the carriage. They picked up Morgan's hat, which was lost in the
struggle, and watched the carriage drive away.

The account given by the wife of the jailer was corroborated by a
number of entirely reliable and reputable witnesses.

A man living near the jail went to the door of his house and saw
the men struggling in the street, one of them apparently down and
making noises of distress; the man went towards the struggling
man, and asked a man who was a little behind the others what was
the matter, to which he answered, "Nothing; only a man has been
let out of jail, and been taken on a warrant, and is going to be
tried, or have his trial."

In January following, when the feeling was growing against the
abductors of Morgan, the three men in Canandaigua most prominently
connected with all that transpired at the jail on the night in
question made statements in court under oath, which admitted the
facts to be substantially as above outlined, except they insisted
that they did not know why Morgan struggled before getting into
the carriage. These men expressed regret that they did not go to
the assistance of Morgan, and insisted that was the only fault
they committed on the night in question. They admitted that they
understood that Morgan was compiling a book on the subject of
Masonry at the instigation of Miller the publisher at Batavia, and
alleged that he was getting up the book solely for pecuniary
profit, and they believed it was desirable to remove Morgan to
some place beyond the influence of Miller, where his friends and
acquaintances might convince him of the impropriety of his conduct
and persuade him to abandon the publication of the book.