Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-10-27
AFTER SILENCE Or
FULL FORTY YEARS.
ONE or r.eo SURVIVORS or 4 MS
roRiC MILITARY CoGutS-
sion Sl'ENt<S.
ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN
REC ALLIED ny \ STATEMENT ny
eE>. n. ". HARRIS.
He SAYS No Tribunal Fever Acted
Fairer ia PASSING Death Sew
tcnce, aud That the Conclusion Of
the Court Was tasnimous-B~ Re
views the salient Point. In an In
tcrestfna Trial.

I CHFNlaA ~ Atlt iAtAANf'it
HARRISVlLbE, w. VA. October Is,
After keeping the striotest silence for
nearly forty years, one of the two sur
viving members of the military com
mission of nine army officers who tried
| those charged with conspiracy for the
/ assassination of President Lincoln has
at last revea.ed portion of the testi-
mony on which they we're found guilty
and upon which their sentences were
based Gen. T. NJ Harris. of this place,
and Gen. Lew Wallace are the only
surviving members OF the military COM
mission who are now alive. Gen. Har-
ris has seen fit to write and make pub
I lie a letter in regard to the case in
which he justifes the sentence OF death
! pronounced against Mrs. Mary Il. Sur
raft. who was hanged for being a con-
| spirator 10 the assassination of the Pres
| ident The letter was called forth by
an article written by John Clampitt,
| who was Mrs. Surrutts counsel IN
| which he asserted that the military
court was packed that the trial was
unfair, and. that a connection with the
1 plot had not been proven. Gen. Harris
says in part:
II might say that no tribunal ever
! acted fairer than this. The prisoners
were too poor to pay expenses OF eoun-
| sci and of the witnesses summoned III
| their behalf and in the majority or
such cases the expenses were met by
| the United States.
| Il might also say now, without any
| violation of confidence. that the SEN
| tence OF those suffering capital punish
ment was unanimous--not a dissenting
voice-and It takes only a two-thirds
verdict of u military commission to con-
Wet.
Mr. Clampitt attacks the witnesses,
! Welchmann and Lloyd, and says that
they did not tell the truth. With ref
erence to Mr.. Welchmann, ! wish to say
! that | have known him for SO years,
! have enjoyed his friendship, and con-
slider him In all respects very honor
able and upright man. He was not the
principal witness against Mrs. Surratt.
| | might say here that 1t was principally
| John w. Lloyd's evidence that did the
! damage. Who was Lloyd anyhow? He
was a plain. unpretentious man who
rented Mrs. Surratts property In Sur
rattsville. and paid her every month
! Sal so for the use Of It, and II this man
was mixed up in the affair 1t was only
because OF the actions of John e. Sur
raft and Mary f. Surrstt, his mother.
About the 23d OF March John Sur
raft. George A. Atherout and David f..
| Herold appeared at Mr.. Lloyd's place
i'm the morning Surratt called Lloyd
| into the parlor and there, on the sofa,
| Law the two Spencer carbines,
monkey wrench and a long stretch OF
rope. with some ammunition
Those things had been turned over
TO Uerold by Michael O'Laughlin.
Surratt told Mr.. Lloyd that he wanted
them concealed there. Lloyd objected
saying il was dangerous. Surratt
however, knew secret place, namely
under the rafters in the store room,
and there. having probably overcome
Mr.. Lloyds objections, he concealed
them. Thus it is shown that 1t was
Mrs. Surratt's own son who hid the
weapons which were afterwards so In
timately connected with her death.
ION the 18th of April, three days be-
| fore the murder, Mrs. Surratt, on n
| visit TO Maryland to see John X.
| Notbey, a debtor Of hers, accidentally
met on the road, going to Washington,
Mr. Lloyd She called him to her and
| then in a way her attendant could not
understand told him:
well Mr.. Lloyd, / want you to
have those shooting arms ready.
| There will be parties here soon who
will call for them
How did this woman know that
| these carbines had been secreted at
| that place? Who told her that they
would be wanted that night? VINO
| but Booth"
General Harris then shows that Mrs.
| Surratt repeated the order to Lloyd at
| Marlboro, April Ia, saying the weap-
ons would be wanted tonight" Gen.
| Harris then goes on:
| Mrs. Surratt returned to the city,
which she reached shortly after eight
o'clock As the family were at sup
per footsteps were heard coming up
the steps on the outside, and the door
bell rang. Mrs. Surratt herself an
swers the call. The party went into
the parlor and remained but four or
five minutes and then left. That was
John Wilkes Booths third and last
| WISH TO the mouse tHdt udy. VHob ""o
he doing there anyhow on this, the
, most important day or his lifetime
| And what was he doing there on his
third visit but waiting to learn II the
road TO Surrattsville that night was
clear for him.a If the shooting irons
| and the whisky would be ready to de-
| liver to him?
But let us see what happened on
| the night of the fourteenth. About IL
| o'clock Booth and Harold, fresh from
! the recent murder, with the red blood
| of Abraham Lincoln on their hands
and souls. dashed down the road to
| Lloyds tavern. Lloyd was up and
| fully prepared to carry out his part OF
| the programme The carbines and
| whisky ordered by Mrs. Surratt, to-
| gether with Booths field glass, were
ready and waiting the arrival or the
assassins, to whom they were to be de-
| livered
"Herold rushed into the house and
! exclaimed. Lloyd, for Gods sake make
haste and get those things Lloyd
made 10 reply. bat went straight and
| got the carbnes, supposhg Booth ana
Herold were the narties to whom Mrs:
Surratt referred. From the way Heroic
spoke they must have been apprised