Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1865-07-28

He OF UlltNnFl &ea
The Intended Confession oil hopert
cobb a enneay-Hos STATE mt
prepared ~ Joseph Howard, The
torger. Was "Intered upon tne NC
eeTd,p &C {, &c, Ae.
prom the Journal Of conraercs, July "a
M.ay persons will recollect that after the ere
cution of kennedy. in New York, on the 25th
Of March, En unsigned and unauthenticated
s,ory vas published purporting TO be 4 comics
sion which be made the night before his death
This pretended confession was, however. dis
credited At the time. and finally understood to
have been bogus affair, gotten up by an ingeni-
Gus reporter. It was, however, Of 20 little in
portance that it was quite forgotten, and might
have remained among the mass Of literary per
formsnces Of reporters. such as the Tribunes &C
count Of the Museum FIRE. or other ingenious &c
vices TO amusc the public, had not the Judge
Advocate seized on il "a good evidence before
a Military Commission. Had he been practising
in q court OF justice be might have found Il dit
6cuIt to get such matter before the jury. DE
would have needed a witness TO the fact OF the
confession at least and il might have been cues
tioned whether Il vas not also necessary that Il
should have some relevancy TO the guilt OF the
accused But there we're no such questions
raised In this case. Wequote the account OF It's
introduction from the report Of the trial:
q. Where DO you reside. A. In New iork.
q State whether you knew Robert Kennedy,
who was hung in New y ork some time since
A. did
25sh OF March last.
q STATE whether or nor, before his execution
he made a confession which was afterward pub
lished in the newspapers Of the country A. tie
did.
O. Have yon that confession with your A.
have.
O Did be make it to your A. He signed a
statement in my presence, but not the confes-
sion.
Q To whom was the confession nader A. 1t
was made, / believe. TO Col Martin Burke, on
duty at Fort Lafayette.
The Judge Advocate General said there was
mistake in summoning this witness; that be
supposed the confession was made to him; he
would, however. read the confession TO the
court, and let il be placed on record The con
fession. "a published in the papers, was then
read.
And so, without any evidence whatever, Ihe
confession" was read. and became part OF the
record The Judge Advocate called Colonel
Burke. and the presumption OF law and of the
old rules of evidence is that il be bad called
him. be would not have verified the pretended
confession. Ii must, in short, be taken for
granted that this was the best possible evidence
| of it that could be given; and so, on the state
ment of a witness that he did not hear il made,
the newspaper story read, and the prisoners
| and the Government had what damage or good
they might derive from il. As inhammatory
matter, addressed to the minds of the Court, il
probably had its designed effect.
But what will be said when we give the reader
the history Of that pretended confession" from
the newspapers-the same authority on which it
was read in court. We quote from the New
| York Trbune's account of the execution of
Kennedy. as contained in that paper. March q,
| 1865:
ION Friday evening Colonel Burke, com
mandant Of the fort, and Joseph Howard, jr,
were closeted with the prisoner nearly the entire
night. He conversed upon the war for a few
morents, and then spoke Of his future fate in the
most reckless and unconcerned manner After
some inducements he made the following con
fession." Here follows the pretended confes-
sion not signed
And so it appears that the channel by which
this "evidence" first reached the public was
| Joseph Howard, Jr. We cannot suppose that
Colonel Burke wrote the confession. even at
Kennedys dictation, when he had such an ad-
mirabe companion, handy with his pen, in the
prisoners cell with him. There can be no res
sonable doubt that Joseph Howard. Junior. did
the confession. Who is Joseph Howard, Jr.?
Surely the reader has not forgotten him. A
little more than year ago, after passing the
| night in company with the editor of one of our
contemporary dallies, he sent the celebrated
bogus proclamation to the newspaper offices. and
produced terrible effect on the susceptible minds
of the Washington people. We were consigned
to Fort Lafayette. and our Office occupied by the
United States military. under command of Gene
raj Dix, in consequence of the scamp's ingenuity
We never had an apology from any one for the
treatment we received, but Joseph Howard, Jr.,
after a brief Incarceration, was promoted to Gov
eminent employment as a reward Of his skill in
getting two newspaper offices into the hands OF
the military authorities. and at length turns up,
| in company with the colonel commandant at
Fort Lafayette, passing the night with prs-
oner of State condemned to death; and a few
weeks later the result of his nights work. in the
hands of Judge Advocate Holt. becomes testi-
mony for the life or death OF others.
We state these facts for history Ii military
commissions are just right, by all means let us
have more eff them.