The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-06-04

Washington, d. c., when it was
charged that Mr. Davis had attempted
to escape in female attire, which was
accepted as true, and which led Charles
A. Dana, Assistant Secretary of War,
to issue an order directing the Lieuten-
ant Colonel of this cavalry to report at
headquarters in Washington with the
"woman's dress in which Jefferson Da-
Wis was captured :" This Lieutenant
Colonel did not only stimulate the de-
ception, but dress and a shawl of Mrs.
Davis was secured to complete the i'm
position on a credulous North wrath
ful with vengeance.
Third-Of all the monstrous infamies
directed against Mr. Davis the attempt
to connect him with the assassination of
President Lincoln was the most diaboli-
cal. Mr. Davis was in Charlotte, N. C.,
when he was told that Abraham Lincoln
had been shot, in Ford's theater, in
Washington by John Wilkes Booth. II
that Booths crime was prenleditated as
the result of resentment against MIR.
Lincoln and Secretary Seward for fail
| ing TO obtain immunity for one of his
| friends, and that his horrible deed was
not the prompting OF patriotic impulse
| for the South If bolt OF lightning
| from cloulness summer sky had
| struck at his feet, Mr.. Davis could not
| have been more shocked than he was
over this tragedy He was visibly
grieved and moved by compassion; he
declared: Mr.. Lincoln was better
| man than his successor will be, and it
will go hard with our. people, it is bad
news for u.s. declaration which
proved to be true.
The plot to implcate Mr. Davis in
his assassination was aggravated by a
! proclamation by President Johnson
who had succeeded Mr.. Lincoln, in
yhiekKS offered reward of one hun
dred thousand dollars for the capture
Of Mr.. Davis, who, when he heard of it,
merely remarked. s'the miserable scoun-
drel who issued that knew better than
these men that it was false. Of course,
such an accusation must fail at once il
may, however, render these people will
ing to assassinate me.
THE ANDERsdNILLE VICTIM
| So intense was the feeling OF hatred
against Mr.. Davis that it was sought te
induce Captain Henry Wirz to connect
him with the crime Captain Wirz had
been condemned to death. He was te
be executed on the morrow He had
been the commander of the prison al
Andersonvlle He was noted for hi:
fearlessness, his gentleness and hi:
| kindness.
He was sympathetic in disposition
and, with the means at his command, he
lid all he could for the unfortunate
lprisoners who Jared as well as the Con
federates, limited in resources, but th'
fanatical North was bowling for his life
When death held him almost in its EN-
BRACE, he was approached by an office
With assurance of immunity if he woulc
lconnect Mr.. Davis with this assassina
tion. So completely aroused was Cap
tain Wirz over this revolving AM
damnable suggestion, that he denounce'
vigorously this attempt to bribe hin
With his life He spurned the PROPOSE
tion with disdain, and having becom
lcalm, he refused to utter another word
He remained unmoved to the end, H
| was loyal unto death. Had not thi
hellish plot miscarried, Mr. Davis woul'
not have escaped the fate Of Captain
Wirz, who was murdered on the testl
money of perjured witnesses and al
arbitrary decree from which there wa
no appeal
Il And in this connection it should b
said that whatever was the mortality il
lthis and other prisons of the South, tn
) responsibility must rest on the Fedora
, government who declined TO conside
J any exchange of prisoners offered b
: Mr.. Davis. And it will not be denie
that the mortality of the Heroes of til
South in the Northern prisons was ne
! las great. As the North was provide
q