Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1865-04-07
Confession Of Kennedy, the Condemned
III Spy and MOtel.BUrner. i' ti.fH

The New York papers give the fol-
lowing confession of Kennedy, who was
hanged in New York on Saturday, 25th
ult., having been convicted as one Of the
leaders in the conspiracy of last fall to
burn New York City: ErE lsgfs
On Friday evening Colonel Burke,
commandant OF THE Fort, and Joseph
Howard, Jr., We're clOseted with the
prisoner nearly the entire night He
conversed upon the war for a few mo-
ments, and then spoke of his future fate
in the most reckless and unconcerned
manner. After some inducements he
made thefOllOwiHg confession:
After my escape from Johnson's Is
land Event direct to Canada, where |
met a number OF Confederate officers.
They asked me IL was willingto go ON
an expedition. ! said sYes, III it's in
the service of my country TO which
they replied, ITS all right but gave
no intimation as to its nature, nor did
ask for any. / was shortly after sent to
New York, where l stayed some time
There We're eight of us I'm the party, and
after we had been i'm the city three
weeks we were told that the object of
the expedition was to retaliate upon the
North for the atrocities of Sheridan i'm
the Shenandoah Valley. 1t was orig
inally intended to set fire to the city on
the night of the Presidential election
but as the phosphorus was not prepared,
| ii was postponed until the night of the
25th Of November. OF the eight men
who formed the original party, two fled
to Canada, leaving but six. was at
first stopping ut the Belmont House In
Fulton street, but afterward moved into
Prince street. i set fire to- four hotels
ofsrathcr to Barnmn's Museum Love-
Joys Hotel, Tammany Hotel, and the
New England House. The others only
set fire to the house i'm which each was
stopping, and then cut. off. Had the
tentirc eight done rs did, we would
have set fire to thirty-two houses, and
played big joke on the Fire Depart
ment. Ea-.a
81, know that I am to be hanged for
setting fire to Barnum's Museum but
the fact is that the affair was simply a
| reckless joke. | had no idea of doing
ii, but when we were in there, for the
mere fun of the thing, j emptied a bot
| tleof phosphorus on. the floor, just to
scare the people. i Knew it wouldn't
set fire to wood, for we had tried that
before, and had at one time about con-
clpded to give 1t up. There was no
| fiendishness about 1t. The Museum
! was set on fire by the mercst accident,
after had been drinking, and just for
the fun of scare. 81 na
"Aftersetting fire to my, four places,
/ walked the streets all night, until
near morning, when went to the Ex-
change Hotel. There we all met the
next morning and again at night. My
friend and i had rooms there, but we
] sat the most of the day i'm the Office,
reading the paper, while the detectives,
who were thick, watched us. Icxpect-
ed then that should be caught, and ii
caught / expected to, die. Had done
so then, ii would have been all right,
escaped TO Canada, as tdid all the rest,
and very glad was j TO get safely across
the bridge. i was restless, however,
and wanted to join my command. /
started with my friend, ria Detroit
Just before3we reached the city he re-
ceived al iptimation that the detectives
were on the lookout for us, and giving
me o signal, he Jumped from the cars.
Il ditn't notice the signal, but kept ON,
and was arrested in the depot. bss{eaS
- 4 wish, to say that the Killing of wo-
men and children was the last thing we
thought OF. We wanted to11t klle peo-
pie Of the North tinttersta md feel
that there are two sides to til War, and
that they CANT be rolling in wealth and
comfort while we at the South are bear
ing all the hardships and privations.
In retaliation for Sheridaf's atrocities
in the Shenandoahwe desired to destroy
property, not the lives of women and
children, although that would Of course
have followed in the train" -'2. g
y 81 =