Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1885-08-10
poSr uoRTEu DtscLoSrREN

POST NORJEH DfNCL OSt RES.
Whcncvcra great man dies, one who
has been Identified with most intimate
government affairs aud was made the
repository "I state secrets, hardly has
the breath left his body before the gossips
and busybOdics are giving particulars of
affairs ia his life never bcfurc suspected.
Occurrences, the truthof which he alone
could establish or rcfutc, are reported
with ininutcncss of ddlail, at once de.
MED, and thcrcupon controversy
springs up That mscttlcs The authenticity
of accepted history.
The columns of the newspaper press
urc now hardened with revelations of
ton. Grants participation IN affairs not
even suspected during his lifetime. 1'nr
GAHErrr yesterday gave place TO an arti-
Gle from the Brooklyn Eagle Of this pos
luminous character. President Johnson,
IL was stated, was in 50 leroclous state
OF mind atthe close of the war that he
was determined to hang an of The lead
We ~ AiN l'p'lll'lls ANU hN0 WHY IIi-
ycntcdby Grants positive refusal to allow
the army 10 be used to support amy such
barbarous scheme. Then soon after
Johnson proposes 10 make mp with the
South, rcorganze the state governments
by giving the people full control aud re-
cciyc the wbclious states back Into the
| Union relieved from their disabilities. To
this Grant again decidedly objected, aud
while before refusing to allow The army
to be used as an engine of oppression, he
now rs positively declares that he viii
march his soldiers into the late pbclllouS
states aud defeat the presidents efforts
at restoration oi local scli-goN eminent.
Another story, equally surprising and
more suspicious than this, Is related to
the New York Herald by one who claims
to have been In position to know The
facts, II Is. that President johnson
and General Grant both were pryy Ia the
plot for the assassination of Lincoln.
"rhat conspiracy" this old gossip avows,
"wns hNtchcd before Lincoln was inaugu-
rated the second time. II contemplated
| the abduction OF Lincoln for the benefit
of another man. ! refer to Vice prcsi-
dcut Johnson. He was To be made
the great man Of the war, Lincoln
was To be got out of the way.
Johnson was Southern man: the
/ struggle was then nm admittedly
hopeless one for the South, but it was de-
| sirablc to have n man who could be de-
pended ON for satisfaction, as Lincoln,
/ with Stanton behind him, could not be
expected TO be lcnient. Remember, do
not say that johnson was party 10 the
conspiracy, hut ! ask You 10 read Gen,
| Buffers arralgnncn, Of johnson during
/ the Impeachment trial Read II carefully
between the lines, and see what It means.
| tell you only this, that the list of men
privy to the abduction of Lincoln would.
II printed tomorrow, convulsc this ma.
tlon Ia Its center. have seen myself a
note from johnson To John Wilkes Booth,
asking him to meet him at the Klrkwood
house, Don't draw any differences;
merely mean that they were on Intimate
terms"
Nobody expects anybody else TO believe
these atroclous flights of fiction. They
are beyond dcccncy, They assail the rep.
utation of the dead, unable to defend
themselves, and without the dclcacy of
that meriim Roman lnippo,bm, "de
mortuiS nil nlsi bonum,n which would
not allow the exposure OF faults and
weaknesses after death,
Why did not the men who profess to
know these things make them public In
the lifetime of Grant and Johnson?
Why walt until both the mem
were dead who could have given
the lie TO these assertions and insinua-
tiops, and Then come forth with tales
which, If true, would blacken their fame
ane prove diem unworthy of the henors
given ihemg Such tales are probably
lies, and their authors liars, but that only
aggravatcs the offense. Nevertheless, we
may expect, for some months, To hear
startling stories Of incidents in Gen.
,inpF- eareor that D % one .essr suspected,
aud thesc wlll not cease to IND audH3rs
nnlll they cease TO Interest.