The Montreal Link

[Barry Sheehy]

[quote='L Verge' pid='71729' dateline='1529769950']
I am having a hard time saying that this is definitely "our" Thomas A. Jones. Note that it is identified as Thomas H. Jones, which might have been a way of faking the name, but why just the middle initial?

My biggest concern, however, is comparing it with the three known photos of Jones (one of which I can't find right away, but was taken outdoors in later years). Again, the passage of time can alter one's looks, but this gent is just too much of a dandy for my liking. Jones was an outdoors man, pr

Thomas Jones & Sarah Slater[/u]

Thanks everyone for your comments. You highlighted all the reasons I left this out of the book but I was fascinated by the photograph. What the facts confirm is that a Thomas Jones/T. Jones/ Col (Coln) Jones is in Montreal and, in the case of the latter, registered at SLH. We also know (Walter) Pollack of the NDP had an interest In Jones while he was in Montreal. I wanted to get another set of eyeballs on this Notman photo to see what others thought. I am convinced there are still a good many discoveries to be made in the Notman Collection, SLH Arrival and Departure Books, and Barnett’s Registers.
I believe Jones was somewhat more than just a dirt farmer. He owned a 500-acre farm on the Potomac and his writings and observations show a keen wit. He described his circumstances as comfortable. When asked to become a key member of the Confederate Signal Corps in Maryland (an extension of the CSS), he drove a hard bargain. In his negotiations with Major Norris, head of the Confederate Signal Corps and someone not to be trifled with, he insisted that he control operations on both sides of the River. Norris agreed to Jones’ terms.
Here’s something else I left out of the book that deserves more attention. After hiding out in St Liboire and Quebec City, John Surratt returned to Montreal in August 1864. He was given a room behind the Bishop’s Palace. The Catholic Church clearly played an important role in hiding and supporting Surratt in Canada and later in Europe. This is an aspect of the story crying out for further research.
While in Montreal and supposedly in hiding, Surratt was out and about pretty frequently. He attended a performance by Charles Kean of Richard II, accompanied by a “Miss Young,” an attractive young woman originally from New York. This hardly sounds like the kind of furtive behavior one would expect from someone with a $100,000 reward on his head. Montreal was at the time still full of American detectives and informers. How did Surratt go unnoticed? Had the government lost interest in him? We know that was certainly the case when he arrived in Liverpool and was spotted. The Secretaries of State and War told the US Consul to take no steps to arrest Surratt and then cancelled the reward for his capture. All very curious.
Confederate Secret Service chief in Canada, General Edwin Lee, wrote about a “Miss Young” being in Montreal and involved with Surratt in August. He described her as an attractive and accomplished woman. The name “Young” is an alias in the diary, just like Surratt was referred to under the alias “Charley Armstrong.” Who was this Miss Young? Recall that Surratt appeared to be involved with Sarah Slater in the months leading up to the Lincoln assassination. She registers with him on 18 April at St. Lawrence Hall (SLH) following his escape from the US.
We now know Slater had family in New York and went there after the war. What is the relationship between Sarah Slater and Miss Young? I wonder what James O. Hall would think of all this? We know that Edwin Lee warned “Miss Young” not to get too involved with Surratt presumably because he was about to leave for Europe, perhaps forever. It has also been suggested Lee did not approve of Surratt’s relationship with Slater. Coincidence? Not having enough solid answers. I left this out of City of Secrets.” Would welcome your comments and thoughts?