Was Stanton a murder target?

[John Fazio]

Kees:

You want "a greater degree of believability" that Stanton was targeted. How much more do you need than this:

1. He was mentioned as an intended victim in conversations between Confederate operatives in Canada.
2. When Davis learned of the assassination, he said: "If the same had been done to Secretary Stanton, the job would then be complete."
3. On May 15, 1865, an anonymous report was sent to Stanton advising him that that there had been a conspiracy to murder him, the president and Seward.
4. The "T.I.O.S. letter sent to Booth on April 10, 1865, at the National, stated that there was an assassin assigned to each member of Lincoln's cabinet.
5. A cipher letter that came into the possession of Union intelligence stated that "The brute Stanton will also meet his deserts (sic) by a sure hand".
6. Thomas A. Jones, head of the Confederate Secret Service in Maryland, wrote, in an 1893 book, that Stanton was an intended victim.
7. The May 10, 1865, letter from the Union agent in Paris quoted the Confederate agent "Johnston" as saying that if everything had been "carried out as was arranged previously, some 15 of the Yankee leaders would have been now quietly resting where they should have gone 4 years (ago)". Do you really believe the 15 did not include Stanton?
8. Suspicious persons were reported at or about Stanton's home on the night of the assassination by the New York Times, Stanton himself, Orville Hickman Browning, Senator William Stewart, Secretary of the Interior John Usher and Stanton's friend Hudson Taylor.
9. In my opinion, the evidence that an attempt was made on the night of April 14, 1865, to decapitate the United States government is
overwhelming. Can you imagine that such an attempt would not include the Secretary of War, especially because the evidence is clear and convincing that his subordinate, Ulysses S. Grant, was targeted?

If you are still unconvinced, then I say, with all due respect and modesty, that the burden of proof has shifted to you. That is to say: please present your evidence that Stanton was NOT targeted.

John