The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1868-07-02
From Harper's Monthly, for Jnne,l
The Baltimore Plot 70 Assassin
ate President Lincoln.
(CoNcLUDED.)


against him had, through the press
and by harangues, and all the mean
by which the public mind is operated
upon, been infamed and exasperataC
to the highest pitch. Thousands 0
the more ignorant had been wrOugh
upon by the intelligent until they
were ready for any act of violence anC
atrOcity. The leaders finally fully
determined tlast the assassination
should take place at the Calvert stree
depot. A vast crowd of secessiOnist
was to assemble at that place anC
await the arrival of the train with Mr.
Lincoln. They were to 20 early anC
fill the narrow streets and passages i'm.
mediateIy surrounding it. It was
known among the leaders that George
P. Kane, the Marshal of Police, sub.
sequently arrested by General Banks,
and afterwards an officer in the rebel
army, would detail but small police
force to attend the arrival and nOmin-
ally clear aud protect a passage for
e Mr.. Lincoln and his suite, and that
that small force would be sympathizers
with the secessiOnists. When the
train should enter the depot, and Mr.,
Lincoln should attempt to pass through
the narrow passage leading to the
street, some rOughs were to raise d
row on the outside, and all the police
were to rush away to quell the distur-
bance. At this moment, the police
being Withdrawn, Mr.. Lincoln would
find himself in a dense, excited and
hostile crowd, hustled and iammed
and then the fatal blow was to be
struck. A swift steamer was to be
stationed in Chesapeake Bay, with a
boat concealed, ready to take the as.
sassin on board as soon as the deed
was done, and convey him to South
Iern port, where he would have been
received with acclamatioms and hon
Ored as a hero. But who should do
the bloody deed? It was feared by
some that Hill lacked the nerve and
GOODNESS. To determine this question
a meeting of the conspiratOrs was held
on the night of the 18th of February.
Some twenty persons were collected,
leach of whom had taken an oath OF
secrecy, and also sworn, if designated,
THAT he would take the life of the
President elect. 1t was arranged that
ballots should be prepared and placed
in hat, and that the person who
Idrew red ballot should be the assas-
sin. The drawing was made in a
darkened room, so that none could know
who drew the fatal ballot except he
who had it, and no one was to disclose
to the others the color of the ballot he
drew. And now the leaders, to make
success more certain, placed eight red
ballots in the hat, and eight red ballots
were drawn, each man drawing one,
believing that upon his courage,
strength and skill alone depended
what ne regarded as the cause of the
South, each suppOsing that he alone
was charged with the execution of the
deed.
The weapons and the mode of death
were to be left to the person who drew
the red ballot.
A knowledge of these facts having
been obtained by Pinkerton, he on the
night,of February 20 fastened to meet
the Presidential party at Philadelphia.
While these plots had been going
on, Mr.. LincnIn aud his friends, un-
conscious of danger, were pursuing
their journey toward the Capital.
Vast crowds had everywhere assem-
bIed to welcome and congratulate
him, and pledge to him their support
in the maintenance of the integrity of
the Republic, its Constitution and
laws. At Philadelphia Mr.. Pinker-
ton met the Presidential party, and
laid before Mr.. Judd, of Chicago, a
confidential personal friend of Mr..
Lincoln, in detail, the facts in regard
to the conspiracy. Assassination was
then q crime scarcely known in the
United States, and assassination for
political reasons was almost Incredible.
It is sad commentary on the wicked
ness of the rebellion that a plot to as
sassinate a prominent public man
would to-day be credited upon far less
evidence than before the war. Con-
seious of the existence of the plot
knowing of the trustworthiness Of
those from whom he derived his infor-
nation knowing that the train was
laid, that the mine would be sprung
as surely as Mr.. LincolO should reach
the city of Baltimore that the assas-
sins of the red ballot were even now on
the track and awaiting the fatal mo-
ment that the police of Baltimore,
under the charge of Marshal Kane,
would act in concert with the cOnspir-
atOrs; that vast mob, wild, savage
and blood-thirsty, was organized and
ready to act their part, the character
of which was not long after fully dis
closed by the attack upon and murder
of the Massachusetts, soldiers on their
march to Washington 4 yet knowing
all this, PinkertOn feared he should
have difficulty in inducing Mr.. Lin
coin to adopt measures to secure his
safety. The President elect was an
unsuspecting man.
After laying the matter in all its
details before Judd, and satisfying
him of the existence of the plot, and
of the extreme peril Mr.. Lincoln
would incur by attempting to pass
through Baltimore according to the
Pinkerton and Judi, had
.*If there are any who have hitherto en-
doubts of Mr.. Lincoln's peril, the
facts set forth in this article will doubtless
remove them. The circumstances set forth
in Mr.. PinkertOn's records should be read {
with recollection of the disclosures on ,
the trial of Booths associates. And it
should be also remembered that few days
after Mr.. LincOln's passage through Balti-
more, this same mob, under the instiga-
ion of the same leaders, attacked and kill {
ed not less than four, and wounded many !
others, of the Massachusetts Sixth on their
passage through Baltimore. What had
these soldiers done to excite that mob, as I
compared with their exasperated feelings t
toward Mr.. Lincoln? Would a mob that q
attacked a regiment of armed men have !
been deferred from attacking one man
whom they regarded as a tyrant and the
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