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396 HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
as that General Gittings went to the Maryland line to meet Mr. Lincoln, and failed to
find him, received Mr. Lincoln's family and conveyed them to his home, where they
remained during their stay in Baltimore as his guests; and I had carriages in readiness to
carry out my part of the arrangements, when the news reached Baltimore that Mr.
Lincoln was in Washington.
"With these statements and explanations, the truth of which, I imagine, neither
Kennedy nor Pinkerton will call in question; and even if they do, the parties to the
arrangements to whom I have referred, still live—I feel quite certain that no intelligent
and honest mind will continue to credit the oft-repeated slanders upon Baltimore, of
having contemplated a deed of such savage atrocity as that alleged to have been threatened by these detective policemen. That Mrs.' Lincoln was not imposed upon by the
inventions of such people, was abundantly shown in the fact that before starting from
Baltimore for Washington she sent a request that I would call and afford her an opportunity of making her acknowledgements for the interest I had shown in the arrangements
which had been made; but sudden and severe indisposition prevented me from doing so.
As effectually as her husband may for the time have been duped by these people, and led
to a course which was subsequently a matter of deep regret to himself and his friends, I
had the very best reason to know that he was very soon undeceived, and that I could
have enjoyed the most substantial evidence of his confidence and favor after he became
the President, had I felt inclined to embrace it.
" Yours verj'- respectfully,
"Danville, Va. ' "GEORGE P. KANE."
Besides this truthful statement, we fortunately have the deliberate judgment of Colonel Ward H. Lamon, of the value of the "proofs" of the
alleged conspiracy. Colonel Lamon, Mr. Lincoln's biographer, was one of
his chosen companions on this journey—in fact he was the only one that
never left him until he reached Washington—and, in the event of an assassination, would most probably have fallen a victim. Certainly if there had
been a conspiracy he would have known it. Here is what he says:
" These documents are neither edifying nor useful; they prove nothing but the baseness of the vocation which gave them existence. They were furnished to Mr. Herndon
in full, under the impression that partisan feeling had extinguished in him the love of
truth and the obligations of candor, as it had in many writers who preceded him in the
same subject-matter. They have been carefully and thoroughly read, analysed, examined, and compared with an earnest and conscientious desire to discover the truth, if,
perchance, any trace of truth might be in them.
" The process of investigation began with a strong bias in favor of the conclusion at
which this detective had arrived. For ten years the author implicitly believed in the
reality of the atrocious plot which these spies were supposed to have detected and
thwrarted ; and for ten years he had pleased himself with the reflection that he also had
done something to defeat the bloody purpose of the assassins. It was a conviction which
could scarcely have been overthrown by evidence less powerful than the detective's weak
and contradictory account of his own case. In that account there is literally nothing to
sustain the accusation, and much to rebut it. It is perfectly manifest that there was no
conspiracy—no conspiracy of a hundred, of fifty, of twenty, of three; no definite purpose
in the heart of even one man to murder Mr. Lincoln at Baltimore."
We have now, we think, refuted all the essential points of the alleged
assassination conspiracy of 1861. We have shown that one of the chief
| Title | History of Maryland - 3 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000427 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 396 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. as that General Gittings went to the Maryland line to meet Mr. Lincoln, and failed to find him, received Mr. Lincoln's family and conveyed them to his home, where they remained during their stay in Baltimore as his guests; and I had carriages in readiness to carry out my part of the arrangements, when the news reached Baltimore that Mr. Lincoln was in Washington. "With these statements and explanations, the truth of which, I imagine, neither Kennedy nor Pinkerton will call in question; and even if they do, the parties to the arrangements to whom I have referred, still live—I feel quite certain that no intelligent and honest mind will continue to credit the oft-repeated slanders upon Baltimore, of having contemplated a deed of such savage atrocity as that alleged to have been threatened by these detective policemen. That Mrs.' Lincoln was not imposed upon by the inventions of such people, was abundantly shown in the fact that before starting from Baltimore for Washington she sent a request that I would call and afford her an opportunity of making her acknowledgements for the interest I had shown in the arrangements which had been made; but sudden and severe indisposition prevented me from doing so. As effectually as her husband may for the time have been duped by these people, and led to a course which was subsequently a matter of deep regret to himself and his friends, I had the very best reason to know that he was very soon undeceived, and that I could have enjoyed the most substantial evidence of his confidence and favor after he became the President, had I felt inclined to embrace it. " Yours verj'- respectfully, "Danville, Va. ' "GEORGE P. KANE." Besides this truthful statement, we fortunately have the deliberate judgment of Colonel Ward H. Lamon, of the value of the "proofs" of the alleged conspiracy. Colonel Lamon, Mr. Lincoln's biographer, was one of his chosen companions on this journey—in fact he was the only one that never left him until he reached Washington—and, in the event of an assassination, would most probably have fallen a victim. Certainly if there had been a conspiracy he would have known it. Here is what he says: " These documents are neither edifying nor useful; they prove nothing but the baseness of the vocation which gave them existence. They were furnished to Mr. Herndon in full, under the impression that partisan feeling had extinguished in him the love of truth and the obligations of candor, as it had in many writers who preceded him in the same subject-matter. They have been carefully and thoroughly read, analysed, examined, and compared with an earnest and conscientious desire to discover the truth, if, perchance, any trace of truth might be in them. " The process of investigation began with a strong bias in favor of the conclusion at which this detective had arrived. For ten years the author implicitly believed in the reality of the atrocious plot which these spies were supposed to have detected and thwrarted ; and for ten years he had pleased himself with the reflection that he also had done something to defeat the bloody purpose of the assassins. It was a conviction which could scarcely have been overthrown by evidence less powerful than the detective's weak and contradictory account of his own case. In that account there is literally nothing to sustain the accusation, and much to rebut it. It is perfectly manifest that there was no conspiracy—no conspiracy of a hundred, of fifty, of twenty, of three; no definite purpose in the heart of even one man to murder Mr. Lincoln at Baltimore." We have now, we think, refuted all the essential points of the alleged assassination conspiracy of 1861. We have shown that one of the chief |
