Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-07-13
L NUMBER

warning ltllI me. can there Be any doubt
that their Governments would abpiaud and
protect them, and declare theirsexploit in
accordance with honorable warfare ?" That
Benjamin again Ghiwed in, that s'it was just
pSiSg Ins ts I9G4 s Pas S sSRR ns fns
him time to'seiZ6 MS arms and get in line
for defense" That Surratt, ISnevel and de-
ponent then bade the President and SecTe-
tary. farewell. and depaftedaD0J AllNahf4
Such, almost word for word. is the depo-
sition made by 9aWpbell for the Bureau OF
Military JnstieeSaed bis statementpf what
was said and done by Davis and Beplamin
after the, alleged presentation of Speyel TO
the rebel chiek was fully corroborated by
SneHei IN another deposition inadc at the.
sans tigest9r ths SANG W Bureau and for rthsH
And here ? Il Tye e. Comet come 70 the most a.tound-
ing part Of hydisclosure9 This naii'@ VIII
liam CanIpbtAlliand his friend 49, 'sSncN-W
el| whose first naDls4 or rather aliasp rLtdou
not remember, on being brought before the
Judiciary COMMITTEES Tor examination, ac-
knowledged that the above names did lhot'o
belong TO them, but weIe9 fictitious; thatW
they had never been in the rebel SERVICE
nor in Richmond; that they had never seen
Davis, or Benjamin., or Surratt in their
lives; that they bad never heard of ahyl
plot to destroy Lincoln until after hiss
death; that there was n9tatWord Of TRUTH
in the depositiops they made for the Bureau
of Military Justice, but chat they made
such dispositions fora peetfrhary reward,a
being first furnished with the statement
they were desired to swear to and commit
ting 1t to memory for the purpose; and that
of the other parties, some seven or eightin
number, who made deDositions for the bu-O
reau referred to, every one of them deposedsl
under false names to false statements for =
pecuniary considerations. S
The dispositions of the other "witnessesR
under the assumed names of Wright, Wil-0
liams, Patten, Douglass, Meredith, Kuapp,r
&c., accused Davis of completely in the as,
sassination just as positively, and were as
ingeniously cohcocted as those of Cafnpbell
and SneveL Having accomplished so much
in the way ofproeuring evidence, the Rad1J
ical conspirators urged President johnson,
with all their force to appoint commis-H
sion for the trial of the distinguished Deul-i
prit. Campbell and~Uther "witnesses"
were taken before His Exeelleney and the
Cabinet, in order that their frank demeaflor
and honorable appearance could be Observ7,
ed, and were asked few questions by the
President and examined at considerably .
length by Mr.. Seward, to the apparent sat-
isfaetion ofaah that they swene telling the
truth and nothing but the truth. The Pres.
ident, as Is known, did not at once appoint
the commission, but he was prevail d On to-
call for the opinion ofthe Attorney. Geherso
al as TO the legality and propretyl qtryG
ing by military court parties implicated in,
the assassination, and the Attorney General
soon after gave the opinion and the argu-'
ment upon which he based-it, that IL woulds
not oaly be egaland properto try parties.
so accused by q military court, but that it
would be clearly Illegal and improper to-
arraign tlIem before civil tribunal. The
Radical GoHspirators now regarded Davis,
as good as disposed of, and licked theirjaws
with glee. ----4---..
t1unfortunately, for them; the Presi-
dent would not be hurried into orderipgya
military trial. His penetrating eye had
probably discovered something about
Campbell and others aparadetl before him
sufficient to convince him that they ,wereF
falsifying., He knew Davis well enough to
Know that If he would descend to conspire
atihurder at all, it would be only with men
of hoior--that kind of honor to be found
among thieves and bold desperadoes--who,
would sooner die than compromise them
selves or their chief, and not with men OF
ignorance and low standing, and comparaE
lively unknown to him, like thoiWitnesses.
paraded, who werewilling to swear to their
own, shame aud betray their master for,
thirty pieces of silver. -' 7ni"t "s'u
Finding it impossible toiinduce the Pressl
ident to convoke a. military c0urtator thei
immolation 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, "evidencen
which had been procured at so much
troublesand expense, but ifp0ssible to turn,
it to some account. With Machiaveian
aqroitness they conceived a scheme where
! by, If they could not hang Mr. Davis, they
could at least load him with ihfamS, and at
the same time wreak exquisite vengeance
on President Johnsen tor declining to aid
their murderous designs. s- -.f ,,,t,o-,,
The process relied on Tor the eonsumma-
tion OF this double-headed project was reg
: Barkable for itssimplicity The depositious
otthespurious witpssses were to be preserY1
| ed in the Bureau of Military Justice, and at
a proper time rendered accessible to the
} press and the historian. None of the all
J leged criminal proceedings of Davis set
/ forth in the numerous dispositions, with,
I the exception Of those pretended to have
I occurred the presehce' of Benjamin (wh9
I beng acctised as pdftictpS cFtnsIntSS woulln0t
! be believed), wepe Susceptible of refntaa
tion, all his criminal conversations and
transactions being, rs alleged, in either the
presence of proninent rebelsVsinee daneas<
ed, aud the witnesses, or in the pyesencGOf
the witnesses salOne. Davis could and
would, therefore, be published to tie
world as monster and a murderer desefVl
ingito be cursed like Cain aud driven from
Christendom; and no matter how mucl he
might say to vindicate himself, or how elo-
quently his friends might eXpatiate on his
christian character and high sense Of honofS
three-fohrths of his o0untrymen, antlpos4
terity generally, would believe him guilty.
This the Radical conspirators Thought
would effectually dispose of DAVIS aud DE
as great a. punishment as he couldbear.da1
Butt how were they to reach Mr.. J0hne
sons he bad already, been denounced, for
his leniency toward the rebel leaders, and
with endeavoring for political pttfpbses to
ingratiate himself Withth South, aud they
would now 20 before The country With the
arg6men tibhat his failure 30 put Davis ION
his trial for, the murder Of LLinoolp, ip, face
Of the eeoYerWbelmipg evidence that could
Have been brought against hitii, as APPEAR
ed from theiaepositions ia the 1BuFeaup Of
Military Jostiees0 the result df hisldef
sire and sehemeto obtain the friepdship and
| favor OF, the South, and of his gratitude to
Mr.. Davis for removing his predecessor and
thuselepatidg him tothe Chief Magistfacy
Of, the. nati0nSsa edj sidT .bib-yodl bra
" 1t will be readily seen that q most power
| full weapon could have been made OF all this
against Mr.. johnson inthe North. What's
pity thats0 beaatifula scheme, shOuldnle
spoiled. But tits another l,enifoatiOnlnf
the old adage that murder wal opt,na y.g3