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The Suppressed Truth
ABOUT THE
ASSASSINATION
OF
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
J^
Written and Compiled
BY
BURKE McCARTY
1 922
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The Suppressed Truth
ABOUT THE
Assassination
OF
Abraham Lincoln
Written and Compiled by
BURKE Mccarty
Lock Box 1618 Washington, D. C.
1 922
u -t-or
Dedicated to The Voters of To-morrow.
Copyright
-by- Burke McCarty,
Lock Box 1618, Washington, D. C 1922.
©C1.A677370
Mi 30 1922^
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 9
Chapter I. Destruction of this Republic Plotted
by European Monarchists 11
Chapter U. The "Society of Jesus", the Engine of
Destruction 20
Chapter ni. "The Saint Leopold Foundation*' Spy
System 30
Chapter IV. The Turning Point in Lincoln's Life.. 43
Chapter V. When the Pope was King 64
Chapter VI. Lincoln Takes up the Burden 76
Chapter VII. Assembling the Chosen Assassins,... 97
Chapter VIII. The Blackest Deed in American
History .126
Chapter IX. The Trials of the Assassins by Docu- mentary Evidence 140
Chapter X. The Trial of the Arch Conspirator- John H. Surratt .167
Chapter XL The Trial of John H. Surratt 203
Chapter XII. Summing it all up: Two and Two. .231
By the "Leaden Bullet" April 14, 1865.
PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN
8 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
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LINCOLN MEMORIAL, POTOMAC PARK, WASHINGTON,
D. C.
One of the most magnificent monaments in the world, dedi cated Memorial Day, 1922, to the great American the Jesuit* thought they had destroyed on April 14, 1865-
The Conspiracy of Silence on the Death of Abraham Lincoln
INTRODUCTION
In all the bloody history of the Papacy, perhaps in no one man, as in Abraham Lincoln, was there concentrated such a mutitude of reasons for his an- nihilation by that system.
In all the history of the political assassination plots by the enemies of freedom, which for cold cal- culation, malicious methods, relentless pursuit, subtle cunning, and cowardly execution, nothing can exceed the cruel murder of this greatest of all Americans, — for President Lincoln was the living, breathing type in which was fulfilled the triumph of the New Con- cept of Popular Government, the central postulate of which is, the consent of the governed. It was the life of Abraham Lincoln which placed this form of government forever outside an "experiment*' where its enemies persisted in endeavoring to keep it.
That a barefoot, nameless boy on poverty's path could, by his own efforts, reach the high{v,t offi'^e in the gift of the American people, gave the lie to the "Divine Right'* croakers, and merited iheir most unceasing hatred.
Barring the martyrdoms of Jesus Christ and Joan D* Arc, the methods used in Abraham Lincoln's assassination will stand pre-eminent in point of malice and cruelty, and strange as it may seem, the same diabolical cunning which nerved the hand of the assassin has pursued Lincoln beyond the grave, and has been largely successful in hiding from the public all details of his physical destruction, a crime, in the eyes of the writer, which almost outstrips the first, for by this conspiracy of silence on his death, the youth of America are being deprived of the knowl- edge of the details of the greatest tragedy in their country's history.
10 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
This appalling fact has been the one big urge which inspired the writing of this book, the contents of which represent only a part of the result of leisure hours spent in public and private libraries in the va- rious cities, covering a period of the past seven years, — gathering a fact here and one there, from books, magazines, newspapers and court records, fihng them away, and finally condensing the salient points be- tween the covers which you now hold in your hf»iid.
I feel safe in stating that nowhere else can be found in one book the connected presentation of the story leading up to the death of Abraham Lincoln, which was instigated by the "Black" pope, the General of the Jesuit Order, camouflaged by the "White" pope, Pius IXth, aided, abetted and financed by other "Di- vine Righters" of Europe, and finally consummated by the Roman Hierarchy and their paid agents in this country and Canada on "Good Friday" night, April 14th, 1865, at Ford's Theatre, Washington, D. C.
I am convinced that if this knowledge can be given adequate distribution and placed in possession of the boys and girls of the public elementary schools, for whom it is esDecially designed to reach, that the wicked boast of the Jesuits and their lay agents, the Knights of Columbus, to "MAKE AMERICA CATHO- LIC" can never be accomplished.
THE GREAT SPIRIT OF THE MARTYRED LIN- COLN WILL RISE UP AND DEFEAT HIS SLAY- ERS AND THEIR SUCCESSORS!
In closing, I only ask each reader whose heart beats in unison with those of us who love our country and all that it represents, to assist in the sale of this little book, by driving it all the publicity possible, there- by joining in President Lincoln's expression of loyalty, "If ever my country is destroyed, it shall be my proud- est plume, not that I was the last to desert her, but that I NEVER DESERTED HER!"
Yours Truly,
Burke McCarty
Chapter I.
Destruction of this Republic Plotted by European Monarchists.
The death of President Lincoln was the culmina- tion of but one step in the attempt to carry out the Secret Treaty of Verona, of October, 1822, a pact entered into by the ''high contracting parties" of the former Congress of Vienna, Austria, which had held its sessions secret, covering the whole year of 1814-15.
Simultaneously with the calling of the Congress of Vienna in 1814, Pope Pius Vllth restored the Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order) which had been abolished by Pope Clement IVth, July 21, 1773, on the grounds that it was immoral, dangerous and was a menace to the very life of the papacy. Clement was promptly poisoned for his act.
With the restoration of this order, the execution of the Secret Treaty of Verona was placed in their keeping.
The Congress of Vienna was a black conspiracy against Popular Governments at which the "high con- tracting parties'" announced at its close that they had formed a "holy alliance." This was a cloak under which they masked to deceive the people. The par- ticular business of the Congress of Verona, it de- veloped, was the RATIFICATION of Article Six of the Congress of Vienna, which was in short, a prom- ise to prevent or destroy Popular Governments wher- ever found, and to re-establish monarchy where it had been set aside.
The "high contracting parties" of this compact which were Russia, Prussia, Austria and the Pope, Pius Vnth, king of the Papal States, entered into
12 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
a secret treaty to do so. That the reader may get some idea of the villainy of these two Congresses and their relation to our government, and to the death of Abraham Lincoln, I quote excerpts from that document below, as it appears on the Congres- sional Record of April 25, 1916, placed there by Sena- tor Robt. L. Owen and as it is recorded in the Diplo- matic Code, by Elliott, page 179:
SECRET TREATY OF VERONA
The undersigned specially authorized to make some additions to the treaty of the Holy Alliance, after having exchanged their respective creden- tials, have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1. The high contracting powers be- ing convinced that the system of representative government is equally as incompatible with the monarchial principals as the maxim of the sov- ereignity of the people with the divine right, engage mutually, in the most solemn manner to use all their efforts to put an end to the system of representative governments, in whatever country it may exist in Europe, and to prevent its being introduced in those countries where it is not yet known.
ARTICLE 2. As it cannot be doubted that the liberty of the press is the most powerful means used by the pretended supporters of the rights of nations to the detriment of those of princes, the hierh contracting parties promise re- ciprocally to adopt all proper measures TO SUP- PRESS IT, NOT ONLY IN THEIR OWN STATE BUT ALSO IN THE REST OF EUROPE.
ARTICLE 3. Convinced that the principles of religion contribute most powerfully to keep na- tions in the state of passive obedience which they owe to their princes, the high contracting
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 13
parties declare it to be their intention to sustain in their respective states, those measures which the clergy may adopt with the aim of amelior- ating their own interests, so intimately connect- ed with the preservation of the authority of the princes; and the contracting powers join in offer- ing THEIR THANKS TO THE POPE FOR WHAT HE HAS ALREADY DONE FOR THEM, AND SOLICIT HIS CONSTANT COOPERATION IN THEIR VIEWS OF SUBMITTING THE NATIONS.
ARTICLE 4. The situation of Spain and Port- ugal unite unhappily all the circumstances to which this treaty has particular reference. The high contracting parties, in confiding to France the care of putting an end to them, engaged to assist her in the manner which may at least compromise them with their own people and the people of France by means of a subsidy on the part of the two empires of 20,000,000 of francs every year from the date of signature of this treaty to the end of the war.
ARTICLE 5. In order to establish in ^he peninsula the order of things which existed be- fore the revolution of Cadiz, and to insure the en- tire execution of the articles of the present treaty, the high contracting parties give to each other the reciprocal assurance that as long as their views are not fulfilled, rejecting all other ideas of futility or other measure to be taken, they will address themselves with the shortest possible delay to all the authorities existing in their states and to all their agents in foreign countries, with the view to establish connections tending toward the accomplishment of the objecta proposed by this treaty.
14 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
ARTICLE 6. This treaty shall be renewed with such changes as new circumstances may g'.ve occasion for, either at a new congress, or at the court of one of the contracting parties, as soon as the war with Spain shall be terminated.
ARTICLE 7. The present treaty shall be rati- fied and the ratifications exchanged at Paris within the space of six months.
Made at Verona the 22nd of November, 1822. For Austria: Metternich For France: Chateaubrand. For Russia: Bemstet. For Russia : Nesselrode."
When Senator Owen was questioned by members of Congress upon the meaning of the Treaty, the Record shows his reply in part as follows:
"This Holy Alliance, having put a Bourbon prince upon the throne of France by force, then used France to suppress the condition of Spain, immediately afterwards, and by this very treaty gave her a subsidy of 20,000,000 francs annually to enable her to wage war upon the people of Spain and prevent their exercise of any measure of the right of self-government. The Holy Alli- aiice immediately did the same thing in Italy, by sending Austrian troops to Italy, where the people there attempted to exercise a like measure of liberal constitutional self-gov- ernment; and it was not until the printing press, which the Holy Alliance so stoutly opposed, taught the people of Europe the value of lib- erty that finally one country after another seized a greater and greater right of self-government, until now it may be fairly said that nearly all the nations of Europe have a very large measure of self -government.
However, I wished to call the attention of the Senate to this important history in the growth
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 15
of constitutional popular self-government. The Holy Alliance made its powers felt by the whole- sale drastic suppression of the press in Europe, by universal censorship, by killing free speech and all ideas of popular rights, and by the complete suppression of popular government. The Holy Al- liance having destroyed popular government in Spain, and in Italy, had well-laid plans also to de- stroy popular government in the American Col- onies which had revolted from Spain and Portugal in Central and South America under the influ- ence of the successful example of the United States."
"It was because of this conspiracy against the American Republics by the European monarchies that the great English stateman, Canning, called the attention of our government to it, and our statesmen then, including Thomas Jefferson, who was still living at that time, took an active part to bring about the declaration by President Mon- roe in his next annual message to the Congress of the United States that the United States would regard it as an act of hostility to the government of the United States and an unfriendly act, it this coalition, or if any power of Europe ever undertook to establish upon the Aineri'^an con- tinent any ccnfrol of any American republic, or to acquire any ttiMtr.rial rights.
"This is the so-called Monroe Doctrine. The threat under the secret treaty of Verona to sup- press popular government in the American repub- lics is the basis of the Monroe Doctrine. This se- cret treaty sets forth clearly the conflict between monarchial government and popular government, and the government of the few as against the gov- ernment of the many."
The above comments of our United States Senator before Congress in 1916, clearly defines the object and intent of these "Divine Righters" in Europe.
16 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
It wiU be well for the reader to understand that the chuTch of Kome with its sixteen centuries of n- +v,o-,ip nians fifty or a hundred years ahead. The ulti- S^oToVlS GREAT SCHEME is to throw th^^
SallrSr^^rL^htr^^^^^^^ o1 JJl e^l.
musf rec^ve their authority to rule, as during the
^'"'rhf BIG n)EA of democracy, taught by Jesus Christ when he proclaimed the spiritual equality of Si men has Xays been hated and feared by the Je- siit System, and made the target of their venom, de- tn tP all their protestations of Christianity '^ The n)EA of spiritual equality, logically and in- evitably l^ds to social equality which has been made
nractical by Popular Governments. .
practical oy^^^^i ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^ Government is con- sent of the governed." .^
The first real social freedom resulted .^^^^^J^ Protestant Reformation, led by the little German monk Martin Luther in 151\ This was an unpa^^^^^ able sin,— this was the deatl- blow of the PaP^^y-
Protestant Germany. Protestant England and of course, Protestant United States have been from the beginning marked by them for <iestruction. Ex-Cath oHc Italy and Ex-Catholic France are next m this "rule or^ruin"' policy. In Protestant Denmark Sweden and Holland, the same process .»« , .^«i* °f '^"id within," is being pursued as it is m this country and
^^°^The seeds of hate between Germany and England were planted in those two glorious Protestant coun- tries by the Jesuits so that they "ji^^ develop in timi to block the celebration of the Protestant Refor- SiTtlon on its four hundredth Anniversar,, an ev«^t which was planned to surpass anything of the Kina Ihe world has ever seen, a celebration which would have set Protestantism fifty years ahead.
The Jesuits, anticipating this, staged the World War which completely sidetracked it.
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 17
For over sixty years the Great Scheme the Vati- can and its Jesuits have been working on is, in a nut- shell, to form an ECCLESIASTICAL EMPIRE, unit- ing French Canada with our Atlantic States, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachesetts, Rhode Is- land and Connecticut. This is to be done by annexa- tion, manipulated through corrupt pohticians at Wash- ington, D. C, in much the same method as the annexa- tion of Texas was accomplished, over sixty years ago.
The next big card being played by Rome is the unification of the French Canadian and Irish-Catholic vote in the New England States where the influx of Catholic Canadians is of such proportion as to cause serious consideration of loyal Americans right now.
The Church is meeting with some difficulty, owing to the deep seated dislike between the French and Irish Cathohcs. This, however, is being rapidly over- come by two methods: intermarriage and through the work of the Knights of Columbus which is by far the most dangerous lay organization in this country.
The 'Tragedy of Quebec," a book written by a Protestant Canadian, exposes the PLAN in detail, and the facts and figures given by this writer who has been a close student of the subject for many years are startling.
It would be illuminating to the reader who is not familiar with this book to read it. The full plan of extending the Pope's empire on the Atlantic coast will be done by Latinizing our Southern States, a process which was begun very early in our history, prior to the Civil War.
The big efforts of the Catholic Church to papalize the negro in the South should not be overlooked where great strides have been taken in that direction.
The next step in the Vatican's Great Scheme is to make war between this country and Japan after the latter country has been placed under full domi- nance of the Jesuits. The priests, monks and nuns of the Roman Church have been pouring into Japan from
18 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
all over the world now for many years with that purpose in view. The writer was told by a Christian Japanese minister in charge of a Protestant mission in Los Angeles in reply to the question as to why the Jesuits, who had been barred for years from Japan, had now been permitted to enter. He answered that the Roman church had gotten into his country under the guise of Mohammedanism, and that after it was well entrenched threw off its disguise, and his coun- try learned to its astonishment that it was to the Roman Church and its monastic orders it had opened its doors.
That the Rom.an-Catholic-controlled trade unions in California are at the bottom of most of the agitation against the Japanese in that State is a fact; that the Roman Catholic politician, James Phelan, was sent to the United States Senate in 1913 by the solid Roman vote, and has been the prime mover in the anti-Jap agitation, is also a fact.
There are many Californians, of course, outside the Roman church, who fear the Japanese menace on account of their prolific propagation, and their non- assimilative proclivities, but it is only since I have realized the activity of the Jesuits to papalize Japan, that the real horror of the ''yellow peril" has impressed itself upon me. x\dd Romanism to Japan, and it cer- tainly becomes terrifying in its aspect.
i am not presenting these things as a calamity howler, but I believe v/ith careful consideration and immediate intelligent activity, the danger can be avert- ed. We must be alert and doing. And now we will take up the Roman question which is the big, overshadow- ing world question today, and it will continue to be un- til the Papacy is finally uprooted. We will have to take cognizance of it in Europe frequently through these pages in order to get a clear view of the impend- ing danger to ourselves. I ask the reader to be patient and follow me closely in my hurdling of the Atlantic, back and forth, at various times which I have been obliged to do, I^ is a big and pQii)lexing question to
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 19
try to simplify sufficiently for the busy non-Romanist who is so absorbed in his own affairs and who so little understands that pernicious system.
The great mistake which the American non-Cath- olic people make is that they judge the Papacy by the Roman Church as they find it in this country. One can- not gauge it from this standpoint, for we must re- member that it is operating where more than five- sixths of the people are non-Romanists — in a Prot- estant country. In order to get an accurate estimate one must survey it in its native state, so to speak, — in Catholic countries where it has held sway for cen- turies. On this side of the Atlantic, for instance, we will have to contemplate it, as it is in Mexico, or Cen- tral and South America, in order to get a true esti- mate.
I shall quote through these pages copiously from several books, some of which are out of print, in or- der that their messages may not be entirely lost.
Chapter II.
The "Society of Jesus'' the Engme of Destruction.
The "Society of Jesus" the members of which are referred to as the Jesuits, has absorbed the Papacy. This Society was founded by a fanatic, one Ignatius Loyola, in 1541; its object being to combat the Prot- estant Reformation of Martin Luther of 1517.
Loyola was the son of a prominent Spanish family who had distinguished himself as a soldier, and by the immoral excesses of his private life, but who, owing to an accident which maimed him, was supposed to have become "converted," and during the illness which followed, the Society of Jesus was conceived in his brain, fertile with deviltry.
The Society of Jesus is under the strictest mili- tary discinline. due to the military training and psy- chology of its founder. It is absolutely commanded bv the "General" its head, also known as the "Black" Pope. The garb is always a plain black cassock. But here permit me to present the definition of one of its eminent "Generals" of the seventeenth century and which aptly describes it today:
"The members of the Society are dispersed in every corner of the world, and divided into as many nations and kingdoms as the earth has lim- its; divisions, however, marked only by distance 9f places, not of sentiment; by the differences of lancruages, not of affections ; by the dissemblance of faces, not of manners. In that famHy the Latin
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 21
thinks as the Greek, the Portugese as the Brazil- lian, the Hibernian as the Sumatran, the Spanish as the French, the English as the Flemish; and amongst so many different geniuses, no contro- versy, no contention, nothing which gives you a hint, to perceive that they have more than one.
Their birthplace offers them no motive of
personal interest. The same aim, same conduct, same VOW, which like a conjugal knot, has tied them together. At the least sign one man, the General, turns and returns the entire society and shapes the revolution of so large a body.
"It is easy to move, but difficult to shape." (Imago Primsaeculi Societas Jesu," published by the authorisation of Mutto Vittelschi, General in 1640.)
With the above authentic illumination you will be able to somewhat grasp the reason that the execu- tion of the mandate of the Holy Alliance and secret treaty of Verona was entrusted to the members of the Society of Jesus. God save the mark!
THE JESUIT OATH
As a further item of interest we quote the fol- lowing excerpts of this oathbound organization. It is the oath taken now by practically all priests of the Church of Rome, and has been charged as the one tak- en by the members of the Fourth Degree in the Knights of Columbus. (See Confrressional Record, House Bill 1523, Contested election case of Eugene C. Bonniwell, against Thos. S. Butler, Feb. 15, 1913, pages 3215-16.)
'T. , now in the presence
of Almighty God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Blessed Michael the Archangel, the Blessed St. John the Baptist, the Holv Apostles, Peter and Paul, and all the Saints, sacred hosts of Heaven, and to you. my ghostlv Father, the Superior Gen- eral of the Society of Jesus, founded by St. Ig-
22 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
natius Loyola, in the Pontif ication of Paul the Third, and continued to the present, do by the womb of the Virgin, the matrix of God, and the rod of Jesus Christ, declare and swear that his holiness, the Pope, is Christ's Vice-regent, and is the true and only head of the Catholic or Univer- sal Church throughout the earth ; and that by the virtue of the keys of binding and loosing, given to his Holiness by my Savior, Jesus Christ, he hath power to depose heretical kings, princes, states, commonwealths and governments, all being illegal without his sacred confirmation, and that they may be safely destroyed.
"Therefore, to the utmost of my power, I shall and will defend this doctrine and his Holi- ness' right and customs against all usurpers of the heretical or Protestant authority, whatever, especially the Lutheran Church of Germany, Hol- land, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and the now pretended authority of the Church of En- gland and Scotland, the branches of the same, now established in Ireland, and on the continent of America and elsewhere .... I do now renounce and disown any allegiance as due to any heretical king, prince or state named Protestant or Liberals, or obedience to any of their laws, magistrates or officers.
"I do further declare, that I will help and assist and advise all or any of his Holiness' agents in any place wherever I shall be. and do my ut- most to extirpate the heretical Protestant or Lib- eral doctrines and to destroy all their pretended powers, legal or otherwise.
