Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-07-04
JUDGE CLEARY'S
Account OF the Prosecutions Endured by
Leading Ccnfederates After the Close
OF the Wharf.-The Charge OF Com
plicity i'm
The Assassination OF LincOln-President
Andrew johnson Mislead by Malici-
Gus UniOnists Anxious to Have
General Hanging INDUCED In.

Cincinnati Enquirer, June 29th: In the
| present revival OF popular events of the late
| United States civil war, especially the incl
| dents connected or associated with the. Lin
coin assassination and the operations of Con-
tederate agents and sympathlzers In Canada,
it occurred to the Enquirer management
that a little light, In the way of facts and
| opinions, from ex-rebel sources might prove
both useful and entertaining.
10 this end reporter was dispatched to
call on our neighbor, Hon. w. w. Cleary,
of Covington, for whatever facts and
fancies he might consent to contribute.
Judge Cleary is one of the six upon whom
| was conferred the dangerous distinction OF
a Presidential proclamation of outlawry.
THE JOHNSON PROCLAMATION.
| BY the President Of the United states:
| WHEREAS. 1t appears from evidence in
the bureau of military justice that the afro
cious murder of the late President and the
attempted murder of Hon. w. Ii. Seward,
secretary of state, was melted, concerted and
| procured Dy and between jeff Davis, late of
Richmond, Virginia, and Jacob Thompson,
Clement c. Clay, Beverly Tucker, George n.
Sanders, w. w. Cleary, and other rebels and
| traitors against the government of the United
States, harbored in Canada. Now, therefore,
to the end that justice may be done, |, An
| drew johnson, President of the United States,
do offer for the arrest of SAID persons or either
of them. within the limits of the United
States, so that they can be brought to trial,
| the following rewards:
S100,00 for the arrest of Jefferson Davis.
$25, 900 for the arrest of Clement Z. Clay
SIS, 900 for the arrest of Jacob Thorn pson,
late of Mississippi.
| 5000 for the arrest of George N. San
ders.
$25, 1000 for the arrest of Beverly Tucker.
S25, 900 for the arrest of w. w. Cieary,
| late clerk of c. G. CLAW
| The provost marshal general of the United
| States is directed to cause a description of
said persons, with notice of the above re-
wards, to be published.
WASHINGTON, May 2. 1865.
| JUDGE CLEARY
| Is now an honored citizen of Kentucky, the
States attorney for the Covington district,
and vigorously vigorous prosecutor of male
factors, instead of malefactor himself
In answer to the reportorial inquiry of q
| general nature on the subject he said:
CHARGES EXPLODED.
The accusation in Mr. Johnson's proclama-
ton was long ago completely exploded, and
had supposed that the persons accused,
some OF whom had accepted high positions
under the Federal governme mt. and all of
whom had through life enjoyed the conf
dence OF their fellow-citizens, and unolem-
| ished populations as private gentlemen,
though suffering for the time from the NOR
bid excitement of the public mind, had been
thoroughly exonorated and completely vim
Dictated by the candid judgment of the coun-
try. Andrew Johnson, deceived by the per-
Juries which that miserable miscreant and in
CRATE Kentucklan Joe Holt had imposed upon
him as evidence in the bureau of military
justice, was induced to proclaim as dishon-
ored felons Jefferson Davis. Jacob Thompson
and Clement G. Clay-men who, in the past,
had been honored and trusted by the Amer
lean people as among their illustrious citi-
zens, and whose dishonor, therefore, was a
stain upon the honor of the nation. 1t being
subsequently most convincingly demonstrated
that the charge in the proclamation was made
by mistake, In an hour public excitement,
upon manifestly false testimony, into which
the President had been betrayed by very
natural but undeserved confidence in the
withdrew that proclamation. That evidence
in the "bureau of military justice" in spite
of official vigilance to conceal it, was obtained,
exclusively, from these witnesses, secretly
examined in the 'disgraceful and shameless
mock court" that murdered Mrs. Surratt.
Conover, Richard Montgomery and DIR. ]. B.
