The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-06-27
Tuesday Morning, June ~, 1866.
The Conspiracy.

fne arguments OF the counsel for the assas
snation conspirators have revealed more clear
ly the guilt of the prisoners than did the tes-
tlmony The thin mask Of mystery in regard
to Payne Is torn of, and he stands revealed Al
unscrupulous murderer The attempt to show
that he was under mesmeric influence eman-
ating from Booth, who controlled bis actions
and led him into crime, is absurd. 1t is not at
all probable that Payne ever saw Booth until
he met him, probably by appointment, in Ball
tmore to arrange the plot for the assassina-
ton, for which purpose Payne left the rebel
army and came North In the case Of Atze
roth, the prisoner himself furnishes a state
ment, which Is practically a confession, thai
he was selected as the conspirasor who was to
kill Vice President johnson. AS the frst con-
fession Of any Of the conspirstors which Lss
been made public, it is quite interesting, and
we give it in full to our readers.
Il am one of the party who agreed 70 the
capture OF the President OF the United States
or any member of the Cabinet, or Gen. Grant
or Vice President johnson. The first plot to
capture failed; the second, to kill, I broke
away iIem the moment heard OF it; this is
the way it came about; on the evening of the
14th OF April met booth and Payne at the
Herndon House, in this city at 8 O'clock: he
(Booth) said ne himself would take charge OF
Mr.. Lincoln and Gen. Grant, Payne should
take Mr.. Seward, and should take Mr.. john
son. l told him IWould not do it; that hxu
gone into the thing to capture, but was not
going 10 kill. He told nae that was a fool :;
that would be hung anyhoW-that it was
death to every man who backed it up, and SO
Il -.
two O'Clock in the morning, and then went to-
the Kimmell House, and from there pawned
my pistol at Georgetown, and went to my
cousins house in Montgomery County. where
! was arrested. The l9sh following after
was arrested, I told Provost Marshall Wells
and Provost Marshal McPhail the whole story ::
also told it to Capt Munroe, and Col. Weln
told me If | pointed out the way Booth hao
gone Ishould be repfieyed so told him
thought he had gone down into Charles Coun-
ty, in order to cross the Potomac. The arms
which were found in my room at the Xix
wood House and black coat do not be'one
to me. On the afternoon of the i6sh of April
Harold called to see me and left the coat there
Il is his coat, and all in 1t belongs to him, 81
you can see by the handkerchieis marked Will
his initials and with the name of his sister
Mrs. Naylor. Now, 1 will state how passed
the Whole OF the evening of the l4ih of Apu
In the afternoon, about two o'clock, went t.
Nether's stable on Eigth Street, near d, ano
hired dark bay mare and rode into the coun.
try for pleasure, and on my return put her up
at MAYORS stable. The dark bay horse which
/ had kept atNaylor's before, on or about the
8 of April, belonged to Booth and also the
saddle and bride; had charge OF him to sell
him, and do not know what became OF him ;
at about six in the evening went to Nayllr'
again, took out the mare. rode out for al
LuGr and returned her to MAYORS. 1t was
then nearly eight, and tod him to keep the
mare ready at 10 o'clock in order to return her
to the man hired her FROM from there ]
went TO the Herndon House; Booth sent a
message to Oyster Bay where i was, sayins
he wanted to see me, and | went; Booth
wanted me to murder Mr.. johnson; then
went to the Oyster Bay on the avenue. abov,
Twelfth Street, and whiled away the time till
about ten. got the mare, and having taken
drink with the hOstler, gallOped about town
and went to the Kimmell House. From there
rode down to the depot, and returned m,
horse, riding up Pennsylvania avenue to Kel
theirs. From Kelther's went down to the
navy yard to get a room with Wash. Briscoe
He had none, and by the time got back t,
the Kimmell House 1t was near two. The
man Thomas was stranger met on the
street. Next morning. as stated, / went to
my cousin Ritcher's, IN Montgomery County.
b rsssas3ia sa GEORGE A. ATZERoTH."
F sF rs /
By bis own statement or confession it vii
be seen that Atzeroth, while willing to aid IN
capturing the federal officials, but not in kill
ing them, took no measures to inform the au-
thorities of the intended murder; and, whep
arrested after the assassination, he sought tc
buy his own life by pointing out the route he
thought Booth had taken. =
How far the leading rebels aided the assss
sins remains yet to be seen. One j. B. Van
Dien, who says he was a clerk In the rebel
War Department, writes to the Cincinnati
Commercial that in February last he was
present at an interview between Booth and
Davis. Booth was introduced to the Confed-
crate chiefs by Benjamin, and two other young
men were in bis company The story RUS
thus: iia sga ssa ni 70 hg9assn sa w
Booth commenced by saying that plan
was formed by parties in the Northern Stats
and Canada, friends of the Confederacy, TO
capture or to assassinate Mr.. Lincoln; that b.
had full list OF the names, anC all they de-
sired was an official recognition on the part Of
the Confederate authorities, and that then the
project would certainly be executed. He fur
ther stated that they desired no pecuniary as.
ready secured; that they were not after gain,
but were actualed only by desire to render
the Confederacy a service, by removing the
tyrant who was the cause of so much suffer
ing to the country and the only obstacle In the
way of speedy peace. These are the words,
as near as | can now remember. Messrs. Da-
Wis and Breckiuridge both expressed their
hearty condemnation Of The plot and advised
Booth to think no more of il. They ielt that
their cause was just, and that God, in his own
good time, would give iAem the victory, with.
out resorting to anything but the most honor
able warfare, and that they were willing tc
leave Lincoin's punishment for his greal
crime, to the providence of a just God and az
outraged people Benjamin said nothing
Booth then retired, and the last words he ut
tered In the room were "He must die p After
Booth and his friends were gone, Davis said
"Those fellows came here merely to see ths
Richmond sights, and their assassination bio
is mere fudge.' Breckinridpe and Ben
jamin laughed, and the latter said. II thinl
So" The matter received no more attention
and all agreed with Mr.. Davis that the plo
was mere fudge" ss b b d lE