The Great North Western Conspiracy In All Its Startling Details

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CONFESSION OF MRS. MORRIS, B.S., AND HER SENTENCE.

CINCINNATI, Feb. 13.

The following is Mrs. Morris' confession:

McLEAN BARRACKS, CINCINNATI, Feb. 5, 1865.

To Maj.-Gen. J. Hooker, Commanding Northern Department, Cincinnati, O.:

General--I was arrested in Chicago, on the 11th day of December, by the
United States authorities, charged with assisting rebel prisoners to
escape, and relieving them with money and clothing; also, with holding
correspondence with the enemy. I desire to state the facts of the case, to
confess the truth, and to ask such clemency at your hands as may be
consistent with your duty as an officer of the government. I was born and
reared in Kentucky. My home was in the South till within the last ten
years, my connections and friends all being there. I had sympathy with
them, though I was as much opposed to the secession movement as any one
could be. Having a large acquaintance in Kentucky, I was charged with the
distribution of a great deal of clothing and money among the prisoners in
Camp Douglas, Chicago, sent to them by their friends, and which was done
under the supervision of the proper officers of the camp. This I continued
to do up to the time of my arrest, and in this way I made the
acquaintance, and was understood to be the friend of the prisoners in
camp.

In the early part of last winter, an escaped prisoner named John
Harrington, came to me and asked for assistance. He stated that he was
going to Canada for the purpose of completing his education. I gave him
money to the amount I believe of $20. Some time in the summer of the past
year, a rebel prisoner named Charles Swager, a young man who had escaped
from the cars while being conveyed to Rock Island, came to me for
assistance. I gave him a coat, a pair of boots, and some money, to the
amount I believe, of $15. There were two or three others that I had reason
to believe were escaped prisoners, whose names I do not know. These I
assisted with money, and to one of them I gave some clothing. There were
some others to whom I gave money and clothing, that I did not at the time
know were rebel prisoners, but who afterwards I had reason to believe were
such.

I received letters from Capt. J. B, Castleman of the rebel army, and sent
him verbal messages in return. He called at my house, and remained for a
little while. Capt. Hines, also of the Confederate army, called and ate at
my house once during last summer.

I beg to be released from my present imprisonment, and promise that, if my
prayer is granted, I will henceforth conduct myself as a truly loyal
woman, without in any way interfering with the government or aiding its
enemies.

Witness my hand and seal, this 5th day of February, 1805. MARY B. MORRIS.

The following is Gen. Hooker's order relative to Mrs. Morris:

HEADQUARTERS NORTHERN DEPARTMENT, \
CINCINNATI, O., Feb. 10, 1865. /

[_Extract._]

Mrs. Mary B. Morris, now in confinement at McLean barracks, in the city of
Cincinnati, O., charged with giving aid and comfort to the enemy,
assisting rebel prisoners to escape, and other disloyal practices, will,
on or before Monday the 13th inst., be sent south of our military lines,
under guard, into the so-called Southern Confederacy. Her sympathy with
those in rebellion can there find its natural expression, and a more
appropriate theatre of action. It is but just to our government and laws,
that the shield of its power should not be thrown over those who are
inimical to it, and are giving active aid and sympathy to its enemies. The
claim to protection by the government implies the reciprocity of fealty.

Mrs. Mary B. Morris, who was ordered sent out of our lines by paragraph 1
of this order, in consideration of her professions and promises, is
permitted to remain on the premises of her father, Edward M. Blackburne,
at Spring Station, Woodford county, Ky., on consideration that she
complies with the promises accompanying her confession, filed at these
headquarters, Feb. 5th, 1865. If such promises are not complied with, the
first paragraph of the order to be in full force.

By command of Maj.-Gen. HOOKER.

(Signed) C.H. POTTER, Assistant Adjutant-General.

The trial of the prisoner Cantril was deferred, owing to serious illness.
During the progress of the trial, Anderson committed suicide, and Daniels
escaped. [It will be remembered that H.H. Dodd, convicted of treason in
Indianapolis, some months ago, and sentenced to suffer the death penalty,
also escaped. Neither Daniels or Dodd have been recaptured.] The evidence
before the Military Commission elicited most of the important facts
embraced in this narrative, and therefore need not be reviewed.

