The National tribune., 1909-12-16

Washington stopped at the National Ho-
| tel, which for more than half a GEN.
| tury had been the leading hOstelry. His
accomplices could always find him there
when they came to Washington. They,
on their part, usually stopped at the
Herndon House, on the corner of Ninth
and L streets, and other less preten-
tious places than their chief. Earlier
in the Winter the conspirators probably
intended to abduct the President and
carry him away to Richmond. This
| seemed feasible. Mr.. Lincoln, in his
eagerness to get news from the front,
visited at all hours of the night Secre-
/ tary Stanton at the War Department.
AS he was frequently unattended on
these visits, it seemed likely that he
could be leaped upon from some dark
corner, gagged, bound and thrust into
carriage, which would convey him to
some secure place. The White House
grounds are bordered on the north by
| Pennsylvania avenue, with the Treasury
| grounds and those occupied by the War
| Department lying between 18th and
| 18th streets, above what would have
| been f street had it extended thru the
grounds. Neither these grounds nor
the buildings on them were the fine
affairs with which we are now so ia
miliar, for the War Department was
| mean, low building and the grounds
were numbered with all manner of rub
bish and debris, so that the abducting
project was feasible. At the foot of
18th street, on what was then DESC
late and melancholy common, upon
which had been corrals. stockyards and
stables, stood the noted old Van Ness
mansion. This was an extensive pile
which had been built by one of the first
Mayors of Washington on ground owned
by his father-in-law, David Burns,
canny Scot, whose farm constituted a
ln1 Fao1
Capital. The Van Ness ouse and
grounds stood on the southwest corner
of 18th and B streets, with the marshes
of the Potomac interposing between
them and the waters edge. The house,
one of those great barnlike structures
of the early period, with all manner of
closets and unexpected corners, had
been deserted for many years, and was
avoided even by the homeless negros,
because it was believed to be haunted.
Few either whites or blacks ever wan
dered into that rough. rubbish-cum-
bered, dismal locality during the day
time, and certainly no one after Gark.
1t was too far from the inhabited per-
ton of the city to have the police take
any note of it, tho it was, as it will be
seen, only seven squares from the
White House. The President could
easily be rushed off down there without
interference or even discovery, and kept
night would allow him to he put in a
closed carriage, driven thru the city
and across the Eastern Branch of the
Potomac into Maryland. 1t was expect
ed that the first step Of this journey
would end at the house of DIR. Samuel
Mudd. AT DR.. Mudds house there would
be found number of Maryland Scces-
sionists, who We're aware of the plot
and all ready to help carry it out. With
the assistance of these the bound and
gagged President would be taken down
the Lower Potomac to somewhere in
the neighborhood of Port Tobacco,
where a boat used by the blockade run
ners would convey him across the river
into Virginia, and from thence he could
be driven rapidly overland by the way
of Port Conway, on the Rappahannock,
directly to Richmond. Once in that City |
his presence as a prisoner would put
new life into the Confederate army, re-
store hope to the dying cause, and he
could only regain his liberty by con-
senting to liberate the Confederate pris- |
oners in the North, recognizing the Con- |
federacy and agreeing to a peace. 1t is
incredible that these conSpiratOrS could |
have had so little conception of Lin
coins nature. They were predicating |
their calculations upon temper as fee |
bic as their own, which would give any,
thing for life.
1t appears that this project of kid |
naping the President and possibly |
numbering him was talked about nuite |
frequently in Canada and Richmond, |
and was even known in the camps of
the Confederate army. Secessionists in |
Washington City knew of it, and gave |
encouragement to the men engaged in |
the plot, melting Booths vanity until |
he was nerved up to any desperate act. |
Not so Samuel Arnold, who began to |
weaken, and at a meeting held at the |
Lichau House, on Pennsylvania avenue |
in February, he refused to go any fur
ther, much to the rage of Booth, |
O'Laughlin, AtZerodt, Surratt and 9TH
ers. He said that the suspicious of the |
Government detectives had been
aroused, and that they were liable to
arrest at any moment. Booth became
very angry, and threatened to shoot
Arnold, who quietly remarked that that
was a game at which two could play.
From this time Arnold ceased to meet |
with the other conspirators, and sought
regular employment. He finally secured
this as a clerk to a sutler at Fortress
Monroe.
Attempted Assassination.