Summary
âž¡ This text discusses various theories and analyses about President Lincoln’s assassination. It questions the objectivity of different authors and their interpretations of events, such as the handling of Booth’s diary and the treatment of prisoners involved in the conspiracy. The author criticizes mainstream historians for not considering alternative theories and suggests that there’s often a hidden backstory to major historical events. The text also highlights the remote and harsh conditions of the prison where the conspirators were held.
âž¡ The text discusses a theory that Edwin Stanton, a government official, may have been involved in President Lincoln’s assassination. It suggests that Stanton needed Lincoln dead for political reasons and used John Wilkes Booth, a known Confederate supporter, to carry out the act. The text also questions why certain evidence was hidden or destroyed, and why certain individuals were not punished or investigated. It implies that there may have been a wider conspiracy involving government agents and inside information.
âž¡ The article discusses a conspiracy theory about the assassination of President Lincoln. It suggests that George Azeroth, who was hanged for planning to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson, may have had inside information about the layout of Seward’s house, where an assassination attempt was made. The article also questions whether James Donaldson, a servant of Seward, or Margaret Coleman, a chambermaid at Seward’s house, could have provided this information. Finally, it discusses a letter supposedly written by Booth, the assassin, which was never published and was allegedly destroyed by actor John Matthews, who feared being implicated in the plot.
âž¡ The article discusses the suspicious activities of John Matthews, a friend of John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated President Lincoln. Matthews was found to have connections with Edwin Stanton’s intelligence chief, William P. Wood, and was suspected of being involved in the assassination plot. The article also mentions the use of whistles as signals during the assassination, suggesting a wider conspiracy. Lastly, it mentions a confession from George Azeroth, another conspirator, about a plan to mine the White House, indicating a larger plot against the president.
âž¡ The text discusses a theory that John Wilkes Booth, the man who assassinated President Lincoln, was part of a group of New York entertainers planning the murder. Booth had close ties with these entertainers, known as minstrels, and was possibly part of a secret society, the Knights of the Golden Circle. Evidence of this includes a stick pin and a swagger stick, both gifts from the minstrels, and secret signs used for recognition. The text suggests that Booth and this group planned multiple assassinations on the day Lincoln was killed.
âž¡ The text discusses a conspiracy theory surrounding the assassination of President Lincoln. It suggests that John Wilkes Booth, the man who killed Lincoln, was not acting alone but was part of a larger plot. The theory proposes that Booth was manipulated into believing he was part of a team planning to assassinate multiple government officials, when in reality, he was set up to take the fall alone. The text also suggests that Booth may have been used to implicate others in the plot, including Vice President Andrew Johnson and the entire Confederacy.
âž¡ John H. Surratt bought a boat from Richard Smoot, which was believed to be part of a plan to abduct Lincoln. The boat was hidden on King’s Creek, and it was thought that after Lincoln’s assassination, the culprits would escape using this boat. However, an injury to one of the conspirators, Booth, led to their capture. The article also discusses a conspiracy theory involving Secretary Stanton and his role in Lincoln’s assassination, and the political power struggles that followed.
âž¡ The speaker is planning to expand their channel by reading and reviewing books, similar to Colonel Towner. They also plan to add more shows and content to make the channel better. They are currently dealing with some technical issues with their new computer and lighting, but hope to resolve them soon. They aim to provide unique content, focusing on topics not commonly discussed by others, and hope to bring context to historical events and their impact on the present.
Transcript
So. But anyway, we will see what we got going on here. Let’s. No time like the president to jump in, so let’s do it. All right, so this is chapter nine, Edwin M. Stanton and the nature of evidence. Now, we see a consistent line of evidence and coincidences pointing to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. One, as reported by Captain Daniel Hl Gleason, having foreknowledge of the plot to kidnap President Lincoln, but taking no direct actions against the known conspirators prior to the assassination. Two, on the day of the assassination, under a dishonest pretext, refusal to give Lincoln the protection he requested at Ford’s theater.
Three, in congressional testimony, having amnesia about Lincoln’s April 14 visit to the War Department, even though other government employees recalled it vivid, vividly 40 years later. Four, taking charge of a murder case that would have been more properly handled by the attorney general. Five, immediately following Lincoln’s assassination, a disruption of telegraph services, then under War Department control. Six, after telegraph restoration, failure to promptly announce John Wilkes Booth as the assassin. Seven, deployment of troops in the in the sequence least likely to apprehend Booth. And that’s a picture of Stanton. Eight, closure of all roads except the one booth and Harold took.
Nine, failure to chastise Lincoln’s bodyguard for deserting his post while ruthlessly punishing people with little or no connection to the assassination. Ten, recall of the commanding officer nearest to. Recall of the commanding officer nearest to capturing Booth and Herald, instead sending another detachment commanded by trusted associates. Eleven, the execution of Booth by Stanton’s select detachment, contrary to official orders. Twelve, cancellation of the court martial of Boston. Corbett claimed to have shot booth, precluding investigation of what really happened. 13, the placement of prisoners in handcuffs, leg irons and unique canvas hoods, and in complete isolation. 14, appointment of a hand picked military commission to try suspects rather than jury trial.
15, the denial of defense counsel for the accused until approximately the trial’s beginning. 16. Repeated subordinating of perjury during the trial. And I should also probably notice that this is old hat for Stanton because it was what Lincoln put in place with the. Essentially the. I mean, he basically just. He nullified the constitution during the, um. During the war between the states. I mean, it was essentially just. It was. It was just a piece of paper. It meant nothing. Um, he. He got rid of habeas corpus. I mean, he did. Lincoln did a lot of extraordinarily tyrannical things during, um, what’s referred to as the Civil War, but denying defense counsel for the accused would.
I mean, that just goes kind of like hat in hand with the. You know, the removal of habeas corpus. Okay. 16. Repeated supporting of perjury during the trial. 17. Concealment of Booth’s diary from the commission and public. 18. Removal of numerous pages from Booth’s diary after it was given to Stanton. 19. Disappearance from War Department files of other documents highly relevant to the assassination, including George Azeroth’s final confession, David Harold’s written confession, Michael O’Laughlin’s arrest statement, Lieutenant Baker’s official report after bringing Booth’s body to Washington, and more. 20. Denial of religious sacraments to Mary Surratt conditional on the priest’s silence concerning her innocence.
21. The sending of the four convicted prisoners who were not hanged to dry Tortugas, perhaps the most remote prison imaginable, and then that’s. A. And then that’s. Again, that’s a violation of cruel and unusual punishment. 22. Placing the four in ice and solitary confinement at dry tortugas for months on the absurd pretext that the rescuers might invade the impregnable fortress. 23. Withdrawal of the reward for John Surratt in apparent hopes of keeping him in Europe, 24. The War Department screening of witnesses and the Surratt trial, even though it was a civil undertaking. 25. The last but not least, motive.
Lincoln and Seward, the only actual victims of assassination attempts, were only prom. Were the only prominent officials obstructing the reconstruction plan formulated by Stanton and the radical Republicans. Now, this right here, number 25, to me, makes the absolute most sense, and no reconstruction. I have often thought that the. Like the Federal Reserve act, all the pre. Like the progressive era stuff that they did with the. The Federal reserve, the 16th and 17th amendments, things of that nature, all that is really the root cause of how really bad we are as a country today, and those absolutely have a place to play.
But I believe that similar to how Obama built the federal government, specifically, like the national security state with the intelligence apparatus upon the government that W. Bush left him. Very similarly, the progressive era was built upon the reconstruction era. Like everything that was happened in the. In the. Everything that happened in the progressive era was basically downstream of reconstruction. And reconstruction was no friend to the south at all. They were. I mean, it was. It was brutal. Absolutely brutal. Okay, this is a picture. All but Stanton dead. A 19th century ivory plaque, scrimshaw, seen in an auction catalog.
Belief that Stanton was behind the assassination isn’t new, as the convicted prisoners were hanged on July 17, 1865. The July 22 date may possibly be when the scrimshaw was completed. In 1937, Otto Eisenhower acknowledged that the evidence against Stanton, while cumulatively overwhelming, remains circumstantial. Unless connections could be drawn between Stanton and Booth. Because the proof. Excuse me. Because the proof concerning Stanton was circumstantial. Mainstream historians today ridicule Eichenschmidt, ignoring the depth and quality of his research. Today, Edward Steers is possibly the most mainstream of mainstream Lincoln assassination historians. Before saying anything critical of him, let me acknowledge the service that he and his co editor, William Edwards, provided to the public by digitizing innumerable transcripts of handwritten documents found in the National Archives pertaining to Congress.
