Assassination of Lincoln: a History of the Great Conspiracy: Trial of the Conspirators by a Military Commission, and a Review of the Trial of John H. SurrattHarris, T. M. (Thomas Mealey)
History
Assassination of Lincoln: a History of the Great Conspiracy: Trial of the Conspirators by a Military Commission, and a Review of the Trial of John H. Surratt
Harris, T. M. (Thomas Mealey)
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Assassination; Surratt, John H. (John Harrison), 1844-1916
There is another very remarkable coincidence revealed in this
testimony; that is, the fact of Thompson's leaving Canada on the 14th
of April, 1865, for Europe, travelling overland to Halifax, when by
waiting two weeks longer he could have gone by steamer. This was such
an unusual circumstance as to require explanation, and excited remarks
amongst the clerks in the bank at the time. If we have been led by the
evidence to the conclusion that the government fully sustained its
charge and specification against Jacob Thompson, we can at once explain
this coincidence of his leaving Montreal for Europe by the overland
route to Halifax on the very day on which he expected the plot to be
consummated. He could not afford to wait for the opening of navigation,
lest his flight might be impeded by arrest, and a warrant or demand for
his extradition on the charge that he was a member of the conspiracy.
"The wicked flee where no man pursueth." A guilty conscience is its
own accuser. This remarkable coincidence, equally with the other, is
presumptive evidence of his guilt.
Booth kept his bank account in the same bank with Thompson, and there
is every reason to believe that his credits were from money supplied
to him by Thompson. When he drew the bill of October 27th, which was
found on his person after his death, he explained that he was going to
run the blockade. We have seen what he meant by that; and this gives
additional evidence that the assassination plot was fully matured, as
shown by the Selby letter, at that time, and that on the part of Booth,
acting under the latitude of discretion contained in that letter, he
was only biding his time, waiting and watching for, and seeking to
make, an opportunity; and that had he not been restrained by Thompson
until he could get authority from Richmond that would serve him as a
voucher for the large outlay of money involved, he would have acted
long before he finally did.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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