"I do further promise and declare, that not- withstanding I am dispensed with to assume any relierion heretical, for the r»ropogatinpr of the ' Mother Church's interest, to keep secret and pri- vate all her aorents' counsels, from time to time as they may instruct me, and not to divulge di- rectly or indirectly, by word, writing, or cir-
ASSASSIlNfS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
9;?.
cumstances whatever; but to execute all that shall be proposed, given in charge or discoverea unto me, Dy you, my ghostly lather
"1 ao turther promise and declare, that i will have no opinion or wiu 01 my own, or any mental reservation whatever, even as a corpse or cadaver (perinde ac cadaver) but unhesitatingly obey eacn and every command that 1 may receive trom my superiors m the Militia ot the rope and Jesus Christ.
*That I will go to any part of the world, whatsoever, without murmuring and will be sub- missive in all things whatsoever communicatea
to me I do further promise and declare,
that 1 will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war, secretly or openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Liberals, as I am directed to do to extirpate and exterminate them from the face of the whole earth, and that I will spare neither sex, age nor condition; and that 1 will hang, waste, boil, flay, strangle and bury alive these infamous heretics ; rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women and crush their in- fants' heads against the wall, in order to anni- hilate forever their execrable race.
'That when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the POISON CUP, THE STRANGULATION CORD, THE STEEL OF THE POINARD, OR THE LEADEN BULLET, RE- GARDLESS OF THE HONOR, RANK, DIGNITY OR AUTHORITY OF THE PERSON OR PER- SONS WHATSOEVER MAY BE THEIR CONDI- TION IN LIFE, EITHER PUBLIC OR PRIVATE, AS I AT ANY TIME MAY BE DIRECTED SO TO DO BY ANY AGENT OF THE POPE OR SU- PERIOR OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE HOLY FAITH OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS/'
24 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
The late Edwin A. Sherman, a 33rd Degree Mason of Oakland, Caliiornia, m his book entitled, *'The En- gineer Corps 01 Hell,' quotes Chas. Sauvestre, whose work he translated irom tiie Spanish, which says m part:
"Such are ,the Jesuits. Always expelled, for- ever returning, anci iiicie uy iitcie, cianaestmely, and in the darkness, throwing out its vigorous roots. Its wealth may be confiscated, its losses cannot be detained tor they are covered. . . Con- fessors, negotiators, brokers, lenaers, peddlers of pious gew gaws, inventors oi' new devotions to make merchandise. At times, mixing in pohtics, agitating states j and making princes tremble up- on their thrones, for they are terrible in their hate. WOE UNTQ HIM WHEN THEY TURN
UPON HIM AS AN ENEMY! Its society
grows and increases in riches and influence by all sorts of means; and no one can attack them, for everywhere we. find men prompt to serve them, to obtain from them some advantage of position or pride . * . . For themselves, they are nothing, not having pompous titles, no croziers, no mitres, no capes of the prebendaries, but per- tain to that one ORDER, everywhere governing and directing . . . In. whatever place of the Catho- lic world a Jesuit is insulted or resisted, no matter how insignificant he may be, he is sure to be avenged, — and this we know."
"The General is always surrounded by coun- sellors, professors, novices and graduates," says Michelet . . . 'prescribing friendship in the semi- naries and being prohibited to walk two by two, it is necessary to be alone, or three together, but not less, for it is well known that the Jesuits never establish any intimacy before a third, for the third is a spy; for when there are three, which is indispensable, there cannot be found a traitor."
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 25
THE JESUIT OATH TAKEN BY THE FIRST ARCH- BISHOP OF BALTIMORE (1769) LEAVES ITS IMPRESS
The papal church when expedient, follows the rule of pagan Rome to hold a conquered country in leash, and make it yield its pound of flesh, by placing over it native rulers, which is the easy way to ap- proach the people on their blind side.
In 1753 an American-born boy of eighteen, one John Carroll, from Upper Marborough, Maryland, en- tered the College of the Society of Jesuits at Watteau, Flanders, to study for the Romish priesthood in that Order. The time required ordinarily for the training in that Society, is fourteen years, and, as John Carroll was not ordained until he had served sixteen years in preparation, it is safe to conclude that this American born youth was an especially well grounded ^'Cadaver" upon his return to the Colonies in 1769, and that his Society was justified in feeling that its interests would be competently administered.
John Carroll had taken the oath from which we quoted some pages back, to. When opportunity pre- sents, make and wage relentless war, secretly or openly, against all heretics, Protestants and LiberaJs."
It is interesting to note that John Carroll was a first cousin to Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the only Romanist who signed the Declaration of Independence.
The officials of Maryland Colony sent a committee, of which Beniamin Franklin was a member, to visit French Canada to see if help could be had from that source in the interest of the Colonies in the coming conflict with England.
It was recommended by Congress that Charles Carroll ask his cousin, John Carroll, the Jesuit priest, to accompany them, hoping that he would use his in- fluence in securing the assistance of the French priests in the Cause of the Colonies, an act which showed the
26 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
lack of understanding of the fundamentals and disci- pline of the Jesuit Society, by the Colonists.
Of course, the expedition utterly failed, owing to the influence of the French priests and the people of French Canada, over whom "Father" John Carroll was supposed to have had the power of persuasion. Though England was an ''heretical" country, the exceedingly liberal and the independent spirit of defiance in the American Colonies, was far more menacing, in the eyes of the priests, to the interests of the church and the di- vine righters, and Priest Carroll's Jesuit Oath pre- cluded the possibility of his having any interest in his native country, consequently he had to think in the same channel as his French compatriots in religion. That he, a few years later, merited the distinction from his church to be made the first Archbishop of Balti- more, and was permitted to live to the ripe old age of four score years, is proof positive that he served his church faithfully by strictlv adhering to his Jesuit Oath. The first Archbishop of Baltimore left his indeli- ble stamp on that diocese as was clearly demonstrated during the Civil War, for every plot to assassinate President Lincoln, and there were many, was hatched in Baltimore. — in fact, Baltimore is the Vienna of America.
The fact also must not be overlooked, that there were less than 30,000 Romanists and 25 priests in the Colonies at the breaking out of the Revolution. This, of course, was a handicap to the Reverend Car- roll.
The first Archbishop of Baltimore must have been, however, thorou2*hly conversant with the rumblings of the Revolution in Furope, for his Society was having some "rough sledding" during the early eighteenth century when he arrived in Flanders, and its members were being driven out of first one country and then another.
The great battle for nolitical freedom was beinp- bitterly waged between the Jesuits on one hand and Freemasonry on the other, just as in the final analy-
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 27
sis of the present irrepressible conflict in the United States today, these two forces are lining up, a fact which is becoming more obvious as time goes on.
They stand today as they have always stood, these Jesuits, against every principle upon which t'reemasonry is founded — upon which Americanism. is based.
A group of French cyclopedists, led by Jean Jacques Rousseau, had embodied a new concept of governmentj^ in which the central postulate was, that the only authority to govern should come from the consent of the governed. This was whipped into shape and published early in the eighteenth century and boldly proclaimed to the world by Rousseau in his "Social Contract" — contract of society. Eleven years after, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine and other framers of our Declaration of Independence, incor- porated it in that great chart of liberty, and when the silver tones of our old Liberty Bell in Philadelphia rang it out on July 4th, 1776, it reverberated around the world and stirred the red blood of every divine- right hater to its depths:
''Gravely plain the good pen lined it, And the Fifty Six all signed it; Pledged their lives to seal and bind it,
True and w^ell! Then sudden from the steeple,
Clanged the tocsin of the people, :,,
Spoke the sum of history's pages, Pealed the thoughts of saints and sages,
Rang the keynote of the ages, — in the Bell." ("The Liberty Bell" by Howard S. Taylor.)
It is difficult now for us to realize the boldness and courage required of that little group of Colonial ''Rebels" who gathered around the table in Indepen- dence Hall in Philadelphia, to sign that document. It was a grim joke, indeed, that Benjamin Franklin sprung when he took up the pen to write in his name, and said: "Gentlemen, we must now all hang together, for if we don't, we will hang separately.*'
28 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
The success of the Revolution in the American Colonies gave the stimulation to the French to revolt in 1789. The triumphant conclusion of John Wilkes' battle for a free press in England, the rumblings of revolt m tne Jr^apal btates wnere tne pope was King, all these held the cradle of Popular Government m this country m security until the infant had dropped its swaddling clothes, and got a fair start to grow.
John Carroll was studying in the Jesuit College in Flanders when Rousseau's Social Contract set Eu- rope ablaze with its message to the downtrodden masses. The sensation precipitated by that revolu- tionary proclamation can be but faintly imagined now. Certain it is that the pope of Rome with the rest of the crown heads of Europe saw the handwriting on the wall, if the New Idea of government were per- mitted to take root.
Four years later John Carroll was a full-fledged Jesuit priest, and was returned to his native land where he had an opportunity to get a **close-up" of the work- ing out of the first Popular Government where the peo- ple were the only source of authority.
In 1808 this Jesuit priest was created the first Archbishop of Baltimore, by his ''Lord-God" the pope. In receiving the pallium he took a more disloyal oath of allegiance than that as a priest, to direct the work of his Order and his church.
Verily, "The ways of God are wondrous strange." Who would have thought that a few months later an infant son would be born to a pioneer couple in the backwoods of Kentucky, in a rude log hut, who was destined to, fifty years later, with one blow, defeat the cautiously laid plans of the Vatican, its Jesuits, the Romanoffs of Russia, the Hapsburgs of Austria and the King of Prussia!
I have often pictured the baby Lincoln playing about the humble log cabin in the Kentucky woods, whose life was no different from the infant life of other children of the pioneers, except in the greater degree of poverty, and wondered if by chance in her
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 29
day dreams, Nancy Hanks Lincoln could have glimpsed the perspective in which her baby boy was destined to become the savior of this Popular Govern- ment; if, when she gathered him to her proud moth- erly heart, quieting him to sleep with a crooning lulla- by, which all mothers sing, the noble but storm-tossed future of the child she snuggled might by chance, like summer lightning, have flashed over her vision? And, in my mind's eye, I pictured the meeting on the other side of the Great Divide of this mother and son on the morning of April 15th, 1865, and the happy look of triumph in her glistening eyes as she beheld him in the immortal garb of martyrdom which his enemies had inadvertently placed upon him.
Chapter HI.
'The Saint Leopold Foundation'' Spy System.
Owing to the \ combination of circumstances Europe just referred to, the autocrats did not dare to "wage open war'* on this government since the warning enunciated in the Monroe Doctrine. In 1828 an organization in Vienna was formed which was called the ''Saint Leopold Foundation." The plan was then, to operate under the mask of religion, which would insure its safety from any governmental and innuendo what could not be done by bullets and and innuendo what could not be done by bullets and bayonets.
The Hapsburg family of Austria was the most powerful Roman Catholic ruling family in Europe and consequently the most cruel, despotic and reactionary, and had the American people not been so absorbed in the upbuilding of the Republic, they would have detected the hypocrisy of this "holy" fraud, — the Saint Leopodine Foundation.
One of the Hapsburg brothers. Prince Rudolph, was a member of the Roman Curia, the Cardinal Ru- dolph Hapsburg, of Olmutz. It was easy for the Jesuits of the Vatican to operate through him as the agent for the foundation funds which poured into the United States in a stream of gold. Nor did the Vatican furnish all the funds. They were most likely furnished by the "high contracting parties," of the Holy Alliance and the "secret treaty of Verona." In short, the immense sums distributed among the bishops and archbishops of the Catholic church in this country in estaD-
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 31
lishing bishoprics in cities where none existed, were used solely as gig-antic POLITICAL SLUSH FUNDS to corrupt and ultimately destroy the government and "set up a monarchial" one instead.
One year after the Saint Leopoldine Foundation had been established, it received the recognition and blessing of the pope. The wonderful generosity (?) of the Hapsburg family was called to his attention. The ''blessing" was conveyed at a political high mass in Vienna, January, 1829, at which all of the royalty was in attendance, and the happy occasion was closed by a grand ball in the palace at night.
The scum of Catholic Europe, especially from Ireland, then began pouring into this country from every nook and cranny of that poverty stricken con- tinent; in many cases, their passages being advanced from this "slush fund." The Koman bishops of every large city from New York to San Francisco, then be- gan massing this foreign vote.
Tammany Hall had years before been organized, and from its very inception began a system of po- litical corruption which dominates New York's noil- tics to this very day. This situation should have stag- gered the world, but it failed to awaken the Ameri- can people except in spots.
The massed Roman vote in the cities nlaced the balance of nolitical nower in th^ hpnds of the Roman bishops and priests. Intimidation has always been the "bis" stick" used when any mpn in public office presumed to onnose the advance of these ecclesiasti- cal "bosses." With the rapidly increased foreign im- migration, these agents of the divine righters of Eu- rope operating through the Jesuits and their lay agents have made pro.sTess beyond their wildest dreams. City councils, state legislatures, and even Congress have been brow-beaten and bribed. It was boasted within a year that any seat in Congress can be bought for one hundred thousand dollars! Not only so, but some years ago when the Chicago Con-
32 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
gressman, Wm. Lorimer's seat was contested, it was made a matter of record that this sum was the pur- chase price. A forced resignation followed. It is in- teresting to note that Mr. Lorimer's chief witness was a Catholic priest of Chicago, who testified, ac- cording to the Associated Press reports, that a peni- tent of his, had acknowledged in the confessional, that he had libeled Mr. Lorimer. The said penitent was not named, of course.
A few months after Mr. Lorimer's resignation, the press dispatches notified us that he "had been received into the Catholic Church" with great ac- claim. I cite this one case merely to emphasize my point.
The Saint Leopoldine Foundation is a great Jesuit Spy System which is not confined to the ecclesiastics of the Roman church, but embraces every element of society, from the private secretary of the President in the White House, to the Catholic servant girl em- ployed in the Protestant American families. Nor, in- deed, is it restricted to Roman Catholics, for the Jes- uits do not hesitate to use non-Catholic tools whenever it is possible. In fact, they prefer them, for in this way attention is distracted from them. In case of failure it is always preferable to use non-Catholics.
The priest of every parish in this country is the king-pin in this web of spying, and reports regularly to his bishop every item of interest, directly or indirect- ly and in turn, the bishop to his archbishop, the arch- bishop to the cardinal and the cardinal to the pope. The confessional box is the Roman clearing house, whereby the Pope keeps his finger on the pulse of the world.
It is a strange thing to know that no matter how densely ignorant a Roman priest may be, that is on any subject outside the things bearing on his church, that priest knows perfectly the psychology of every non-Romanist of apv prominence in his district. He knows his mental attitude toward the Romish church ;
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 33
he knows what the man will think and do under cer- tain circumstances; he particularly knows if he is friendly or unfriendly to the Roman church ; he knows the extent of his wealth, and if the party is of enough importance in the community, he knows the most in- timate details and conduct of his private life. The man, on the other hand, knows little or nothing of the par- ish priest. More than likely, if he was asked, he would say that he was the Cathohc priest of such a parish. If it happened to be in a town where the Catholic pop- ulation was small and of no social or political impor- tance, this would express the limit of his knowledge. If, on the other hand, he was politically ambitious and alert, the priest would be one of the first with whom he would ingratiate himself, for most of the politicians have learned to realize the political advantage of an organized vote.
The sources of information which the Roman priest can taD are almost unlimited and unknown to the ordinary layman outside that corporation. The Le- opoldines are honeycombed in every avenue of civic, state and national life. There are, to begin with, the police departments of the various cities, ninety per cent of whom I may, I think, conservatively say, are Fourth Deorree Knights of Columbus. Thev are always at the beck and call of the heirarchy. Their chief duty as "Catholic citizens'* is to obey their bishops and the Holy See, "As God himself." (See Leo Xlllth's "Great EncvHicale" page 192.)
Then there are their Jesuit college graduates in every state, who are especiallv trained as expert spies.
If any man holding a political position refuses to prostitute that position, by yielding to the demands of the Romish nriests, and persists in his stand, thev use their blackmail threats, if thev cannot accomplish their nurpose in any other way, for, "Any means to ar» end" is the Jesuit motto. If there is no such knowl- edp-p in their Dosse^^sion hv which to discredit or frighten him, thev do not hesitate to set their traps for him, and should this fail, they are fortified to re-
34 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
sort to what is known in common parlance as a "frame-up" which is an easy matter through their "red-light" affiliations. Many a good man has been driven from public life by this route. Many a man in politics this moment, is a subservient tool of the Roman priests, because he fears the physical violence of their arson and murder gangs, or that they may drag out some family skeleton to discredit him.
I am aware that these are harsh sayings, but the truth is very often shocking.
The principal branches of the Leopoldines, still operating in this country under various titles, are: The German Catholic Central Verein, with headouar- ters in St. Louis and Detroit; The Third Order of St. Francis, which bids fair to supplant, outwardly at least, the original organization ; The Catholic Laymen's Council, the Lea^^ue of the Sacred Heart, and the Cath- olic Women*s Council. These organizations are all branches of the Leopoldines' Spy Svstem.
To name one incident in which the ramification of this spy system may be seen, T call to the mind of those of my readers who read the Menace, published at Au- rora. Mo., some vears ago, when the editor of the Melt- ing Pot, Mr. Tichener, accompanied by Mr. Marvin Brown, editor of the Menace, located fifty thousand cancelled envelopes which the Menace Publishing Com- pany had sold to a junk dealer. — as is the custom of publishers — in the offices of the German Catholic Central Verein at St. Louis. Mo.
The Menace ran a cut made from the snanshots which they had taken of these editors, inside the of- fices of the SPY headquarters, surrounded by bales of thp Menace envelopes w><ir»h Mr Prown was about to appropriate, and succeeded in doing so. a fact which demonstrated that the Jesuits have not a corner on the market when it comes to cleverness.
The v^urora paper had f^r months been receiv- ing complaints from its subscribers, to the effect that thev were being persecuted, and if in business, boy- cotted in their home towns by Roman Catholics, and
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 35
it had been puzzling the editors as to the avalanche of complaints coming irom all directions until the dis- covery of the big consignment of cancelled envelopes, a large proportion oi which had the return addresses on them, it was by this means that the list was procured, lue puDliCity which the Menace gave to this matter at the time, put a stop to the inquisition for the most part. This was an attack upon FKEE PRESS which tnese L,eopoldines were pledged to execute.
inis great bpy System penetrates every avenue of social life. The field of journalism has been invaded until a Roman Catholic sits at many important editori- al desks 01 great newspapers, from coast to coast. Tney fill the reportorial stalls and other departments m the front offices and it goes without saying that the presses, composing rooms and other mechanical departments are dominated by them.
These Spies are members of ail the important coni- missions, public works, school boards, library boards, housing commissions, naturalization departments, and are even active members of "Americanization" Commit- tees.
Yes, I shall go farther and say, that I doubt if there is ever an assemblage of the ministers of any Protestant church in this country that meets without the presence of the Leopoldines. Our state universities and Protestant universities are honeycombed with them. Roman priests hold professorships in several state universities! On every text book committee se- lected to pass on the books to be used in our public schools, sits a Roman priest, or his personal representa- tive. He is there for the purpose of seeing to it that every truth derogatory to the Roman Catholic church is eliminated and every thing that will in any way re- flect credit upon that institution is incorporated. This explains why it is that the extent of the knowledge of the facts leading up to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln has been carefully suppressed so that the ex- tent of the knowledge about this greatest of all trag-
36 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
edies in the history of our country does not exceed these words:
"President Lincoln was assassinated in Ford's Theatre, April 14th, 1865, by an actor named John Wilkes Booth. Andrew Johnson was immediately sworn into office/'
The one paint upon which the Roman church is and has always been exceedingly "broad" is in regard to its members in the saloon and red-light districts of the cities.
Have you ever asked yourself how it comes that a large majority of the proprietors of the whiskey places and brothels are members of that church in good standing? Did you ever hear of a saloon keeper being excommunicated by the church in Rome? Have you any knowledge of any female member of the under- world having had the anathemas of Rome hurled at her head? I think not. I will tell you some of the reasons why. A large part of the enormous income of the Cath- olic church reaches it through these channels.
The church of Rome has for centuries been a large manufacturer of wine, liquors and beers. The most expensive European wines are made by the monks and nuns of that church. The finest champagne, for instance, is manufactured by the Carthusian Monks. **Benedictine" that beverage of hell, the sole purpose of which is intended to increase prostitution, was con- cocted by a monk of the Benedictine order eleven cen- turies ago. He was later created a cardinal by the Pope for the valuable ''service" which he thereby rendered his "Holy" church.
