A little-known person

[Steve Whitlock]

(07-23-2021 04:16 PM)Steve Wrote:  Gleason was the tipster. I just came across an interview with him in 1910 where he admits as much. I'm going to email it to Roger so he can post it to the Forum.

Steve,

Your superior work in this matter is not yet completed! We need to determine whether Lt. Joshua Graves ever gave an interview, or testimony, confirming Daniel Gleason's account.

Also, the question arises as to if or why Det. James A. McDevitt fabricated his tipster. Was it to give himself more credit than he deserved? Or was he covering for Daniel Gleason in a coordinated plan? I don't recall whether Gleason ever gave testimony at the conspiracy trial. I don't think so, even tho Weichman did. Why? There is more to learn here.

How could so many historians have missed this article? It looks like a heckuva movie to me, if some gaps are filled.

Wait a minute!!! I just found some more evidence, and mention of Capt. Gleason and Det. McDevitt in conspiracy testimony, from a NY Times 19 May 1865 article. It confirms that Lewis Weichman advised Daniel Gleason of his concerns for the conspiracy taking place at Mary Surratt's boarding house.

HOWEVER, I don't think Gleason, who did go to the War Dept with his concerns, was the tipster to McDevitt. That honor, I believe, goes to the same man that tipped Gleason, i.e. Lewis J. Weichman.

There is an area of the attached NY Times transcription which reads:

Q. -- Were any inducements held out to you by any officer of the government? A. -- Not at all. I read in the paper that morning a description of the assassin of Secretary Seward. He was described as a man who wore a long gray coat. I had seen Atzeroth wearing a long gray coat. I went down to Tenth-street and met a gentleman, to whom I communicated my suspicions, and then went and delivered myself up to Superintendent Richards, of the Metropolitan Police force, and told him of where this man Payne had been stopping, and also of Atzeroth and Herrold. I was then sent to Gen. Augur's office, and after leaving that place, met a man who kept a stable in Thirteenth and E streets, who stated that a man had been to his place to hire a horse. He described the man as being of small stature, having black eyebrows, and a kind of a smile on his face. He said the name was Herrold.

I then went with Officer McDevitt to Herrold's house, and procured photographs of himself and Booth. Officer McDevitt procured a photograph of Surratt. I stated what I knew of Herrold's habit of riding through Maryland; that he had many acquaintances there, and that the assassins would probably take their course through Maryland.
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I took special note of " I went down to Tenth-street and met a gentleman, to whom I communicated my suspicions", and believe the "gentleman" was James A. McDevitt.

Places of the transcription make one wonder who the witness is, and I'm certain that the Lewis Wickham mentioned is Lewis Weichman. That same Lewis Weichman, in my opinion, is the tipster to Daniel Gleason and James A. McDevitt!!!