Commentary: Truth blown away in sugarcoated 'Gone With the Wind'

Isn't that Oak Alley, in Louisiana? My sister got married there -- and I was in the groom's party.

"Naturally the insane, bloodthirsty radicals were incensed. After the bloodbath they had caused, one more life was cheap. Lincoln was shot that night. The radicals celebrated. Tough breah (sic), huh?"

Your glutei are showing again.

The "radical" Republicans didn't suffer very much during the following decade. The south suffered for their sins for the next century.

1. The President can certainly take take emergency actions in the face of an insurrection. Susspending the privilege of the writ of habease corpus, per the reasons provided in the Constitution, in the absense of Congress, is a valid exercise of war powers.

2. John Meryman participated in an insurrection against the United States. He did so as part of a military unit. He was subject to the laws of war, and military arrest was the natural consequence.

"How is your old neo-nazi buddy #3 doing these days, capitan?"

Never knew him, as you well know. Have you received David Duke's e-mail alert yet? "Damned liberal court."

habease corpus

Habease corpus? LOL. Propably translates to the body lying down at ease.

Never knew him, as you well know.

That's odd, cause I distinctly remember the two of you pinging each other and patting each other on the back in mutual adoration of Saint Abe throughout that thread of some 2000 posts. Only after it was discovered that he was a neo-nazi did you begin to distance yourself from him, though I suspect that prior to that point it troubled you no more than the socialist "experts" you quote or the unmentionable deviancies of your continued acquantance Wlat.

"That's odd, cause I distinctly remember the two of you pinging each other and patting each other on the back in mutual adoration of Saint Abe throughout that thread of some 2000 posts."

Loss of memory is one of the first sings of AIDS dementia. Get help. Soon.

edit: "signs"

Have you received David Duke's e-mail alert yet? "Damned liberal court."

Wouldn't know. Unlike your buddy #3Hitlerfan, I have nothing but contempt for Duke and tend not to follow lawsuits filed by KKK thugs from New York of all places. Must be something with those blue states - New York has its Klan chapter and I have no doubt that your own state has its own lavender mafia counterpart. In fact, some of them are probably your neighbors living under that flat you maintain in San Francisco.

Probably. More likely the poster failed to use the spell checker. Again. ;^(

Loss of memory is one of the first sings of AIDS dementia

So you admit that you have AIDS.

Check out 2407. Looks like el capitan just inadvertently let it slip that he's an AIDS fiend. In an earlier post he denied any memory of how he associated with #3fan, the neo-nazi. I posted a description of their relationship, to which he responded:

"Loss of memory is one of the first sings of AIDS dementia."

Must've been one of those late nights at Wlat's barn.

I looked up John Merryman in the 1870 Federal Census. You'd think members of high society would have moved into Baltimore City, but he was still residing in the same place - near Cockeysville, still some 23 miles from Taney's last residence. In the 1880 census he STILL lives near Cockeysville.

No retort is better than a particularly weak one like that. Creativity, son, creativity! Maybe nolu can help you out.

No retort is better than a particularly weak one like that.

Retort? You simply responded to my attempt to refresh your memory about your former Aryan Nation associate by stating that memory failure, of which you are suffering, is a biproduct of AIDS. If you did not intend to imply that you suffer from that particular disorder then why bring it up in light of your memory shortcomings?

Tara!

LOL!

[bushpilot] "With difficulty Booth was able to speak. He said, "Tell Mother I died for my country." He asked the soldiers to move his body to relieve the pain, but no position proved to be comfortable."

Much of the alleged dying testimony of the alleged Booth is attributable to one man, National Detective Policeman Everton J. Conger who alleged that Booth whispered in his hear. Conger testified at the assassination trial. Baker did not.

SOURCE: The Lincoln Assasination Trial, Pitman Transcript, pp. 91-93

The Witness is Everton J. Conger of the National Detective Police who received the largest share of the reward money for the capture of John Wilkes Booth. There was a fatal wound to the neck which punctured the spinal cord.

