The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-03-29
wilkes Booths Diary.

From the World.
If the whirl of strange events through
which the country has been passing for so
many years had not fatigued our faculties and
blunted our capacity for astonishment the
facts divulged on the floor of the House by
General Butler would startle and astound
the public mind. General Butler is the entdnt
terrible of the Republican party. His prying
curiosity, prompted by his restless malice,
has penetrated the closest secrets of the party,
and he blabs them with as little caution or
tenderness as if he were not a member of the
family. Having made himself odious, he
seems willing that others of his party who
ought to share his bad notoriety should get
their deserts. We wish that General Butler
had never been worse employed than he is of
late in bringing to light "the hidden things of
darkness"
The fact is now at length dragged forth into
publicity, that the Government, in the in
famous conspiracy trial, deliberately withheld
and suppressed, and either then or since have
deliberately mutilated and mangled, "a most
important piece of evidence, which, had it
been brought forward at the time, would have
excited keener interest than anything pro-
duced at the trial. 1t comes to light, at this
late day. that there was found on the body of
Booth diary, in which he had set down from
day to day all the particulars of his mad en-
terprise, giving a complete history of it from
its inception to its catastrophe. And this was
deliberately withheld from the Military Com
mission sitting for the trial of his associates
Nay, a studied and discreditabe attempt was
made to hoodwink the Commission and deceive
them into the belief that the Government were
practising the most unreserved frankness in
relation to the things found on the body of
Booth. Even an article so insignificant and
irrelevant as a tobacco-pipe found in his
pocket was grayely presented for the inspec-
tion of the Commission, the Government
thereby conveying the false implication that
everything which they knew, even to the
minutest circumstances, had been faithfully
brought forward. And now it turns out that,
behind all this ostentation of frankness they
were concealing complete history of the
whole transaction, recorded by its chief actor |!
This deliberate dishonesty, this artful and
studied deception both of the Commission and
the country, this concealment and burial of
evidence, is the most damning circumstance of
that disgraceful trial.
Mr.. Bingham's defense will not stand mo-
ment's scrutiny; but we infer from his remarks
that, although he knew of the existence of the
diary, he was not allowed to inspect it.. As
nearly as we can gather by inference from his
statement-whioh, by the points selected for
GENIAL, betrays the points where denial was
impossible-Mr. Bingham was furnished with
only transcript of such parts of the diary as
| the War Department chose to trust him with.
stanton, having determined to mutilate it,
had an obvious motive in having as few
witnesses as possible to its original condi-
ton. The mistake made by Bingham in
relation to Buffers possession of the diary,
furnishes an unintended link in the chain OF
clrcumstantial evidence. Butler, for the sake
OF Illustration, took from his pocket and
held up to the view Of the House diary like
that found ON the body of Booth Bingham,
by momentary lapse of attention, misnnder-
STOOD Butler to say that what he exhibited was
the diary OF Booth, and with eager impatient
curiosity he again and again asked for an
opportunity to look at it. His refusal to allow
Butler to make an explanation maintained the
illusion. His error on this point made him
cautious in his denials, lest he should be con
fronted and confounded by ocular dem6nstra
tion. II he had ever seen and handled the
diary he would have known what he coulc
safely affirm and what safely denv. NHe pro
baby got his first knowledge Of its mnfiiatioI
from Buffers own statement; and DEALING, Of
the sudden, with so awkward state az faots
he made an unwilling revelation of things Il,
would have fain concealed. p