As Wiechmann and Lloyd were the principal witnesses against Mrs. Surratt, and their evidence so conclusively established her guilt, her counsel made an effort to discredit their testimony, but utterly failed to do so. Wiechmann was a young man who established a good character for veracity and general moral deportment by witnesses who had been intimately associated with him for months in General Hoffman's department. His manner was that of a man who was deeply affected by the fact that he found himself in a situation in which his duty to his God and his country required him to state facts that had been thrust upon him, and that were now found to be so damaging to those with whom he had been associating and whom he had regarded as friends. The attempt made by counsel for the defense in their arguments to break the force of his testimony by throwing out the unfounded insinuation that he probably knew of the existence of the conspiracy, was done for the purpose of engendering a doubt of the simple truth of his utterances which were corroborated by other testimony than his own, and of which he could have had no previous knowledge. Wiechmann's testimony, taking into consideration the lies told to him and the deceptions practiced upon him for nearly four months, is in itself absolute proof of his integrity and of his innocence. In the words of Judge Bingham in all that dread issue, "There was not a breath of suspicion found against his character, nor was a single fact to which he testified contradicted. The defense tried to kill him off with lies and insinuations, but they could not and did not do it." Wiechmann admitted that he had been puzzled to account for some of these occurrences. He could not understand why such persons as Payne and Atzerodt should be received and enjoy the privileges accorded to them by Mrs. Surratt and her son; but particularly he had had his suspicions aroused by the conduct of Surratt, Payne, and Booth upon their return from their ride as heretofore recited. He had related this occurrence to Captain Gleason, an officer with whom he was associated in his daily work. He referred to a report or rumor, which had found its way into the papers, of a plot to capture the President, and asked the Captain if he thought it could be possible that this could have been the object of their expedition. Wiechmann's character and actions in the matter could not be discredited by insinuations that had no evidence to rest on for their support.