EVERTON J. CONGER.
For the Prosecution. -- May 17.
I assisted in the pursuit of the murderers of the President.
JUDGE ADVOCATE. Will you please take up the narrative of the pursuit at the point where you met with Willie Jett, and state what occurred until the pursuit closed.
WITNESS. On the night of the capture, I found Jett in bed in a hotel in Bowling Green. I told him to get up; that I wanted him. He put on his pants, and came out to me in the front part of the room. I said, "Where are the two men who came with you across the river?" He came up to me and said, "Can I see you alone?" I replied, "Yes, sir, you can." Lieutenant Baker and Lieutenant Doherty were with me. I asked them to go out of the room. After they were gone, he reached out his hand to me and said, "I know who you want, and I will tell you where they can be found." Said I, "That's what I want to know." He said, "They are on the road to Port Royal, about three miles this side of that." "At whose house are they?" I asked. "Mr. Garrett's," he replied; "I will go there with you and show you where they are now, and you can get them." I said, "Have you a horse?" "Yes, sir." "Get it, and get ready to go." I said to him, "You say they are on the road to Port Royal?" "Yes, sir." I said to him, "I have just come from there." He stopped a moment, and seemed to be considerably embarrassed. Said he, "I thought you came from Richmond. If you have come that way, you have come past them. I can not tell you whether they are there now or not." I said it did not make any difference; we would go back and see. He dressed; had his horse saddled; we gathered the party around the house together, and went back to Mr. Garrett's house. Just before we got to the house, Jett, riding with me, said, "We are very near now to where we go through; let us stop here and look around." He and I rode on together. I rode forward to find the gate that went through to the house, and sent Lieutenant Baker to open another. I went back for the cavalry, and we rode rapidly up to the house and barn, and stationed the men around the house and quarters.
I went to the house and found Lieutenant Baker at the door, telling somebody to strike a light and come out. I think the door was open when I got there. The first individual we saw was an old man, whose name was said to be Garrett. I said to him, "Where are the two men who stopped here at your house?" "They have gone." "Gone where?" "Gone to the woods." "Well, sir, where-abouts in the woods have they gone?" He then commenced to tell me that they came there without his consent; that he did not want them to stay. I said to him, "I do not want any long story out of you; I just want to know where these men have gone." He commenced over again to tell me, and I turned to the door and said to one of the men, "Bring in a lariat rope here, and I will put that man up to the top of one of those locust trees." He did not seem inclined to tell. One of his sons then came in and said, "Don't hurt the old man; he is scared; I will tell you where the men are you want to find." Said I, "That is what I want to know; where are they?" He said, "In the barn."
We then left the house immediately and went to the barn, and stationed the remaining part of the men. As soon as I got there, I heard somebody walking around inside on the hay. By that time another Garrett had come from somewhere; and Lieutenant Baker said to one of them, "You must go in the barn and get the arms from those men." I think he made some objection to it; I do not know certainly. Baker said, "They know you, and you can go in." Baker said to the men inside, "We are going to send this man, on whose premises you are, in to get your arms, and you must come out and deliver yourselves up." I do not think there was any thing more said. Garrett went in, and he came out very soon and said, "This man says 'Damn you, you have betrayed me,' and threatened to shoot me." I said to him, "How do you know he was going to shoot you?" Said he, "He reached down to the hay behind him to get his revolver, and I came out." I then directed Lieutenant Baker to tell them that if they would come out and deliver themselves up, very well; if not, in five minutes we would set the barn on fire. Booth replied: "Who are you; what do you want; whom do you want?" Lieutenant Baker said, "We want you, and we know who you are; give up your arms and come out." I say Booth; for I presumed it was he. He replied, "Let us have a little time to consider it." Lieutenant Baker said, "Very well;" and some ten or fifteen minutes probably intervened between that time and any thing further being said. He asked again, "Who are you, and what do you want?" I said to Lieutenant Baker, "Do not by any remark made to him allow him to know who we are; you need not tell him who we are. If he thinks we are rebels, or thinks we are his friends, we will take advantage of