Wait a second. Am I missing two pages here? Oh, gone it. How am I missing these pages? All right, that’s page 100. I’m just going to have to read it from the book, because I have the book right here. So I apologize for this. But. Okay, let’s see. Here we go. All right. Let me acknowledge the service that he and his co editor, William Edwards, provided the public by digitizing innumerable transcripts of hands written documents found in the National Archives pertaining to the assassination. In their volume, Lincoln. The Lincoln assassination. The evidence, although according to Don Thomas, who has extensively studied the archive documents on microfilm, pertinent material remains missing in that book.
That said is the Edwin Masters Stanton entry in his Lincoln Assassination encyclopedia. Steers gushes that Stanton stepped into the breach at a moment of national crisis and brought a steadying influence. And Stanton became a target for all of the bizarre conspiracy theories, beginning with Otto Eichensmiel in 1937 and continuing right up to the present. Elsewhere in the tomb, Steers says Eichsmel manipulated the data and refers to Eichensmill’s ridiculous theory. Evidently, steers hopes that pejorative like bizarre and ridiculous. Will dissuade people from actually reading Eichen Schmiel’s books and making up their own minds. He sneers at Eichen, smiles as a professionally trained chemist turned advocational historian.
Yet according to his Wikipedia biography, Steers himself earned his college degree in microbiology in 1959 and molecular biology in 1963, was an adjunct professor of biochem from 66 to 86, and did not begin writing on history until 1994. His bio mentions no degrees earned in history. Many people come competently wear more than one hat during their lifetimes. Abraham Lincoln was popularized as having been a rail splitter during his youth. This doesn’t mean he had to stay a rail splitter for life, Stier says. I case against Stanton has been thoroughly refuted, principally by the research of James O.
Hall and William Hanchett. As steers gives the impression that ancient took Akshmil’s behind the woodshed and gave him a beating, I decided to buy a copy of Hanchett’s book the Lincoln Murder Conspiracies. I read his chapter Otto Eichenshmel’s grand conspiracy. I found Hanschett using the same ad hominem tactics as steers, he says. Eichenjmiel was glad to give up his career in chemistry, for he craved the recognition not received by members of his profession. Later, he says, possibly his judgment was warped by the excitement of discovering long neglected documents and by the expectation of winning as a historian the recognition he failed to receive as a chemist.
Thus Hanchett asserts that Eichensfield’s motive was was not seeking truth, just personal fame. But the same claim could be made about Hanschett, steers, or any other author. Later, he says, I Kishmiel’s falsifications and perversions, camouflaged by the man’s constant protestations of scientific objectivity, thus have erected a formidable barrier against an understanding of Lincoln’s assassination. To the contrary, I can smells wrote two books about the Lincoln assassin assassination. Why was Lincoln murdered? And in the shadow of Lincoln’s death death? Read both. I do not recall I can ever discussing himself or boasting of his own objectivity. These constant protestations, hence it refers to, may exist elsewhere, but certainly not in Eichmann’s Lincoln’s assassination books.
And how about handshake analysis of I can feel his work. One of the most powerful points of I can feel made concerning concerned Booth’s diary, which Stanton and Judge advocate Holtz kept hidden for two years and when finally turned over to Congress, and this is now where we jump back in had many pages missing after his 1963 death. I guess Mill was vindicated regarding this matter by the FBI’s forensic lab analysis, which found that 43 sheets or 86 pages had been removed. What does Hanschett say about this? Nothing. His chapter on Eichenfield doesn’t refer to the diary even once.
After all, it’s pretty hard to justify flagrant obstruction of justice. Hanschett does mention the diary elsewhere in his book when discussing other conspiracy writers. What about Eichensmill’s condemnation of Lincoln’s bodyguard, John Parker, deserting his post? How does Hanschett refute this? He writes, James O. Hall has suggested that the president had dismissed him and told him to take a seat and enjoy the play. This would have been in character for Lincoln. In other words, Hanchett’s refudiation is just speculation, unsupported by any factual evidence. What about Eicheniel’s pointing out that no soldiers at Garrett’s farm corroborated Boston Corbett shooting Booth? How does Tangent debunk this? He says it is also significant that none ever said he could not have shot him.
That’s not repudiation. It’s playing tit for tat as to the extraordinary conditions the accused prisoners were subjected to Hanchett rights. Nor is there the slightest substance to Eichenschmill’s argument that the hoods executions and the treatment of the prisoners at dry Tortugas were all calculated to keep Booth’s friends from talking. All were represented by counsel. It is absurd to state that they had no opportunity to talk. But there’s a lot Hanchett omits. He forgets to mention that counsel wasn’t provided, for the most part, until the trial began, that defense attorneys were not allowed to consult with their clients privately.
I have found a single exception to this. That the guards were forbidden to speak to the prisoners and vice versa, and that the canvas hoods, which Hanchett cannot justify, made communication virtually impossible. Anyway, handshake provides no explanation for why the prisoners not hanged were all sent to this remote prison at dry tortoise, where for months they were shackled in solitary confinement, hardly conducive to talking. And I’m going to do something here because it’s just because I like to do this stuff. Now I’m gonna have to do the whole screen, because I want to actually go to the map, and I want to find this dry Tortugas place and see just kind of how out in the middle of nowhere it is, actually.
It looks like. So this is the. This is dry tortoise. It looks like it’s like a reef area. And then this looks like it’s the prism. So very interesting. Definitely run down and raggedy it is not. And has it been well kept up? Although it does look like they do get visitors. There’s a boat there whenever this picture was taken. But just so that you guys, let me see here. Fort Jefferson. All right, just so that you can see how really far away it is. The key west highway that goes right. All the way down into Key west right here.
It’s as far as basically Key west is to the main. To Maine, Florida, all the way. So it’s just nothing. There’s nothing there. It is. You are not going to get there at all. It’s actually, it’s probably the same distance as it would be to. From the tip of Florida down to Havana. That’s about how far it is. So roughly 90 miles. That is not a short distance to travel. So anyhow, that just give you an idea of just how. And not only that, but they. They were put there in isolation wearing these hoods. So, I mean, and imagine the humidity and how uncomfortable that was.
Oh, my God. That just. Washington just sounds awful. I find it abhorrent that Hanchett. Not that Hanchett says nothing against the barbaric treatment of the prisoners. Hanchett is correct when he points out that the three convicted men who survived mud, Arnold and Spangler, did not implicate Stanton after the release. But Stanton had no way of knowing just how much each men knew and clearly wasn’t taking any chances. This isn’t to say Hanchett never makes a valid observation. He challenges Eichenspiel’s criticism of Stanton’s failure to close Booth and Herald’s escape road by pointing out that there were no telegraph stations and limited troops near the road.
However, Eichen Schmiel already acknowledged that given the speed with which Stanton organized and sent the Conger detachment, why couldn’t troops with telegraph facilities have been dispatched to that road? Booth was, after all, the same, following the same route along plan for Lincoln’s abduction, a scheme the federal government already knew about. I have been led to believe that handshake gave Eichenjmel a beating behind the woodshed. Instead, it was a handshake who took the beating, and by a man no longer living to defend himself. Perhaps we should replace the phrase hatchet job with hand. Above, I pointed out 25 pieces of circumstantial evidence against Edwin Stanton.
Coincidences do happen, but any good police detective will tell you that too many coincidences normally constitute a preponderance of evidence pointing to guilt. District attorneys regularly make such correlations of circumstantial evidence to prove criminals cases. Let’s say a man murders his wife to collect insurance money. It’s highly unlikely he would do this while being videotaped or right before witnesses. So the prosecutor must accumulate indirect evidence of guilt. For example, he might show that the jury. He might show the jury that the. That the accused owned the murder weapon, or that his fingerprints were on it, or that the victim’s blood was on his clothing, that he was observed leaving the crime scene, that he had motive, etcetera.
Are America’s district attorneys paranoid to do this? Are they fabricating bizarre, ridiculous conspiracy theories? No. It’s essential and very normal in prosecuting crimes. A preponderance of evidence demonstrates high prob, highly probable criminal intent. Interestingly, in his encyclopedia, Edward Steers says of Jefferson Davis, while there is no direct evidence linking Davis to Lincoln’s death, there are several smoking guns that point in his direction. So Steers is willing to accept indirect evidence as smoking guns of guilt, just so long as they point to Jefferson Davis, whom he doesn’t definitely, who he definitely does it definitely accuse, and not to Edwin Stanton.