In regard to several of the witnesses before the Military Commission, a
few remarks may not be uninteresting. It has been observed by the reader
who has carefully perused the foregoing statement, that there were two
distinct elements which made up the great conspiracy, viz: The
Copperheads, or Sons of Liberty, and Knights of the Golden Circle, and the
rebel emissaries both in the Northern States and in Canada. The discovery
of the designs, purposes and intents of the former, was made by the writer
of this work, who was aided by Robert Alexander. With such aid as we were
able to control, we obtained and imparted the information which resulted
in the total defeat of the devilish intent of our secret enemies--the
Copperheads; the purposes, movements, ends and aims of the _Rebels in
Canada_, were reported by Maurice Langhorn, aid by two others. The parties
in charge of observing and defeating the two distinct elements, were utter
strangers, and had never met or had any communication whatever.

In regard to the writer, it need only be said, that when it was announced
to Hon. I.N. Arnold, M.C., Governor Yates, and Brig.-Gen. Paine, that
there was a formidable conspiracy against the General Government,
embracing many thousand persons in its league, and that its purpose was
the subversion of our Government in aid of the rebellion, that their plots
were rapidly maturing, and the most alarming consequences might be
apprehended, if timely precautions were not observed, all of these
gentlemen gave to the matter their earnest and careful attention. It was
not the purpose of the writer to proceed with further investigations,
except by advice and direction, as it was a work for which he felt wholly
unqualified, from his tastes, disposition, professional, and social
position, but the arguments of Gen. Paine, which, at this time and place,
it is unnecessary to state, but which it is believed neither party will
soon forget, decided the matter, and the task was undertaken, and with
what success it was attended, let the history of the proceedings in
Cincinnati determine. For more than six months, the work was prosecuted
with unceasing vigilance, regardless of all other considerations, and
although, when he was called to the witness stand, he could not shield
himself from the malignant abuse of counsel, by stating _that he had been
acting under a commission received from his Government_, yet he then felt
morally certain, and that confidence _yet remains unshaken_, that when his
true relations to the Government and country, are finally known, his
motives, his acts, and his services, will be duly appreciated. He has not
been mistaken. The contemptible falsehood of the party who stated that the
writer's services had been compensated, or that a claim for compensation
had been made, is hereby hurled back into his teeth. Not a dollar, not a
dime, has been received, not even for _actual expenses incurred_, and _no
claim_ whatever has been made--no consideration whatever has been
proffered. The service was the result of a deep conviction of duty, a
feeling that no citizen should withhold personal sacrifice, even of life
and reputation, if the interest of his country demands it. We knew the
condition upon which we stepped aside from the agreeable and peaceful
avocations of life, and entered upon the task so distasteful, so
repulsive, and for a time so thankless. We had reason to know that the
shafts of fiendish calumny would assail, that friendship would be broken,
_that envy and jealousy would ply their innuendoes_, that the Copperhead
elements of a fraternity, claiming one of the offenders in its ranks,
would assail with bitterness and awaken poignant grief, but no regret,
that we should have the hatred of Copperheads, as long as that genus
(thank Heaven, short-lived), existed in our land, and be regarded with
distrust by those negative persons, who would be for the Union, had they
any independence of character; we knew all this would follow, if the
assassin's bullet or dagger did not execute the sworn purpose of the
Order, but with an abiding faith in the justice of Heaven, with an
approving conscience, and our earnest heartfelt prayer for our loved
country in her dark hours, we took our course, and our only regret is,
that we had not sooner entered upon the work, and thereby frustrated plans
which have contributed to our national suffering; for who shall say how
many have been its victims, how many homes has it made desolate, how many
hearts has it broken, and how many graves now enclose misguided men, and
misguided youths, who, educated in its fallacies, lured by its snake-like
influence, arrayed themselves against their country, and fell victims to
their fanaticism!

We have heard the cry of our Union soldiers at the front, to protect the
helpless in the rear, and we have tried to comply. We have given our own
near and dear kindred to the bullet and the sword, a sacrifice to freedom,
and staunched the life-blood of a dearly loved brother, upon the field of
Antietam, and as we wiped away the dew of death, gathering upon his brow,
we pledged our life--our all--to the cause of the Union; and if better
service might be rendered in vanquishing the secret foe at home, than
meeting the more honorable enemy upon the field of battle, we were ready
for the work. Had it not been for the potent influence of Copperheads at
the North, the counsel, the sympathy, the comfort extended to the rebels,
the rebellion would have been put down long ago. Entertaining such views,
we shall, under any and all circumstances, and at all times, be a bitter
opponent of Copperheadism wherever found, and regard it as legitimate
warfare to arrest the assassin of our country, wherever and whenever we
can. If the disaffected find comfort in this, let them make the most of
it.

