Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1895-03-14
Death Of Thomas A, Icres.

Z
aged seventy-four years. Mr.. Jones bad
been in failing health for long time, due
10 a general giving away Of the vital pow
ers, more than TO any particular disease
and his death had been expected for severa
days. He was = native of this county and
has resided here nearly all of his life. Mr.
Jones was q man Of strong character and
was highly respected by every one. In
politics he was always a staunch Demo
GRAFT and took an active interest in the sue
cess Of his party. At one time he held q
position on the police force Of Baltimore
| city and sfterward an officer at the Mary.
land House of Correction. During the
| first Cleveland administration be was
given small place in the navy yard in
Washington. and held the position till the
change OF the administration. He then re-
turned TO the county and has for several
years filled the position of Justice Of the
Peace in this district. His funeral took
place on Tuesday, the interment being al
Newport Catholic Church. The pail
bearers were Messrs. J II Roberts, J ).
Turner. Col. l.. A. Wilmer, r. F. Mating
ly, J f. Mudd and W. II. Wenk.
Mr.. Jones is most widely known on &C.
count of the part he took in assisting Booth
and Harold to escape to Virginia after the
assassination Of Mr.. Lincoln. Mr.. Jones
was foster brother Of the late Col Sam
uel Cox, aud when Booth applied 70 Col.
Coz for assistance the latter, knowing well
the kind OF man Mr.. Jones was, sent for
him and put the fleeing criminal in his
charge. Col Cox and Mr.. Jones were both
suspected Of knowing more about the es-
cape of Booth from the county than they
told, but so well did they keep their own
counsel, and so we'll did Mr.. Jones manage
his part of the business that, though they
were arrested and locked up in the old
Capitol Prison in Washington, they were
discharged for want of conclusive evidence.
Mr.. Jones first told his secret for publica-
ton in 1884, when II was published in full
in The TINES. In 1898 he published the
whole narrative in book form and went to
Chicago during the Worlds Fair to sell it
but it found but little sale and he soon re-
turned. Mr. Jones tells of the flight of
Booth and Harold from Washington, their
stop at the house of DR.. Samuel A.. Mudd,
nea- Bryantown, on the morning after the
assassination, snd the setting Of Booths
broken leg by DIR. Mudd, for which he was
sent prisoner to Dry Tortugas. He tells
Of Booth going to the house Of Col. Cox,
after leaving DR.. Mudd's, and how he
(Jones) kept him hid in a pine thicket
near where Bel Alton now is, and of the
final escape to Virginia. During the time
Booth was in hiding in the thicket, Mr..
Jones visited this village daily to hear
what the Federal troops were Going, and
on one occasion, while in the bar.room OF
the Brawner Hotel, Captain Williams, q
Federal officer, suspecting Mr.. Jones knew
more about Booth than he told, offered q
reward of one hundred thousand dollars
for information as 10 the whereabouts OF
the fugitive. Though Mr. Jones had lost
nearly all of his property by the war, this
opportunity to become rich did not for q
moment influence him to be'ray the trust
imposed in him, and he replied: THAT
amount ought to get him if money will do
it."
Mr.. Jones was a strong sympathizer
with the Confederacy, and in his book he
gives an account Of the part he took in as
sisting persons TO get across the Potomac
into Virginia and in forwarding the mails
! between the Confederate Government and
the United States and Canada He wa.
appointed a member of the secret service
of the Confederacy by Major William Nor
ris, chief of the Confederate signal service
and the location of his farm at Pope'
Creek, with his house on a high bluff
where he had q full view of the river fo
miles, both ways, was a great advantag
10 him in carrying on his secret work
A man named Ben Grimes, on the Virgins
shore, co-operated with him in the danger
Gus undertaking. and they had a regula
set Of signals by which either could motif!
the other as TO the condition OF affairs ant
how to act. The river was patrolled b!
gun boats and body oftroops was station
ed at Pope's Creek and another on Majo
Watson's place, less than three hundred
yards from Mr.. Jones's house. He tell
how the signals were arranged and how
boats crossed and recrossed the river. not
withstapding the vigilance of the Fedora
officers. He managed his part of the bust
ness with such discretion that he was neve
detected Port Tobacco Times.