Page images
PDF
EPUB

and Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin are declared to be elected President and Vice-president of the United States. The Senate retires.

The pent-up anger of the Secession members from the Slave States that had not seceded burst forth. "Hurrah for Jeff Davis !" "Scott is a traitor to his native State!" "He is a coward!" "An old dotard!" “What right had he to put his blue-coated janizaries in the Capitol?" Oaths and curses rent the air. Impotent the rage. Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin had been legally declared elected, but would they be allowed to take their seats?

The plan to prevent the declaration of their election was abandoned several days before that event, and another far darker conspiracy was entered upon. Miss Dorothy Dix, of New York, who had been in the South, informed Samuel M. Felton, president of the railroad leading from Baltimore to Philadelphia, that the Southern conspirators had determined Mr. Lincoln should never reach Washington. He read in Southern newspapers the threatening words that he would not be allowed to take his seat. Mr. Felton knew there were many brutal men in Baltimore-ruffians who had no regard for anything except brute force. They went by the name of "Plug Uglies." They were Secessionists, and were determined to carry the State out of the Union. He knew they were ready to do any violent act to insure their success. He discovered that organizations were forming in the villages along the line of the railroad, and decided to investigate what was going on. "Will you come to Philadelphia?" the message to Mr. Pinkerton, a detective, who hastened to that city.

A few days later the men drilling at Perryville, Magnolia, and Havre de Grace received new recruits-rough-looking men-who announced themselves as Secessionists. (')

Among the guests at Barnum's Hotel in Baltimore was one who signed his name "Joseph Howard, Montgomery, Alabama." Timothy Webster, from Richmond, arrived at another hotel, not quite so aristocratic as Barnum's. Mr. Howard was very much of a gentleman-so polite, well-educated, and handsome that the ladies in the parlor were charmed with him. In the smoking-room he was very courteous, and the cigars which he presented to the young gentlemen who spent their evenings at Barnum's were delicately flavored. Mr. Howard listened to what they had to say about secession, and the intimations that Lincoln might not get to Washington. He made the acquaintance of Mr. Kane, marshal of the Baltimore police, member of a secret society. They gained entrance to a chamber by signs and passwords. Captain

Ferrandini, president of the society, declared that the election of Lincoln was an insult to the gentlemen of the South.

"This hireling, Lincoln," he shouted, "shall never be President. My life is of no consequence. I am ready to die for the rights of the South, and to crush out the Abolitionists."

He flourished a dirk to let the members of the society understand that he was ready to use it.

Mr. Howard from Montgomery, with a friend from Georgia, met Captain Ferrandini in Mr. Guy's restaurant. The captain was pleased to meet the gentleman from Georgia, who, as Mr. Howard assured him, was "all right."

"Are there no other means?" somebody asked.

"No; as well might you attempt to move that monument yonder with your breath as to change our purpose. He must die; and die he shall," said Captain Ferrandini.

"There seems to be no other way," Mr. Howard remarked.

"The cause is noble; and on that day every one of us will prove himself a hero. With the first shot he will die, and Maryland will be with the South," the captain added.

"But have all the plans been matured, and are there no fears of failure? A misstep would be fatal to the South, and everything ought to be well considered," said the gentleman from Georgia.

"Our plans are fully matured, and they cannot fail. If I alone must strike the blow, I shall not hesitate or shrink from the task. Lincoln will not leave this city alive. Neither he nor any other Abolitionist shall ever set foot on Southern soil, except to find a grave," said Captain Trichat.

"But about the authorities; is there no danger to be apprehended from them?" asked the gentleman from Georgia.

"Oh no. They are all with us. I have seen the chief of police, and he is all right. In a week from to-day the North will want another President, for Lincoln will be a corpse," the reply.

Mr. Howard became quite intimate with Lieutenant Hill. They walked the streets arm in arm, drank each the other's health, talked over the plans in their own rooms.

"I shall immortalize myself by plunging a knife into Lincoln's heart," said the Lieutenant. (")

Timothy Webster, of Richmond, Va., joined the military company at Perryville. The chamber in which the members met was hung with quilts, that no listening ears in adjoining rooms might hear what was said.

The bridges on the railroad were to be set on fire, the tracks torn up so that no troops could reach Baltimore from the North. Little did the men mistrust that Timothy Webster, from Richmond, was in constant communication with the gentleman from Georgia, in Baltimore; that Mr. Howard was also informing the gentleman from Georgia of all that was going on, and that he was giving full information of the conspiracy to Norman B. Judd, at Buffalo.

