From jhdaugh@mail.msen.com Thu Aug 25 05:58:41 1994
Date: Thu, 25 Aug 94 05:40 EDT
From: James Daugherty 
Reply to: prj@mail.msen.com
To: prj@mail.msen.com

Subject: lincoln

If anyone has parts 1-6 mail them to me, jher@eden.com

Subject: The Lincoln Conspiracy (part 7)

The Lincoln Conspiracy


By David Balsiger and Charles E. Sellier, Jr.

*****************************************************************
*                                                               *
* Did John Wilkes Booth act alone in the assassination of       *
* Abraham Lincoln or was he a pawn of higher-ups?               *
*                                                               *
* Was the man shot at Garrett's farm and identified as John     *
* Wilkes Booth actually Booth, or was he a substitute?          *
*                                                               *
* Why was the existence of Booth's diary hidden until long      *
* after the famous 1865 Conspiracy Trial, and when revealed,    *
* why had 18 pages been cut? Who removed those 18 pages, and    *
* when?                                                         *
*                                                               *
* A surprising collection of newly discovered (c. 1977),        *
* unpublished, historical documents answers these and many      *
* more questions, solving the most famous political             *
* assassination mystery in American history.                    *
*                                                               *
*****************************************************************

--------------------------- Part 7 ------------------------------

Among Booth's earliest recruits in the plan to kidnap Lincoln
were Samuel Arnold and Michael O'Laughlin. Booth and O'Laughlin
had been involved in a smuggling ring early on in the war. They
had helped ship contraband quinine, morphine, and other medicines
to the South. "O'Laughlin believed Booth had been in charge of
the operation but knew the actor had had the help of men in the
government."

Besides Arnold and O'Laughlin, Booth recruited David Herold,
George Atzerodt, Edward Spangler, and Lewis Payne into his
kidnapping team. The original plan was to capture Lincoln when he
was on one of his frequent unguarded trips from the White House
to the Soldiers Home. Later, however, Booth decided on a more
dramatic location for the kidnap attempt -- Ford's Theater.

On the night of January 18, 1865, all was in readiness. Lincoln
was expected to attend a performance at Ford's Theater that
evening. "Everything was ready -- two sets of handcuffs, gags and
ropes. The stage lights were to be killed on cue. A vehicle with
side curtains was stationed in the alley behind the theater."

Unfortunately for the plotters, the night was stormy and Lincoln
decided to stay at home.

The leaders of the bankers and speculators plot to kidnap Lincoln
decided to replace Booth with a military man because they decided
that a civilian would not be the best person to handle the actual
kidnapping. All Booth could learn at first was that he had been
replaced by a Rebel officer, a "Captain B."

Captain James William Boyd "bore a resemblance to John Wilkes
Booth, whose initials he shared." Boyd had served as head of the
Confederate secret service in West Tennessee before being
captured in August 1863 by members of the National Detective
Police (NDP). After being imprisoned for months, he finally
succumbed to NDP pressure and became a Rebel turncoat.

For awhile, Boyd was "paid $90 a month and, in return, reported
on prisoners' activities and plans." However, when his life
became endangered because the other prisoners had grown
suspicious of him, he was released from Federal prison and given
a new assignment. He was sent "on a mysterious mission that would
take him to Canada, then Mexico."

The authors mention in passing that Boyd suffered from an old
wound. "Boyd's leg near his ankle had continued to give him
trouble. A bone and muscle infection had developed from the wound
that had never healed properly."

Besides the change in leadership from Booth to Boyd, the
"speculators, with Captain Boyd as their leader, appeared to have
a new strategy... They were not going to take Lincoln to
Richmond, but to Bloodsworth Island in Chesapeake Bay and
'legally' dispose of him."


 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *


{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited    }
{ to the following:                                             }
{                                                               }
{ Lee, Thomas C., "The Role of Georgetown's Dr. Samuel A. Mudd  }
{   in the Lincoln Conspiracy," Georgetown Medical Bulletin,    }
{   May, 1976                                                   }
{                                                               }
{ Pitman, Benn, *The Assassination of President Lincoln and the }
{   Trial of the Conspirators* (Funk & Wagnalls, New York,      }
{   1954)                                                       }
{                                                               }
{ Wilson, Francis, *John Wilkes Booth: Fact and Fiction of      }
{   Lincoln's Assassination* (Houghton Mifflin Co., New York,   }
{   1929)                                                       }

In early March of 1865, inside "the nation's governmental centers
and in New York, the country's financial heart, many were not
happy."

"Power plays were going on behind almost every office door;
tremendous pressures were building. There was no end to the
intrigues, lies, deceits, and double-dealing."

For the turncoat Rebel agent, Captain James William Boyd, the
sense of intrigues surrounding him was so great that he was
unsure of exactly who his real leader was. "He had the impression
the mastermind was not one, but a number of highly placed men
working together on a daring plan."

Whoever it was that was running things had sent Boyd on a journey
through Maryland, headed south. In Maryland, wherever "he
stopped, he asked discreet questions concerning roads through the
area."

For John Wilkes Booth, the urgency of achieving success in his
kidnap plot was mounting. It became more and more apparent that
the North was going to win the war. Therefore it was increasingly
important that the South have *some* sort of advantage, from
whatever source. Booth became more desperate to kidnap the
president. He hoped that somehow the South could "yet snatch
victory from defeat."

"It looked as though Grover's Theatre would offer the best
opportunity to attempt the abduction on March 15." Booth
assembled his team of recruits and prepared to make a kidnap
attempt. However, on March 14th the President became so ill that
the cabinet met in his bedroom. Because it seemed unlikely that
Lincoln would go to the theatre the following day, the kidnapping
attempt was called off.

When the Grover's Theatre kidnapping attempt was called off, some
of the co-conspirators had gone to Ford's Theatre to see a
performance of *Jane Shore*. During the intermission, Booth
briefly visited the "Presidential Box," a special area reserved
for president Lincoln when he attended the theatre.

In the early morning of March 16th, Booth met with his recruits.
One of them had received word that Lincoln would be visiting the
Seventh Street Hospital-Soldiers Home. Booth came up with another
plan. On a portion of the road that the President was to travel,
the plotters would ride out of the woods and surround Lincoln's
carriage. However, when they tried to carry out their plot later
that day, the carriage that they surrounded did not contain
Lincoln. "Booth's third kidnap attempt had now failed."

