A Threat To The Republic

[RJNorton]

John Surratt, Jr. tells a story somewhere about smuggling things in via hidden spots in wagons (and commenting on how stupid the Federals were).

In his Rockville lecture Surratt said:

"We had a regular established line from Washington to the Potomac, and I being the only unmarried man on the route, I had most of the hard riding to do. I devised various ways to carry the dispatches - sometimes in the heel of my boots, sometimes between the planks of the buggy. I confess that never in my life did I come across a more stupid set of detectives than those generally employed by the U.S. government. They seemed to have no idea whatever on how to search men."