In the famous Alfred Hitchcock movie Rear Window, LB Jeffries, played by James Stewart, becomes frustrated by the skepticism of his detective friend Tom Doyle. Despite all of the circumstantial evidence Jeffries has provided that a. That a neighbor has murdered his wife. Finally, he says in exasperation, well, then, what do you need to. As probative cause for a search warrant? Bloody footprints leading up to his front door. This is what steers and other mainstream historians demand. Bloody footprints on Stanton’s doorstep. Nothing less than a signed, notarized confession by the war secretary is deemed worthy of consideration. Nothing less than a Matthew Brady photograph of Stanton handing Booth the Derringer as he entered the presidential box.
I have been a journalist since 1986, when I published my first articles for the new american magazine. Over the decades, I have found that status quo for most major historical events is that any official story is given to the. To the public, while a backstory, the true story is kept concealed. And that largely, that largely happens because, as a finance journalist, Ferdinand Lundberg documented in his 1937 book America’s 60 Families, America is run behind the facade of democracy by a wealthy oligarchy that keeps its thumbs on both political politicians and the press. One place to start researching this is my book, 13 pieces of the Jigsaw, which has chapters bringing out the backstories of the spanish american war, the sinking of the Lusitania, the attack on Pearl harbor, the atomic bombings of Japan, the Korean War and other major events.
For a comprehensive discussion of the oligarchy’s manipulations from the panic of 1907 right up to the to climate change restrictions, I suggest watching my 2023 public PowerPoint presentation and oligarchy controls America on the Rumble channel at tiny URL. And anyway, the Lincoln assassination, I think. I wonder if I actually played that, because I did play one recently. The Lincoln assassination is really no different. There was an official story and backstory. Mainstream historians like steers simply regurgitate the official propaganda that has been sold to the public since the beginning. Thus they do almost nothing to advance our understanding of the event, while the real investigative detectives like Eichenrael and Thomas are scoffed at as conspiracy theorists.
Sounds like modern day. Sounds like nothing has changed over time. For those who believe the views this book expresses are outlandish, I invite them to watch the documentary they’ve killed President Lincoln, which aired on NBC on February 12, 1971. Lincoln’s birthday. Narrated by Hollywood actor Richard Baseheart and produced by David L. Walpler Productions north and South Roots, four days in November, and more than 200 other features. It asked many of the same questions posed by this book and Eichenschmiel. Why did Stanton lie to Lincoln when the president asked him for a major eckert to be his bodyguard? Why did the assigned bodyguard desert his post? Why did the telegraph service shut down just after the assassination? Why was Booth’s escape route left unpatrolled? Why did Stanton suppress the existence of boost diary and remove pages from it? Why did key reports disappear from World War Department files? The documentary pointed a clear finger at Edwin Stanton.
As this book goes to press, you can watch it at and then there’s a link. I’ll make sure I’ll actually put these links down in the description when it’s all said and done. That the documentary was featured on network television proves that 50 years ago this book’s concepts were acceptable within the mainstream and were not considered bizarre and ridiculous. As steers now puts it. That was also demonstrated 87 years ago when I kissed Mills book became a book of the month club selection. Today, history is under attack as never before. The melting down of Robert E.
Lee statue and the outlawing of confederate flags are designed to erase history. Likewise, the arrival of historians like Steers and Hanchett did not enhance history, but suppressed it, stifling logical inquiry. The case against Stanton is now stronger than ever but remains circumstantial, as he so well used his autocratic power to bury the evidence trail. This, I regret, forces me to resort to a certain amount of speculation in the next chapter, however, Don Thomas has drawn us closer to meaningful connections, utilizing documents that were unavailable to Eichenjmiel. So let’s take a look see here next. All right.
Chapter ten. And this is the really, really long one. Let’s see here. Okay. Booth and a wider conspiracy. Why were prisoners hooded, denied the ability to communicate, and then by a kangaroo court, either hanged or sentenced to imprisonment on a desolate island? Why was Booth’s diary concealed for two years, then many of its pages destroyed when subpoenaed by Congress? What was Stanton so desperately trying to hide? It could only be evidence that would incriminate himself, the War Department, and or the radical Republicans they represented. To achieve their post war goal of a brutal reconstruction, Stanton and the radical Republicans needed Lincoln dead.
While this could have been accomplished by something as simple as poisoning the president, a poisoning would be nearly impossible to blame on the Confederacy. Something dramatic. Something dramatic was needed. An assassination. But that required an assassin. Stanton needed a patsy, someone with ties to the south who could be prodded into killing Lincoln. John Wilkes Booth was known to be adamantly pro Confederate, though through snitches like Louis Weichmann, the War Department was aware of boost plans to abduct the president. Furthermore, Booth, on a number of occasions had intimidated. Excuse me. Had intimated his willingness to kill. For example, John Surratt, one of Booth’s cohorts in the kidnapping plot related.
At this meeting, I explained the construction of the gates at Washington Bridge. And I stated I was confident the government had wind, or had wind in our movement and the best thing we could do to throw the whole thing or to throw up the whole project. Everyone seemed to coincide with my opinion except Booth, who sat silent and abstracted, arising at last and bringing his fist upon the table. He said, well, gentlemen, if the worst comes to worst, I shall know what to do. Some hard words and even threats then passed between him and some of the party.
Four of us then arose, one saying, if I understand you to intimate anything more than the capture of Mister Lincoln, I for one will bid you goodbye. Everyone expressed the same opinion. We all arose and comments, putting our hats on Booth, perceiving probably that he had gone too far, asked pardon, saying that he had drank too much champagne. Stanton knew Booth was a firecracker, waiting for his fuse to be litanous. With his connections to southerners and the abduction plan, Surat, Powell, Arnold, O’Laughlin, Azeroth, he was the perfect tool to carry out the assassination, which could then be blamed on the Confederacy.
This required motivating Booth and facilitating the murder. That in turn necessitated infant and infiltrating federal agents into Booth’s circle without his knowing it. After the murder, all evidence of these agents would be stricken from the record, while any links to the south would be played up and even fabricated. We previously noted that the humdrum letter Booth wrote to his mother on the morning of April 14. Nothing yet indicated that he was planning to turn into assassin later that day. Mainstream historians say that what prompted Booth to kill was his leaning or learning that Lincoln would be at Ford’s theater.
But if this was simply an idea in Booth’s head, how did Stanton and Eckert know about it? We’ve seen their dishonesty in denying Lincoln the protection he sought, which indicates foreknowledge that what would occur later? Where did the information come from? Certainly not from Booth’s convicted accomplices, Powell and Azeroth. They knew nothing of the murder plot until 730 to 08:00 that evening. Whoever reported it to the War Department may also have provided Booth with inside information, increasing the appeal of assassination. Inside information we’ve commented on Boost confidence that he would only need a single shot derringer to dispose of the president, implying advanced knowledge that Lincoln would be unprotected.
It may not be happenstance that Lincoln’s bodyguard, John F. Parker, deserted his post shortly before the assassination. While hapless employees of Ford’s theater were arrested and interrogated after the assassination, Parker went completely unpunished. History has virtually erased his name, Edwards and steers the Lincoln assassination. The evidence, the 1400 page compendium of government files concerning the assassination refers to Parker only once, in a footnote. During the 1865 trial of the alleged conspirators, he was never called to testify or even mentioned. That’s actually kind of shocking. As we noted, Parker showed up for duty 3 hours late on the 14th.
What caused this delay? Was it from habitual slackness or because he was being instructed to leave his post? If the latter, Parker must have protested and argued, but then finally been persuaded by assurances of immunity. Of immunity and perhaps threats if he failed to obey. But Booth had more inside information than the absence of a bodyguard. Booth later told his writing companion, David Herald that before assassin the president, he had fastened the door behind him to prevent others from entering. The badly wounded Major Rathbone tested or testified on reaching the outer door of the passageway. I found it barred by a heavy piece of plank, one end which was secured in the wall and the other resting against the door.
It had been so securely fastened that it required considerable force to remove it. This wedge or bar was about 4ft from the door. Persons upon the outside were beating against the door for the purpose of entering. I removed the bar and the door was opened. The day after the assassination, Abram Olin, justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, examined the presidential box. Accompanied by Clara Harris, Major Rathbone’s fiance, he reported. My attention was called to the incision into the wall that was prepared to receive the brace that fitted into the corner of the panel of the outer door.
