Conspiracy trial for the murder of the president
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[490] Q. Do you recognize the letter enclosing them as in the handwriting of General Dix? A. Perfectly. I am familiar with his handwriting. The letter of General Dix was read, as follows:— Headquarters, Department of the East, New-York City, 17th November, 1864. C. A. Dana, Esq. My dear Sir, — The enclosed was picked up in a Third-Avenue railroad-car. I should have thought the whole thing got up for the “Sunday Mercury,” but for the genuine letter from St. Louis, in a female hand. The Charles Selby is obviously a manufacture. The party who dropped the letter was heard to say he “would start for Washington Friday night. He is of medium size, has black hair and whiskers, but the latter are believed to be a disguise. He had disappeared before the letter was picked up and examined. Yours truly, John A. Dix. The original of the foregoing letter was offered in evidence without objection. By the Court: Q. Did you hand these letters to the President? A. I showed them first to the Secretary, and then took them over the President. Q. Mr. Lincoln? A. Yes.
Q. Do you recollect his answer to you? A. He looked at them. I do not think he made any special answer. At any rate, it did not impress itself on my mind at all. Q. Did he appear to attach any importance to it? A. He seemed to attach very little importance to it. Q. What seemed to be the feelings of President Lincoln in regard to communications of this kind? A. He seemed to attach very little importance to it. A good many communications of a similar nature were received; and he seems to have attached more importance to this than to any other, [491] because I found it among his papers in an envelope, marked, in his own hand, “Assassination.” It was filed among them in that envelope. By Mr. Aiken: Q. Are not the officials at the War Department in the habit, and have they not been in the habit, through the presidential campaign and through the war, of receiving all sorts of queer letters of a threatening character, and making queer propositions to do extraordinary things from unknown parties, anonymous correspondents, and such people? A. Yes, sir; a good many foolish letters are received of all kinds. No other witnesses being in attendance, the Commission adjourned until to-morrow, Saturday, June 10, at eleven o’clock A.M. ——————— Saturday, June 10, 1865. Daniel E. Monroe, a witness called for the accused, Samuel A. Mudd, being duly sworn, testified as follows:— By Mr. Ewing: Q. Where do you live? A. In Charles County, Md., a few miles below Beantown. Q. State whether you heard, on the Sunday after the assassination, who it was that had assassinated the President, and from whom you heard it. A. I heard from Mr. Moore that it was Edwin Booth. Q. Where did you hear it? A. At Beantown. Q. Where was Mr. Moore from? A. Mr. Moore was from Bryantown. Q. That morning? A. Yes, sir. [492] Q. Do you know Daniel J. Thomas, a witness for the prosecution? A. Only by reputation. Q. Do you know what his reputation is, in the community in which he lives, for veracity? A. It is not very good, so far as I know. Q. Do you know what the neighbors generally think of him as a man of truth? A. They think, as far as I know, that he is untruthful. Q. From your knowledge of his reputation, would you believe him under oath? A. No, sir: I do not think I could. Q. Is that opinion of Mr. Thomas an opinion of one party in that community, or is it the opinion of the community generally? A. It is the opinion of the community generally. Q. Have you been a loyal man throughout the Rebellion? A. I have never done any disloyal act. Q. Have you approved of the efforts of the Government to suppress the Rebellion? A. I have, with one or two exceptions. Q. Have your feelings been in favor of the suppression of the Rebellion, or of its success? A. My feelings have been in favor of the suppression of the Rebellion under the Constitution as it formerly stood. Q. In the efforts of the Government to suppress the Rebellion, have you sympathized with it, or have you sympathized with the Rebellion? A. I have sympathized with the Federal Government. Q. All through the war? A. Yes, sir, with the exception I speak of. I did not approve of the manner in which slavery was abolished. Q. Whose election did you advocate at the last presidential election? A. I used my influence for Messrs. Lincoln and Johnson. Cross-examined by Assistant Judge Advocate Bingham: Q. Whom did you hear speak about the assassination at Beantown? [493] A. Mr. Moore. Q. When was it? A. On the Sunday after the assassination. Q. What Mr. Moore? A. Mr. William Henry Moore of Bryantown. Q. What time of day was it? A. It was, I suppose, near ten o’clock in the morning. Q. Who was present? A. Mr. Sasser and Mr. Warren. Q. What did Mr. Moore say? A. Mr. Moore said that he had understood in Bryantown that it was Edwin Booth who had assassinated the President. Q. From whom did he say that he heard it? A. I do not remember that he stated from whom he heard it; but my impression is that he said he had heard it from the soldiers. Q. Was there any thing said, or did you hear, that this Booth, who had assassinated the President, had been traced to the neighborhood of Bryantown? Was that a part of the talk there? A. No, sir: I had not learned that he had been traced to the neighborhood of Bryantown. Q. When did you learn it? A. I learned it some time afterwards. Q. Did you not learn it that day? A. No, sir. Q. Did you understand during that conversation what the troops were down there for? A. The troops were around there, I understand, hunting for the assassin. Q. For Booth? A. Yes, sir. Q. What is Sasser’s first name? A. Philip A. Sasser is his name.