The cross is blown in the glass of every bottle of Benedictine; the coat of arms of the order is im- pressed upon the wax which seals it, and the Latin motto dedicates it "To God, the purest and the best."
Fifty per cent of the wines manufactured in the United States was made in California and about fifty
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 37
per cent of this was manufactured by the Roman Cath- oUc church in its monasteries in that state. To illus- trate: At Los Gatos the Jesuit Fathers "Novitiate of the Sacred Heart" conducted a large winery in which three special brands of wine were made, "Villa St.- Joseph" was described in their advertising as "A dry white wine, pleasant flavor, delicate taste."
"Novitiate" — a heavy bodied, sweet, rich, mellow fragrance, does not need to be bottled. One hundred gallons at $39.00. New Revenue tax ten cents a gallon, or two cents per bottle."
"Retail store — Pure Altar Wine Company, East Dubuque, Ills."
The above is from the advertisement which goes on to tell us that its purpose is to "supply Reverend clergy in the N. W. States and Mississippi Valley, Rev. Walter F. Thornton, S. J. (Society of Jesus, or Slick Jesuit) Rector of Novitiate of the Sacred Heart. Ap- pointed F. M. Rhonberg, Agent on personal recommen- dation of His Grace, Archbishop of Dubuque, Iowa."
The following letter is official and will explain it- self:
"St. Mary's Cathedral, 1100 Franklin St. San Francisco, California
To whom it may concern:
Having appointed the Rev. D. 0. Crowley Superior of St. Joseph's Agricultural Institute, to superin- tend the making of altar wines, I commend the wine made under his supervision at the Beaulieu Vineyard, and vouch for its absolute purity.
(Signed) Edw. J. Hanna,
Archbishop of San Francisco."
38 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
1 wish to digress further by saying that the sale of these wines was not confined to the clergy. Their retail stores m all of the large cities were opened for anyone to purchase from. At this St. Joseph's Agri- cultural Institute near Napa, California, a large part of the work was done by children — waifs, orphans and naif -orphans. Priest D. 0. Crowley, the *'big" ecclesiasti- cal boss of the politics of San Francisco, gathers in through the Juvenile Court and elsewhere to his in- stitution known as the "Catholic Youths' Directory" which occupies one of the highest knobs overlooking San Francisco in what is known as the Mission Dis- trict. These boys, ranging from ten to eighteen years old are shipped every so often up to St. Joseph's Insti- tute where they are supposed to spend their ''vaca- tion" helping to manufacture the wine.
Priest Crowley, bye the bye, has been for several years president of the Public School Playground Com- mission, appointed by Mayor Jas. Rolph, who is not a Roman Catholic, but I am sorry to say, a member of the Masonic Fraternity. I cite this example to show how non-Romanists are utilized as Leopoldines.
Just one more instance of the connection between **Wets" and the Roman Catholic church. Twenty-one brewing, wineries and distilling companies of Chicago, Hhnois, contributed twenty thousand two hundred and fifty dollars as their last gift to the Roman Catholic ''Charities" in a drive which Archbishop Mundelein launched in 1918, just previous to the November election Political Slush Fund — ("Charity' covers a multitude of sins.")
ROME'S REPRESENTATION IN THE UNDER- WORLD
The courtesan has always securely held her posi- tion in the Roman church. In the Tenth Century two infamous courtesans, one the mother of a Pope, held sway in Rome where they helped to make and un- make popes. The two most eminent Catholic modern
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 39
historians, the Rev. Doctors John Alzog and Ludwig Pastor, are authority for startHng facts pertaining to these women and their influence with the Papacy. Dr. Alzog said ''Marozia, who was one of the infamous daughters of the infamous courtesan, Theodora, the Elder. Marozia had Pope John Xth thrown into prison and put to death in order to have her son who reigned as Pope John the Xlth, placed on the Pontifical throne. Pope John the Xlth was throughout his whole reign, subject to the baneful influence of either his mother or brother." (See Alzog's Universal Church History, Vol. 2, page 293 and 296.)
Vanozz-a, a married woman, the mistress of Pope Alexander Vlth, the occupant of the pontifical throne in 1492, when Columbus didn't discover America, was the mother of his four children, Caesar, Juan, Jofre and Lucrezia, who were afterward legitimatized by pa- pal bulls. This documentary evidence found in the secret archives of the Vatican and quoted by the above Cath- olic historians. During" the early years of the pontifi- cate of Alexander Vlth, Vanozza occupied a palace close to the Latern palace, — the first Vatican^ — which the Pope had built for her, and in this residence the most brilliant social functions were held, presided over by his recognized affinity.
JENNIE DALY—MADAM
It is not exaofgeratmg to say that there is not a city in the United States today in which the members of a larsre quota of its demi monde are faithful devotees of the Romish church who ply their profession every day in the week but who would not think of missing mass on Sunday.
One of the most notorious women in Indianapolis, some years ago. was "Jennie Daly" thp keeper of houses of ill renute within a gun shot of the courthouse in that city.
Her f las-rant association with ^. prominent lum- 'Derman, a man of family for years, Warren Tate, whose
40 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
business was close to the redlight district where this coarse featured female held sway, and ultimately separated him from his family. In the early eighties Tate, who was a bad tempered, abusive man was twitted about his affinity by a man named Love during the progress of some litigation in which they were engaged. The incident occurred in the court room. Tate told Love he would "kill" him for that remark. He hurried out, went to his mill nearby, got his revolver and shot Love to death as he was coming down the court house steps.
As the threat was made in the presence of wit- nesses, Tate who was arrested for murder in the first degree, had to use the bulk of his fortune during the sensational trial which followed, to save his neck.
Public opinion, naturally was highly in the favor of the prosecution and it was an open secret that Jen- nie Daly spent ninety thousand dollars of her money in Tate's defense, and that she finally threatened every- one connected with the case that if he was convicted she would,"ten all she knew." Strange as it may seem, the murderer was allowed to go free.
During all these years Jennie Daly was a regular attendant at the Koman Catholic church, and was a generous donor. She finally, after amassing a large fortune, "retired from business," Durchased a preten- tious residence in a respectable part of the city, and she and Tate married and lived there. At this time she was a pew-holder in St. Joseph's Catholic church. After some years Tate was taken ill. and faithful daughter of the church th?^t she was. she called in the narish Driest who formally received this man into its folds. He was buried in a consmcious place in the Catholic ceme- terv south of that city where his widow erected a beau- tiful monument to his memorv. In a few years she fol- lowed. She was given all the "consolations" within the gift of the Romish church, and at the Requiem Mass at which she wps buried the gr^at eulojrv which the priest delivered over this notorious prostitute aroused the indignation of many of the decent, respectable par-
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 41
MONUMENT OF NOTORIOUS "JENNIE DALY'
Keeper of "resorts" in Indianapolis in the early SO'a. "Faith- ful daughter of the Holy Church".
42 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
ishioiiers. The dust of the righteous mingles with that ot these two scandalous characters, for were they not "obedient children of the Holy Mother Church?" The only unforgiveable sin in tne Komish corporation is to tell the truth about it. Jennie Daly proved herself to have been a useful devotee, generous and faithful to the end, and was so rewarded.
In San Francisco the ''Jennie Daly" happens to be a Spanish woman in close proximity to one of the large churches there, who may be seen hurrying to early mass on almost any Sunday morning. In San Francisco, however, I might say there are hundreds of the demi monde devotees of this church. So I might go on, ad lib, ad nauseum.
I wish my readers to get a true estimate of the ramification of this wicked system which is responsi- ble for the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. You must remember that some of the most valuable in- formation is poured into the listening ear of the Kom- ish priest in the confessional box by this route. You must know the real significance of what they mean when they tell you that they intend to "Make America Catholic." You cannot defeat an enemy which you do not understand. You can never have a conviction strong enough to stir you to fight this common enemy of ours, unless you do, and this is the motive of the writer.
The clean, pure, upright fife, public and private, of Abraham Lincoln, was his protection from these Leopoldines. There never was an act of his that would have placed this great American in their power. This fact alone was sufficient to merit their implacable hatred, and it did. And now let us hasten on and trace the soft footfalls of these Jesuits, step by step as they shadowed the public life of our beloved mar- tyr.
Chapter W,
The Turning Point In Lincoln's Life.
While the Society of Jesus was organizing its de- structive forces in Vienna under the title of the St.- Leopold Foundation, in 1828, two boys from the tall timbers of Spencer County, Indiana, in their teens, guided their flatboat which they had spent weeks in making, toward the wharf in New Orleans, Louisiana.
One was a tall, awkward youth, with frank gray eyes, tanned skin, a mouth of generous proportions, a shock of rather coarse black hair on a well-shaped head, which was topped by a coonskin cap, commonly worn by the men and boys from the "backwoods" of the interior. When the boat holdin.Q: its small cargo was within reach of the pier, the taDer lad climbed to it with the agility of a cat, seized the rope, tied the boat to the pier, and helped his thick-set companion up. This done, the boys strode away, soon lost in the crowd.
They attracted no special attention from the pedes- trians for these pioneer young merchants frequently visited the orreat southern metronolis. They were busy taking in the sierhts of a real city for the first time and it is not difficult to fancy the impressions and wonderment at what they saw, and their exchange of idpas while makiner their rounds.
There was one incident, however, which made a lifelonpf impression and nroved to be the turning point in the taller bov's life, this l^^d who measured six feet two. Their attention was directed to a lar?>'e crowd by the loud voice of a man tow^rine above it. He had loner. blacV hair. loos<^ flowing tie. wore a large slouch hat. was dressed in the garb of a city man, and was
44 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
calling out in the language of an auctioneer, empha- sizing his points with the crack of a black snake whip.
The boys moved over, pushing their way through the crowd made up of almost every type from the gentleman in broadcloth down to the street urchin, nor did they stop until they had reached the inside of the circle around the large block upon which stood a young negro, about the age of the two youths whose curiosity had drawn them there. The colored lad was ordered to display his teeth, the fitness of his mus- cles, which stood out like great brown cords, demon- strating his splendid physical strength.
The bidding was snappy, being worked up by the expert tactics of the auctioneer, whose facetious re- marks brousrht many a coarse guffaw from the by- standers. Finally, the hammer banged down on the table, which was the signal that the lad had been sold to the highest bidder, the deal was closed.
A shrill cry rang out, followed by the stifled sobs of a beautiful mulatto girl, whose refined fea- tures, glossy black hair, hanging carelessly to her waist, betokened the dominance of the white blood in her veins. She was one of the "pacel'* of slaves who was to be auctioned off the following morning, and was the BRIDE of the boy who had just been dis- posed of.
There was not the sliprhtest attention paid to the incident for the details of the business transaction in human souls were beiner completed bv the parties of the first and second parts. The crowd ouickly dis- persed as the "show" was over for th^t day.
The two boys from the "timbers" walked ouickly away. Finally, as they were nearinpr the place v/here their boat was secured, our tall friend turned quickly to his companion and said: "John, if T ever eret a chance to hit ^-hat thino^. bv God, I'll hit it. and I'll hit it hard." He kept his oath, but no one but God and the Anorels. as they looked down that ni^ht, knew the time nor the place, but God knew then that the deft brown hand which tossed the rope lightly into
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 45
that old flatboat, would one day sign the emancipa- tion of three million slaves!
Permit me here to give a "close-up'* of our boy- hero twenty-six years later, — a pen picture dispatched by a reporter for the Boston Journal who covered the debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Doug- las, which made both of these men famous.
The State Convention had nominated Mr. Lincoln for the United States Senate. The report was as fol- lows:
"The men are entirely dissimilar. Mr. Douglas is a thickset, finely built, courageous man and has the air of self-confidence that does not a little to inspire his supporters with hope. Mr. Lincoln is a tall, lank man, awkward, apparently diffident, and when not speaking, has neither firmness nor fire in his eye. He has a rich, silvery voice, enunciates with great dis- tinctness, and has a fine command of language. He commenced by a review of the points Mr. Douglas had made. In this he shows great tact and his retorts though gentlemanly, were sharp and reached to the core of the subject in dispute. (Lincoln) "My distin- guished friend says it is an insult to the emigrants of Kansas and Nebraska to suppose that they are not able to govern themselves. We must not slur over an argument of this kind because it happens to tickle the ear. It must be met and answered. I admit that the emigrants of Kansas and Nebraska are competent to govern themselves, but (the speaker rising to his full height) I deny the right to govern any other person, without that person's consent."
The vast throng was as silent as death; every eve was fixed upon the speaker. He then charged Mr. Douglas with doing nothing for freedom : with dis- regarding the rights and interests of the colored man, and for about forty minutes he snoke with a power we have seldom heard equaled. There was grandeur in his thous^hts. a comnrehensiveness in his arpii- ments, and binding* foroe in his conclusions, which were perfectly irresistible ... He was the tall man
46 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
eloquent; his countenance glowed with animation, and his eye glistened with an intelligence that made it lustrous. He was no longer awkward and ungainly, but graceful, bold, commanding. Mr. Douglas had been quietly smoking up to this time, but here he forgot his cigar and listened with anxious attention. When he arose to reply, he appeared excited, disturbed and his second eifoii: seemed to us vastly inferior to his first. Mr. Lincoln had given him a great task, and Mr. Doug- las had not time to answer him, even if he had the abil- ity."
Thus we see that Mr. Lincoln made good on his boyhood promise, '*to hit that thing hard.''
As early as 1856, Mr. Lincoln availed himself of his opportunity to ''hit that thing hard" when he en- tered the political campai<m, after an absence of sev- eral years, which he had been devoting to his law practice in Springfield, Illinois, with the intention of never leaving it again. He was drawn intoThe field by the infamous Dred Scott Decision rendered by the fanatical Romanist, Judge Taney, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme bench. The Taney decision in a nutshell was, that the "Negro had jio rights which the white man had to respect." This virtually placed the government endorsement on black slavery, and aroused Mr. Lincoln to action.
In November, 1855, Abraham Lincoln drew down upon him the fire of Rome when he answered a wire from the Reverend Chas. Chiniquy, Catholic priest, of Kankakee, Ills., who had been engaged in a series of court suits with the bishoD of the Chicago diocese, of which he was a "subject," asking his professional services. Within twenty minutes the reply came to Chiniquy : ''Yes, I will defend your life and your honor at the next May term of the court at Urbana. A. Lin- coln."
Promptly on May 19th, 1856. Mr. Lincoln appeared at Urbana and consulted with Father Chiniquy, but I will let him tell you of their meeting :
"He was a giant in stature, but I found him still
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 47
more a giant in the noble qualities of his mind and neart. it was niipossioie to converse with mm Hve min- utes, witnour loving mm, I'nere was sucn an expression 01 Kinaness and nonesty in his face, sucn an attractive magnetism m the man, that alter a lew minutes con- versation, one lelt as tied to him by all of the noblest ahections of the heart.
When pressing my hand, he told me: "You were mistaken when you telegraphed that you were unknown to me. 1 know you by reputation, as the stern opponent of the tyranny of your bishop, and the fearless pro- tector 01 your countrymen in Illinois. I have heard much of you from two friends, and last night your lawyers, Messrs. Osgood and i^addock, acquamtea me with the lact that your bishop employs some of his tools to get rid of you. I hope it will be an easy thing to defeat his projects, and protect you against his machinations. He then askea me how I had been in- duced to desire his services. 1 answered by giving the story of that unknown friend, a lawyer*, who had advised me to have Mr. Lincoln — for the reason that he was the best and most honest man in Illinois. He smiled at my answer with that inimitable and unique smile which we may call the 'Lincoln smile' and repli- ed: 'That unknown friend would have been more cor- rect had he told you that Abraham Lincoln was the ugliest lawyer in the country,' and he laughed out- right." (Chiniquy's Fifty Years in the Church of Rome.)
The defeat of Rome in this celebrated case by Mr. Lincoln; his terrific arraignment of the "perjuring gang of priests" who had left no stone unturned to ruin Father Chiniquy by a false accusation against him in which it was charged by the infamous priest La Bell that Mr. Chiniquy had made an attack upon the sister of the former. On the night before the case was to go to the jury, Mr. Lincoln, himself, had almost given up hope of an acquittal, notwith- standing the fact that he was convinced of Father Chiniquy's innocence. He frankly told Chiniquy of
48 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
his fears and his last admonition to the distressed and persecuted man was: **My dear Mr. Chiniquy, though I hope tomorrow to destroy the testimony of LaBell against you, I must concede that I see great danger ahead. There is not the least doubt in my mind that every word he has said is a sworn lie, but my fear is, that the jury thinks differently. I am a pretty good judge of these matters, — I fear that our jurymen think you are guilty — I have never seen two such skillful rogues as those two priests. There is really a diabolical skill in the plan they have con- cocted to ruin you — the only way to be sure of a favorable verdict tomorrow, i^ that God Almighty would take our part and show your innocence! Go to Him and pray, for He alone can save you."
Surely a more direct answer to prayer was never received, for that very night Father Chiniquy spent almost the entire time on his knees interceding that his innocence might be exonerated, when at three o'clock in the morning he answered a knock on his door, and there stood Mr. Lincoln, ''his face beaming with joy" as Chiniquy expressed it, — "Cheer up, Mr. Chiniquy, I have the perjured priests in my hands. Their diabolical plot is known, and if they do not fly away before the dawn of day, they will sureiy be lynched. Bless the Lord, you are saved!"
The wide publicity given the ca^e in Chicago through the press had brought out the fact that Chini- quy would probably be convicted. This was read by the French Catholics and brought to light two wit- nesses, two women who were present in priest La Beirs house when he offered his sister two sections of land if she would swear falsely against Father Chiniquy. La Bell allayed her scruples by assuring her he could forgive her sin if she would confess to him. (Priests' relatives rarely ever confess to them, if it can be avoided). One of these female witnesses whose conscience was aroused by the unjust position in which Father Chiniquy had been placed, came to Springfield that night and told the facts to Mr. Lin-
ASSASSINS OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN 49
coin. The priests left town early in the morning, fearing the consequences as public opinion had been strongly against them, and La Bell's lawyer asked that the case be dismissed, which was granted.
Mr. Lincoln did not permit the priests to go un- scathed, however, and in a most terrific scorching at their audacious attempt to corrupt the courts, he closed his rebuke as he towered above his auditors with these words :
"May it please your honor, gentlemen of the jury and American citizens, this conspiracy, I am aware, has failed in its efforts, but I have a few words which I wish to say." He then went on and depicted the career of Father Chiniquy, how he had been unjustly persecuted, and in conclusion said : "As long as God gives me a heart to feel, a brain to think, or a hand to execute my will, I shaU devote it against that power which has attempted to use the machinery of the courts to destroy the rights and character of an American citizen.'" And this prom- ise made by Abraham Lincoln in his maturer years he also kept. That same year when he entered the political field, tearing to tatters, as no other man could, Taney's Dred Scott Decision, in favor of black slavery, he fully understood the motive power behind it was Rome. Whenever Lincoln ''hit a thing," he ''hit it hard."
From that time on the black clouds of Jesuitism were fast gathering about the life of Abraham Lin- coln. These enemies followed his path as a shadow fol- lows sunshine. From that moment his doom was writ- ten in letters of blood.
A remarkable thing transpired, when, after the trial, Mr. Chiniquy asked Mr. Lincoln for his bill. While he was drawing up a note for $50.00, as his client had requested, Mr. Lincoln said to him : "Father Chiniquy, what are you crying for? You ought to be the happiest man aliv^. You have beaten your enemies and come out trimnphant; they have fied in disgrace." To which the emotional Frenchman re-
50 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
plied : *'I am not weeping for myself, but for you, sir. They will kill you ; and let me tell you this, if I were in their place and they in mine, it would be my sole, my sworn duty, to take your life myself, or to find a man to do it."
Chiniquy was right. They found their man.
LINCOLN THE THIRD PRESIDENT ASSASSIN- ATED.
The murder of five presidents of this republic, by these enemies of Popular Governments in less than sixty years, is a toll which is worthy, it would seem to the writer, of the most serious consideration of the American people. Five presidents of this re- public in 59 years were assassinated ; two by the poison cup and three by the leaden bullet.
Abraham Lincoln was the third president assas- sinated; three before him had been given the "Poison Cup." Indeed, poison had been administered to Presi- dent Lincoln, according to the Chas. Selby letter to Booth which was a conspicuous government exhibit in the trials of Mrs. Mary E. Surratt and the other con- spirators, which stated:
"The cup failed us once, and might again."
