Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-03-23


A Prisoner In the Louisville Jail oOnfesses to
be the Authcr-His confession-He AFTER
wards attempts Suicide.
From the Louisville Democrat
On the 18th of last month Sterling King
was presented before the police court upon
the charge of having stolen horse and
buggy from the proprietor Of q livery stable
in Cincinnati. The proof was clear against
him, and he was committed to Jail TO await
a. requisition from the Governor of Ohio. He
is charged with having stolen several horses
from the neighborhood of Porkopolis. King,
after his committal to Jail, made statement,
or what might be called a confession, of
most horrible crime, namely, that of the
murder of the President ofthe United States.
King states that he was the man who killed
President Lincoln. He says that he entered
the theatre as any other person, purchasing
ticket and paying for it.
At the appointed time he entered the pri-
yate box, in Fords Theatre, Washington,
where Mr.. Lincoln was, and he shot him
with single-barrel pistol, which he let fall
at the time he leaped from the box. He
gives as his object for using single-barrel
pistol, that be was compelled TO leave IT be-
hind him, and lift had been a revolver those
in the box might have used it against him.
He further says that after be shot the Presi-
dent and leaped from the box he passed by
several persons, but one Of whom he knew,
Miss Laura Keene, and she did not know
him. According TO his statement, j. Wilkes
Booth. whom il is said was the murderer of
Lincoln, was in the rear of the theatre await
ing with horses. From the vicinity of Fords
theater he states that he went to the resi-
dence of Secretary Seward, and, after forcing
an entrance, he made an attack upon the
Secretary himself cutting him in the throat
with a bowie knife. He says that after
young Seward was knocked down, the old
man begged not 10 be murdered, and that he
struck the blow to silence him.
His only regret seems to be that he did
not kill the Secretary. He says that the
statement published in the papers, that there
were two persons in the affair, is false, as he
| is the man who shot the President and made
| the attack upon Secretary Seward He says
that there was another person in the affair
who has not yet been apprehended, who was
to have killed Stanton, but he failed to fulfill
his pledge.
In reganl to Booth, he SAYS that Booth
had nothing to do with the killing, with
the exception of assisting him to make his
escape from the city of Washington. He
| gives in his written statement, which is now
in the hands of the military, the route he
pursued after leaving Washington. lie
says that the man killed in the barn, and
who is said to have been Booth, is prisoner
who escaped from the Ohio prison. He
claims to have, in company with Booth,
went from Washington to Canada, and from
thence to the Island of Cuba He states that
his object in returning to the United States
was for the purpose of relasing JEFF. Davis,
the President of the Confederate States.
| In regard to Mrs. Surratt, who was exc
cuted as one of the conspirators, he says that
she knew nothing of the conspiracy. The
parties who planned the affair, three of
whom have never been heard of, met regu-
larly at the house of Mrs Surratt, but she
knew nothing Of their designs. He says
that he was stopping at the house of Mrs.
Surratt some ten or twelve days previous to
the execution of the plot.
| We give the above statement of King
without vouching for the truth of the same,
| though there are some plausible circum-
stances connected with his statement, and it
would appear that he had some connection
with or knowledge of the plot His confess
sion has been sent to Washington to be act
ed upon by the President.
There are two prisoners now liz the Jail,
| Llewellin and Grimes who say that they
know something of the affair." and it may be
that the tale has been concocted for the pur-
pose of getting the three released from the
charges now against them, and have them
turned over to the military authorities.
King is man who, during the war,
figured in both armies, being convicted by a
military commission in each and sentenced
TO death. At the time he made his escape
from Covington he was under sentence of
death as guerrilla and spy. He gave as
an object for making the confession that his
name would be published as arrested for
horse stealing, amid as there were those in
! Washington who knew him he would be cent
| for.
The above statement was made to Gems
jeff C. Davis and Watkins, at the Jail Tues
day, after having been related to two or
three of the prisoners and policeman Bligh.
Finding that his statement was likely to
get him into very serious difficulty, King
determined to put an end to his miserable
existence. He asked the privilege of hav-
ing a small penknife, which was granted
him. With this he opened the veins of the
left arm, and would have bled to death, had
it not been that the attempt was discovered
by his cell-mate, and an alarm given. We
yesterday paid visit to King in his cell,
and found him too low to speak. The alarm
in regard to his attempt to commit suicide
was given about o'clock in the morning,
after he had bled for several hours.
We will inform our readers of any action
that may be taken in the case