J. J. Reford and J. J. Chaffee...who were they?...Really??

[scldrgnfly]

I would like to know if the names J. J. Reford and J. J. Chaffee were code words for real name(s), or were they the real names for real person(s), and is there written evidence of them? I posted the original questions about them in my last couple of posts about John Minchin Lloyd.

In the line that I am proposing for an hypothesis about the Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy, I think I might be able to make a guess at their identities....OBVIOUSLY, I could be wrong and would like to rule out certain embarrassment, if possible.

I want to unfold the mystery of what I have been able to connect gradually, for fun and accuracy. I think it is pretty neat and complicated, but it sure does connect a lot of people and events, I would like to think, logically and comprehensively.

I have to thank all of you out there because I have been relying on much of everyone's previous research and my research employing my individual perspective.

Does anyone know who they really were??

[Gene C]

I'm a bit confused. While your at it answering the above questions, were these people blockade runners, couriers or spots on the Washington - Richmond courier trail. What is there connection to the assassination?

Peculiar that they both have the initials J J.

[Bill Richter]

Ok, I have not taken a secrecy pledge, but as it involves a forthcoming book by Rick Stelnick, Dixie Reckoning, I will only give a quick overview, all of it off the top of my head Please bear with me if I get some of it screwed up and accept my apology ahead of time.

I would have to look Chaffee up so I will skip him, but both he and J J Reford are part of the so-called New York Comspiracy that was in competition with Booth to assassinate Lincoln and is hinted at in several books and by Booth himself. The New York crowd was composed of the Old Dutch families from the 1600s who were still in control of much of NYC finance and trade during the Civil War. What put Stelnick on to these guys was the address on Water Street that was known by historians for years through the letters to John Surratt and another Confederate agent R D Watson from the De Mille company. Their goal was to lengthen the Civil War even for a few months so as to increase their war profits. If De Mille sounds familiar, they were connected to the great movie mogul C B De Mille, one of the modern heirs to the De Mille fortune in trade.

The De Mille's wanted not to assassinate Lincoln because they were making so much off illegal trade between the US and the CS during the war. If this sounds familiar a similar tale comes out of the Neff and Gutteridge book Dark Union. Booth went ahead and did the assassination under Confederate auspices as put forth in T, H, G's Come Retribution. So the De Milles, angered by Booth breaking a supposed deal not to kill the president, sent their assassin J J Reford after the actor to kill him in revenge, but he arrived too late at Garrett's to do the job himself. Then, much like the 20th century Kennedy assassination, Reford hunts down and eliminates anyone who might have known the truth about the New York Conspiracy.

It has been a couple of years since I read all of this and wrote the intro to Stelnick's book, which I understand is forthcoming "shortly" whatever that means. He and his publisher have gotten together after the New Jerseyite Stelnick was wiped out in the Storm Sandy this last fall, losing his condo, car and his computer and all of his computer files.

I hope I have got this correct and apologize again to the readers of this email and to Stelnick for the errors. It is a book well worth reading, no matter one's viewpoint as to its feasibility. Stelnick makes a good case.

[scldrgnfly]

Great information, Bill! Thank you so much!

I have three questions.

One, did Stelnick find written proof of Reford's job description and written proof of Reford's whereabouts on the specific dates in question, when he is supposed to have carried out his various "assignments?"

Two, was J. J. Reford his real name?

Three, are you working on a book with him? There is a website that says you are. Will it be coming out soon? Can you tell us what it is about and is it being published by Progressive Press, too? I had never heard of them.

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Oops!! I guess that was 4. : ). !

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(05-06-2013 03:19 PM)Gene C Wrote:  I'm a bit confused. While your at it answering the above questions, were these people blockade runners, couriers or spots on the Washington - Richmond courier trail. What is there connection to the assassination?

Peculiar that they both have the initials J J.

Good questions, Gene! Thanks!

Maybe Bill can answer those, too.

[Bill Richter]

Did Stelnick find proof? Yes, in papers retained by a family of a Union spy (who in 1860 gave Booth the Deringer he used to kill Lincoln) among other things. I do not know the whereabouts or conditions of these papers after the Sandy Storm.

Reford and Chaffee were employes of the De Mille exporting company, working out of NYC, more or less troubleshooters, which covers a multitude of sin. I cannot comment on their initials being the same--that was a matter of their families?

Progressive Press is a California firm that contracted with Stelnick on Dixie Reckoning. I have nothing to do with that. I have spoken to them one time and found them quite professional. They are on the Web.

Supposedly Stelnick and I will be working on the fictional Trial of John Wilkes Booth in the future. Think the Court Martial of RE Lee or the Court Martial of George Armstrong Custer.

I have probably said too much for my own good.

[scldrgnfly]

Thank you for everything, Bill! Technically, I think, if anything, you have certainly generated a great deal of anticipation for these upcoming books!