ROBERT ALEXANDER.--This gentleman, who is well known to the citizens of
Chicago, has held several positions of responsibility and trust, and has
ever been a consistent, earnest, devoted advocate of the Union. So
intensely Republican in sentiment is he, that the attempt to introduce him
into the Sons of Liberty, called forth such opposition that it was thought
we should fail in the attempt, and he finally, was only admitted, after he
and his sponsor (the writer) had been told, in plain words, accompanied
with an oath, that if he proved false to them, _both should die_. For
months he bore the opprobrium of a Copperhead, and suffered extreme
annoyances in sustaining the role it was his duty to assume.
Conscientious, earnest, persevering, patient, with keen perception, and a
remarkable power of reading human character, with the experience of an
excellent police officer, Mr. Alexander brought to his post of duty high
qualifications, and was a valuable, ready and willing assistant. It should
be remarked that Mr. Alexander had been informed in May, 1864, that he had
been appointed First-Lieutenant in the 53d U.S. Infantry, and supposed he
was in the service of the U.S. Government at the time of joining this
great undertaking, but the information, though coming from a high source,
proved incorrect, and this is one additional reason why the writer made
choice of Mr. Alexander. While we know that loyal men will appreciate Mr.
Alexander's valuable services, we have yet to learn that he has, thus far,
experienced any other satisfaction than the approval of his own heart, and
the sincere gratitude of the writer, for his hazardous undertaking, and
the able manner in which he performed his duty.

MAURICE LANGHORN, one of the principal government witnesses, was born in
Pittsburgh, Penn., and reared in Marysville, Ky. He is a lawyer, and a man
of ability. Like many other Kentuckians who were in the South at the time
the rebellion broke out, Mr. Langhorn committed himself to the doctrine of
secession. In 1861 he enlisted as a private in a Louisiana regiment of
heavy artillery. He was subsequently recommended for Colonelcy in the
rebel army, but failed to get the appointment. In 1861 he went to Bowling
Green, Ky., where he enlisted as a private in the 9th Kentucky Infantry,
Col. Thomas H. Hunt, of Louisville, and was transferred to the artillery.
He mounted the guns on the fortifications around Bowling Green, and seems
to have given great satisfaction. He ran as candidate for representative
to the rebel congress from Kentucky, but before the result of the canvass
was known, was captured and held eight months as a prisoner of war. Mr.
Langhorn subsequently took the oath of allegiance to the United States,
and was of great service in reporting the movements and designs of the
rebel emissaries in Canada to Col. Sweet. The information Mr. Langhorn
gave of those men was reliable, and upon it certain arrests were made. Mr.
Langhorn is now a loyal citizen, in its broadest and best sense. Mr.
Langhorn is a young man not over twenty-five years of age, of quick,
nervous temperament, kind and generous impulses, a man of strong feelings,
warm friendship, bitter animosities, and whatever he undertakes, he
executes with a will. Of Mr. Langhorn it may be truly said, that while he
was a rebel, he was an earnest, active foe, but a true soldier, having a
high regard for honor and integrity, loving the State in which he was
reared, and ever jealous of her honor and fair name. Mr. Langhorn was a
rebel from principle--because he felt that the South was right--but when
convinced of his error, he made haste to repair it, and when he had once
taken the oath of allegiance, he went to work with all his might to aid
the cause of the Union. To Mr. Langhorn is due all the honor of
frustrating the designs of the _rebels from Canada_; and Col. Sweet being
advised by Mr. Langhorn of _this_ portion of the plot, and by the writer
of the _Copperheads' movements and intents_, the Colonel had the best
possible opportunity of acquiring important knowledge, and regulating his
conduct in accordance therewith. Mr. Langhorn is a true friend of the
Union, an admirer of our lamented President, and has rendered the citizens
of Chicago a service which should ever be held in grateful remembrance.

MR. SHANKS--Once a Rebel officer of distinction, but now a loyal man,
consistent in conduct, and of very great assistance to the Government, in
ferreting out Rebel officers and Rebel sympathisers, has the confidence
and respect of those who know him. He is a young man of signal ability,
and if he continues to serve the country as faithfully as he has in the
present case, will yet attain distinction.

