Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1867-02-18
The Case Of Smithson vs.. Stanton.

from the Washington Evening Star of l 18th.
Hon. Henry Stanberry and w. Y. Fendall,
ESQ. as counsel for Secretary Stanton in the
suit pending against him before the Supreme
Court of this District, have filed amended pleas.
It will be reccollected that William 7. Smith
son, formerly in the banking business in this
city, was arrested during the war by the. mill
tury authorities, and was tried, by military
commission and found guilty of giving aid and
information to the enemy, and sentenced to
the Albany penitentiary, but was subsequently,
r4rdoned, For his arrest and imprisonment
he now claims damages to the amount OF
$4,000.
: The defence had previously put in plea Of
no, guilty, and having obtained lesvet have
filed additional pleas. The first special plea is
that the said Smithson, at the headquarters of
the army, while the armies were besleging the
city. did act as spy, contrary to the Articles
OF War, and give the enemies of the Govern
ment information under the fictitious name Of
Chas. r. Gables, and encouraged them to as
Aaut the garrison of this city, and impaired
the information that Johuson meaning An
drew johnson, Of Tenn, was here enterlng
iu,o an arrangement for the employment OF
men to go to Tennessee aud Kentucky to burn
bridges, destroy machine shops, &C., and after
wards the said SmithSon with further intent to
give aid comfort to the enemies OF the United
States acted as a banker, broker, and financial
agent for the enemies of the United States and
out into circulation Tor the benefit of the enemies
of the United States bills and obligations issued
by the 50 called Confederate States as a means
Of credit, and for the purpose of carrying on
the war against the Government OF the United
States, &c. .a. .-.
Among the letters brought forward to estab-
ish the fret Dlea is the following .r'.
DEC. %, lS6l.-Dear Gen :: wrote you
Yesterday giving you some information ad-
diiiona to that contained in my despatch the
day before. omitted to say yesterday that
en losed despatch from our friend Mrs
Greenhow, which hope reached you to-day
| alsp enclosed one from our friend in 3. To-
day | have it in my power to say: that .helly
is t, advance on Winchester. Stone and Banks
are to cross and go to Leesburg Burnside S
fleet is to engage the batteries on the Potomac,
and Mcclellan & Go. will move on Centreyille
and Manassas. This move will be made next
week AS [ remarked yesterday, be prepared
Mason and Slidell have been given up and the
Hall clique are furious. Look out for !. smash
up. send you the papers containing Seward 8
letter, &c. ...-:...ss
Now, nv dear General, lookout for a large
army and tell your men (God bless them) to
cut and slay ultiI the last man is destroyed
don't allow one to come back to tell the sad
tale No living man ever made such despe-
rate effort as Mcclellan will make, nevertheless
believe he is coward and is afraid to meet
you. If some excuse is not hatched up, you
may certainly expect au attack next week. My
God Gen., give them the most awful whip
ping that any army ever received. McClellan's s
army will certainly number 10000 or one
L.. IL ~
haps more Let our next greeting pc IN
Washington You shall have warm recep-
ton. | write in some haste < III
szs-THE RADICAL TARIFF-The Chicago Tri-
bune is one of the most violent of the Radicals;
but from the following, appreciates, on the
tariff question, the difference between skinning
and being skinned: -lA = ...
There has been considerable buster and
loud talking about an impeachment of Andrew
johnson, but in the light of the tariff swindle,
that scheme is rapidly becoming, in public es-
timation, mere threat to frighten the Presl-
dent from vetoing the act. Congress has been
exclusively intent upon maturing the scheme to
plunder the farmers and producing interests OF
the country to enrich and pamper an arlstocra-
cy of spectators Everything has been sacrl-
feed to this scheme of robbery Reconstruc-
top, suffrage, the national finances, as have
been made subservient to this one thing-to
i this imposition of seventy per cent. tax on
the producing classes of the country for the
benefit of the monopolists.' -,
UNDERGROUND RAILWAY OF LoNDON.-A
New York business man writes from London
under date January 20: "Not the least is
their extensive system underground railways.
1t is perfectly wonderful how they jerk the
people about, at the rate of about fifteen miles
an hour from one end of the town to another,
and across and around, stopping about every
half mile, at some prominent corner, at sta
lion, from which you emerge to the upper air,
aid find yourself somewhere near where you
want to be, and miles from where you were a
half or three-quarters of an hour ago. These
trains run each way. being double tracks, about
every ten minutes, and morning and evening,
they often consist of seven or eight cars, hold
ing thirty or forty people each. The cars are
lighted with gas-not the tunnels, except at
stations-so that you eau read your papers
and there is no smell Of smoke, or sense Of
suHocation How they ventilate them so we l
can hardly see" - "t..
DEATH OF A HERMIT ohm Webb, ar
Eogishman, who has for many years lived the
life of a hermit in little solitary cabin in the
town of Victory, in Essex county, Vermont
died few days since from the effects OF ial
received while saving wood. He broughtwltt
him from London large quantity OF gold
which he boarded in the expectation that: We
tory would some time become a city, when NJ
would invest it~in land speculatons at thf
proper time and become immensely rich. HI
sons who lived in London frequently urged ths
return of their father to that city;. but hi
il q faith In the ultimate grandeur of Victory helc
him firm until his death, doubtless stimulated
by the growth of Victory in twenty years pas
&. irom population of l4Q to 2l2, and an increast
I zof valuation Vermont paper. '5'-'