The Lincoln Conspiracy by Brad Meltzer

Author:Brad Meltzer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Flatiron Books

51

Baltimore, Maryland

February 15, 1861

The stage is set.

Throughout his career, Pinkerton has gone undercover dozens of times. He’s played many roles, worn many different disguises, and infiltrated all manner of criminal organizations.

Tonight, though, is different. The stakes are higher. He’s just learned of a plan to assassinate the incoming President of the United States. As the only outsider who knows of it, he may be the only person alive who can stop it.

On top of that, he’s going in alone. If his cover is blown, there’s no backup.

Pinkerton knows what must be done. As every detective understands, success rests on learning the details. What’s their exact plan? Who’s behind it? Who is this mysterious Captain Ferrandini whom Pinkerton is supposedly about to meet? And is Ferrandini really the “leading man,” as Luckett described him, or is there someone even bigger in charge?

At 7:00 p.m., Pinkerton—posing, of course, as Southern stockbroker John Hutcheson—enters Barr’s Saloon on South Street.

Sure enough, Luckett is there with “several other gentlemen.” When Luckett sees Pinkerton, he immediately invites him to join the group, introducing him to two of the men: a “Captain Turner” and, there he is, “Captain Ferrandini.”

By way of introduction, Luckett describes Pinkerton as a “neighbor” and speaks highly of him to the others. He says that this was “the gentleman who had given the Twenty Five Dollars … to Ferrandini.”

Pinkerton gets his first good look at this man Ferrandini. He is, as Pinkerton notes, “a fine looking, intelligent appearing person.” He has a perfectly trimmed mustache—he is a barber, after all—and is well dressed and well mannered. He has bright eyes, according to Pinkerton, and a charming voice and manner.

As usual, the talk turns immediately to politics, and Ferrandini becomes “very excited” by the conversation. He argues passionately that the “South must rule,” and believes Southerners have been “outraged in their rights by the election of Lincoln.” As a result of this outrage, Ferrandini exclaims, Southern patriots are “freely justified resorting to any means to prevent Lincoln from taking his seat.”

As Ferrandini holds forth, the others nod in agreement. He seems to exert a strange power over everyone listening. “As he spoke,” Pinkerton notes, “his eyes fairly glared and glistened, and his whole frame quivered, but he was fully conscious of all he was doing.” Ferrandini’s rhetoric and delivery is theatrical, appealing to the emotions of the listener. “He is a man well calculated for controlling and directing the ardent minded.”

Pinkerton also carefully observes the other man with him, Captain Turner. Turner agrees vehemently with everything Ferrandini says, but he seems to be a follower rather than a leader.

As Pinkerton describes him, “although very much of a gentleman and possessing warm Southern feelings, he is not by any means so dangerous a man as Ferrandini, as his ability for exciting others is less powerful.” In fact, Turner seems to be “entirely under the control of Ferrandini.”

Right there, Pinkerton sees how potentially dangerous Ferrandini is. “Even I myself felt the influence of this man’s strange

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.