CHRISTOPHER C. STRAWN--Was a valuable witness. He is a young man who has
taken an active part with the Democrats, and is well informed of the
incomings and outgoings, and the eccentricities and peccadilloes of the
managers in Chicago, although the _Post_ says, that "before his arrest he
was not worthy of notice, and after his arrest still less so." We think
the _Post_ man a little severe on Strawn, who has done all he could to
have the guilty Copperhead readers of that paper brought to justice. Mr.
Strawn, has bade his brethren, the Copperheads, an affectionate and, we
trust, final adieu.

JOHN MAUGHAN, an Englishman, born in Berkshire county, and about 22 years
of age. His family moved to Toronto, Canada West. He was always in Canada
regarded as a young man, with fine business qualities and promise. For
three years just before his connection with the rebels, and their Northern
conspirators, he occupied a very responsible position as a clerk and
teller, in one of the branches of the bank of Upper Canada, and was in
every way worthy the confidence reposed in him. During the spring and
summer of 1864, he however became acquainted with rebel soldiers in
Canada, earnestly espoused their cause, and left his position to go with
them to the Southern army. They, however, instead of going South, went to
Chicago, where he became acquainted with the conspirators, and also gained
their confidence, and on account of being an Englishman, and having his
papers with him, and being able to travel without fear of detection, he
was used by them to carry their correspondence and other communications,
which were of too dangerous a character to trust to the mails. This man
was truly a dangerous character. No one, except those who employed him,
knew him, or the character in which he was acting, and he was able,
frequently, to render the conspirators immense service in their desperate
schemes. He was captured in Chicago in November, and finally agreed to
turn State's evidence, when he saw that unless he did, his own life was
forfeited. After this agreement, he was treated with great leniency by the
Government, but upon being placed upon the witness stand, his old
sympathies and prejudices returned, and it is believed he distinctly
perjured himself, acting through the whole trial with bad faith toward the
Government which had treated him so generously.

THOS.E. COURTNEY--A Son of Liberty, and a leading Democrat of Chicago,
called a witness for _defence_, testified, among other things, as follows:

"_I was on a Committee of the Democratic party to receive, at the Alton
Depot, some bogus voters that were to be imported into Chicago to vote at
the Presidential election_; they were part and parcel of the tribe that
came from Egypt, and I was one of the _Committee appointed to escort them
to their boarding houses_."

OBADIAH JACKSON, JR., ESQ., Grand Seignior of the Temple, who had been
arrested and sent to Camp Douglas, and while there had written and signed
a "statement," was called for the defence, but it neither helped him or
the defendants.

COL.B. M. ANDERSON--Was born, reared, and educated in Kentucky. He was a
young man of education, ability, and fine personal appearance, and had he
not been a rebel would have been an accomplished gentleman. He possessed
many fine points of character, and was, in our opinion, a much better man
than any of the Northern Copperheads who have been arrested. He had been
in the Nicaraugua expedition, under the fillibuster, Walker. Col. Anderson
was the dupe of others. He committed suicide at the barracks in
Cincinnati, during the progress of the trial. He leaves a wife and many
friends to mourn his death. His history is a sad one. In any other
position than a rebel, he would have been a most useful member of society.
He was not of the material of which the Sons of Liberty was made up, but
aside from that deadly fanaticism which ruined him, he won warm friends
wherever he went. Nature did everything for him, but the accursed doctrine
of Calhoun, consigned him to a suicide's grave, "after life's fitful
fever" of war upon the land of his birth.

CHARLES TRAVIS DANIELS--One of the prisoners, is a native of Harrison
County, Ky. A lawyer by profession, about 26 years of age and very
prepossessing in appearance. He is somewhat remarkable for a rather
strange and singular expression of his eyes. Belonged to John H. Morgan's
command, but never served in any other capacity than as an enlisted man.
He was captured with Morgan during his raid in Ohio, and confined in Camp
Douglas, from which he escaped; was captured at Charles Walsh's house, on
the 7th of November, and escaped again from the military authorities in
Cincinnati, Ohio, while being tried by the Commission. He has not been
recaptured, but has been found guilty by the Commission.

