Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-06-05
The Baltimore Plot to Assassinate Presi-
dent Lincoln.

1. ..+s4.s utUG lXillCVkus
In the June number of Harper's Month
1y is an article in regard to the Baltimore
plot to assassinate Mr.. Lincoln, OF which
so little has been definitely known. Ihe
account given is, at all events, stralghtfor-
ward and consistent, and as such deserves
consideration. 1t seems from this that II
was Mr.. Allan Pinkerton, a noted detective
from Chicago, to whom mainly Mr. Lincoln
was indebted for his safety.
EMPLOYED professionally at Baltimore,
he learned that there was a conspiracy to
take Mr.. Lincoln's life, while he was on
his way to Washington. He at once pro-
posed to checkmate the plans of the con-
spirators. The writer in Harper says:
ellis plan was, with his detectives to
enter Baltimore as residents Of Charleston
and New Orleans, and by assuming to be
secessionists of the most extreme violence,
to secure entrance into their secret socle-
ties and military organizations, and thus
possess themselves of their secret plans.
In looking over his corps he found two
men admirably adapted to the object he
had in view-both young, and both able TO
assume and carry out the character OF a
hot -blooded, fiery secessionist. One OF
these. whom I shall call Howard, was OF
French descent. He had been carefully
educated for a Jesuit priest and added to
his collegiate studies were the advantages
of extensive foreign travel and ability to
speak, with great facility, several modern
languages; and knowledge of the South,
it's localities, preiudices, customs and lead
ing men, derived from several years resi-
dence in New Orleans and other Southern
cities. With these qualifications he pos
sessed fine personal appearance, insinu-
ating manners, and that power OF adapta-
ton to the persons whom they wish to In
fluenee, popularity attributedtothe Jesuits.
Howard was instructed to assume the
character of an extreme secesslonlst, go
to a first-class hotel, register his name and
his residence as New Orleans, visit places
of amusement, seek the acquaintance and
secure the confidence of the young arlstoc-
racy of that city; enter their clubs, -pene-
trate their secrets, and learn the wild pro-
jects it was known they were then forming.
He was also instructed to make daily re-
ports to his chief, then under an assumed
name occupying an office and nominally
CARRYING on a regular business in Baltl-
more. These reports, now lying before
me, are curious and interesting. They
show that Howard was eminenty success
full that he soon became welcome guest
among many of the first families in that
old and refined city, that he was favorite
with both sexes among the ardent and
mercurial young aristocracy, which fur
nished to the rebellion Harry Gilmore, the
French Lady, Stuart, and many other
partisans, and in whose circles Dixie and
My Maryland are still mournfully sung
over 9 the lost cause Many Baltimore
bellies are living who might innocently
blush at the disclosures of the daily reports
of one whom, in February, 1861, they
called the fascinating Howard, of New
Orleans" 49, ... t... 4 ....-5j
He continues:
."By the 18th of February Pinkerton's
machinery was fairly in running order !;
his agents in full communion with the
clubs and secret societies of Baltimore, so
that an interview was planned and brought
about between Howard's chief and Cap
tain Fernandina, one of the most active
of the conspirators. Fernandlna was an
Italian, or of Italian descent. He had
lived in the South for many years, and
was thoroughly possessed OF the IDEA OF
Southern wrongs, and, that the South mad
been outraged by the election OF Lincoln /;
and educated with italian ideas, he justi-
fled the use of the stiletto and assassina-
ton as the means of preventing the Pres
ident elect from taking his seat in the
executive chair. He was an enthusiast
and fanatic. In the interview OF Fer
nandina which took place at - saloon,
in the presence of some of the military
company which he commanded-his Lieu
tenant. and others in their confdence-in
the course of the conversation, Fernan-
dina, believing he was addressing a
thorough secessionist, said: Lincoln shall
never, never be President. My life said
he, is of no consequence. / am willing
to give it for his. l will sell my life for
that of that abolitionist. AS Orsini gave
his life for Italy, i am ready to die for the
rights of the South
s'Some one present remarked: Are
there no means of saving the South ex-
cept by assassination No. said he ;
you might as well try to blow down the
Washington Monument with breath
as TO change our purpose--die he must
and shall; and, he added, turning to Cap.
tain T, a coconspirator, we will, II
necessary, all die together Every Cap
tain will in that day prove hero. The
first shot fired, the head traitor Lincoln
dead. and all Maryland will be with us and
the South freed. Mr.. III - said he,
turning to Pinkerton, if I alone must do
it. i shall not hesitate l. Lincoln shall die
in this city,
"The next day Pinkerton met the same
Captain T -, one of Fernandina's asso-
ciates, who called Pinkerton aside and
whispered: 1T is determined that the
Cd d-n Lincoln shall never pass
through here alive. The d-n aboli-
zionist shall never set foot on Southern soil
but to find grave He added: Il have
seen Colonel Kane, Chief of Police and
he is all right, and in one week from to-
day the North shall want another Presi-
dent, for Lincoln will be dead"
He says further:l "a
1.-The time for Mr.. Lincoln's passage
through Baltimore was rapidly approach
ing, but the exact plan of operation by
the conspirators had not been agreed upon.
the popular feeling against him had,
through the press, and by harangues and
all the means by which the public mind is
operated upon, been inf1amed and exasper-
ated to the highest pitch. Thousands of
the more ignorant had been wrought upon
by the intelligent until they were ready for
any act of violence and atrocity. The
leaders finally fully determined that the as
sassination should take, place at the Cal
vert street depot A vast crowd of seces-
sionists was to assemble at that place and
await the arrival of the train with Mr..
Lincoln. They were to go early and fill
the narrow streets and passages imme-
diately surrounding it. 1t was known
among the leaders that George P. Kane.
the Marshal of Police, subsequently ar.
rested by General Banks, and afterwards
an officer in the rebel army, would detail
hut q caaa Ii 1aolioo force to attor,d IL =.