Evening star., 1915-06-06

FIFTY YEARS AGO
. IN THE STAR
OF all those accused Of completely In
the assassination plot, public interest
centefed chiefly in the
Identity. man known as Payne.
.e De-. the assailant Of Sec
o1 Fayne. retary Seward and his
son. who was regarded Is a mystery.
In the courtroom of the barracks,
which was daily crowded with visitors.
he was constantly under observation,
which he bore with no sign Of ninching
or consciousness. In The Star OF June
8, 1865, is the following regarding him:
Either from languor from the great
heat or from some other cause the
heretofore erect figure Of Payne Is
somewhat dropping. but his gaze fs
quite as imperturbed and bold as ever.
It is probable that the testimony OF
today may lift up tho veil of mystery
as to the real name and antecedente
OF this man. That the names of
Payne Wood and POWELL are all
aliases is quite certain. For some rea-
son he seems disposed to keep his real
name secret. From his conversation he
appears to be fairly educated and 1t IL
understood that at tho time he en-
tered upon his miserable career Of
crime he had nearly completed hts
education as a medical student. He
makes no attempt to deny his guilt and
says he is quite ready to meet his
doom and would prefer that 1t should
be as speedy as 1t Is inevitable. He
disclaims any animus against the par
ties he assailed with such murderous
ferocity and says he was but carrying
out his assigned part in a program.
Notwithstanding his apparent auda-
cious self-possession in the courtroom
it Is said that he expresses the greatest
aversion to sitting on exhibition in the
prisoners dock. He is under close
surveillance, both In the courtroom
and in his cell, and is very heavily
ironed, and also weighted with cannon
balls attached to his ankles"
X \
Further speculation regarding the
man known in court as Payne was
stimulated by a request
More About made by Mr.. Doster, his
up.r.. counsel, that George
1oyne' Powell of Florida, who
he said was Payne's father. BE called
as a witness. The Star Of June S, COM
menting on this fact, said:
Payne has given no intimation as
to who he is and what he is. outside
Of what he may have communicated to
his counsel. Since his counsel set up
the plea of insanity he is even more
reticent than before. 1t IL matter
of report that Payne says. in answer
to questions regarding his antecedents.
I don't know any name. I was stolen
from my parents when quite young
Some days ago a colored woman
who stated that she was formerly a
slave of the Lee family was in the
courtroom, and. on seeing Payne, she
burst into tears. She stated that she
had been Payne's nurse: that he was
born and raised in Virginia, and was
E. Lee. who was an officer of the navy
and who a few years previous to the
rebellion resided in this city. She
stated that the full name Of the pris-
OneF was bdHlel Murray LEG. onS
officer who visited the room for the
purpose declared that the prisoner
really was Daniel Murray Lee, but
subsequently another ofhcer, who is
familiar with the record Of the Lee
family. visited the courtroom and
a Lee.
"If his father is Florida Powell. it
is possible that he may be a distant
connection Of Gen. Lee's-a cousin Of
Mrs. Custis (Mrs. Lees mother). Miss
Turner. having married into the Powell
family of Loudoun. Va, some years
ago, and some Of the Loudoun Powells
having since settled further south.
These conflicting stories concerning
the prisoner have tended rather to
than to solve him.
Despite the Payne mystery, public
interest never slackened in Mrs. Sur
raft. both on ac-
Mrs. Surratt and count of her sex
and because of the
her Laughter. devotion of her
daughter. who later figured conspicu-
ously in the effort to save the con-
demned woman's life. In The Star of
June S, 1865. is a paragraph describing
a meeting of the two women in court:
yesterday Sunday Miss Anna Sur
ratt had an interview with her mother
in the courtroom by permission of the
proper authorities. The interview was,
Of course. in the presence of officers
and was very affecting. The daughter,
Immediately on entering the room. ran
to her mother and eagerly embraced
and kissed her. tears meanwhile stream
ing down the daughters cheeks. The
mother betrayed less emotion and shed
no tears. evidently repressing her
feelings by a strong effort. The inter-
view lasted two or three hours and was
of a personal character. The parting
was of the same character as the
meeting"
An interesting exhibit was put on
record during the session of the con-
spiracy court June 5. 1865, a
Cipher cipher letter found by wit
ry.4 ness named DueI floating in
No'e' the water near the govern
ment wharf at Morehead City, N. C..
The translation, worked out by Duell
and citizen of Morehead City, who
was familiar with the cryptogram-a
comparatively simple form. in which
the vowels were represented by nu-
merals and the consonants by certain
arbitrary signs-was as follows, under
date of WASHINGTON, April H. 186b.