Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-12

When took my seat at the table about
marked:
Have you heard the new.:
NO I've not I replied. What is it,
"why. President Lincoln and Secretary
Seward have been assassinated.
I really put so little faith in what the
man said that 1 made remark that It
was too early in the morning TO get OF
such Jokes as that
ITS So he said. at the same time
drawing out a paper and showing It to
me.
Sure enough there I saw an account or
what he told me, but as no names were
mentioned 1t never occurred TO me for
an instant that 1t could have been Booth
or any of the party. for the simple reason
that / had never heard anything regard
ing assassination spoken OF during my In
tercourse with them. / had goo. reason
to believe that there was another con-
spiracy afloat in washington In fact,
we all knew 1t.
One evening as / was partially lying
down in the reading room OF the Metro
politan Hotel two or three gentlemen
came in and looked around as II to make
sure that no one was around They then
CONNIE need to talk about what had been
done the best means for the expedition,
etc. It being about dusk. and no gas
light. and being partially concealed be
hind a writing desk. 1 was an unwilling
listener of what occurred. ] told Beoth
of this afterward. and he said he had
heard something to the same effect. It
only made US all the more eager to carry
out our plans at an early day, for fear
some one should get ahead OF us We
didn't know what they were after exactly,
but we were we'll satisfied that their OBJ
tect was very much the same as ours.
Arising from the table I thought over
who the party could be. for at that time
no names had been telegraphed. was
pretty sure it was none Of the old party.
I approached the telegraph office In the
main hall of the hotel for the purpose OF
New York. I picked up a blank ana
wrote John Wilkes Booth" giving the
number of the house.. l hesitated a mo
ment, and then tore the paper up. ana
lions. which was led to do from the fact
that during our whole connection we
rarely wrote telegraphed under our
proper names. but always In such man
ner that no one could understand but our
selves. One way of Booths was to send
| letters to me under cover to my quondam
friend. Louis ]. Weichman.
Weichman in the Plot.
| Doubtless you all know who Louis ].
weichman is. They were sent to him be-
cause he knew OF the plot to abduct Pres
ident Lincoln: I proclaim 1t here and be-
| fore the world that Louis j. Weichman
was a party to the plan to abduct Pres.-
! dent Lincoln He had been told all about
1t, and was constantly importunng me to
| let him bscome an active member. I
refused for the simple reason that told
| him he could neither ride horse nor
shoot pistol. which was fact. Uaugh-
teri These were two necessary accom-
plishments for US.
My refusal nettled him some. So he
went of, as 1t afterward appeared by his
| testimony, and told some government
clerk that he had a vague ideJ that there
was a plan Of some kind on hand to alb
| duct President Lincoln This he says him
man Of the party. Why didn't he do it?
Booth sometimes was rather suspicious
Of him. and asked II I thought he could
| be trusted.
1 said: Certainly he can. Weichman is
| a southern man." And / always believed
1t until l had good reason to believe other
wise, because he had furnished informa-
| ton for the Confederate government. be-
| sides allowing me access to the govern
ment's records after office hours. | have
| very little to say of Louis j. Weichman.
| But I do pronounce him base-born per-
| jurer; a murder Of the meanest hue! Give
me a man who can strike his victim dead.
but save me from a man who. through
! perjury, will cause the death OF an inno-
| cent person.
Double murderer, He'll possesses no
| worse fiend than a character Of that kind.
(Applause) Away with such character
| / leave him in the pit or lnfamy Wnlcn
| he has dug for himself. a prey to the
lights of his guilty conscience. (Applause.y
I telegraphed Booth thus:
~. w. B. in New York:
IF you are in New York telegraph me-
JOHN HARRISON, Elmira. \. "
The operator, after looking over it, said
rs 1t ]. VS. By To which ] replied
Yes" He evidently wanted the whole
name. and had scarcely finished tele-
!. graphing when a door right near the
office and opening the street was
pushed open. and I heard some one say:
Yes. there are three or four brothers OF
them-John. Junius Brutus. Edwin and
J. Wilkes Booth The whole truth
flashed on me in an instant, and said to
myself, My God. What have l done?"
Town in an Uproar.
The dispatch was still lying before me.
and reached over and took it up for the
purpose OF destroying It, but the operator
stretched forth his hand and said: I'VE
must file all kilograms My first impulse
Continued on Fifth Page.)