Shooting For Justice

by G. Wayne Tilman

  “There is a guard at the President’s House during public hours,” Brewster said.

  “We have had two presidents assassinated in the past sixteen years. Why not detail five military guards there on three shifts each day? Your new provost marshal can train and supervise them,” Pope said.

  “I have the authority to do it. Getting the president to accept it could be an issue. Since Garfield was shot about two years ago, it should be something I can sell,” Lincoln said. “Arthur has spoken candidly with me about Garfield and my father. I don’t think he is frightened, but I know he is aware. I will tell him Ben and I have been discussing tightening security at the President’s House as a matter of course. I should be able to introduce you both to him Friday night at the party. Assuming I’ve had good luck, I will mention you will be overseeing the strengthened security as well as a number of other things,” Lincoln said.

  “John, come to my office in the War Department Building. It faces Pennsylvania Avenue and is just northwest of the President’s House. Look for 17th Street. Make it about ten in the morning, and I will introduce you around and assign an office for you,” Lincoln said.

  The two cabinet members rose, and Pope signed the bill to their room. All shook hands and departed.

  Back at the room, Sarah asked, “What is your overall view of what we just heard and the men from whom we heard it?”

  “A number of things, darling. One, it amazes me we do not have armed guards at the President’s House. Two presidents have been assassinated in the past sixteen years. We guard military bases, but not the home of the president? It is beyond belief.

  “Second, I cannot believe a president’s son, who was a military officer on Grant’s staff and is a member of the cabinet did not figure a way to see the two men whose conversation started all of this.

  “Third, I adamantly disagree with not telling the president about this matter. You will have your work cut out for you drawing who he should be worried about from him without his knowledge.

  “Fourth, we have made inroads today into possible reasons someone may want him killed or removed. However, we are approaching it logically. The reason may not be logical. It may be a splinter group of crazies whose reasons we could never guess,” Pope finished.

  “Do you think we can trust them? Brewster and Lincoln?”

  “Not yet. What better way to test the security of your plan than to hire two detectives to ferret it out then kill them?”

  “Yes, it crossed my mind, too. We really don’t have much choice though,” Sarah said.

  “No, we do not. We will go with them until we think we no longer can. Who we will turn to then is a complete unknown. Perhaps we will find a trustworthy confederate in our socializing.”

  “You mentioned confederate with a small ‘c’. What’s the possibility of powerful Southern senators and congressmen seeking to disrupt the government for retribution reasons?” Sarah asked.

  “I fear it’s as good a probability as anything else we have. My gut reaction lies with Conkling, the political boss in New York. I don’t believe he is still a senator. The probable reason he wants a cabinet appointment. We will check on his job and whereabouts as a first step. I think a quick trip to a library is in order,” Sarah said.

  She found there was a dearth of libraries in DC and Sarah ended up at the Library of Congress. Its location was in congress itself. She located and hand copied a list of members of congress and the cabinet.

  At the same time, Pope reported for duty as the Provost Marshal for Security and Investigations for the War Department. He was assigned a private office. It was small, but on the prestigious fourth floor down the hall from the secretary’s office. He quickly found the department maintained its own small library and familiarized himself with it.

  Lincoln summoned Pope around lunch and said he was to accompany the secretary to the Washington Arsenal by carriage. At the Arsenal, site of the hanging of the Lincoln conspirators, they met with a Colonel Willoughby. He assigned a half platoon of eighteen infantrymen to the President’s House. Instead of the lieutenant which headed a full platoon, he put a senior sergeant in charge. The sergeant, George Wilders, was to report to Pope onsite. The secretary set up the guard staff preemptively, not having spoken to the president.

  “I’d rather risk him telling me to dismantle it than to give him a chance to say not to do it,” Lincoln said, showing genetic resolve and management from the paternal side of his family tree.

  While Lincoln met with a general and several colonels, Pope sat with Sgt. Wilders. He outlined his ideas for the duties. They would work out patrols and emergency actions once they got to the President’s House and studied the building and its weak points. They then went to the supply warehouse and selected items they would need for the President’s House mission.

  “I do not know if the President’s House has a telegraph. If it does not, it certainly ought to. Let’s meet there tomorrow morning. Meet me at the front door at nine. Bring three of your top troopers with you and the gun safe and other items.”

  On the way back, Lincoln advised Pope the President’s House not only had a telegraph room, but a telephone was installed in 1877. They would be able to add a set to whatever guard room they were assigned and call either the Washington Police or the Washington Arsenal for reinforcement in an attack situation.

  Lincoln and Pope returned to the War Department and walked over to the President’s House. They called on the chief of staff and the secretary asked for a room as near as possible to the telegraph room. A very small room was sufficiently close, so a second telephone set was not required. Pope requested several keys to the telegraph room and two desks and a file cabinet.

