Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1868-10-22
THE sTRRATT CASE.
innocence or Mrs. SurFatt and
Her Death By Judicial
Murder. 4
The Testimony of Three.
:JOhn Surratt and the Con-
Spiracy at His Trial

:JOhn Surratt and the Con
Spiracy at His Trial
Some Strange Revelations.
Correspondence Of he New York World.
BALTIMORE, October l2.-It has jus
fallen in nv way to converge with certain
Gentlemen in Baltimore upon the subjecI
of the murder OF Mrs. Snrrait, and upor
matters appertaining thereto. The gentle
men to whom allude are Mr.. John T
Ford, formerly proprietor Of keedAs Thea
ter. in Washington, where Abraham Lin
coin was assassinktsd; Mr.. James Clifford
stage carpenter. frmerly at Ford's and
now At MI. Ford's Holiday Street Thea.
ter. in Baltimore. and Mr.. Wiel. These
conversations have interested me so much
that cannot forbear, with the permission
Of the gentlemen, 10 attempt to sketch them
for the World. YOU will please to observe
that neither Mr.. Ford nor. the others pre-.
tend TO recite the whole history of the as
sassination conspiracy (0' which they have
gained their information, like the rest Of
the public, from the reports of the trial
. and the statements Of other witnesses !; but
such facts as came under their own obseE-
walton, and the opinions they have formed
of this business, have considerable value
and are connected together in a colloquial
way which has not the precision of mar
rative. 90
Mr.. FORDs TESTIMONY.
Mr.. Ford required to the morning Of the
day of the assassination:
"Booth was, ss you know, one of the
handsomest ofsmen. He had Appollo's
own grace about him. When he was 10
Washington, boarding at the Kirkwood
House, the young ladies who were stopping
there used to collect at the foot of the stair.
way on the dining-room floor, just TO see
him come down stairs. He always looked
as bright and pleasant as he was hand.
some, and had a CHEEKY word and faci-
mating smile for every one. He was !
great favorite with all the Young ladies a
the hotel. think he had been rather de.
pressed since the fall of Richmond, but
early on that afiernoon-the afternoon o.
April 14th--he was noticed by the boys Al
the theater sauntering up the sidewalk
from Pennsylvania avenue, looking his
very best, and marvellously at his ease
He was elegantly dressed, as usual and
wslked with that half-conscioHs, confident
attractive grace which became so ire,
proachable = presence. He was rather late
that day; he had probably breakfasted
late. He used to walk to the theater every
morning between ten and eleven o'clock Il
see about his letters. As he came up, my
brother Harry turned TO one Of the other;
who stood by, and said
"'There comes the handsomest man in
Washington
Booth liked my brother, and they were
very familiar in their talk with one anoth.
er. So Harry thought he would plague
Booth bit. 1t happened that, an hour
or two before, a messenger had come from
the White House to cay that the President
and General Grant, with Mrs. Lincoln and
Mrs. Grant, would be at the theater in the
evening, Harry, therefore, announced tC
Booth:
"John, the President is going to be here
tonight, with General Grant. They've
got General Lee here "a prisoner, ans
he's coming too. Were lsoiBg TO piEt HIS
in the opposite box
"At the same moment Harry handed
Booth long letter. Booth broke the sea-
remarking:
40, no, they havn't got Lee. prisoner
they certainly wouldn't bring him tC
Washington
"Then he sat down and read his letter
it was long one, as said, and he seemed
absentminded while reading it. Atlength
he folded it up, put it in his pocket, and
suddenly began TO inquire with interest
whether the President and General Grant
were really coming, etc.
"'Yes, Harry assured him, Mr.. Lincoln
General Grant, and both families, arr
surely coming Harry couldn't deceive
Booth about General Leo
"Booth, then" continued Mr.. Ford
cleft the theater in q kind Of hurry, rs i
he had made mp his miEd about something
TO be DONE" lie started down the street
and turned the corner Of Z street tOwarI
the Kirkwood House, walking quite rap
idly. 1t is my belief, that then, for thC
first time, the thought Of assassination en-
tered his head. An abduction had, o
course, been long considered. But, il
what we may assume to be his then STATE
of mind-his disappointment by the Rebe
reverses, and his conviction that the Rsbe
cause had become desperate, if not ruined
this uneIpectedyappOrtunity of Lincoln
and Grants visit 10 the theater was ire
sistible. | interpret his movemets after h
quilted the theater to have been, in part, a
follows: Having formed his resolution OF
the instant, while pouring over the letter
he went TO the KirkwOOd House and wrott
letter to Matthews, which he intended Il
be published in the Inteliigencer as an ex
PLANTATION and defense of what he was to do
He subsequently got horse, and it i
shown that he hailed Matthews on tn
sidewalk while riding, and delivered tn
letter to him with instructions to keep it
| think until the next day at tweivD
o'clock-and then to return il to hin
BOOTH in case nothing unusual SHOULD
have happened. Booth, it would appear
got this horse for The purpose of hunting
up Payne, Harold and Atzerott that after
noon. The plan must have been arrange,
between the four in the afternoon; 70
Booth was the head and front of the Who'll
conspiracy, and l have already expresses
the conviction that Booth never resolves
upon assassination until after he had ar
rived at the theater that day and learne
that the President and General Gran
were 10 be present at the performance j
| the evening.
"Now it was attempted to be shown tbs
Bootht who called at Mrs. SurratL's hous
that same day, called there and converse
| with Mrs. Surratt after he had omitted III
theater; and that therefore he went, full
charged with his scheme, and talked wit
her about it, and she must have known {
| it and been implicated in it. My conyi,
ton, and the conviction of the rest at Ii
theatre; il right the other way. Boot
came to the theatre at much later hou
than that at which it was his habit TO con
to get his letters. The testimony has le
me to infer that he had strOlled up to Mr.
SurratIs after breakfast, previous TO Il
time when my brother Harry first ga
him.
"But, whatever the truth in regard
this particular point might be, it won
make no difference in any conviction
Mrs. Surratfs innocence or any knoWledI
whatever of the assassination plot, al
that she was upjnstly hung. We we
prisoners together, and Mr.. Clifford and
here were prisoners in the same buildil
with witnesses who testified at the trii
Neither Mrs. SurratL rfbr' her son Jol
Surratt were concerned in or had Il
slightest inlimation of Mr.. Lincolr
taking off before the pistol shot "
fired"
"How do you account, on the ground
John Surratts Innocence, for his stayi
away from his mother during her trial
murder, for which she was TO be hun
That apparently cowardly and until