by Chris Enss
If Timothy’s health had been better, no doubt he and Hattie would have attempted to flee Richmond. Timothy tried to convince Hattie to leave and save herself, but she refused. Several days of anxious suspense followed before they were arrested by Confederate authorities and taken to a jail called Castle Godwin in Richmond. The Castle was a converted tobacco warehouse, and most often referred to as a hellhole. George Alexander was the cruel prison superintendent.39
Allan Pinkerton’s official report to President Lincoln, General McClellan, and the provost marshal general about agents Timothy Webster and Hattie Lawton noted that the atmosphere inside the prison was gloomy and reeked of filth and disease. When Timothy was initially led into the dank, dark prison, he could hardly walk. He was pale and emaciated. The inmates pitied him and feared the next step would be to intern the dead man at the jail along with the living.40
Hattie was taken by guards to Confederate officers for questioning, but she refused to answer a single query. Her stubbornness infuriated the officers, and they ordered her to be confined in a room with another female prisoner.41
Fearing that Timothy would die before his trial, the provost marshal called for investigators to quickly prepare the case against the operative. Court was convened for early afternoon the day after Timothy and Hattie had been arrested, and was initially held at the jail. “For three long, weary weeks did the investigation drag its slow length along,” Pinkerton wrote about the case, “although it was apparent that those who tried him had already decided upon his fate. Numerous witnesses were examined, and testimony was admitted which would have been excluded by any righteous tribunal whose ideas of justice were not obscured by an insane desire for revenge.”
Pryce Lewis and John Scully were called to testify about Timothy’s involvement as a double agent. They attempted to do their utmost to lessen the effect of their testimony, but it bore heavily against the ill prisoner. The attorney assigned to represent the accused did the best he could, but could not save the Pinkerton operative from the guilty verdict that was ultimately rendered. On April 19, 1862, Timothy was convicted of being a spy in the employ of the Federal authorities. The judge sentenced him to be hanged, and the execution date was set for April 28, 1862.42
The day after Timothy’s execution was set, Hattie was given permission to visit him in his cell. The two hadn’t been allowed to communicate with one another since the day they’d been arrested. “The meeting between Timothy and Hattie was a most affecting one,” Pinkerton noted in the report about the matter. “Tears filled the eyes of the faithful woman as she gazed at the pale and emaciated form of the heroic patriot. Their hands were clasped in a warm pressure, and her words of heartfelt sympathy and grief were choked by the sobs which shook her frame. Even in the excess of his despair, Webster’s fortitude never for a moment forsook him. He bore the burdens which had been imposed upon him with courage and firmness that impressed all who witnessed it.”43
In an effort to make his cell sanitary, Hattie washed the bedding and his clothes and was allowed to cook a meal for him. She wanted Timothy to be made comfortable in his last days. In addition to improving her fellow operative’s living conditions, she sought an interview with Confederate president Jefferson Davis. Davis was too busy discussing war with General Lee to speak with Hattie, but Davis’s wife agreed to see her. On bended knee Hattie pleaded for Mrs. Davis to intercede to have Timothy’s life spared. The woman declined to interfere in matters of state. Crying, Hattie left the Davises’ home, utterly discouraged. She vowed to fight to remain by Timothy’s side until the day he was to be taken to the gallows.44
Timothy petitioned the Confederate court to put him to death by any other means but hanging. Officials visited him in his cell to tell him they would not change the sentence. Hattie was frantic when she heard the news. She was unable to restrain herself and fell at the messengers’ feet. “Please,” Hattie interjected. “Do not, I pray you, condemn this brave man to the odium of a felon’s death. Think of his family and his suffering. He does not sue for pardon. He seeks not to escape your judgment, harsh and cruel as it is. He only prays to be allowed to die like a brave man in the service of his country. You certainly can lose nothing by granting this request; therefore, in the name of justice and humanity, let him be shot instead of the dreadful death you have ordained for him.”45