This indentation upon the panel of the door where the brace might have been fixed from against the wall was quite perceptible and the brace was so fixed that it would be very difficult to remove from the outside. I think it could not have been done without breaking the door down. Also, the inner door leading immediately to the president’s box had a peephole carved into it, enabling the assassin to view his target before entering. Judge Olin related I procured a light and examined very carefully the hole through the door. It was a freshly cut hole, the wood apparently being as fresh as it would have been in the instant it was cut.
Booth had neither the skill nor time to prepare the two doors in this precise manner. The plank, later sometimes called part of a music stand, necessitated an incision in the wall plaster, a perfect fit at a perfect link from the door. This would have also required recovering the incision with the wallpaper and cleaning up the plaster fragments on the floor. Mainstream historians have claimed Booth did this and also created the peephole in the door to presidential box by carving through it with a. With a pen knife. He then would have had to clean up the wood shavingsh.
How could the famous actor have performed all of this time consuming, skilled and noisy carpentry work without being heard and spotted by the Ford theater staff, thus arousing suspicion and ruining his assassination plans. Another of the April 14, 1865 mysteries is how accomplice Lewis Powell gained entry to the secret to the Secretary of State William Seward’s home. Powell rang the doorbell, displayed a small package and told the servant he had brought medication prescribed by Seward’s physician, Doctor Verde. Despite no help from the servant who was suspicious of Powell, he knew where Seward was located in third floor bedroom and he knew exactly where the staircase was.
Information concerning the physician and house layout could only have come from inside. How did Powell know? The answer may be in the long lost confession of George Azeroth, who was hanged for allegedly planning to assassinate Vice president Andrew Johnson. After having his hood removed and being given false hopes that he might be allowed to live, Azeroth made his final confession to provost Marshal James McPhail. It was done without duress and recorded by Detective John L. Smith, who worked for McPhail but was also Azeroth’s brother in law. The confession was disallowed during the military tribunal. It then, like other key documents, vanished from the War Department files.
It was presumed lost for over a century. But in 1977 a copy was found in the files of We Doster, who had been Azeroth’s attorney by one of Doster’s descendants. It can be read with annotations at www.reasonlinken.com and click articles. There’s another link that I’ll have to put up. Was Azeroth hanged and his confession destroyed because he mentioned federal agents who had penetrated Booth’s conspiracy? If these agents were revealed in court, it could have lit a trial of gun, a trail of gunpowder leading back to Stanton and the War Department. The confession has been criticized as being rambling, jumping from topic to topic, and this is because Azeroth was being asked questions.
The confession only records the answers, not the questions, resulting in its disjointed appearance. When discussing Booth’s accomplices, Azeroth said James Donaldson only saw him one time, and this was Wednesday, April 12, previous to the murder. He was having an interview with Booth and told him to meet him on Friday evening, and he replied he would. He would and left and went up to Penn or and went up Penn Avenue towards the treasury building. I was under the impression he came on with or. He came on with Booth. Secretary Stewart employed a messenger slash aide named James Donaldson.
The latter was supposed to be attending sword on the evening of April 14, but traded shifts with George Robinson, who wound up getting stabbed trying to protest or, excuse me, trying to protect protect Seward from his assailant. Donaldson returned to the Seward home a few minutes after the attacks on Lincoln and Seward, which had been synchronized. It’s quite a coincidence that James Donaldson requested that evening of the assassination off at the very time booth had planned to meet a man named James Donaldson. The Treasury building, which Azeroth said he last saw Donaldson heading toward on Pennsylvania Avenue, was adjacent to the staff to the State Department and directly across the street from Seward’s home.
Azeroth described Donaldson as a low, chunky man, which fits his picture in the following page. However, a major discrepancy is that Azeroth also recalled him as 23 or 24 years of age, whereas Seward’s aid was in his forties. Inasmuch as Azeroth claimed he only saw him once, apparently on the street and with his hat on, possibly at night, he might have erred about the age. While acknowledging his contradiction, he may still, we may still ask, are we discussing two different James Donaldsons or the same man? Seward’s aid could certainly have been both. Everywhere he needed for Powell to gain access to the secretary’s home, and there’s a picture of Donaldson at the State Department in Pennsylvania Avenue.
Etcetera why didn’t the government investigate Booth’s accomplice named James Donaldson? Booth had yet another means of learning about the Seward home. Azeroth also said, I overheard Booth when in conversation with Wood, alias Appall, say that he visited a chambermaid at Seward’s house and that she was pretty. He said he had a great mind to give her his diamond pin. Some believe the woman referred to was Margaret Coleman. The Seward family maintains a digital archive. It says, about Margaret Coleman, household servant of the Seward family in Washington, DC, during the 1865 assassination attempt on William H. Seward supposedly also nursed Fannie Seward, Williams daughter, during her illness and was with her at her untimely death.
Later in life served in Charles Sumner’s home until his death. So aside from James Donaldson, Booth might have received inside information from Margaret Coleman. What is striking about the above passage is that she later worked for Charles Sumner. Wikipedia notes during the war, Sumner led the radical republican faction, which was critical of President Abraham Lincoln for being too moderate towards the southeast. Whether it was Donaldson, Coleman, or another servant, the military commission never identified Booth’s insider at the secretary’s home. One more circumstance that may suggest Booth had insider information is the case with which he exited Washington via the Navy Yard bridge leading south into Maryland.
Bridges leading to and from Washington were patrolled by federal troops. Under the orders, no person excepting general officer, except general officers, will be passed over any of the several crossings between the hours of 09:00 p.m. and the daylight, without the counter, without the countersign and a pass. This order had been in effect since January 1863, well over two years. Booth, who spent much of the time in Washington, presumably knew about this curfew. Sergeant Silas Cobb, in charge of the Navy Yard Bridge, questioned Booth, who arrived at about 1025, ten minutes after the assassination, brazenly gave his name as Booth, and claimed he didn’t know about the rule but needed to go home to his home in Maryland, Cobb let him pass.
A few minutes later, Harold arrived. He gave his name as Smith said, he was out late due to a Trish with a lady, didn’t know about the rule but needed to get home. Cobb let him pass. Also, it might be rationalized that Cobb was simply good natured and that with the war effectively over, decided to be lax about following curfew order. However, Booth and Herold were taking quite a chance by believing they could both smooth talk their way past the guards. If refused, they would have been trapped in Washington and very likely ensnared by the frantic manhunt.
Booth, having already been identified as the president’s assassin for letting the duo escape in violation of standard orders. Sergeant Cobb suffered no punishment at the hands of the normally ruthless Stanton. It does raise the question if, as in other cases, the fix was in at the bridge and the missing letter to the intelligence. Here, the. When questioned by Special Judge Advocate General John. Sorry, I added that word in there. When questioned by Special Judge Advocate John Bingham, David, Harold, Booth’s writing companion, said Booth told him that he had 35 accomplices in the Lincoln assassination. While this may have been hyperbole, steward assailant Louis Powell, when asked about Booth’s accomplices by Tom Tom Eckert said, all I can say is that all you say about that is you have not got the one half of them.
And we’ve seen that Booth did receive special assistance and insight information. Harold also stated he, Booth said five men ought to have met him in the south. He said that there was a letter he wrote and they all signed their names to it. I mean, five giving their reasons for doing such and such things. He told me this the day before we crossed into Virginia. He said it would be published. He said it would be in the intelligence or a Washington newspaper. While Booth and Harold were staying in a pine thicket near the home of southern sympathizer Samuel Cox Cox and his stepbrother, Thomas Jones brought them food and newspapers every day.
Booth looked on, looked in vain for news of his letter being published. The letter didn’t appear in the Intelligencer, but the newspaper’s editor, John F. Coyle, was interrogated. Coyle said he knew nothing about it. The interrogation eventually brought a new figure out of the woodwork, actor John Matthews, a friendly acquaintance of Booth who had appeared in our american cousin. On the night of the assassination, Matthews told a rather strange story. He said that on the day of the assassination, around 04:00 p.m. booth was riding along on his horse and spotted Matthews on the street. He handed Matthews a sealed envelope and asked if he would deliver it to the intelligent.
