Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1865-05-15

So while he was In Richmond. On his arriving
aud communicate ted it to him, and he seemed
to be incredulous. Q. Have you been 70
Canada yourself since! A. Yes, sir. q. What
old you learn Of his whereabouts and move
ments there a. learned that he had ar
nVed In Montreal on the 9th OF April, and left
mere on the 18th for the States; returning on
Han and engaging rooms at 81. Lawrence
tnat night-the night Of the lsth-and he was
seen 70 leave the house Of a Mr. Porterfeld in
company with three others in a wagon. ] did
was obtained from the register At 81 Law
renee Hall. did not arrive at Montreal until
the 10th Early in the month OF April, Mrs.
Surratt sent for me, and asked me to give Mr.
Booth Eotice that she wished to see him. She
merely stated that she would like to see him,
and for him to come to the house to see her on
private business. II was on the I'd of April
when Mrs Surratt sent me to the hotel; and
at that time found in Booths room Mr.. John
Mccullough, the actor, and ! communicated
my message to Booth. told him that Mrs.
Surratt would like to see him, aud he said he
would come in the evening, and he did come
on the evening Of the I'd Of April. On the af-
ternoon Of the 14th Of April, the day OF the as
sassination, Mr. Booth had q private inter-
view with Mrs. Surratt at her house. About
half-past O'Clock, when was going to the
door, saw MT. Booth. He was In the parlor,
and Mrs. Surratt was speaking with him.
They were alone in the parlor He did not
remain in the parlor more than three or four
minutes and Immediately after that Mrs. Sur
i
Gross examined by Mr.. Johnson:-I have
been living at the house since the 1st of Novem-
Der, 1864. Mrs. Surratt at that time removed
to the city from the country. She had rented
her farm to MIR. Lloyd 1 had visited her sew
eral times during the year 1868 a, in the coun-
try. / had made her acquaintance through her
son. Her son was q schoolmate Of mine. He
had been at college with me for three years,
and when went there 1t was to exchange the
usual civilities, and always experienced the
utmost kindness and courtesy. Her house in
small ones, and was in the habit OF renting
them out. Young Surrat', during the winter
of 1854, especially in the month OF November,
vas down in the country almost all the time.
His stay at home has not been permanent at all,
because he would sometimes remain at home
half week and go into the country the other
half, and sometimes he would be three or four
weeks at a time in the country. During that
winter he was away long enough to have gone
to Canada and returned without my knowing
ii. He never intimated to me or anybody else, to
my knowledge, that there was a purpose TO
assassinate the President. He stated to me, in
the presence Of his sister, shortly after he made
the acquaintance Of Booth, that he was going
to Europe on cotton speculation; that three
thousand dollars had been advanced to him by
an elderly gentleman residing somewhere in
his neighborhood-the name of that elderly
gentleman he never mentioned to me-and he
stated that he was going to Liverpool, and
would probably remain there only two weeks
to transact his business; from Liverpool he
would go to Nassau; from Nassau to Mata-
moras, Mexico to find his brother Isaac. who
was in the rebel army. never saw his brother,
but was in the habit Of seeing John Surratt al
most every day when he was at his mothers.
He partook of the same room, shared my bed
with me and slept with me. At one time he
mentioned to me that he was going on the
stage with Booth; that he was going to be an
actor; and that they were going ID play in
Richmond. The first of the two occasions on
which 1 drove Mrs. Surratt to Surrattsville
was on Tuesday, the 11th Of April She told
me she had some business with man by the
name of Nothe. This man Nothe, she told me,
owed her sum Of money, about four hundred
and seventy nine dollars, and the interest on IL
for thirteen years, as near as can remember.
We arrived at the village about half.past
twelve o'clock, and Mr.. Nothe was not there.
She told Mr.. Mott, the barkeeper, to send
messenger after him, and he Immediately sent
a mounted messenger to MIR. Nothe. In the
meantime Mrs. Surratt and myself went to
Capt. Gwynn's place, about three miles lower
down, and remained there about two hours,
taking dinner. Mrs. Surratt stated that she
would like to have Captain Gwynn return
with her to Surrattsville. On returning, Mrs.
in the parlor, and there they transacted their
business. I was not witness to 1t. Mrs.
Surratt took two packages. One was pack
vile, and then another was a package which
was done up in paper, about six inches,
should think, in diameter. 1t looked to nae
like saucer or two, or two or three saucers,
wrapped in paper. That was deposited in
the bottom Of the buggy, and taken out by
Mrs. Surratt when we arrived at Surrattsv Vile.
We remained there until half-past six o'clock,
and reached here at absut half past eight or
nine o'clock. heard OF the assassination of
President Lincoln and the attack on Secretary
Seward at three o'clock on Saturday morning,
when the detectives came to the house and
informed us of it. Persons have been In the
habit of coming from the country and stopping
at the house. Mrs. Surratt had great many
acquaintances, and was always very hospi-
table, and they could remain just as long as
they chose. Atzerodt, to my knowledge, stopped
in the house only one night. The first time 1
saw Payne he gave the name of Wood. / went
to the door, and opened the door, and he said
he would like to see Mrs. Surratt. He had
long black coat en-, and when he went into the
parlor he acted very politely. He asked Mrs.
piano cover and did everything which indi-
Gated person OF breeding. The time Atzsrodt
stopped in the house was about the beginning
of February, and at that time there was a man
there by the name of Howell. MIR. John Sur
raft had been in the country, and he returned
from the country that evening, and slept with
arrival of Mr. Surratt at that time, as near as
1 could judge. He said he wanted to see John,
and as soon as he saw John he left. l heard
Miss Anna and Mrs. Surratt afterwsrds say
that they did not care about having him
brought to the house, pas Miss Anna Surl tt
expressed it, she did 20 co re ABOUT suct STICKS;
upon my table false moustache, large enough
te entirely change the appearance of the wearer
Young Surratt is about six feet high, with
very prominent forehead, a very large nose,
with his eyes sunken. He has q goatee, and
very long hair Of light color. He went to
Richmond, some time toward the latter part
of March, and when he got back after the fact
Of the fall Of Richmond had reached here, 1
saw in his possession nine or eleven $40 gold
pieces. He said that he had seen Ben jamin and
Davis, and they had told him that Richmond
would not be evacuated. He did not tell how
he got that money. know he had no money
about him when he left here. The letter which
his mother received from him since he went
to Canada was dated, "St. Lawrence Hall,
xE
received here the day OF the assassination.
Mrs. Surratt permitted me to read the letter.
The latter was written in general terms and
contained nothing indicating any purpose OF
his, or ybody else, to commit murder. The
letter was signed John Harrison. His name is
John Harrison Surratt / have known Mrs.
Surratt since 1863. aer character was exem-
was a member of the Catholic church andiI
generally accompanied her to church every
Sunday.