Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1867-08-15
Conspiracy Against the President.

Though the people of this country have
witnessed, in the course of this revolution, the
perpetration Of thousand stupenduous frauds
and outragcs by officials occupying high civil
and military positions, and have heretofore
looked upon their disgraccfui and rulnouS pro-
ceedinrs with an unaccountable apathy, we
can scarcely think that the public will receive
the startling revelations just made by Charles
a. Durham elias Sanford Conoyer without
being startled into some manifestation OF IN
donation and alarm. This man, 1t Will be
remembered, testified, and tutored several 9TH
or ueriurers who testified, before the Military
Commission which murdered Mrs. Surratt.-
After having rendered this service to the Gov
orument and the Radical party he was lett to
his fate. and to conciate what remained IN the
country Of honest public opinion he was tired
and sentenced to the penitentIary. lie peu-
toned for pardon on the 9th OF July, baSlnS
his application on purely technical grounds,
and il was supported by Mr.. Ashley, by MIR.
Holt. and by Mr.. Riddle, one of the counse,
for the Government in the late Surratt easel
who all urged tic services which they said Como
ver had rendered in that case as emitting him
70 n nardon. On the both, finding that orders
ington Jail to the Albany pcnitentlary, he adj
dressed to the President the communication we
published on Saturday. In that document
he states that Ashley, the prime engineer OF
the Impeachment business in the House OF
REPRESENTATIVES, approached him with propo-
sition to subon witnesses who would swear
that Booth had paid familiar visits TO Mr..
Johnson at the Kirkwood House just before the
assassination that he and Booth had cores
ponded with each other, and that the latter had
stated, about the 4th Of March, to friends
whom he sought to enlist in the conspiracy,
that he was acting with Mr.. JohnSOn's knowl-
edge, and that it had been arranged that MIR.
Lincoln was to have been murdered on hatday.
Congress, Ashley said, would protect all who
would swear to these statements, and COnOver
was assured that he would be released. lie
says he accepted the proposal, whether in good
faith or not we need not stop TO inquire. He
was then furnished with memorandum OF
the lies which the witnesses were to be schooled
to repeat, and among these were statements
duplicating Mr.. Davis and Mr.. Benjamin, as
well as President johnson, as parties to the as
sassination. Conover sent for some scoundrels
of his acquaintance, and they were duly in
structed and then examined by Ashley and
Benjamin +. Butler Congress passed at But
lers instance an act for the protection of just
such witnesses and their dispositions were about
to be taken, but Conover would not permit it
until his own pardon had been secured. This
however he failed, through the blunders, he as
serts,of one of Ashley's agents to receive, and
he then exposed the whole conspiracy, as he
saws he intended to do from the first Such is
a brief outline of this damaging story of an
attempt by Radical leaders togct the President
out of Office, and to prove him and other OBJ
noxious men parties to an assassination by means
of periurers who were to be protected and
splendidly rewarded for their diabolical SER
vices. We avow in the sight of Heaven our
sincere undoubting conviction of the truth OF
| Conovcr's revelations. That he is an unprin-
cipled scoundre we fully concede. That he is
an abandoned perjurer we admit, but the bascst
of men sometimes tell the truth, and we solemn
" believe he has done so now. Bad as he is
we would accept his word at any time just as
readily as that of Ashley, or of Butler; and
| Ashley cannot deny his credibility, for the
fact is indisputable and notorious that he has
lattcrly been repeatedly visiting Conover in
Jail to procure testimony from or through him
in the impeachment case. He who thus sought
| information from Conover, andwho would have
relied upon il as true cannot question his YER
acity now. and Holt and Riddle who accepted
testimony furnished by him in the case of John
Surratt cannot venture to repudiate his integ-
ritv. But our convictions are founded chiefly
upon the internal evidence of its truth afforded
by the narrative itself We have not space
within which to give reasons which have inn
PEELED us to'this conclusion, but they are many
and seem to US to be irresistible.
Baltimore Gazette