  Back at the War Department, Pope obtained a draft voucher and went shopping. The single shot .45-70 trap door Springfield models of 1873 were overly powerful for what he wanted and too slow to reload. He purchased ten 1873 Winchester carbines, five double-barrel shotguns, and ten Colt revolvers. He also purchased twenty boxes of .44-40 cartridges, ten boxes of twelve-gauge buckshot, and five cleaning kits. The Army’s handguns, Colts and Smith & Wesson .45’s would have caused confusion with the rifles and revolvers shooting similar looking but non-interchangeable cartridges. With the standardization of .44-40’s, the soldiers would have a familiar handgun, except with a different cartridge of the same power class. They would fit in the issue holsters as well. His last purchase was a holdover from his San Francisco Police days. He bought twenty-five loud brass police whistles on lanyards.

  Pope had his purchases scheduled for delivery after noon on Friday. He wanted to give Sgt. Wilders and his troopers time to offload the equipment they were bringing and put it in the President’s House security room.

  Friday morning the two detectives parted early. Pope walked to the President’s House, and Sarah headed down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Capitol. She was armed with her letter from the attorney general. The letter was worded much like a federal subpoena and signed by the deputy attorney general. It was much more powerful than what she had imagined. The most interesting aspect of the letter to her was it was done by a Remington typewriter of the Sholes and Glidden design. It appeared to have been printed just for her on engraved stationary.

  At the Capitol building, she was directed to the records room. It was managed by a gnome-like older man. He was quite taken by the beautiful detective and her letter. She spent three hours going through records and copying items of interest to her investigation. Much of her time was spent with Washington newspaper articles on the president’s more controversial agendas, such as the Navy, the Chinese situation, immigration in general, his proposed merit system, and arguments with increasingly powerful Southern Democrat senators and congressmen.

  Sgt. Wilders met Pope at the front of the President’s House. His three men, one corporal and two privates, took their wagon to the rear loading door. Pope and Wilders walked followed and watched the offloading of a gun safe and miscellaneous items the two had select
ed from Army supplies. The current President’s House guard was a Washington policeman. Pope located him and recruited him into the mix. He was glad to have backup and said the officers on other shifts would also be pleased. He was invited to sit in on the briefing and discussion once the items were moved to the room.

  “Men, this is Officer Tyron from the Washington Police Department. He has been a roving guard here for a year. He will be an integral part of our security operation. I would like to spend the next hour or so with him walking us through his rounds and sharing events of note with us. We have pencils and some notepads, so feel free to take one and make whatever notes you wish. We will come back here, and I will answer your questions and we will put together standing orders and the report format for this mission. Officer Tyron? Would you begin your tour? If you have a set tour beginning at one point each time, let’s start there. My gut reaction would be to have predetermined stations on the tour but begin it at a different station each time. Following the same route day after day leads to predictability. We want to avoid predictability,” Pope said as they began their walk through the building and grounds.

  As they toured the intricate building and the grounds with so many unprotected entry points, Pope realized they would need a diagram of the building posted on the wall of the security room.

  He told the group he felt any persons held for questioning should be detained by the police officer on duty, though the soldiers could assist. He explained posse comitatus, which prevented the military from interfering in law enforcement matters unless martial law has been invoked by the president. Tyron, at fifty years old and a twenty-five-year police veteran, told the men about living through martial law during the war. He said with the two opposing capitols, Washington and Richmond, being only a hundred miles apart and having many police officers in the army, President Lincoln had to resort to extraordinary actions to protect DC. Declaring martial law was one of those actions.

  The group stopped at several blind entry points and discussed remedies. Upon return, they discussed items for the duty roster, standing orders and checking weapons in and out. Pope asked Sgt. Wilders to set up a range day with the whole cadre, including the Washington Policemen.

  They returned to the security room. Pope asked Tyron what types of events he and other officers had dealt with over the past year. The officer explained the incidents involved drunks, job seekers, and crazies for the most part. When asked whether he had been able to deal with each alone, he responded “yes” about drunks and job seekers. However, multiple persons of any type or people with apparent mental disorders were difficult for one man. All agreed a two-person patrol with whistles to alert the desk guard to call DC police would be much preferable.

  Once the policeman was released to resume his tour, and the four soldiers returned to the Washington Arsenal, Pope began to develop the types of post orders they had discussed.

  He cut it close with regard to finding a suitable tuxedo for the President’s House party but lucked out at an exclusive men’s haberdashery. Pope specified the tuxedo jacket to be one size larger to accommodate his revolver without printing notice of its presence. He bought some black shoes and socks, a tuxedo shirt, cummerbund, tie and stud set and rushed back to the Willard.

  Pope found Sarah bathing and noticed a new ball gown in deep royal blue hanging on the door of the wardrobe. He quickly disrobed and got into the tub with her. Gallons of water sloshed on the floor, but they mopped it up with towels afterwards.

  “Nothing on the President’s House invitation mentioned food beyond hors d’oeuvres,” Sarah observed, “so I hope they are really good and really filling.”

  “Me, too. I skipped lunch. Probably a mistake,” Pope said.

  They dressed. Sarah got Pope to turn and could not see his .44 print under his tuxedo jacket. She did not have to do the same. Her smaller gun, a .38, fit nicely in her purse.

  At seven o’clock, they left the Willard for the short walk to the President’s House, invitations in hand and fashionably late.

