St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1867-06-14
Pardon Brokerage ut Washington

The History OF the Secret Service
during the war prepared by General
l.. {. Baker, cliet OF the government de
tccivcs, is short " to be published. and
We lind some long extract, from advance
sheets printed in the New \ ork Tribune
of Tuesday. The statements of General
Baker concerning the business of pardon
brokerage as formerly carried on bv par
ties having the ent,ee of the White House.
are made with such minutcncSS. and such
apparent truthlunesS, and pIe>cnt So con-
secutive and consistent an array of eyi-
deEcc that it is difficult to conceive OF
their being mere inventions. We lav
the substance of these statements before
our readers. They are Il part OF the his
tory OF the times, 4 part of the evidence
upon which the final verdict of the future
will be made up, and each one will be
his own Judge TO the amount of credit
which should attach to them
General Baker says that on lis return
from Canada. where he had been for two
weeks on business connected with tn,
pursuit of Surratt, he was informed b,
! detective :. :. Jones that :; regular sys-
TEN of pardon brokerage was in success.
tul operation, both by the conspicuou,
rebels i'll the capital and by a certain
class OF disreputable women, well known
to the local police of the city. Genera
Baker proceeds as follows:
Among them he mentioned the nam,
of Mrs Cobb. who he said was "a con
slant visitor. was there at all hours o
the Gay and night, boasting openly tha
she had procured and could procure par
dons from the president, at any time il
six hours; that she exhibited TO him. OF
one occasion, two pardons which she ha,
obtained for rebels at Richmond, declar
ING on that day she had made thousan
dollars. When questioned as to he
mode of proceeding, she simply remarke
that she had an understanding with tn
president, and lie dare not refuse t
grant her requests. She further elaine
that in the prosecution Of her busine,
she found it necessary to divide porto
OF the money received for pardons wit
certain government officials.
] decided to bring such record {
facts before the president, with respe'
to her case, as would satisfy him Of he
unworthy conduct, and the nefarious bus
ness in which she was engaged. To Il,
compliSh this, | determined to manuta
ture fictitious application for pardon
To represent an applicant, [ selecte
Capt. II. II. Hine, formerly assistal
provost marshal general at st. Loui
who was then in Washington endeavo
d ing to procure the revocation of a Sc
tence passed upon him by military cor
) mission under Gen. Rosecrans. 1t seer
Capt. Hine had been tried, convicted,
i he claimed unjustly) and sentenced to Il
Alton penitentiary. Before the senten
- was carried into execution, however,
escaped and fled into Canada. VIII
y there he was known as a rebel office
and consequently became very famili
with all the rebel officers then engag
in organizing raids and committing de
relations upon the border. He WI,
me number of letters giving inform
ton as to the movements of the rel
emissaries in Canada. After the ass;
s, >lnation of the president he commune
}" ted may important facts to the Cover
ment, IN consideration of which t
9. assistant secretary of war gave him p'
d. d. mission to visit Washington with t
view of obtaining revocation of
n previous sentence.
" While he was there waiting to hav,
hearing at the war department, the C:
of Mrs. Cobb came up, and l selec
him to represent an applicant for a p
don. A regular application was ma
in the name OF Clarence J. Howell.
this fictitious application were set 10
ND md fully the offences committed by the
les plicant.
- The pretended Capt. Howell sta
his case to Mrs Cobb, and she agreed
es- ,s produce ''full, complete and uncor
in: tional pardon for all his past offence
,Sd ,Ud for the sum of three hundred doll;
nlyy The contract signed by her, and her
- ceint for the monau are nrint ed by 6