Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1867-03-28

proved, We might hesitate TO believe.
Holt, we infer, finding the evidence
against these gentlemen failing, seems
to have devised plan of most sinister
ingenuity, using for his instrument an
individual, Charles Dana, Assistant
Secretary of War, who has throughout
shown a singular facility for enter
prises Of the kind, and having for one
of his objects TO make Mr.. Lincoln do
some of the dirty work on the occa-
sion. And very dirty work it was.
Mr.. Cohn, one of the parties on trial,
was taken TO the White House, and in
the presence Of the President pumped"
invited % tun States evidence.
The report from which we quote goes
on to say:
To the desperate extremity to which the admin
istration was driven, Mr. Cohn was sent for By The
President, who proposed to try on him the expert
mcnt Of my plan" An interview was had at the
Presidential mansion, in presence Of c. A. Dana,
Assistant Secretary Of War; J. A. Foster, Judge
Advocate Of the Military Commission, and Wood,
the keeper Of the prison, when Cohn was first Civ
en- to understand that if he would frankly state all
that he knew about the illegal transactions Of Col
onel North, Mr.. Jones, and others, in connection
with the soldiers votes, no harm should come Ia
him." and II was intimated that he might the soon
or be in the enjoyment Of his own libcrty-libcrty
which long imprisonment and hard fare had rem
dercd donbly precious and desirable. He was also
put through course of pumping, and alternate
eoaxing and buying-all designed TO elicit some-
thing which might convict North and Jones and
compromise Governor Seymour.
We see, sometimes advertised, en-
cravings of the Republican Court,
tempOre Lincoln"-"Lincoln reading
the emancipation proclamation" "Lin-
coin teaching his boy his lessons" &c.
but here is a tableau well worth
some dark limner's art. Mezzotiat
would hardly make it black enough
The President, jocular Of course, for
"pumping" was to him a merry scene
the halfstarved prisoner-Foster in
uniform, and above all, Dana, like the
detective in "Oliver Twist" clinking
the handouts ostentatiously, and re
presenting faithfully his principals
Stanton and Holt! Really, it is hide
Gus. And yet this scene occurred il
the nineteenth century and the Land
of Liberty. The. Presidential expert
ment failed. The prisoner was reso
Lutte. Ee knew nothing and could say
nothing, and he was taken back tc
prison, and the trial went on, and OF
the sixth of January, 1865, Doubleday
and Foster had to put their signature:
to the following;
ICopy.l- Commission was then cleared fo
delibcration and, after due consideration, do fns
the accused. Samuel North, Levi Cohn and Marvin
NJ. Jones, as follows;
As % the charge-Not guilty.
And do therefore acquit said Samuel North, Lev
Cohn and Marvin NJ. Jones'
(signcd) AnNER D0uHLEpAY,
Major General Volunteers,
President Of Military Commission.
J. A. FosrEB, J. A.
This was on the 9th of January, but
not until the 10Th was il approved by
Stanton, or allowed to be made public
and then Colonel North alone wa,
discharged, though, as we understand
the fact Of his formal acquittal was moi
communicated to him.
Mr.. Jones and the refractory Cohr
were detained, and on the Both, {
friend, Member of Congress from
Buffalo, writes to Colonel North;
WASHINGTON, January 30, 1865.
! Colonel s. North.
NY DEAR Sin IL enclose you q certified cop!
Of the order directing your release, saying yol
/ II afaHa 1unu
tenced to imprisonment for life So says the Sec
retary Of War. Very truly yours,
JouS GANsoS.
$50 says the Secretary of War"
If Mr.. Ganson tells the truth, Mr.
Stanton tormented the distant iamilie,
of these poor men by most atroeiou'
frlsehood. The report thus ends;
Cohn and Jones were held in strict confinement
suffering the tormcnts Of suspense, and uncertain
as to their fate. Stanton alone could have beer
guilty Of originating such refined cruelty, as h'
alone could have taken the position he did in re
I gard to the exchange Of our poor suffering prison
/ crs during the war. Holt may also come in for
full share Of the infamy attaching 90 the cruelty
praciiced towards these innocent parties aud then
/ friends, who were told. in answer to The anxiou
inquiries Of the latter, that -thoy were convicted
and sentenced 10 the State prison for life y II
the face Of these Inconsistencies and the practic
Of such proscriptivc intolerance, two weeks afic
/ Colonel Norih's release, Jones and Cohn were se
at liberty, the prison doors were flung open an'
they were told to ego !" without bearing with then
anything in the form Of official discharge 10 SHOW
what had been the finding Of the court or the reasoi
Of their discharge.
And not until February II, 1867
more than two years after the origina
arrest, did these injured men oven sue
ceed in procuring a glimpse of the
record 1t at last sees the light, anC
goes into history.
American rcader-pause and medi
tate on all this. Think of il calmly i
you can, but at least without the ten
per which party prejudice may excite
Think of the arrcst-the torture IN
prison-the forty days tgial-the at
tempt by the President Of the United
States tc extort coniession-the re
luctant acquittal-the holding back oi
reparation-and then say if we arc
not n patient, long-sufIering genera
ton. We are sick to death Of hearing
OF Mr.. Lincoln's good nature and gen
tleness. Hewas an actor in this scene
To him we owe Seward and Stanton
and Holt and Dana, and be is after al
responsible, for be could have con
quered the South without it, for the
great guilt and heresy of "the end jus
tifying the means"--his end being the
preservation Of political union, biz
means the disregard Of all constitu
tional restraint. "You ask me- sale
Cardinal Pole to Henry VIII, "whai
crime you have committed. lanswei
the greatest a man can commit--yor
have destroyed Constitution. Age