Her request was denied; Hattie’s plea was for naught. “Then he will die like a man and his death will be upon your head,” she called out to the cold, unfeeling officials. “It will be a living curse until your own dark hour shall come!”46
At 5:15 in the morning of April 28, 1862, guards unlocked Timothy Webster’s cell to escort him to the parade grounds where he was to be hanged. Turning to Hattie and taking her hands in his, Timothy murmured, “Good-bye, dear friend; we shall never meet again on earth. God bless you and your kindness to me. I will be brave and die like a man. Farewell, forever.” Hattie wailed and threw herself onto the floor as the guards led Timothy out of his cell.47
Pinkerton operative Hattie Lawton pleaded for the life of fellow detective Timothy Webster in 1862. Courtesy of the Library of Congress
The gallows were located at the north side of the parade grounds. Timothy walked unflinchingly to the scaffold, and then slowly and painfully ascended the platform. His arms were tied behind him; his feet were bound together, and a black cap was placed over his head. The signal was given, the trap was sprung, and, with a dreadful, sickening thud, Timothy fell from the gibbet to the ground beneath. The hangman’s knot had slipped, and he fell in a confused heap. Timothy was lifted up and returned to the scaffold.48
“I suffer a double death,” Timothy told the men around him. The rope was again placed around his neck, this time so tightly it was painful. “You will choke me to death this time,” the condemned man said. In a flash, the trap was again sprung, and the brave patriot was swinging in the air between heaven and earth.49
The captain of the guards returned to Timothy’s cell to inform Hattie that her friend was dead. She asked if she could see his body, and the guard led the way. Several Rebel soldiers were standing around the coffin when Hattie entered the room where Timothy was lying in state. Overwrought with despair and angry over the treatment of her partner, Hattie unleashed a torrent of emotion. “Murderers!” she exclaimed to the Confederate troops and officers on either side of her. “This is your work! If there is vengeance or retribution in this world, you will feel it before you die!”50
Hattie petitioned the Rebel court to allow her to bury Timothy in a New York cemetery where he had once been a police officer, but her request was denied. Timothy’s body was buried in an obscure corner of a paupers’ field, not far from where he was hanged.51
Hattie, who had been convicted of being a conspirator of espionage with Timothy, was sentenced to one year in prison. She was often visited by Elizabeth Van Lew, a Southern-born, Union sympathizer who operated from Richmond during the Civil War. Elizabeth brought scraps of food and other comforts to the women and elderly at Castle Godwin. The benevolent woman managed to negotiate Hattie’s release from jail on December 13, 1862. Hattie’s freedom and that of three other Federals were exchanged for the release of the notorious Rebel spy, Belle Boyd.52
Hattie proved herself to be a loyal and valuable member of the Pinkerton force. Her talent in espionage, combined with the skills of the other Pinkerton operatives, helped save the life of President Abraham Lincoln.
Notes
1. New York Times, May 14, 1893.
2. Duffin, History in Blue, pp. 1–5.
3. The Citizen, 1859.
4. Duffin, History in Blue, pp. 3–4.
5. Ibid.
6. Decatur Morning Review, September 17, 1890.
7. Sources conflict as to whether Hattie Lawton was the true name of the operative. Many accounts use only her initials, H. H. L. Allan Pinkerton referred to her as Hattie Lawton in hi
s book, The Spy of the Rebellion. Pryce Lewis referred to her in his memoirs as Hattie Lewis. In a letter written by Allan Pinkerton to Joseph B. Beale, dated October 26, 1882, he refers to the operative as Hattie Lewis.
8. Moran, The Eye That Never Sleeps, pp. 21–23.
9. Fugitive Slave Act, September 18, 1850; Morris, Ordeal of the Union: Fruits of Manifest Destiny, 1847–1852, pp. 49–51.
