Reprinted from his Fifty years in the Church of Rome published in Chicago by Craig & Barlow in 1885. Concerns F.A. Conwell\u27s affidavit that he heard of Lincoln\u27s assassination four hours previous to the crime. No cover is included.https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/fvw-pamphlets/2082/thumbnail.jp

Chiniquy, Charles Pascal Telesphore

Scholars Junction - Mississippi State University Institutional Repository

Mississippi State University Scholars Junction Pamphlets Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana 1885 Who assassinated Abraham Lincoln? Charles Pascal Telesphore Chiniquy Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/fvw-pamphlets Preferred Citation E457.5 .W66 1885: Who assassinated Abraham Lincoln?, Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana, Mississippi State University Libraries. This Pamphlet is brought to you for free and open access by the Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana at Scholars Junction. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pamphlets by an authorized administrator of Scholars Junction. For more information, please contact scholcomm@msstate.libanswers.com. WHO ASSASSINATED ABRAHAM LINCOLN? "Murder :will out," is a truth repeated by all nation from the beginning of the world. It is the knowledge of that truth which has sustained me in m long and difficult researches of the true authors of the a sa sination of Lincoln, and which enables me today to present to the world a fact, which eems almo t miraculous, to show the complicity of the prie t of Rome in· the murder of the martyted President. Some time ago I providentially met the Rev. Mr. F. A. Conwell, aC hi<;ago. Having known that I ,vas in earch qf facts about the a sa ination of Abraham Lincoln, he told me he knew one of those facts, which might perhap~ throw ome light on the subject of my re earches. 'The very day of the murder:' he aid, he wa i11 the Roman Catholic village of St. Joseph, Minnesota State when, at about six o clock in the afternoon he was told by a Roman Catholic of the place who wa a purveyor of a great num er of priests who lived in that town where they have a monastery, that the State Secre-tary Seward and the President Lincoln had ju t been killed. This wa told me," he aid, •'in the presence of a most re pectable gentleman, called Bennett who , as not less puzzled than me. As there were no rai1road line nearer than 40 mile . nor telegraph offices nearer than 80 miles from that place "e could not ee how such news wa spread in that town. The next day, the 15th of April I wa at t. Cloud, a town about twelve miles distant, where there are neither railroad nor tel graph, I said to several people that I had been told in the priestly village of St. Joseph, by a Roman Catholic that Abraham Lincobl and the Secretary Seward had been assassinated. They answere1- me that they had heard nothing about it. But the next Sabbath, the 16th of April, when going to the church of St. Cloud, to ·preach,. a friend gave me a copy of a t legram sent to him on the Saturday, reporting that Abraham Lincoln and Secretary Seward had been as a sinated the ver. da.T before, which was Friday, the 14th, at 10 p. 111. But how could the Roman Catholic pur-veyor of the priests of St. Jo eph, have told me the am thing, before everal witnesses, just four hours before its occurence? I poke of that trange thin~ to many, the same day and the ver~ next day I wrote to the St. Paul Pre ' \lnder the heading of 'A Strange Coincidence.' Sometime later, the editor of The St. Paul Pioneer, having denied what I had :written on that subject, I addre eel him the following note, which he had printed, and which I have kept. Here it i,. · you may keep as an infallible proof of my veracity: ' "To the Editor of The St. Paul Pioneer : ''You assume the non-truth of a short paragraph addre sed by me to the St. Paul 'Press,' viz: "A STRANGE COINCIDENCE ''At 6 :30 p. m., Friday, last, April 14th, I was told. as an item of ne "N 8 mile west of this place, that Lincoln and Seward had been a sassinated. This wa three hours after I had heard the new ." 'St. Cloud, 17th of April, 1865. "The integrity of history requires that the above coincidence be e tablished. And if anyone calls it in question, then proofs more ample than reared their san-guinary shadows to comfort a traitor, can now be given. ' Respectfully, "F. A. CO \VELL." I asked that gentleman if he would be kind enough to give me the fact under oath, that I might make use of it in the report I intended to publish about the assassina ... tion of Lincoln. And he kindly granted my request in the follo,,;ng 1form: State of Illinois t Cook County f s.s. Rev. F. A. Conwell, being worn, deposes and say that he is se\~enty--one years old, that he is a resident of rorth Evanston, Cook County, State of Illinois, that he has been in the ministry for fifty-six years, and is now one of the chaplains of the "Seamen's Bethel Home" in Chicago; that he wa chaplain of the First Minnesota Regiment in the \\ ar of the rebellion. That, on the 14th day of April A. D.~ 1865, he was in St. Joseph, Minnesota, and reached there as early as six o'cloc1' in the evening, in company with Mr. Bennett, w·ho, then and now, i a resi• dent of St. Cloud, Minnesota. That on that date, there was no telegraph nearer than Minneapolis, about 80 miles \from St. Joseph; and there was no railroad com-munication nearer than Avoka. Minnesota about 40 mi1e distant. That when he reac d St. Joseph, on the 14th day of April, 1865. one Mr. Linneman, who, then, kept the hotel of St. Joseph told affiant that Pre ident Lincoln and Secretary Seward were a sassinated, that it was not later than half-past six o'clock, on Friday April 14th, 1865, when Mr. Linneman told me this. