a message to Lloyd—­so have a hundred others.  She might have said she did not know Payne—­and who within the sound of my voice can say they know him now?  They are ordinary and commonplace transactions, such as occur every day and to almost everybody.  But as all the case against her must consist in the guilty intent that will be attempted to be connected with these facts, we now propose to show that they are not so clearly proven as to free them from great doubt, and, therefore, we will inquire:—­

2.  How are these acts proven?  Solely by the testimony of Louis J. Weichmann and John M. Lloyd.  Here let us state that we have no malice toward either of them, but if in the analysis of their evidence we should seem to be severe, it is that error and duplicity may be exposed and innocence protected.

We may start out with the proposition that a body of men banded together for the consummation of an unlawful act against the government, naturally would not disclose their purpose and hold suspicious consultations concerning it in the presence continually of an innocent party.  In the light of this fair presumption let us look at the acts of Weichmann, as disclosed by his own testimony.  Perhaps the most singular and astonishing fact that is made to appear is his omnipresence and co-action with those declared to be conspirators, and his professed and declared knowledge of all their plans and purposes.  His acquaintance with John H. Surratt commenced in the fall of 1859, at St. Charles, Maryland.  In January 1863 he renewed his acquaintance with him in this city.  On the first of November, 1864, he took board and lodging with Mrs. Surratt at her house, No. 541 H. Street, in this city.  If this testimony is correct, he was introduced to Booth on the fifteenth day of January, 1865.  At this first, very first meeting, he was invited to Booth’s room at the National, where he drank wine and took cigars at Booth’s expense.  After consultation about something in an outer passage between Booth and the party alleged to be with him by Weichmann, they all came into the room, and for the first time business was proceeded with in his presence.  After that he met Booth in Mrs. Surratt’s parlor and in his own room, and had conversations with him.  As near as Weichmann recollects, about three weeks after his introduction he met the prisoner, Atzerodt, at Mrs. Surratt’s.  (How Atzerodt was received at the house will be referred to.) About the time that Booth played Pescara in the ‘Apostate’ at Ford’s Theatre, Weichmann attended the theatre in company with Surratt and Atzerodt.  At the theatre they were joined by Herold.  John T. Holohan, a gentleman not suspected of complicity in the great tragedy, also joined the company at the theatre.  After the play was over, Surratt, Holohan, and himself went as far as the corner of Tenth and E Streets, when Surratt, noticing that Atzerodt and Herold were not with them, sent Weichmann back for them.  He found them in a restaurant with Booth,