Was there an assassin on Grant's train?

[Pamela]

(07-17-2015 07:50 PM)L Verge Wrote:  Pardon me for saying this, but you are really hooked on Weichmann! Are you planning a biography on him?

I am not anti-Weichmann (and I doubt that few of his detractors are). I said from the beginning that I think he practiced the first law of nature - self-preservation. I doubt that Weichmann ever thought that his testimony would actually set a precedence for the government to hang a woman. In that, he and John Surratt were alike - they both got outfoxed by the U.S. government.

Likewise, I am not pro-Surratt. I think that Surratt dropped out of Booth's plans, was sent north on Confederate business, and then listened to advice to stay in hiding because his mother was being used as a decoy to get to him. I think Stanton and Holt would have hanged both of them if he returned.

We will never know for certain how much of Louis's complaints was based on true events or a bad case of nerves after 1867. However, he did seem to do well for himself afterwards - first with the support of Stanton and Holt and then with establishing his own business.

A School which continues to this day, and an excellent book to his credit. And by the way, it was Lloyd's testimony, not Weichmann's, that put the nail in her coffin, or pine box, and it was Weichmann who gave the strongest testimony as to the good qualities of her character. And much, if not most of his testimony was backed up by other witnesses or by facts and circumstances. I don't agree that Mary was simply used as a decoy by the government to get to John--I think she was guilty.

I'm pretty sure that a "detractor" by definition is "anti". You do seem pro-Surratt to me, which is fine.

If I could write, I would. Seriously, though, self preservation makes you think of Weichmann before Surratt? And when John piously proclaimed in the Hanson Hiss interview, after making a complete denial of any involvement in any Lincoln conspiracy (although in his previous lectures he proudly admitted to attempted kidnapping), "The South lost it's best friend when it lost Lincoln. He understood it's conditions and the character of it's people as no man did before or since."-- no conscience, no remorse. Surratt was the very man who facilitated the crime, brought Powell, Atzerodt, Herold and his own mother into it, and abandoned them all to their fate.

Weichmann was never out-foxed by the government--Mary was, sadly. Weichmann did his duty. Here's a description of Weichmann from a very accomplished man who actually met him, and whose work all assassination students and historians benefit from:

"A dramatic incident connected with this memorable trial in which phonography figured as a prime element, has never yet been told. Among the seizures of property that had been made at the house of Mrs. Surratt was a carpet sack belonging to one of her boarders, who was a friend and had been a fellow student with John Surratt. The conduct and character of the young gentleman who owned the sack were subjected to a most careful investigation, as were all those who resided in the house. With other like matters the carpet sack came to me for safekeeping, examination, and report. In this sack, to my surprise, I found copies of my manual and Reporter's Companion, together with a quantity of phonographic exercises. I particularly noticed that the exercises were carefully written and were dated continuously up to the time of the great tragedy. These were significant facts in favor of the young man. I could not believe that a student who had recently left college and who was pursuing a study like phonography, could in any way be cognizant of a conspiracy so dangerous.

I soon had the opportunity of making the acquaintance of the gentleman and found him to be a young man of prepossessing appearance, with clear and placid eye, and a countenance indicative of intelligence, modesty, and conscientiousness. I communicated the fact to the judge advocates and laid stress upon the fact that the study of phonography without a teacher, save the books, required considerable application and necessarily demanded the time, interest and energy of the student, and that such a one would be a very unlikely person to have anything to do with such a conspiracy. My suggestions received a most careful consideration. The gentleman appeared as a witness in the case, was on the stand and passed through a most trying ordeal unscathed." Benn Pittman, August 13, 1893.