Booth's Words

[L Verge]

We just put out a used book for sale on our special table at Surratt House. It is a 1943 edition of Sam Arnold's Defence of a Lincoln Conspirator (only 199 printed, and this is #66). In a statement made before W.H. Gleason in December of 1867, Arnold had this to say about the kidnap of Lincoln:

Question: How was it proposed to capture the President upon the 17th of March?

Answer: To seize him and his Carriage was the intention, and to drive him round by way of Bladensburg to Surrattsville or T.B., there to meet Herold and convey him to the Potomac. It had been decided for the first attempt that ropes were to be stretched across the road for the purpose of tripping up the horses in case of pursuit. This was only in my first conversation with Booth at Barnum's Hotel.

Further on, this is said: Question: When you saw Booth on the 31st March did he give you to understand that Surratt would consult with the authorities at Richmond and ascertain how they felt towards the abduction scheme?

Answer: He said nothing in regard to it, but said the whole scheme was abandoned.

Question: What did Atzerodt say about the abduction when you met him at the depot on the 31st March?

Answer: I saw Atzerodt but a few moments. He said that Booth had procured a box at the Theatre and that the abduction would come off that night. That is all that passed between us.

Reference also made about Weichmann - Arnold said that Booth said "he had learned through Weichman the number of prisoners that there were on both sides. I think he said the excess held by the U.S. amounted to Twenty five or Thirty Thousand." This fits with a previous posting on prisoner release.