Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1917-02-11

*
In The Star of February ), 1867, is, in
part, the text Of the Indictment against
John H. surratt for
The Surraft completely in the Lin
coin assassination.
4nulctMent. which had Just been
returned by the grand jury. in anticipa-
ton Of his arrival here from Egypt for
trial. An interesting fe~ ure Of this in
dictment is that the first count specifical-
ly charged Surratt with having himself
fired the shot that killed Lincoln. This.
Of course. was a mere matter of sur
plusage. as there was at no time a ques-
ton regarding Surratt's degree Of par
ticipation in the conspiracy or as to the
identity Of the man who fired the shot.
The second count of the indictment sub
stituted the name of Booth as principal
and charged that Surratt then and there
feloniously, willfully and of his malice
aforethousht. was present. aiding. helping
and abetting. comforting, assisting and
maintaining the said John Wilkes Booth
the felony and murder aforesaid in man
ner and form aforesaid, to do and COM
nit" The subsequent counts included
other names-those of the four who were
executed for the conspiracy.
sudden thaw accompanied by heavy
rains at the end of January. 1855,
caused freshet in the
Long Bridge Potomac which did con-
siderable damage. in
oioAeA. Guiding the breaking of
the Long bridge and the railroad
bridge which then spanned the river
close at hand. The Star OF February
5. 1867. thus relates the stirring Incl
dents of this visitation:
Last night, owing TO the recent
heavy rains and the thaw, the ice in
tho Potomac above the Long bridge
commenced to give way and soon huge
cakes of ice were being piled on each
other. banking up against the bridge,
and about 111a o'clock loud cracking
of the timbers toward the Virginia
shore, resembling the discharge of
musketry, aroused many of the resi-
dents of South Washington. Soon a por-
ton of the Virginia draw. with the
mess house, in which were some gun
ming implements and seines, went by
the board. Between 1 and 2 O'Clock a
bridge. including the Washington draw.
measuring nearly 100 yards, fell and
was swept away by the floating mass
of ice. The railroad bridge. on the
east side of the Long bridge. was dam
aged near the Virginia draw during
the night and this morning a portion
near the Washington draw fell. The
pack carried away three schooners
from the neighborhood of the Long
bridge. one of which was badly dam
aged. but all were subsequently Sc
cured. A longboat was also cut through
and sunk. The ice Is packed in some
cases five or six feet high along the
west bank of the Washington channel.
and the current is running over the
flats at Il fearful rate, earring down
the timbers of the bridge. etc. Num-
bers Of persons are venturing upon the
ice, rotten as it IS, endeavoring to Sc
cure the driftwood. At the steamboat
wharveS the pressure of the pack was
SO sharp that fears were entertained
that the boats would be swept out
into the jam and crushed OF seriously
damaged therein. Steam was accord
ingly got up upon them and efforts
to sheltered positions lower down. The
body of ice and water blocked up at the
18th street wharf. The water came
into the city canal with a rush and
suddenly raised over the banks. filing
the cellars on the south side of the
Avenue, carrying away lumber from
the canal banks and doing considerable
mischief. The water is nearly as high
in 10th street as during the great
freshet last spring"
The serious damage inflicted upon
the Long and railroad bridges by the
freshet gave partic-
A Sharp BRIDGE ular interest to
r4 project then in con-
CONTROVERSY. sideration for con-
verting the aqueduct at Georgetown
into q bridge to replace the Long bridge
The Star regarded this as involving
serious injury to the interests of
Washington. and in the issue of Feb
ruary Z, 1867, called attention to evil
dences of an organized lobby behind
the plan, saying:
Now, it is quite out of the question
that any such lobby scheme shall be
and that a community of
100. 900 people shall have no more direct
access with the Virginia shore. with
the great source of market supply, with
the neighboring city of Alexandria and
with the great line of travel south
than by a circumbendibus of eight