Page:Reminiscences of Sixty Years in Public Affairs (Volume Two).djvu/69

Rh bear a rigid test in ethics. The deposit was made about the first of March by John H. Surratt, Atzerodt and David E. Herold, all of whom were afterwards implicated in the crime. The articles were received and secreted by Lloyd, but only after objections by him, as appears from his testimony, Lloyd connected Mrs. Surratt with the crime by these facts as related by him. She called upon Lloyd the Tuesday preceding the fatal Friday and gave him this message: “She told me to have them ready (speaking of the shooting-irons) that they would be called for or wanted soon, I have forgotten which.”

Mrs. Surratt made a second call the afternoon preceding the murder, when this conversation took place, as stated by Lloyd: “When I drove up in my buggy to the back yard Mrs. Surratt came out to meet me. She handed me a package, and told me as well as I remember to get the guns or those things—I really forget now which, though my impression is that guns was the expression she made use of—and a couple of bottles of whisky and give them to whoever should call for them that night.”

That night, after the murder, Booth and Herold called, and took the carbine and drank of the whisky. In these facts there is basis for a reasonable theory. The theory is this. Previous to the fall of Richmond and the surrender of Lee’s army the Confederate authorities set on foot a scheme for the capture and abduction of Mr. Lincoln. The articles deposited, including the rope and the monkey wrench, might be useful had Mr. Lincoln been abducted, but when the crime became murder the rope and wrench were neglected.

This view derives support from two directions. In Booth’s diary is this entry: “April 13-14 Friday. The Ides. Until to-day nothing was ever thought of sacrificing to our country’s wrongs. For six months we had worked to capture. But our cause being almost lost something decisive and great