There were two things the ultra-pro-slavery leaders of the South had been urging for years by which they expected to make the breach for their entering wedge. One was the invasion of Cuba; the other, the annexation of Texas. The fine Italian hand is easily discernible in both.
An invasion of Cuba would have meant war with Catholic Spain, Catholic France, Catholic Austria, Catholic Belgium, and, of course, Italy, where the Pope was king of his dominion. What chance would our young Republic have had in case they succeeded? Disruption? Not only disruption but total annihila-
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 51
tion of Popular Governments and the setting up of the monarchial institutions pledged at Congress of Vienna in 1814, and ratified at Verona in 1822.
The PLAN of these imperialistic conspirators was to wipe out the little Republic of Mexico where the Liberals had succeeded, under the leadership of Juarez, the half-indian, rebellious ex-priest, in throw- ing off the Spanish and Papal yokes. Juarez had been elected president of Mexico when Civil War broke out in the United States.
During this time the new popular government was progressing rapidly in Mexico. The first official act, was the CONFISCATION of all the Roman church property, which included over thirty-five per cent of the most valuable and choicest land and holdings.
There was a certain line of policy which these monarchical plotters were nursuing in this country through the Leopoldines. The Slave question was be- coming more acute all the time. The Jesuit-controlled leaders only, were aware of the PLAN. The masses of the Southern people had no real knowledge of it. They were not permitted to have, but their nolitical leaders had. The masses of any people cannot be corrupted. The strong sense of iustice and ri^ht and fairness which God has implanted in each human heart at birth, unless destroyed by some evil influence, or system. will invprfablv spring into action at a crisis, if they are permitted to have a clear understanding of the issue. As a matter of fact their very instinct of self- preservation sharpens their judgment and strength- ens their resolutions. The only instances of wronor de- cisions, or actions at such times, comes from false, wicked leaders.
I say again, that it was the evil, "Un-christian, un-American influence of the Roman Church" that dominated and controlled the ultra -pro-slavery leaders, which led on to its own destruction. They carried on a constant "Rule or ruin" policv in state and national af- fairs. They were, in fact, the strong element in the beginning but with the advent of the Abolitionists of
52 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
the North, a weakening of their hold began, for the SLAVERY was thrust out in the open and could not be further obscured.
In 1841 General Wm. Henry Harrison of Ohio, was elected President by a large majority. The loyalty to the Union of General Harrison was above ques- tion, and it was out of the power of the Leopoldines to defeat him. It was with his election that the "Big Stick" of intimidation was first raised when political intrigue had failed.
In his inaugural address, which was a masterpiece. President Harrison clearly, definitely and finally cut any ground for hope from under them, which these enemies to the Union of States might have had when he said:
"We admit of no government by divine right, believing- that so far as power is concerned, the beneficent Creator has made no distinction among men; that all are upon an equality, and that the only legitimate right to govern, is upon the ex- press grant of power from the governed."
With these unmistakable words President Har- rison made his position clear; he hurled defiance t-^ the Divine Right enemies of our Popular Government. Aye, he did more — for those were the words that signed his death warrant. Just one month and five days from that day. President Harrison lay a corpse in the White House. He died from arsenic poisoning, ad- ministered by the tools of Rome. The Jesuit oath had been swiftly carried out:
"I do further promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage, relent- less war, secretly or openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Liberals, as I am directed to do, to extirpate them and exterminate them from the face of the earth ....
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 53
Jesuit Oath Fulfilled Five Times in Sixty Years.
'By the Poison Cup" April 4, 1841
'By the Poison Cup* July 5, 1850
President Wm. Henry Harrison President Zachary Taylor
By the "Leaden Bullet" July 2, 1881
By the "Leaden Bullet", Sept. 6, 1901
President James A. Garfield
President William McKinley
54 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
"That when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the poison cup regard- less of the honor, rank, dignity, or authority of the person or perisons .... whatsoever may be their condition in" life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agent of the Pope or Superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Faith of the Society of Jesus."
Allow me to quote for you from U. S. Senator Benton's "Thirty Years View," volume 11, page 21, regarding the death of President Harrison :
"There was no failure of health or strength to indicate such an event or to excite apprehen- sion that he would not go through his term with the same vigor with which he commenced it. His attack was sudden and evidently fatal from the beginning."
And at the close of the chapter in Senator Ben- ton's book, we read this significant bit of information which should be well pondered :
"That the deceased President had been closely preceded and was rapidly followed by the deaths of almost all of his numerous family, sons and daughters.*'
That is "extirpation" with a vengeance, is it not? WHOLFSALE extirpation. In fact, there was but one of his eight children, a son, permitted to live.
INTIMIDATION was the covert motive behind this wholesale assassination of the Harrison family of Liberal "heretics," whose distinguished father had been martyred for his belief in the POPULAR GOV- ERNMENT of which he had been made the highest representative by the PEOPLE.
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 55
THE ASSASSINATION 01^^ THE TWELFTH PRESI- DENT.
As these plotters against the Union had tried President Harrison out on the annexation of Texas, they used the invasion of Cuba as the test for Zach- ary Taylor, and had their plans ready to launch their nefarious scheme in the early part of his administra- tion, but from the very beginning President Taylor snuffed out all hope of its consummation during his term. In his first message to Congress, he said.:
*'But attachment to the UNION of States should be fostered in every American heart. For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood un- shaken In my judgment its dissolution
would be the greatest of calamities, and to avert that should be the steady aim of every American* Upon its preservation must depend our own hap- piness and that of generations to come. Whatever dangers may threaten it, I shall stand by it and maintain it in its integrity to the full extent of the obligations imposed, and power conferred on me by the Constitution."
There was no quibbling in this. The pro-slavery leaders had nothing to count on in Taylor, therefore they decided on his assassination. While these poli- ticians were not influential enough to name the Presi- dent, they were cunning enough to be able to control the nomination of the Vice President, and it goes with- out saying that they always chose a man who was in full sympathy with their plans. They pursued this as the next best thing. It had become practically a ''trade" between the two groups of pohticians.
John Tyler, a staunch pro-slavery man, strong for the things his party wanted, was chosen as Vice President for Taylor. The President, knowing the cal-
56 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
ibre of this running mate, had no sympathy, and as httle to do with him as possible. The arch-plotters, fearing that suspicion might be aroused by the death of the President early in his administration, as in the case of President Harrison, peraiitted him to serve one year and four months, when on the Fourth of July, arsenic was administered to him during a cele- bration in Washington at which he was invited to de- liver the address. He went in perfect health in the morning and was taken ill in the afternoon about five o'clock and died on the Monday following, having been sick the same number of days and with precisely the same symptoms as was his predecessor, President Har- rison. I quote again from Senator Benton's 'Thirty Years View:"
"He sat out all the speeches and omitted no attention which he believed the decorum of his station required The violent attack be- gan soon after his return to the Presidential mansion." (Vol. 11, P. 763.)
The Vice President, John Tyler, was immediately sworn in as President, after the death of "Old Rough and Ready" as Zachary Taylor's friends affectionately called him.
Tyler, who had been approached by these assas- sins previous to the death of President Taylor, had re- plied to their interrogations on the annexation of Tex- as question:
*Tf I should ever become president, I would exert the entire influence of that office to ac- complish it."
President Tyler made good his promise and the tittnexation of Texas which was tricked through, caused the resignation of every member of President Taylor's Cabinet, with the exception of Daniel Webster,
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 57
PRESIDENT JAMES BUCHANAN
Given "Poison Cup" at the National Hotel, Washington, D. C, February, 1856, but escaped in a wholesale poisoning in which fifty were affected and thirty-eight died.
58 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
but let us again quote from Benton's ''Thirty Years'
View:"
"He (Webster) had remained with Mr. Ty- ler until the Spring of 1843, when the progress of the Texas annexation scheme carried on pri- vately, not to say clandestinely, had reached a point to take an official form, and to become the subject of government negotiation, though still secret. Mr. Webster, Secretary of State, was an obstacle to that negotiation. He could not be trust- ed with the secret, much less conduct the negotia- tions. How to get rid of him was a question of some delicacy. Abrupt dismissal would have re- volted his friends. Voluntary resignation was not to be expected .... A middle course was fallen upon — that of compelling a resignation. Mr. Ty- ler became reserved and indifferent to him. Mr. Gilmer and Mr. Upshur, with whom he had few affinities, took but little pains to conceal their
distaste to him Mr. Webster felt it and
told some of his friends. They said "resign." He did and his resiornation was accepted with an alacrity which showed it was waited for. Mr. Up- shur took his place and quickly the Texas negotia- tions became official, still secretly. (Thirty Years' View, P. 562.)
Circumstances pointed to the Messrs. Gilmer and Upshur, as being the actual assassins of Zachary Tay- lor. Thus, at last, they accomplished, after years of effort, one of their daring schemes — the annexation of Texas.
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 59
THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THE THIRTEENTH PRESIDENT
The Presidential election of 1856 was a hotly con- tested one for the pro-slavery forces fully realized that never again would they be able to dominate or control the presidency. The newly AWAKENED SO- CIAL CONSCIENCE of the North had animated PUB- LIC SENTIMENT to such an extent that this would be impossible, so they were ready to take the most desperate chances to elect James Buchanan as the only presidential possibility, in whom they could have any hope. Not being absolutely certain of his dependable- ness, they resorted to their old policy of being doubly sure of his running mate and nominated John C. Breck- enridge of Kentucky.
In order that the Dred Scott Decision should not in any way hazard the chances of Buchanan's election, these Jesuit schemers compelled Judge Roger E. Taney to withhold his decision until after the election. It was not published until two days after the Inauguration, March 6th, 1857.
The new President proved himself a decided ^Trimmer." Although he was a Northern man, he had strongly courted the Southern leaders, and given them to understand that he was "Wifh them heart and soul." in short, he double-crossed them. He was invited to deliver an address on Washington's birthday, and made a reservation at the National Hotel, (which, by the way, was the headquarters for the Jesuit traitors) for himself and friends. The Southern leaders immediately got in touch with him with the intention of ^ testing him out and learning precisely whether he intended to make good on his pre-election promises or not.
The gentleman had had his ear to the ground ev- idently and heard the rumble of the Abolitionists' wheels, and when the committee asked for a confer- ence, he coolly informed them that he was President of. the North, as well as of the South. This change of at- titude was indicated by his very decided stand against
60 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Jefferson Davis and his party, and he made known his intention of settling the question of Slavery in the Free States to the satisfaction of the people in those States.
The following quotations from the New York Herald and the Post at the time chronicled what fol- lowed :
"The appointments favoring the North by the Jeff Davis faction will doubtless be accepted, and treated as a declaration of war, and a war of ex- termination on one side or the other." (Feb. 25, 1857.)
"On Washington's birthday, Buchanan's stand became known and the next day (23rd) he was poisoned. The plot was deep and planned with skill. Mr. Buchanan, as was customary with men in his station, had a table and chairs reserved for himself and friends in the dining room at the Na- tional Hotel. The President was known to be an inveterate tea drinker; in fact, Northern people rarely drink anything else in the evening. South- ern men prefer coffee. Thus, to make sure of Bu- chanan and his Northern friends, arsenic was sprinkled in the bowls containing the tea and lump sugar and set on the table where he was to sit. The pulverized sugar in the bowls used for coffee on the other tables was kept free from the poison. Not a single Southern man was affected or harmed. Fifty or sixty persons dined at the table that evening, and as nearly as can be learned, about thirty-eight died from the effects of the poison.''
"President Buchanan was poisoned, and with great difficulty his life was saved. His physicians treated him understandingly from instructions given by himself as to the cause of his illness, for he understood well what was the matter."
"Since the appearance of the epidemic, the tables at the National Hotel have been almost
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 61
empty. But more remarkable than the appear- ance of the epidemic itself, is the supineness of the authorities of Washington, in regard to it."
"Have the proprietors of the Hotel, or clerks, or servants, suffered from it? If not, in what re- spect did their diet and accommodations differ from those of the guests (Northern) V
"There is more in this calamity than meets the eye. It is a matter that should not be trifled with." (N. Y. Post, March 18, 1857.)
Thus again, we see the Jesuits "found their man" and kept their oath that :
"I do further promise and declare, that I will have no opinion or will of my own, or any mental reservation whatsoever, even as a corpse or cada- ver, but I will unhesitatingly obey each and every command that I may receive from my superiors in the Militia of the Pope, and of Jesus Christ. '
"That when the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the poison cup . . . the steel of the poinard, or the leaden bullet, regarflless of honor, rank, dignity or authority, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed to do."
The close call to death frightened and made James Buchanan the most subservient tool the Jesuits ever had. An old friend who visited him in Washington a few months after, said he had "aged twenty-five years.'" He had been the picture of health, robust and straight as an arrow, when he arrived in Washington for his Inauguration. After he had gotten his dose he was emaciated and bent. An item from the Newark News Advertiser of March 18th, 1857, said:
62 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
"SYMPTOMS OF THE ATTACK AND NAMES OF SOME OF THE MURDERED DEAD."
"A persistent diarrhoea, in some cases accom- panied by violent vomiting, and always with a most distressing loss of strength and spirits in the person. Sometimes the person for one day would be filled with the hopes of recovery, then relapse again to loss of spirits and illness."
"Elliott Eskridge, the nephew of President Buchanan, died from the effects of the poisoning." During the Buchanan administration seven States seceded, headed by South Carolina, taking seven forts, four arsenals and one Navy Yard, and the United States Mint at New Orleans, with five hundred and eleven thousand dollars. The total value of the govern- ment property stolen at this time was TWENTY-SEV- EN MILLION DOLLARS AND EIGHT MILLIONS OF INDLVN TRUST BONDS !
Allow me here to give the following graphic pic- ture of the situation in 1850-60, taken from a eulogy, delivered on Wendell Phillips in Boston, April 9th, 1884, by the Rev. Dr. Archibald H. Grimke of Washington, D. C, one of the most scholarly and eloquent thinkers of his race:
"But when the year 1850 came and the slave power hung its Black bill over the Free States, non-resistance had no longer any place in the conflict. The time for argument had passed; the time for arms had arrived. On the first wave of this momentous change Wendell Phillips mounted to leadership. His speeches were the first billows breaking in prophetic fury against the South. They were the first blasts of the tempest; the first shock on the utmost verge of the Civil War. Forcible resistance of the Black bill was now obedience to God . . . The passage of the Bill was the actual opening of hostilities between two sec- tions. The Union from that moment was in the state of war. Of course there were not then any
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 63
of the visible signs of war, — no opposite armies — two belligerent governments. ... It was none the
less real, however The peacable surrender of
a fugitive slave becomes now treason to freedom. Wendell Phillips comprehended the gravity of the situation. He refused to cry peace when there was no peace. He answered the Southern manifesto with the thunder of his great speech on the an- niversary of the rendition of Sims. . .He is in com- mand and has called for guns. . . He saw clearly that the danger of the reform lay in the stupor and indifference which repeated executions under the law would produce.
"The South was united and highly organized, impelled by a single purpose, and in possession of the whole machinery of government. He saw the North timid, irresolute, sordid, drugged by Whigs and Democrats, and frozen with the fear of dis- union. . . Peace was slavery, and sleep was death. The only hope of freedom lay now in the finger that could pull the trigger. This might beat back the advancing apathy and save the citadel of lib- erty. It is the glory of Phillips that he saw this. .... He was an army in himself. His eloquence poured out month after month, and year after year, a kind of imminent presence. . . . the very air of the Free States vibrated with the disembod- ied soul of his mighty invectives. . . Shock after shock has loosened the ice from the conscience and courage of the North. The Republican party is born, and then comes the first political freedom. Abraham Lincoln has entered the White House, and Jeff Davis has turned his back upon Washing- ton forever. The trial morning is rising gloomiy upon the republic. The gray light is haunted with strange voices, winged portents, bloody appari- tions. Right and Wrong, Freedom and Slavery have reached the plains of *60 !" Thus we have been given a glimpse of the decade from the murder of Taylor to the Election of Lincoln.
Chapter V.
When The Pope Was King.
That Pope Pius IXth conspired with Napoleon nird to take advantage of the conflict between the North and the South in this country and to with one blow destroy both Popular Governments of Mexico and the United States, is beyond question.
During the years from 1864 to '65 the activity of these Jesuits in Europe was redoubled. There is no doubt that they were not in close touch with every step and phase of the Rebellion in this country. In 1856 Prince Maximillian of Austria, was called to Rome where a marriage had been arranged through ecclesias- tical and royal intrigue between himself and the Prin- cess Carlotta, daughter of King Leopold Ilnd of Bel- gium, thus uniting two of the strongest Catholic powers in Europe.
The next step was the marriage of this royal couple in the Cathedral at Vienna. In April, 1864, by the orders of the Dope, they were crowned Emperor and Empress of Mexico at Pontifical High Mass and amidst great rejoicing. On April 14, 1864, just one year to the day, previous to Lincoln's assassination, this royal couple set sail in an Austrian ship of war for Mexico. They put in at Cevita Vecchia, the port in the Papal States, and were received at the Vatican by the most elaborate ceremonies which had ever been extended by a pope to rovaltv. After several days of these honors and being loaded down with the papal blessings they again resumed their journey across the Atlantic.
Maximillian had been, during a previous visit to Napoleon Illrd and his Empress Eugenia, assured of the assistance of thirty thousand French and Belgium troops for his invasion into Mexico, the -specific ob-
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 65
ject of which was the destruction of the young Repub- lic already established under Juarez. These troops were poured in and were being supported by the Mexican people. It had been impressed upon Maximillian at the Vatican that his first official act must be complete restoration of all the church property and ecclesiasti- cal "rights" of the clergy which had been confiscated by the Liberal government.
After the conquest of Mexico the plan was for this imperialistic commander "Emperor" Maximillian, to join Jefferson Davis and Confederate troops at Rich- mond, where they would sweep north and capture Washington.
Davis had made a strong appeal in 1863 in a letter to the Pope, and after the reply which he prompt- ly received from "His Holiness" a wholesale desertion of the Irish Catholic troops of the North to the Con- federacy followed. In fact, the government figures are that out of 144,000 Irish Romanists, but 44,000 re- mained loyal.
We have seen and heard how the Roman priest- hood the world over, is bending every effort to restore the pope to the position which he occupied during the Dark Ages. This is perhaps, an opportune time for the reader to take a survey of the conditions which existed in the Papal States prior to and during the Civil War where the popes of Rome had been in supreme com- mand for over fourteen hundred years. Certainly, four- teen hundred years oucrht to be sufficient for a thor- ough test of the merits of a system. Pius IXth was elected in 1846. There had been three popes in the in- terim between him and Pius Vllth who had restored the Jesuits and called the Congress of Vienna in 1814. There was no change in policy, however, nor any lax- ness in re^^rard to the attitude of the church toward its obligations to the "high contracting parties" of the Holy Alliance and their Secret Treaty at Verona.
Of all of his predecessors Pius IXth was one of the most reactionarv. His notorious Syllabus which was proclaimed to a startled world in December, 1864, he
66 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
anathamatized every fundamental principle upon which this Republic is based. The historians are inclined to place all the blame of his mistakes, and they were many, upon his Secretary of State, Cardinal Antonelli, who was beyond doubt "the power behind the throne" — the agent for the "Black" pope. Antonelli is far more interesting as a character study than the "White" pope, inasmuch as he was so deeply interested in the affairs of this country during the war, I am taking the liberty of reproducing some graphic pen pictures by the distinguished French journalist, M. About, who made a personal visit to the Papal States to learn, firsthand, if the astounding reports from the Italian Revolutionists which had been pouring into the Eu- ropean nress for several years were correct. M. About's book, "The Roman Question" is intensely interesting and written in the peculiarly piquant style of the brilliant Frenchman. It is long since out of print and difficult to secure as the Leopoldines have bought un every copy which comes under their WATCHFUL EYE. It is a terrific arraignment, especially so, as the author himself was a Roman Catholic.
His visit to the Papal States was made in 1859, the same year you will remember that Abraham Lin- coln was making his telling political campaigns for the presidency, and immortalizing himself by his de- bate with Judge Douglas, tearincr to tatters the Dred Scott Decision, Judge Roger E. Taney.
The great Italian poet and patriot, Mazzini. was an exile, living in a London attic, pouring out his soul's most noble anneals to the Liberals of Europe. His large property holdings in Italy had been confiscated by the Pope^s government. The Carlysles had visited him in his attic and through their friendship he was brought from the miserable surroundings and ensconsed i^ comfortable quarters, where the most distinguished literati of London and Paris visited him and were cap- tivated by his remarkable talents and his sincere na- triotism and completely won over bv his irresistible arguments for a FREE AND UNITED ITALY.