it; we will not lie to him about it, but we need not answer any questions that have any reference to that subject, but simply insist on his coming out, if he will." The reply was made to him, "It don't make any difference who we are; we know who you are, and we want you; we want to take you prisoners." Said he, "This is a hard case; it may be I am to be taken by my friends." Some time in the conversation he said, "Captain, I know you to be a brave man, and I believe you to be honorable; I am a cripple. I have got but one leg; if you will withdraw your men in 'line' one hundred yards from the door, I will come out and fight you." Lieutenant Baker replied that he did not come there to fight; we simply came there to make him a prisoner; we did not want any fight with him. Once more after this he said, "If you'll take your men fifty yards from the door, I'll come out and fight you; give me a chance for my life." The same reply was made to him. His answer to that was, in a singular theatrical voice, " Well, my brave boys, prepare a stretcher for me."
Some time passed before any further conversation was held with him. In the mean time I requested one of the Garretts to pile some brush up against the corner of the barn -- pine boughs. He put some up there, and after awhile came to me and said, " This man inside says that if I put any more brush in there he will put a ball through me." "Very well," said I, "you need not go there again." After awhile Booth said, "There's a man in here wants to come out." Lieutenant Baker said "Very well; let him hand his arms out, and come out." Some considerable talk passed in the barn; some of it was heard, some not. One of the expressions made use of by Booth to Herold, who was in the barn, was, "You damned coward, will you leave me now? Go, go; I would not have you stay with me." Some conversation ensued between them, which I supposed had reference to the bringing out of the arms, which was one of the conditions on which Herold was to come out. It was not heard; we could simply hear them talking. He came to the door and said, "Let me out." Lieutenant Baker said to him, "Hand out your arms." The reply was, "I have none." He said, "You carried a carbine, and you must hand it out." Booth replied, "The arms are mine, and I have got them." Lieutenant Baker said, "This man carried a carbine, and he must hand it out" Booth said, "Upon the word and honor of a gentleman, he has no arms; the arms are mine, and I have got them." I stood by the side of the Lieutenant and said to him, "Never mind the arms; if we can get one of the men out, let us do it, and wait no longer." The door was opened, he stuck out his hands; Lieutenant Baker took hold of him, brought him out, and passed him to the rear. I went around to the corner of the barn, pulled some hay out, twisted up a little of it, about six inches long, set fire to it, and stuck it back through on top of the hay. It was loose, broken-up hay, that had been trodden upon the barn-floor. It was very light, and blazed very rapidly -- lit right up at once.
I put my eye up to the crack next to the one the fire was put through, and looked in, and I heard something drop on the floor, which I supposed to be Booth's crutch. He turned around toward me. When I first got a glimpse of him, he stood with his back partly to me, turning toward the front door. He came back within five feet of the corner of the barn. The only thing I noticed he had n his hands when he came was a carbine. He came back, and looked along the cracks, one after another, rapidly. He could not see any thing. He looked at the fire, and from the expression of his face, I am satisfied he looked to see if he could put it out, and was satisfied that he could not do it; it was burning so much. He dropped his arm, re-laxed his muscles, turned around, and start-ed for the door at the front of the barn. I ran around to the other side, and when about half round I heard the report of a pistol. I went right to the door, and went into the barn and found Lieutenant Baker looking at Booth, holding him, or raising him up, I do not know which. I said to him, "He shot himself." Said he, "No, he did not, either." Said I, ''Whereabouts is he shot -- in the head or neck?" I raised him then, and looked on the right side of the neck, and saw a place where the blood was running out. I said, "Yes, sir; he shot himself." Lieutenant Baker replied very earnestly that he did not. I then said, "Let us carry him out of here; this will soon be burning." We took him up and carried him out on the grass, underneath the locust-trees a little way from the door. I went bad into the barn immediately to see if the fire could be put down, and tried somewhat myself to put it out, but I could not; it was burning so fast, and there was no water and nothing to help with. I then went back. Before this, I supposed him to be dead. He had all