Year: 1865

he wanted TO tell me about that speculatioa.


walked up there with him, and when We got


into an uhfreq uented portion OF the strect, he


stepped and told me then that he was In a


S,Sseinment, including the President, and


axe them to Richmond. I asked him II that


sss wss "net ne wished me to 20 in. He said 1t


was 1 toid him could not do IL, that II was


s1s An I'M posSoliity; only to think Of my family.


A he ssia M 1s ne nsd two or three thousand dollars


not do 1t. He urged 1t and talked With ms Hr FOR.


lsuppose, twenty minutes or half an hour. and


1 stll refused. He then told me that Al least


sad he could m. nsd ssrs no.


any how. He said that the party were worn


together, and that II attempted 70 bet-. y them


I would be hunted down through life, cannot
remember it now; but still urging me, saying


had better 60 in ] told him no, and


bade him coed. night and i went home.


he told me was wanted 70 open the back door


OF the theater at signal. He mentioned


Ford's theater, and urged that 1t would be very


easy TO do my part Of the business. He said
mere were from fifty to a hundred persons in
,ne ahar After had declined going, GOT q
letter from him stating that must come This


Was the letter in which he told me il was sure
TO succeed. wrote back that 1t was Impossi-
bic; would not come. Then, by rsturn mail,
1 think, got another letter, with $50 enclosed,
saying must come, and must be sure TO be
there by Saturday night. / did not 20. had
not been out OF New York since last summer.
When he came to New York he called Oh me
again, and asked me to take a walk with him,
and did SO. He told me that he had been try
ing TO get another party to join him named
John Matthews, and when he told him what
he wanted to do that the maR was very much
frightened, indeed, and would not Join him,
and he said he would not have cared II he had
W as right to speak in that manner. He said
NO, he was q coward, and was not nt to i've
must do SO. He said that there was va rns p:enty
of money In the affair; that if would do II I
would never want again as long AZ lived;
4 hat 4r,ll TO-
that the President and some Of the heads Of the
Government came to the theater very frequent
ly during Mr.. Forests engagements. l still;
urged him not to mention the affair to me
provide for my going with him. still refused.
He said he would ruin me in the profession il
did not 60. told him could not help that,
and begged Of him not to mention the affair to
me. When he found would not 20, he said
he honored my mother and respected my wife,
and he vas sorry he had mentioned this affair
to me, and told me to make my mind easy, he
would trouble me about 1t no more. 1 then
returned him the money he sent me. He said
he would not allow me to do so, but that he
was very short of funds-so very short that
either himself or some Of the party must 20 to
Richmond to obtain means to carry out their
designs. He said, however, that there was
plenty of money in the enterprise. One week
previous to the assassination we were In the
House of Lords restaurant, in New York, Sit
ting at a table, and had not been there long
before he exclaimed, striking the table, sWhat
an excellent chance had to kill the President,
if / had wished, on Inauguration daym He
said he was as near the President on that day
as he was to me. He never indicated to me
how he expected TO get the President from the
box to the stage without being caught. He
stated, however, at one time that the pardcu-
lar enterprise of capturing the President and
heads of the Government had been given mp,
and that in consequence he was selling on
the horses he had bought for the pur-
pose. He did not state to me what mode
of proceeding had been substituted for that,
but simply that that one had been given mp.