The evening times., 1896-07-07
BOOTHS DIARY MUT|LATED
Many Believed Judge Holt
Guilty of This Vandalism.
BENBUTLER'SBoLDBLUFF
1t Was Said that the Publication of
the Diary Would Disclose Proofs
of Mrs. Surratt's 1nnocence-Seve'
raj Pages Cut from the Diary Be
fore 1t Was Made Public.

Il
A recent reference, apropos OF the coh-
test over the alleged forgery OF the VIII
Of Judge Holt, OF Washington, mas iur-
ther Interesting light thrown upon 1T py
a copy Of the Metropolitan Record anu
New York Vindicator, bearing date Oh
June /, 1867, which was accidentally nap
peped across, says ''kegarSee, IN tne
Philadelphia Times. 1t was a copperheau
publication Of the most yirulent tAIe' ihd
was still breathing seccssionist sentiments
two wears after the civil war had ended.
1t contains many things worth reading,
but the most instructive is copy OF
the diary found On the tody of j. Wilkes
Booth after the assassin of Abraham Lin
coin had been killed by Boston Corbett's
bullet. Connected with its first news
paper publication is story worth the
telling.
John A. Bingham, member OF Con-
gress and afterward United Stotcs Mill
lister to Japan, was member of the mill
tary tribunal that tried MIS-. Surratt and
the Lincoln assassination conspirators.
AS you all know, a great doubt has
always existed as to the guilt Of Mrs.
Surratt.
In subsequent debates in Congress Gen.
Ben jamin F. Butler frequently held this
fact over the head of Mr.. Bingham, and in
a certain mem orable debate he boldly pro-
claimed that if the cont of diary
which had been found on the dead body of
j. Wilkes Booth were ever made public =
would disclose the fact that it contained
the proof of Mrs. Surratt's innocence, which
proof had been infamously suppressed by
the government. When Bingham made a
movement as though to repel such an ac-
cusation Gen. Butler dramatically drew a
memorandum book from the breast pocket
OF his overcoat and held it aloft, but did
not utter a word. Bingham instantly SANK
back in his seat. He naturally supposed
that Butler had obtained Il copy OF IL diary
such as he had spoken of. AS a matter of
fact, the memorandum book contained moth
ing but blank leaves. Willy Ben was play
| ing what poker player would call a
bluff hand.''
BOTH'S DIARY PUBLISHED.
Andrew Johnson was annoyed by the Cir
culation given to Gen. Buffers declara-
y
| had been found on Booths body Secretary
OF War Stanton had it in his possession,
but with his customary malignant secre.
tiveness he refused to let anyone see it.
President johnson finally asserted his
prerogative and demanded Possession of
the book. II was very Interesting, but it
did not throw any light on the question of
Mrs. Surratt's guilt or innocence. The
| Presidents private secretary was W. w.
| Warden. He was the Washington CORE
spondent of the Baltimore Sun, and, beside,
he was in the pay of the New York Tribune
bureau to supply it with all the informal ton
| he consistently could.
To him Andrew johnson minated that
4 he would not be averse TO the publication
| of Booths diary, and permitted him to
make Il copy of it. He brought it aftel
midnight to James Randolph Young, af.
terward executive clerk of the United
States Senate, but then Washington cor
respondent of the Tribune 1t became
rnmored along Newspaper Row that the
diary was out, but no one could get the
| track of il. The next morning the Tribune
and the Baltimore Sun had big beat
The correspondent of the Sprin gfield Re
| publican, when taken to task for his fail
ure to procure the diary, answered his
editorin-chief, famous old Sam Bowles
in these words: I'm not like jim Youn e
for I've got home to go to and l don't
have to prowl around until daybreak"
Edwin NJ. Stanton, in submitting The
diary TO Andrew JohDsop's inspection
wrote in the Course OF his official commu
| nlcatioD: Immediately preceding the en-
tries some pages appeared to have been cu
out, but there was nothing indicating
what had been written thereon, or whether
anything had been written, nor when o
by whom they had been cut ovt."
BOOK WAS MUTILATED.
In consequence of this fact Ben Butler in
sisted that the book had been mutilated
and that the public had a right to know
something Concerning the pages that hat
been cut out. He wanted to know "wheI
and by whom were these leaves cut out, >
and he added: Booth, while hunted 70
his life through swamps and byways
after the assassination, would bardl,
have leisure for such amusement; beside
on horseback, with one leg broken, i
might be difficult TO get ruler or str;ight
1
as it is done.''
These grave insinuations, however, wer
repelled by an official statement of Judg
Advocate General Holt, in which he said
"The diary purports to be one for SO 4, an,
the leaves cut or torn from it probably con
tained entries of that year, and were thu
destroyed by Booth himself. 1t is bso
lutely certain that the diary is IN al
respects as it was when it came into m
hands, and Col. Conger, who was prom
nent in the pursuit and capture of Booth
after having carefully examined it in M
presence on yesterday, declaredits conditio
TO be now precisely the same as when h
tooki from Booths body after he had bee
shot, the writing In it being the same, an
all winch 1t then continued"
The diary, copy of which read in tn
Vindicator, is very brief. Here it is:
"Tiamo, April 18th, 18th, Friday. tn
ldes-unti' today nothing was ever though
OF sacrificing to our country's wrongs. Fe
Six months we had worked to captnre h,
our cause being almost lost, something d,
cisive and great mustbe doue But its fai
ure was owing to others who did not st rik
t.,,