The following morning, Booth was visited in his Washington hotel
room by Colonel Lafayette Baker, head of the National Detective
Police (NDP). Booth may have been understandably panicy that the
formal head of the Union's secret service was paying him a visit.
It may have been that he was fearful that his attempts at
kidnapping the President had been found out. However Baker's
mission that day was to deliver three sealed envelopes from
(respectively) Jefferson Davis [President of the Confederacy!],
Judah Benjamin, and Clement Clay. One of the messages that Booth
received directed him to pay Baker a sum of money.

After Baker had received the money from Booth and had left, Booth
was probably astonished. He immediately sent a note by special
courier to Confederate agent Judah Benjamin in Richmond. He then
went to the office of Radical Republican, Senator John Conness.
Conness had been connected with NDP head Baker as a member of a
vigilante group in California during the 1850's. He calmed
Booth's fears and assured him that Baker could be trusted.

Not long after this meeting with Senator Conness, Booth received
a reply to his message to Judah Benjamin in Richmond. It said
that Baker was to be trusted.

"Word now came to Booth that the President would pass a certain
spot on Saturday, March 18. Booth and an unknown number of
conspirators waited seven hours. When the President did approach,
he was escorted by a squad of cavalry." Booth called off this
fourth kidnapping attempt.

Following this latest attempt, NDP head Baker and a Lt. Col.
Everton J. Conger called on Booth. Booth did not record the topic
of this second meeting with Baker.

Booth attended another of many Washington parties. At this party,
he was approached by Senator Conness who informed him that he
was expecting information shortly as to Lincoln's planned
movements within the Washington area.

"Booth thought Yankee politicians were beyond belief. Their only
interest was money. They had no patriotism, no personal honor.
They were cowards, hiding behind their office, spouting
hypocrisy."

On Sunday, March 19th, Conness forwarded to Booth information on
the next kidnap possibility. "The conspirators rushed to the
location named. And waited in vain... The President did not
appear."

"On Monday, March 20, the conspirators made a sixth attempt at a
kidnap. About the time the President was supposed to pass the
ambush site, a warning was given Booth that the kidnapping was
expected. Booth ordered his men to scatter, sure he had been
betrayed."

Later that evening, Booth and two of his gang waited for Lincoln
in another spot by which Lincoln was supposed to be travelling.
When a horseman with a group of soldiers approached, Booth fired
a shot and the President's hat flew off. One of Booth's
companions, Lewis Payne, also fired twice but missed. Booth and
his companions "spurred furiously away, the President's armed
escort thundering after them... Within a couple of miles the
conspirators had eluded pursuit."

Shortly thereafter, Booth was visited by the previously mentioned
Lt. Col. Conger. Conger carried orders that Booth was to halt his
efforts. Booth refused. Conger then told Booth that "If you make
another move without orders, you and your friends are going to be
found in the Potomac."


 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *


{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited    }
{ to the following:                                             }
{                                                               }
{ 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     }
{                                                               }
{ Captain James William Boyd Letter to Moe Stevens, Boyd Papers }
{   Ray A. Neff Collection                                      }
{                                                               }
{ Oldroyd, Osborn H., *The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln:    }
{   Flight, Pursuit, Capture and Punishment of the              }
{   Conspirators* (Privately Published, Washington, D.C. 1901)  }
{                                                               }
{ Arnold, Samuel B., *Defence and Prison Experiences of a       }
{   Lincoln Conspirator* (The Book Farm, Hattiesburg, MS, 1943) }
{                                                               }
{ John Surratt Lecture at Rockville, Maryland, December 6, 1870 }
{   (Evening Star, Washington, D.C., Dec. 7, 1870)              }
{                                                               }
{ Major Thomas T. Eckert Letter to Col. Lafayette C. Baker,     }
{   April 22, 1865. In the private collection of Stanton        }
{   descendants. Released in 1976 through the efforts of        }
{   Americana appraiser, Joseph Lynch                           }

On Monday, April 3, 1865, Richmond fell and the Confederate
cabinet fled the city.

"For Booth, time had about run out." On Saturday, April 1, he
left Washington for New York where he met with Northern cotton
speculators. Booth informed these people his apprehensions that
their plot was about to be betrayed by NDP head Lafayette Baker.
At the end of the meeting, "Booth was instructed to return to
Washington to wait for orders."

On Thursday, President Lincoln had authorized Gen. Godfrey
Weitzel to give permission to the "gentlemen who had acted as the
Legislature of Virginia in support of the Rebellion" to meet and
take measures to withdraw that state's troops from fighting the
Union soldiers. "Secretary of War Stanton saw the action as
allowing Virginia lawmakers to proceed as though nothing had
happened, setting a precedent for all future insurgent
legislatures to reconvene and be recognized." Needless to say,
this would severely curtail the postwar plans of Radical
Republicans and Northern businessmen for "reconstruction" in the
South. "The authorization had Washington in an uproar."

On April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant. "Lee's action, as
supreme Confederate Commander meant the war was over."

With the end of the war, Booth now expected that Northern
politicians and their business friends would strip the South
bare. He also wrote in his diary that "I believe that [Major]
Eckert, [Lafayette] Baker, and the Secretary [of War, Stanton]
are in control of our activities."

There were at least three good reasons that Stanton could be
behind Booth and his plotters: (1) Removing Lincoln would assure
that Stanton would continue as War Secretary, (2) Under the
proposed "reconstruction," the "War Department and the Secretary
of War would be vital in a military occupation of conquered
states." Thus, Stanton would wield tremendous power during the
proposed "reconstruction." Lincoln opposed this planned
despoliation of the South, and (3) By remaining in power, Stanton
could further his own ambitions to be president.

It has already been shown that Stanton disliked Lincoln. Stanton
even went so far in his audacity to *countermand* Lincoln's order
to Gen. Weitzel which had given the Legislature of Virginia
permission to reconvene. Lafayette Baker notes in his unpublished
book that "That's the first time I knew Stanton was one of those
responsible for the assassination plot." Baker even feared that
he himself would be used as a "sacrificial goat" [i.e. a "patsy"]
by Stanton.

Booth also was apprehensive about what the hidden forces plotting
against Lincoln might do to Booth himself. In his diary he wrote,
"If by this act, I am slain, they too shall be cast into hell,
for I have given information to a friend who will have the nation
know who the traitors are."

