"Johnson the President, a Southern born white man, has already informed
the Radicals that he will fight this programme to the last ditch.
Stevens' answer was characteristic of the imperious old leader. 'Let him
dare! I'll impeach Andrew Johnson, remove him from office and hang him
from the balcony of the White House.'
"The President realizes that the Bureau of Military Justice which he
allowed Holt to create may be used as the engine of his own destruction.
They have already taken the first steps to impeach him--"
"Then he'll never dare allow another case to be tried before that
Bureau--" O'Connor interrupted.
"It remains to be seen. He is afraid of both Stanton and Holt. The
Bureau of Military Justice is their hobby."
O'Connor sprang to his feet.
"We must smash it by an appeal to the people. Their sense of justice is
yet the salt that will save the Nation. The key to the situation is in
the character of the remarkable witnesses whom Holt has produced before
this tribunal of assassination. In my judgment they are a gang of hired
perjurers. Their leader is a fellow named Conover. There are five men
associated with him. They used these witnesses against Mrs. Surratt.
They used them against Wirz. They are preparing to use them against
Davis.
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