February 24, 1861; The New York Herald
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DESPTACH.
HARRISBURG, Feb. 23, 1861.
The people of this city were astounded this morning by an announcement that Mr. Lincoln had started in a special train for Washington, despatches having been received requiring his presence in that city. Reports are busily circulated that there was a plot to assassinate him while passing through Baltimore, but such stories are not believed. The Baltimore Committee is here, but did not have an interview with Mr. Lincoln.
OUR SPECIAL DESPATCH.
HARRISBURG, Feb. 23, 1861.
The city was startled just now by a rumor that Mr. Lincoln had left by a special train. The information was said to have leaked out from Col. Summer, who was indignant at this flight, but was not made public until after the telegraph office closed for the night. Two hours before the HERALD reporter obtained the facts, but was kept locked in a room, unable to use them, until half an hour before the despatch was written.
The details of the whole affair were obtained by him, and even rumor has not hinted them all. In brief, Mr. Lincoln, the President elect, left Harrisburg secretly at six o’clock last evening, took a special train over the Pennsylvania Central Railroad to Philadelphia, thence took a special train to Washington, and before this news reaches New York will be, if no accident occurs, safe at the federal capital, and in charge of General Scott. The reason for this movement, so extraordinary and unprecedented, is that Mr. Lincoln’s friends believe, from information acquired – I am not permitted to tell how – that if he carried out his programme, and left by special train at nine this morning, the train would wither be run off an embankment, blown up by grenades placed beneath the track, or some way destroyed, between the Maryland line and Baltimore; or that, this failing, Mr. Lincoln would be mobbed and assassinated in Baltimore during his ride from depot to depot. How imminent his friends thought this danger was, may be judged by the fact that one of those who was aware of the plot, but was obliged to go where Mr. Lincoln went, made his will, sealed up his papers, and prepared for sudden death in case Mr. Lincoln should insist upon going on this morning.
To avoid a demonstration at Baltimore, Mr. Wood, who has had charge of the trains, was undetermined last night whether to go via Philadelphia, to avoid change of cars, or to go by the direct route from Harrisburg, and cross Baltimore in close carriage.
He declined the latter course, and in response to a letter from Erastus Corning, saying that as the Peace Congress desired Mr. Lincoln in Washington as soon as possible he arranged to arrive several hours before the time set down in the programme. Older heads were at work, however, and not until Mr. Lincoln had gone was Wood let into the secret and his trouble proven useless. So complete was Wood’s mystification, that after Mr. Lincoln left he was bothering himself as to which Baltimore delegation (three are present) should be received, and wanted to see the President elect about it.
Although not divulged to Mr. Lincoln till yesterday, as some say, the whole plan was arranged days ago. Only three persons were to be let into the plot, including Mrs. Lincoln and Mr. Judd of Illinois. Speeches and receptions were to be kept up meanwhile. Special trains were arranged, the telegraph silenced, the wires to be cut if necessary, Mr. Lincoln to leave, Mr. Judd to be out of the way, Mrs. Lincoln and family to return to Philadelphia, and the denouement here kept back till about eight o’clock this morning. Too many vessels were entrusted with the secret, however. Some were leaky – and it is out. Mr. Lincoln returned from the ceremonies at the State House at three o’clock yesterday afternoon. Then the plan was laid before him. He is said to have indignantly rejected it. Mrs. Lincoln begged of him to go. Other persons had to be let into the secret in order to persuade Mr. Lincoln, among them Governor Curtin. All said go. Colonel Sumner almost wept with anger at this plan – called it abominable, and said Mr. Lincoln was as brave as any man, but he had cowardly friends. Mr. Lincoln was assured that he would certainly be assassinated, perhaps the whole family destroyed, and that an attack would be made upon Fort Sumter at the same time; finally, his friends’ persuasions and Mrs. Lincoln’s tears induced him, who was to be our future Jackson, to consent to the arrangement.
Mr. Lincoln was conducted downstairs, put in a covered carriage and drawn swiftly to the depot. Few saw him depart, and these were assured that he had gone to Governor Curtin residence to rest.
In the evening crowds assembled at the hotel to attend the reception, but Wood assured the company that Mr. Lincoln was ill, and had gone to bed. Mrs. Lincoln’s agitation nearly discovered the whole secret, and she was obliged to give up the ladies’ reception, pleading fatigue and sickness, the great crowd and the smallness of the parlors. The crowd gradually dispersed, the last serenades and cheers died away, and the secret was safe. Few knew it. Mrs. Lincoln was in her husband’s room to answer accidental or intentional inquiries. These precautions were all the more necessary as many Baltimoreans were in town. Only one person, supposed to be Mr. Judd, went with Lincoln on the train.
Unfortunately, Col. Sumner had a friend, to whom, unable to restrain his indignation, he told that Mr. Lincoln had left town. Another person said that a special train with only one car had left, under charge of Superintendent Lewis, for Philadelphia. Then the secret was out.
Your reporter was released at half past one, as soon as the secret was public, and immediately called upon Mr. Wood. On the streets and in barrooms the few people stirring were discussing the plan, some thinking it prudent, but the majority declaring that it was cowardly, and that no harm would have happened if Mr. Lincoln had stayed in Baltimore a week. Mr. Wood was in bed, and being assured it was morning and the telegraph useless, admitted Mr. Lincoln’s flight, confirmed some of the details, before obtained, but stated that instead of going to Philadelphia Mr. Lincoln and the party would go on to Washington by the fated nine o’clock train, as previously arranged, the train to stop in a lonely part of the city so as to avoid the crowd.
Your reporter goes on with the train, and, if not sufficiently killed to prevent him from writing will tell you about the affair.