At the White House, Lincoln's trusted bodyguard, Ward Lamon, had
obtained a special pass from the President which allowed him and
an unspecified friend to travel from Washington to Richmond. On
the night before Lamon left the capital he urged the President
not to go out after nightfall, especially not to the theatre.

Meanwhile, Rebel turncoat Capt. James William Boyd had been
acquiring horses in southern Maryland. While there, Boyd had
learned that one Thomas Watkins had attempted to sexually assault
the wife of one of Boyd's colleagues. Boyd went and shot Watkins
in the back of the head. Although the Federal government was
aware of what Boyd had done, it did nothing. "His [Boyd's]
freedom was more important to someone than having him tried for
murder."


 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *


{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited    }
{ to the following:                                             }
{                                                               }
{ 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     }
{                                                               }
{ Lafayette Baker's Unpublished Cipher-Coded Book Manuscript,   }
{   1868, Dr. Ray A. Neff Collection                            }
{                                                               }
{ Shelton, Vaughan, *Mask for Treason: The Lincoln Murder       }
{   Trial* (Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA, 1965)              }
{                                                               }
{ Shutes, Milton H., *Lincoln's Emotional Life* (Dorrance and   }
{   Co., Philadelphia, 1957)                                    }

According to the authors, Booth's plan after having carried out
the abduction of Lincoln was to go to Europe. They state that
Booth had arranged for extensive bank credits in England and
France.

Yet as Booth's desperation grew, the original kidnapping plot
gradually became an assassination plot.

On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, workers began preparing the
"Presidential Box" at Ford's theatre because they had received
word that Lincoln would be attending the theatre that night. To
get to the Presidential Box, one needed to pass into a single
small antechamber whose entrance would be constantly guarded.

Booth had learned that the President would be attending the
theatre. According to an unpublished, voluntary statement by
Booth's friend, Michael O'Laughlin, Booth met O'Laughlin in front
of Ford's Theatre at about 7:45 pm that evening. Booth was upset.
O'Laughlin quotes him as saying, "Everything's gone wrong! The
major sent word that he would not be here... The major with the
President has refused to go through with it... Everyone wants to
call it off again. I refuse. It must be done tonight!"

That morning, there had been a cabinet meeting at the White
House. At that meeting, Stanton had again argued for the Radical
Republicans plan of "reconstruction." At the meeting, Stanton
again pushed for this plan which favored that the "...South be
treated as a conquered nation and ruled by military occupation."

However, as already noted, Lincoln opposed this plan for harsh
treatment of the former Confederacy. What is more, Lincoln's
political strength was at a high point. "He had kept his pledge
to keep the Union intact. He had freed the slaves. To date, he
had won everything for which he had fought." Lincoln would be a
powerful opponent to the hopes for a postwar pillaging of the
South.

That evening, one of Lincoln's bodyguards, John Parker, was late
in arriving. Nonetheless, the President allowed William Crook,
another of his bodyguards, to go home without waiting for
Parker's arrival. As Crook was leaving, Lincoln said to him,
"Good-bye, Crook." According to Crook this was unusual in that
Lincoln had heretofore always said "Good night, Crook."


At about this time, in the early evening of April 14, 1865, while
Lincoln was preparing to leave with his wife for Ford's Theatre,
his death was *already* being reported in scattered parts of the
country:

*** In St. Joseph, Minnesota, located over 80 miles from the
nearest telegraph, the news was circulating that the President
had been murdered.

*** That morning, residents of Booth's hometown of Manchester,
New Hampshire, "were speaking in the past tense of Lincoln's
assassination, discussing the event as if it had already
happened."

*** At 2:30 pm, a writer on the Middletown, New York *Whig Press*
asserted that he had been informed that the President had been
shot.

*** The *Newburgh Journal* confirmed the reports in the *Whig
Press* regarding Lincoln's having been shot.

Thus, from 12 to 4 hours *before* the actual assassination, it
was already being reported.


 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *


{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited    }
{ to the following:                                             }
{                                                               }
{ Unpublished Voluntary Statement of Michael O'Laughlin, April  }
{   27, 1865, originally in the Benn Pittman Collection,        }
{   Cincinnati, OH  Ray A. Neff Collection                      }
{                                                               }
{ Roscoe, Theodore, *The Web of Conspiracy* (Prentice-Hall,     }
{   Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1959)                                 }
{                                                               }
{ 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)               }
{                                                               }
{ Bishop, Jim, *The Day Lincoln Was Shot* (Harper & Brothers,   }
{   New York, 1955)                                             }
{                                                               }
{ Eisenschiml, Otto, *In the Shadow of Lincoln's Death*         }
{   (Wilfred Funk, Inc., New York, 1940)                        }

One of Lincoln's bodyguards, John Parker, arrived at Ford's
Theatre before Lincoln and checked out the lobby, the stairs to
the "dress circle," and the presidential box. The Lincoln party,
consisting of Lincoln, Mrs. Lincoln, Maj. R. Rathbone, and his
fiancee, Miss Clara Harris, arrived at the theatre after the
play, "Our American Cousin" had already begun. They were
accompanied by Lincoln's personal aide, Charles Forbes.

After the presidential party had been seated in the presidential
box, guard John Parker commenced to stand guard at his assigned
post. However, after a short while, Parker moved from there to an
empty seat at the front of the gallery from which spot he could
watch the play. Lincoln's back was now totally unguarded.

But Parker soon grew bored with the play. He went downstairs to
the lobby, went outside, and walked up to the presidential
carriage. Inside, the driver was sleeping. Parker woke the driver
and asked him if he would like to join him for a beer at the nearby
Taltavul's Star Saloon. The driver accepted the invitation. "As
the two men passed through the theatre doors on their way to... [the
saloon], they saw [presidential aid] Forbes who had left the
presidential party alone in the box. Forbes joined Parker and
Burns [the driver] at the bar."

As the play progressed, Parker, Forbes, and Burns enjoyed their
beers in the saloon. Booth entered the theatre, climbed the
stairs, and entered the presidential box. "Booth took a quick
step from the antechamber, crossed the three or four feet to the
President's back, and quickly extended the pistol. Lincoln
started to turn his head to the left. The derringer's explosion
ripped through the laughter."

"The assailant dropped his pistol and sprang toward the box
railing. Rathbone thought he heard someone cry, 'Freedom!' Booth
cried, 'Sic semper tyrannis!' Thus always to tyrants."

