Murder on the Baltimore Express by Suzanne Jurmain

Author:Suzanne Jurmain [Jurmain, Suzanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: little bee books
Published: 2021-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

“I FULLY APPRECIATE THESE SUGGESTIONS.”

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Morning to eleven p.m., February 21, 1861

Frederick Seward’s train was chugging north, but Allan Pinkerton had already reached Philadelphia.

The detective had decided that the only way to avoid trouble in Baltimore was to completely change all the president-elect’s travel plans. Instead of letting Lincoln arrive on the afternoon of Saturday, February 23, as scheduled, Pinkerton had decided to fool the conspirators by sneaking the new president through Baltimore thirty-six hours before he was expected. To do it, Lincoln would have to leave Philadelphia secretly this very night on the eleven p.m. train. He would slip through Baltimore about four hours later and arrive in Washington the following morning—February 22—a whole day earlier than planned.

The idea was simple. Arranging to carry it out was not.

First, the detective had to meet with Samuel Felton, the head of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad. Since Pinkerton was hoping to put Lincoln and a small security escort into one of the PW&B Railroad’s sleeping cars that very night, Felton’s cooperation was essential. This, however, was no issue. Felton, after all, had originally hired Pinkerton. He wanted to protect both his railroad and the new president, so he instantly promised to do anything that would ensure Lincoln’s safety.

That took care of the first item on Pinkerton’s list. But even more important than securing Felton’s cooperation was talking to Norman Judd.

Before the detective could take another step, he had to fully brief Judd on the situation in Baltimore and explain his plan to alter Lincoln’s travel arrangements. He had to wait for Lincoln’s trusted advisor to explain those facts to the president-elect. And he had to hope that Lincoln would agree to the plan.

Clearly, nothing could happen without the help of Norman Judd. So Pinkerton instructed his assistant George Burns to give Lincoln’s advisor a note specifying the time and place of a meeting as soon as the president-elect’s party reached Philadelphia.

By now the groundwork was in place. Most of the preparations had been made, and there was nothing to do but wait for Judd’s arrival. But Judd was traveling with the new president, and the Lincoln Special was taking a slow, roundabout route to Philadelphia.

That morning the president-elect had traveled from New York to New Jersey by ferry. Then he had boarded a train that would carry him to Trenton, New Jersey’s capital city. But although the actual journey had gone smoothly, it had not been a particularly pleasant one. Most New Jersey residents hadn’t voted for Lincoln. Few came out to cheer for the president-elect, and—as he rode through Newark—Lincoln saw a large doll dressed to look like him hanging from a lamppost with a noose around its neck. It was another ugly reminder of the fact that almost half the country hated the new president and wished him dead.

Still, the day wasn’t completely depressing. In the New Jersey State House legislators cheered when Mr. Lincoln said, “I shall do all that may be in my power to promote a peaceful settlement of all our difficulties.

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