Merritt The publication of evidence in the
bureau of military justice" enabled some of
the parties assaulted to expose its falsehood
and the characters of the witnesses. l my
self collected the proofs thereof, and had
test, addressed to President Johnson, against
the continuance of the proclamation, which
the Enquirer, fearless then as now, publish
ed in full.
GATH, THE GHOUL,
may in his virulent hatred of the south, re-
vamp these old charges, but 1t will be re-
membered that their only foundation were
the statements of the proved and convicted
perjurers, Conover, Montgomery and Merritt,
and their suborner Holt; that although JEFF
ferson Davis was entirely in the power of the
government, he was never brought to a mill
tary trial, and that the President himself,
by the withdrawal of his proclamation,
showed that he had detected, and that his
instructive sense of right and honor revolted
at the perjuries which had deceived him.
Edwin nj. Stanton and JOSEPH Holt were
the bureau of military Justice" False to
their post, they had become the Marat and
Danton of the United States government,
and their names live to-day UNANIMOUSLY
linked with atrocity and blood. The ghost
of Mrs. Surratt will not down.
Sanford Conover, the perjurer, and Judge
Advocate Joseph Holt are living to ds-, as
indlssolubly bound together in infam, as
were the Simese Twins in flesh. Stanton is
dead; it is said by his own hand.
THE SOUTHERN COMMISSION.
Reporter-Judge Cleary, there were, of
course, many rebels in Canada, the greater
number of them exertlng themselves in va
rious ways in aid of the southern cause?
Answer-Oh, yes; there were great many
in Canada who had been in the Confederate
army, principally escaped prisoners from
Camps Chase. Douglas, Morton, Elmira, ETC.,
and there were many refugees from Ken
lucky. Ohio, Indiana, Missouri and Virginia.
Reporter-But were any of these officially
representing or authorized to act in the name
of the Confederate government?
PEN PORTRAITS.
AnSwpr-Tha only authOrizod aOenfc or
representatives of the Confederate govern
ment were Hon. Jacob Thompson, of Missis-
sippi. Hon. Clement c.. Clay, of Alabama,
and Hon. James P. Holcomb, of Virginia
Colonel Thompson and Mr.. Clay were regu-
larly commissioned by President Davis, and
tary of the commission thus constituted. Mr.
Holcomb was subsequently added to the
commission.
Reporter-Can you give US some idea of
the journey of this commission to Canada,
and the character of its work there?
Answer-Yes, but only in general way at |
present.
We sailed from Wilmington, North Caro- |
lima, on the night of the fifth of March, 1864, |
on the steamship Thistle, and, by the way, |
Colonel Blanton Duncan, of Kentucky, was a |
fellow passenger. Running the blockade |
successfully, we made st. Georges, Bermuda |
loAoANcs OiA lAAO LuOiAlu& VI Tue uluJQ, SdlISu
from them on the tenth, In the British mail |
steamship Alpha, and arrived at Halifax,
Nova Scotia, on the night of the nineteenth.
Next day the commissioners called on Arch
bishop Connolly, of Halifax, and were re-
ceived with the greatest kindness, the arch
bishop expressing warm sympathy and best
wishes for the success of the mission of peace
upon which the commissioners were bound
He furnished letters OF introduction to the
leading Catholic clergy. of Canada: On the
twenty-frst of May (Mr. Clay being sick)
Colonel Thompson and myself set out for
Can tda, across the bay of Fundy to st. John,
New Brunswick, up the st. John river, stop
ping day at Fredericton, the capital,
thence to Tobique, and thence overland to
River du Loup, the then northera terminus
of the Grand Trunk railway. There we took
rail for Montreal, where the morning of the
twenty ninth found us.
Colonel Thompson shortly after that es-
tablished his headquarters at Toronto; Mr..
Clay at st. Catharines, and Mr.. Holcomb at
the Clifton house, Niagara Falls. remained
with Colonel Thompson. Frequent visits
and interviews took place between the COM
and they were often visited by
distinguished gentlemen from the northern,