The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-07-22

President Lincoln fell under the bullet Of
an assassin in sympathy with, if not in
league with, the south. On the goth the
assassin, hunted to earth, was shot by Bos-
ton COrbett, and on May 10 jefferson Da-
Wis, the executive Of the Confederacy,
while fleeing 10 the southwest in the hope
OF rallying new strength to the lost cause,
was arrested by Wilson's cavalry raiders.
Bulletined according to their significance
IN comparison with past history, the
months events should read: So Military
Protector Disarmedp' "a King Muir
deredr' Ibis Slayer Slainr' and "The
Rival Prctender in Chains!" The climax
when it came was none the less surprising
because il seemed TO be necessary to com
plete the cycle.
The means adopted by himself and
friends in the last extremity were certain
" desperate. Three days after Richmond
and Petersburg fell Davis issued proc
lamation at Danville stating that Virginia
would not be abandoned. The city was
placed in "a state of defense, with Admiral
Raphael Semmes in command. The gar
rison consisted of n naval brigade and two
battalions of infantry. Lees surrender,
four days after the proclamation, changed
everything, and Davis, with his cabinet
and the famous treasure of 1915, 900,
moved to Greensboro, n. G. week later
the party proceeded TO Charlotte, in the
same state, and there on April "a Mr..
Davis approved of General Johnston's con
yentiOn with Sherman. Meanwhile the
Army OF Southwestern Virginia, number
ing about s, 900 men, including some of
the boldest riders OF the bands of Morgan,
Basil Duke and Vaughn, had been on the
march from the west to join Lee or John
stOn in the east. These men had discussed
the chances of n general surrender of the
chief armies and had voted TO hold out,
even TO the waging of a guerrilla warfare.
They encountered Stoneman's Union cav
airy raiders on the borders of North Caro-
lima, but neither party was anxious to
fight, and the COnfederates reached Char
lOtte the day before Davis and his cabinet
arrived. The government party marched
in under the escort of two brigades of
western cavalry, DibrelPs Tennesseeans
and Colonel Breckinridge's Kentuckians.
Ferguson's brigade already occupied Char
lOtte, so with Duke and Vaughn and the
escort there were five brigadcs of mounted
men to- act as bodyguard for the fugitive
chieftain.
On that same lay word reached Char
lotte that the Johnston Sherman cartel had
been disapproved ut Washington. That
convention provided for a general amnesty.
AS soon rs this was confirmed by John
ston and he announced his purpose to sur
Washington, Davis resolved TO march with
all the troops who would follow across the
mountains or below the pass into Ala
bama, where, as he supposed, Forrest and
Dick Taylor were in the field, ut the head
of respectable armies. The entire cabinet
and members of the executive staff were
TO accompany the expedition, and four
brigades of cavalry, those of Duke, Fergu-
son, Dibrell and Colonel Breckenridge, to
act rs bodyguard. General John G.. Brock
inridge, the secretary of war, acted as com
mander of the forces. The march was re-
sumed toward Abbeville. Elankers rode
to the right and left, and il was discovered
that body of Union cavalry, Stoneman's
raiders from Knoxville, kept even pace
with the Confederate column on n route
distant about 10 miles west. Davis, Brock
fnridge and others rode among the men
and talked freely of the plans of the expe-
ditiOn. The drift of the talk originating
at headquarters was that every effort |
would be made TO keep the late executive |
of the COnfederacy out of the hands of the |
United States authorities. No one disputed |
it wild or unreasonable, though the ex- |
treme hazards were weighed on all sides. |
One morning Judah u. Benjamin, the sec |
rotary of state and confidential adviser of |
Davis, disappeared, leaving an air OF mys- |
terry over che whole proceedings The prob |
ability Of severe punishment for all who |
should be caught was admitted openly. |
The brigadiers, representing the army feel |