Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-12-13
From the New York Post.
SuYr2fS.

| A despatch from the United States Con,
sui at Alexandria asserts that John I'll. Sur
ratt, believed to have been one of the chief
agents Of the conspiracy for the assassina,
| ton Of President Lincoln, and the other
heads of our Government, has been cap
tnred. "There is no doubt of his identi-
y" Mr.. Hale telegraphs. Surratt will pro
badly be sent home i'll q man-of-war, and
! will, we hope, be brought to a speedy and
public trial
Mr. Boutwell,, of Massachusetts,, who
made himself somewhat notorious by the
violence of his language in q caucus meet
! ing during the last session of Congress, is
reported to have said in the meeting of
Saturday evening that he "intended to Of
fer soon resolution calling upon the Pre-
sident and Secretary of State for the COR
respondence on the subject of John H.
Surratt. He said he had reason to believe
that during tie search for John II, tSmraH,
lis hiding place Das hmo,Un to the President,
o1ad that it ards by Tie c0nniUance Of AndreaO
johnson that the escape Of Su17'0H aCaS finally
Effected"
There is, we believe no doubt of Sur
rats guilt. Any one who has aided in the
escape of a Murderer becomes thereby an
accessory after the fact, which is to be a
partaker in the guilt, and subject to the
same punishment as the chief criminal. If
Mr. Boutwell, knows Mr.. johnson to be
thus guilty, it is his duty to the nation to
expose him, not i'll a caucus meeting but by
| lodging his information before court OF
| justice.
IT, on the contrary, he spoke on Satur-
day evening from the mere violence of par
| ty hatred, he committed an indecency
which makes him unfit to sit in the House,
and he ought to be promptly expelled. II
is the duty of the House of Representatives,
as soon as it meets, to call upon him for
the proofs which alone can excuse and jus,
! tlfy his gross language. If he cannot fur
nish them-if his GO reason to believe" is
! discovered to be founded, as we suppose il
will, upon the malicious gabble of set OF
| half-insane scandal -mongers who have dur
! ing the whole summer and fall busiel them
selves with whispering, to those who would
listen to them, the most abusive and pre-
posterous scandal about the President, ther
the House of Representatives will owe it tC
its own self-respect to eXpel MIR. Boutwell,
and thus teach others that official position
cannot shield vicious slanderers. ThePre
sident of the United States is helpless
against such attacks as that of Mr.. Bout
well. If he were private individual, he
could bring a suit for libel and gross de
famation of character against him, and any
court in the land would decree exemplary
punishment upon the slanderer.
REIGN OF TERROR. have just passed
thro' several Eastern counties, and we are
panied to be compelled to state, that a
reign of terror now prevails through
Greene, Pitt, Lenoir and Craven. That a
| band of robbers is now making tour OF
those counties, cannot longer be doubted
and the proceedings are conducted with
such utter disregard for life or property,
that it is as much mans life Is worth
to travel after nightfall. Last Wednesday
night, Mr.. John Williams and friend who
was on visit to Mr.. W., was shot at, in
Mr.. WIS. house, two miles from Snow Hill,
and both wounded, when the robbers en-
tered Mr.. Williams house, and rifed it OF
money, and goods to the amount of over
one thousand dollars.
| A gang of five, entered the house of a
freedman, named Arnold, a few nights
since, in the lower edge of Pitt, aroused
him, and compelled him, with torch, tC
pilot them to where he kept his horses-three
which they bridled, and spirited away
Arnold hes the character of an honest, qui
| ct, hard working man, and much sympathy
is felt for him throughout the county.
| The people are completely lntimldated
and are afraid to express their disapproba
tion of such conduct, fearing that before
another twelve hours, they too, may bt
shot and robbed.
In Kinston, on Saturday night, young
man of that place, was knocked down as ht
stepped out of the door and was in the ac
of locking it; but, giving the alarm, th'
villain fed, without accomplishing hi
fiendish intentions.
! A couple of young men, on the same eve
ming, In the same place, concluded to tax
walk after tea, and were followed by thre
unknown men. Discovering that they wer
pursued, they turned and demanded an ex
planation, at the same time drawing thei
revolvers. The pursuing party retreate,
In haste, and could not be identified.
GoLdsboro' NeaoS, Dec. A.
i "Ecce Homo" is said to have been pu
on the index of prohibited books a
Rome