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 67
The exile Garibaldi, with his "Redshirted Legion" had answered the call of his country after a sojourn in the United States where he had also lived in an at- tic in New York City, following the humble profession of a candlemaker, saving up his money.
One day he suddenly closed his attic door and dis- appeared as mysteriously as he had come. The great soldier patriot returned to Italy by the way of London and one of his most brilliant conquests was the capture of the hearts of the people of London. The red-blooded staunch Protestants not only of the city itself, but from all over England, came to welcome the man who had returned to offer his sword against the papal yoke. They went wild with delight. Garibaldi with his yellow flowing hair under his big slouch hat was lifted to the shoulders of the crowd, mad with joy which surged about him, and carried as though his great form was but a feather's weight.
This was an insult, aye, it was the unforgiva- ble sin in the eyes of the black-robed Jesuits, and the Vatican, which aroused the deadly hatred for/ the English Protestant nation, a hatred which has not abated up to today.
One might presume under the circumstances that the Pope would have been too occupied with his own af- fairs to have meddled with the politics in the United States, at such a time.
The clever Frenchman, M. Dupin, has said:
"Le Jesuitism est un epee dont la poingee est a Rome, et la point partout." — Jesuitism is a sword whose hilt is in Rome and its point everywhere.
Gladstone had visited the Papal States in 18^50 and on his return to England, had reported to his government and the London Press that the Papal gov- ernment was "The negation of God."
68 ASSASSINS GP ABRAHAM LINCOLN
In the preface of his book, M. About says :
"It was in the Papal States that I studied the Roman Question. I travelled over every part of the country; I conversed with men of all opinions, ex- amined things very closely, and collected my informa- tion on the spot "
"The pressing condition of Italy has obliged me to write more rapidly than I could have wished; and this enforced haste has given me a certain air of warmth, perhaps of intemperance, even to the most
carefully matured reflections I fight fairly and
in good faith. I do not pretend to have judged the foes of Italy without passion; but I have calumniated none of them."
"If," he continues, "I have sought a publisher in Brussels, while I had an excellent one in Paris, it is not because I feel any alarm on the score of the regu- lations of our press, or the severity of our tribunals. But as the Pope has a long arm that might reach me in France, I have have gone a little out of the way to tell him the plain truths contained in these pages."
And now for the "plain truths" about his Secretary of State, the Cardinal Deacon, Antionelli.
"He was born among thieves His native place Sonino, is more celebrated in the history of crime, than all Arcadia in the annals of virtue. This nest of vultures was hidden in the southern mountains, to- ward the Neapolitan frontier. Roads, impractical to mounted dragoons, winding through brakes and thick- ets; forests impenetrable to the stranger; deep ra- vines and gloomy caverns — all combine to form a most desirable landscape, for the convenience of crime.
The houses of Sonino, old, ill built, flung pellmell, one upon another, and almost uninhabitable by human beings, were, in point of fact, little else than depots of pillage and magazines of rapine. The population, alert and vigorous, had for many centuries practiced armed robberies, and depredation had gained its livelihood at the point of the carbine."
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"Newborn infants inhaled a contempt of the law with the mountain air, and drew in the love of others goods, with their mother's milk. Almost as soon as they could walk, they assumed cioccie, or moccasins of untanned leather, with which they learned to run fearlessly along the ledge of the giddiest mountain precipices. When they had acquired the art of pur- suing and escaping, of taking without being taken, the knowledge of different coins, the arithmetic of the distribution of booty, and the principles of the Apaches or the Comanches, their education was rights of nations, as they are practiced among the deemed complete. . . .
"In the year of grace 1806, this sensual, brutal, impious, superstitious, ignorant and cunning race, en- dowed Italy with a little mountaineer, known as Gia- como Antionelli. Hawks do not hatch doves. This is an axiom in natural history, which has no need of demonstration. Had Giacomo Antionelli been gifted with simple virtues of an Arcadian shepherd, his vil- lage would instantly have disowned him. But the in- fluence of certain events modified his conduct, al- though they failed to modify his nature."
"If he received his first lessons from successful brigandage, his next teachers were the gendarmerie. When he was hardly four years old, the discharge of a high moral lesson shook his ears ; it was the French troops who were shooting brigands in the outskirts of Sonino."
"After the return of Pius Vllth., he witnessed the decapitation of a few neighboring relatives who had dandled him on their knees. Under Leo Xllth., it was still worse. The wholesome correctives of the wooden horse were permanently established in village
square St. Peter's Gate, which adjoins the house
of the Antoinelli, was ornamented with a garland of human heads, which .... grinned dogmatically enough
in their iron cages Young Giacomo was enabled
to reflect upon the inconveniences of brigandage, even before he had tasted its sweets ... He hesitated for
70 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
some time as to the choice of a calling. His natural vocation was that of the inhabitants of Sonino . . . to live in plenty, to enjoy every sort of pleasure, to rule others, to frighten them if necessary, but above all, to violate laws with immunity."
With the view of attaining so lofty an end, without endangering his life, for which he had ever a most particular regard, he entered the great seminary of Rome."
That's a beautiful picture of the next highest pre- late to the Pope, is it not ?
So much for the early years of Antoinelli.
But permit me to quote again from the pen of the author of 'The Roman Question," who, as we know, was an eye witness :
No country in Europe is more richly gifted, or possesses greater advantages, whether for agricul- ture, manufacture or commerce ....
Traversed by the Appenines, which divide it about equally, the Papal dominions incline gently on one side the Adriatic, on the other the Meditteranean. In each of the seas they possess an excellent porr; to the east, Ancona to the west, Civita Vecchia .... If Panurge had had these ports in his kingdom, he would have infallibly built himself a navy ... The Phoenic- ians and Carthagenians were not so well off.
A river tolerably well known under the name of the Tiber, waters nearly the whole country to the west. In former days it ministered to the wants of internal commerce. Roman historians describe it as navigable up to Perugia. At the present time it is hardly so far as Rome ; but if its bed were cleared out, and the filth not allowed io be thrown in, it would ren- der greater service and would not overflow so often.
In 1847, the country lands subject to the Pope were valued at about 34,800,000 pound? sterling . . . the Minister of Public Works and Commerce admitted
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 71
that the property was not estimated at above a third of its real value. If capital returned its proper interest, if activity and industry caused trado and manufac- tures to increase, the national income, as ought to be the case, it would be the Rothschilds who would bor- row money from the Pope at six per cent interest."
As a matter of fact the Papacy was heavily in- debted to the Rothschilds upon which About throws a high light further on.
"But, stay," he continues, "I have not yet com- pleted the catalogue of possessions. To the munificence of nature, must be addea the inheritance of the past. The poor Pagans of great Rome left all their property to the Pope who dam.ns ihem.
They left him gigantic aqueducts, prodigious sew- ers and roads which we find still in use, after twenty centuries of traffic. They left him the Coliseum, for his Capuchins to preach in. They left him an exam- ple of an administration without equal in history. But the heritage was accepted without the respon- sibilities.
"I will conceal from you no longer that this magnificent territory appeared to me in the first place most unworthily cultivated. From Civita Vecchia to Rome, a distance of sixteen leagues, cultivation struck me in the lieht of very rare accident . . . Some pasture fields, some land in fallow, plenty of brambles, and, at long intervals, a field with oxen at the dIow: that is what the traveler will see in April. He will not meet with the occasional forest which he finds in the desert re- gions of Turkey. It seems as if man had swept across the land to destroy everything, ai^d the soil had been taken possession of by flocks and herds
I used to walk in every direction, and
sometimes long distances . . • F'owever, in pro- portion as I receded from the City of Rome, I
72 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
found the land better cultivated. On would sup- pose that from a certain distance from St. Peter's, the peasants worked with greater relish " . . . .
"I sometimes fancied that these honest la- borers worked as if they were afraid to make a noise, lest by smiting the soil too hard, too deeply, too boldly, they should wake up the dead of the past ages."
"St. Peter's is a noble church, but, m its way, a well cultivated field is a beautiful sight. . . . ... It seemed to me, that the activity and prosperity of the subjects of the Pope were in exact proportion to the square of the distance which separated them from Rome ... in other words, that the shade of the monuments of the eternal city, was noxious to the cultivation of the country, Rabelais says, *the shade of monas- teries is fruitful' but he speaks in another sense." I submitted my doubts to an old ecclesiastic, who hastened to undeceive me. 'The country is not un- cultivated," he said, "or if it be so, the fault is with the subjects of the Pope. This people is indolent by nature, thoujorh 21,415 monks are always preaching activity and industry to them!"
That is a birdseye view, dear reader, of the i^a- pal States in the early eighteentn century when we were having our blind struggle with the Papacy for our national existence in this country.
In his chapter on PLEBEIANS, M. About has this to say:
"The subjects of the Holy Father are divided by birth and fortune into three very distinct classes — nobility, citizens, and people, or plebeians.
The Gospel has omitted to consecrate the inequal- ity of men, but the law of the state — that is to say, the will of the Popes — carefully maintains it. Benedict XiV declared it honorable and salutary in his Bull of January 4, 1746, and Pius IX expressed himself in the same terms at the beginning of his Chirografo of May 2nd, 1853.*'
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 73
Ponder these words well, dear reader, and add to them the following quotation which I hfted from The New World, the Official Organ of the Roman Catho- lic Church in the Archdiocese of Chicago, 111., which was a comment on the Federation of Catholic Socie- ties held at New Orleans the previous November 1910 :
Human society has its origin from God and is constituted of two classes of people, rich and poor, which respectively represent Capital and Labor.
Hence it follows that according to the ordinance of God, human society is composed of two classes, su- periors and subjects, masters and servants, learned and unlettered, rich and poor, nobles and plebians." (The New World, Chicago, 111., Dec. 20-1910.)
It is astounding to know that Diomede Falconio, the Pope's Legate to this countrv, who uttered the above divine right treason on that occasion was at the time a naturalized citizen of the United States ! ! !
That is what the oath of a Jesuit amounts to.
Falconio, who has since died, was instructing the subjects of the Pope in this country and there were thousands of Catholics present at the New Orleans Convention, that a government based as our POPU- LAR Government is, is not worthy "favor or support." (See Leo XIHth's Great Encycicles, page 126).
In a nutshell, the Roman Church in this country has always taught and is still teaching its subjects a separate citi<enship inimical to our Amerjcaa citizen- ship that the sole authority to rule must come from the consent of the ruled-
This is the same divine right IDEA which rent this country from stem to stern in 1860, which gashed its fair face with the Mason and Dixon Line I
This is th^ same identical teaching which swept Abraham Lincoln from us at the most critical moment in our country's history.
This is the concentrated treason which is today be- ing inculcated in the minds of one million seven hundred thousand boys and girls who attend the Catholic paro- chial schools which we have wickedly permitted her to
74 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
erect in direct opposition to the Public Schools where the fundamentals of POPULAR GOVERNMENT is in- stilled.
This is the ROMAN QUESTION, the irrepres- sible conflict, the same old question which the great Lincoln understood and defined so thoroughly in his campaign with Douglas — Douglas with the Roman Catholic wife — Douglas, the Leopoldine, the defender of slavery, who was chosen whether consciously or un- consciously, I cannot say, but chosen just the same to champion the doctrine of class distinction in this coun- try with which they thought to destroy it.
"That is the issue that will continue in this coun- try when the poor tongues of Judge Douglass and myself shall be silent-
It is the eternal struggle between these two prin- ciples— right and wrong — throughout the world.
They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever con- tinue to struggle.
The one is the common right of humanity and the
other, the divine right of kings it is the same
spirit that says: ''You work and toil and earn bread and ril eat it.*' no matter in what shape it comes, .... it is the same tyrannical principle." (Lincoln's Speech at Alton, m., October 15, 1858.)
Abraham Lincoln was the living embodiment of"the common right of humanity/ In his life the perfection of the NEW IDEA had been materialized, had become a living, breathing FACT which was un- conquerable, yes, unassailable.
Lincoln knew the struggle v^ould go on, after "these poor tongues of Judge Douglass and myself shall be silent."
I believe that the prophetic, inimitable, words that Charles Chiniquy attributes to him in his Fifty Years In The Church of Rome were said by him. They have the peculiar literary style of Lincoln, and could never
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 75
be confused with the effusive, emotional manner of ex- pression of the Frenchman that Chiniquy had than night with day.
The opening words :
"I do not pretend to be a prophet," ring with the modesty which distinguishes many of Mr. Lin- coln's greatest sayings. Listen:
"I do not pretend to be a prophet. But though not a prophet, I see a very dark cloud on our ho- rizon. That dark cloud is coming from Rome. It will be filled with tears of blood. It will rise and increase, till its flanks will be torn by a flash of lightning, followed by a fearful peal of thunder. Then a cyclone such as the world has never seen will pass over this country, spreading ruin and desolation from north to south. After it is over, there will be long days of peace and prosperity; for popery with its Jesuitism and merciless Li- quisition, will have been forever swept away from our country. Neither you, nor I, but our children will live to see these things."— (Page 715, Fifty Years In The Church of Rome, by Rev. Charles Chiniquy)
Chapter VI.
Lincoln Takes Up The Burden.
Certainly, no president of this Republic was ever beset with so many staggering problems as President Lincoln. The more we study those perilous years, the more we wonder at his great wisdom, firmness and boundless patience and charity-
The Ultra-Pro-Slavery leaders had sworn to pre- vent the seating of Abraham Lincoln in the Presidental chair. So certain were they of the success of their plans that just as Buchanan was leaving the White House, before the arrival of Mr. Lincoln, he turned and said : "As George Washington was the first Presi- dent, so James Buchanan will be the last President of the United states."
Mr. Lincoln had no idea of the rottenness and treason which were there to face him in Washington. Almost every department in Washington was headed by a traitor to the Government, for the arch-plotters had been placing their trusted tools preparatory to the final blow.
The first months of his administration were spent in investigating these national assassins, and replacing them with men who were true. This, in itself, was a task that only the judgment of Lincoln could have accomplished.
Mr. Lincoln had no idea of the dimensions of the Secession Plot. He was later to find that his first call for 75,000 volunteers was inadequate and was amazed when the Governors of three Southern States refused to send their (juota.
Another disillusionment was when he noted that as he increased his calls for troops, Jefferson Davis did not send out any call. From that on Lincoln becran to realize something of the seriousness of the situation
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 77
and his last call was for "three years or during the war." Southern leaders also realized the fact that they were up against the real thing.
When President Lincoln reached Philadelphia for his first inauguration, there was a plot discovered and disclosed to General John Hancock at Washington to assassinate Mr. Lincoln at Baltimore, where he was to have stopped to address the citizens on his way to the Capital. The full details had been planned. An Italian barber well known in Baltimore, a Romanist, was to have stabbed him while seated in his carriage, when he started from the depot.
The son of Wm. H. Seward, who was at that time Senator and afterwards Lincoln's Secretary of State, was sent post-haste to Philadelphia to warn Mr. Lin- coln of his danger. It was a difficult matter at first to convince him of the seriousness of it. He flatly refused to go to Washington immediately, as was suggested by his friends, but promised that after he had raised the flag on Independence Hall in Philadel- phia, and delivered an address to the members of the Legislature at Harrisburg, he would take an ear- lier train to Washington, which he did, accompanied by only one friend. Wade C. Lammon, one of his law partners, and Wm. H. Pinkerton, head of the Detective Agency of that name in Chicago. The party took the six o'clock train out of Philadelphia, quietly without attracting any publicity, and as Mr. Lincoln was sound- ly sleeping, the train whizzed through Baltimore, and got him to Washington early in the morning, where he was taken in charge by the largest military and Secret Service escort a president ever had been sur- rounded with. Thus was the first of Rome's assassina- tion plot thwarted.
The awakening of the President and the North came on the morning of April 12, 1861 with the firing on Fort Sumpter. This opening shot of the rebellion was sent by General Beauregard, Jesuit leader of the mili- tary operations. Beauregard was a professed Roman- ist and sprung from a distinguished family of Jesuits.
78 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
The Cabin home where the baby Lincoln played about while the ''Holy Alliance" was entered into to destroy the Govern- ment he was to save.
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 79
The White House to which the People sent him Nov. 4, 1860, to "hit that thing hard".
m^'" 'mm
• m
m
The East R,oom where President Lincoln's body lay in state, slain by the "leaden bullet".
In this room the bodies of five slain Presidents have rested.
80 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
The North was wholly unprepared for war. They seemed not to have been able to realize that there could ever be a conflict between the citizens of the United States. This delusion was shot to pieces on April 12th, and amidst the greatest consternation and excitement preparations began in earnest.
That President Lincoln fully realized it was not a Protestant South with which he was contending, is clearly evident from his ov/n words on this sub- ject in his conversation with the Rev. Charles Chini- quy, ex-Catholic priest of Kankakee, 111., who called once each year during his administration at the White House to warn the President of his danger of assassina- tion by these enemies of Popular Government and their agents, the Jesuits, through their Leopoldines.
"THE COMMON PEOPLE HEAR AND SEE THE BIG NOISY WHEELS OF THE SOUTHERN CON- FEDERACY CARS, AND THEY CALL HIM JEFF DAVIS, LEE, THOMPSON, BEAUREGARD, SEMMES, OR OTHERS. THEY HONESTLY THINK THAT THEY ARE THE MOTIVE POWER, THE FIRST CAUSE OF OUR TROUBLES, BUT IT IS A MISTAKE, THE TRUE MOTIVE POWER IS SE- CRETED BEHIND THE THICK WALLS OF THE VATICAN— THE COLLEGES AND SCHOOLS OF THE JESUITS; THE CONVENTS OF THE NUNS, THE CONFESSIONAL BOXES OF ROME."
"THERE IS A FACT WHICH IS TOO MUCH IGNORED BY THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND WITH WHICH I AM ACQUAINTED ONLY SINCE I BE- CAME PRESIDENT. IT IS, THAT THE BEST AND LEADING FAMILIES OF THE SOUTH HAVE RE- CEIVED THEIR EDUCATION IN GREAT PART, IF NOT ALL, FROM THE JESUITS AND THE NUNS— HENCE THE DEGRADING PRINCIPLE OF SLAV-
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 81
ERY, PRIDE AND CRUELTY, WHICH ARE AS SEC- OND NATURE AMONG MANY OF THE PEOPLE."
And continuing Mr. Lincoln analyzed the Roman psychology which played its part in his own murder, when he said :
''HENCE THAT STRANGE WANT OF FAIR PLAY FOR HUMANITY; THAT IMPLACABLE HATRED AGAINST IDEALS OF EQUALITY AND LIBERTY, AS WE FIND THEM IN THE GOSPEi. OF CHRIST— IT IS TRUE THAT WE BOUGHT FLORIDA, LOUISIANA, SOUTH CAROLINA, NEW MEXICO AND MISSOURI FROM SPAIN, BUT ROME HAD PUT HER VIEWS OF HER ANTI-SOCIAL AND ANTI-CHRISTIAN MAXIMS INTO THE VEINS OF THE PEOPLE, BEFORE THEY BECAME AMERI- CANS."
Surely, no clearer conception of the masked enemy with which that great man was contending was ever glimpsed. While other men studied books, Lincoln STUDIED MEN, and the above interpretation of the terrible conflict in which he was the Commander-in- Chief is startHng in its accuracy. It is very simple now for those of us who have the knowledge of an array of facts before us, to see what Lincoln then saw, but we must remember when he spoke those words, he was the very storm-center and chief actor in the social upheaval without the advantage of retrospect. Mr. Lincoln had a prophetic sense almost uncanny, which alone made him superior to any of his contemporaries More than once he told his close friends that he had a strong premonition that he would not outlast the Rebellion, that his work would be finished with it.
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ROMAN CHURCH ALWAYS HAS ADVOCATED CHATTEL SLAVERY.
Disruption has always been the first motive of the Jesuits, and black slavery was the rock upon which they planned to rend this government. There was no other principle, no ethics involved, never is, so far as Jesuitism goes, except the fundamental prin- ciples of the divine right rule of the popes of Rome
From the earliest times the Roman Church ad- vocated human slavery. In the Middle Ages, when feu- dal slavery flourished, the church fattened on the ex- ploitation of the serfs who were bought and sold with the land. These serfs were supposed to have no souls, and were in precisely the same category as cattle- The great monasteries and nunneries were among the larg- est owners of serfs. For instance, had Joan D' Arc lived four hundred years before her time, she and her fam- ily would have been among the serfs attached to the Monastery of San Ramey. In short, serfdom was the basis of the wealth of the papacy.
