E44: Masons and Martyrs

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (0:20)
On a crisp, cool evening in early September of 1826, the sleepy village of Batavia, New York was awakened to the screams of neighbors.
Two homes in the town had become engulfed in flames, and the some 15 occupants fled, grabbing whatever they could. It was a clear sign of foul play, and the mysterious arsonist would escape. The next morning, as the embers smoked and cooled, another scandal was unfolding. A local town drunk named William Morgan had been sitting in jail. A native of Virginia, he had lived in Batavia just three years with his wife Lucinda and their two young children. But his presence there was constantly bringing trouble to the town. His drunken antics were one thing, but Morgan, often portrayed as a drunk and a drifter, also had a big mouth. It was his mouth, not his alcoholism, that landed him in prison on trumped up charges. Apparently, Morgan had pissed off some of the New York elite, in a real big way. He was taken from his jail cell, thought to be smuggled to a nearby fort, and eventually murdered. His body dumped in the river. His kidnapping immediately created what would become a national mystery. Why would some vagabond's disappearance capture the attention of Americans everywhere?
Morgan, along with a friend, David C. Miller, were taking a stand against the Masons. A secret fraternal organization shrouded in mystery and said to be an ancient brotherhood that existed for centuries. Whether Miller and Morgan were actual Masons is still debated. But we know for sure that they were anti-Masons. And before being secretly seized from his jail cell, Morgan had bragged to more than one person that he and Miller intended to publish an expose against the Masons. After his disappearance, Miller was approached by 50 men with clubs and guns ready for blood. Morgan's widow Lucinda was promised passage to safety if she could furnish the Masons with a manuscript of the expose. She turned over what she could so that she and her babies could escape, and Miller was saved by a few friends.
Why Morgan was abducted and murdered is only the beginning of our story.
Hi, this is Lindsay Hansen Park.

**Bryan Buchanan** (2:43)
And this is Bryan Buchanan.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (2:44)
Bringing you the story of Mormonism from the shadow of the Everlasting Hills, straight out of Zion.
This isn't your grandpa's Mormon history. Thanks for watching!

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:11)
That only you can save me, Brother Brigham, Brother Young.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:17)
I have reviewed ten years ago, Brother Brigham, Brother Young. Well, I have sinned so gravely, Brother Brigham, Brother Young.
So, Bryan, have I ever discussed my tattoo on this podcast? I can't remember.

**Bryan Buchanan** (3:53)
On this podcast? I don't believe so.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (3:55)
Okay, so I am encompassed by faithful and ex-Mormon parts of myself. I have both of the faithful parts and the ex-Mormon parts. And the faithful part of me still studies Mormonism copiously, reads the scriptures, and knows how to can all the peaches from the trees in the backyard.
But the ex-Mormon part of me got a tattoo with Mormon iconography right on my left wrist. So let me show you and see if you can explain what it's like to the listeners.

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:22)
It's like Russell Nelson eating the CTR shield. Wait, no, that's the other tattoo.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (4:28)
He's not eating it. He's not eating it. He's, it's in his grill. It's one of his grills.

**Bryan Buchanan** (4:33)
Oh no, okay. That makes more sense. Okay, now the real tattoo here, we've got, sorry, let me see it again.
Yeah, so you've got the all-seeing eye, and then you've got the beehive underneath. Literally, this is her tattoo.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (4:47)
It's on my wrist. I know it's weird. Kate Kelly calls it my cult tattoo. I think it's the symbol of the Bishop's storehouse.
So yeah, I have the all-seeing eye and the beehive, and if you pull out a dollar bill right now, you'll see the all-seeing eye on your dollar bill.
What you won't probably see is the beehive. Is the beehive on the dollar bill? I don't think it is.

**Bryan Buchanan** (5:06)
If it is, I'd give it back wherever you got it.

**Lindsay Hansen Park** (5:10)
These two symbols are important parts of Mormon iconography, which is why I put them on my wrist, because they were chiseled into the stone all over church property in the Utah period, over bishop storehouses, over the symbol of ZCMI. It basically meant God is always watching in the Utah Territory and Deseret, and by God, we mean the church.