  The president and his sister were announced fifteen minutes later. Sarah walked around with a glass of red wine. Pope carried and sipped a glass of water with a lime squeezed and dropped in it. Crowds were good for assassinations and he wanted his reflexes to be at their best.

  Around eight, Lincoln caught Pope’s eye and motioned both over to where he was speaking with Chester A. Arthur, the twenty-first President of the United States.

  “Mr. President, allow me to introduce the Popes. John is the new provost marshal for my office. He’s the one I was telling you about heading up strengthening security at the President’s House.”

  Pope shook hands and was glad to feel a firm, confident grasp. Sarah extended her hand and the president kissed it. He was clearly taken with her.

  Most people she was not shooting were taken with her beauty and smile, Pope thought to himself. She was exceptionally beautiful tonight. The dress, raven hair and the perfect curves all showed her at her best.

  “You are young to be a provost marshal, Pope. What did you do before this? Army officer?”

  “No, Mr. President. I was a major case detective for Wells Fargo.”

  The president’s eyebrows rose almost imperceptibly.

  “Are you the fellow I have read brings ’em in dead or alive, but always gets his man?”

  “Oh, I doubt anything much has been written about me, sir.”

  “My husband is too modest, Mr. President. I suspect it is exactly him you have read about,” Sarah said.

  “I believe he was alleged to have a beautiful female detective partner.”

  “He certainly had a partner at Wells Fargo. The beautiful part was probably a misprint,” she said.

  “Mrs. Pope was also a detective with the Pinkerton’s, sir,” Lincoln added.

  “So, I see the journalist did not overstate his point. Well, welcome to the People’s little house. I appreciate you making it, and me, safer.”

  Several senators walked up, and Lincoln ushered the two detectives off.

  “As you can tell, the sales job about increased security went well. He even admitted he lamented there was no agency or person responsible for it. He was playing you both. He knew exactly who you are and some of your more notable accomplishments. I am not sure what his game is, so watch him. I believe in what he is doing, but I suspect you have figured out, I am not a great personal friend. He can be a pompous ass, funny sideburns and all,” Lincoln said in a place and voice where it was impossible for anyone else to hear him.

  “I almost hit him up for an interview, but felt a bit uneasy,” Sarah said.

  “Yes, it’s not like you can knee him in the groin if he got too forward,” Pope said.

  “You think his title would deter me a whit? Think again, cowboy!” she responded with vehemence.

  Lincoln smiled. He liked these two and felt comfortable with them. His father would have too. Abe had more enemies in his cabinet than Chester A. Arthur did. However, he put his trust in Pinkerton instead of more properly placing it with his friend and self-appointed bodyguard US Marshal Ward Lamon and General Lafayette Baker. If he had had these two teamed with Lamon and Baker, he might be alive even today, his son thought. Brewster found them in the crowd and introduced Frederick Frelinghuysen, the secretary of state and his wife, Matilda.

  During the several hours, the attorney general and the secretary of war introduced them to the full cabinet and many senators and congressmen. Pope was not sure what to expect with the leadership of the country. He kept his thoughts to himself until he and Sarah were alone in their room at the Willard.

  “What did you think?” she asked.

  “I had figured these would be real impressive powerful people. I came away thinking they were just regular people, some with money, some without. They all put their pants on one leg at a time.”

  “How about the president?” she asked.

  “I did not care for him. Lincoln as much as told us he was a good, hone
st president. But a man who was neither warm or likeable. His smile is put-on. I thought the only genuine thing he said was about liking us making it safer. The reason was because it made him safer, not the institution.”

  “As I admitted to Lincoln, I did not feel comfortable around him. Realistically, you are right. If he got out of line, I probably would hesitate to squash his huevos.”

  Pope grinned. “You are picking up some Spanish, I see.”

  “From hanging around you, my darling unofficial husband.”

  “Perhaps we should not mention your book or article, whichever cover story you use. Interviewing him can go in the case’s rubbish can.”

  2

  The next day, Pope went back to the President’s House and continued to write procedural orders for the security staff. He finished midday, spoke with the Saturday guard from the Washington Police and the three Washington Arsenal soldiers who reported for the first duty rotation. Sgt. Wilders came by at one o’clock and checked on his men. Each had properly signed out a revolver, whistle and pair of handcuffs.

  Pope and Wilders went to the police department and met with the duty sergeant to explain changes in security at the President’s House and how it was a team effort between the police and the military. He realized it was a meeting which should have occurred earlier and with the chief’s office. With the potential imminence of a death threat to be handled, he was going too fast and had to focus.

  Sarah left on the first train for New York City. She used her cover as a writer and supported by the letter from the assistant attorney general to research the files of several newspapers. She used the clipping files for Arthur and Roscoe Conkling. The information she found was inflammatory and she could not wait to share it with Pope. She felt she had solidified Conkling as probably being the man behind the threats.

  Sarah found a news article about Conkling and Arthur and a third man, George Chadwick, forming a consortium to sell cotton during the war. The reporter claimed the three each made over a million dollars in the endeavor, then had all records of their dealings expunged from records of the customs office in New York and their partnership was dissolved by lawyers Conkling and Arthur.