James L. Hoare

[John Fazio]

Hello Everyone:

My understanding is that Hoare's testimony was part of Charles Dunham's and George Sanders' plot to plant intentional perjury in the trial and before the Boutwell Committee so that when it was exposed as such, the case against the Confederate leadership would collapse, which it did. (Conover, incidentally, was one of about 20 aliases used by Dunham, who was one of the most extraordinary characters in history.)


Permit me to use this forum to introduce another subject that has some current relevance. As you no doubt know, there has been a lot of talk about Mueller issuing a subpoena to President Trump, commanding him to appear before the Special Prosecutor for examination if Trump refuses to appear voluntarily. It has also been widely reported that issuance of the subpoena will precipitate a major legal battle as to the President's obligation to honor the same. It has been said that there is no precedent for this and that the issue would likely go to the Supreme Court. Somewhere, in all my readings about the assassination and the trial of the conspirators , I recall reading that during the trial, President Johnson was issued a subpoena by the War Department (or perhaps by the Commissioners trying the conspirators), commanding him to appear in the trial and give testimony. I recall, further, that he refused to honor the subpoena (presumably because he did not want it to be known that he had known Booth personally, the two having had a relationship of some kind when they were in Tennessee together). Query: Is my recollection correct? Does anyone know anything about this? Can anyone cite a source for the issuance of the subpoena, the refusal of Johnson to honor it and the fact that he suffered no legal consequences as a result of his refusal. Thanks for your help.

John