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+--- Thread: Gen. Holt and Sanford Conover (/thread-3775.html)
Gen. Holt and Sanford Conover - SSlater - 07-09-2018 04:21 PM
I have stumbled onto an Untitled File Folder, in my own files -that has floored me.
It is an "Exhibit to the deposition of Gen, Holt". It is 37 legal size pages, of handwritten material. Written between July 1865 and Jan, 1866, between SANFORD CONOVER and Gen. HOLT.
Would you believe that CONOVER was hired by HOLT to go find John Surratt and find witnesses that would testify that Davis , et. al, were part of the assassination.
By Aug. 1865, Surratt was found by others, but all of Conover's cost for himself and all the witnesses was financed by Holt. Conover didn't have to find Surratt, but all the rest he accomplished.
He found all the witnesses he needed, and then some. His letters to Holt usually referred to the witnesses by initials. I can give you all the names, (like - Carter, Wright, Irish, etc. but not here.)
(During his search for witnesses, one of his own children died. I don't have details how he handled that.)
This tells me that the Judge knew the witnesses BEFORE the trial, and knew what they would say. (Do you suppose he might have told them -what to SAY.) The Judge paid for all the costs incurred by witnesses for an extended period of time. Now, that's a fair trial.
(I'll read the packet to see if there is more for you to know.)
RE: Gen. Holt and Sanford Conover - SSlater - 07-10-2018 03:54 PM
My interest in all this started when I decided I want to know WHO lied, and what did they say. So far, I don't have a "list of lies", or a list of who lied.
In one case, someone testified that Jacob Thompson was at a meeting - another person jumped up and said NO, HE WAS NOT- You lied. To prove his point, he asked Hotel Clerks, if Thompson was there. They said "he was not in town". (Clerks are not a good source of private information , they can be very discreet.) Maybe they said "I haven't seen him", which does not mean "he isn't here".
Now I am checking through a huge "Diary" attributed to Jacob Thompson. (How dependable is this???). It is said to be a late-life dictation to his granddaughter , who published it after his death.
I may not find anything, but I'm looking.
Back up a little, is a "mistake" -a lie? Were the Clerks "ordered" not to talk? By definition, a lie is the deliberate telling of an untruth, with the purpose to deceive.
Do you suppose we can find the lie or the lies? Then what?