the appearance of a dead man; but when I got back to him, his eyes and mouth were moving. I called immediately for some water, and put it on his face, and he somewhat revived, and attempted to speak. I put my ear down close to his mouth, and he made several efforts to speak, and finally I understood him to say, "Tell mother I die for my country." I said to him, "Is that what you say?" repeating it to him. He said, "Yes." They carried him from there to the porch of Mr. Garrett's house, and laid him on an old straw bed, or tick, or something. By that time he revived considerably; he could then talk in a whisper, so as to be intelligibly understood; he could not speak above a whisper. He wanted water; we gave it to him. He wanted to be turned on his face. I said to him "You can not lie on your face;" and he wanted to be turned on his side; we turned him upon his side three times, I think, but he could not lie with any comfort, and wanted to be turned immediately back. He asked me to put my hand on his throat and press down, which I did, and he said, " Harder." I pressed down as hard as I thought necessary, and he made very strong exertions to cough, but was unable to do so -- no muscular exertion could he make. I supposed he thought something was in his throat, and I said to him, "Open your mouth and put out your tongue, and I will see if it bleeds." Which he did. I said to him, "There is no blood in your throat; it has not gone through any part of it there." He repeated two or three times, "Kill me, kill me." The reply was made to him, "We don't want to kill you; we want you to get well." I then took what things were in his pockets, and tied them up in a piece of paper. He was not then quite dead. He would -- once, perhaps, in five minutes -- gasp; his heart would almost die out, and then it would commence again, and by a few rapid beats would make a slight motion. I left the body and the prisoner Herold in charge of Lieutenant Baker. I told him to wait an hour if Booth was not dead; if he recovered, to wait there and send over to Belle Plain for a surgeon from one of the gun-ships; and, if he died in the space of an hour, to get the best conveyance he could, and bring him on.
I staid there some ten minutes after that was said, when the doctor there said he was dead.
[A knife, pair of pistols, belt, holster, file, pocket com-pass, spur, pipe, carbine, cartridges, and bills of exchange were shown to the witness.]
That is the knife, belt, and holster taken from Booth; the pistols I did not examine with any care, but they looked like these. That is the pocket compass, with the candle grease on it, just as we found it; the spur I turned over to Mr. Stan ton, and I judge this to be the one taken from Booth. That is the carbine we took; it is a Spencer rifle, and has a mark on the breech by which I know it. Both the pistols and carbine were loaded. I unloaded the carbine myself in Mr. Secretary Stanton's office, and these are the cartridges that I took out; there was one in the barrel, and the chamber was full. These are the bills of exchange; I put my initials on them.
[All these articles were put in evidence; also the bill of exchange in triplicate. The first of the set was read as follows:]
No. 1492. THE ONTARIO BANK,
[Stamp.] Montreal Branch,
EXCHANGE FOR £61 12s. l0d.
Montreal, 27 Oct'r, 1864
Sixty days after sight of this first of exchange, (second and third of the same tenor and date unpaid,) pay to the order of J. Wilkes Booth sixty-one pounds twelve shillings and ten pence sterling. Value received, and charge to acc't of this office. To Messrs. Glynn Mills & Co., London.
[Signed] H. STANUS, MANAGER.
The farm of Mr. Garrett, in whose barn Booth was captured and killed, is in Caroline County, Va., about three miles from Port Royal, on the road to Bowling Green.
I had seen John Wilkes Booth in Washington, and recognized the man who was killed as the same. I had before remarked his resemblance to his brother, Edwin Booth, whom I had often seen play.
I recognize among the accused, the man Herold, whom we took prisoner on that occasion, in the barn. We found on Herold a small piece of a school map of Virginia, embracing the region known as the Northern Neck, where they were captured.
Cross-examined by MR. STONE.
We found no arms on Herold. He had some conversation with Booth while in the barn, in which Booth called him a coward; and when the question of delivering up the arms was raised, Booth said that the arms were all his. When Booth said, "There is a man in here who wants to get out," I think he added, "who had nothing to do with it."
I think we got to Garrett's barn about 2 o'clock in the morning, and it was about fifteen minutes past 3 that Booth was shot and carried out on the grass.

PSSST! Methinks El Capitan is trying to summon Wlat again!

I thought the same thing. It must have been something in the straw he was eating.