	id AA03651; Thu, 9 Feb 95 07:54:57 CST
Subject: Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 3 Num. 86


              Conspiracy Nation -- Vol. 3  Num. 86
             ======================================
                    ("Quid coniuratio est?")
 
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
 
The Lincoln Conspiracy
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
By David Balsiger and Charles E. Sellier, Jr.
 
[...continued...]
 
Senator William M. Stewart of Nevada rushed to the Kirkwood House 
and found the vice-President "...in a drunken stupor. His 
clothing was disarrayed. Mud matted his hair." After being made 
presentable by a barber and sobered up by a physician, Andrew 
Johnson was sworn in as the 17th President of the United States.
 
In his inauguration "speech," Johnson declared that "The course 
which I have taken in the past in connection with this rebellion 
must be regarded as a guarantee for the future." This meant that 
Lincoln's proposed policy of amnesty for the South was finished. 
Johnson would give his support to those planning to treat the 
defeated Confederacy as conquered enemy territory.
 
"Radical Republicans were delighted. Everything that Lincoln had 
fought for could be presumed dead along with the late President." 
Some of them even went so far as to declare that "Lincoln's death 
is like a blessing from heaven."
 
After having his broken leg tended to by Dr. Samuel Mudd (who 
apparently had no idea whose leg he was treating nor that Lincoln 
had just been assassinated), Booth and a companion (a former 
smuggler named Ed Henson whom Booth had joined up with early in 
his flight from Washington) disappeared into the nearby Zekiah 
Swamp. After about three hours of trudging through this desolate 
wilderness, they approached a farm owned by Col. Samuel Cox. Cox 
hid the fugitives in a pine thicket about two miles from his 
house and sent for his foster brother, Thomas A. Jones. During 
the just finished Civil War, Jones had "...nightly rowed the two 
mile crossing of the Potomac to, or from, Virginia with persons 
who wanted to cross the river unnoticed." Jones promised Booth 
and Henson that he would get them across the river as soon as 
possible.
 
Back in Washington, Stanton assigned NDP chief Lafayette Baker to 
get Booth. Booth's rash act had thrown the carefully laid plans 
of those higher up in the hierarchy of power "...into a cocked 
hat." Stanton feared that unless the pursuit and capture of Booth 
was brought to a speedy finish, that his and his colleagues' 
kidnap plots would be incidentally exposed by the ongoing 
investigations.
 
Booth's shooting of Lincoln had come as such a surprise to 
Stanton and his friends that they were terrified that their own 
plots would be uncovered. NDP chief Baker knew that his boss 
[Stanton] preferred that Booth not be taken alive. If Booth were 
to live long enough to talk, there was a good possibility that he 
would implicate those higher up in the conspiracies surrounding 
Lincoln.
 
Baker's NDP found Booth acquaintance David Herold "Drunk under a 
tree." Baker persuaded Herold to serve as a guide for his 
detectives. If Herold would lead them to Booth, Baker promised 
that he would overlook Herold's early involvement with Booth in 
what had started out as a kidnap plot; if Herold would lead them 
to Booth, Herold would not be hung. Herold agreed to help them 
locate Booth.
 
The agencies gathering evidence in the hunt for those guilty in 
the assassination of Lincoln were overly zealous. One early 
witness, John Lloyd, an alcoholic, "...was denied all liquor for 
48 hours. In addition, he was hanged from a tree by his thumbs 
for those 48 hours." Another early detainee, Louis Weichmann, was 
"...given a choice of hanging as a conspirator or testifying 
against those accused."

In southern Maryland, David Herold and two NDP detectives headed 
for the farm of a Col. Frank Beale. It had been reported that 
Boyd, the double agent, might be hiding there. The reports proved 
correct, and Boyd was taken in tow by the search party. Neither 
Boyd nor Herold felt any loyalty towards the NDP and the Union, 
and both planned to escape from the NDP detectives at the first 
opportunity. When the search party neared Port Tobacco, at night 
while the detectives were sleeping, Boyd and Herold made their 
escape. They were able to steal three pistols, a Spencer carbine, 
and three fully loaded magazine pouches before escaping.
 
Shortly thereafter, both pairs of fugitives, Booth and Henson and 
Boyd and Herold, "...were within a short distance of each other 
near Port Tobacco." Both pairs of fugitives planned to cross the 
Potomac river to escape pursuit.
 
"Boyd and Herold went to a Colonel Hughes' place... arriving 
about daybreak on April 19. They were heading for a place west of 
Mathias Point to cross the river. Boyd's right leg was festering 
and so sore that he was reduced to using a crude crutch."
 