The next day, after the assassination, Matthews said he went from Ford’s theater to. To his rented room. Badly shaken. Suddenly he removed the remaining. Suddenly he remembered the envelope Booth had given him. He tore it open. Inside was a letter in which Booth listed what he considered noble reasons for killing the president. Matthews said it was signed by Booth and in Booth’s handwriting, the names of pain, Powell, Azeroth, and Harold. Matthew said he was afraid of being incriminated by having the letter, so he burned it. But Matthew’s story has lots of weaknesses. Surely when Booth wrote that letter, he already had a plan for getting it to the intelligencer.
Randomly spotting Matthews on the street seems a likely story. None of Booth’s convicted confederates knew of a plan for murder until nearly 08:00 p.m. on the 14th. So why, at 04:00 p.m. was Booth already so sure that they would agree to it that they would sign their names? Why, without their permission, would he publicly announce his accomplices, which would ensure their arrest and prosecution? What if Matthews had gotten suspicious and read the letter before the assassination? Booth’s entire scheme could have gone up in smoke. With the president alive and Booth and his. And. And his accomplices arrested.
Would Booth take such a chance? Booth knew that Matthews was performing in our american cousin that evening and that Matthews would be. Would Matthews would therefore be among the first witnesses to the assassination. Could he really believe that after seeing Booth kill the president, Matthews would still deliver the letter to the intelligence for the next day, no questions asked. Booth told Herold that five other men signed the letter. If Booth signed Harold’s name as Matthew’s claims, why didn’t he simply tell Harold? By the way, David, I signed your name because if Matthew’s story is correct, Harold would have seen his own name in the intelligencer anyway, once the letter was published, clearly Matthew’s story is suspicious.
It had no corroboration. No one saw Booth give him the envelope or saw the letter or saw him burn it. Asked if the supposed signatures in Booth’s handwriting. It appears that Matthews simply regurgitated the names of the three men in the military commission had had hanged. Since neither they nor Booth were alive, they couldn’t contradict Matthews claim. But this wasn’t the only suspect thing about John Matthews. When Booth was planning the original kidnapping, he had got. He had guns stored at a Maryland tavern after the assassination. He picked up these guns during his run south. Booth originally had the weapon shipped from New York in his wardrobe box.
Detectives found that Box and Matthews home. Matthews claimed Booth simply gave it to him as a gift. In the War Department archives is a letter addressed to Edwin Stanton from RW Walker of Boston, written a week after the assassination. Walker warned, it is. It is. The thought Matthews of Ford’s theater is knowing. To all of Booth’s proceedings, Booth had been in Boston just eight days before the assassination. Then there was Matthews relationship with William P. Wood, whom Stanton appointed warden of Washington’s old Capitol prison, which housed thousands of inmates, including political prisoners and confederate pows, as Don Thomas notes.
But Stanton’s most professional source of confederate secrets came from William P. Wood. The warden of the old Capitol prison would had some 30 agents and spies under his authority. And many agents, such as James hall, intercepted mail deliveries between Richmond and Washington and brought the letters to Wood at the prison. Wood skillfully opened the letters, then read and copied the ones that had secret messages, sending the copies directly to Stanton. Subsequently, Stanton made Wood his intelligence chief as head of the secret service. When an attempt was made to impeach President Andrew Johnson in 1867, the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee conducted an extensive hearing.
One witness called to testify was John T. Ford, owner of Ford’s theater. He had been imprisoned at the old Capitol prison after the assassination. John Matthews visited him there. In his testimony for it said Matthews knew Wood very well. He came to visit me in prison when I found that Wood and he were old friends. Matthews was never a prisoner there, to my knowledge. How is it that a young actor, Matthews self described as a comedian, a friend of Booth, was also good friends with Stanton’s intelligent chief Wood? This meant Matthews was only one step removed from Stanton.
What really went on with Matthews and the intelligence letter? Here is an exchange that occurred during Wood’s own testimony at the impeachment hearing. Question was not the letter to be published in the Intelligencer? I understood it was intended for publication in the Intelligencer. Question do you know whether it was ever presented to the intelligencer? Answer I am sure that if ever any such letter was written, it was never presented to the parties in the intelligence or office. It never went further than the old capitol. Question, what was it in the old capitol? Answer I think it was brought there by this man, Matthews.
Wood had just slipped up, flatly contradicting his friend Matthews claim of destroying the letter. Wood had admitted that Matthews brought the letter to the old capitol prison, where would, as a warden, opened the letter and relayed anything of interest to Stanton. Stunned the congressman on the judiciary committee wanted to know more. Question do you pretend to say that now you do, you do knew all about this letter? Answer I do not think I used that expression. I only meant to say that I know such a letter was written. Question and yet you’ve never seen it? Answer I have never seen it.
Would also prevaricated by saying Matthews. What the hell’s prevaricated? Big words. Would also cater by saying Matthews brought the letter in as a prisoner, but that the guards bungled the job of searching him. Question then he must have had it on his person when he was brought there as a prisoner. Answer if it was on his person in the old capital, it went in with him as a prisoner. Question did you search his person? Answer it was the rule to search all prisoners, and I am confident that he was searched when he went in. But I.
But it was an easy thing to secrete it. All this made no sense. If Wood never saw the letter and his guards never found it, how could he know Matthews brought it to the old capitol? And why would Matthews bring a highly incriminating letter into prison in the probable hope that it could secrete it with the guards when they searched him? What would that. What would make more sense is that Matthews brought the letter to his old friend Wood as an informant. The whistle. At the trial of the alleged Lincoln conspirators, the following items found on Booth were placed in evidence.
A knife, pair of pistols, belt, holster, file, pocket, compass, spur, tobacco, pipe, carbine, cartridges, and bills of exchange. However, Booth’s diary was withheld, and so was his whistle, pictured from the Ford Theater’s National Historical Site. Why was Booth carrying a whistle? The answer was pretty clearly revealed by Colonel John A. Foster, one of the War Departments assassination investigators. Within his very detailed report, on April 23, 1865, a horseman was seen riding rapidly up 10th street past Massachusetts Avenue. Shortly after the murder in a northerly direction. About the time or immediately prior to his passing, a shrill whistle, washinghouse, thrice repeated, was heard up 10th street and answering whistle on 9th street and one on Massachusetts Avenue.
9th and 10th, apparently in reply to them. In the steers and Edwards evidence book, transcripts of several witnesses statements concerning these coordinated whistles can be read. Some of the witnesses also recalled that simultaneously, a man leapt on a horse that was tied to at a vacant lot near Ford’s theater and took off. This couldn’t have been Booth, whose horse was held for him by Joseph Burroughs, directly behind the theater. Why would Booth carry a whistle? A fairly reasonable guess to signal accomplices that the deed is done. The whistles, shrill, sounded, could be heard and distinguished above the frantic shouts following the assassination.
But who was blowing the answering whistles on 9th Street, 10th street and Massachusetts Avenue? And why? A mainstream explanation might be that they were acknowledging that the other assassination attempts would now be set in motion. But an answering whistle could not have come from Powell stewards attempted assassin who wasn’t in that district and was unlikely to thus call attention to himself before entering Seward’s home. Nor could it have come from any elusive would be assassin of Stanton, who didn’t live near there either. Nor from Azeroth, who had refused to partake in any assassination. And records did not indicate that whistles were found on Powell, Azeroth, Herald, or any other person convicted at the trial.
The writer was described as heading northerly just past Massachusetts Avenue, which intersects 10th Avenue several blocks north of Ford’s theater. But Booth was riding as rapidly as possible in the opposite direction, south, crossing the Navy Yard bridge into Maryland. One explanation has been advanced, that the whistles were used to send riders in diverse directions in order to initially confuse police as to which way Booth had fled. Whether this explanation is correct or not, the use of multiple whistles does again imply that Booth was part of a wider conspiracy than the official story tells us. In his long confession.
Excuse me. In his long lost confession, George Azeroth also said. Booth said he had met a party in New York who would get the president certain they were going to mine the end of the White House next to the War Department. They knew an entrance to accomplish it through spoke about getting friends of the president to get up and entertainment. They would mix in. They would mix it in, have a serenade, and thus get the president and his. And his party. These were understood to be projects. Booth said if he had not gotten him quick, the New York crowd would both.
Booth knew the New York party, apparently by a sign. He or Azeroth saw Booth give some kind of sign to two parties on the avenue who said they were from New York. So Booth knew a group of New York entertainers who allegedly were planning to kill Lincoln through friends of the president. These serenaders were also known as minstrels. They typically performed in blackface. I don’t know. This is damn Bryant. Two nights only, Tuesday and Wednesday, November 23 and 24th. The world renowned Bryant’s mistrals. Although Azeroth didn’t know the names, Booth, who often traveled to New York, had many actor friends in that community.