Major Rathbone jumped up and grappled with Booth. Booth made a
slash with a large knife towards the major's chest. Rathbone
deflected the blow with his left arm and was badly cut between
the elbow and the shoulder.

"Booth vaulted over the railing to the stage apron a dozen feet
below... [Upon landing, he found that] the fall had snapped his
[Booth's] left tibia about two inches above the ankle."
Nonetheless, Booth was able to stagger towards the backstage
exit, mount a horse, and ride off.

Doctors in the audience examined the President's wound and
pronounced it fatal. "The President's eyes showed evidence of
brain damage. The bullet had gone in the left side of the head,
behind the ear near the top of the spine. There was no exit
wound."

"Fingers, thrust into the wound, could not touch the bullet. From
the patient's slightly protruding right eye, the doctors
correctly concluded the 44 caliber ball had entered behind the
left ear and lodged in the brain just behind the right eye."

At Secretary of State Seward's home there had also been an
assassination attempt. At the Seward mansion, five people had
been attacked. Among those attacked was the Secretary of State.
The assailant "...sprang upon the defenseless secretary in the
bed. The knife... [ripped] Seward's right cheek, the right side
of his throat, and [slashed] deeply under the left ear. So much
blood spurted, it seemed his throat must have been cut."

As the city grew hysterical over the news of the assassination
attempts, rumors of all sorts spread. Amidst all the uproar,
Booth "galloped toward the Navy Yard Bridge which crossed the
Eastern Branch of the Potomac. The further shore was Maryland.
Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic were to the east. Richmond was
100 miles south.


 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *


{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited    }
{ to the following:                                             }
{                                                               }
{ Gerry, Margarita Spalding, *Through Five Administrations:     }
{   Reminiscences of Colonel William H. Crook* (Harper and      }
{   Brothers, New York, 1907)                                   }
{                                                               }
{ Bishop, Jim, *The Day Lincoln Was Shot* (Harper and Brothers, }
{   New York, 1955)                                             }
{                                                               }
{ Eisenschiml, Otto, *Why Was Lincoln Murdered?* (Little,       }
{   Brown, and Co., Boston, 1937)                               }
{                                                               }
{ Ferguson, W.J., *I Saw Booth Shoot Lincoln* (Houghton         }
{   Mifflin, Boston, 1930)                                      }
{                                                               }
{ Existing Pages of the John Wilkes Booth Diary on display at   }
{   Ford's Theatre National Historic Site, Washington, D.C.     }

Shortly after Lincoln was shot, L.A. Gobright, an Associated
Press representative in Washington, put a short bulletin out over
the commercial telegraph saying that the President had been shot.
"The AP man filed a second telegram... The morning edition of the
*New York Tribune* read, 'Our Washington agent orders the
dispatch about the president stopped. Nothing is said about the
truth or falsity of that dispatch.'"

"Before details of the night of terror could be flashed from
Washington to morning newspapers, the commercial telegraph went
dead... Within 15 minutes after the murder, the wires were
severed entirely around the city, excepting only a secret wire
for government use..."

The authors state that this destruction of telegraph service
could only have been accomplished by someone who was an expert
about the telegraph. "Only someone familiar with telegraphy,
working inside the main terminal area, could have so effectively
sabotaged the news wire."

After having been shot, the dying Lincoln had been taken across
the street to a boardinghouse owned by William Peterson. In the
back parlor of the house, Secretary of War [B.R. They now call
this cabinet post the Secretary of "Defense"] Stanton set up a
temporary seat of government. "Here, virtually a dictator,
Stanton took control of the situation and the nation."

Stanton began issuing orders to close escape routes out of the
city. Eventually, the only road not closed by Stanton was the
road leading south from Washington to Port Tobacco. "Booth's act
had caused a virtual blockade of the whole Atlantic coast from
Baltimore to Hampton Roads, Virginia, yet the assassin slipped
through because the closings had been piecemeal, beginning in the
least likely direction and moving slowly toward the route Booth
was most likely to have taken."

"In all wires issued from the War Department during the night of
April 14, this route [south from Washington to Port Tobacco] was
not once mentioned...[Yet] it was the one obvious route that
should have been instantly and tightly closed."

In the back parlor of the Peterson house, statements by witnesses
to the shooting were taken. James Tanner, a Union corporal who
knew shorthand, recorded these statements. In Tanner's words,
"Within fifteen minutes, I had testimony enough to hang Wilkes
Booth." Yet Stanton sent no messages to the newspapers or
to the military leaders identifying Booth as the assassin.

By this time, Booth was well south of Washington and headed east
toward Benedict's Landing where a ship of British registry,
flying Canadian colors, was waiting for two "crewmen." A second
ship of British registry, also flying the Canadian flag, was
waiting at Port Tobacco.

For Rebel turncoat Captain James William Boyd, the murder of
Lincoln was not good news. "Booth's shot wrecked his plan to
kidnap Lincoln on behalf of the Northern speculators. If his name
became involved in the Booth plot, Boyd was in great danger."
Boyd decided to flee. He packed his gear and headed for Maryland.

"About 6 a.m. Saturday morning, White House guard John Parker,
who had vacated his post and allowed the President to be shot,
showed up at the Washington police station with Lizzie Williams,
a drunken streetwalker, in custody. She was released by the
precinct captain."


 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *


{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited    }
{ to the following:                                             }
{                                                               }
{ Eisenschiml, Otto, *Why Was Lincoln Murdered?* (Little,       }
{   Brown and Co., Boston, 1937)                                }
{                                                               }
{ Shelton, Vaughan, *Mask for Treason: The Lincoln Murder       }
{   Trial* (Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA, 1965)              }
{                                                               }
{ Dewitt, David M., *The Assassination of Lincoln and Its       }
{   Expiation* (MacMillan Co., New York, 1909)                  }
{                                                               }
{ Roscoe, Theodore, *The Web of Conspiracy* (Prentice-Hall,     }
{   Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1959)                                 }
{                                                               }
{ Bishop, Jim, *The Day Lincoln Was Shot* (Harper & Brothers,   }
{   New York, 1955)                                             }

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."