10. Pierce, A History of Chicago, p. 198.
11. Stashower, The Hour of Peril, pp. 99–101.
12. Horan, The Pinkertons, pp. 98–100.
13. Ward et al., The Civil War, pp. 76–77; Washington Post, February 13, 1913.
14. Pinkerton, Spy of the Rebellion, pp. 553–54.
15. Ibid., pp. 496–98.
16. Ibid.
17. Horan, The Pinkertons, pp. 103–04; “Black Dispatches: Black American Contributions to Union Intelligence during the Civil War,” Central Intelligence Agency (www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/black-dispatches/); Ebony Magazine (February 1965, October 1978).
18. Ebony Magazine (February 1965, October 1978); Horan, The Pinkertons, pp. 103–04; “Black Dispatches.”
19. Foster, The Eyes and Ears of the Civil War, pp. 116–20.
20. Foster, The Eyes and Ears of the Civil War, pp. 116–20; “Black Dispatches.” (Note: Author found no information to confirm or deny that Hattie Lawton was married to Captain Lawton.)
21. Pinkerton, Spy of the Rebellion, pp. 530–34.
22. Pinkerton, Spy of the Rebellion, pp. 530–34; “Black Dispatches.”
23. Pinkerton, Spy of the Rebellion, pp. 534–42.
24. Ibid.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid.
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid.
31. Ibid.
32. Ibid.
33. Ibid.
34. Ibid.
35. Horan, The Pinkertons, pp. 109–14.
36. Horan, The Pinkertons, pp. 109–14; Jones, Behind Enemy Lines, pp. 43–47.
37. Jones, Behind Enemy Lines, p. 44; Horan, The Pinkertons, pp. 138–39.
38. New York Times, December 11, 1911.
39. Horan, The Pinkertons, pp. 138–39; Burlington Daily Hawk Eye, May 7, 1862.
40. Pinkerton, Spy of the Rebellion, pp. 541–50.
41. Ibid.
42. Ibid.
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid.
45. Ibid., pp. 551–56.
46. Ibid.
47. Ibid.
48. Ibid.
49. Ibid.
50. Ibid.
51. Ibid.
52. Ibid.
Chapter Four
Operative Mrs. M. Barkley
In February 1861, Allan Pinkerton was living in Baltimore, Maryland, where, as “John H. Hutchinson, Stockbroker,” he was instigating reports of contemplated sabotage on the tracks and property of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad. The PW&B Railroad was one of the most important rail lines at the time. According to the history of the company, compiled by author William Bender Wilson in 1895:
The rail line was a significant part of a great North and South line of transportation. [The] PW&B challenged ocean competition and carried on its rails not only statesmen and tourists but a valuable interchange of products between different lines of latitude. As a military highway it was of the greatest strategic importance to the national, industrial, and commercial capitals Washington, Philadelphia, and New York. It presents some of the very best transportation facilities to the commerce of the cities after which it is named, and could not be obliterated from the railroad map of the United States without materially disturbing its harmony.1
The railroad line’s significance made it a much-talked-about target for the Confederacy during the start of the Civil War. The Pinkerton Detective Agency had contracted to protect the business from terroristic attacks and to investigate all credible threats to cripple the company.
President-elect Abraham Lincoln used the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad to travel to Washington, DC, for his inauguration address. Courtesy of the Library of Congress
It was while Pinkerton was investigating a plan to halt train services in the North that he happened upon a sinister plot that promised to change the political frontier if not stopped.2
While posing as the affable John Hutchinson, Pinkerton met a businessman and Southern sympathizer named James H. Luckett. The two men had offices in direct proximity to one another, and in a short time became friends. Luckett was vocal about his desire that Maryland secede from the Union. He was a delegate of a convention of legislature, and he would be presenting his idea to other dedicated secessionists at an upcoming event. Pinkerton pretended to agree with Luckett’s political views in hopes that the passionate Rebel would lead the detective to others bent on treason. He did. Luckett introduced Pinkerton to a number of men who belonged to a secret society that had been formed with the goal of creating a slaveholding nation.