CAPT. GEORGE CANTRILL--Is a native of Scott County, Ky. Is about the same
age as Daniels. There is nothing remarkable in connection with him, and of
no more than ordinary intelligence. He also belonged to Morgan's command,
in which he served as Company commander; was in Morgan's last raid in
Kentucky, and at his defeat at Cynthiana escaped to Canada. He was with
the other rebels at Chicago during the Convention, and went with them to
Southern Illinois for the purpose of drilling Copperheads. He was captured
in the house of Charles Walsh, on the morning of the 7th of November last.
On account of severe sickness he was not tried with the other
conspirators.

RICHARD T. SEMMES--One of the prisoners, tried, convicted, and sentenced,
for being one of the Chicago Conspirators, is a young man--not over 23 or
24 years of age, a Marylander by birth, and a lawyer by profession. He is
a relation of the pirate Semmes (unfortunate in name,) said to be a
nephew. He graduated at Yale College with distinction, and his prospects
in Chicago were flattering till he connected himself with the Sons of
Liberty, and listened to the teachings of older and "wiser" men.

Of the witnesses for the defence we have nothing to say, further than most
of them were Sons of Liberty. Some of them so far perjured themselves,
that now a common lie to them is considered as good as the truth, if not a
little better. It is said of Judge H.L. Burnet, that he remarked, had he
known what witnesses the defence would have introduced, he would not have
called any witnesses for the _Government_--they would have been
superfluous. Rather severe, and we will hope he did not say it.

Space will not admit of a review of the evidence, and this will be
unnecessary for all who will read the sketch of the Judge Advocate's
argument.

CHAP XXI.

ARGUMENT OF THE JUDGE ADVOCATE IN THE CONSPIRACY CASES--CONVICTION OF THE
PRISONERS.

The evidence in the case before the military commission at Cincinnati,
having closed, the counsel who represented the prisoners made their
addresses--they cannot be called arguments--and the court adjourned to
Tuesday, April 18. As lawyers who have no valid defence, observe it as a
policy to attack the Government witnesses with great fury, so Messrs.
Hervey and Wilson, true to the ethics of their profession, made a grand
assault upon the principal witnesses. Counsellor Hervey, in his harangue,
used the following language, which illustrates the line of "argument" for
defence:

"Some two hundred years ago," said the learned counsel, "there was a man
in England who swore away the lives of his fellow citizens by wholesale.
His name was Dr. Titus Oates--the man who got up what was called the
Popish plot, and by perjury and villainy, consigned many an innocent head
to the scaffold. He was assisted by a man who has, as no other judge has,
disgraced the ermine--Jeffries, who drank himself to death in the tower,
when his co-worker in iniquities and evil deeds with dreadful and condign
punishment followed him. The effort of nature to produce so great a
monster was so terrible that it required a resting spell of two hundred
years before she could produce another such monster in the shape of Dr. I.
Winslow Ayer."

We forgive him, for he was obliged to seem to do or say something to earn
his "fee." There being no arguments for defence, but only such pathetic
appeals as only a lawyer, without the least hope, would make, feeling that
his clients would expect _something_, we need not take our space to report
their remarks.

On Tuesday April 18, Judge Advocate Burnet made his closing argument for
the Government. It was truly a master-piece, complete in every part. It
was such an effort as might have been expected, of one who has, during
this long tedious trial, shown himself a gentleman, a profound counsellor,
a true patriot and an advocate of justice, whose only aim has been to
elicit truth, and be the better enabled to serve the true interests of the
country. We would gladly present every argument and address he has made,
during the trial, but space will not admit, and we therefore invite
careful attention to the following sketch of his address:

The Judge Advocate, in referring to the accused, said:

There are two sides to this case; two sides for the manifestation of
sympathy. While here is an old, white-haired man before you, whose every
thing is at stake; while here is a father, a generous, open-hearted, and
impulsive man, whose all is at stake; and here is a soldier, who has
fought in every clime, and who has taken up his sword to destroy life in
every cause, whose everything is also at stake, yet there is, on the other
side, your Government at stake. If these men be guilty, justice to the
nation demands of you this day that you should convict them, and you must
not waver. In the consideration of this case, you must bring to your aid a
power, that may be a little more than is ordinarily given to human nature.
You must, for the time, sink all hatred, malice, even human sympathy; and
rise, God-like, to determine the truth and adjust the punishment.

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