This included Minstrel J. Daniel Bryant, who gave Booth a diamond stick pin. The same stick pin Booth said he had mine to give to Seward’s chambermaid. This stick pen was mentioned by David Harold during his interrogation and was found on Booth’s body at the Garrett farm. Engraved Dan Bryant to JW Booth. Like the diary and whistle, this stick pen wasn’t presented in evidence at the trial. It simply vanished. At first I suspected theft being but being engraved to Booth as stolen merchandise. It would have had no resale value at a jeweler’s at that time. Did it disappear because it connected the assassination to the New Yorkers instead of the Confederacy? Booth was well known to carry a swagger stick, sometimes also described as a cane writing crop or even a whip.
This. This item still exists. And this book went to press with was being offered for $50,000 at the auction site. Uncrate screenshot on the following page, the site says to the sticks handle, engulfed, plated and engraved Neil Bryant to JW Booth. Neil also spelled Neil, was Dan Bryant’s brother and fellow minstrel. The site says Booth posed with it in ten any or excuse me, in eleven different photos. This indicates not only that Booth was very close to the Bryant’s, but that the stick carries significance. It’s doubtful that he repeatedly posed with it simply because he thought it attractive.
It was more likely a means by which he could be identified as a member, perhaps a high ranking member of some organization, but only by people who were initiated. And then here’s the picture of the cane and pictures of Booth with it. In his lost confession, Azeroth said Booth knew the New Yorkers by a sign. On January 18, 1869, the Baltimore American and Advertiser carried another confession allegedly made by Azeroth in his cell the night before he was his execution. He elaborated more on these secret signs, speaking of a woman in Booth Circle. The rot was made known to her in New York by a signal conveyed by a small switch or stick with a waxed end and a piece of red ribbon on the butt handle handled horizontally through the fingers.
This sign was given on a. Was given on a hotel pavement on Broadway. Was Booth’s swagger stick an emblem of a secret society? New York actor Samuel Chester stated that Booth invited him to join his plot to kidnap Lincoln. Chester said he declined. Of the 366 witnesses called before the 1865 military tribunal, other than Lewis Weichman, only Chester admitted foreknowledge of the abduction scheme, but he wasn’t punished for failing to report it. John T. Ford said some peculiar things transpired between Booth and myself which made me wonder since that I was not more suspicious. He was exceedingly desirous at one time that I should engage an actor by the name of Samuel P.
Chester, who was then engaged in performing minor parts at the Winter Garden New York Theatre. I told him I could not in honor take a man from a theater where I thought he was bound to remain and bring him to my theater, although he would be a very desirable acquisition to my company. William B. Donelson had been like the Bryants, a New York minstrel. Immediately after the assassination, he fled Washington for Philadelphia so quickly that he didn’t bother packing his clothes. He had been staying at the Simpsons house, a saloon hotel frequented by the minstrels that that was only a block from Ford’s theater.
Post assassination law enforcement report said Donaldson was a circus clown and negro delineator, is a well known New York gambler and has been indicted as such. The report describes him as being engaged in suspicious activities and that he might have some connection with the assassination of the late president. He was arrested and put in Washington’s old Capitol prison, but on the day of the conspirator trial began, the following message was sent War Department, Washington City, May 9, 1865. Supped Ws Wood, old capital. Let the prisoner w or WMB Donaldson be discharged by order of the Secretary of War, Hl.
Burnett, Brevit Co. And Judge advocate. No reason was given. George Azeroth said Booth identified members of the New York crowd by a sign. Booth is widely believed to have been a member of the Knights of the Golden Circle, a pro southern secret society modeled after Freemasonry. With degrees and secret recognition signs, it is difficult to say with certainty whether Booth was a member, because secret societies normally keep their membership lists a tightly guarded secret. But given his southern loyalty and that the Knights were very active in the border state of Maryland, where the Booths long had their family home, it’s probable that John was a member.
Secret societies like to recruit prominent people. Booth’s kidnapping accomplice, Michael O’Laughlin, a fellow Marylander, definitely admitted to police that he had joined the Knights four years earlier, though it is unclear if he remained a member. The Knights were infiltrated by union agents. They had attempted to assassinate Lincoln in Baltimore in 1861, but were foiled thanks to being infiltrated by the Pinkerton detective Agency, most famously by Kate Warren, America’s first female detective who could pose as a southern belle with great skill. Her biography, easily found online, makes interesting reading that actually sounds interesting, a 19th century depiction of Booth as a Knight of the Golden Circle.
Charles Bickley was the founder of the knights. So there’s Bickley, Booth and then president. Having saved Lincoln’s life once, why didn’t the Pinkerton detective agency remain in Lincoln’s service? Because Pinkerton required strict honesty in order to maintain its reputation for integrity. Stanton didn’t want that. He wanted a personal spy service, one he could use for his own purposes, without regard for trifles such as truth or constitutional rights. Thus, the national detective Bureau, later called the Secret Service, was established under Lafayette Baker. But when Stanton broke with Baker, he replaced him with William P. Wood. We’ve seen that John Matthews explanation of Booth’s letter to the intelligencer is riddled with doubts.
He claimed that Booth on horseback, spotted him on the street by happenstance and handed him the letter. Given that Matthews evidently lied about the intelligence letter, it’s probably reasonable to say Booth told Harold the truth about it, namely that five other men signed it. This means that Booth would have attended a meeting on the 14th as eyewitnesses who contradicted Matthews account. Washington Lewis Carland, who worked as a. As a costumer at Ford’s theater. The last time I saw Booth was on the day of the murder in front of the theater. He came up the street alone from E Street past the time of day with me.
Stopped. Stopped a few step further, or. Excuse me, stopped a few steps farther, and Mister Matthews was standing there. He took him by the arm, and they walked up the street. That was the last I saw of him. Carlin saw no horse, no envelope where Booth and Matthews headed for the Simpson house. The minstrels hangout was just one block away. Police heavily raided the Simpsons house following the assassination, and there were many arrests. Lewis Mosby, the bartender, was arrested twice but released. The explanation for the police interest in the Simpson house is not recorded. There is still another reason to believe Booth attended on April 14 or an April 14 meeting.
Secretary voice Stanton had his and his assistant major Eckert were evidently aware that the assassination was coming. That’s why they lied to Abraham Lincoln in denying him the protection he wanted at Ford’s theater. Mainstream historians claim the assassination plan existed only in Booth’s mind that afternoon. How then did Stanton and Eckert know about it? Espoused Booth’s convicted accomplices, Powell Azeroth and Harold didn’t learn that there was a plan to murder until nearly 08:00 p.m. this suggests that there was a gathering earlier in the day with his best kidnapping accomplices, John Surratt, Samuel Arnold, and Michael Laughlin.
Having abandoned him, Booth needed a new team. The most logical people for him to connect with were the New York crowd, who he knew and who already had an alleged plan to kill Lincoln. A likely place for the meeting would have been their hangout, the Simpson house. This New York crowd, whom Booth identified by a shared secret recognition sign, were very possibly members of the Knights of the Golden Circle who had attempted to assassinate Lincoln in 1861. People became more bold and violent when they. When they’re part of a mob than when they’re alone. At the meeting.
Booth was probably assured that several assassinations would occur that April 14, while Booth and Powell took out Lincoln and Seward, another other assassins, the New Yorkers would eliminate grant and certain cabinet members, throwing the north into such disarray that the south might rally. Of course, there was no actual plot to kill any radical republican cabinet members, but. But the other so called assassins, by consigning, by co signing the Booth letter, would convince him that he was not acting alone, but as part of a big team. This could have been the moment Booth received insider information about Ford’s theater, Lincoln’s bodyguard, and Seward’s home, further emboldening him.
This could be the moment Booth turned from the kidnapper to assassin one of the co signers. Possibly. Matthews presumably took the letter and assured Booth that the next day he would deliver it to the intelligencer. Only he didn’t. Instead, he delivered it straight to his old friend William P. Wood, who would have given it directly to his boss, Stanton. There in ink was Booth’s commitment to kill the president. All systems were go. So when Booth later looked through the newspaper near Cox’s farm, he not only realized the letter to the intelligencer hadn’t been published, but that no one else in the cabinet had been assassinated.