 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *


{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited    }
{ to the following:                                             }
{                                                               }
{ 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)               }
{                                                               }
{ Kunhardt, Dorothy Meserve and Kunhardt, Philip B., *Twenty    }
{   Days* (Harper & Row, New York, 1965)                        }
{                                                               }
{ Mudd, Nettie, *The Life of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd (Neale          }
{   Publishing Co., New York, 1906)                             }
{                                                               }
{ 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          }
{                                                               }
{ Bearden Papers. Margaret K. Bearden Collection                }
{                                                               }
{ Shelton, Vaughan, *Mask for Treason: The Lincoln Murder       }
{   Trial* (Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA, 1965)              }

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."


 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *


{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited    }
{ to the following:                                             }
{                                                               }
{ Andrew Potter Papers, Ray A. Neff Collection, Marshall, II    }
{                                                               }
{ Unpublished Voluntary Statement of Dandridge Mercer Green,    }
{   April 30, 1865, National Archives, 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                                     }
{                                                               }
{ Capt. James William Boyd Letter to Moe Stevens, Boyd Papers.  }
{   Ray A. Neff Collection                                      }
{                                                               }
{ Existing Pages of the John Wilkes Booth Diary on display at   }
{   Ford's Theatre National Historic Site, Washington, D.C.     }
{                                                               }
{ 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     }

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:                                             }
{                                                               }
{ Rep. George Julian Diary, April 1865. Ray A. Neff Collection  }
{                                                               }
{ 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      }
{                                                               }
{ Andrew Potter Papers, Ray A. Neff Collection, Marshall, II    }
{                                                               }
{ Roscoe, Theodore, *The Web of Conspiracy* (Prentice-Hall,     }
{   Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1959)                                 }
{                                                               }
{ Unpublished Voluntary Statement of Dandridge Mercer Green,    }
{   April 30, 1865. National Archives. Ray A. Neff Collection   }

"On Thursday, April 20, Dandridge Mercer Green stopped sawing a
piece of timber to stare at two men coming toward him. One was a
stranger, the other Green recognized as James William Boyd,
hobbling along on a crutch." Boyd arranged with Green for him and
his companion to be hidden at Green's farm. Boyd and Herold, his
companion, stayed hidden at Green's farm until Sunday, April 23,
when they were able to hire a wagon driven by one Charlie Lucas.
They had the driver take them south toward Port Conway.

Charlie Lucas's father, Willie Lucas, had driven the same wagon
in the same direction earlier that day. What is more, his father
had also carried two men, one of whom also had a hurt leg and
walked with a crutch.

>From Port Conway, Boyd and Herold crossed the Rappahannock to
Port Royal in Caroline County, Virginia. They continued south to
a farm owned by a Mr. Garrett. There, they were met by Mr.
Garrett, whose religion required that he welcome strangers.
Garrett welcomed Boyd and Herold into his home.

"Luther and Andrew Potter's NDP search party reached Culpeper
Court House late that afternoon. They asked about a man with a
crutch... and soon picked up the trail." However, unbeknownst to
them, they had picked up the trail of Boyd and Herold. "Booth and
Henson... moved toward Fredericksburg, well behind the
detectives, who had overrun their quarry."

According to Captain Boyd's Papers, in the Ray A. Neff
Collection, Boyd had a tattoo on his hand that read, "J.W.B."
[B.R. The authors keep throwing in these cryptic statements and
then abandoning them. As I noted before, the style of the book
involves a lot of loose threads that one hopes will eventually
unite.]

Boyd and Herold stayed the night of Monday, April 24, at
Garrett's farm. The next day, Boyd and Herold became panicy when
a troop of Union cavalry thundered past the farm. The suspicions
of Garrett's son, Jack, became aroused and he asked that Boyd and
Herold leave. A compromise was worked out and Boyd and Herold
moved themselves to Garrett's barn.

However, Jack Garrett was still suspicious of the two men.
Fearing that they might try to steal horses from the barn, Jack
Garrett locked them in the barn that night (Tuesday, April 25).

Meanwhile, the troop of cavalry that had frightened Boyd and
Herold arrived in Bowling Green at about midnight. They
interrogated one Willie Jett who they knew had helped to ferry a
man with a hurt leg across the river earlier that day. They went
so far as to threaten to kill Jett unless he told them where the
man was. Jett told them that the man they sought was probably
hiding at the Garrett farm.

The troop of cavalry doubled back and arrived at the Garrett farm
at about 4 a.m. on Wednesday, April 26, 1865. They surrounded the
house and commanded the occupants to come out. When Garrett and
his family complied, they were roughly questioned until they
divulged that Boyd and Herold were still locked in the barn.

Among the federal troops were a Lt. Luther Baker and Lt. Colonel
Everton J. Conger, an aide to NDP chief Lafayette Baker.
Garrett's son Jack was ordered to unlock the barn and to tell the
men inside to come out. Garrett did as he was told, but Boyd
refused to come out. The authors cite a source which claims that
Boyd called out, "Who are you? What do you want? Who do you
want?" The authors assert that no answer was provided to Boyd's
questions. Conger yelled to the men inside that he was going to
set fire to the barn. At this point, David E. Herold agreed to
come out and was taken into custody.

Boyd was steadfast in his refusal to exit from the barn.
According to the authors, Conger went around the side of the barn
and set fire to it. "It caught instantly. He saw the man inside
swing up his rifle toward the flames."

"Conger glanced around. Nobody could see him. He reached for his
revolver and took careful aim. Suddenly the loud crack of a
pistol from the other side of the barn was heard. The man inside
the barn fell forward. [Lt. Luther] Baker rushed in, followed by
young Garrett, and grabbed the prostrate man."

"Conger, Garrett, and Baker dragged Boyd's body away from the
burning barn, across the farm lane, and onto the grass under a
stand of locust trees."


