Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-12
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

Unknown to President Andrew john
son, his intimate conversations and
chance remarks that threw light on his
character were being recorded for pos
terity
His private secretary, Col w. G..
Moore, kept a shorthand diary in which
ne set down from time to time what
the President said conf1dentially about
the public characters of the day, the
circumstances of his fight with Secre-
tary of War Stanton that led to his
impeachment and his personal affairs.
This diary turned up in the johnson
papers at the Library of Congress. The
shorthand has just been translated by
an expert familiar with the Anticipated
system used by Col. Moore. It furnishes
an intensely human story of a quick
tempered, harassed, tired man who was
trying to follow the guidance OF his
conscience.
President Fed Mice.
Few finer stories ever have come out
OF the White House than that of An
drew johnson and the mice, as set
down by Col Moore. The impeachment
proceedings were over, and Johnson's
term was drawing to close. His dream
was OF happy retirement in his native
Tennessee. He had purchased a place
containing a flour mill and the miller
had sent him a sample of the flour
ground there, which, Johnson said
proudly. was the finest he ever had seen.
He showed it to Col Moore one night
just before going to bed. The secretary
remarked that mice had been nibbling
at the basket. Johnson said that he
had left it on the hearth in his bed
room the night before and that the
mice which then infested the White
House had played havoc with it. And"
he continued, now I am filling it up
for them tonight"
II asked the President few days
later" Col. Moore records, whether he
had fed the mice since. and he said:
Yes; the little fellows gave me their
confidence, and gave them the basket,
and l poured some water on the hearth
so they might quench their thirst
The hsart of the President of the
United States was hungry for some one,
even mouse, that would trust him.
Surratt Paper Purloined.
Among the matters discussed in the
diary is Johnsons connection, always
in dispute, with the execution of Mrs.
Surratt, the Washington boarding
house keeper. who was hanged as one
of the conspirators, with John Wilkes
Booth, for the assassination of Lincoln.
So much doubt was thrown on the
womans guilt that the President has
been criticized bitterly for allowing the
death sentence of the military court
which tried the conspiratorS to be car
ried out-especially since it was claimed
that the papers transmitted to him
contained a recommendation for COM
mutation of her sentence. Johnson
claimed he never saw the recommended
ton, although he had examined the
papers with considerable care, but this
has sometimes been held to have been
convenient excuse to escape criticism.
But Moore'S diary-which johnson
knew nothing about, and which GER
tainly should contain the truth, since
it was intended for no eyes but those
of the owner who had no reason to lie
to himself-ssems to support the Presi-
dents story. The great mystery re-
mains-what enemy of Mrs. Surratt re-
moved that recommendation before the
papers reached the White House and
afterward restored it.
Moore records: Sent over today for
the papers on which was Endorsed the
Presidents approval of the findings
and sentence of the military commits
sioners that tried Payne, etc. Fastened
to these was recommendation OF the
court for Communication of the sentence
in the case of Mrs. Surratt from hang
ing to life imprisonment. The Presi-
dent said he had never before seen 1t
and was positive it had never been
brought to his notice or knowledge,
and explained to me the circumstances