The Victim: A Romance of the Real Jefferson Davis

by Thomas Dixon

  CHAPTER XLV

  THE MASTER MIND

  Socola read the story of the chaining of the Confederate Chieftain withindignation. His intimate association with Jefferson Davis had convincedhim of his singular purity of character and loftiness of soul. That hewas capable of conspiring to murder Abraham Lincoln was inconceivable.That the charge should be made and pressed seriously by the NationalGovernment was a disgrace to the country.

  Charles O'Connor, the greatest lawyer in America, indignant at theoutrage, had offered his services to the prisoner. Socola hastened to aconference with O'Connor and placed himself at his command.

  The lawyer sent him to Washington to find out the master mind at thebottom of these remarkable proceedings.

  "Johnson the President," he warned, "is only a tool in the hands of a_stronger_ man. Find that man. Stanton, the Secretary of War, isvindictive enough, but he lacks the cunning. Stevens, the leader of theHouse, is the real ruler of the Nation at this moment. Yet I have themost positive information that Stevens sneers at the attempt to accuseDavis of the assassination of Lincoln. Stevens hated Lincoln only adegree less than he hates Davis. He is blunt, outspoken, brutal in hisviews. There can be no question of the honesty of his position. Sumner,the leader of the Senate, is incapable of such low intrigue. Find theman and report to me."

  Socola found him within six hours after his arrival in Washington. Hewas morally sure of him from the moment he left O'Connor's office.

  Immediately on his arrival at the Capital he sought an interview withJoseph Holt, now the Judge Advocate General of the United States Army.He was therefore in charge of the prosecution of the cases of Clay andDavis.

  For five minutes he watched the crooked poisonous mouth of theex-Secretary of War and knew the truth. This vindictive venomous oldman, ambitious, avaricious, implacable in his hatreds, had organized aBoard of Assassination, which he called "The Bureau of MilitaryJustice." This remarkable Bureau had already murdered Mrs. Surratt onperjured testimony.

  Socola had given his ex-Chief no intimation of his personal feelings andno hint of his association with O'Connor.

  "I've a little favor to ask of you, young man," Holt said suavely.

  Socola bowed.

  "At your service, Chief--"

  "I need a man of intelligence and skill to convey a proposition to Wirz,the keeper of Andersonville prison. He has been sentenced to death bythe Bureau of Military Justice. I'm going to offer him his life on onecondition--"

  "And that is?"

  "If he will confess under oath that Davis ordered the starving andtorturing of prisoners at Andersonville I'll commute his sentence--"

  "I see--"

  "I'll give you an order to interview Wirz. He has never seen you. Reportto me his answer."

  When Socola explained to Wirz in sympathetic tones the offer of theGovernment to spare his life for the implication of Davis in directorders from Richmond commanding cruelties at Andersonville, thecondemned man lifted his wounded body and stared at his visitor.

  His answer closed the interview.

  "Tell the scoundrel who sent you that I am a soldier. I was a soldier inGermany before I cast my fortunes with the South. I bear in my body thewounds of honorable warfare. If I hadn't time to learn the meaning ofhonor from my friends in the South, my mother taught me in the oldworld. You ask me to save my life from these assassins by swearing awaythe life of another. Tell my executioner that I never saw the Presidentof the Confederacy. I never received an order of any kind from him. Idid the best I could for the men in my charge at Andersonville and triedhonestly to improve their conditions. I am not a perjurer, even to savemy own life. A soldier's business is to die. I am ready."

  Socola extended his hand through the bars and grasped the prisoner's.

  The deeper he dived into the seething mass of corruption and blindpassion which had engulfed Washington the more desperate he saw thesituation of Davis at Fortress Monroe. After two weeks of careful workhe hurried to New York and reported the situation to O'Connor.

  "The master mind," he began slowly, "I found at once. His name isHolt--"

  "The Judge Advocate General?"

  "Yes."

  "That accounts for my inability to obtain a copy of the charges againstDavis. Holt drew those charges. They are in his hands and he hasdetermined to press his prisoner to trial before his Board of Assassinswithout allowing me to know the substance of his accusations. It'sinfamous."

  "There are complications which may increase our dangers or suddenly liftthem--"

  "Complications--what do you mean?"

  "The President, who has been intensely hostile to Davis, realizes thathis own term of office and possibly his life are now at stake. He hasbroken with the Radicals who control Congress, old Thaddeus Stevens's attheir head. Stevens lives in Washington in brazen defiance ofconventionalities with a negro woman whom he separated from her husbandthirty odd years ago. Under the influence of this negress he hasintroduced a bill into the House of Representatives to confiscate theremaining property of the white people of the South and give it to thenegroes--dividing the land into plots of forty acres each. He proposesalso to disfranchise the whites of the Southern States, enfranchise thenegroes, destroy the State lines and erect on their ruins territoriesruled by negroes whom his faction can control.

  "Johnson the President, a Southern born white man, has already informedthe Radicals that he will fight this programme to the last ditch.Stevens' answer was characteristic of the imperious old leader. 'Let himdare! I'll impeach Andrew Johnson, remove him from office and hang himfrom the balcony of the White House.'

  "The President realizes that the Bureau of Military Justice which heallowed Holt to create may be used as the engine of his own destruction.They have already taken the first steps to impeach him--"

  "Then he'll never dare allow another case to be tried before thatBureau--" O'Connor interrupted.

  "It remains to be seen. He is afraid of both Stanton and Holt. TheBureau of Military Justice is their hobby."

  O'Connor sprang to his feet.

  "We must smash it by an appeal to the people. Their sense of justice isyet the salt that will save the Nation. The key to the situation is inthe character of the remarkable witnesses whom Holt has produced beforethis tribunal of assassination. In my judgment they are a gang of hiredperjurers. Their leader is a fellow named Conover. There are five menassociated with him. They used these witnesses against Mrs. Surratt.They used them against Wirz. They are preparing to use them againstDavis. It is inconceivable that these plugs from the gutters of New Yorkcould have really stumbled on the facts to which they have sworn. Findwho these men are. Get their records to the last hour of the day youtrack them--and report to me."

  Socola organized a force of detectives and set them to work. The taskwas a difficult one. He found that Conover and his pals were protectedby the unlimited power of the National Government.