On May 1, 1865, George Atzerodt gave a statement to Baltimore Provost Marshall James McPhail. At the time of his statement, Atzerodt was imprisoned at the Washington Arsenal and was awaiting trial for his role in the Lincoln assassination conspiracy. Atzerodt?s brother-in-law, John L. Smith, who was a detective on McPhail?s staff, made notes of the statement. While McPhail questioned Atzerodt, Smith wrote down the substance of the conversation. During the subsequent conspiracy trial, Atzerodt's statement never became part of the court record because his attorney, Captain William E. Doster, objected to any testimony by McPhail relating to a confession of his client while in jail. Finally in 1977, 112 years after the trial, Atzerodt's "lost confession" came to light. Joan L. Chaconas, past president of the Surratt Society and of the Lincoln Group of the District of Columbia, discovered it. She had called on the son of William E. Doster, and she discovered the lost confession among the papers she was allowed to look through. It would seem likely that Smith had given his notes to Doster for possible use in Atzerodt's defense. A photocopy of the confession was made. The late Floyd Eugene Risvold purchased the original. Mr. Risvold was a noted historian, author, collector, and businessman. The text of George Atzerodt's Lost Confession is as follows: James Wood sometimes called Mosby boarded with Mrs. Murray an Irish woman on the corner of 9 & F St. in a three story house, front on the upper end of