The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-12-07


session of the American and will
be presented TO :ts readers in
serial form. The author of the manuscript
is Samuel Bland Arnold, one of the famous
Lincoln conspirators who, now for the first
time. at the age of sixty-eight, unseals the
lips pledged to secrecy before the kidnap-
ing plot was consummated to tell all of
the facts I'm the most minute detail of that
history-making epoch.
1t is wonderful story that this manu-
script OF Samuel b. Arnold unfolds-a story
Of plots TO capture the chief executive OF
the Nation and convey him within the
Confederate lines, conceived under the sup
posed impulses OF patriotism to the South:
OF passions stirred to the depths of human
SOILS as nothing but the impulses Of hearts
emhfttered by civil strife could engender.
and of imprisonment, cruelty and torture.
sTt has not been written through malice
or vindictiveness; L have confined myself to
the truth" says Arnold, after a recitation
OF circumstances. which. in these days of
internal peace, prosperity and happiness,
when the last traces OF the bitterness of
war have been swept aside forever, read
like the revelation of some horrible night
mare. impossible of reality.
An photographed recitation Of wrongs
by q man who can never forget, a man
who seeks seclusion and avoids his fellow
man. a misanthropist by his own state
ment, the American presents his life story
upon it's own basis; public now unpre-
= JUDGED and unbiased to sit in judgment
upon its statements.
1.-THE burnt child breads fire." writes
Arnold, and in his misanthropic feelings.
hatred of mankind conceived and fostered
in contact with the stern arm Of military
law, he had intended to let his story
slumber until he himself had passed into
the great unknown. when he thought that
conditions might be ripe for the reception
OF his recital.
In his own minds eye the cloud which
had hung for well nigh forty years had
never been lightened nor lessened, and 1t
was not until recently that the conclusion
was reached that his story could now be
read and digested without passion, and
each Judge fairly as TO its merits or de-
merits. With this determination established.
Mr.. Arnold consented to give his manu-
script to the world through the American.
STUNNED INTERVIEWERS.
Only late as Oct II last. Mr.. Arnold
was firm and determined not to give forth
the manuscript for publication. On that
date, In answer TO a letter of a relative
asking that he make the true story public
: in order that his side of the affair might
stand against that of his prosecutors, Mr..
Arnold wrote as follows:
IT received yours of the 10th instant, and
owing TO indisposition could not answer ur-
til now. have perused your letter care
fully, and duly considered your propositions,
and I see no reason why I should reopen
an issue settled in the public mind now
nearly forty years. Justice Is no part of the
human race. To tear mans character to
pieces and to drag his name in the mire
and filth is more eagerly sought after than
to elevate him. The lie placed upon the
pages Of history can never be removed, nor
would they even If Jesus Christ came to
appear as a witness for you Why. then.
should / speak?
81. who know nothing in regard to the
affair beyond the sufferings and inhuman
punishment heaped upon me by the United
States government the tortures inflicted,
SURPRISING the Inquisition in Spain, before
guilt innocence had been estab-
lished, though that lynch law commission
convened not to mete out justice. but con-
demnation. to appease the public cry for
vengeance. have quietly borne my suffer
ings these forty years and propose doing
so until the end, when no doubt will be
confronted with the members of the court
and it's prosecutors. when the guilt and
innocence of both victim and court will be
unraveled and the truth established as to
who were the authors direct of the suborna-
ton of the perjuries committed in trial
INNOCENT CONDEMNED"
THE man. the pigmy. under the protec-
ton CT the law. gained the point and con-
demned innocent persons to death and i'm.
prisonment-they gratified their ambition
and shed innocent blood without a shuddel
but before Gods tribunal they will be
made to answer and the murderers and as.
sassins will be known. / will not permit
any one to interview mel would not YER
bally speak to any man upon the subject
for burnt child breads the fire. Wher
arrested spoke but five words, which were
reported just the reverse as spoken. tn,
witness not looking to the innocence of tn,
man, but DESTROYS of proving guilt to gaiI
portion of the huge reward offered To-
apprehension and conviction. He even pu
In his claim. but through my father an.
Mr.. Maulsby his claim was turned down.
under existing circumstances / shall
forever keep my lips ciOSeu 10 lnterFleWerS
and, should I ever come before the public
II shall be in black and white. sworn t.
before notary public. OF course 1 know
nothing of the assassination plot. Tn
Kidnapping was of such a quixotic natur
that there Is nothing in ii. and with tn
last no overt act was committed. there
fore, no proceedings could be establishe,
under the law. / will cease 10 write o
the narrowing subject. il but angers me-.
GUILT BUT A THOUGHT.
In a subsequent letter. conserving to tn
publication, Mr.. Arnold says, in part
MY guilt was but thought; the govern
ment made Ii a crime. Thoughts exist Il
the minds OF men. but remain dormant
never coming 10 the surface. never ex
ecuted. hence TO make such a crime, Il
my particular case, would make IL crimina
IN the case OF all. However, such a thin
will not hold good in law. In my state
y melS deal with facts alone-indisputabl
facts. They describe the horrible torture
INFLICTED before. during and after trial, 4
fact, condemned before any kind of evi
dence\ had been adduced before the court
1t also describes the dreadful scenes wit
messed during my Incarceration at the DR.
Tortugas. giving I'm detail those acts be