, 1865-02-04
FROM CINCINNATI,
the CHICAGO CONSPIRACY.
Report Of The Testimony Of
Robert Alexander and Chris
topher StraHn
The Order Of American Knights in
Chicaso--Its Members, Speech.
eS and TreasOnable,
Pl0ttfngS.
lFtom Our Own Reporter.1

AAvsAAA60t
(From Our Own Reporte..1
- ., CINCINNATI. Feb. i. 1855.
The court martial now enraosd IN s,vost,-
eating the circumstances Of, fhe Chiraeo con. 1.
spiraey, came TO order this morning 10 the
1otundn Of the Court House IN this city pur-
snant to adjournment. Cor Murray. tile
President, and all the members of liz Com.
mtssio1 were present, also the Judge Advo-
ca'c, ea, sae assistant counsel, the accused and
Inc record Of yesterdays session VAS read,
eeme immaterial corrections were made In
tue official minutes Of the testimony or Wit
nesses copies Of which had been furnished
1ot feE'sioh 10 tho counsel Of the accused,
an9 a1so to The members Of tho court
The cross examination Of the witness Alcx~
amer 1.' Tas "a then continued as follows by
Judge Wilson on behalf Of the prisoners
Halsh and Grenfcll: .
lnevsr was Il the employ Of the Government as
tn noeectvei have not been In the descctivc force
tecire for private individuals, In August of list
Sear. was asked By Dr. Aver, to assist him Is
III II some Important matter he satd he
Nof'hMest, whose magnitude he wanted to find
ont. When Or. Aver spoke to me, understood
tut ~ ne .S was n9. Gose5nmeas detective: When
Ing II for. had known Dr.. Aver for some months
before The abovo Conversation; he had lived IN
Ghlcago about a year, and belonged to the same
Chapter In the Ma.onic Order Tint / did. The
COMMITTEES that stated yesterday was appointed
to report On the objects Of the Sons Of Liberty,
delivered lis report. tSIuk ali the msmbess mem of d
The Com1nistee-Aorr1son, Rock, OF The Tina,
4 ino %5s a1ps cae at 81 as
held on Thursday evening, The commltteaWas
sary by the di dissatisfaction Of many who did not
hear the speech. and who proiessea ignorance Of
he the ain. d1 . Sf he sosfct hare never been mem
times said That ! would distribute arms to the
members Of the lodge. Once gave double -bar-
felsd r e1n ~ ana So some M buck shot 70 D.. Aver, 70
! told other members that II they were in want Of
weapons Nor1d supply them as far Is could. ~
had more than required, but never gave any
meetings Dooilttle introduced to the lodg- a sir.
Clark from Indiana, whomade speech. and told
Hs q The srma which bad been condscated from
eanlzat12n proposed 10 rcposscss themselves Of
By force. t DO not remember the n1mes Of any
olher men, who attended our meetings. besides
M SeS; e. ases sa1s ses.S3 o. e25s9 uoAbout
the time when Judge Morris made his report. the
Gsand sslgnIor o. ths 1odge was think NJ
Obadiah jackson. u. Wilkinson IS i !
serk IN The ATE soEs Of sa5ss5s1 besye
s.reetz. At our weekly meeting it was necessary
for tvo officers to ofefase, and third one at the
time Of Tie initiation Of any new member; The two
and ssAneient Brother" The designation oi tho
! third forget uo waa, however, more than q
| common member, and with tho other twopccu-
i / IN, not su1e whether Patten spoke ornot, vii.
i kinson, Morrison and Strawn, were present.
| Jackson WAS not stra%a1sa lawyer in Chicago.
and Tas no remembcf rixbt a. ~ ocer 9hs
lodge room would accommodate ftty or sixty
! members. The average attendance Was not mora
!. uon about couple of dozen were present, which
| was aboye the average. The committee to report
on the objects Of The organization. vas formed
bcrs present Each member was nominated ana
--appointed separately. l was nominated by Or.
Aver. forget who moved the appointment Of
took no note Of the meeting, so cannot remem-
| ber everything that WEE done, When
s., A5es nosn1as,ed MT, it w.s IN sc:o.sance
to discover The position Of Tie conecai ID arms d
the Order, and the time of tho proposed uprising.
