I present here to the world a fact of the greatest gravity,
and that fact is so well authenticated that it cannot allow even
the possibility of a doubt.
Three or four hours before Lincoln was murdered in Washington,
the 14th of April, 1865, that murder was not only known
by some one, but it was circulated and talked of in the streets,
and in the houses of the priestly and Romish town of St.
Joseph, Minnesota. The fact is undeniable; the testimonies are
unchallengeable, and there were no railroad nor any telegraph
communication nearer than 40 or 80 miles from the nearest
station to St. Joseph.
Naturally every one asked: "How could such news spread?
Where is the source of such a rumor?" Mr. Linneman, who is
a Roman Catholic, tells us that though he heard this from many
in his store, and in the streets, he does not remember the name
of a single one who told him that. And when we hear this
from him, we understand why he did not dare to swear upon it,
and shrunk from the idea of perjuring himself.
For everyone feels that his memory cannot be so poor as
that, when he remembers so well the name of the two strangers,
Messrs. Conwell and Bennett, to whom he had announced the
assassination of Lincoln, just seventeen years before. But if the
memory of Mr. Linneman is so deficient on that subject, we can
help him, and tell him with mathematical accuracy:
"You got the news from your priests of St. Joseph! The
conspiracy which cost the life of the martyred President was
prepared by the priests of Washington in the house of Mary
Surratt, No. 541 H. Street. The priests of St. Joseph were
often visiting Washington, and boarding, probably, at Mrs. Surratt's
as the priests of Washington were often visiting their
brother priests at St. Joseph.
"Those priests of Washington were in daily communication
with their co-rebel priests of St. Joseph; they were their intimate
friends. There were no secrets among them, as there are no
secrets among priests. They are the members of the same body,
the branches of the same tree. The details of the murder, as the
day selected for its commission were as well known among the
priests of St. Joseph, as they were among those of Washington.
The death of Lincoln was such a glorious event for those priests!
That infamous apostate, Lincoln, who, baptized in the Holy
Church, had rebelled against her, broken his oath of allegiance
to the Pope, taken the very day of his baptism, and lived the
life of an apostate! That infamous Lincoln, who had dared to
fight against the Confederacy of the South after the Vicar of
Christ had solemnly declared that their cause was just, legitimate
and holy! That bloody tyrant, that godless and infamous
man was to receive, at last, the just chastisement of his crimes,
the 14th of April! What glorious news! How could the priests
conceal such a joyful event from their bosom friend, Mr. Linneman?
He was their confidential man: he was their purveyor:
he was their right hand man among the faithful of St. Joseph.
They thought that they would be guilty of a want of confidence
in their bosom friend, if they did not tell him all about the glorious
event of that great day. But, of course, they requested him
not to mention their names, if he would spread the joyful news
among the devoted Roman Catholics who, almost exclusively,
formed the people of St. Joseph. Mr. Linneman has honorably
and faithfully kept his promise never to reveal their names,
and to-day, we have, in our hand, the authentic testimonies
signed by him that, though somebody, the 14th of April, told
him that President Lincoln was assassinated, he does not know
who told him that!
But there is not a man of sound judgment who will have any
doubt about that fact. The 4th of April, 1865, the priests of
Rome knew and circulated the death of Lincoln four hours before
its occurrence in their Roman Catholic town of St. Joseph,
Minnesota. But they could not circulate it without knowing it,
and they could not know it, without belonging to the band of
conspirators who assassinated President Lincoln.