He had been set up, double crossed. This is probably what Booth meant when he wrote in what’s left of his diary. But. But its failure, the mission was owing to others who did not strike for their country with a heart. Booth diary was obviously intended, at least in part, to restate information lost in the intelligence or letter, including accomplices names. But the diary, like the letter, wound up in Stanton’s hands, ensuring that would never happen. Postscript. There’s something about John. John Wilkes Booth had a side that, to my knowledge, no historian has ever addressed. At first, as first glance, it might appear to disagree with this book’s narrative.
But when broken down, I think it supports it and is significant enough to discuss Sam Arnold, who had withdrawn from Booth’s plot to kidnap Lincoln. Wrote him a discreet letter on March 27, 1865, urging him to give up the idea. Here’s an excerpt. I told my parents I had ceased with you. Can I then, under existing circumstances, come as you request? You know full well that the government. Suspicion. Suspicion. Something is going on there. Therefore, the undertaking is becoming more complicated. Why not, for the present, desist for the various reasons which, if you look into, you can readily see without my making any mention thereof.
After the assassination, investigators found this letter inside a trunk in Booth’s Washington hotel room. Booth had promised Arnold he would destroy the letter, but he didn’t. Subsequently, it became known as the Sam letter, and it was used at the conspiracy trial to convict Arnold. In Arnold’s memoirs, he wrote, whether he left the letter in his trunk to betray me, in my innocence, in the hands of the government, through malice or forgetfulness, I cannot fathom. Arnold thought it possible that Booth tried to implicate him deliberately, but wasn’t sure. Then in Azeroth’s room, police found a bank book belonging to Booth and a handkerchief belonging to Mary Booth, his mother.
These items helped incriminate Azeroth. Bye. Or by concretely linking him to Booth. But Azeroth wouldn’t have possessed those things who might have planted them there. It could have been a detective, but might also have been Booth himself. In his courtroom testimony about the abduction plot, Booth’s friend Samuel Chester said he urged the matter and talked with me, I suppose, half an hour, but I still refuse to give my assenthenne. Then he said to me, you will at least not betray me, and added, you dare not. He said he could implicate me in the affair anyhow. And in 1890, Mortimer Rugels, one of the three confederate soldiers who assisted Booth into the Garrett farm, recalled that Andrew Johnson might appear to be implicated in the plot of assassination.
Booth said that he had left that morning a note to the hotel where the vice president lived to come to, uh. To compromise him. There’s that word implicate again. Booth apparently considered that implicating others was one of his fortes. Mainstream historians claim that on the morning of April 14, Booth suddenly became focused on planning to kill the president. Why then, would he begin with an unessential detail like planting that card? Or was he, as actors professionally do, following a script that had already been given of him? Of course, the card gave Stanton and his friends a tool of blackmail to keep Andrew Johnson in line.
And thus. Or. And they made. They made use of that later during their attempt to impeach Johnson. Was it only coincidence that Stanton utilized Booth’s subterfuge. And was it? And. And was. Yeah, yeah. And what was Booth’s most conspicuous act of implication? It occurred right at the assassination in front of about 1500 witnesses. He leaped onto the stage and reportedly shouted, sic semper tyrannis. Virginia’s. Virginia’s state motto. And the south is avenged. Thus, he implicated the entire confederacy in the assassination. If Booth’s only personal goal was to kill Lincoln, why choose such a challenging venue? The president was known to take walk inside of.
Or the. Excuse me. The president was known to take walks accompanied by just one bodyguard. Today we hear of a drive of. Drive by shootings. Why didn’t Booth attempt a ride by shooting on the street? It would have been much easier and afforded a better opportunity for escape. Some will argue that Booth’s ego craved an audience. Sorry. Almost had a. Had one of those sneeze that I didn’t get to sneeze. Some will argue that Booth’s ego craved an audience. But the people at Ford’s theater had their eyes glued to the stage. The only person who claimed to have actually witnessed Booth firing the shot was an audience member named James C.
Ferguson. For Booth, the audience wasn’t there to see the shooting, but to hear his proclamations about the south on stage. A plain street assassination could not have achieved such an outcome. I must hasten to add that very legitimate objections can be raised to what I have just written or Booth to implicate the south suggests that he was actually anti southern. Yet everything about Booth’s life, his letters, his arguments with friends and family show him to have been consistently pro Southern. I am aware, of course, that actors are capable of taking on false Personas. They do that for a living.
But for Booth to have assumed a fake pro southern Persona day in, day out for years without ever showing his true hand exceeds all bounds of credibility. Booth had supported the Confederacy since before the war’s outbreak, years before he could have foreseen himself assassinating Lincoln. Nonetheless, Booth’s violence was directed at only two ranking men in the administration, Lincoln and Seward, who sought Rec, who sought reconciliation with the southeast. Why would Booth target them? Partially, perhaps from ignorance about the conflict between Lincoln and his closest advisors, but most, but mostly from false assurances from the others at the meeting, the five cosigners of the intelligence or letter that they would assassinate the remainder of Lincoln’s cabinet.
According to the official story, Booth met with Powell, Azeroth and Harold on the evening of the 14th. The only cabinet member they tried assassinating was Seward, how would they take. Excuse me. How would taking out that one man destabilize Lincoln’s cabinet? Seward was bedridden from a serious carriage accident anyway. He wasn’t even attending cabinet meetings. If Booth needed to plan killing Lincoln, his primary objective, why even bother with Seward? From Booth’s perspective, it only made sense if he believed other assassins were going to wipe out the rest of the cabinet. But from Stanton’s perspective, it made complete sense, as it.
Excuse me. As it would eliminate the two prominent men who stood in the way of his plan for reconstruction. On April 14, Booth probably did meet with members of the knights of the golden circle or of one of. One of its offshoots. But just as occurred in the 1861 Lincoln assassination attempt, these were not true knights. They were government infiltrators or feds. Secret societies usually demand strict obedience to orders. They also offer quid pro quo. Do favors for them, and they’ll do favors for you. What favors did Booth receive? A script for the assassination. Insider information about Seward’s home promises that Lincoln’s bodyguard would be missing, that the presidential box would be prepped, that the telegraph wires would be shut down, guaranteed safe passage out of Washington, and the illusion that he would receive a hero’s welcome in the southeast, where, as he later told Herald, he was expecting to meet the other assassins.
And what was. What was Booth to give in return, besides shooting Lincoln? An agreement to plan the plant, the evidence against Johnson, and to shout from the stage that the south had been avenged. Booth may have been deceived into believing his pronouncement would vindicate the confederacy, but Stanton. It would incriminate the confederacy, opening the door to brutal reconstruction. In fact, Stanton probably couldn’t have scripted the assassination much better than the way it happened. Booth was allowed to escape, and, if not for his injuries, might ultimately have made Mexico, or by boat, another foreign country. In his long lost confession, George Azeroth said, Surratt bought a boat from.
From Dick Smoot and James Brawner, living about Port tobacco, for which they paid $300. The essence of this story was confirmed by Richard Smoot and his rare book, published more than 40 years later. When Azeroth’s confection was still lost, Smoot wrote, I owned a good, large and stout boat. I received a visit from John H. Surratt, who expressed a desire to purchase my boat, saying that it would be needed in an emergency which might arise within a very short amount of time. I was inclined to associate the coming event with a plan to abduct Lincoln. Concerning which plan I had heard vague rumors.
After some little time spent in negotiating with Surratt, I finally agreed to sell him the boat for $250. According to Smoot, the boat was sick, was secreted on King’s Creek, a branch of the Potomac. He believed that after the assassination, Booth and any accomplices were heading for that boat and to then make their way to the seaboard. There, bored, a vessel bound for some country with the United States, had no extradition treaty. Smoot believed Booth’s downfall was his broken leg, which forced him to divert to doctor mudds. The unforeseen injury seriously immobilized and delayed Booth, making his capture inevitable and therefore necessitating both his murder and the concealment and debt and defacing of his diary.
That’s a lot of stuff. And then these are just the notes, and then we have the epilogue, and then this is. This is it. And that was about right. I was right about right about the time. In his book the reason Booth had to die, Don Thomas wrote, the conspiracy to remove Lincoln from office consisted of four levels, with John Wilkes Booth and his New York accomplices. At level four, Secretary Stanton and his military subordinates were level three. Congressional conspirators within Lincoln’s own party, spearheaded by Charles Sumner, Thaddeus Stevens, and Salmon Chase, were level two. At level one were the northeastern capitalists who used their deep pockets to buy Washington lobbyists while providing financing to elect their chosen candidates for Congress.
