The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-12-08
NEW YORK HERALD, THURSDAY,

re yard TO the suddenness or Its demise. ..D--n
the thing; didn't even flicker, but went right out
IN dam with Lees order went
mrs there on o sws GAYS S
Brainsrd House, as usual. as "John Harri
sSwDs d Sketch v q M 70 prison
f faiaay nsss isstred That e
forever ore 's blast my hopes and make me wanderer
in . foreign land. ! slept the night through and
ss ams storm them a' brewing around my head When
took my seat at the table, about nine O'Clock A. NJ,
gentleman 70 my left remarked:-
T.f1ave you heard the newsW
'No. I've NOT" replied. "What Is its'
.p ImH; LINCOLN AND sEcnrrARY SEWARD
HAVE BEEN AssAssINArED ?,
really put SO little faith In what the man said
s made q az maj ! s wds TOO N %
said at the Same time drawing out paper and
showing 1t to me. Sure enough, there saw an &C
mentioned it never occurred to me for an
instant that 1t could have been Booth OF
never heard anything regarding assassination spoken
OF during my intercourse with them.
EXPLANATIONS.
had good reason TO believe that there was another
conspiracy anOat In Washington. In fact, we all
knew 1t. One evening, as was partially lying down
In the reading room Of the Metropolitan Hotel,
two or three gentlemen came In and looked around,
"a II TO make sure that no one was around. They
then commenced to talk about what had been done.
the best means Tor the expedition &c. 1t being
about dusk and no gaslight, and partially concealed
behind writing desk, was an unwilling listener
afterwards, and he said he had heard some.
thing to the same effect II only made
az s oTs esa 70 cou st Of @
We didn't know what they were after exactly, but
we were well satisfied that their object was very
much the same as ours Arising from the table
thought who the party could be, for at that time
no name had been teegraphed.
was pretty sure it was none OF the old party.
aDOrOachpd the telegraph once In the main luu IOr
the purpose OF ascertaining II J. Wilkes Booth was
IN New York picked up nanx and wrote, Johh
hesltated moment and tnen tore the paper
up and then wrote one-"J. w. b." with directions,
our whole connection we rarely wrote Or teie.
Rssd nSsF oS Ss sTs'f bun
ssEaf}ss S Ss way oSyyll s9 susn seSs
Louis J. welehman Doubtless you all
to him because ne knew OF the plot to abduct Presl
dent Lincoln. proclaim 1t here and before the
world that Loais WeIehman was party to the plan
about IL, and was constantly imporrunlng me to let
him become an active member / refused, for the
neither ride horse nor shoot pistol, which
was q fact. Naughter.) These were Two
NECESSARY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
for us. My refusal nettled him 20 he went OF, as
1t afterwards appeared by his testimony, and told
some government clerk that he had vague idea
apduct President Lincoln. This he says himself
THAT he could have spotted every man in the
party why da no, ne d h i soo. als sometimes
thought he could be trusted II SAID /, "Certany he
can; Welchman Is q Southern man." and always
otherwise, because he had furnished informa-
ton 10 the government, besides allowing
%s Soa 10 say OF
Welchman but 40 pronounce him baseborn
perurer-a murderer, OF the meanest hue Give
me a man who can strike his victim dead;
but save me from man who, through
perjury. VIII cause tie death OF an
innocent person. Double murderer, he'll possesses
no worse mend than character Of that kind. ZAP
plause.) Away with such q character leave him
In the pit oil lnamy which he has dug for himself,
plause.l
THE MORNING AFTER THE ASSASSINATION IN
/ telegraphed Booth thus:-
New Ga Ak os% ssssfpA
The operator, after looking over it, said, as it
wanted the whole name, and had scarcely finished
telegraphing when door right near the
OPEN, and heard some one say Yes, there
are three or four brothers OF them John, Junius
Brutus, Edwin and j. wilkes Booth" The whole
truth flashed on In an instant, and said
to myself .sMy Cod what have donef' The despatch
was still lying BEFORE me- ana reached oyer and
operator Stretched forth his hand and saId 1--WE must
ne al teegrams;n NY first Impulse was 70 tear Il
was In the greatest uproar 1ags at halfmast, bells
tolllng, &c, &c. stili ! did not think that was
n danger and determined e. 90 Immediately n, to
But here wish to say few words concerning the
register Of the Brainard House. When my counsel,
ter It could not be found. Our INABILITY
to produce 1t on the trial naturally cast
suspicion over our abb. For weeks
to no purpose Every man who was connected with
the hotel was hunted up and questioned. Every
register Of the hotel before and alter the one which
ought to contain NV name 10 he fOun1 the
most important one Of all was gone Now the ques.
ton 49, what became Of that reglsterY The United
States government, by one OF Its witnesses, DR..
Mcmillan. knew in November, 1885, that was iii
Elmira at the time Of the assassination
CHARGE AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT.
They knew 1t, and they naturally traced me there
to md cut what was doing That some Of the gov
eminent emlssares distracted that register firmly
believe, Or perhaps 1t is stored away some Of the
OTHER government vaults under charge OF some
Judge nigh IN poslon but this Is only surmise of
mine. But the circumstances involve a mystery OF
vilany. which the Allseeing God will bring to light.
THE DESPATCH
sent to Booth also from Elmra it was impos.
sble TO fnd. We had the operator at Washington
during my trial, but he said the original was gone
though ne had copy OF IT.. In telegraph Offices
they are compelled to keep all dispatches filed. or
course we could not offer this copy IN evidence be-
cause the original alone would be accepted, and
that had been made away with.
DESTROYED EVIDENCE.
So sure was the government that they had de.
stroyed all evidence of my sojourn In Elmira that
IN getting me to washington IN time for MIR. Lin
50 completely were they failed In this that In their
rebutting testimony they saw the absolute neces-
slty OF having me go by Elmira, and they
changed their tactics accordingly That was
enough to damn my case in any mans mind. This
Is strange fact but nevertheless true, that the
government, having in Its possession that hotel
register as well as my despatch to Booth, and
knowing fully by of Its witnesses that was in
Elmlra, yet tried to prove that i was In Wash
ington on the night OF Mr. Lincon's DEATH
giving orders and commanding In general
as they were pleased to say. The gentlemen in Ell
mira by whom proved my alib were men Of the
highest standing and integrity, whose testimony the
United states government could not and dare not
attempt TO lmpeach. / left Elmira with the Inten-
ton OF going to Baltimore. really did not compre-
mend at that time the danger ] was in As there
was no train going south that evening concluded
To go 10 Canandalgua and from there to Baltimore,
by way Of Elmra and New York.
suRRATT's PLIGHT AND TRIAL.
upon arriving at Canandagua on Saturday even.
ing learned 10 my utter Disappointment that no
at me Webster House, registering myself as "John
HARRISON The next day went to church. remem-
Der bing Easter Sunday. can here safely say that
the United states government had not the remolest
f n IA