New-York tribune., 1867-05-20
JOHN II. SURRATT.
A MORNING WITH HIS COLLEGE CHUM.

Scant OF Dreath ana was legillnB lily SUI "-'
tvalk on Chestnut-st. Suddenly passed round
a,eed young man with eye glasses over his nose IL
was plain to me that had gone to school with him.
though who he was / was Indifferent about renem-
lerng. During my puplage at the Phiiaueipnia
High School about 1900 youths had entered anu
departed from it, and while. apart from my own
class / knew not a dozen Of them by name
had hardly forgot a single face. 80 i swung NY
hat promptly:
Good day, Sir! Glad to meet you again"
The other hat came off in response and walked
ul block, forgetting meantime all about the person.
.,,hen heard quick foot behind me, fel' tap on
Sc arm, and the eyeglasses had got around TO my
ont again.
"Ibeg pardon" said the young man, " but yon
went to the High School. Your name is' Exactly
! have long wanted to see you. You know WEIGH
na0nf7
''Certainlyi that is. not altogether"
Lewis Weichman"
Lewis 2"
"The boarder at Mrs. Suuatts'
I felt newsy and centrifugal at once again, and
.lrcw him to one side. In three minutes had hnn
promised to come to my house the next morning.
Out of his face and voice and the new interest IN
him. summoned. meantime, the whole memory OF
The man again. He had been in the next class be-
nd ME. and his round, chubby red-tipped cheeks
eappearcd as when he climbed into his bench in the
lecture-room and hummed, with the rest Of the boys
disapproval of some dry, yoluuninOus orator, or
peeped at his lesson and got noted" for it during
the reading of the morning scripture. An ordinary
Sat boy considered him. whose definition OF school
was place TO get fun out of; and he was OF mixed
ligious origin his father being Protestant, and his
,,ther Roman Catholic. He went to the High
loo three years and left it in 1859.
Iext morning after meeting him was Sunday, ana
ol,.,olf afD DyVng 1rglp at
O'clock. When he put by his hat, gloves, and
.ne. | saw him grown up to be young fellow Of "a,
)vown-haired, with dimples and tints all over him,
y ytaehe that will never come to much, a nose with
good deal of bridge to il. clear light eyes that do
( strain by their arsightedneSs, and that bodily
ematurity which makes him 'waddle' somewhat
gait and was expressed by SuITatt in the nick
the of Fatty
lis address was singulaly intelligent and pleasant
d he has more than average independence OF opln-
J l. compared him. for the first few minutes to
s,noduass, the junior boarder at Mrs. CunninghamS
when DIR. Burdell was murdered-the young fellow
Gho waltzed with Augusta and played the banjo in
his cell submely Indifferent to the great tragedy he
lived so close to- in half an hour found that WEIGH
spann was altogether gra CT man, SObeTed, pTacu-
ealzed even religiousy affected by the part he had
nnwittingly played in the direst conspiracy o. our
times.
a. Ibelieve. Sir" he exclaimed, in the pitch of the
narrative. THAT was providentiay thrown III the
way of those peope-that was an instrument pre-
pared 10 convict them. Look it was l that intro
<uced st. Maure to John Sulatt two years before
%he assassination: how did know that one was to
iI,e the man who should chase the other round the
world and bring him home? Look again! on Good
Friday an order came from Mr. Stanton to the de
rartment in which was clerk, giving only the Cath
slic employEs holiday for the afternoon. But for
that holiday should never have driven Mrs. Surratt
out to Sunattvie four hours before the murder and
st was that drive that hanged her"
l asked him to go back to the beginning Of himself
and tell me all that had not been evidence on the
srial-whatever infcrental and domestic, and char
scteristic had marked his acquaintance with the
Sunatts: for l had been collecting data upon the
great crime and had been present in all it's scenes
fresh after their commemorations; the tEeater tho
Surratt House the Maryland swamps the route OF
Booth escaping the barn where he died, the scaiiod
I sdmonished Weichmam that as John. SuIratt was
shortly to be tried. might print this conversation
and here set il down in running order, and II makes
unless am over-sanguine the straglltest story OF
Che conspiracy against the GoyeInments preseryers
yet related:
wFIcHNiANN's NARRATIVE
In 1889, is began, left the High School where
YOU had known me, and in February of the same
entered InaItS 4hiiiS'
near Baltimore A considerable number of students
were present and the Principal was the Rev. Father
Jenkins. About Six months after my admission
Surra came there to study for the diocese Of Flor
a. He attracted no attention. either by his talents
r prowess being one of the most sober and Obedent
choaTs and winning the cOmmendatlOn OF all the
,'rofessOrs by his tractable bearing He was then
fresh faced fellow of sixteen, straight and thin with
a good, broad forehead, and deeply sunken eyes We
were not allowed TO sleep with one another the mo-
nastic system being enforced, and although talked
often With SuTratt recall nothing now that showed
him TO have any depth of character pointed ever
30 remotely to this crime. When the war broke out
the whole school was with few exceptions, favorable
so the success of the Rebellion. The teachers seemed
so have little enthusiasm for the liberty Of opinion,
he secular education, and the republican civilization
of the North and most of the students either came
from Slave States or meditated mnisterng i'll them.
We werekept ignorant of Union victories; the news
papers were prohibited, and when emerged, found
myself as uninforned as il had been in Jail. Sur
ratt with the rest sang Secession songs very fire.
ouentlv and he left the school the day that
did in July, 1862. He had previously satisfied him
self that the priesthood not his vocation, and at
leaving was so much affected that he
wept The President held his hands over
him. and said: " John, You have been
good boy Do not feel disappointed. You will al
ways be remembered here Indeed, Surratt be-
onged TO Students Society, called the Society of
the Angels very pous in its nature and was alto
gether too wild TO be admitted 10 1t. SuITatt had
often spoken 10 me Of his home in Maryland, and
some months after left the school he wrote me
letter inviting me 70 viss hnn. Meantime accepted
tutOrship at BOuOmeO College Maryland, ana,
after four months went to vista tI1end at ELAN
gowan. familiarly called Little Texas. small lime
Kiln town on the Northern Central Railway. and here
elped him teach a small Catholic school Tor lew