The National tribune., 1910-01-27
THE ARREST OF PAYNE.
At Mrs. Surratt's House Before and
After the Assassination.


ing your paper of Dec. %, in the ac
count of the assassination of President
| l. ncoln you speak Of the part john
Surratt played. If my memory serves
me right, the ex-priest whose testimony
established the fact of conspiracy
told ME the day he was released by the
authorities that John had not been at
home for two nights prior to the trag-
edy, and he surely would have been
/ had he been in the city. This ex-prieSt,
whose name / have forgotten, came to
me with an order from Edwin NJ. STAN
! ton, Secretary of War, for his trunk
i and clothing that were in her house
where he had been making his home
ever since he quit the church. and af-
ter packing his trunk he sat down and
| gave me a history of what he had seen
and heard and what he testified to in
| the trial. | recollect very distinctly
| the main points, but it is too long
story to write it all now. I was Cor
poral in Co. F, 10th V. r. c., at the
time, and was put in charge of the
Surratt House the night after her ar
rest, with four men, with strict orders
to arrest any person coming to the
house without an order from Secre-
| tary of War Stanton, which order
caused some trouble to divers people
during the six weeks | had charge.
After being released from that job U
turned the house over to Miss Anna
Surratt, who brought an order for it,,
l Joined my company and regiment,
which We're guarding the cOnspirators
at the Old Penitentiary, or Arsenal.
| The reason Powell didn't get away that
night was that his horse slipped and
| fell and broke one of his fore legs. and
the pain of his injury caused him to
sweat not the hard riding, for he
| had gone but a very short distance
| from the Seward home when he fell,
and Powell went off and left him,
knowing that he could not get thru the
guard with him, and not wishing to re-
turn him to the stable where he got
him. The second night, after he went
| to Mrs. Surratt's house, there were
| three Secret Service men in the house,
who took him to the Provost-Marshal's
office, and then there was no one to
identify him until one of the Secret
Service men thought about going to
the Seward house, just around the cor
ner, and getting the little darky who
let him in. This little darky was only
six years old. and was sound asleep,
when his mother woke him to go with
the Secret Service men to the Provost
Marshars Office, and as soon as they
took him in front of Powell the boy
ducked under the mans coat tails and
commenced yelling, THAT is the man
that hurt Massa Seward" Then the
men knew whom they had. 1t would
take me several days to write all
saw and heard during that awful time
Mr. Weichman, the young boarder,
was an eX-priest, who resigned his
priestly office a very short time after
old man Surratt'S very sudden death,
and who got job as clerk in the Com
missary of Prisoners Office, and made
his home with the widow. He was the
gentleman who got livery rig at her
request and drove with her down to
the farm the day of the assassination.
They expected Cor he did at leasO to
get married, and would have been if
the lady hadn't got into trouble that
choked her to death. When Weichman
was released, he was given permit to
! carry gun, and the day he got his
clothes he told me he was going as
fast as steam would take him back to
the old country, as he didn't consider
it safe for him in the United States
He told me that Booth had been in the
habit of meeting John Surratt CJohn
Surratt was courier between Rich
mond and Canada headquarters, and
very often stopped in Washington
nearly every time he was at home, for
/ a good while before; would come to
his house and stay half the night with
him, in fact. He said he searched
Johns clothes to find out what the
business was about, but could find
nothing, and the old lady would not
tell him anything, but would simply
say that he would know all about it
soon enough. When coming home from
the farm that day, when they got to
a point on Capital Hill where they
could look all over the city, which was
Illuminated and ablaze with fireworks
Git was then dark, she asked him to
stop the team. They sat and looked
moment, and she told him to drive on,
remarking that the light and rejoicing
would turn to darkness and sorrow be-
fore morning. After taking her home
and returning from the livery stable
to the house, he found her walking the
floor, counting her beads and appar-
emily in very nervous condition, and
asked her what was the trouble. She
turned on him and told him she wished
he would go to bed, in such a tone of
voice that he said he realized she
meant it. He started upstairs, and on
the landing at the turn of the stairs he
stopped, as there was ring of the
door-bell, and he waited to see who it
was. The door opened and Booth
came into the hall. The old lady met
him half way to the parIor door,
where they stood talking in a low tone
for few minutes, when Booth shook
hands with her and bade her goodbye