The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1867-08-29
Couoyer. ,l,e pcsiussr.

The Chicago Times publishes a letter
from a correspondent in Dixon, Illinois,
whose reliability is vouched for by the Wash
ington Chronicle, giving more of the facts OF
the life of Conover, than have hitherto been
known. AS Durham, Conover, or whatever
his name may be, is one of the most remarKapi0
phenomena that even Washington, proiihc II, :
MONSTERS has produced, We tanserlbe d p'is -
the correspondents narrative
Conoyer is by no means a bad looking man.
Tall, square, erect, broad-shouidereu, VIII ..
clear and wide-open black eye, 4e WINS SU Nui
good will at first sight. ne can Essence makes
handsome but his personal presei,co n1nco
f,vorahle Immersion on everybody. HIS ad-
dress and manner are easy, graceful, anu ihsi-
nuatnD. Judge Holt spoke OF him to me once
as of the most plaus,ple men ne ever me e..
a time in the Confederate army. He came to
iioht early in the year 1865 as a Canada cores
nondent of the New York Tribune He is
LAWYER by profession, and wrote readable let
tiers, of a somewhat sensational character. He
was on intimate terms with many members of
the rebel gang in Canada, and made himself
valuable as correspondent by revealing some
of their secrets. He was known to the Trib-
une folks as Sanford Conoyer; the Canada reb-
els knew him only as James w. Wallace. He
did his work secretly and the Tribune, with
his consent, gave the name of their correspon-
dent as COnover. While with the rebels and
under the name of Wallace he denounced the
rascal Conover as loudly as the best of them
and then covered his incognito by reporting
for the paper much of what the rascal Wallace
had said and was doing. Some of his letters
were deemed OF such Importance that the
Tribune, instead of publishing them, sent them
to the War Department. Immediately after
the murder of Mr.. Lincoln this correspondent
confessed to the Tribune that he knew some
tbipo oh tla nlOt ThlrpnnOn
the editor, Mr.. S. Gay, seat him on to wash
ington with a note to Judge Holt. His public
career then began. INnT .a aI T.
After Judge Holt. at first being deceived by
his plausible stories, had finally concluded that
be was unworthy of confidence, Conover ap-
| peared in his natural character as a rebel.
| While he was lying in prison, awaiting his trial
tor perjury, he secretly began to make the
| Herald the medium of insinuations against
Judge Holt Knowing that the Bureau OF
Military Justice would be used against him, he
| attempted to destroy it. But the result of his
| trial vindcated the character of Hot, and con-
| WINGED the Herald people that the communca-
tions they had published were inspired or per-
haps written by Conover.5J &&E#
AS to Conovers motives, it is said that the
attack upon Hot, bad double object: first
to levy black mail; and second, to curry favor
with the rebel sympathizers Of Washington
| before Jury of whom he would be tried otga
On this subject the correspondent says:
l. He says, and has said it more than once, OF
| even twice, unless am greatly misintormed
| that he swore falsely in the ASSASSINATION trial
| and was instrumental in getting others to
| swear falsely, with the purpose to turn round
at the proper time and show that the case
against the rebel leaders and the Canada rebels
rested on perjury! 1t was right, he held, to
serve the dead rebellion in such hion-right
to thus riot, in its name for its benefit, over the
grave Of Abraham Lincoln. n "a 5fH 4-rtr4y