The Portland daily press., 1865-05-22
BYTELEGRAPH,
The Washington TrinIs--RepOrt
sAsHE OfTestimOny. an.
TO THE DAILY PRESS,
WAsHINaroN. NAV al. !

l Is n
t.e IS WASHINGTON, May 20. 4
The Court met at11 O'clock The testi-
mony q Yesterday was read, occupying until
Testimony of Mr.. Dana, Asst. Sec. of War.
The first witness was the Asst Secretary of
war Mr.. Dana, who identified an instrument
exhibited as one he took from the office of the
rebel Secretary OF State, Benjamin. 1t is
Key to the rebel official cipher; Benjamin's Of
nee consisted of alsuite OF three of four rooms,
his personal Office being the innermost of all
| this was in room occupied by his confden-
tial secretary; most of the articles and records
had been taken away, but 1 found some in
| teresting documents; this is key to the
| cipher by which certain letters of the alpha
| bet can be used for other letters, and by using
these pointers, such cipher can be transla
| ted, or plain writing turned into cipher; the
| machine is about foot long, eight inches
| high, and consists OF Woodentc ylinder, which
| has paper envelope inscribed with letters !;
the cylinder revolyes in pivot holes at each
end, and bar across the top contains wood
en- indices pointing down to the letters. 80
Testimony Of Major Eckert. 3
Major Eckert testified that a cypher shown
him, and which was taken from the trunk of
j. Wilkes Booth, and that taken from the
rebel Secretary OF Wars Office, were the same !;
S6fCkoA AOOcA Aic RdlIucS WHICH nave tdtlon
| to the hands OF our War Department, had been
referred to him for examination some Of which
were the same as this, and worked on the
same principle; rebel dispatches of the 18th
and 10th of October last, were in his pesses
| sion, and were deciphered on the same prinei-
pie, although the key word was different. The
following translation was then read !: bsss
October 10, 1S64.--We again urge the i'm
minent necessity of gaining immediate adj
In+ra ioff,
We now look upon the reelection OF Lincoln
in November as almost certain, and we need
to whip his hfrelings to prevent it; besides
with Lincoln reelected and his armies victor
| ieus, we need not hope even for recognition,
much less the help mentioned in our last--
Halcomb will explain this, These figures of
the Yankee armies are correct to a unit. Your
| friend shall be Immediately set to work as
| you direct. a-sfA4 Sa.N5i'etalI
October 19, 1854. Your letter of the 18th
inst, is at hand. There is not time enough
to colonize many voters before November. A
blow win shortly be stricken here. 1t is not
quite time. Gen. Longstreet is to attack
Sheridan without delay, and then move North
as far as practicable towards unprotected
points. This win be made instead of the
movement before mentioned. He will en-
deavor to assist the republicans in collecting
the ballots. Be watchful and assist him. la
4AC 04l$AhoA Wuot oCub w Abo 0uoA Coc3 oAO
cipher of the 18th came from Canada and went
to Richmond, and that of the 10th came from
Richmond and went to Canada, oa
Testimony of Gen. HamSlton. ,ai
Gen. Hamilton testified that he was familiar
with the handwriting of VIM. G.. Oldham. A
paper handed him was testified to as being in
Oldham's handwriting. Hamilton also testi-
fed to being present when Oldham was cleo
ted member of the rebel Congress by the
Texas Legislature, and had seen many docu-
ments in print introduced by Oldham into the
rebel Senate; i was formerly member of Con-
gress from Texas. He testified to letter
from Oldham to jeff Davis, in relation to the
plan for burning shipping, etc.; did not know
the Mccullough mentioned in the letter. Il
Testinsossy of Surgeon Gen. Barnes.
Surgeon Gen. j. B. Barnes testified that he
made an examination OF the body of Booth !;
on the left side of the neck was scar occas-
Toned by an operation performed by DR.. Way,
for the removal of a tumor three inches be-
| low the ear. $50 seinA fis9 on
s q Testimony of Frank Bloise. i
Frank Bloise testified that he lives half
mile from BryantoWn, Charles county Mary
land; was there on the Saturday at 4 P. M,
after the murder of the President; saw DIR.
Mudd there between three and four O'Clock in
store; did not know whether the soldiers
from Washington had arrived there then; left
the store about dark did not notice when
DR.. Mudd left; did not know at that time of
the Presidents assassination; did not know it
until the roads were guarded. re-
Testimony of J.H. Ward.
]. 81. Ward testified: Lived near Bryan
town. was In Bryantown the day after the as
sassination about. one O'Clock; observed the
military there with Lieut.. Murray; perceived
great excitement throughout; the houses
were being searched, and as my wife was
alone went home; afterwards went back to
the village, when Lieut.. Dana had placed it
under martial law; could not say whether
saw DR.. Mudd or mob the excitement was SO
great, but had a faint memory that DIR. Mudd
was there; heard the assassination spoken o.,
and the name of Booth as the assassin, some
called him Boose; heard of.the assassina-
ton in Bryantown between one and two
o'clock. Witness could not tell the precise
time he left Bryantown for home, but thought
il was about three o'clock. First heard Of the
assassination from negro when he first went
home; the negro was Chas. Bloise, brother of
Frank Bloise had an impression he saw DR..
Mudd get on his horse at Bryantown, but
could not swear it was DR.. Mudd; was per-
sonally acquainted with DR.. Mudd for two
Testimony of Robert Nelson, coIored.
Robert Nelson, colored, was shown a knife,
and testified that it looked like the one he
found opposite Secretary Stewards house, Sat-
urday morning, after the Secretary was stab
! bed; found it in the middle of the street, and
gave it to DIR. Wilson. sfi
He was cross-examined, but nothing new
was elected. Ats 3e
DR.. Wilson identified the knife, as the one
given him by Nelson on Saturday, the 25th of
April, in Stewards library.
n Testimony of Col. j. b. Steward.
Col. j. b. Steward testified that he was at
Ford's Theatre on the night of the assassina-
ton, and was sitting in the front chair, near
the orchestra, on the right hand side; there
are two aisles to the orchestra, and my side
was in the corner on the leftrhand, right un-
der the orchestra, bringing me Immediately
next to the music stand; at the report OF the
pistol was sta tied was speaking to my sis
ter, my head. being turned to the left II
glanced back to the stage; an exclamation
was made. and man leaped from the Presi-
dents box, alighting on the stage = he came
down with his back slightly toward the audi
ence, but, as he was rising, his face came fully
in view; rose, and attempted to leap on the
stage; made two or three steps on the railing
to the right after alighting from where 1 SET,
keeping my attention on the man who alight-
ed on the stage and who had jumped from the
Presidents box; when | reached the stage, on
looking to the left, 1 perceived that he had
disappeared at the left-hand egress; ex-
claimed, stop that man" and then went past
the length of the stage, and, turning to the
right, was twenty feet from the door, but the
door was slammed too; got to the door very
quick, but swung it the wrong way, but +,
remedied that, and passed out; as approach
ed the door, after had said "Stop that man."
some one said that he had gone on horse,
and heard the tramping of a horse; when |
got to the door, L saw man mounting a
horse; the man was just beginning to rise,
and could see him better; the horse was
moving as though -prematurely spurred in
mounting; ! ran Il the direction to which the
horse was heading, and when about eight or
ten feet from the head of the horse the rider
brought him around to the right again; the
horses feet were rafting violently upon the
/ stones / crossed in the same direction. and