The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-08-27

velope was examined. The address was
In the handwriting of the confederate chief
and the statement of our young adventurer,
that it was merely a letter of recommends
ton advising Messrs. Clay and Thompson
That they might repose confidence in thu
bearer. since he was ardently devoted to the
confederate cause and anxious to serve the
great pnposet that it had in view, apueared
entirely probable; and the young man war
allowed to proceed to Niagara Falls and
Canada. he made some general report
upon the condition of the rebel army at
Gore onsville. but it was Of no particular
value, except that in it's more interesting
features it agreed with our information
from other sources.
He was not long in returning from st.
GATHERINGS with a dispatch which was also
allowed to pass unopened, upon his assur-
ance that it contained nothing Of i'm,
p%ortanoe. In this way he went back and
forward from Richmond to st. GATHERINGS
once or twice. We supplied him with
money to a limited extent, and also with
one or two more horses. He said that he
got some money from the c~onfederates,
but had not thought it prudent to accept
from them anything moro than very small
sums, since his protested zeal for the CON
federate cause forbade his receiving any
thing for his travelling expenses beyond
what was absolutely necessary.
During the summer of 1864 the activity of
Grants campaign and the fighting which
prevailed all along the line somewhat
did not stop them. All the dispatches,
however, whether coming from Rich
mond or from Canada, were reeu-
larry brought to the war department,
and were opened, and in every
case a copy of them WAS kept. As it was
necessary to break the seals and destroy the
envslopes in opening them, there was some
Olt1lcnltv in nanIinp than forwnr1 in What
should appear to be the original wrappers.
Coming from Canada, the paper employed
was English, aud there WAS a good deal of
trouble in procuring paper of the same ap-
pearance. l remember also that one i'm
portant dispatch, which was sealed with Mr..
Clay's seal, had to be DELAYED somewhat
while We had an imitation seal engraved;
but these delays were easily accounted for at
by the pretense that they had
been caused by accidents upon the road,
and by the necessity of avoiding the federal
pickets. At any rate the confidence of the
never seemed to be shaken by any Of these
occurrences.
Finally our dispatch bearer reported ono
day at the war department. with n document
which he said Was of extraordinary conse-
quence. 1t was found to contain an ac-
count of a scheme for setting Are to New
York and Chicago by means of clock-work
"A~S "SA~ v" ~ RbuopA AA nj
of the large hotels and places of amuse-
ment. particularly in Barnum's museum, in
New York and to be set off simultaneously,
30 that the fire department in zach place
would be unable to attend to the great
number of calls that would be made upon
1t on account of these confederate confla-
g~rations iii 30 many different quarters, and
thus these cities might be greatly damaged,
or even destroyed. This dispatch wal duly
sealed up again and was taken to Rich
mond, and n confidential officer was at
once sent to New York to warn General Dix,
who Was in command there, of the con-
federate project. The general was
very unwilling to believe that amy
such design could be seriously enter
tanned, and Mr.. John A. Kennedy, then sup
e~rintsndent of police. WAS equally incredu-
loua. But the secretary OF War was per-
emptory in his orders. and when the day Of
this %incendiary attempt arrived both the
military and the police made every prepars-
ton to prevent tho threatened catastrophe.