It is true that in rare cases the church lifted out of serfdom, a boy in whom it recognized some peculiar native talent or personal trait which might be culti- vated and turned to its own advantage, but the act was simply the removal from the thralldom of serfdom to that of ecclesiastical slavery for further and more useful exploitation by more exacting task masters, for the Roman church has ahvays enslaved the minds of its victims. The Jesuit Oath exacts the obedience of "cadavers."
In the ''Doctrine of the Jesuits" by Gury, trans- lated into the French by that brilliant educator and statesman, Paul Bert in 1879, we find the position of the church and the Jesuits on black slavery quoted as follows :
''Slavery does not constitute a crime before any law, divine or human. What reasons can we have for undermining the foundations of slavery with the same zeal that ought always to animate us in overcoming
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 83
evil? When one thinks of the state of degradation in which the hordes of Africa live, the slave trade may be considered as a providential act, and we almost re- pudiate the philanthropy which sees in a man but one thing — material liberty."
The above is the papal virus to which Lincoln re- ferred and with which the youths of the best families of the Southern Confederacy were inoculated, and which made the leaders of the ultra pro-slavery forces an easy prey to the Roman hierarchy and its priest- hood in the great conspiracj^ or destruction which Lin- coln visioned.
It was the virus which was let into the viens of Mary E. Surra tt and was passed on by her to her son, the arch-conspirator, John H. Surratt ; it was the opiate which silenced the voice of conscience and kindness of heart of John Wilkes Booth, and nerved his hand to send the bullet into the great brain of Abraham Lincoln; it v/as the deadly drug which made Lewis Payne, the unfortunate, and the Happy-go-lucky "Davy" Herold, the shiftless Edw- Spangler, and the rest of the non-Catholic tools, wax, in the hands of the arch-Leopoldines in this wicked conspiracy to wreck this popular government.
This Jesuit virus that "Slavery does not constitute a crime before any law, divine or human," was the deadlv dru^ that set the BLOOD OF THE SLAVE OWNERS ON FIRE, JUSTIFIED THEIR "CAUSE '' distorted their vision, controlled their ethics and ap- pealed so strongly to their economic interests, and it was the one big urge underlying the whole progress of the treason of secession.
In the "A Memoir" of Jefferson Davis, the leader of the Southern Confederacy, pubhshed by his wife after his demise, we find on page 445, this remark: "Mr. Davis's early education had always inclined in the Roman Catholics, friends who could not be alien- ated from the oppressed." In chapter 2nd, that gen- tleman is quoted as follows :
g4 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
"The Kentucky Catholic school called St. Thomas College, when I was there was connected with the church. The priests were Dominicans. They held large property ; productive fields, slaves, flour mills, flocks and herds. As an association they were rich. Individually, they were vowed to pov- erty and self-abnegation. They were diligent, in the care, both spiritual and material, of their parishoners' wants. When I entered the school, a large majority of the boys belonged to the Roman Catholic church. After a short time I was the only Protestant boy remaining, and also the small- est boy in the school. From whatever reason, the priests were particularly kind to me. Father Wal- lace, afterwards bishop of Nashville, treated me with the fondness of a near relative."
It is very obvious from the above that the "kind- ness" shown to Jefferson Davis as a child clung to him and influenced his whole life- It bore fruit, and his friendliness to the Catholic church was well repaid by that institution which always, under such circum- stances, rewards its tools.
When Mr. Davis had been arrested after the close of the Civil War and was to be tried for treason, it was the distinguished Catholic attorney, Chas. O'Con- nor, of New York City, who offered his services, which were accepted in Mr. Davis's defense.
On Sept. 25th, 1863, Davis addressed the follow- ing letter to Pius IXth:
"Richmond, Va., Sept. 25, 1863. Very Venerable Sovereign Pontiff:
The letters which you have written to the clergy of New Orleans and New York have been committed to me, and I have read with emotion the deep grief therein expressed for the ruin and devastation caused by the war, which is now being waged against the States and the people who have selected me as their president, and your orders
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 85
to your clergy to exhort the people to peace and charity. I am deeply sensible of the christian charity which has impelled you to this reiterated appeal to the clergy. It is for this reason I feel it my duty to express personally and in the name of the Confederate States our gratitude for such sentiments of christian good feeling and love, and to assure Your Holiness, that the people threaten- ed even on their own hearths, with the most cruel oppression and terrible carnage is desirous as it always has been, to see the end of this impious war; that we have ever addressed prayers to heaven for that issue which Your Holiness now de- sires; that we desire none of our enemies posses- sions, that we merely fight to resist the devasta- tion of our country and the shedding of our best blood, and to force them to let us live in peace unrler the protection of our own institutions and under our laws, which not only insure to everyone the enjoyment of his temporal rights but also the free exercise of his religion.
I pray your Holiness to accept on the part of myself and the people of the Confederate States our sincere thanks for the efforts in favor of peace.
May the Lord preserve the days of Your Holi- ness and keep you under His divine protection. (Signed) Jefferson Davis."
It occurs to me that after perusing the above bit of concentrated treason, any apologist for this leader of the Rebellion would be out of order.
Here is the Pope's reply:
"Hustrious and honorable President, Salutation. We have just received with all suitable wel- come the persons sent by you to place in our hands your letter dated the 25th of Sept. last.
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Author of infamous "Syllabus" proclaimed December 8, 1864 which anathematizes the fundamentals of Representative Governments and was aimed particularly at the United States which stands in authority today precisely as it did the day it was uttered as is attested by the Great Encycicles of Leo XII.
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 87
Not slight was the pleasure we experienced when we learned from those persons and the letter, with what feelings of joy and gratitude, illus- trious and honorable President, as soon as you were informed of our letters to our venerable brother, John, Archbishop of New York and John, Archbishop of New Orleans, dated the 18th of October of last year, and in which we have with all our strength exerted and exhorted those ven- erable brothers that in their episcopal piety and solicitude they should endeavor with the most ardent zeal and in our name, to bring about the end of that fatal Civil War which has broken out in those countries in order that the Amer- ican people may obtain peace and concord and dwell charitably together.
It is particularly agreeable to us to see that you, illustrious and honorable President, and your people, were animated with the same desires of peace and tranquilitty which we have in our let- ters inculcated upon our venerable brothers. May it please God at the same time to make other people of America and their rulers reflecting seriously how terrible is civil war and what calamities it engenders, listen to the inspira- tions of a calmer spirit and adopt resolutely the part of peace.
As for us, we shall not cease to offer up the most fervent prayers to God Almighty that He may pour out upon all its people of America the spirit of peace and charity, and that He will stop the great evils which afflict them. We at the same time beseech the God of Pity to shed abroad upon you, the light of His Grace and attach you to us by a perfect friendship.
Given at Rome, at St. Peters the 3rd day of December, 1863 of our Pontificate Eighteen.
(Signed) Pius IXth."
S8 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
The reader will note the recognition by the Pope of a divided country and also his recognition of Davis as the President. It was on the publication of this letter that the large desertions of Roman Catholics from the ranks of the North began-
Mrs. Davis tells us:
"During Mr. Davis' imprisonment, the Holy father sent a likeness of himself and wrote under- neath it, with his own hand, attested by the seal of the Cardinal Antonelli, 'Come unto me all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' '* The lady further opines that:
*'The dignity and the man both illustrated the meek and lowly Lord of us all, whose Vice- Regent he was."
This remark leaves no doubt as to precisely where she stood on the question. The writer was amused to learn that Jeff Davis was a "Wet'* which is also in keeping with his early education in the Roman Church, and that his explanation upon an oc- casion when he was pressed for his attitude upon the subject is almost identical with that of the late J. Card. Gibbons. He says in part in his defense of the liquor traffic:
"To destroy individual liberty, and moral responsibility, (Get that, dear reader) would be to eradicate one evil by the substituticr- of an- other, which it is submitted would be more fatal than that for which it was offered as a remedy. The abuse and not the use of stimulants, it must be confessed, is the evil to be remedied"
Upon the whole, surely no one can deny that Rome's fatal virus worked in the veins of this Ultra- Pro-Slavery leader in the late Rebellion, and that
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 89
Lincoln was right when he recognized the "anti- social and anti-christian views" of the foe with which he struggled. The fact that Jefferson Davis was not a professed Roman Catholic did not in the slightest curtail his usefulness as a Leopoldine.
A sense of justice and gratitude should com- pel every loyal American to remember the de- cisive and correct attitude of the English govern- ment nf the psychological moment in our Civil War. It stands in sharp contrast with the meddlesome, treacherous letter of the Pope, above quoted to the "Honorable and Illustrious President*' of the Seceding States, On page 476 in the "Memoirs" by Mrs. Davis, quotes in full the ultimatum of England which was re- ceived by Davis at Richmond through the British Con- sul which says in part:
"After consulting with the law officers of the Crown, Her Majesty's government have come to the decision that the agents of the authorities of the so-called Confederate States have been en- gaged in building vessels which would be at least partially equipped for war purposes on leaving the ports of this country; that these war ves- sels would undoubtedly be used against the United States, a country with which this gov- ernment is at peace; that this would be a viola- tion of the neutrality laws of the realm ; and that the Government of the United States would have just grounds for serious complaint against her Majesty*s Government, should they permit such an infraction of the friendly relations subsisting between the two countries. No matter what might be the difficulty of proving in a court of law that the parties procuring the building of these vessels are agents of the socalled Confed- erate States, it is universally understood through- out the world that they are so, and Her Majesty's Government are satisfied that Mr. Davis would not deny that they are so. Under these circum-
90 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
stances, Her Majesty's Government protests and remonstrates against any further efforts being made on the part of the so-called Confederate States, or the authorities or agents thereof to build or to cause to be built, to purchase or to cause to be purchased, any such vessels as those styled as "Rams," or any other vessels to be used for war purposes against the United States, or against any country with which the United King- dom is at peace or on terms of amity; and Her Majesty's Government further protests against all acts in violation of the neutrality laws of the realms.
I have the honor to be your Lordship's obedi- ent servant,
(Signed) Russell"
Those are the words with the "bark on/' No recognition of "Your Illustrious and Honorable Presi- dent." Only recognition of a UNITED STATES— preservation of the Union — for which Abraham Lin- coln was contending and gave his precious life.
The wobbly attitude of the past administrations in Washington on the dangerous interference of the Sinn Fein element in this country during the present unpleasant attempt at disruption in the British Em- pire on the so-called "Irish Question" which is not Irish at all, but Roman question, makes one ashamed and humiliated at the hemming and hawing of the politicians in high office at Washington.
On July 26, 1862 in a letter to Reverdy Johnson, who by the way was the attorney who afterwards gave his distinguished services to Mrs. Mary E. Sur- ratt, Mr. Lincoln said:
"I am a patient man, always willing to forgive on the Christian terms of repentance, and also to give ample time for repentance. Still, I must save the government if possible. What I cannot do, of course I will not do; but it may as well be understood, once
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 91
for all, that I shall not surrender this game leaving any available card unplayed"
This was the same expression of sentiment which had caused the death of William Henry Harrison, the ninth President and Zachary Taylor, the twelfth President, the preservation of the UNION and that fact that Lincoln did it, was the grounds for his physical death, by these wreckers.
Nor did the great Lincoln stop pouring out his patriotic soul all during this trying four years. On August 15, 1863, he gave his opinion upon the Draft as follows:
''Shall we shrink from the necessary means to maintain our free government, which our grandfath- ers employed to establish, and our own fathers have already employed once to maintain it? Are we de- generate? Has the manhood of our race run out?" (Complete Works, Vol 11, p. 391).
The President spent the first months of his ad- ministration feeling his way, so to speak. Delving into the condition in the various departments, finding traitors and carefully replacing them by those whom he knew to be true. The lesson he was learning would have staggered a man of It^ss couiage than Lincoln — the steadfast, unyielding patriot, when any principle of right was in the balance.
It was the sifting time with Lirscoln. In his letter to Corning, June 1^88 he writes:
"The man who stands by and says nothing when the peril of his count ly government- is discussed, can- not be misunderstood. If not hindered, he is sure to help the enemy; much more, if he talks ambig- uously— talks for his country 'with buts and ifs and ands.' " (Barrett, p. 632)
In addressing the members of the general as- sembly Presbyterian Church, President Lmcoln said:
"As a pilot, I have used my best exertions to keep afloat our ship of state; and shall be glad to resign my trutt at the appointed time to another pi- lot more skillful and successful than I may prove.
92 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
In every case and at all hazards the government must be perpetuated." (Complete Works, Vol 2, Page 342.)
Thus almost daily was Lincoln telling of his Amer- ican creed, adding fuel to the fires of hatred which yi/ere burning in the wicked hearts of his country's deadly enemies. Spurred on like a lot of demons, they rounded up their hell hounds in and about Wash- ington for the final perfidious act.
It finally became manifest tv Iies)dent Lincoln that the presence of the foreign troops in Mexico waa a menace to the safety of this country, and througn our American Consul at Paris, this government served notice on Napoleon, that Jesuit tool of the Pope, that his troops must be removed from Mexico within the time indicated by this country.
That there could be no misunderstanding con- cerning the attitude of the Lincoln administration toward the Republic of Mexico, was made plainly ev- ident by the "note" sent through Secretary of State Seward to our Consul at Paris to be delivered to Napoleon nird which reads:
"The United States government does not de- sire to suppress the fact that their sympathies are with Mexico, that is to say with the Repub- lic of Mexico nor does United States gov- ernment, in any sense, for any purpose, disapprove of the Republican government, then in force in Mexico, or distrust the admin- istration. Neither was there any disposition apparently, to deny the Liberals of Mexico finan- cial assistance/'
When President Lincoln submitted to the Senate a Treaty granting a loan of $11,000,000 to the Repub- lic of Mexico, although he made no recommendation upon the subject, it was a sufficient hint which ex- pressed his sympathy.
The demand that the French troops be removed from Mexico was complied with to the letter, owing
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 93
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to complications in the situation in which France at the time was involved in Europe she feared war with the United States.
As can be imagined, this was a terrible blow to the CONSPIRATORS in Europe, Canada and Mex- ico, not to speak of their tools in this country. It served to practically break the morale of the Confed- erate army, and hastened the end oi the war with a Victory for the right.
In the meantime events were shaping up in Mex- ico in favor of the new Republic.
The Empress Carlotta within a few months after their arrival in Mexico City, was sent to Rome by Maximillian to explain in person that the strength of Popular Government there had been underesti- mated; that it was impossible to restore the church property and the rights of the clergy. The important part of her mission, however, was to ask for more troops.
Her reception at the Vatican was simply 'withering;" the Pope was so chagrined and angry at the failure of his designs and so severe in his re- proach that the sensitive princess was carried out bodi- ly in an unconscious state, upon which she recovered a mental wreck. She was incarcerated in the Castle of Bouchet near Brussels, Belgium, where she was placed under constant surveillance, and was unaware that on June 19th, 1867, Maximilian, her husband, was shot at sunrise at Queretaro, Mexico, by the Revolutionists. This is the tragic termination of what has always been alluded to as one of the greatest love matches of the royalty of Europe.
A victory for the North was not indicated un- til the very last days of the War. The Leopoldines left no stone unturned to defeat Lincoln*s renomi- nation. They fully realized that if they did not, it meant their doom. When the news of his re-election was flashed over the wires, they did not give up — far from it. They redoubled their efforts. They saw
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 95
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more clearly than ever before that Abraham Lincoln was their Nemesis. They knew only too well that he would be the stumbling block to their future plans, for they felt that in Lincoln they would always en- counter a powerful champion for the preservation of the Union and all its institutions. They feared with a deadly fear the influence of his able pen and voice, They knew that to permit this calm, thorough, clear- visioned man who had such a complete estimate ^ of their perfidious designs to serve at the helm during the RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD would mean their ultimate rout in our political affairs.
Chapter VH.
Assembling The Chosen Assassins.
One Sunday morning, during November, 1864, as the congregation of the little Roman Catholic Church of St. Mary's. Charles County, Maryland, was filing out after high mass and stood about in groups on the lawn talking in subdued voices about the news from the "front" which was not far distant, a hand- gome young man with dark, glowing eyes, jet black curling hair, a swinging, graceful carriage, with the grooming of a city man of culture and refinement, sauntered out from the church and stood a moment scanning the crowd; he finally made his way to a group, the center of which was a Dr. Queen, a lead- ing physician of that locality, and member of one of the prominent families. The stranger presented a card and the physician on glancing at it extended his hand and gave the gentleman a most cordial wel- come. The contents of the card must have borne a magic password which admitted him to the confi- dence and homes of these Romish devotees, every one of whom was a strong secessionist. The doctor introduced the stranger, who was none other than John Wilkes Booth, son of the distinguished actor, Junius Brutus Booth. John Wilkes Booth was the most eminent young tragedian at the time in the coun- try, by far the most talented of the Booth brothers. He had accumulated by his profession some $25,000 which was ouite a fortune in those days for a young man still in his twenties to accumulate.
Booth was what is known as a "traveling star," having with great success played most of the big cities in this country and Canada- He was exceedingly popular with the members of his profession and up
98
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
nmi
ST.
MARY'S ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, ON BRYANTOWN ROAD
This is the Church where Booth attended Mass the Sunday, middle of November, 1864 when he met Dr. S. A. Mudd and oth- er Knights of the Golden Circle and tried to get in touch with Surratt. This church marks the Catholic community to which he fled and received protection.
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 99
until he was caught in the Jesuit web, his whole thought and ambition was devoted to his art.
John Booth had chosen to work under the name Wilkes until he gained recognition independent of the family name, desiring to win on his own merits his theatrical laurels. This in itself showed a principle somewhat out of the ordinary. After a pronounced success under the name of John Wilkes, he allowed himself to be starred under his own name. He assumed no airs, nor was he given to egotism as members of this profession of lesser distinction and talent are prone to be. There is no better way of estimating a man or wom- an's disposition more surely than from the opinion of those v/ith whom he comes in daily contact in his voca- tion. I give the tribute paid to Booth before he fell under the spell of the Jesuit psychology, at least before it had taken a fatal hold of him. The witness is none other than that queen of tragedy of two decades ago. Clara Morris. She is quoted thus .
*'In glancing back over two crowded and busy seasons, one figure stands out in clearness and beauty. In this case so far as my personal knowledge goes, there is nothing derogatory to dignity and manhood in being called 'beautiful' for he was that bud of splendid promise blasted to the core before its full triumphant blooming, known to the world as a mad- man and assassin, but to the profession as 'that un- happy boy, John Wilkes Booth.' He was so young, so aright, so kind.
'T could not have known him well ? Of course, too, there are two or three different people in every man's skin. Yet when we remember that Stars are not in the habit of showing their brightest, best side at re- hearsals, we cannot help feeling both respect and lik- ing for the one who does.
"There are not many men who can receive a gash over the eye at a scene at night without at least a momentary outburst of temper, but when the com- bat between Richard and Richmond was being re- hearsed, John Wilkes Booth had again and again.
100 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
urged McCullom — that six foot tall and handsome man who used to entrust me with the care of his watch during such encounters, 'Come on hard, come on hot, old fellow! Harder, faster! That he would take the chances of a blow if only they could make a hot fight of it. Mr. McCullom, who was a cold man at night, became nervous in his efforts to act like a fiery one. He forgot that he had struck the full num- ber of hard blows and when Booth was expecting a thrust, McCullom wielding his sword with both hands brought it down with an awful force fair across Booth's forehead. A cry of horror arose, for in one moment his face was marked in blood, one eye- brow was cut through. Then came simultaneously one deep groan from Richard (Booth) and an exclamation of *0h good God, good God!' from Richmond (McCul- lom) who stood trembling like a leaf and staring at his work. Booth, flinging the blood from his eyes with his left hand, said as gently as a man could speak: *That is all right, old man. Never mind me, only come on hard, and save the fight.' which he resumed at once. And although he was perceptibly weakened, it required a sharp order from Mr. Ellsler to ring the first curtain bell to force him to bring the fight to a close a single blow shorter than usual. There was a running to and fro with ice and vinegar, raw steak and raw oysters, and when the doctor placed a few .stitches where they were most required. Booth laugh- ingly declared that there were provisions enough to start a restaurant.
"McCullom came to try to apologize, to explain, but Booth would have none of it. He held out his hand saying, 'Why, old fellow, you look as if you lost the blood. Don't worry — now, if niy eye had gone, aild have been bad.' So, with light words he turned to set the unfortunate man at ease, and though he must have suffered much mortification and pain from the eye, he never made a sign showing it.