 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *


{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited    }
{ to the following:                                             }
{                                                               }
{ Andrew Potter Papers. Ray A. Neff Collection, Marshall, II    }
{                                                               }
{ Pitman, Benn, *The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the   }
{   Trial of the Conspirators* (Funk & Wagnalls, New York,      }
{   1954)                                                       }
{                                                               }
{ Unpublished Voluntary Statement of Dandridge Mercer Green,    }
{   April 30, 1865, National Archives, Ray A. Neff Collection.  }
{                                                               }
{ Captain Boyd Papers. Ray A. Neff Collection.                  }
{                                                               }
{ The Wilhelmina Titus (grandaughter of Capt. James William     }
{   Boyd) monograph. Ray A. Neff Collection.                    }
{                                                               }
{ Luther Baker Speech delivered in 1932 at Lansing, Michigan.   }
{   Richard D. Mudd Collection.                                 }
{                                                               }
{ Colonel Lafayette C. Baker's memo-letter to Edwin Stanton,    }
{   April, 1865. In the private collection of Stanton           }
{   descendants. Released in 1976 through an interview with     }
{   Americana appraiser, Joseph Lynch.                          }

While Boyd lay dying under a stand of locust trees near the
Garrett barn, the fiction that Boyd was really Booth was given
birth. Someone asked, "Who shot Booth?" A Sergeant Boston Corbett
declared that *he* had shot "Booth" through a crack in the barn.
The reason why Corbett would claim that he had shot Booth is
perhaps that he was demented. Corbett was an alcoholic who had
sworn off booze when he had "found God" sometime before the war.
His newfound beliefs were so powerful that in 1858 he had
castrated himself when he was tempted by two prostitutes. Thus,
one could say that Sergeant Boston Corbett was a bit "off." This
may explain why he declared that it was he who shot "Booth."

Conger rode away to the nearest telegraph station so that he
could get the news to Washington that "Booth" had been shot.
"Twenty minutes after Conger left the scene, Boyd was dead. His
body was wrapped in an old saddle blanket."

An old army ambulance was obtained and the body of "Booth" was
placed inside. The driver was ordered to drive the body to Belle
Plain. In Belle Plain, the body was loaded onto the *John S. Ide*
"...and placed under guard until the ship could build up a head
of steam for the trip upriver.

According to the Andrew Potter Papers, it was at this point that
it was discovered that the body was *not* that of John Wilkes
Booth. It was known that Booth had shaved off his mustache while
at Dr. Mudd's, yet the body thought to be that of Booth had a
"long shaggy mustache." What is more, Booth's mustache was black
whereas the mustache on this corpse was red. It became obvious
that the troops had mistaken *Boyd* and Herold for *Booth* and
Herold.

"In Washington that morning, Lafe Baker received a coded cipher
from Conger: 'Booth has been shot to death near Bowling Green.
Herold is a prisoner... Body follows. Conger.'"

"With Booth dead, the secret service [a.k.a. NDP] chief's part in
the Lincoln conspiracy could never come out. Booth couldn't talk.
Herold would keep his mouth shut on pain of death."

Shortly thereafter, Conger's telegram declaring that "Booth" had
been shot began to cause an uproar. The news had been leaked to
the press and the newspapers were spreading it throughout the
city: "John Wilkes Booth, who shot President Lincoln the night of
April 14 in Ford's Theatre, has been killed. His body is being
returned by steamer to Washington. Government authorities this
morning shot Booth while he was trying to escape from a farmer's
barn near Bowling Green."

But of course it was not Booth but Boyd who had been shot dead.
"Lt. Doherty, Luther Baker, and Lt. Col. Conger picked up
*Boyd's* trail and followed him to Garrett's farm. No one there
had ever seen Booth. Boyd was shot because they thought he was
Booth. [My emphasis, B.R.]" And, after the false news of Booth's
death had been spread far and wide, Baker found this out. The
problem was augmented by the fact that Herold was still alive,
knew Booth well, and was beginning to tell whoever would listen
that Booth had not been shot at Garrett's farm.

When Stanton learned of the situation, he ordered that Herold be
stopped from talking immediately. To accomplish this, he
commanded that Herold be isolated from the other prisoners.
According to the Andrew Potter Papers, after Stanton had given
things some thought he hit upon the idea of letting the country
continue to believe that it was Booth who had been shot dead at
Garrett's farm. "Booth will be forgotten if we continue to let
the nation believe he's dead. If we admit that we killed Boyd by
mistake, and continue the hunt for Booth, he might be captured
alive." And if Booth were captured alive, then he might tell all
that he knew.


 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *


{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited    }
{ to the following:                                             }
{                                                               }
{ Andrew Potter Papers. Ray A. Neff Collection, Marshall, II    }
{                                                               }
{ Luther Baker Speech delivered in 1932 at Lansing, Michigan.   }
{   Richard D. Mudd 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)               }
{                                                               }
{ Roscoe, Theodore, *The Web of Conspiracy*, (Prentice-Hall,    }
{   Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1959)                                 }
{                                                               }
{ Peterson, T.B., *The Trial of the Assassins and Conspirators* }
{   (T.B. Peterson and Brothers, Philadelphia, 1865)            }

On Thursday, April 27, Stanton received a telegram informing him
that the remains of "Booth" had been placed aboard the Union
ironclad *Montauk*. He was also told that the body of "Booth" was
decomposing rapidly.

Stanton immediately ordered that no persons were to be allowed
aboard the *Montauk* "...unless under the joint pass of the
Secretary of War and Secretary of the Navy."

An Identification Commission was formed, headed by Stanton's
aide, Thomas Eckert. "The mock inquest would formally identify
Boyd's body as that of Booth."

"Witnesses summoned aboard the *Montauk* had one lack in common:
none knew Booth well. None of Booth's relatives or accused
conspirators were called, although most were in custody on the
adjacent [Union ironclad] *Saugus*."

"None of the witnesses were surprised that the face had a
mustache, since apparently none had been told that Booth had
shaved off his mustache at Dr. Mudd's [on April 16th]."

A summons was sent to a Dr. John Franklin May by the "inquest."
Because some time earlier Dr. May had treated a man calling
himself Booth for a neck tumor, he was ordered to come to the
*Montauk* to help identify the body.

Dr. May informed the "inquest" that he had treated someone
claiming to be Booth about 18 to 24 months previous. When Dr. May
first viewed the corpse, his immediate reaction was, "There's no
resemblance in that corpse to Booth, nor can I believe it to be
him." Sensing perhaps that this was the wrong thing to say, Dr.
May then asked if there was a scar on the back of the neck. Dr.
May then described what the scar would look like if it were
present. The Surgeon General, who was also in attendance,
immediately declared that Dr. May had described the scar as well
as if he were looking at it.

"In Dr. May's verbal and written statement, there is no mention
that he actually examined the scar for positive identification,
and the bullet, of course, had made a bloody mess of Boyd's
neck." Dr. May finally stated to the "inquest" that, "I am
enabled, imperfectly, to recognize the features of Booth."

