The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1908-06-13

-dS MT. OehlLJ Omltn SAID IheICner
the legal nor the moral right to try
and punish as rebels the men whom it
had recognized and Treated for four
arduous years as belligerents. He was
not vindictive. He bore no malice.
When it was settled that the Union
was to be preserved, he was more
than satisfied. He knew that, as pris-
oners, Mr.. Davis and others would Re
elephants on his hand; and so he de-
sired them to escape: only, as he In
timated in a characteristic ~anecdote,
unbeknown to himself.
But it was quite otherwise with the
leaders OF the extreme radical party
at the North. They we're Tindictive.
They we're far more and worse than
~vindictive. They were vilely selfish.
J They we're willing to perpetuate their
power by means of innocent blood
shed upon the scaffold. And so they
sought a pretext to strike at and muir
der the unprotected civilians OF the
Confederate States at whose head
was their honored president. And
these we're the basal facts on their
side,
Unfortunately the assassination of
Mr.. Lincoln afforded them the pre-
text which they sought. This event
brought grief and horror to the
Southern people. 1t filed the North
with a frantic rage against the
South. They could not see that only
a mailman or enemy Of the South
would kill Lincoln Ia order to put
Andrew johnson in his place. Even
the calm and magnanimous Graut
lost his head for a time. In the face
of his own plighted faith, he at once
ordered General Ord, who COM
manded at Richmond, to arrest all.
paroled officers unless they took the
oath of allegiance to United States
government, Johnson who became
president, issued a proclama-
ton in which he declared that Mr..
Davis and other c0nfederates had in
cited and encouraged the plot to
murder Mr.. Lincoln. One hundred
thousand dollars was offered for Mr..
Davis arrest. After he was captured,
it was proposed to try him by a Mill
tary Commission sitting in secret be-
hind closed doors. This extreme
measure was abandoned, but no pains
were spared to heap obloquy upon
Mr.. Davis head. He was imprisoned
as a common felOn in a casemate at
Fortress Monroe. For a while he
was bound with chains as if had been
the widest and most dangerous of
desperadoes. Foul calumnies we're
industriously circulated in regard to
him: He had eloped with the daugh.
ter of Gen. 2. Taylor, the hero of the
Mexican war.
The whole body of the Southern
people we're charged with ~atrocious
crimes in language so ~vindictive, so
violent, so f~erocious as to be now in
credible if not unintelligible.
He was the most pestilent Of seces-
sionists-the leader in the movement
to beat up this great and glorious
Union, the best government on earth.
He had instigated and approved all
the horrors of the A%ndersonville
prison. He had stubbornly urged on
the war when all the world knew that
it was useless. He left Richmond en-
riched with a large amount of public
treasure. He had sought to escape
capture disguised as a woman. Above
all he was guilty of the death OF the
martyred and sainted Lincoln.
BY such devices as these the radi-
Gals at Washington sought to com.
pass Mr.. Davis death in order to
preserve their own prestige and to
perpetuate their power.
II soon became evident that there
was no evidence to show that Mr..
Davis had any thing to do with the
plot to murder Mr.. Lincoln. These
desperate men then adopted another
device in order to bring the Confed.
crate President to the scaffold. After
Wirz, who commanded at the Ander.