A. My business is connected with the press. My profession is that of a journalist, a reporter, and telegraphic correspondent. Q. Of the Associated Press? A. Yes, sir. Q. Will you state whether you were at Ford’s Theatre after the assassination of the President on Friday night, the 14th of April? A. I was. Q. What did you learn there as to who was the assassin? Did you learn positively who it was? A. I heard some person say positively that it was Wilkes Booth; and others said that they knew Wilkes Booth, but the man who jumped upon the stage, and made his exit, differed somewhat in appearance from Wilkes Booth. There did not seem to be any certainty, so far as I could ascertain at that time. Q. How long was that after the assassination? A. I was informed of the assassination, I suppose, about twenty minutes to eleven o’clock; and I arrived at the theatre at five minutes to eleven that night. Q. State whether you became certain that night who it was that had killed the President. A. I was not positively satisfied on that occasion, during that visit which I made to the theatre, in my own mind, who was the assassin. Cross-examined by Assistant Judge Advocate Bingham: Q. You did become satisfied during that night that Wilkes Booth had killed the President? A. I was not perfectly satisfied of that fact. Q. But during the night you were? A. Not thoroughly satisfied. Q. You were so satisfied that night, anyhow, that you came to the conclusion that Wilkes Booth was probably the man, and so telegraphed to the country?
Q. It was telegraphed? A. It was telegraphed that night: I could tell by whom, if necessary. Q. You came to the conclusion very suddenly next morning that Wilkes Booth was the man? A. After I saw the official bulletin the next morning.
A. I was president of the college in that year. Q. Where is Frederick College? A. In Frederick City, Md. Q. Was the accused, Samuel A. Mudd, a pupil at that college? A. He was. I have recently seen the book kept by myself, and his name is entered there. Q. Was he a pupil at the college during the fall and winter of 1850-51? A. I cannot speak of 1851, because I myself left the college, and was transferred to Georgetown College in 1851; but I am under the impression that he was there when I left: I am not certain of the fact, however. Q. What time in 1851 did you leave? A. Perhaps at the close of 1850: I think it was in December, 1850, that I left. Q. He was there when you left? A. I am under the impression that he was; but I do not feel perfectly certain of it. Q. Do you have at Frederick College any fall or winter vacation? A. We had one principal vacation: the others were only for a few days. There was one only one principal vacation, which commenced in July, and continued during August. [496] Cross-examined by Assistant Judge Advocate Bingham: Q. You had other short vacations that were for but a few days, you say? A. Yes, sir. Q. You had vacations during the holidays, in the fall, I suppose? A. No holidays in the fall. Q. You did, nevertheless, have recesses about the time of Christmas? A. A few days only. By Mr. Ewing: Q. Did those pupils who lived at a distance of a hundred miles or so go home during those short vacations you speak of? A. They did not. By Assistant Judge Advocate Bingham: Q. There was nothing to restrain them, was there? They could have gone if they wished to go? A. There was the authority of the president. They could not go. Q. Do you pretend to say that Dr. Mudd was there in December, 1850? A. I cannot say certainly. I do not remember. Q. If he was, do you pretend to say that he did not go away during the temporary vacation? A. It was the rule not to go. Q. That is not the point. Do you know the fact that he was there during the vacation? A. I do not know the fact. Q. Nor the fact that that he was there at all during December? A. There is nothing to impress it on my mind. Mr. Ewing announced to the Court that the case was closed on the part of the accused, Samuel A. Mudd, Samuel Arnold, and Edward Spangler, respectively. Mr. Doster announced that the case was closed on the part of the accused, George A. Atzerodt. [497] Mr. Cox stated that he had not been able to procure the attendance of all the witnesses he desired in the case of the accused, Michael O’Laughlin; but he did not ask for any further delay on that account, and therefore the case might be considered closed as to him. A Member of the Court stated that the counsel for Mrs. Surratt, who were not now present, had before stated that they had but one more witness to