On the night of Friday, April 21, Booth and Henson were able to 
get across the Potomac river. Boyd and Herold had already crossed 
the Potomac the day before. Sometime Saturday night, Booth and 
Henson had arrived at Gambo Creek but then had hurriedly moved 
on, headed for a crossing at Port Conway. In their haste, they 
left behind Booth's coat, his diary and other items. Booth and 
Henson as well as Boyd and Herold, in separate pairs, each 
reached Port Conway on Monday, April 24.
 
Meanwhile, back in Washington, about 2,000 people had been 
arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Lincoln assassination 
conspiracy. Among the "wanted" posters being issued by Secretary 
of War Stanton and the NDP, one carried a picture of David Herold 
that had been taken while he was in preliminary custody after the 
assassination (i.e. when he had cut the deal with NDP chief Baker 
to help them capture Booth). In fact, the "...Herold photo had 
his handcuffed hands cropped off so the public wouldn't know that 
he had [actually already] been arrested earlier. The Herold frame- 
up was under way."
 
During the frantic and chaotic search for whoever was proclaimed 
to be the guilty parties, several innocent people were killed by 
overzealous detectives. "In the throngs of trigger-happy 
hunters... it was the detectives and military men, immune from 
prosecution, who did the killing....[For example] two civilians 
named Frank Boyle and William Watson were shot 'because they 
resembled Booth.' The secret police even disposed of the two 
bodies."
 
On Friday, April 21, a Lt. Lovett and a squad of cavalry returned 
to the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd. After questioning him further, 
they rode off. However, "On Monday, April 24, an officer with 
three soldiers took Dr. Mudd to Washington. He would not return 
home for many years to come." [B.R. Dr. Mudd was another victim 
of the hysteria surrounding the assassination of Lincoln. To my 
knowledge, he has either recently, finally, been granted a full 
pardon (posthumously, of course) by the Federal government, or 
there is currently a great deal of pressure that he *should* be 
granted such a pardon.]
 
The pursuing Federal investigators had engaged the services of a 
Native American (a.k.a. "Indian") scout in their hunt for Booth. 
On Sunday, April 23rd, this Native American scout, Nalgai, 
returned to Washington. He carried with him two brandy bottles, 
"...an ulsterette with bloodstains, a pistol, a compass, a wallet 
containing $2,100 in Union currency, several letters of credit on 
Canadian and British banks, and pictures of six pretty young 
women and a horse." He also brought back Booth's diary.
 
At first, detectives Andrew and James Potter were quite happy to 
have recovered Booth's diary. However their happiness turned to 
dismay when they began reading Booth's documentation regarding 
his meetings with certain powerful and well-known individuals. 
Among the personages mentioned by Booth were financier Jay Cooke, 
his brother Henry Cooke, political boss Thurlow Weed, and NDP 
chief Lafayette Baker. Booth had also written about his meetings 
with "...Jefferson Davis, Judah Benjamin, Montgomery 
Blair,...'The Secretary,'...[and] Senator Wade."
 
According to a diary kept by Representative George Julian of 
Indiana, he was present at a meeting which took place at the War 
Department on Monday, April 24, 1865. Present at this meeting, 
according to Rep. Julian's diary, were a Major Eckert of the War 
Department, Secretary of War Stanton, Senator Zachariah Chandler 
of Michigan, and Senator John Conness. Also "present" at the 
meeting was Booth's recently recovered diary.
 
The subject of discussion was the potentially disastrous effect 
that the publication of the information in Booth's diary would 
have and the need to keep that information top secret. To give an 
idea of the potentially explosive effect the dissemination of the 
information in Booth's diary would have had, the authors quote 
excerpts from the so-called Missing Booth Diary Pages (i.e. the 
18 missing pages released under the Freedom of Information Act 
during the mid-70's):
 
 
Excerpts from the Missing Booth Diary Pages:
 
*** "With Jay Cooke at the Astor Hotel, I met Thurlow Weed, Sen. 
Chandler, and a Mr. Bell who said he was a friend of John 
Conness... the speculators in cotton and gold would do anything 
-- including murder -- to make the amount of money they have..."
 
*** "...[Senator John] Conness said he would supply the new 
passwords every six weeks..."
 
*** "...Thompson gave me $50,000 in bank notes with instructions 
to take $15,000 to Sen. Conness... and to leave in a sealed 
envelope $20,000 in notes at the home of Sen. Wade..."
 
*** "...[NDP Chief Lafayette] Baker comes and brings with him 
Col. Conger. I told Baker to have him leave because I did not 
know him, and talking to too many people can be dangerous..."
 
