Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1867-08-29
a4uiuas at Mashiugtall.
THE IMPEACHMENT: CONSPIRACY.
ATTEMPT 70 sUBoRH WITNESSES TO CONVICT THE
PRESIDENT OF C0MPLIUTY WITH BOOTH
e.. TO AHHASSIEATE MR. LINCOLN,
DISCLOSURES OF THE PARTY WHOM T.
. WAS ATTEMPTED TO SUBORM
Report of the Acting Acknowledgement.


Report of the Acting Attorney.General.
ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE,
-. ..... -. 5th ofAugust, 1861. }
Mr.. PRESIDENT: The application Of Charles A.
Dunham having been referred to this Office, in the
customary order of Executive business for the ex-
animation and advisory action of the Attorney Gen
eral, it has become my duty, during the mdisposl-
tion and absence of the distinguished incumbent OF
the law Department, carefully to consider the case.
In respectfully declining, as do, to offer at pres
eut any recommendation in the premises, beg to
submit for your consideration the reasons which
coustrain me to reserve advice and suspend Judg-
ment until after shall have been further instruct
ed BY your ExceHency.
Dunham, the person applying for pardon, is the
same who has become notorious under the name ct
Sanford Conover. He was recently convicted OF
periury in the District of Columbia, and is, as am
informed, now incarcerated in accordance with the
sentence ofthe court His application seems to be
predicated, in part, upon supposed technical II
regularity in the constitution of the jury, and Is
supported mainly by the services which he Is al
leoed to have rendered the cause justice In aid
ing the prosecuting counsel in the collection OF
evidence and otherwise, upon the trial OF John d..
Surratt for murder.
The papers upon which this application is groun-
ded and by which it is sustained, consist OF four,
in q parcel, which, by endorsement, appears to
have reached the Executive Office on Saturday,
the 9th of July, 1867. The first is dated the 22d
july, and is written upon the ordinary note paper
used by members of the House of Representatives,
with nm engraved yignette caption. The following
is copy:
FoRTTETH CONGRESS,
u. S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
Washington, D. c., July %, 1867 }
GENuEMEN II suggest that petition, some
thing like the enclosed, be prepared and signed by
you for the pardon of Mr.. Durham. | think he is
clearly entitled to it, and hope you will aid him all
youcan. Respectfully,
J. M. ASHLEY.
Hon. J. Holt, Hon. A. G. Riddle
It would seem, from an expression used In this
note, that draught of petition was enclosed. 1t
does not appear what petition was thus designated
The next paper was the following from late
Representative in Congress from Ohio, now mem
Der of the Washington bar: .
WASHINGTON, July %, 1867
To the President of the United States
SIR: I was, early in April last, retained to aid
the Government in the Prosecution Of John ID.
Surratt and took the general management and pre-
paration of the case.
The labor and difficulties of the case were great,
and the Government is under great obligations to
Charles A. Dunham for much invaluable informa-
ton both as to the facts, and witnesses for the u
nted States, and for the history Of and facts con-
corning the witnesses called for the defence. Al
though in jail, he managed to keep informed OF the
progress of the case, and from time to time COM
municated important facts and suggestions, and
seemingly for the sole purpose Of fair lnvestga-
ton of the case, whether it would work tor his ben
eft or not It seems to me that for his services IN
this behalf, the Government should mark its appre-
ciation of them in way not to be mistaken.
Respectfully, A. G. RIDDLE
Nothing is among the papers from the Office OF
the District Attorney from any of the counsel IN
the Surratt trial, excepting MIR. Riddle.
The next recommendation is from the Bureau OF
Military Justice:
WASHINGTON, July "a, 1867.
I concur with the Hon. A. G. Riddle in his es-
innate of the value and importance of the services
rendered by Charles A. Dunham, as set forth in
the letter to the President A principle of public
policy leads governments to encourage, by all hon.
orable means those charged with crime to make
disclosures which may, and often do, result IN un-
masking even greater offenders than those who
make them; and hence when they are found to
have acted voluntarily, and in good faith the high
est public consideration require that their conduct
n L al The Mt
Dunham, with the details of which Mr.. Riddle
must be entirely familiar, as one Of the counsel In
the case, seem to have been performed without So
Ecitaton, and in the interest of truth and justice,
in connection with one of the most important Grim
ina trials which has occurred in the history of the
country; and, athoug his disclosures were not d.
rectly connected with the criminaGty of which he
himself has been convicted yet it is believed that
they do not the less bring his case within the spir
it and reason of the rule of policy referred to- and
hence it is for the Executive to determine how far
they shall be accepted at once as proof OF his re-
pentance, and as an atonement to the law, Tor
whose violation he stands condemned.
1T may be proper to remark that the recommen-
f{ation of the Judge Advocate General is written
upon one leaf of the same sheet with that Of MIR.
Riddle, and not upon official paper.
It win be observed that, notwithstanding this
man stood condemned for perjury, Mr.. Riddle, by
actual experience, and Judge Holt, upon satlstac-
tory grounds of belief, have fully realized his use
fulness in promoting by his cooperation with pub
lie agents of justice the cause Of truth on an occa
sion Of an investigation of national Importance, and
also that the latter intimates his opinion that ne
had satisfactorily demonstrated his repentance 1t
is remarkable that Dunham himself, in his petition
(which purports to be in his own handwriting, }
mentions no grounds, but trusts mainly to tech
nicality His petition is as follows:
WASHINGTON, July 26, 1867.
To HIS Eccellency Andreao johnson, President OF
of the United States:
The petition of Charles A. Dunham respectfully
shows that in the month of January last, he was
tried, convicted and sentenced to the penitentiary
for perjury, alleged to have been committed before
the Judiciary Committee of the House of Repre-
sentatives during the investigation by said COM
mittee of charges against Jefferson Davis of COM
plicity in the conspiracy to assassinate President
Lincoln.
That the perjury assigned in the Indictment a.
L.. I1eI,, lz-ks ss-1