"John Wilkes Booth, like his next elder brother was rather lacking in height, but his head and
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN lUi
throat and the manner of their rising from his shoul- ders were truly beautiful. His colormg was unusual, the ivory pallor of his skin, the inky blackness of dusky curly hair, the heavy lids of his glowing eyes, were all oriental, and they gave a touch of mystery to his face when it fell into gravity, but there was gener- ally a flash of white teeth behind his black silky mus- tache.
"Now it is scarcely exaggerating to say that the fair sex was in love with John Wilkes Booth, or John Booth as he was called, the name Wilkes apparently being unknown to jhis family and! close triends. I played with John Wilkes to my great joy, playing 'Player Queen' in the 'Marble Heart' I was one of the group of three statues in the first act, then a girl in my teens.
"With all my admiration for the person and genius of John Wilkes Booth, his crime I cannot condone. The killing of that homely, tender-hearted father, Abraham Lincoln, a rare combination of cour- age, justice, and humanity, whose death at the hands of an actor will be a grief of horror and shame to the profession forever. And I cannot believe that John Wilkes Booth was the leader of a band of bloody conspirators.
"Who shall draw the line and say, *Here genius ends and madness begins? There was that touch of strangeness, in Edwin it was a profound melancholy; in John it was an exaggeration of spirit, almost a madness. There was the natural vanity of the actor too who craves a dramatic selection in real life. There was also his passionate love and sympathy for the South, which was easier to play upon than a pipe.
"Undoubtedly he conspired to kidnap the Pres- ident; that would appeal to him. But after that I truly believe he was a tool; certainly he was no lead- er. Those who led him knew his courage, his belief in fate, his loyalty to his friends, and because they knew these things he drew the lot as it was meant he should from the first. Then, half mad, he accepted
102 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
JOHN WILKES BOOTH
Horrible example of the degenerating effects of the Jesuit psychology.
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 103
the part fate cast him for and committed the murder- ous crime.
"God moves in a mysterious way And His wonders to perform."
"And God shutteth not up his mercies forever in displeasure/
We can only shiver and turn our thoughts away from the bright light that went out in such utter darkness; poor guilty, unhappy, John Wilkes Booth."
John Wilkes was the only member of the Booth family whose sympathy was with the Confederacy. According to the "Great Conspiracy" a book published in 1866 by Barclay Co., in Philadelphia, Pa., John Wilkes Booth had been initiated into the Knights of the Golden Circle in Baltimore in the fall of 1860, "in a residence opposite the Cathedral."
The same writer is authority for the following oath of the Knights of the Golden Circle, taken by John Wilkes Booth:
"I , do swear by the blood
of Jesus Christ, by the wounds of the most Sacred Body; by the Dolors of His immaculate Mother, and in the name of the Holy and Undivided Trin- ity, that I will solemnly keep all secrets of the Golden Circle; that I will faithfully perform whatever I may be commanded, and that I shall always hold myself in readiness to obey the man- dates of the said Circle whether at bed, or board, at the festive circle, or at the grave, and if I shall hesitate or divulge the secret may I incur the severest penalties to which flesh is heir.
"May I be cursed in all the relation of my life, in mind, body, and state, and may the pangs of hell be my eternal portion.
"I feel honored fellov/ knights and compan- ions of the Golden Circle that you have deigned
104 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
to admit me. No efforts shall be wanting on my part to advance the interests of the organiza- tion
"A distinguished Latin Author has justly re- marked, that it is sweet and profitable to die tor one's country. I have but one life and am ready to give it should it be necessary
The President rises and says :
"Sir Knight you have just taken a most sol- emn adjuration and believe me that you are known to all members in every part of the country. The Order is extensive and though the government is zealous and would freely spend thousands to unveil our designs, all efforts have hitherto been fruitless. No traitor has yet appeared among us, and inevitable ruin awaits the individual who would play the part of a Benedict Arnold. No public steps would be taken. He would disap- pear and I leave it to you to judge his fate. "Dead men tell no tales/' Ponder well on these things, and remember you cannot escape us.
"Members give the hand of fellowship to our new Knight. (The Great Conspiracy published by Barclay 1865.)*'
The pass-word to this organization was "Rome. Beware of the Negroes.*'
That the author of the book, "The Great Con- spiracy," was thoroughly informed upon the details which could scarcely have come from anything short of actual membership in the organization is plainly evident. Also that he had knowledge of the assassina- tion of the former President Harrison, and Taylor, we gather. The incident occurred just after the re-elec- tion of President Lincoln. Booth, sitting in a hotel lobby one day, appeared very dejected; he was aroused by the following remark, which evidently was part of the secret phraseology of the K. G. Cs. :
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 105
"It would be a queer thing were Lincoln to die and Andy Johnson be President after all.
What makes you think so?
Why, you know that Harrison and Taylor and that Fillmore and Tyler were presidents. Lincoln may take it into his head to follow their example.
Perhaps, said the stranger ai Booth's elbow and regarding him steadfastly, neither Lincoln nor John- son will serve their terms out.
Do you mean that the President nnd the Vice- President both will die? Such a thing has never hap- pened before in the United Sates.
But it may occur nevertheless Lin- coln and Johnson are both mortals .... I feel certain that ere another month Lincoln will die ... . Yes, he may die of some disease.
Booth's suspicions were aroused and he turned suddenly around and asked: ''You said I believe, sir, that the President might die of some disease?"
''Yes sir, of such diseases as commonly prevail in Home."
"What diseases are they?" asked Booth.
"All to which flesh is heir, the malaria from the
Pantine marshes carries off hundreds; the plague of
its day almost decimated the capitol of the Caesars
...... but I tell you again that the President will
die of a disease from Rome.
Booth: "Sir, as you are well versed in history perhaps you can answer me one question, which one of all the sovereigns of all Italy had the most fickle wife?'
"I am an indifferent guesser of conundrums, but I suppose the Doge."
Ques. "Which Doge, he of Venice or Genoa?"
Ans. "He of Venice, because he wedded the sea with a golden circlet. You remember Byron's oeautiful lines?" After this "test" Booth was invited to the gentleman's room where they conferred privately.
That John Wilkes Booth was initiated in this Order as early as 1860, the same authority states.
106 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
The following letter is quoted from Booth to a brother Sir Knight:
"Dear Sir: The K. G. C. had a meeting; I was initiated. 'The die is cast and I have crossed the Rubi- con' and can never return. They tell me that Lin- coln, the damn chicken-hearted nigger lover, will per- haps be inaugurated, but I most heartily wish, 'That never shall sun that morrow see. I am devoted to the South, mind and body, so that she gains her independ- ence, I don't care what becomes of me. If I am sacri- ficed, I know that my country will grant me immortal- ity; if I escape, so much the better. I can serve her in other ways. One thing is very clear to my mind, the South must take some decisive step. She must throw a bomb-shell into the enemy's hand that shall spread terror and consternation wherever it goes. You know what I mean, so don't be surprised. Sincerely yours, John Wilkes Booth."
(See Page 26, The Great Conspiracy.)
The same authority gives a letter signed "Veritas" (truth) to Booth, which one would be strongly in- clined to believe might have been written by a priest judging by the style and Latin quotations — ^possibly his ecclesiastical sponsor.
"My dear Booth : Since you left us, the Circle has held another meeting. The members are all exceed- ingly dissatisfied and if something be not speedily done, the southern cause is lost forever. Important dispatches have been received from Canada. They spoke out almost too plainly to be sent by mail, but as there was no signature and addressed to a feigned name, I do not suppose there was any danger. There is to be a ball or party at the White House and the Ape I suppose will be there in all his glory retaihng his filthy anecdotes and pointless jests till they fall on the ear, usque ad naseum. Did you see what is the determination of the Lincoln Cabinet ^bout confisca-
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 107
tion ? There is a clerk by the name of Charles Morton, who is employed in one of the government offices. He is gentlemanly but vain and exceedingly soft. I am told he drinks. Anyhow, make his acquaintance and see what can be got out of him. Handle him tenderly and you will be sure to catch your fish. Should you want any more money you will know where to send for it. An idea has struck me ; you know in the correspond- ence between Sir Henry Clinton Arnold and Andre the whole matter was treated in a mercantile way. We for the sake of safety and to make assurance doubly sure, must do the same. I will not detain you any longer, but give you an opportunity to read about our friends in Canada. Whatever be the results, rely on me. Sincerely your friend, Veritas."
The statements made by his professional friend, John McCullough of a visit he paid Booth at the National Hotel, showed the deadly influence when he said: At another time I came over suddenly from New York, and being in the habit of go- ing right into Booth's room without knocking, I turned the knob and pushed right in. At the first wink I saw Booth sitting behind a table on which was a map, a knife and a pistol. He had gauntlets on his hands and spurs on his boots, and a military hat of a slouch character on his head. As the door opened he seized the knife and came for me. Said I, 'John, what in the name of sense is the matter with you — are you crazy?'
He heard my voice and arrested himself, and placed his hands before his eyes like a man dissipating ^ dream, and then said: *Why, Johnny, how are you?* When I heard that it was he who killed Lincoln, I thought that he had been at the time I describe ready to carry out his purpose."
In answer to a request by the writer for a state- ment of his acquaintance with John Booth of Rear Admiral Geo. W. Baird, U. S. A. retired, of Washington,
108 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
1^
GEORGE ATZERODT
Delegated to assassinate Vice-President Always known as a Catholic prior to the assassination.
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 109
D- C, who is probably the only living witness who helped to identify the body of John Booth, who was shot to death in the tobacco barn on the Garrett plan- tation, near Port Royal, Va., April 26, 1864, I received the following:
1505 Rhode Island Avenue, Washington, D. C, November 29, 1921. Miss Burke McCarty,
Grace Dodge Hotel, Washington, D. C. My dear Miss McCarty:
Your letter of the 25th was received last night: I will try to answer it categorically, and, to avoid errors. I must go back to my diary.
My acquaintance with John Wilkes Booth was not at all intimate. I met him in New Orleans in the winter of '63 and '64, when he was playing in the theatre there in "Marble Hearts" and he was splendid in his part. My acquaintance was what may be called a bar-room acquaintance. Was introduced to him by a young officer of my ship the "Pensacola" whose name was Fitch and who afterwards married the eldest daughter of General Sherman. Booth seemed to be a congenial fellow with a sense of humor and I thought was very temperate in his habits, not like his father in that respect. The War was at its height and was freely discussed, but Booth did not seem to be much interested in it. He was from Maryland, whose pop- lation was divided, though men as a rule believed it proper to side with their state. My ship went north in the spring of 1864 and I was assigned to my duty in the navy department.
In 1850 when I was seven years of age, I went to school in Washington to two reverend gentlemen Cox and Marlot, who taught in the lower story of the Ma- sonic Hall, Virginia Avenue and Fourth Street East. The boy who sat by me about my own age was David Herold, a little round headed, round eyed, round bodied boy, whose general rotundity was completed by a
110 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
voice that rolled his R's. I envied David his disposi- tion in that he got along with the big boys so well. When a big boy imposed on David, he would escape with a funny remark which was called witty, which generally got a laugh, and David was called popular. When a big boy imposed on me, I hated him; I hate him yet. David's father, Mr. George Herold, and my father were members of Naval Lodge of Masons. The Herolds were members of Christ Church Episcopal. My people were members of the Baptist Church.
When I left that school about a year later, I lost sight of David. I heard he became a drug clerk.
Now I quote from my records :
"On the night of the 14th of April, 1865 I went to call on a young lady and about 10:30 her brother came in and said Abe Lincoln is dead. He had been to the theatre to see Laura Keene in "Our American Cousin" and during a play a man had got into the box where the President was, and had shot the President, jumped out of the box on to the stage, and escaped from the back of the stage- I left at once ; saw police- man at the corner whom I interrogated and he con- firmed the story. I inquired as to the appearance of the assassin and he not only gave a description that fitted but said he resembled me, and I thought that I had better hurry to my boarding house. On arriving at my boarding house Dr. Ludlam and Mr. Fitch in- quired if I had heard the news and suggested that we go down town and get the latest "bricks" but nothing could induce me to appear on the streets again that night.
"The people were wild with excitement. I never heard such threats of vengeance. Before 10:00 o'clock the next morning almost every house was draped in mourning. People had exhausted the stores here and wired Baltimore for black crepe and cambric. Dan Ballauf , the model maker, was standing leaning on the lower box in the theatre and saw it all. He denied the report that Booth had uttered the words 'sic semper tyranis," but the newspapers had printed it.
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 111
The newspapers had the story very early, that John Wilkes Booth was the assassin and David Herold was the accomplice.'*
'^Though never intimate with John Wilkes Bootn, I admired him, his voice, power of declaiming. I took drinks with him at the Franklin House, Custom House Street, a place frequented by army and navy officers. He seemed to me to have no interest in the war. It was hard to understand. I had not seen him but once in Washington and that about three weeks before the murder of the President. It was on Sunday when he was coming out of Saint Aloysius Catholic Church Vesper Service — great crowds of various creeds used to go to that vespers where the music was good. I think Mme. Kretzmayer was the attractive soprano."
A large reward was offered for Booth's arrest and conviction. The War had practically ended and our troops were at liberty to travel in any state with- out molestation.
I was detailed to make a series of experiments in the Navy Yard, and after Booth's body was brought to the Navy Yard and lay on board the *'Montauk" this happened : i
I was called on board the Montauk by Leut. W. W. Crowninshield, to identify the body of John Wilkes Booth, which I did. I noticed a piece of cord about the size of a cod line on his (Booth's) neck and invited Crowninshield's attention to it, who pulled it out and on it was a small Roman Catholic medal. Surgeon General Barnes arrived at that moment and probed the wound in Booth's neck.
I got a horse and buggy and drove down to Sur- rattville the following day. The house they saia belonged to Mrs. Surratt and had been leased to John M. Lloyd whom I knew. He was a policeman at Washington during all of Buchan- an's administration and bore an excellent repu- tation. I inquired of some boys whom I found very communicative. One boy said that Mr. Jenkins, broth- er of Mrs. Surratt, and Mr- Griffith and Mr. Wylie (or
112 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
MRS. MARY E. SURRATT
Who "kept the nest that hatched the egg," —(President Andrew Johnson).
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 113
Wyville) and Mr. Lloyd were all out that night listen- ing for the horses coming, that when the two men came, fresh horses were brought out of the stable, saddles transferred from the tired horses to the fresh, and the men rode on.
On May 22, 1865, I went to Baltimore on duty in connection with the "Pensacola."
The 'Washington Star" of May 12, 1865 gives Lloyd's testimony as follows :
"Sometime ago two carbines and some pistols were left at my house. The Friday before the assassina- tion Mrs. Surratt came to my house and told me to have the carbines and pistols ready as two men would call for them. At the night of the assassination Booth and Herold rode up to the house; Herold dismounted, went in, and took a carbine and the pistols. Booth would not take his carbine on account of his lame ankle."
The "Washington Star" of the 15th said:
"Lloyd testified that it was John Surratt who brought the carbines. Watchman saw Mrs. Surratt, Booth, John Surratt, and Dr. Mudd together on Sev- enth Street, and that Booth was a frequent visitor at the house of Mrs. Surratt, and their interviews were always apart.
I was retired from active duty by law
in 1905 but continued on duty until 1906. The next year I passed some days at Poland Springs, Maine. Among other Washingtonians was Mr. Crosby Noyes, principal editor of the "Washington Star," who told me he was the reporter for the "Star" at the trial of the conspirators, and he was satisfied that Mrs. Sur- ratt and all the rest of them were guilty.
I was at sea when John Surratt was tried. My information on that trial was that printed in the "Washington Star." Surratt was poor, but Mr. K. T. Merrick, a Roman Catholic Lawyer, was his principal counsel and it was commonly reported that he paid the entire expense of the trial. His associate counsel was Mr. Jos. Bradley, a famous criminal lawyer, who
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rarely, if ever, lost a case, and to whom the bad cases usually came.
Quoting from the "Evening Star" of September 23, 1868:
"Judge Wylie on the bench, Messrs. Merrick and Bradley argued on a demur to the plea of the amnesty proclamation which had been issued by the government m favor of the Confederates who had been in arms against the government. Their purpose was to make it apply to the case of John Surratt who had been tried for conspiracy to murder the President, and in whose case a year ago the jury had hung.
Merrick said the court was not technically a Court of the United States, wherein the judge held that the Court held that the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia was not on the same footing as the United States District Courts, though the judges of such Courts were vested with the same power.
He would submit in view of the double character of the Court that to except a person of some felony he must be indicted for felony in some Circuit Court of the United States. He referred to the Bankrupt Act.
Mr. Bradley referred the Court to several au- thorities. The Court suffered counsel to amend the plea ' ''-'^'iti
*From the "Evening Star'^ of Septembei- 24, 1858, Page 4, Column 2, viz:
"A NEW MOVE BY THE DEFENSE, STATUTE OF LIMITATION, DISCHARGE OF THE PRISONER.
"Mr. Merrick stated that he had presented a new plea. He claimed the indictment defective in that it did not aver that Surratt had not fled from Justice/'
The paper stated that he walked out of the court urimolested.
I saw the medal when it was taken off Booth's neck and I saw it afterwards in the War Department. It was kept in a safe of the Judge Advocate General. It was in a Httle tin box which also contained a news- paper scrap referring to it with the bullet from Booth's neck, and I think the derringer also.
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 115
When I became superintendent of the S W. and Navy Department in 1895, I asked the messenger at the Judge Advocate General's door if the relics were still on exhibition as I wanted to show them to some friends, and he said that they were all there but the medal, that the Secretary of War, (Mr. Lamont) had sent for them to show some friends and forgot to re- turn them, and they remained on his desk four months, and when returned the medal was missing.
John M. Lloyd, the Washington policeman in 1857-9-60 bore a good reputation. I think the claim that he was intemperate or a sot as Mr. Brophy called him was all propaganda. A policeman knows how to testify and he knows the penalty. I was reluctant to believe Lloyd a conspirator until the boys at Sur- rattville told me of the story of Lloyd, Jenkins, Wylie, et al listening for the coming of Booth that night, and his testimony confirmed it. One of the propaganda writers says that Lloyd had to be awakened from a drunken stupor that night when Booth arrived, when the boys, who had no purpose to serve, told me that Lloyd was wide awake on the ro^d listening for horses. They said that when the horses were plainly heard, that Lloyd, et al, went into the stable and brought out the fresh horses as if in a hurry. Lloyd and his wife (whom I also knew) were Roman Catho- lics, and I beheve members of St. Dominic's Congre- gation. The testimony shows Lloyd drunk but once; it was when he met Mrs. Surratt in Uniontown, now called Anacostia, and that was on the eve of the fright- ful tragedy and he might have needed "Dutch courage." My impression was that the effort to damage Lloyd's character was for the sole purpose of imneaching his testimony. I always thought he found himself in se- rious trouble and told the truth to save his neck. Yours sincerely,
G. W BAIRD."
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Post mortem of Booth's body as it lay on the Monatuk, April 27, 1865.
U. S. troops under Lieutenant Baker, surrounded the barn and ordered Booth to surrender, which he refused to do. "Davy" Herold, however, asked to sur- render and was allowed to come out. He was hand- cuffed and placed in charge of a squad of cavalrymen. The barn was finally fired by Colonel Conger.
Booth, who could be now plainly seen by the light of the flames was peering out, when a bullet from the revolver of Sergt. Boston Corbett whizzed by and Booth crumpled up on the barn floor. He was dragged out by the soldiers and lay on the grass, apparently dead, but was revived by a dash of cold water in the face. The bullet had entered almost at the same spot in which his own bullet had pierced President Lincoln's head. He was carried and laid upon the porch in front of the Garrett house where he suffered several hours of the most intense agony. Noting his lips moving, an officer stooped down and heard him whisper : "Tell
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 117
my mother — tell my mother — I died for my country — and did what I thought best." Indicating a desire that his paralyzed arms be held up, which was done, con- templating them, he murmured, "useless, useless." These were his last words.
The body was taken by wagon to the river and placed on board the Gunboat Montauk and brought to Washington, and Armiral Baird was one of the men who made positive identification.
FVom Adm. Baird's letter one would gather that as late as the winter of *64, only a few months previous to Booth's coming to Washington, he was indifferent on the subject of the war. The fact that he was in New Orleans where he would have been very safe in express- ing his opinion in favor of the South would seem to indicate he had no great feeling on the subject.
