Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-09-21

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Buffers own explanation of the fact
recently charged against him and now
confessed, that he gave to the wife of
Durham, alias Conover, fifty dollars as
fee for procuring certain evidence on
which to impaach the President We
give his whole story
In my dispatches recently allusion
was made TO certain forthcoming dis
closures in reference to the plot to obtain
impeachment evidence against the Presi.
dent, and it was stated that an affidavit
would be included, showing that Mrs.
Dunham had received from Gen. Butler
fifty dollars, and was reproached by the
latter for not having performed the SER
vice for which she had been engaged.
In relation to this subject the following
is given as Gen. Buffers explanation
While Conover was in Jail in this city,
lady who boarded in the house with Mrs.
Dunham called on Gen. Butler, and in
formed him that Mrs. Durham had said
her husband knew of the whereabouts OF
certain very important documents bear
ing on the assassination Of President
Lincoln; and subsequently, gentle
man, boarder in the same house with
Mrs. Dunham, came to Gen. Butler and
reiterated this information, stating, in
addition, that Mrs Durham had said if
she could get money sufficient to detray
expenses of travelling, she should obtain
the papers in question. Gen. Butler then
said if Mrs. Dunham would bring to him
statement from her husband setting
forth the character of the documents, he
would enable her to get at them. Mrs.
Dunham afterwards called on the Gene
raj with the required statement, and told
him that the documents were in New
York, to which place she would have to
go for them, and that Mr.. Dunham had
fully instructed her how to proceed in
order to obtain them. Gen. Butler asked
her how much money she would need for
the purpose. She replied, that as she
would be obliged to have companion
she would need fifty dollars. This
amount the General gave her, and was
assured by Mrs. Durham that she would
start that evening. A day or two after.
ward Mrs. Dunham again appeared
before the General, stating that as some
trouble had occurred at the Jail she was
unable to see her husband but brought
note from him explaining that he could
not give her the directions neces-
sary to get the papers. Then,
as you cannot go to New
York, said the General you will not
require the fifty dollars, so you had better
return the money Mrs. Dunham an
swered that she had not the money to
return. General Butler then told her he
knew the money had been used for other
purposes, and that she could not repay
it. Mrs. Durham was greatly aston
ished, and asked the General how he
knew that she had made such use Of the
money. General Butler answered that
he would tell her story. He then
related how, when he was in command of
the Army of the James, he had engaged
a man to go into the rebel lines and
bring him an account of the rebel iron
cIads that were being built at Richmond;
how the man returned in three weeks
with budget of interesting information,
and how, after the spy had told him his
story, Butler had produced detective
who disclosed that the spy had gone from
| the army to Washington, where he re-
mained during the whole time, instead
of going to Richmond; and finished by
saying that he had him ornamented with
ball and chain, and set him to digging
in Dutch Gap. The General then told
her that she had her answer, she might
90; and she went
At melancholy reunion Of the Con-
over, Ashley, Holt and Butler party at
Worcester, Mass, for the convention at
that place of the socalled Republican
party on the llth, the impeacbers held
preliminary meeting on the evening
before, at which, among others, Boutwell,
made speech Speaking of the Presi
dent, he says:
His obstruction of the bureau of the
archives of the Southern States was to
conceal the evidence concerning the
sufferings by Union prisoners, and to
destroy and bury forever the then exist
ing evidence of the murder of President
Lincoln. He believed that Mr.. johnson
knew that if he was tried he would be q
ruined and lost man and if he kept on
in his present course, there must be
other events equally startling, etc
Mr.. Boutwell,, then, admits that he was
cognizant of the evidence" prepared
by Conover and Ashley, for the Internal
purpose of proving that Andrew John
son had procured the assassination of
Abraham Lincoln, with the object of suc-
ceeding him in office. He processes,
thus publicly, to believe not only that
there was such evidence-for he admits
that-but that it was true. That it was
in the bureau of Archives of the
Southern States" is a ridiculous substi
tuition of that beareau for the pockets of
Ashley, Conover and Butler, where, since
Mr.. Boutwell, knows so well its purport,
he must know it is to be found. Pre-
tending to be deceived by newspaper
telegram to the effect that the closing"
of the rebel archive bureau by General !
Grant (the papers therein being now |
fully arranged, and it not being in con-
temptation to manufacture more, and |
there being no longer need for head of
that office) was the act Of the President. |
Boutwell, seizes upon the despicable sub
terfuge, that the President bad some
thing therein to conceal But the "clos-
ing" is simply the discontinuance
of the concern, according to law,
as a distinct bureau, because it
has no work to do, and is no more
"closed" in the sense Of excluding
access or scrutiny than any other re
ceptacle of public documents or records.
If such evidence is among those papers,
Stanton never could hnd it, for it is
certain he would have dived deep had
the smallest hope existed ofsueh thing,
and faithfully and stealthily taken ad-
vantage of any paper which his employ
ers in Congress could have found Of the
least use against the President His
nnbl;c sarvioes as a detective. or the \