examine on her behalf, but would not delay the Court for that reason. Mr. Stone announced that the case was closed on the part of the accused, David E. Herold. Mr. Doster stated that he had not yet heard any thing in regard to the witnesses summoned for the accused, Lewis Payne, from Upperville and Warrenton, Va. The Judge Advocate responded, that the usual military channels had been employed for the service of process in those cases, and the telegraph had also been called into requisition, and every effort had been made to find the persons summoned, but thus far without success; and as there was no proof, and indeed no personal knowledge even on the part of the counsel, that such persons were in existence, it was no cause for delay. Mr. Doster further stated to the Court, that the medical witness, Dr. Nichols, to whom permission had been accorded to examine the accused, Lewis Payne, and report upon his sanity or insanity, had not yet had access to the accused for the purpose of making the examination. The Judge Advocate replied that the prisoner was at all times accessible to Dr. Nichols for the purpose of such examinations, except while the Court was actually in session. Mr. Doster cited the practice in the State of Maine, where, when a question was raised as to the sanity or insanity of a prisoner, the custom was to transfer the prisoner to the care of a medical expert to investigate the case, and the trial was not closed until such examination was made and a report had. It was only proper that time should be allowed for the procurement of witnesses, and for a thorough scientific examination. The Judge Advocate replied, that the usage spoken of as existing in the State of Maine had never been known in the District of [498] Columbia, and he would be unwilling to introduce it in this particular case. The President (after consultation with the members of the Commission) announced that the Commission would allow until Monday morning for the examination of the prisoner Payne by Dr. Nichols, and a report by him. Henry G. Edson, a witness called for the prosecution, being duly sworn, testified as follows:— By the Judge Advocate: Q. State where you reside. A. At St. Albans, Vt. Q. What is your profession? A. Attorney and counselor at law. Q. Were you, or not, in Canada during the judicial investigations which occurred there in connection with what is known as the St. Albans raid? A. I was. Q. In what character were you there? A. Acting as counsel in behalf of the bank and the United States. Q. While you were there in that capacity, did you or not meet George N. Sanders, Jacob Thompson, Clement C. Clay, and others of that circle of rebels, or any of them? A. I saw them; that is, they were pointed out to me by the counsel for the prisoners as their friends. Q. Did you have any conversation with any one of the persons I have named? A. I had no conversation with them. Q. None with George N. Sanders? A. No, sir. Q. Did you hear him in conversation with any others in regard to the contemplated movements of the rebel authorities in the United States? A. I heard a conversation he had with other parties at St. John’s. Q. What did he say then?
The Witness, having consulted his memorandum book, proceeding to say,— In speaking of the so-called St. Albans raid, George N. Sanders said he was ignorant of it before it occurred, but was satisfied with it. He said that it was not the last that would occur; but it would be followed up by the depleting of many other banks, and the burning of many other towns on the frontier, and that many Yankees sons of—[using a coarse, vulgar expression] would be killed. He said that they had their plans perfectly organized, and men ready to sack and burn Buffalo, Detroit, New York, and other places, and had deferred them for a time, but would soon see the plans wholly executed; and any preparation that could be made by the Government to prevent them would not, though it might defer them for a time. He made other statements in connection with the case; that he had hired a house in St. John’s, which he intended to furnish himself to accommodate his friends and attorneys; that he had employed twenty or thirty counsel in Canada. Q. Did he claim to be acting as an agent of the so-called Confederate Government? A. Yes, sir; and said that he had retained these counsel; that Mr. Clement C. Clay was to appear from the Clifton House to aid. Q. To whom did he address this conversation? A. There were several people present, and they were strangers to me: I do not know who they were.
