Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1865-06-09

cOuiSUu Eldu vi u ICUCl COuItUlSStOu vi
any sort; that the Stonewall Brigade
was not within sixty miles of the place
where he locates the secret conference oil
its officers; and thas Booth could moi
have been in Virginia ut that time be.
cause he was following his profession
elsewhere. Taking these facts in con.
nection with the essential improbability
of Won Stcinacker's story, there is very
little left OF his evidence.
That Mrs. Hudspcth overheard the
conversation to which she swears in q
New York horse-car. and picked up there
the letter put in evidence, there need be
no doubt. That it was Booth whom she
overheard is far from certain. lie was
not the man to disguise himself in New
York streets SO clumsily that casual
observer detected the cheat ; no reason
can be shown why he should disguise
himself at all at that time, who was SC
ready to exhibit his murdercrs visage tc
an audience of hundreds who knew him
familiarly after his terrible work was
done nor is there internal evidence in
the latter itself that it referred to the
conspiracy in which Booth aud his &C.
completes were engaged. There has
been more plots to assassinatc President
Lincoln than one, or two, during the pas,
five years, and it is difficult to draw with
accuracy the boundaries between them.
Then Mr.. Harry Finegas, known per.
haps better in sporting circles in Boston
than here, swears that. taking his ease in
his inn at Montreal last February, he
overheard Sanders aud Cleary, standing
ten feet from him in public place, talk
OF the assassination Of Mr.. Lincoln ii
words and manner having precedent only
in the stase-whisper Of the conspirator>
of badly managed theatre in an absurd
melodrama. George Sanders is great
scoundrel, and is far from wise man
bat he docs not muttcr to an intimate as
socate in hotel yestibule, in a tone
audible TO all loungcrs in the vicinity
"Lincoln will not "troublc US much
longer. Booth is bossing the job"
Without these dubious witnesses, how
ever, enough has been brought forward to
prove concIusiyely that there Was Il con-
spiracy, anil that the rebel officials at
Nioatreal and Richmond were privy to it
from its inception. Comm. to the part.
Guitar eight conspirators at the bar Of the
court, we find ;hat the testimony tor the
prosecution has established also the CON-
plicity, to a greater or less extent, Of
every one Of them in Tie plot, with a
single exception. BY comparison OF
dates VIC see that Booth was actively en-.
gagged in the scheme in November last,
when it seems to have first taken defnate
shrpe as a plan to forciby abduct the
President and perhaps some ether mem
bcrs of the government. In November
he visited lower Maryland, studied the
country and the roads. and bought horses.
with the advice and assistance of DR..
Mudd. In December (as it seems proba-
bic, although the witness Wcichmann
whose curiosity inaccurate memory for
dates has made many slips, is positive it
was January 10y, Booth was introduced
by Mudd to Surratt, and the three was
in close conference. During the winter
Booth was holding constant conferences
with Arnold and OLaughlin, urging
Chester, his actor friend, to join the plot
as speculation, and making frequent
calls at the Surratt house. About the
FIRST of February A,zerodt was utroduc-
ed there. Early in March Payne ap.
pears among the conspirators. About
the same time two carbines were con6ded
to the keeping of John Lloyd by Surratt,
Atzerodt and Herold. About the l4th
of March, Booth, Atzcrodt, Surratt, Ar.
mold, O'laaughln, and two other men,
probably Payne and IIcrold, held meet.
ing at the Llchan house here, at which
the project was fully discussed and some
of the coaspirators denounced the idea Of
kidnapping the President as impractica.
BILE. On the afternoon of the 18th of
March the principal eonspi, ators, fully
armed and equipped, rode forth to carry
into effect some design. the details OF
which have not teen discovered. They
returned the same evening, batilcd and
despondent. Booth and his agents began
to sell their horses. Arnold and O..
Laughlin returned to Baltimore and
went about their ordinary business
John Surratt went to Richmond and spent
a week, and on his return went directly
to Canada.
There is no conclusive evidence that he
has been here since that time. Payne
still stayed at the Herndon House,
A,zerodt at the Penusy lvania House, aud
Booth, with one short interval of absence,
at the National Hotel,
Abou. March 9th there appears to
have been an effort at a revival of the
scheme. Booth telegraphed to O'Laugh-
lin informing him that the deed was to
be done on the Both. Arnold about the
same time wrote to Booth urging the
Of the scheme: Booth rcleas.
ed him from his engagement, presented
him with his share OF the arms, and Ar
mold repaired to Fortress Monroe, finding
it an easy step from a plot to overthrow
the Union government, to traffic in suit
ers' pies and whskey, with Union soldiers
Booth spent the first week OF April in
New York, aal informed Chester that
the conspiracy had fallen through. He
returned here on the Sth,--and ia less
than aweek came the opportunity and the
growing crime.
Against Mrs. Surratt the prosecution
have clearly proved that from January
last she harbored the eonspirators in her