Have you seen the website that mentions your book about the trial? .....It mentions the title with a short descriptio....n. Is it "Deo Vindice: The ...?". I couldn't remember the rest of it and I am on my phone and don't know how to switch back and forth without losing things?

How sad if Mr. Stelnick lost his proof, but GREAT he found the Union spy!

Do you think we still have things to fear from revealing too much of the Conspiracy? It's funny, but as I have been making the connections I have and been reading the personal accounts I have, it seems that even Thomas A. Jones and Conrad were not being completely candid in order to protect the names of those still living.

I did worry about Conrad's retelling of Wood's account of Stanton's possible suicide, since I couldn't find anything to corraborate the story he told in his book. It's almost as if I wished he hadn't put the story in his book, because of the shadows it casts.

Thanks, Bill.

[J. Beckert]

Quote: Is it "Deo Vindice: The ...?". I couldn't remember the rest of it

Deo Vindice (Latin) "Under God, our Vindicator". It's the motto of the Confederacy. Richter & Smith wouldn't take the canvas hood off my head and begin my escape tour until I memorized it.

[Bill Richter]

Joe, you are lucky that you had two such sympathetic Rebs to travel with. We never had to get the hanging rope out either!

[J. Beckert]

(05-06-2013 07:53 PM)william l. richter Wrote:  Joe, you are lucky that you had two such sympathetic Rebs to travel with. We never had to get the hanging rope out either!

I know, Bill. Thank God I signed that loyalty oath.

[scldrgnfly]

Very funny, guys!! If only I lived closer y'all sound like you have a blast!

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This is such great stuff!

[Laurie Verge]

Now that Bill has given you the gist of Dixie Reckoning (the part that I was sworn to secrecy with), I would like to interject my personal opinion. I read all 350+ pages of the manuscript about three years ago, and it certainly seems very plausible -- at least the part that was digestible because it is written in such archaic, flowery, confusing style that it boggles one's mind!

That said, however, so far as I know, no one (including Bill) has seen the documentation for all of this. Over 500 footnotes, and all they refer to are things like "Demill files," " Henson papers," etc. The Henson descendant who supposedly has/had his papers first said that she owned them and would let a representative of our community see them. A second contact with her had her denying that she had the papers.

After plowing my way through the manuscript, I was left with the feeling of "Boy, if this is true, what a great find." One second after that, my thought was, "Show me the proof." There is just too much resemblance to the Neff escapades with the spurious Potter Papers and the Joseph Lynch escapades with the so-called missing pages of Booth's diary for me not to be a skeptic.

For those of you who may have been members of the Surratt Society back in 2010 or 2011, check your newsletters (if you keep them). Chapters 1 and 2 of Dixie Reckoning were the feature articles in January and February of one of those years (can't get to my online index to find out which one).

Also, Google Philip Henson: His memoirs used to be online. He supposedly did a private investigation of Lincoln's assassination for then-President Grant and turned his findings over to Grant - never to be seen again. I even went so far as to contact the FBI and the CIA historians with no luck. All I can say is that I would love to have it proven that Yankees were definitely behind the plot to assassinate their own president, but we need to see documentable evidence and have it analyzed by leading authorities in the field.

I'm now going into hiding...

[BettyO]

I googled Henson and no listing for papers came up - but a book did - in PDF form which I downloaded....it included this engraving of Henson (I presume in later years as I have not had a chance to peruse the book yet) - in which he somewhat seems to appear as an ad for growing long beards! Pretty hirsute if you ask me!




Should I hide now?!

[Gene C]

Is this the same Henson from the "Lincoln Conspiracy " book by Balsiger & Sellers.
In the book wasn't Henson supposed to be Booth's valet, or something like that?

Who is Demil of the "Demil files"

BettyO, is this the book?
http://books.google.com/books/about/Phil...UBAAAAYAAJ

that website has links to several Lincoln assassination books
(I am surprised how many of these books are online)

[BettyO]

Yes, Gene - that's the book....I should have included the link - sorry....it looks interesting!

I was wondering if Henson is supposed to be the same guy in that awful movie/book....Valet, eh? Well....he could have used his beard to polish Booth's boots and never had to bend down to do it! Ha!!!

[scldrgnfly]

WOW!! That is so interesting, Laurie!

Telling a story is an awesome responsibility. To do it well is priceless, but at the cost of creating a hazy backdrop of nebulous sources that can't be accessed for verification of at least some of the necessary skeletal facts, is sad.

I am so glad one of my first adventures in the dizzying world of this 19th, 20th....millennial conspiracy was Kaufman's "American Brutus!". His footnotes are encyclopedic! To model his style and documentation would be idyllic.

When I think of all that Laurie and The Surratt Society with ALL of its members have done to establish such a fantastic research center, it seems that one could only hope that they would be able to put their seal of approval on one's work.