A. I am a first lieutenant now. Q. Have you been a prisoner of war? A. I have been. [500] Q. Where were you confined? A. At Andersonville. Q. For how long a period of time? A. Six months. Q. Were you acquainted, while there, with a rebel officer,—Quartermaster Hume? A. Yes, sir. Q. State what declarations, if any, you heard him make, and under what circumstances they were made, in regard to the probable death of the President of the United States before his inauguration, and in the event of his inauguration. A. I heard him, previous to the election, say, that, if Lincoln was re-elected, he would not live to be inaugurated. Q. Did he go on to give any reasons why he thought so? A. Not at that time. Q. Did he at any other time? A. He did, after the election. He said they had a party North who would attend to him, and Mr. Seward also. Q. State whether or not you heard similar declarations made by other military officers in the Confederate service. A. Yes, sir: I heard a lieutenant, who was in charge of the guard, say something similar to that one day. Q. At what time was that? A. After the re-election of President Lincoln. Q. To the effect that they had friends who would take care of the President? A. Yes, sir; that he would not be inaugurated. Q. During your long confinement, you have, no doubt, heard a great deal of conversation among rebel officers. Will you state whether or not, on other occasions, you have heard the assassination of the President spoken of as a probable event, and one to be desired? A. Not outside of those two cases. By the Court: Q. You said you were a lieutenant in the United-States service: to what regiment do you belong? [501] A. The Thirty-ninth Illinois. Q. When did you enter the service of the United States? A. On the 28th of October, 1861. Q. Were you an officer, or a private, then? A. A private at that time. Q. Have you been on detached duty? A. I have been. Q. What duty? A. Aide on General Osborn’s staff.
A. Yes, sir. Q. What was the character of the food furnished, both as to quality and quantity? A. The quality was poor, and the quantity very small. Q. What proportion did the quantity bear to full rations? A. I do not know. We got about half a pint of corn meal, and from two to four ounces of meat. Q. Did the prisoners die in large numbers? A. Yes, sir. Q. Have you any doubt that those deaths, in the main, were produced by starvation and the horrible treatment to which they were subjected? A. I believe, in many cases, that was the cause of death. Q. Did you hear any language from the Confederate officers having charge of the prisoners in approbation of the treatment to which they were exposed? A. I did. Q. What was its character? A. I heard them say it was good enough for the prisoners; that they should every one die. Q. Was that in answer to remonstrances on this point? A. Yes, sir: I heard Captain Wurtz say so, who had charge of the prisoners at Andersonville. [502] Q. He said they ought all to die? A. Yes, he said, “It is good enough for you: you should all die!” Q. Is he the man who is now in the Old Capital Prison? A. I do not know. I heard him say that on the 1st of July. Q. State whether or not the location of the camp, and all the arrangements connected with it, did not seem to look, on the part of the Confederate authorities, to the creation of disease, and the infliction of all possible suffering on these men, short of just putting them to death. A. It did at Andersonville. I was also confined at Millen: it was somewhat better there. Q. Was there a pack of bloodhounds kept lying around the camp always? A. There was at Andersonville. Q. Do you know whether any of those poor prisoners made attempts to escape, and were pursued by those hounds? A. I have understood so. Q. Do you know with what result? A. Nothing but what they had told me. Q. Do you know of any of them having been torn to pieces by those dogs? A. Not to my personal knowledge; but I have heard some of the men who went after them say that there were persons who had been torn by the dogs. The Commission then adjourned until Monday June 12, at eleven o’clock A.M. ——————— Monday, June 12, 1865. Mr. Doster. I am about to call two witnesses; and, to prevent any objections being made, I will state the reason for calling them. My purpose is show that the prisoner Payne, three months before the alleged attempted assassination of Mr. Seward, saved the lives of two Union soldiers. The connection that has with the plea of insanity is this: It is the very essence of insanity that one violates the “even tenor” of his previous life; and there- [503] fore, if I can show, that, three months before the alleged attempted assassination, this person exercised a degree of honor and benevolence which he afterwards violated, and turned into ferocity and malignity, it will give a high degree of probability to the plea, and his subsequent conduct can only be explained by his being under the control of fury or madness. Mrs. Lucy Ann Grant, a witness called for the accused, Lewis Payne, being duly sworn, testified as follows:— By Mr. Doster: Q. State where you live. A. In Warrenton, Va., on the Waterloo Pike Q. Look at the prisoners at the bar, and see whether you recognize any of them. A. I recognize the gentleman they said was Mr. Powell. Q. Which is that? A. That one with the gray shirt [pointing to the accused, Lewis Payne]. Q. Where did you see him before? A. In front of our house in the road. Q. Was he not at the time in charge of soldiers, prisoners? A. Three Union prisoners. Q. Did, or did not, somebody attempt to kill those prisoners? A. Yes, sir. Q. Who tried to kill the prisoners? A. I do not know who it was. Q. Were they citizens or soldiers? A. They were said to be soldiers. They had on soldiers’ uniforms. Q. Where did these prisoners belong? Do you know what command they had been captured from? A. I do not know. Q. What time was this? Was there or not a raid at the time? A. It was after General Torbert passed through Warrenton, about Christmas. I do not recollect the day; but it was about Christmas-time. Yüklə 2,75 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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