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Otto Eisenschiml Cressets UNIVERSAL Library GROSSEX c DUNLAP NEW YORK CONTENTS SMUDGES v I THE FOURTEENTH OF APRIL 3 II ASSASSINATION 6 II THE STRANGE CAREER OF JOHN F. PARKER 1 1 IV WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AT FORDS THEATER 22 V THE PRESIDENT Is REFUSED PROTECTION 32 VI PREMONITIONS vs. SECRET SERVICE REPORTS 40 VII GRANT SUDDENLY LEAVES WASHINGTON 54 VIII HOW THE NEWS OF THE TRAGEDY WAS HANDLED 65 IX EVERY AVENUE OF ESCAPE BLOCKED SAVE ONE 91 SX THE MAN HUNT Is ON 97 XI JOHN FLETCHER TELLS His STORY 107 XII BAKER DIRECTS THE PURSUIT 1 1 6 XIII THE END OF THE TRAIL 130 XIV DEATH VISITS GARRETTS FARM 153 XV THE PLOTS AGAINST GRANT, STANTON AND JOHNSON 162 XVI STANTON INVENTS A NOVEL TORTURE 1 75 XVII STANTONS INNER COUNCIL 187 XVIII THE ODYSSEY OF JOHN HARRISON SURRATT 194 XIX THE CASE AGAINST JEFFERSON DAVIS 207 XX THE SETTING FOR THE CONSPIRACY TRIAL 230 XXI THE PRISONERS AT THE BAR 250 XXII THE WOMAN IN THE CASE 270 WHY WAS LINCOLN MURDERED CHAPTER I The Fourteenth of ffril THE fourteenth of April 1865, dawning on the city of Washing ton, found the Capital gaudily bedecked with flags j for on the preceding night, Lees surrender had been celebrated by a grand illumination. The end of the long war was at last in sight. In the forenoon a regular meeting of the Cabinet was held, at which General Grant was present as a distinguished guest. The victor of Appomattox Court House was a medium-sized, stoop-shouldered, taciturn man, then at the zenith of his military glory. At the White House he met all the members of Lincolns official family, except Secretary of State Seward, who had been the Presidents closest rival at the Chicago Republican convention of 1860. Seward had been thrown from hiscarriage a few days before and was lying at home under the care of physicians. The framework of steel which encased his face and neck, agonizing though it must have been, was destined that night to save his life. Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles was there a kindly looking man with a long white beard, who was gifted with a shrewd insight into the character of men. Thoroughly loyal to his Chief, and with a finely balanced judgment, he kept dose watch on the events of his era and faithfully recorded them in his diary. The President himself seemed in unusually good spirits. Be fore the opening of the formal meeting he spoke freely of his plans for reconciling the conquered South. So far as he was con cerned, he promised, there would be no persecution he even hoped that the fallen leaders of the Confederacy would leave the country and thereby make it unnecessary for him to take direct action against them. He then told of a dream that had come to him during the night, the same that had so often in the past 4 WHY WAS LINCOLN MURDERED presaged a portentous happening. This time he hoped that it foretold the surrender to General Sherman of the last Confeder ate army. As Lincoln was describing his dream, Stanton entered. The President stopped abruptly- Gentlemen, he said, let us proceed to business. Stanton did not often attend Cabinet meetings and, when he came, he usually came late. It was his way of indicating the superiority he felt over his colleagues, if not over Lincoln him self-Gideon Welles distrusted him intensely, considering him an unscrupulous intriguer. He has cunning and skill, the head of the Navy Department once wrote in his diary, dissembles his feelings ... is a hypocrite. .. . 2 Small of stature, with a long beard which he kept perfumed, the Secretary of War had an air of sternness j but Welles always believed that this outward sem blance concealed the heart of a coward. The two Secretaries had crossed swords only once. On that occasion Welles had shown plainly that he would brook no interference in his department, and Stanton had since treated him with an obsequiousness in sharp contrast to his imperious manner toward the other Cabinet members. 3 With Stantons entrance the pleasant flow of informal con versation ceased...