Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1865-05-19
Trial of. the Assassins.

WASHINGTON, May 1S.-A. Reeve, tele-
graph operator residing in Brooklyn, l.. l.,
identified a dispatch handed him Dy Booth
at the St. Nicholas hotel, and sent to Lewis
j. Weichman, on the 23d of March. 1t SIM
ply read, Tell John to telegraph number
and street at once.n The witness then de-
livered the message to John Surratt, who in
response toWeichman's question what it
was about? said, Don't be so damned in
quisitive." D. .t9-.
Weichman, who was next called as a
witness, boarded at Mrs. Surratts house
in Washington, after the 4th of March;
could :. not fix the time. lie said
Booth, John Surratt, Payne and Atzerot
with several others who had all been riding
out, returned very much excited. He
noticed that some of them were armed.
Surratt said his prospects were blighted,
and was in an extremely Ill humor. The
witness also testified that Oh the morning
after the assassination, he thought it his
duty to- surrender himself to the Govern
ment, and forthwith assisted in the dis
covery and arrest ofthe guilty parties. He
mentioned woman coming to Mrs. Surratt,
whom the latter said was Mrs. Slater, a
French woman and a blockade runner, and
was not afraid of consequences because
she could invoke the protection of the
French Minister or Consul. t'f
On cross-eXamination questions were
asked witness as to the man named st.
| Marie, in 1868. with the apparent object of
| showing that witness was aware OF st. Ma
rie's intention of getting south, and if there
was no other way by enlisting in a Federal
| regiment and deserting, and that witness
was a sympathiZer with rebels and assisted
this man to get South. y e'l-.e ..., .''
The prosecution objected to the testimony
as immaterial, but allowed a few questions,
| to which witness answered that st. Marie
| enlisted in a Delaware regiment, was cap
| tured and lodged in Castle Thunder. Wit
| ness dehied having, while clerk in the
War Department, agreed to communicate
| to any prisoner at the bar any information
he might obtain from. that department.
Being asked about his acquaintance with a
man named Augustus Howell, he said
be had seen him, but never had a con-
| versation with him.o On the contrary he
| had said to Captain Gleason, of the War
| Department, that "there is a blockade rum
nerf at our house. Shall give him up" Il
agitated the question three days, but i
| thought it might be the only time the man
might be there. i let him go. told him
l would like to go South; that l have been
| student of Divinity, and would like to be in
| Richmond for the purpose of continuing
my studies. When in the War Department
he taught me cypher, which he said he
| made, but was for no particular purpose.
No ARRANGEMENTS were made for corres-
! ponding with Richmond. once wrote a
poem Of Longfellow's in this cypher, and
/ chat is the only use ever made Of it. How
( ell was acquainted with Mrs. Surratt.
| Howell never told me it was the cypher
usedin Richmond. "a @.h IS '~. .7l.' 2.
In answer to other questions witness said
F., he would have been the last man in the
! world to have suspected John Surratt, my
school companion, of the murder of the
/ President. My suspicious were aroused by
| frequent private conversations, by seeing
( Payne and Surratt with bowie knives, and
by finding in my room a false moustache.
| My suspicious were not of definite
| character. made confident of Captain
| Gleason; told him Booth was secret SYM
| pathizer; talked over with him certain
| snatches of conversation had heard, and
! whether the parties could be bearers of dis
patches or blockade-runhers.
I Weichman also said he told Capt. Gleason
at the War Department of suspicious cir
| cumstances in connection with the move
ments of Mrs. Sufratt, and asked him what
| they could mean-w whether they were block
! ade-running occupations or not also spoke
to Gleason of the talk afoat about the con-
ttemplated capture Of the President by the
rebels, and Capt. Gleason secuted thejdea
as impossible. He had read in the papers
tthat such an attempt was likely to be made:
Witness said with reference, to the fact of
his having knowledge of the presence
of the blockade runner, Mrs. Slater, at the
| house Of Mrs. Surratt, and not giving the