When asked if he recognized the body as Booth's, Dr. May replied,
"I do recognize it, although it is very much altered since I saw
Booth. It seems much older and in appearance, much more freckled
than he was. I do not recollect that he was at all freckled."

"Booth was 28, famous for his ivory, perfect skin, free of
blemish. Boyd, on the other hand, was 43, with reddish-sandy hair
and a tendency to freckle."

In the official transcript of the proceedings, "The next half
dozen words of Dr. May's reply were carefully inked out... [and
new words] were added."

Dr. May was dismissed and returned home. He immediately penned a
statement in which he declared, "Never in a human being had a
greater change taken place from the man whom I had seen in the
vigor of life and health than that of the haggard corpse which
was before me... The *right* limb was greatly contused and
perfectly black from a fracture of one of the long bones of the
leg."

But Booth had snapped the *left* tibia, about two inches above
the ankle. "Dr. Mudd's formal statement on April 21, 1865 read,
'On examination, I found there was a straight fracture of the
tibia about two inches above the ankle.'"

Before the body was disposed of, a photographer named Alexander
Gardner was brought in and told to take only *one* picture. After
doing so, Gardner was escorted to a darkroom by a War Department
detective who had orders not to leave Gardner's side until the
plate was developed. When the plate was developed, the War
Department detective took possession of both the negative and the
positive. "It would be impossible for anyone else to duplicate
the picture."

NDP chief Lafayette Baker confiscated the picture and the plate.
"The government officially denied that any picture had been taken
of the corpse. But the Gardner photograph later ended up in the
personal possession of Secretary of War Stanton."

"Booth's" body, which was in reality Boyd's body, was placed in a
rowboat. Lafayette Baker and his cousin, Luther Baker, rowed out
to the old Arsenal Penitentiary. The body was carried to a
convict's cell in which, beneath a stone slab, a grave had been
dug. The corpse was lowered into the grave, the stone slab was
replaced, and Lafayette and Luther Baker got back in their
rowboat and departed. The Arsenal Prison became the sepulchre
"...for the mortal remains of the man who had become 'John Wilkes
Booth.'"


 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *


{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited    }
{ to the following:                                             }
{                                                               }
{ Eisenschiml, Otto, *In the Shadow of Lincoln's Death*         }
{   (Wilfred Funk, Inc., New York, 1940)                        }
{                                                               }
{ Roscoe, Theodore, *The Web of Conspiracy* (Prentice-Hall,     }
{   Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1959)                                 }
{                                                               }
{ Oldroyd, Osborn H., *The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln:    }
{   Flight, Pursuit, Capture and Punishment of the              }
{   Conspirators* (Privately Published, Washington, D.C., 1901) }
{                                                               }
{ Luther Baker Speech delivered in 1932 at Lansing, Michigan.   }
{   Richard D. Mudd Collection.                                 }
{                                                               }
{ Andrew Potter Papers, Ray A. Neff Collection, Marshall, II    }

In the Spring of 1865, the legality of military court martials
for civilians was a case then pending before the U.S. Supreme
Court. "It was apparent to Stanton and the other government
officials in the cover-up that they must rush the military trial
of the accused Booth conspirators before the high court ruled,
for the judges seemed certain... to declare military tribunals
illegal for civilians when civil courts were functioning [as they
then were]." It was fairly obvious that constitutional guarantees
of trial by jury would force such a ruling.

Accordingly, the government rushed to announce the formation of a
special "Court of Military Justice" that would decide the fate of
the accused Booth conspirators. "Bias was evident." A witticism
of the time was that "The Court of Military Injustice has been
organized to convict."

The defendants in the case faced several disadvantages. They were
unable, at first, to obtain lawyers to represent them. There was
no higher court to which they could appeal. All the prisoners
were denied the most basic sanitary needs. "Technically, the
prisoners were allowed visitors. Actually, they were denied even
religious counselors... To see a prisoner, a pass had to be
signed by [both] Stanton and Secretary of the Navy Welles. There
were no visitors."

On April 23rd, jailers received the following instructions from
Stanton: "The Secretary of War requests that the prisoners on
board the ironclads belonging to this department, for better
security against conversation, shall have a canvas bag put over
the head of each and tied about the neck, with a hole for proper
breathing and eating, but not seeing..."

"The bags were padded with one inch thick cotton. A ball of extra
cotton padding covered the prisoners' eyes to cause painful
pressure on the closed eye lids. Sight and sound were cut off, a
mental torture that never ceased for the devices were to be worn
24 hours a day."

Dr. George Loring Porter, prison physician, complained to Stanton
that "The constant pressure of those thickly padded hoods may
induce insanity." [B.R. This seems to me like a type of constant
sensory deprivation was being imposed on these civilian
prisoners.]

Two of the prisoners turned state's evidence to save their lives.
A detective who had been placed in the cell of a Louis Weichmann
"...wrote out a statement that he claimed Weichmann had made in
his sleep." Weichmann was ordered to sign the statement, "...or
face prosecution as one of the conspirators."

"A Col. Foster demanded that John Lloyd -- Mrs. Surratt's drunken
tenant at Surrattsville -- make a statement." This is the same
Mr. Lloyd who earlier had been denied liquor and hung by his
thumbs for 48 hours until he had given a previous "statement."
Col. Foster gave the new "statement" to Lloyd and demanded that
he sign it, explaining that the first statement was not "full
enough."

Several witnesses with unsavory backgrounds were paid for
offering pre-arranged testimony. For example, "Sanford Conover...
was to claim he was a newspaper correspondent for the New York
*Tribune* and had... learned of plots to burn certain Northern
cities, to poison municipal water supplies, and to spread yellow
fever in the North by use of 'infected clothing.'"

In a letter from Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt to Secretary
of War Stanton, he states that each of the commission members
believes the conspirators "are guilty beyond doubt." He further
states, however, that the commission members feel that a trial is
necessary so as to "follow the military method of hearing the
evidence and following the code." But the Judge Advocate General
assures Stanton that "the commission will not allow the
conspirators' attorneys to impeach the testimony of [stooge
witnesses] Conover, Merritt, or Montgomery in any manner
whatever."

NDP chief Lafayette Baker assigned Lt. Col. Everton Conger to get
statements from the various participants in the chase that had
ended in Boyd's death. On May 2, 1865, Conger wrote to NDP chief
Baker "I have directed each detective, officer and private
soldier who took part in the pursuit, capture and death of Wilkes
Booth [really Boyd] to prepare a written statement concerning
those events and to submit the statements to myself... Some of
the statements upon receipt I found wanting. I found it necessary
to add to the narrative in some statements and to rewrite
others."