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Bennett came in the hotel, and I told him that Mr. Linneman said the President Lincoln and Secretary Seward were assa sinated; and then the same :Mr. Linneman reported the same conver ation t9 Mr. Bennett in my presence. That during that time, Mr. Linneman told me that he had the charge of the friary, or college for young men, under the priests, who were studying for the prie thood at St. Joseph. That there wa- a large multitude of this kind at St. Jo eph, at thi ~ time. Affiant says that, on Saturday morning April 15th, 1865. he went to St. Cloud, a distance of about 10 milesand reached there about eight o'clock in the morning. That there was no railroad nor telegraph communication to St. Cloud. When he arrived at St. Cloud he told Mr. Haworth the hotel .. keeper, that he had been told that President Lincoln . and Secretary Seward had Deen assassinated, and asked if it was true. He further told Henry Clay, Wait, Charles Gilman, who was afterwards Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota, and Rev. Mr. Tice the same thing, and inquired of them if they had any such views ; and they replied that they had not heard anything of the kind. Affiant says that, on Sunday morning, April 16th, 1865, he preached in St. Cloud, and on the way to the church, a copy of a telegram was handed him stating that the Pre ident and Secretary were assassinated Friday evening, at about nine o'clock. Thi telegram had been brought to St. Cloud by Mr. Gorton, who had reached St. Cloud by stage; and this was the first intelligence that had reached St. Cloucl of the event. Af fiant says further that, on Monday morning, April 17th, 1865 he furnished the "Press," a paper of St. Paul, a statement that three hours before the event took place, he had been informed at St. Joseph, Minnesota, that the President had been assassinated and this was published in the ''Press." FRANCIS ASBURY CONWELL. Sub cribed and sworn to by Francis A. Conwell, before me a N arv Public of Kankakee County, I11inoi , at Chicago, Cook County, the ixth dav · -September ·1883. - ' STEPHEN R. :MOORE Notary Public. Though thi document was very important and preciou to me, I felt that it would be much more valuable if it could be corroborated by the testimonies of Messrs. Bennett and Linneman, themselves, and I immediately ent a magistrate to find out if they were still living and if they remembered the fact of the worn declara• tion of Rev. Mr. Conwell. By the good providence of God, both of these gentlemen were found living and both gave the folio i\ ing te timonie : State of Minnesota, Sterns County, City of St. Ooud. Horace B. Bennett, being sworn, deposes and says that he is aged sixty-four years; that he is a resident of St. Cloud, Minnesota, and has resided in this coun~y since 1856 · that he is acquainted with the Rev. F. A. C9nwell, who was chaplain -0f the Fir~t Minnesota Regiment in the war of the rebellion; that on the 14th of April 1865 he was in St. Joseph, Minnesota in company with Mr. Francis A. Con• well·' that' they reached St. Joseph about sundown of said April 14th; that there was ~o railroad or telegraph communication with St. Joseph at that time, nor nearer than Avoka, about 40 mites distant. That affiant, on reaching the hotel kept by Mr. Linneman, ~ent to the barn white Rev. F. Conwell entered the hotel ; and shortly afterward, affiant had returned to the hotel, Mr. Conwell told him that Mr. Linneman had reported to him the assassination of President Lincoln; that Lin• neman was present and sub antiated the statement. That on Saturday morning. April 15th, af fiant and Rev. Conwell came to St. Cloud, and reported that they had been told at St. Joseph, about the assassination of President Lincoln, that no one in St. Cloud had heard of the event at this time. that the first news of the event which reached St. Cloud was on Sunday morning, April 16th, when the news was brought by Leander Gorton, who had just come up from Avoka, Minnesota; that they spoke to everal persons in St. Cloud con• cerning the matter, when they reached there, on Sunday morning, but af fiant does not now remember who those different persons rwere, and further a'ffiant says not. HORACE P. BENNETT. Sworn before me, and subscribed in my presence, this 18th of October, A. D. 188 . ANDREW C. ROBERTSON, Notary Public. Mr. Linneman ha ng refused to swear on his written declaration, which I have in my possession, I take only from it what refers to the principal fact, viz: that three or four hours before Lincoln was assassinated in Washington, the 14th of April, 1865, the fact was told as already accomplished, in the priestly village of St. Joseph, Minnesota. ''He (Linneman) remembers the time that 11 es. r . Conwell and · Bennett came to this place (St. Joseph Minnesota) on Friday evening, before the President was killed, and he asked them if they had heard he was dead, and they replied they had not. He heard this rumor in hi51 store from people who came in and out. But he cannot remember from whom. October 20th, 1883. J. H. LINNEMAN. I present here to the world a fact 'Of the greatest gravity, and that fact so well authenticated that it cannot allow even the possibility of a doubt. Three or four hour 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 1fact is undeniable ; the testimonies are unchalleng-. able, and there was 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? \Vhere 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 remem-ber the name of a single one who told him that. And when we hear this from him, 

Who assassinated Abraham Lincoln?

https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2082&context=fvw-pamphlets

Who assassinated Abraham Lincoln?

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Scholars Junction - Mississippi State University Institutional Repository