There is no doubt in the writer's mind but that Clara Morris was perfectly right in her statement that John Wilkes Booth was the victim chosen from the beginning and that he "Drew the lot" after his New Orleans engagement where Adm. Baird had seen him. PVom the time he registered at the National Ho- tel in November, 1864, it is plainly evident that he became obscessed with the idea, and the working of the vims is traceable in his every act from that time on. He lost all interest in his profession, — a thing in itself most remarkable, for which we can only ac- count in the one way.
John Harrison Surratt, the nineteen-year-old son of Mrs Mary E. Surratt, who was chosen by the Jesuits as the arch conspirator in the assassination o^ Abra- ham Lincoln, had studied three years in preparation for the Roman priesthood at the Sulpician Fathers monastery, at Charles County, Maryland, previous to the breaking out of the Civil war. The Sulpician Fath- ers is a branch of the Jesuit order. In 18'62 young Sur- ratt was called to his home in Surrattville, a crossroads village 18 miles south of Washington, by the death of his father. The elder Surratt had been a railroad contractor, and had accumulated some money
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which was partly invested in slaves and in plantation and tavern at Surrattville where he served as post- master at the time of his demise.
The family consisted of Isaac, the eldest son, a civil engineer, who enlisted in the Southern Cause at the very beginning of the war and who the last heard of him had joined Max*imilian's forces in Mexico; Anna, the only daughter, a girl in her early twenties, and John H., the youngest.
The Surratts were all ardent secessionists and fa- natical Roman Catholics. Mrs. Surratt was, early in life, perverted to Romanism from the Protestant faith. Her children were Romanists from birth.
That John Harrison Surratt, was cool, clever, cal- culating and crafty, far in advance of his years, is shown by the fact that at the very beginning of the Rebellion he was selected to do important work in the southern secret service, bearing the most important dispatches from Jefferson Davis at Richmond to his agents at Washington and to the members of his "kitchen cabinet" in Montreal, Canada. On his return home from the monastery near Baltimore, John Sur- ratt was sworn in as twstmaster in his father's place at Surrattville. His Jesuit training enabled him to lift his hand and swear undivided allegiance to the United States. So much for a Jesuit's oath. To get a complete estimate of John Surratt's part in the dia- bolical conspiracy to murder President Lincoln and other heads of this government we must fully consid- er the preliminary training he received.
This boy, (for we must remember that he was but in his teens, at his entrance into this plot,) was never free from the espionage and evil influence of the Romish church from his baptism in infancy to the day of his death at the age of seyenty-two years. When he was but twelve years old he was placed in Gonzaga College, Washington, DC, a Catholic preparatory school, under the tutorage of Priest Wiget, who was the confessor for years of both himself and his moth-
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 119
er. After leaving Gonzaga College he spent two years at Georgetown m the Jesuit (Jollege beiore leaving tor the iSulpician Fatners monastery. I am calling the attention oi the reader to this fact when you come to pass judgment on this young man, that you may place the blame for his conduct where it belongs — on the Jesuit psychology inculcated by the priests of the Roman Church..
That he was a leader and a dependable one, in this conspiracy of wholesale assassination, is shown by the fact that the object of John Wilkes Booth's first visit to St. Mary s Cathohc Church in Howard County, Maryland, was to learn the whereabouts in Washington of John Surratt.
Young Surratt, had then, never the slightest chance or desire to escape from the deadly virus. This virus stultified every noble aspiration, every natural affection, every personal ambition, even the strongest instinct in the human mind, — self-preservation is thrust aside when the victim hears the call of duty to "the holy mother church." Then, mother love, father love, brother love — all, all, must yield to this cursed thing This complete mental control which Rome exercises over its dupes whom it per- mits to have no more will of their own, nor resistance, than that of a cadaver. Terinda ac cadaver." (as a corpse) to be moved here, or there, at the will of the manipulator. The Roman Catholic child is thus handi- capped at birth, yes, there is a prenatal influence as the study of these two characters in this tragic drama will disclose. The mother, Mary E. Surratt, the inti- mate associate of priests, her soul deadened by the fatal virus of the Jesuit training, passed on to her son the terrible inheritance which made him wax in the black hands of the Vatican intriguers, to mold as they would.
During Surratt's theological training he had studied St. Thomas Aquinas, who justifies the assas- sination of heretics, or any one who apostacises from the Romish church. It was a significant and eloquent
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fact that the Jesuits released from time to time during the war the report that President Lincoln had been, in his infancy, baptized by Catholic priest. On one of his visits to the White House of the Rev. Charles Chiniquy to warn President Lincoln of his danger in assassination, Mr. Lincoln is quoted by Chiniquy in his book "Fifty Years in the Church of Rome" as follows :
"Father Chiniquy, I want your views about a thing which is exceedingly puzzling to me and you are the only one to whom I would like to speak on the subject. A great number of Democratic newspapers have been sent me lately, evidently written by Roman Catholics, publishing that I was born a Roman Catho- lic and baptized by a priest. They called me a renegade and apostate on account of that, and they heaped upon my head mountains of abuse. Now, no priest of Rome has ever laid his hand on my head. But the persist- ency of the Romish press to present this falsehood to their readers as gospel truth, must have a meaning. Please tell me, as briefly as possible, what you think about it."
This, Mr. Chiniquy answered, was done solely to incite and justify the act in the minds of some of their fanatics to assassinate the President. It was the equivalent to a command, as it afterward proved.
From their first meeting Booth and Surratt busied themselves selecting their associates. David Herold was undoubtedly the choice of John Surratt who had known him from his college days, evidently, at Georgetown University. The testimony of Louis J. Weichmann, college chum of Surratt and the State's chief witness, at the trials of the conspirators shows that Surratt had introduced him to David Her- old as one of the members of the Washington Ma- rine Band which had serenaded the Surratt Tavern at midnight on one occasion when Weichmann was spend- ing the week-end there. This was a year before Booth's
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 121
MICHAEL O'LOUGHLIN.
Delegated to assassinate General Grant. Died in Dry ToT- tugas after serving three years, of yellow fever epidemic.
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appearance in Washington. There is no doubt but that all the conspirators were members of the Knights of the Golden Circle; there is also no doubt that while some of them were nominal Protestants they were whol- ly papalized, certainly they were not Protestants. All through the testimony we see that Booth and Aster- odt were at *'mass." It is morally certain that Booth himself had been secretly taken into the Roman Church when he was given the "Agnus Dei" meaai which was taken from his neck. The significance of this medal is: The translation of "Agnus Dei" is "Lamb of God ; it indicates sacrifice, — the shedding of blood. The writer is informed by an ex-Romanist who examined the medal that it was made m Rome, proba- bly sent direct from the Pope as was the Pope IXth's letter to Jeff Davis, a distinction which would tend to flatter the vanity of John Wilkes Booth.
Michael O'Loughlin, another conspirator, was from Baltimore and was, as his name would indicate, a Roman Catholic Irishman.
Sam Arnold, it appears, had attended the same school with John Wilkes Booth in their childhood and was a nominal Protestc-.nt.
George Asterodt was the "rough" man, that is the uneducated and uncultured one, who was probably an Austrian Catholic, but not over religious. He attend- ed Mass with Louis Weichmann at the Piscataway Church and St. Patrick's church in Washington.
Lewis Payne, the atheletic young giant who was delegated to murder Seward, Secretary of State and al- most accomplished this deed, really showed more strength of character and less cowardice than any of the other conspirators. As far f^s is known he was the son of a Protestant minister. He refused to tell any- thing about himself, but when he went to his death he was courageous to a deirree that astonished the newsnaper correspondents and other spectators.
Edw. Spangler, another conspirator, was a roust- about employee at Ford's Theatre, much given to drink- He had great admiration for John Booth and
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 123
was a decided Southern sympathizer with a pronounced dislike for Abraham Lincoln, which he had often ex- pressed.
About November 1st, 1863, Mrs. Surratt and her family moved to their residence at 541 H. St., Wash- ington, D. C, where she opened a select boarding house. Select to the extent that there were no "her- etics" among her boarders. The first to come was Louis J- Weichmann, who had been for three years a classmate of John Surratt's at the Sulpician Monas- tery where Weichmann also was preparing for the Roman priesthood. From the very first Weichmann and Surratt were bosom friends. Weichmann was born in Baltimore in 1843 and was the son of a merchant tailor who was a staunch Lutheran. The wife was a devout Roman Catholic. The family consisted of two boys and three girls, all of whom were brought up in the faith of their mother. Both boys, Louis, and the second boy, Frederick, were studying for the Roman priesthood.
With the breaking out of the Civil War Louis Weichmann's college studies were interrupted and he came to Washington where he obtained a position as professor at Gonzaga College, when John Surratt first learned of his presence in Washington.
During the Spring vacation of '63, young Weich- mann proposed that he and Surratt pay a visit to their Alma Mater near Baltimore. They were received with warm cordiality by both professors and students who were eager to learn the progress of the war,etc. During this visit, according to documentary evidence to be introduced later on, both young men freely express their pro-Southern views. Before leaving the institution Louis Weichmann announced his intention of going to Little Texas, or Ellengown, where he had taught the parochial school for the Cath- olic priest there, before entering college. The Rev. Denis, prefect of the Sulpician Monastery told him that the teacher at that time in Little Texas was Henri de St. Marie, who had been a former pupil of Denis in Montreal; that he was a fine young man who spoke
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French and Italian fluently. He asked Weichmann if he would hand him an ItaHan paper when he called up- on him. On reaching Little Texas, Mr. Weichmann de- livered the paper and introduced his friend Surratt to the young Canadian. This was the beginning of an acquaintance which was to end very disastrously for Surratt.
A few days before Christmas, 1864, young Weich- mann invited Surratt to go with him over to Pennsyl- vania Avenue to select some Christmas gifts for his sis- ters in Philadelphia. As they were nearing the Avenue on 7th Street, Weichmann said, ''John, someone is call- ing you," and Surratt, turning, saw Dr. Mudd of Bryan- town and a younger man with him, whom he intro- duced as John Wilkes Booth. After the introductions were over Booth invited the party up to his room at the National Hotel, where he ordered wine and cigars for the group. From this meeting on John Booth was a constant visitor at the Surratt home on H Street, which was the rendezvous of the conspirators up to the very day of the assassination. It was also the mecca of various Roman Catholic priests, among whom were the Reverends Walters and Wiget of St. Patrick's Church, 10th and G Streets, of which the Surratts were members.
Before closing this chapter in reference to the religion of John Wilkes Booth I might say that his family were members of the Episcopal church in Baltimore.
Edwin A. Sherman, Past Grand Registrar of the Grand Consistory of the Thirty-second of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry of the State of California, in his book entitled "Engineer Corps of Hell" on page 213, has this to say:
"It has been told to us, coming from what we believe to be true authority, that Booth, about three weeks before he committed the crime, was admitted to the Roman Cathohc church, and pri- vately received the sacraments from no less a
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personage than Archbishop Spaulding himself, which he did to silence any conscientious scruples that he might have in taking Abraham Lincoln's life, and that he might have the whole influence and sympathy of persons in that faith in pro- tecting and concealing himself when the act was done, to aid him in it. He certainly had that aid and influence in planning and accomplishing his helhsh work and in making his escape, and it could not have been more cheerfully and faithful- ly rendered than it was, even if he had been a Jesuit priest himself. We believe the statement to be true; and it was but a short time after thai Archbishop Spaulding received a donation of funds for the specific purpose which was to uni- form and equip a military body in the same man- ner and style as the Papal Guard at Rome.
**The uniforms, muskets, cartridge boxes and belts all bearing the Papal coat of arms and con- secrated by the Pope himself, were sent to Arch- bishop Spaulding at Baltimore; and when he died he was buried with military honors and his re- mains escorted by the same military bodyguard. The entire diocese of Archbishop Spaulding was rebel to the cor^ and fierce in its hatred of Lin- coln.
In a recent book written by one of Rome's apol- ogists, we find that John Wilkes Booth was by "re- ligion a Roman Catholic ; by politics a Democrat.'*
Chapter Vm.
The Blackest Deed In American History.
And now we come to that darkest day in the histo- ry of our RepubHc, April 14th, 1865. The Surrender of Lee, April 3rd, to the ''Little Smoking General" Grant, came like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky, and was a terrific blow to the hopes of the South, as well as unexpected victory to the North. The people were wild with enthusiastic joy. We can get some conception of that word after four years of the bitterest civil war, we, who have the news of the Armistice still fresh in our memories in the recent World War which was sev- eral thousand miles away.
The figure of Abraham Lincoln will ever stand out on the page of our history, never to be effaced, not only in the minds of the people of his own country, but in those of the Peoples of the World, as the savior of the New Concept of Government!
Lincoln, that great, sad-faced man, with his shoulders drooping under the terrible burdens which he had patiently carried for four long years, breathed a sigh of relief when he arose this bright balmy April morning and gazed at nature's gay spring garb.
During breakfast with his family he had suggested to his good wife Mary, that they two alone should take a long drive in the country which called so strongly to this heavy laden man. Accordingly, after a few pre- liminary office duties were gotten out of the way, the President returned to the White House, and he and Mrs. Lincoln got into their carriage and drove out through the city over the Potomac River bridge into the country. The fruit trees were white with blossoms, the roadsides green, and the very birds fjitting in and
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 127
Ford's Theatre, Washington D. C. U. S. Government property as it appears today. Exterior un- changed. _,
House on Tenth St. where President Lincoln died April 15, 1865. Now Lincoln Memorial Collec- tion.
out through the hedges seemed to surpass themselves with their songs. *^^*^illH
President Lincoln began to talk of their future. He confessed to her that he would welcome the day when his administration would be over, and they could return to private life, never to leave it again. "I have managed, my dear, by strict economy, to save a little nest egg out of my salary, so we will go back to Springfield to live, and I hope not have to work quite so hard. We can visit with our friends and neighbors and enjoy life a bit. Then he unfolded to her his plans to take up his law practice again and the threads of life where he had left them when he came to Washing- ton, a little over four years ago. After driving several
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hours, and being rested by the quiet of the country and sweet breath of spring, this great simple-hearted, plain man and his wife returned to the White House.
I cannot but contrast that last morning on earth of Abraham Lincoln and his modest plans, with the conduct of Woodrow Wilson and his dozens of trunks, which carried the elaborate wardrobes of himself and wife to Europe. The sinful extravagance of this peda- gogical upstart! It seems almost sacrilegious to men- tion him in the same paragraph with Lincoln.
The day began for John Wilkes Booth with his usual trio to Graves Theatre where he received his mail. This morning he had several letters, and after chatting pleasantly with the members of the cast present for rehearsal, as was his custom, he sauntered away toward the Kirkwood house, now the Raleiffh, where the Vice President was stopping. He sent ut> the following card to Mr. Johnson, which is still, and per- haps, always will remain a mystery:
"For Mr. Andrew Johnson:
Don't wish to disturb vou : are yon at home? John Wilkes Booth."
After his call at the Kirkwood House, he went to the livery barn of J. Pumnhreys on C Street, back of the Nationf^I Hotel. Here he engaged a horse to be ready that afternoon at four thirty o'clock. He had been in the habit lately of hirine his horses here after he had sold his own a few weeks previous. Ur^on this occasion he asked for a particular sorrel horse which he preferred, but was told it was out at that time, so he took instead a small bav mare. Booth was an er- T)ert horseman and fencer, and spent a crreat deal of his time in horseback riding and the latter amuse- ment, when he found a man who was skillful enough fo interest him. After his arrane^ement for the horse was completed- he spent a larere part of the day con- ferring with the other conspirators, who were in the
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 129
city, Mrs. Surratt, John Surratt, O'Laughlin, Herold, Spangler and Atzerodt.
The evening of this same day, April 14, 1865, on which Mr. Lincoln and his wife went for their last drive in the country, the managers of Ford's Theatre featured the fact in the local press that the President and Gen. U. S. Grant would attend the performance of "Our American Cousin" at that theatre in the even- ing. This would have been the first public appearance of General Grant since the surrender of Lee, and the word that the people would have an opportunity to greet their hero that night at Ford's Theatre made a rush on the box office, and the performance openea with a packed house.
The Presidential party did not arrive until nine thirty- When the tall, gaunt figure of the tired- eyed President made its appearance in the flag-draped box the house went wild with delight, and the orches- tra struck up "Hail to the Chief;" the house arose as one body, and enthusiasm was inspiring. For several minutes the cheering continued and the President bow- ed and bowed his acknowledgements.
The absence of General Grant was soon noticed, but this did not dampen the welcome for the great man who had sent out, but a few days previous, the most wonderful — the most extraordinary message to a conquered enemy the world had ever heard, namely, for them to return to their homes, and help in the re- construction of the Republic. No punishments, no crit- icisms, no bitterness, but just simply to return to their homes and set about rebuilding what they had tried to destroy, in a spirit of "With charity for all and malice toward none."
The President and Mrs. Lincoln, upon receiving the regrets of General Grant and wife, who had been called to the bedside of their daughter, Miss Nellie, who was ill at a private boarding school in New Jersey, had invited Mai or Rathbone, lately returned from the front, and his fiance, Miss Harris, daughter of Senator Harris, to accompany them. The party seated them-
130 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
selves after the long ovation given the President, and turned their whole attention to the pastoral comedy of which Mr. Lincoln was very fond.
Miss Laura Keene was playing the star lead that evening, assisted by a cast of prominent and capable actors, and the play went with a zest, thv3 audience receiving it with a gale of laughter as one funny scene after another passed- The President chuckled quietly in his own peculiar quizzical manner .While this bril- liant scene was taking place inside, a most unusual play was transpiring on the outside.
Sergt. Dye, a member of the government service was sitting in front of the restaurant next door to the entrance of the theatre on Tenth Street, talking with some other men who were enioying the warm evening and their cigars, when a tall young man well dressed, stepped to the front of the theatre on the sidewalk, and in clear tones called the time. This did not attract any particular attention until he had re- peated it at an interval of every fifteen minutes for the third time, at ten fifteen. He disappeared and Sgt. Dye's curiousity was aroused by his strange conduct. He got up and started to walk in the direction the young stranger had taken, when wild cries and con- fusion within the theatre reached the street. "The President is shot," "The President is killed," finally was clearly heard- The entrance doors burst open, and men, insane with fright bolted out driving the call to those on the pavement, then rushed back in. It all hap- pened quicker than it takes to write it.
At a moment before the last call of the time in front of the theatre, John Wilkes Booth, the popular young tragedian, stepped out of the bar-room attached to the theatre on Tenth Street, where he had called for several brandies, walked rapidly into the front lobby, passed the doorman at the center aisle with a genial nod, calling him familiarly by name, which was answered in the spirit which John Booth's greet- ings generally were. He passed over to the side aisle and started down when his passage was
ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 131
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JOHN WILKES BOOTH FIRING THE FATAL BULLET
barred by the arm of the head usher, who happened to be talking with friends in the aisle. Booth put his arm across the shoulder of the man who had his back to him and peering into his face said, "Why you don't' want to keep me out, do you, old boy?" This was in the melodious Booth voice, once heard, never to be forgotten. The usher, swinging around said, **No, in- deed, Mr. Booth. Allow me to present you to my friends." Booth acknowledged the introduction gra- ciously and turning, sauntered down the aisle toward the box occupied by the Presidential party, intent on the most cruel, cowardly murder in all the world's history.
132 ASSASSINS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
He passed the man on guard, who for the monr'ent left the door of the box and was watching the play from a seat nearby.
Booth entered the box, stealthily placing the board in the socket on the inside which had been made ready that day, by Spangler, the stage carpenter.
Booth's entrance was so quiet that it attracted no attention from any of the party, all of whom had their eyes fixed upon the stage where only two people were, — Laura Keene and Harry Hawks as Asa Trench- ard. The lines and situation were exceedingly funny and the house was uproariously enjoying the comedy.
Booth, after securing the door from any inter- ference from the outside, crept panther-like close to the back of the President's chair, whipped out his der- ringer with his right hand and a dagger with his left, placing the revolver just above the back of the chair. There was a muffled report, a whiff of smoke, and the President's head dropped upon his breast. The in- truder darted toward the railing in front of the box, but before he reached it, Major Rathbone, horror- stricken, but not really knowing just what had hap- pened, bounded to his feet. He reached out to grab the assassin, who, dropping his revolver, slashed viciously at him, warding him off by an ugly stab which cut his sleeve from shoulder to wrist from which the blood spurted. With the agility of the skilled athlete that he was. Booth sprang over the balustrade of the box onto the stage twelve feet below, but his stirrup, for he was in