In an effort to uncover specific plans the group might have, Pinkerton mentioned the president-elect’s trip by train from New York to Washington and what his time in office would mean for the country. “He may pass through Baltimore quietly while en route, but I doubt it,” Luckett told Pinkerton, a suspicious grin stretched across his face.3
Pinkerton nodded and returned the grin. He understood the inference Luckett made, and why. Daring to continue the topic of conversation, he pointed out that the Baltimore authorities had assured the president-elect’s staff safe passage through the city. “Oh, that is easily promised,” Luckett stated matter-of-factly, “but may not be so easily done.” Although the conspirator showed no restraint in sharing his disdain for Lincoln and the Union, he was not willing to elaborate on what might happen to the politician to interrupt his travels.
Pinkerton reached for his wallet and withdrew $25 in cash, offering it to Luckett. “I’ve no doubt that money is necessary for the success of this patriotic cause,” Pinkerton said. “I would like this donation to be used in the best manner possible for Southern rights.” Luckett accepted the money and offered to introduce Pinkerton to the associate who would orchestrate the plan to do away with Mr. Lincoln.4
The meeting took place at an eatery on South Street in Baltimore. Captain Cipriano Ferrandini was introduced to Pinkerton as a “true friend of the South.” Captain Ferrandini, an Italian revolutionist who tried to kill Napoleon III, was the leader of the group of zealots out to kill the president-elect. The mastermind behind the plan was a barber and a member of the Baltimore militiamen. He organized a number of assassins to shoot Mr. Lincoln as he made his way to the train that would transport him from the city to Washington.5
Convinced the plot was more than mere talk, Pinkerton determined he needed to warn Lincoln’s security team of the threat. He knew, however, that the president-elect had been bombarded with wild rumors of assassination attempts before, and that it would take a lot to convince Lincoln to take this one seriously.6
According to the March 2, 1919, edition of the San Antonio Light, Pinkerton’s first step was to summon two of his operatives to assist him. One was Kate Warne, and the other, Joseph Howard. Howard was a young man of fine personal appearance and impeccable manners. He was of French descent and careful education. He had lived many years in New Orleans and other Southern cities, and had a thorough knowledge of the South, its localities, prejudices, customs, and leading men. He registered at one of the best Baltimore hotels, giving his home address as New Orleans.7 The San Antonio Light report continued:
This proved a passport in the eyes of the “fire eaters” of the city, and Howard was not slow in taking advantage of his opportunity. He noted that business of private capacity required his presence in Balti
more, but as his acquaintances grew more intimate, he admitted that affairs of a national character were far dearer to him than any individual interests or concerns. He soon became a welcomed guest at the most aristocratic homes of the city, and it was not long before he had won the complete confidence of George P. Kane, Chief of Police. From him he learned that the entire police force was in symphony with rebellion, and not only would not protect Lincoln, but would certainly take an active part in any attempt against him.8
Kane invited Howard to a meeting of the secret society, where fiery speeches were delivered, boasting that Lincoln must never be allowed to take over as president. Captain Ferrandini was the leader of the society and incited into a frenzy the crowd that gathered to hear him speak. “This hireling, Lincoln, shall never become president,” the captain informed the audience. “My life is of no consequence in a case like this, and I am willing to give it for his. As Orsini gave his life for Italy, I am ready to die for the rights of the South and to crush out abolitionism. In a week from today the North will need another president, for Lincoln will be a corpse.”9
Joseph Howard managed to find his way into another meeting where the details of when and where Lincoln would be killed and how the assassins were to escape were revealed. With the additional information, Pinkerton hoped Lincoln would take the threat seriously and make the necessary changes to his travel plans. Pinkerton needed the specifics of the plot to convey to the president-elect’s head of security, Norman Judd, to convince him to alter their plans. The Lincoln party was making a triumphant trip through the cities of the North and was soon to arrive in New York.10