In other words, things were not much different then than today. Politicians were not the ultimate power. They simply were represented by wealthy interests who remained in the background what we know or what we now label the deep state. During Andrew Johnson’s presidency, tensions mounted between him and Secretary of War Stanton. As Johnson became less inclined toward the radical republican plan to subjugate the southeast, he began moving toward leniency, Lincoln’s post war vision. Then came the straw that broke the camel’s back. As Einstein notes, a revelation occurred during the 1867 trial of John Surratt. The junior counsel for the defense was addressing the jury at the trail at the trials of misses Surratt’s son in Washington.
In the course of his speech, he made a contemptuous reference to the petition for mercy, which had been attached to the sentence of that unfortunate woman, now dead more than two years. The president, learning, apparently from the papers that such a document existed, sent to the War Office for the findings of the court martial. This was on August 5, 1867. Before nightfall, he discharged Stanton by sending him a curt note. Sir, public considerations of a high character constrain me to say that your resignation as secretary of war will be accepted. Andrew Johnson, president, United States. The immediate consequence of Johnson’s action was his attempted impeachment by Congress.
This was what Stanton had been playing for. It was a game for big stakes. If Johnson should be found guilty, the war minister would be the strongest man in the country, and the elections of 1868 were only a little over a year away. Destiny, however, willed it otherwise. One single senator stood between Stanton and the fulfillment of his dreams. By a vote of 35 to 18, Johnson escaped impeachment. With the announcement of the result, Stanton collapsed. He relinquished his hold on the War Department, where he had held for, held forth for months behind barricades and an army of sentinels.
Stanton was finally finished. On December 23, 1869, he was on his deathbed. He was visited by William P. Wood, who found the former war secretary plagued by thoughts of Mary Surratt. Wood stated, in his broken down and depressed condition, he declared that he was haunted day and night by visions of the unfortunate woman and that he could not live under the pressure he was bearing. The following day, Christmas Eve, Stanton died. I can Schmiel put it well. In view of the innumerable intrigues which dotted the life of Stanton and the countless death warrants he had signed without remorse, it is noteworthy that his last thoughts occurred with such disc disquietude on the comparatively unimportant conspiracy trial of its most prominent victims.
There is one judge no man can appoint, threaten, or bribe before he died. Samuel Arnold, last surviving member of the alleged assassination conspirators also put it well. They have all passed to the bar of God. Suffering on the earth ended silently, awaiting justice at the hands of the Almighty, in whose presence truth shall be revealed. Man can hide it from his fellow man, but the truth will be established before the bar of God. Historians take note, and that is that. That was a really interesting book. Very interesting indeed. I had, and I have to say, I had never in a million years even contemplated that Stanton was the guy who was pulling all the strings.
I mean, I’ve. I’ve heard some things in the past about, you know, there was a. There was a conspiracy, like the London bankers, and they went through Montreal and, you know, a bunch of different things about, you know, the leaky assassination. But, you know, I never really. As somebody who enjoys history, there’s. I only have so much bandwidth, you know, I mean, there’s so many things to dig into and, you know, and deep dive and go down the rabbit hole. This was one of those that I just. Yeah, I don’t know, it just didn’t really have the same.
It didn’t have anything like. I don’t know, it’s just really. Float my boat, if you will. But I got to say, after reading this, this is very, very interesting stuff. I kind of want to go back and find the information from the first female detective that he talks about. That would be very interesting reading one. Probably the next thing that I’m going to read. This is actually kind of a short book. This might just be a day or two, but it’s Robert Zepper’s 1666, redemption through sin. And this is all about here. I’ll just read the back cover.
In 1666, a man by the name of Zabatai Zebi declared himself to be the Messiah. Followers of his heretical cult believed that sin is holy and should be practiced for its own sake. Sabbataeans and their successors, the Frankists, have indulged in religion or religious orgies, ritual sacrifice, incest, adultery and homosexuality for 350 years. Using secret societies such as the masons, this diabolical sect has infiltrated into the highest echelons of political power. They covertly rule as the unelected hidden hand, shaping history behind a veil of conspiracy. What is their secret global agenda? And it talks about. Robert Sefer is an author, producer and anthropologist living near Los Angeles.
He specializes in linguistics, paleogenetics and archaeology. Yeah, so it’s not a very thick book. It’s only like 74 pages and it’s pretty big. So anyway, that’s probably gonna be the next thing that I’m gonna dive into. Just gonna split it up a little bit. But it’s really interesting. So anyway, looking at the chat here, looks like it’s been dominated by Jason. Let’s see, make this a little bit bigger so I can read it just kind of going through here. You asked about had I heard about Michael Rothschild. Yes, I have heard that name. I don’t know much about him, but he’s supposedly like a truther, not somebody is.
He’s. I don’t believe that he is associated or affiliated with the Rothschilds per se, that family, although I don’t know that for sure. I just don’t know that. Let’s see. So, yeah, basically all the things that you said, this is just some of the stuff that I’ve heard. Superposely and. Hello, Katharm. How are you? And frosty Hugh. And there’s a whole bunch of new people that have. That have kind of come to my channel. I just, in the last couple of days, it’s like, I don’t know, the Jim Willie interview. And I think some of the stuff with Mike is starting to gain traction.
And anytime he gets on someplace, people flock to it. And because I do a weekly show with him, I think I’m getting a lot of traction because of that. So I welcome the attention. I’m actually working behind the scenes with, with a guy who’s going to help me kind of like take my channel to the next level. Actually working on a, on a logo redesign and some other things to do to kind of just, you know, make it better. So that’s just kind of working on some things behind the scenes and trying to improve my craft here.
You know, I do enjoy reading the books. It’s a little difficult with my eye, but I enjoy reading the books. And I’m wondering if it might not be a better thing to just read the books and do something similar to what Colonel Towner does where she does book, book reviews or whatever. And while I don’t think that those, that would be a bad way to go, it’s a little bit more work. And I actually like reading the books because when you read the books, it’s like you get the whole thing. There’s no missing of information. So that’s kind of the direction that I’m trying to go right now.
But I’m probably going to be doing a few other things outside of reading the books. Maybe having some, a couple extra shows daily or whatever, but just, just doing some bigger things, just kind of making the channel a little bit bigger and better. So. So anyway, that’s just kind of what I’m thinking. So let’s see here. Do you ever look at your telegram channel? I don’t. You know what? I don’t. And I need to. I need to. Well, now, so be all. You all know that I was in the process of getting my new computer together and doing all that stuff, and I’m still out of fee.
I mean, for the most part, it’s all up and running. I am using the Mac now, but I don’t have access to all my old data. Apparently there was a conflict of hardware with the stuff that I had. So I’m, I had to order new hardware coming in so that I can access those hard drives from this computer. So anyway, that’s a. Hopefully that’ll get resolved tomorrow. We’ll see. But the new computer is fantastic. I love it. It’s extraordinarily fast, but I got to get the lighting fixed. I don’t know if you guys. What you guys see, but what I see is.
I don’t know. It just. It doesn’t look like this kind of looks dark, even though I have. I feel like I have pretty good lighting, but I don’t know. You guys give me your opinion. What you see. I I’m trying to do the best that I can, but my eyesight is shit. I can be blunt about it. So. But anyway, just, like I said, just trying to do the best that I can and just be, you know, produce the best content that. That I can. So anyhow, and I try to be different. I don’t want to be like everybody else.
People are talking politics or people are talking current events, and. And I don’t know. To me, I like to focus on things that other people aren’t focusing on because there’s already way too many other people. There’s a lot of people out there talking about things, but I don’t know. I don’t feel like there’s really that many people that are talking about the things that I’m talking about, and they give, my feeling is that the stuff that I bring to the table kind of gives context to how things have gone and how we’ve kind of, we haven’t.
It’s. It hasn’t been a thing where, like, where we derailed in 1971 or we derailed in 1913. I mean, we were, we’ve constantly been battling with derailment, so. And with each subsequent and passing year, we get further derailed and further away from the constitution. So, you know, I’m hopeful that with, you know, if there’s an election or with whatever happens in November, I’m hopeful that, you know, that some of this stuff can get fixed, but, you know, I don’t know. We’ll see. Tell. So, on that note, guys, I will let you all go enjoy the remainder of your afternoon, and I will see you tomorrow as we start the Robert Suffer book.
All right, everybody have a great night.
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