ns I formed, are recorded here.

In each branch of these comprehensive inquiries there may be found
something in the nature of evidence that may appear to have a bearing
upon the assassination of Mr. Lincoln. It is my purpose in these
paragraphs to bring in to view the testimony which relates directly to
John Wilkes Booth, the most conspicuous and without question the chief
criminal in the tragedy of the assassination of President Lincoln, and
the attempt upon the life of Mr. Seward.

The first step in the proceedings which culminated in the murder was
the deposit at Surrattsville (a place about five miles from Washington,
and owned by the Surratt family) of a carbine, two bottles of whiskey,
a small coil of rope, a field glass, a monkey wrench, and some other
articles.

The house was kept by a man named Lloyd, and neither the character of
the house nor that of the keeper could 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-iron) 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 a 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
becam