Year: 1869

MONDAY, June y. 1869


Chas. L. Hooker said: reside in


Jackson; have known prisoner for
about fifteen or twenty years. / was
in attendance on the late Commercial
Convention at Memphis. The priS-
Oner preceded me a day or two TO
Memphis. When [ reached there We
| stopped at the same hotel, the Over
ton House. He was appointed Chair
man of the Committee on Immigra-
ton. He had gone there in that par
| ticular interest, | understood. The
! report on that subject was not made
! the Convention. After the adjourn
ment of the Convention was at the
J hotel about IL O'Clock at night, when
/ the accused came in accompanied by
| Mr.. Serger, Of Memphis, and Col.
Sale; ! was about obtaining my key
! from the Office TO retire for the nightj
/ he threw up his arms in very e.
cited manner and said to me, stop a
moment, stay and see me cane that
man, let us come in at the doorway,
I pointing to the front door of the hotel:
/ his manner was Unus,allT I1CigeI and
/ his eye H9sning IS he. spoke. spoke
to him, endeayOring to paCify him,
and said If there was any difficulty
! between himself ana that person, he


had better defer II till the morning.


l remained a few Mqme1tS in the
once ana men retired TO nay room.
The next morning | met him in the
Office still labQring gIGG4 tl.C same
y fNr-n lnttaF-s iri his
hand, one Of which was a letter sent
about u or I o'clock 10 this gentle


man and the other his reply. Previ-


Gus 10 going 10 the Convention, / en-
cOuntered the accused at the corner Of
State street lust opposite the Capitolj it


was probably three or four weeks be-
fore the assembling of the Convention.


He said to me, holding a letter In his


hand, that he had just received


information that million Of dollars


had been placed to his credit in New


York, and that he could command,


but for the unsettled condition Of the
country, two and a half millions Of


dollars in aid of this enterprise; he
had repeatedly said that he would he


able to make the fortunes Of himself


and his friends, and he wished me to


take an interest in the scheme, which
he never explained to me. but spoke
Of it in general terms; L am not aware


that he developed his scheme in Mem


phis; he made his report on the night
the Convention adjourned, stating that
il vas in the handwriting of Mr..


Clapp; he read the report with some


difficulty, and made a few remarks to
the Convention in support of it; l
said to him that morning that unless


his report was made the Convention


would probably adjOuxn that day;


was aStOniShed at his dilatOriness, +0r


! knew il was a matter In which he


took great interest, and feeling some


interest in il myself, ] was anxious to
to have the report made; he had evil


IDENTIFY drank some, but he was not


drunk; l thought his excitement was


to be attributed to his aroused angry


feeling toward the person he expected


to cane in the hotel: | saw him prob
ably daily during sac sitting OF the
Convention; he was not intoxicated


at any time / saw him; / have had
occasion from my knowledge of and
acquaintance with him TO know that


he has q very great prOneness to get


into personal difficulties when he


thinks his rights are invaded or in


vindication of his honor; he has on


one or two occasions sent for me when
engaged in personal difficulties, and
found some four or five gentlemen
there, and l suppose for two hours he


was mainly engaged in writing letters
TO the person with whom he had the
difficulty; hc would write q let
ter and then destroy it; ne seemed
engrossed in the verbiage and


wonld lose sight of the gravity of the
difficulty which was about to occur
/ between himself and the person with
whom he was holding the correspond
ence: this manner has been noted by
me frequently. It was certainly more
| than ordinary senSitiveneSs that l
! had ever seen in other individuals; |
have observed q very great tendency
| to eXaggeratiOn in connection with
! this immigration scheme which
| seemed to engross his attention for
some time; 1 have noticed very
great tendency to magnify causes of
| offense and to create difficulties out of
trivial causes that ordinary persons
would pass by. and the frequency of


these difficulties have led 70 this opin-
ion in my mind; from my knowledge


Of the numerous difficulties he had
with various persons, and from my
| intercourse with him pending these
difficulties, have looked upon him
in reference to matters of that sort as
q man not of sound mind. He ere
ates difficulties about matters that or
| dinaTy persons would not, and pur-


sues them with a good deal of vehe-


mence, not called for by the occasion.


/ have frequently endeavored to re-


strain him when engaged in such diff
culties.


d. p. Porter said: | reside near
! Jackson; am acquainted with the ac-


cused; have known him on terms of
more or less intimacy since 1856; 1


served with him on the Democratic
! Central Executive Committee last


summer. In political matters, the
/ COMMITTEES would be discussing the


best line Of policy for the success of
/ the party, and if he was opposed by
| the Committee, he would take excep-


tions as though the opposition was
! aimed personally at himself; some
members of the Committee, he


thought, were personally opposed to
him, and when they opposed his


views on some point he expressed


himself to me as if it was done in


order TO keep him under, politically,


and he thought other members Of the


Committee were under the influence


of those who were trying to keep him
down. I believe he made a very
4 strong effort 10 have an electoral


ticket nominated by this Committee;
| he would call a convention for that
purpose; there were several who OPP