Mr. Lincoln had planned to go from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, and from that city to Baltimore. There would be a great crowd at the Northern Central station, where he would enter a narrow passage to reach a carriage. It would be an easy matter to get up a row in such a crowd. When the police left the passage to quell the disturbance, the fatal bullet would be fired, or the knife plunged into his breast. A steamboat would take the assassin to South Carolina-secure from capture.

Senator Grimes, of Iowa, and Elihu B. Washburne, member of the House of Representatives from Galena, Ill., were in consultation with General Scott, commanding the army. He was receiving letters from honest and true-hearted men in the South, informing him of a deeplaid plot to murder Mr. Lincoln. Senator Grimes and Mr. Washburne were made a "Committee of Public Safety" by the loyal Senators and members of Congress. They knew that Chief of Police Kennedy, in New York, was loyal and true, and that he had trustworthy men in his employ, and so put themselves in communication with him.

Men who wore slouched hats and seedy coats, who smoked cheap cigars and drank whiskey, were sent to Richmond, Alexandria, and Baltimore. They also learned the details of the plot to murder Lincoln. (")

1861.

Mr. Lincoln is at Trenton, N. J. Things have arrived at a serious pass. Mr. Seward and Mr. Washburne, in Washington, have unmistakable evidence, apart from what has come to Mr. Judd, that Feb. 20, Mr. Lincoln is to be assassinated in Baltimore. They cannot with safety telegraph any information. A messenger must be sent, and Mr. Frederick W. Seward, son of the Senator, with letters from his father and from General Scott, makes his way to Philadelphia. The train from Trenton is just arriving with Mr. Lincoln. A young man slips a piece of paper into the hand of Mr. Judd, who reads only this:

"Call for J. H. Hutchinson at the St. Louis Hotel."

It is not Mr. Hutchinson whom Mr. Judd finds, but Mr. Pinkerton, the "gentleman from Georgia." He lays before Mr. Judd all the details of the plan. Mr. Seward confirms them; also Mr. Sanford, sent by General Scott. Mr. Felton, who has had several gangs of men whitewashing the bridges across the rivers between Philadelphia and Baltimore, but who were instructed to keep their eyes on the structures day and night for fear they might be set on fire, adds information confirming the testimony gathered by the detectives.

What shall be done? The time has come when Mr. Lincoln must know what is going on. His secretary, Mr. Nicolay, calls him from the parlor of the Continental Hotel. Mr. Judd and Mr. Sanford propose that he shall go at once to Washington. That he will not consent to do. He has promised to raise a flag over the hall in which the Declaration of Independence was signed, and will keep his word. He has promised to go to Harrisburg, and will go; but it is arranged that instead of remaining at Harrisburg over night, and going to Baltimore on the Northern Central road, he shall return to Philadelphia, and go by the regular night train through Baltimore to Washington.

It is the anniversary of George Washington's birth. For the first time in his life Mr. Lincoln enters the hall where the DeclaraFeb. 22, tion of the Independence of the United States was signed. The street and square, the houses, windows, and roofs are occupied by a vast crowd of people. These words fall from the lips of Mr.

1861.

Lincoln:

"I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing in this place, where were collected together the wisdom, the patriotism, the devotion to principle from which sprang the institutions under which we live. You have kindly suggested to me that in my hands is the task of restoring peace to our distracted country. I can say in return that all the political sentiments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I have been able to draw them, from the sentiments which originated in, and were given to the world from, this hall. . . . It was not the mere matter of separation of the colonies from the motherland, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but hope to all the world for all future time."

The flag rises to the top-mast, and the vast multitude rends the air with cheers as they behold the bright new banner floating in the breeze.

From Philadelphia, Mr. Lincoln proceeds to Harrisburg, and meets the Legislature and Governor Curtin. The ceremonies of the day are ended. Judge Davis, Colonel E. V. Sumner, Major John Pope, Major David Hunter, and Mr. Lamon, who are travelling with Mr. Lincoln,

[graphic][merged small]

have received hints that the programme for the journey to Washington has been changed. Mr. Lincoln cannot slip away without taking them into his confidence. He has not been quite sure that it will be manly to go through Baltimore in the night. No hospitalities have been extended to him by the Governor of Maryland or the authorities of Baltimore, but will people not look upon him as a coward? He lays the matter before his friends.

"Well, Mr. Lincoln, what is your judgment?" Mr. Davis asks.

"I have thought this matter over considerably since I went over the ground with Mr. Pinkerton. The appearance of Mr. Frederick Seward

« PreviousContinue »