Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-07-15

I
and deponent) accompanied by a MAJ
named SNEvEI., called on BENJAMIN as di
rected, but the papers had not been sent I,
him that a. SURRATT was anxious to re
turn 10 the North Immediately, BENJAAu,
at once started with them to DAVIS Office
that DAVIS pleaded indisposition for nc
having the papers ready by the time indi
Gated, but said they had just been finished
| (SNEYEL was now presented 10 his Excel
lency as one Of the braves ready 10 enter up.
on the bloody work That after little
conversation, during which DAVIS inquired
| Of SURRATT what route he intended to take
and when he expected 10 pass the Federal
! lines
His Excellency placed letter in SUR
RATS hand, saying, "This is for Colonel
! THOMSON; it confers all the power he re-
/ quires, 70 authorize the proceeding propos-
| ed, and to promise for the Government the
! necessary protection to all who engaged in
| it. That he then shook hands with each of
| them, and said that he trusted they would
/ behave bravely, and that their efforts would
! be crowned with success" That SNEvEL
then observed that they must act bravely
! and succeed; for, if caught in the act, they
would be made to dance on nothing" That
BENJAMIN replied, "No, if any Of you are
! captured and the Yankees threaten to hang
YOU, we viii give the Yankee Government
notice that for every one they hang a dozen
viii be executed in retaliation" That DA-
Wis responded, "Yes, you shall be fully pro-
tected. The undertaking proposed is, under
the circumstances, perfectly Just, and in per-
feet harmony with the laws Of war" And
again he illustrated with the query, "Sup-
my house and without warning kill me, can
there be any doubt that their Government
would applaud and protect them, and de-
clare their exploit in accordance with hon
orable warfreP That BENJAMIN again
chimed in, that at was just like falling up
on and surprising camp and putting the
foe to the sword without giving him time to
seize his arms and get in line for defense"
That SURRATT, SNEyEL and deponent babe
the President andSecretary farewell, and de-
parted.
Such, almost word for word, is the deposit
ton made by CAMPBELL for the Bureau Of
Military Justice, and his statement Of what
was said and done by DAVIS and BENJAMIN
after the alleged presentation Of SNEvEL to
the rebel chief was fully corroborated by
SNEvEL in another deposition made at the
same time, for the same bureau and for the
same end.
And here we come to the most astounding
part Of my disclosure. This man civilian
CAMPBELL" and his friend - SNEvEL,"
whose first name, or rather alias, / do not
remember, on being brought before the Ju-
dietary Committee for examination, acknOwl-
edged that the above names did not belong
10 them, but were fictitious that they had
IL L :. III
mond; that they had never seen DAVIS, or
BENJAMIN, or SURRATT, in their lives; that
they had never heard Of any plot to destroy
LINCOLN until after his death; that there
was not a word of truth in the dispositions
they made for the Bureau of Military JUS
tee but that they made such depositiOns for
a pecuniary reward, being first furnished
with the statement they were desired to
swear TO- and committing it to memory for
the purpose and that Of the other parties,
some seven or eight in number who made
dispositions for the bureau referred to, every
one of them deposed under false names to
false statements for pecuniary considerations.
The dispositions of the other witnesses"
under the assumed names Of WRIGHT, WIL-
LIAAIs, PATTEN, DOUGLASS, MEREDITH,
KNAPP, &c, accused DAVIS Of completely in
the assassination just as positively, and were
as ingeniously concocted, as those Of CAMP
BELL and SNEvEL. Having accomplished
so much in the way Of procuring evidence,
the Radical conspirators urged President
JoHNsoN with all their force 10 appoint q
commission for the trial of the distinguished
culpTit. CAMPBELL and other witnesses"
were taken before his Excellency and the
Cabinet, in order that their frank demeanor
4. D. IL
ed. and were asked a few questions by the
President, and examined at considerable
length by Mr. SEWARD, to the apparent sat
isfaction of all that they were telling the
truth and nothing but the truth. The Pres
ident, as is known, did not at once appoint
the commission, but he was prevailed on to
call for the opinion Of the Attorney General
as to TO the legality and propriety of trying
by military court parties duplicated in the
assassination, and the Attorney General
soon after gave the opinion, and the argu-
ment upon which he based it, that it would
not only be legal and proper to try parties
so accused by a military court, but that it
would be clearly Illegal and improper to ar
raign them before a civil tribunal. The
Radical conspirators now regarded DAVIS
as good as disposed Of, and licked their jaws
jaws with glee.
But unfortunately for them, the President
would not be hurried into ordering militia
ry trial. His penetrating eye had probably
discovered something about CAMPBELL and
others paraded before him sufficient to con-
vince HIM that they were classifying. He
knew DAVIS well enough TO know that if he
would descend 10 conspire at murder at all
it woald be only with men of honor-that
L.. H.
and bold desperadoes-who would sooner die
thar compromise themselves or their chief,
and net with men Of Ignorance and low
standing, and comparatively unknown 70
him, like the witnesses paraded, who were
willing 20 swear 20 their own shame and be-
tray their master for thirty pieces OF silver
Finding it impossible 10 induce the Pres
dent 10 convoke military court for the inn
notation of the rebel chief, the Radicals
were bitterly disappointed, and some of them
were furious. They determined, however,
not to be beaten altogether; not to throw
aside as worthless evidence" which had
been procured at so much trouble and eX-
pense, but if possible to turn it to some ac-
count. With Machiavelian adroitness they
conceived a scheme whereby, if they could
not hang Mr. DAVIS. they could at least load
him with iniamy, and at the same time
wreak exquisite vengeance on President
Johnson for declining 70 aid their murder
Gus designs.
The process relied on for the consumma-
ton of this double-headed project was re-
markable for lis simplicity. The dispositions
Of the spurious witnesses were 20 be preserv-
ed in the Bureau Of Military Justice, and
at a proper time rendered accessible to the
press and the historian. None Of the alleged
criminal proceedings Of DAVIS set forth in
the numerous dispositions, with the excep-
ton of those pretended to have occurred in
the presence Of BENJAMIN, who being ac-
cused a. pdytjosps erimiuiS would not be be
leved, were susceptible of refutation, all
his criminal conversations and transactions
being as alleged, in either the presence Of
prominent rebels, since deceased, and the
witnesses, or in the presence of the witness
es alone DAVIS could and would, there
fore. be published 10 the world as a monster
and a murderer deserving to be cursed like
CAIN and driven from Christendom and no
matter how much he might say to yindlcate
himself, or how eloquently his friends
might expatiate on his Christian character
and high sense Of honor, three-iourths of
his countrymen. aud posterity generally,
would believe him guilty.
This the Radical conspirators thought
y I'll u