Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1867-05-31

r it on the table before him. He pu
} on his spectacles, looked at it, and said
Sir, where did you get this " "
/ got it from Mrs. Cobb. " I then han
= ded to him Mrs Cobb's written con
5 tract for procuring said pardon. Ht
] read it, when [ exhibited to him the
marked money, and began a detailed
: statement of all the facts connected
{ with the case. He interrupted me il
: a moment, and said, " Where did you
get this pardon ?" I replied, IS From
Mrs. Cobb, and was proceeding to mar
rate the circumstances, when he again
interrupted me, and added, " Well,
what is this all about" I began a
third time to relate the circumstances,
when he interrupted me with rising
passion. This Is a detective Job,
ism t il? ," l answered, \ cs, sir, and
if you Will listen to me q moment
will explain it. He raised the par
don from the table and said, " But
what business have you with this par
don?' When l again attempted to make
an explanation, he broke in by saving,
| "Weli, this is very strange affair.
This pardon has not been recorded.
You have no business with II, sir.
There is no oath of amnesty attached
to it. I then politely requested the
President to listen to me, stating that
| would explain the whole matter, 1
had not proceeded far, however, when
he became very much excited, rose
from his chair, and said, Sir, what
business have you to interfere here ?
| What business has this woman to use
my name in connection with this mat
ter ? How did this pardon get out of
the AttOrney-Genera S office without
being recorded ?'' Looking at the
pardon, he remarked, this is my sig
nature. [ did not sign this pardon,
until very late this afternoon, and here
[ find it returned, as you say, through
! a pardon broker. He called his son
Robert, and inquired, Robert, do
you know anything about this pardOn?"
! Robert answered, Yes, father that
/ is the pardon you signed for Mrs. Cobb
| this afternoon" He took the pardon
| from his drawer, unfOlded it, and re
marked, This is pretty business.
Where is Mrs. Cobb ?" [ replied, At
my headquarters. Did you arrest
her, sir ?'' [ Ireplied, No, sir I sim
ply asked her to go to my headquarters
TO make an explanation. D." Again he
! became very much excited, walked
the room to and fro, and suddenly
turned ferociously upon me and
exclaimed, Who employs you to III
terfare with the duties Of the Presi-
dent or the Attorney General p My
answer Was, I certainly intended no
wrong [ did not conceive it to be
possible that he could know tie real
character of this woman my only
desire was to exhibit to him the char
acter Of the persons engaged 10 pro-
0 Z lou
ed and if [ had done wrong I was
very sorry. He became more com
posed. and wanted to know who this
Mrs. Cobb was [ stated to him, .
far as possible, who she was. He
! Cobb to come and sec him the follow
ing evening at ) o'clock [ replied,
"Certainly." He also requested me
to come and see him the next evening
which [ PROMISED to do, and, leaving
the pardon and Mrs. Cobb's contract
with Captain Howell in his possession,
I returned to my headquarters.
But to return to Mrs. Cobb. On ar
irving at my headquarters, I informed
her that she was at liberty to 60 home,
and Immediately furnished herself and
husband with a conveyance Before
IELh lLS- NllG Cl eNl ttlCAl llgl AiCLGl iii il
ton to lay the whole matter before the
President, and have me summarily
dismissed the service. She told me
| that she had very influential friends
in Washington, and she would go be
| fore the Grand Jury and have me in
dicted tor false Imprisonment, &c.
In compliance with the Presidents
request, I went to the mansion the
next evening, and found him in a state
of great excitement. He denounced
8 nv interference with matters at the
White House Mrs. Cobb was a Tespec-
table, virtuOus lady, and I had no right
to interfere with her occupation. " L
had sincerely believed ] could render
the President a great service by expo
sing the character and business of this
woman. When, however, I found that
| he was determined to put wrong con-
struCtiOn upon my motives, and to SuS-
tain Mrs. Cobb, ] felt mortified and in
dignant. Never was there greater
contrast between anticipatiOns and the
result. It was coming down from the
summit of human glory, when the nm
worthy ruler of great people was
CONQUERED and led captive apparently
by the vile prO!Ogc of his fancy. The
Grand jury of the District of Columbia
then being in session, on the following
day, very much to my surprise, ! learn
ed that four indictments had been
1OQIQ against lllb-Ollt lJL lAlSG iii kJllS-
Onment of Mrs. Cobb one for false I'M
prisOnment of Mr.. Cobb one for robbie
rv in taking from her the 5000 / had
marked and given to Capt. Howell, and
one for eXtOrtiOn. it would be difficult
to imagine how a Grand Jury could
ever find evidence in this5case on which
to base these indictments ; but when it
is recOlIected that nearly every mem
| Der of this Grand Jury was a Seces-
sionist that many of them, if not all,
had at some time during the previous
four years fallen under my official no.
tice, these facts will, perhaps, furnish
an explanation. When it became
known that these indictments had been
found against me, the dislOyal press
throughout the country hailed the
event as one likely to terminate my Ofli-
cial connection with tie Government.
and declared that President johnson
would never permit himself to be COM
promised bv permitting the continuance
Of the Detective Bureau. Especially
were pains taken by the Associated
Press to send The news broadcast every
where, that Col. Baker had been indict-
ed for robbery, without giving any OF
the circumstances in connection with
the case. To those reports I made no
reply. determined to wait patiently,
satisfied that, if an Impartial iuyestiga-
ton could be had, ] should stand not
only houorably acquitted before the
community, but that my action i'm the
case would be commended rather chan
CeuSurcd.
On the evening of November 10, 1860,
in a conversation with the President,
he affirmed that it was not possible that
he could know the character of the fe-
males visiting his house; he desired to
give all an interview Mrs. Cobb and
/ Mrs. Washington had been there fire.
quentIv-he knew their faces well; be
/ Iieved he had, on one or two occasions,
! recommended Mrs. Cobb to the Socreta-
/ rv Of the Treasury for a situation, but
| beyond that, he knew nothing Of her or
of Mrs Washington, and if he could be
/ convinced that the character of these
/ women was bad, he certainly would not
| tolerate their presence nt the Executive
mansion for moment. He then asked
me to make out n written report, as
/ briefly as possible, on which he could
! base some order directing his subordin-
utes TO exclude bad characters from the
! White House.
After what l had said TO the Prcsi-
dent respecting Mrs. Cobb and her OPP
erations at the White House, and after