations were making for his departure from thence to Europe-many special meetings of the fraternity were called in the different parts of New-York city and vicinity, to devise means to raise funds for him. At length, all things being ready, Howard took his departure in a fine ship, and

"Bid adieu, a heart-warm, fond adieu,
"To his brethren of the mystic tie,"

accompanied by a trusty craftsman, dispatched to see him safe in his port of destination.

At the time I received the principal part of the foregoing facts relative to Howard, I was in good fellowship with the Masons, and held by their suffrages some of the

most active offices in the higher orders.* For a time, I pondered this matter in silence; I put my conscience into one scale, and my masonic oaths into the other, and I found the balance in favor of the former; I then balanced with the oaths those masonic virtues, such as slander, vengeance, murder, &c. but they were all too light; and I resolved that the rights of conscience should not be violated. Upon the first opportunity, I informed my masonic brethren of this my resolution; but it was like putting firebrands to the tails of Samson's foxes. The whole fraternity, as by one simultaneous impulse, were on the move. Committees were appointed, the "Agitator" waited on, and "in due form" insulted and threatened. But all their threats had no effect upon my mind, for I was determined, that, as I in a good conscience could not sanction the murder of Morgan, I would not by connivance, render myself culpable, as accessary after the fact, but would promptly give to the public whatever information came to my knowledge.

I must here acknowledge, however, that at this time I had not the most distant idea of renouncing Masonry, or exposing any of their secrets, any further than the facts of Howard's confession, or Morgan's murder, were concerned; and I so told my masonic brethren. These facts I did expose in the spring of 1828, soon after they came to my knowledge, in the form of an affidavit, made before a proper officer, in the city of New-York; in which affidavit I stated that Libeas Chapnian, a Knight Templar,† was the man who told me in an Encampment of

* I relate this simple fact merely to show the extent and turpitude of that hell-engendered spirit, so prominent in Masonry, denominated "SLANDER." For as soon as a inan leaves the order, no matter how high he stood in their ranks as a Mason, at the time—or in society as a moral man-he is denounced immediately as a “bad character."

Query. If the best of them cannot escape this calumny, where shall the ungodly and the rabble appear?

+ Libeas Chapman is now General Grand Secretary of the General Royal Arch Chapter of the United States of America.

Knight Templars, assembled at St. John's Hall in the city of New-York, "that he knew that Morgan had had justice done him, and that a man had, in that Hall, confessed the murder to the Masons there, and was by them protected, secreted, and furnished with the necessary means of escape." At the time I received this information, I was friendly to Masonry, rather than otherwise; for, although I had been initiated into nearly all the degrees conferred in this country, and was familiar with their various ceremonies, signs, lectures, oaths, and obligations; yet I was ignorant of the true character of the institution. I had received about thirty degrees, each said to be founded, or based upon some great event of very ancient date, the secret history of which was minutely given, as genuine history, in the lectures, upon the authority and warranty of the institution. I did not question their veracity, and took it as TRUTH. I saw, it is true, many things in the ceremonies, and in the "oaths and obligations," that were in point of phraseology, exceptionable; but never having been required to act up to the letter of these exceptionable points, such as require the concealment of crimes like murder, treason, &c. though fully expressed in the oath, I supposed it was form merely, "retained to preserve the ancient landmarks." But after sharing pretty copiously the "fraternal reprimand," for not adhering to those oaths, in the case of Howard, and being repeatedly denounced in the masonic prints, as a "Judas," for informing the public against him and the New-York Masons, I began to examine the institution, and found the whole system to be, what the world now knows it to be, a sink of moral corruption, where every species o intrigue and hypocrisy is carried on under the veil of antiquity, morality, and charity.

One single case of the most barefaced hypocrisy in one of the leading members of the institution, I will re

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