On the evening We were appointed there were not
chicago 7smes, D.; Aver and mye.K Dir. Aver
i iirst spoke to nc 9ho9t joining the organization
| month before DoolIttie's nrst speech. / had
known Aver for rome months before. he wss
member Of the same Chapter Of Aaaons that | BE-
about the organization called the Knights. i told
him had read Of them ia the chicago TR1BuKr,
but thought the revelations shout them were only
! an electoneering affair. did notknou then how
i welt posted the Chicago TK1BuNE wss. He said
they were engaged II some conspiracy, and want.
cd me- to Join them 70 and ont their schemes; but
! refused, a. did not wish to be \ Govcrnment
great danger was near 1t hand, md hat i VS. NJ
avert the eyil: then promised to consider the
TIC orEsnizationh be eallei Krishts, Which was ia
conn It eoa.uissa 15 ' RSes e. s5a ts
on the matter, and he ssid We could
nppy not 10 5eRo ysafe no{s aa{f9I a9 da
exp knowledge do ! know thst any one else did.
ep The dine o bis speeeh ' o. addSs.s @ I'D aoi
Of the committee. Tic Judge In his address said
that the President and Administration had in
trenched upon the rights Of the people, IN the
the arbitrary arrests Of citizens, that ths Const
tuition bad been violated and VIC must resist such
cncroachments. He said that the objects Of the
organization were to resist such encroachmsnta,
, End 10 prevent violations Of the Constitution.
do notremember that he said the Order must DO
careful and not violate the laws ourselves. lie
best Of ny knowledge he did not. The sona Of
Liberty were composed Of members Of the Demo.
cratic party. During kore Of the meetings OF the
lodge hayc heard ii said thst tie Administration
would rot allow tar election. I believe Norris
did kay that the forcible controlling Of the e1ec-
ton YRS one Ct the encroachmcuts on the Cousd-
tutiou hn alluded to. Th. Judge spoke for nearly
IN houI. While speaking Of the election he said
that when the time came. we hsd friends within
an inclosure who would assist rs, and cooperate
| with Us. Ihzve heard Democrats stats thsf there
wonld not be fair election, and hare seen Demo
cratic bauness, haying !nscribad on them "a free
election or ireo 6sht" but such sen;im ants were
Judge Norris cid Gle he manner in which cleo
tons had been suppressed by the military In Ma
nsfore We mist submit to snch treatment II was
By .Judqe RaYtlev-When I entered the organf-
zation professed to be friend, to r. nm. ana to
ton hut reasonable organization. One Of the
chief Of ite objects was to release tho Prisoners at
Dooiftlc @ @ I'll others haTo repeatedly stated lila
/ psyts % uuSnown. Some Of the members used
70 hit e "a "a doo Iass m a1d ipra
! words. When profsssed 70 be fsTorab!e % it
and TO be Denocrat ! proiessed what vas ialse
proceedings which did not feel. but acted 50 In
+; furtherance Of -ny ends. Understood that con-
| flct WIS expected about election unr. Ours was
! the Loyal League, but the opponents We proposed
to meet were The Federal soldiers whom We should
! fina at Camp Douglas; 20 st least always ,dsr-
t OF the members named Gill, who is now in Chlca-
| go OF Cincinnati, was one Of the members Of the
lodge. and said ao One night one Of the MEM
! bcrs In speech said .ye must soon commence our
: onslaught upon AboAt{onists. 'Doolittle shuthim
, up, saying be wss telling toomuch. Geaty also in
lease thc roeel prisonerf, though no action Of the
lodge was taken on the matter. Patten, Doolittle,
Gea.v and others told rs that the Order possessed
plenty OF arms, and they had weapons which they
1 !
the organization towards the latter end Of August,
1864 : forget who proposed the appointment
Colonfl Dt bari What provision was there
! for my military oficers in the organization?
.s u Is oTs1
! Dooley, DoolIttle, Morrison and others. that
!! Walth was Bngadler General In he Order.
Nj. 6trawn Was then sworn as witness for
! the prosecution. He testified Is follows:
Ev1nEscE OF NE. s1aAwN.
| My nan1e Is Christopher C. Etr4wn, I reside in
, Chicago, Illinois, and am IN attorney. bare be-
1onged to an organization called the Sons Of Lib.
was on the 3D. Of November, 1854, that was On the
! Thursday Of the week before Walsh, Semmes and
Others we're present. The Order contained the
d; 1rst degree. The degree was both civil md mill
taty,, 1T being optional on the part Of the
]; member to which class he belonged. do not
! know anything Of the higher degrees. under
stood that tu enter them from opr circles
Eomc inidStory ceremonies we're necessary. There
unay hare been some little discussion in our d1vl.
Sion about the higher grades, hat it was only Of
! very desnltory nature. The highest branch of the
! Order WIS called the Third Degree or Supreme
Council. The Second was termed tbs
GrnEd Circle: ogr degree appointed military OIL
| GERS, and so understood did the others a1so.
once was Bttgsdier General myself, and amer
] wards Walsh bore the dta Of Drigadier General
| Of the Miltt.Jy Department. Both Of the defend
| ants that hare mentioned hare made speeches IN