Around this time NDP chief Baker also assigned Luther and Andrew
Potter to renew their chase after John Wilkes Booth. Although by
this time the trail had "gone cold," the Potter brothers were
fortunate and picked up on a fresh trail at Orange Court House.
>From there they pushed on toward Stanardsville where Booth,
Henson, and Booth's valet had all spent the night in a barn. "The
detectives followed Booth's trail to Lydia where a widow told
them the men had spent the night of Saturday, April 29, at her
place." Unfortunately, from there the trail vanished.


 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *


{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited    }
{ to the following:                                             }
{                                                               }
{ Col. Everton Conger's Letter to Col. Lafayette C. Baker,      }
{   May 2, 1865. In the private collection of Stanton           }
{   descendants. Released in 1976 through the efforts of        }
{   Americana appraiser Joseph Lynch.                           }
{                                                               }
{ DeWitt, David M., *The Judicial Murder of Mary E. Surratt*    }
{   (J. Murphy & Co., Baltimore, 1895)                          }
{                                                               }
{ Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt's Letter to Secretary of   }
{   War Edwin M. Stanton, undated. In the private collection of }
{   Stanton descendants. Released in 1976 through the efforts   }
{   of Americana appraiser Joseph Lynch.                        }
{                                                               }
{ Andrew Potter Papers, Ray A. Neff Collection, Marshall, II.   }
{                                                               }
{ Kunhardt, Dorothy Meserve and Kunhardt, Philip B., *Twenty    }
{   Days*  (Harper & Row, New York, 1965)                       }

"The preliminary proceedings of the trial began May 8, 1865, when
official charges... were delivered to eight defendants: Herold,
Atzerodt, Payne, Spangler, O'Laughlin, Arnold, Mrs. Surratt, and
Dr. Mudd."

The defendants were to be tried by court martial. According to
then Attorney General James Speed, the legal justification for
the trial of these civilians by a military court was based on
what began to be called "the Laws of War." Former Attorney
General Edward Bates noted, "There is no such thing as the Laws
of War." Yet American citizens were to be judged by this
unwritten code. The authors declare that this "Common Law of War"
was nothing more than a pretext "...for trampling upon every
constitutional guarantee... of the citizen. There is no invention
too monstrous, no punishment too cruel... [that cannot] find
authority and sanction in such a common law."

[B.R. And of course, as noted previously, the war was already
over.]

At 10 a.m. on the morning of Tuesday, May 9, the eight prisoners
were led into the court and asked if they wished to employ
counsel. All eight defendants replied that they wished to be
represented by counsel. They were given until 10 a.m. the
following morning to obtain the services of an attorney.

"At 10 a.m. on Wednesday morning, May 10, the trial officially
began. The defendants had had only two days' notice of the
charges against them. The prosecution had been preparing its case
for weeks. Not all the prisoners had been able to obtain
counsel."

That morning, the prisoners were officially arraigned and the
charges of "treason and murder" were read against them. All eight
entered a plea of "not guilty." The defendants were told that
they had the right to an attorney, "...but they must supply such
counsel; the government would not." When asked, many lawyers
refused to represent the accused.

Because the defendants obtained counsel and became acquainted
with the charges at the last minute (or, in the case of Edward
Spangler, not until three days into the trial), "In each case,
arguments for the defense had to be formulated on the spot."

After weeks of cramped confinement in the humid courtroom, the
testimony concluded on June 28. "The military commission met in
secret session to deliberate on the testimony."

As people had time to reflect on the use of court martial for
civilians, reaction against it began to grow. "Orville H.
Browning, former Illinois senator and Lincoln's very close
friend, declared: 'This commission is without authority, and its
proceedings void. The execution of these persons will be murder.'"

There was also some curiousity about the backgrounds of some of
the government's stooge witnesses. "It would be some time before
the truth came out... [that one of the witnesses was] a New York
burglar with a long police record... and that Conover, alias
James Watson Wallace, was a Charles Dunham who had secretly
coached government witnesses on fictitious testimony for which
they were paid. Conover would later go to prison for perjury."

On June 30th the tribunal reached a verdict. The official court
record stated, "David E. Herold, Lewis Payne, Mrs. Surratt and
George A. Atzerodt are to be hung tomorrow by proper military
authorities. Dr. Mudd, Arnold and O'Laughlin are to be imprisoned
for life, and Spangler for six years, all at hard labor, in the
Albany Penitentiary."

Outside the prison walls, a crowd of citizens responded to the
verdict of the military tribunal with angry shouts of "judicial
murder."


 *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *


{ Sources used for this section include, but are not limited    }
{ to the following:                                             }
{                                                               }
{ Unpublished interview with Mrs. E.W. Nelson (David Herold's   }
{   sister) of Denver, Colorado, Aug. 22, 1873. Ray A. Neff     }
{   Corporation.                                                }
{                                                               }
{ Poore, Ben Perley, *The Conspiracy Trial for the Murder of    }
{   the President* (J.E. Tilton Co., Boston, 1865)              }
{                                                               }
{ Kauffman, Michael W., *Report to the President on the Case    }
{   of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd., M.D.*  Richard A. Mudd Collection   }
{                                                               }
{ Unpublished Voluntary Statement of Michael O'Laughlin, Apr.   }
{   27, 1865, originally in the Benn Pitman Collection,         }
{   Cincinnati, OH  Ray A. Neff Collection.                     }
{                                                               }
{ Shelton, Vaughan, *Mask for Treason: The Lincoln Murder       }
{   Trial* (Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA, 1965)              }


------------------------ End Part 20 ----------------------------


To my knowledge, the book *The Lincoln Conspiracy* is no longer
in print. A movie was made based on this book and released by (I
think) Sunn Pictures -- I don't know if the movie is still being
distributed.

It seems to me that the history of the United States took a
drastic wrong turn after the Lincoln assassination. I think we
have yet to get back on the road we *were* on. It is my hope that
bringing to light the true facts regarding the assassination will
be a first step in this process. To that end, I encourage you to
distribute all parts of this series as widely as possible.


Synopsis by Brian Redman
(bfrg9732@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu)
"History is written by the assassins."
End part 20