*** "...no matter who speaks for [NDP Chief Lafayette] Baker, I 
do not like him and will not trust him... I believe that Baker 
and Eckert and the Secretary are in control of our activities... 
and this frightens me..."
 
 
According to Rep. Julian's diary, those present at the meeting 
(except for Rep. Julian himself) feared for their lives if the 
information in Booth's diary ever got out. Rep. Julian had 
favored the overthrow of Lincoln by Constitutional means. In his 
diary, Julian wrote, "It was disgusting to see those men grovel 
in fear because of their immoral activities." He further quotes 
Stanton as saying, "...we either stick together in this thing or 
we all hang together."
 
Indiana Representative George Julian also noted in his diary that 
the question arose as to what would happen if Booth were captured 
alive. Keeping the diary a secret was one thing, but how would 
they keep Booth from telling what he knew? According to Rep. 
Julian's diary, Stanton declared that Booth would not be tried in 
open court.
 
Stanton then ordered that the Booth diary be put in his safe and 
that under no circumstances was it to be released to anyone.
 
Because NDP Chief Lafayette Baker did not trust Stanton, he 
organized a special unit with its purpose being to capture Booth 
alive at all costs. Apparently, Baker feared that Stanton might 
release selected portions of Booth's diary which implicated Baker 
whilst secreting other portions which implicated Stanton himself. 
The authors do not directly say this, but apparently Baker 
planned to use Booth as a bargaining chip in case Stanton were to 
turn on him.
 
Scattered forces were converging on Port Conway. "If John Wilkes 
Booth lived to tell his story, the nation's biggest scandal would 
wash over Washington like garbage scattered by a tornado."
 
 
 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
 
{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited    }
{ to the following:                                             }
{                                                               }
{ Andrew Potter Papers, Ray A. Neff Collection, Marshall, IL    }
{                                                               }
{ Bearden Papers. Margaret K. Bearden Collection                }
{                                                               }
{ Capt. James William Boyd Letter to Moe Stevens, Boyd Papers.  }
{   Ray A. Neff Collection                                      }
{                                                               }
{ Col. Lafayette Baker's Letter to Edwin M. Stanton, May 5,     }
{   1865. In the private collection of Stanton descendants.     }
{   Released in 1976 through the efforts of Americana           }
{   appraiser, Joseph Lynch                                     }
{                                                               }
{ Existing Pages of the John Wilkes Booth Diary on display at   }
{   Ford's Theatre National Historic Site, Washington, D.C.     }
{                                                               }
{ Jones, Thomas A., "J. Wilkes Booth: An Account of His Sojourn }
{   in Southern Maryland After the Assassination of Abraham     }
{   Lincoln," *The Amateur Book Collector*, Sept. 1954          }
{                                                               }
{ Kunhardt, Dorothy Meserve and Kunhardt, Philip B., *Twenty    }
{   Days* (Harper & Row, New York, 1965)                        }
{                                                               }
{ Missing Booth Diary Pages. In the private collection of       }
{   Stanton descendants. Released in 1976 through the efforts   }
{   of Americana appraiser, Joseph Lynch of Worthington, MA     }
{                                                               }
{ Mudd, Nettie, *The Life of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd (Neale          }
{   Publishing Co., New York, 1906)                             }
{                                                               }
{ Rep. George Julian Diary, April 1865. Ray A. Neff Collection  }
{                                                               }
{ Roscoe, Theodore, *The Web of Conspiracy* (Prentice-Hall,     }
{   Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1959)                                 }
{                                                               }
{ Shelton, Vaughan, *Mask for Treason: The Lincoln Murder       }
{   Trial* (Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA, 1965)              }
{                                                               }
{ Unpublished Voluntary Statement of Dandridge Mercer Green,    }
{   April 30, 1865, National Archives, Ray A. Neff Collection   }
{                                                               }
{ Weichmann, Louis J., *A True History of the Assassination of  }
{   Abraham Lincoln and of the Conspiracy of 1865*, ed. Floyd   }
{   E. Risvold, (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1975)               }
 
                   [...to be continued...]
 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
     I encourage distribution of "Conspiracy Nation."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like "Conspiracy Nation" sent to your e-mail 
address, send a message in the form "subscribe conspire My Name" 
to listproc@prairienet.org -- To cancel, send a message in the 
form "unsubscribe conspire" to listproc@prairienet.org but with 
absolutely nothing in the subject line of the message.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt.
Aperi os tuum, decerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et 
  pauperem.                    -- Liber Proverbiorum  XXXI: 8-9 

 Brian Francis Redman    bigxc@prairienet.org    "The Big C"
--------------------------------------------------------------
    Coming to you from Illinois -- "The Land of Skolnick"        
--------------------------------------------------------------

