The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1867-04-17
Visit to John Fl. Surratt.

A correspondent OF the BALTIMORE 1ouh
visited John H. Surratt at the Washing
ton jail recently, and writes long account
of what he saw and heard. A considera-
BILE portion of the letter is devoted to
showing how insecurely the prisoner is
kept and guarded. Indeed, so warmly is
this point pressed, that it would almost
appear to be the correspondents object to
have the prisoner deprived of some OF the
privileges how allowed him. Surratt, ac-
companied bya ;jailor, was fohnd in the
guard house III the prison yard We quote
from the letter.
The prisoner was innocent of any en-
tanglement for his security, whatever He
sat in chair by one of The upper win
dows, reading q small volume, the charac-
ter Of which I did not inquire. On my
entrance he rose and advanced towards
me with extended hand. Not expecting
to meet so distinguished q character in
such place, was somewhat taken by
surprise when the name was pronounced,
and after shaking hands, ventured to in
quire once again the name. "Surratt," "ie-
piled my new acquaintance, with smile.
IL think [ have heard of YOU. beforei" l
remarked; to which he quietly responded,
every likely" He was dressed in suit
of dark mixed goods, cut i'll the prevailing
fashion of a walking suit, evidently new
Upon his head he wore black soft felt
hat, also new. In statue should judge
him to be five feet, nine OF ten inches high,
rather slender in forln-almost delicate,
perhaps--and apparently twenty.eight
years of age. His hair is very light au-
burn, nicely cut and trimmed, parted be-
hind and combed forward. He wears q
moustache and goatee, rather more posi-
tive in color than the hair on his head
The rest of his face was carefully shaved.
Altogether, his appearance was that of a
well.dressed and very presentable young
man-and certainly the last one that would
be selected from crowd as q desperate
character or villain. He has a very
pleasant voice, in conversation uses good
language, understands himself perfectly,
and usually wears smile upon his fate.
NV conversation with this somewhat
remarkable man was not so full and free
as I could have wished. He evidently
was in no mood to talk OH the topics that
were most prominent in my owl tilind,
and the witnesses to the interview pre-
cluded me from making my efforts to get
his confidence. After q few commonplace
remarks on the state of the weather and
such rencralities as usually open up a
conversation, l ventured to ask him a
leading question in regard to his escape to
and concealmcnt in Canada, to which, with
smile only, he replied, 81 have nothing
to say about that; but" he added, '..there
was no secresy about leaving Canada. l
went on board a steamer at midday, who'll
ly without disguise, and with hundreds of
people on and about the wharf: The
steamer had FULLY two hundred passengers,
with whom associated freely during the
voyage. Nobody recognized me, though
there were those among the passengers
that / recognized" He could not say
what steamer this was, nor from what port
1t sailed, more than it was one of regular
line leaving large city.
He spoke of meeting st. Marie in France.
He claims that he recognized St. Marie
first, and that they travelled TO lea.s ,,,oss eO
rether. He manifests no vlndictlVenesS
towards this witness for having discovered
him hi " + to ~ the m authorities, but considers him
'.st e. ~ cherons" .h fellow and thinks he was
,',;stalen " t in his character s'urratt says
t,.,.' th.+ he had information of ST. Marie's
treachery tres: before it was fully accomplished;
and was kept advised, from time to time, OF
the steps taken to secure his arrest: Had the
actual arrest been delayed one day longer,
as Surratt had reason to expect 1t would
be, he would have been beyond the reach
of his pursuers, his arrangements tor de,
sertion and flight being nearly perfected
at the time of his arrest: He is careful to
abstain from saying what those arrange
mcnts were, who were his accomplices and
informers, or where he was to find place
of refuge.
Tie has read with great apparent interest
the published account of his capture ana