The National tribune., 1882-02-18

treaty, in serving as a confederate spy. She wa
not convicted, and still lives. She visited Col
while awaiting his execution, and asked hin
what was to be her future
II hope to see you married before am hung
replied the man to whom she had pledged hel
life's devotion at the st. Nicholas Hotel in New
York. ....
She soon afterward welded the man who sue
ceeded Major Cole as secretary of the Mount
Hope Oil Company-the enterprise which had
served as cloak for confederate operations upon
the lakes. Cole made two desperate attempts to
escape while confined on Johnson's Island, and
it was finally decided to remove him to Fort
Lafayette. Legal proceedings had delayed his
execution and a petition was gotten up by the
ladies of Northern Ohio, among whom were the
niece of ex-Secretary Columbus Delano, and the
daughter of General M. D. Leggett, since Com
missioner of Patents, and softened the public
feeling. The two ladies named were passengers
on the Island Queen when Cole captured her,
and were not only protected but shown perfect
courtesy by him and his officers. The influence
of this petition, added to the appeal of the pow
erful friends of the officers held in Richmond as
hostages for him, secured communication of his
sentence to imprisonment for life at the Dry
Tortugas His attempts to escape while confined
on Johnsons Island admonished the authorities
that he had better be removed to more secure
place. Arrangements WERE therefore, made to
transfer him to Fort Lafayette.
By some magic the confederate authorities in
Canada were kept informed Of the intentions of
our Government in relation to him, and the
officers and men who were engaged with him in
the capture of the Parsons and the Island Queen,
for which he had been sentenced to DEATH formed
plan to rescue him if be should be removed
Beale, who had been his principal officer in his
later operations on Lake Erie, was the leader of
the movement. The arrangement was, that his
former associates were to wreck the train on the
Lake Shore road, somewhere between Sandusky
and Buffalo, and rescue him. They wrecked the
train, but it was the wrong one, and he was safely
landed in Fort Lafayette, where, for a long time,
he was the companion in the same case-mate cell
with Stephen Mallory, secretary of the treasury,
and George r. Davis attorney general of the
confederacy.
Beale was captured, tried, and sentenced to be
hung for his endeavor to rescue his friend. He
suffered the death penalty al Johnson's Island,
while as the sequel shows, his friend, first SEN
fenced to death and for whom he gave his life,
escaped all punishment.
1t is claimed by those who profess to know,
that the execution of Beale caused the assassina-
ton of Abraham Lincoln. J. H. Beale was from
Jefferson county, W. Va. but short distance
above Washington, where many Of his relatives
now live. He was the intimate friend of John
Wilkes Booth.
When Beale was son+nrnna tn dooth Booth
made powerful at snpt save S life. He
enlisted all the emil a, nfa IL IDLY could
to aid him in his efforts out there seemed no
hope of success. A lest resort he begged his
influential friends TO secure MIN IN audience
with President Lincoln. Quite a number of
them consented to do so, aneng whom was the
late Colonel John W. Forney. The audience
was granted short time before Beale was to be
hung, and Booth made plea for his life which
moved Mr.. Lincoln to tears. The good-hearted
President would doubtless have committed
Beales sentence after the occurrence of that
night, but Secretary Stanton said:
"There has been too much leniency in dealing
with these fellows-Cole's sentence has been
committed The law ought to take its course in
Beales case" 1t did, and Beale was hung
Booths failure to save the life of his friend is
said to have so preyed upon his mind that it
gradually worked him up to the point of assas-
sinating the President. Cole remained in prison
at Fort Lafayette, and, after making one inef.
fectual attempt to escape, was on the 10th day
of February, 1866, brought out of prison on
writ of habeas corpus issued by the District
Court of New York at the instance of Jake
Thompson and other confederate leaders. He
escaped to Canada and thence to Mexico, where
he led life of adventure under Macmillan.
He was finally pardoned by the President and
returned to the United States with several
prominent confederates who were in Mexico for
a time after the war, waiting executive clemency.
1t is strange that such a story as this can be
gathered from actual events which transpired
during the late rebellion yet how many there
are Of them coming to light every day. Books
seem only to record the dry details of great
events, newspapers are the purveyors of that
which is the interesting history.
GRANT. ALL OVER.
The following is told of General Grant
visitor to the army while it lay in the